brownman wrote:Yep i've gone back over the thead pictures and I'm thinking it's a 60s Ranger 12 body - (ie the bridge, the rectangular neck plate tide mark, and the gold foil pickup and wiring) - I don't think it's a J56, (although I rather hoped it would be) which has had an early/mid 70s neck replacement (3 piece with block inlays and laminated EKO logo) which has been put on later. That would explain the missing neck plate and screws, replaced with non-conventional brass screws and washers.
The body has no lacquer cracking, it aint pristine, but hell, it plays nice... and that Hofner gold foil pup looks and sounds complete and utter horn (Ry Cooder stylee). I payed £40 for it and the NOS tuners from Brandoni cost £35, so all in for 75 squids I'm very happy.
Maybe I should post up pix of my early 70s Ranger vii because I think it prob all stock original.
The pickup is from a far eastern cheapo - think Kay/Teisco - not a Hofner, with non-original x-bracing. People often sell these as Ry Cooder related, but they actually have very little in common with the DeArmond gold foils he favours; they were perhaps more ubiquitous in their black and silver form, but the gold-silver incarnation is the same pickup rendered "highly desirable" by dishonest association. But if you like how it sounds, that's all that matters. The stock Eko pickup wasn't earth-shattering in any case.
The knobs on your guitar are generic modern additions too - the originals would've been brassy gold-topped white/cream dome knobs if I remember rightly.
brownman wrote:
From this picture it looks like the top two screws are closer together than the bottom ones, suggesting it would have had the typical trapezoid neck-plate. Could just be the camera angle, but the fact the screws and cup washers are massively over-sized might be skewing the picture. Originals turn up regularly on eBay for about £15 if you want to get it closer to stock, but you'd have to check what's going on underneath those massive screws first as the neck holes could have been enlarged, making it a bit more complex than a simple swap-over.
I wish I still had my Ranger XII. I remember how right it sounded with brand new strings and how quickly the sparkle faded - literally overnight. I'd love to try one with a set of Elixirs - the boxy-sounding Ranger XII could be one of the few acoustics that would be a perfect match for their too-bright brightness.
BTW, are you porkies prime cuts who cut half of the records I still have on vinyl by any chance ??
