Hendrix Monterey Strat sees light of day....

MetalHeadMike said:
It's cool for sure, but it's just a guitar. Jimi was the instrument. He could have played through anything and it'd still have been other worldly.
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Agreed on most levels, but....

A bunch of years ago I went up to see Dave "Magic" Johnson, the guy that actually started Historic Makeovers, was doing all the paint for MAX and his replicas blah blah blah...anyway, we're in his office and I brought an Aiken Intruder up for him to checkout....we plugged it into his 4x12 and I plugged in my R7 he had just shaved the neck on and I noticed one of his guitars hanging on the wall and commented on how killer of a job he does with the with the Historic Makeover process. He told me to pull it down and wanted to hear it through the Aiken. As soon as I played one chord on it and felt it I got this weird vibe, the guitar was next level awesome and had a bizarre aura about, couldn't put my finger on it but it was a magic beast. 10 minutes later I commented again about how killer his work was and he said "oh I just replaced the nut on that, it's a real 59' Burst" :oops: I about shit my pants for a few reasons, got all sweaty palmed and couldn't give the guitar back to him fast enough hahaha. Guess my point is that some instruments do have a magic quality about them, maybe this Strat was in fact sprinkled with some unicorn dust :cool:
 
Cool. As mentioned above. Just another Stratocaster that happened to be owned by a talented musician
 
Very cool.
About 10 years ago, I had a Cameron Aldrich listed on Craigslist. A guy called me about it and mentioned he had a Bogner modded Marshall, and maybe we do a trade? I said sure, let's meet up and plug in and play them...he was an owner at an appointment only shop in Mpls. SolidBody guitars. Ken, I believe...nice guy, he played the Cam and I marveled at all the vintage strats and LPs he had in there. He also had a pic of him and Gary Moore from LONG ago....he said that he was in Skid Row with Gary for a brief time back in the late 60s. Pretty cool. Then he told me a tragic story.....he and his business partner acquired one of Jimi's strats from the Hendrix family out in Seattle. They had it sold to a buyer in England...I think for a Million. They checked the guitar in baggage, in a flight case and both them flew to England with the guitar to do the deal.
They touched down and, poof no guitar ever came out on the baggage wheel. Gone. This was back in the late 80s I believe. I don't remember which guitar of Hendrix's this was, but damn tragic. I'd bet the buyer somehow paid someone to look for it at the Heathrow airport and stole it so they wouldn't have to pay the full price.
Side note..the Bogner Marshall didn't work. Didn't even power up...too bad since that's one modded Marshall I've never played.
 
MetalHeadMike said:
It's cool for sure, but it's just a guitar. Jimi was the instrument. He could have played through anything and it'd still have been other worldly.
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True. But....there are some guitars that are just amazing right when you pick them up; they just feel like your fav pair of jeans and you are right at home. And some, have special sauce tone wise too....just something 'extra' that you can't put your finger on..complexity maybe?
 
Racerxrated said:
They touched down and, poof no guitar ever came out on the baggage wheel. Gone. This was back in the late 80s I believe. I don't remember which guitar of Hendrix's this was, but damn tragic. I'd bet the buyer somehow paid someone to look for it at the Heathrow airport and stole it so they wouldn't have to pay the full price.
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That's why Bonamassa buys seat son planes for his Bursts he travels with...
 
Racerxrated said:
True. But....there are some guitars that are just amazing right when you pick them up; they just feel like your fav pair of jeans and you are right at home. And some, have special sauce tone wise too....just something 'extra' that you can't put your finger on..complexity maybe?
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Absolutely Tom. My comment about it being just a guitar stems more from the price tag these relics tend to command and the pedestal they get placed on because of who played them. But then again, if I had a chance to play a guitar that my personal guitar god used (Jimi), I'd surely tremble in awe for sure. I think because I've been committed to one guitar for so long, I tend to forget what affect they have as well. I have to remember why my LP has sat in it's case un-played for several years...not because it's a bad guitar, but the Mayo just oozes metal while the LP just doesn't do it for me in a metal context. Blues or rock it's the LP all day everyday, but when I try and use it for metal, the tone and feel is just all wrong for me.
 
MetalHeadMike said:
Absolutely Tom. My comment about it being just a guitar stems more from the price tag these relics tend to command and the pedestal they get placed on because of who played them. But then again, if I had a chance to play a guitar that my personal guitar god used (Jimi), I'd surely tremble in awe for sure. I think because I've been committed to one guitar for so long, I tend to forget what affect they have as well. I have to remember why my LP has sat in it's case un-played for several years...not because it's a bad guitar, but the Mayo just oozes metal while the LP just doesn't do it for me in a metal context. Blues or rock it's the LP all day everyday, but when I try and use it for metal, the tone and feel is just all wrong for me.
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Guitars are the rabbit hole I've only 'sort of' gone down in...I found the Charvel neck to be the perfect neck for what I like. So I've pretty much been in that brand for years now. I've found that as long as the guitar plays well; that's the most important thing to me. If the tone is fantastic then bonus. If the tone is so-so, then I try to improve it with brass or other type big blocks, different pickups, blocking the Floyd etc. I've never ordered a new guitar; and the last new one I bought was way back in 1991 with my old USA Hamer. Most of my cash goes into amps/cabs.
I think 'artist guitars' are for the collectors with unlimited funds..which is too bad because these instruments are made to be played. I've been to Dave's Guitar Shop in LaCrosse and marveled at his million dollar collection of 50s/60s strats/LPs/Teles/Explorers on the second floor...but I'm equally happy to plug in and play any of my lowly 1500-2K USA Charvels and smile.
 
Racerxrated said:
Guitars are the rabbit hole I've only 'sort of' gone down in...I found the Charvel neck to be the perfect neck for what I like. So I've pretty much been in that brand for years now. I've found that as long as the guitar plays well; that's the most important thing to me. If the tone is fantastic then bonus. If the tone is so-so, then I try to improve it with brass or other type big blocks, different pickups, blocking the Floyd etc. I've never ordered a new guitar; and the last new one I bought was way back in 1991 with my old USA Hamer. Most of my cash goes into amps/cabs.
I think 'artist guitars' are for the collectors with unlimited funds..which is too bad because these instruments are made to be played. I've been to Dave's Guitar Shop in LaCrosse and marveled at his million dollar collection of 50s/60s strats/LPs/Teles/Explorers on the second floor...but I'm equally happy to plug in and play any of my lowly 1500-2K USA Charvels and smile.
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Someday I may grab another guitar or two. I can't imagine trying to navigate two rabbit holes at the same time...amps & guitars...my wife would lose it!
 
* velcro-fly * said:
Agreed on most levels, but....

A bunch of years ago I went up to see Dave "Magic" Johnson, the guy that actually started Historic Makeovers, was doing all the paint for MAX and his replicas blah blah blah...anyway, we're in his office and I brought an Aiken Intruder up for him to checkout....we plugged it into his 4x12 and I plugged in my R7 he had just shaved the neck on and I noticed one of his guitars hanging on the wall and commented on how killer of a job he does with the with the Historic Makeover process. He told me to pull it down and wanted to hear it through the Aiken. As soon as I played one chord on it and felt it I got this weird vibe, the guitar was next level awesome and had a bizarre aura about, couldn't put my finger on it but it was a magic beast. 10 minutes later I commented again about how killer his work was and he said "oh I just replaced the nut on that, it's a real 59' Burst" :oops: I about shit my pants for a few reasons, got all sweaty palmed and couldn't give the guitar back to him fast enough hahaha. Guess my point is that some instruments do have a magic quality about them, maybe this Strat was in fact sprinkled with some unicorn dust :cool:
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I had literally that same kinda experience at Rumble Seat Music playing a real ‘59 burst without knowing it haha. He asked what guitar I wanna play through the Marshall and I just said any les Paul will do. Thought maybe it was just a freakishly good R9 he gave me and then he told me what I had in my hands this whole time… Those vintage guitars have a human-like quality to their tone that you just don’t get in later guitars. More personality and maturity/seasoning to the tone. That’s why my ‘57 LP Jr has been my best guitar. I always rave about those JR’s because I don’t know of anything else under $10k that can rival them tonally. Big Bang for the buck
 
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Racerxrated said:
True. But....there are some guitars that are just amazing right when you pick them up; they just feel like your fav pair of jeans and you are right at home. And some, have special sauce tone wise too....just something 'extra' that you can't put your finger on..complexity maybe?
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That’s how the good vintage guitars have been for me (a lot more with classicals). Often with the exceptional level guitar’s I already get a large sense of its tonal profile just when tuning it up (playing just open strings) acoustically. You can hear a lot going just in each open note and the way they overlap/ring over each other with each progressive string being played after and then you actually play it lol

Most expensive, fancy boutique guitars I’ve played today though, when I play a few open strings acoustically it just sounds to me like furniture with strings attached to it. The notes have little going on in them, no character, stale. In particular my last Vik and Barlow I had were like that, but they otherwise seemed like immaculate guitars in most other ways. Why should they care about tone though right? As long as the fretwork and little aesthetic details are perfect that’s all that counts
 
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braintheory said:
Those vintage guitars have a human-like quality to their tone that you just don’t get in later guitars. More personality and maturity/seasoning to the tone.
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I agree. I’ve had the opportunity to work on and play a few 50’s strats that are owned by friends. IMO, they definitely had ”something“ that the newer ones don’t. I couldn’t begin to speculate what could possibly cause them to sound better from a scientific standpoint, but they did, without a doubt.
 
Gibsonchild said:
I agree. I’ve had the opportunity to work on and play a few 50’s strats that are owned by friends. IMO, they definitely had ”something“ that the newer ones don’t. I couldn’t begin to speculate what could possibly cause them to sound better from a scientific standpoint, but they did, without a doubt.
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My guess would be a combination of the components all just being naturally aged (not just the woods) and being played, but who knows. IMO it’s something that can’t be duplicated artificially the way some guitars are trying to do to sound more vintage

I’ve got some newer guitars that sound great in their own way, debatably as good as some vintage guitars, but don’t do what they do. IMO probably better they go for being great in their own way rather than try to be vintage/something they’re not
 
braintheory said:
My guess would be a combination of the components all just being naturally aged (not just the woods) and being played, but who knows. IMO it’s something that can’t be duplicated artificially the way some guitars are trying to do to sound more vintage
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that would probably be my guess as well. And the cabinetmaker in me says it may have something to do with old growth lumber that was available back then vs new growth lumber we have now. But I admittedly don’t know a damn thing about guitar wood sourcing. The woods they use now may also be old growth lumber, but again, I admittedly know less than nothing about that kinda stuff.
 
Gibsonchild said:
that would probably be my guess as well. And the cabinetmaker in me says it may have something to do with old growth lumber that was available back then vs new growth lumber we have now. But I admittedly don’t know a damn thing about guitar wood sourcing. The woods they use now may also be old growth lumber, but again, I admittedly know less than nothing about that kinda stuff.
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The thing is I’ve tried (and own) quite a few recent made guitars (classicals as well) with very old growth woods and to me they still really don’t sound like vintage guitars, but at least closer to sounding like them. There’s lots of components: the old pickups, pots, caps, even the finish itself being made of stuff you can’t get today (as far as I’m aware) and finish turns out to be very important in the overall tone
 
Gibsonchild said:
that would probably be my guess as well. And the cabinetmaker in me says it may have something to do with old growth lumber that was available back then vs new growth lumber we have now. But I admittedly don’t know a damn thing about guitar wood sourcing. The woods they use now may also be old growth lumber, but again, I admittedly know less than nothing about that kinda stuff.
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I would guess that "old growth" in todays World is 20 years or so.... for all we know the wood used in the 50's to build the magic Paul's and Strats was 150 yrs old. For sure they weren't all magic, duds are all over the place, but damn the good ones are fantastic and there is something going on with them. I have a 1934 Martin 0-17 I bought from an old codger waaaaaay back when for $400, and it is the literal Voice of Angels acoustic guitar, I've never heard anything like it, square frets and all. The guitar itself is almost 100 years old, the wood could be 200 years old.....
 
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