Hello All,
My monthly piece is slightly delayed, but I do have some exciting updates for readers of The Retro Revival;
A retrospective on St. Valentine’s day. Valentine’s Day.
A video review of the Ernie Ball Music Man St. Vincent model. Last Thursday of February.
A video review of the Japanese Girl AMT Guitar Wah. Last Thursday of March.
What is most important in all of this is to remember that while economies and cultures change, there are elements of human nature that never do, like the commitment embidied by at least the concept of marriage, or in this case, it’s symbols.
The short version, it is a near perfect instrument, it embodies everything I look for in a quality musical instrument. Get one if you can, they are well worth it.
As a side note; I tried the St. Vincent EBMM guitar recently, it didn’t resonate with me, but if I had a daughter that wanted a pro level guitar that would do everything well and would be a high-quality performance instrument for her, as well as being contoured in a unique way for female players, this would be that instrument.
I extend an invitation to readers of my music column to join me as I am selling and optimizing my current gear for shows.
At the moment I am selling a good amount of my gear, making room for more summarized(does everything well) gear and that means having to make hard choices as far as what to sell and what to keep. That being said please join me as I go on a journey of sonic rediscovery and hopefully can inspire you to sell, modify, or get the very best out of your gear.
Reviews in the coming months include;
Celestion Gold 50-watt 8 Ohm speaker (replacing 25-watt 16 OHM)
Ernie Ball Music Man Luke III (with notes on my experience trying a St Vincent EBMM guitar)
Japanese Girl Wah
Mesa Engineering Rectoverb 25
Vox Night Train
And lots more!
You read correctly, I have been working closely with the gentlemen at Ronaldo Custom LLC, and one of my first Warmoth builds was begging for a maple neck, so this is the specimen that got attached to the swamp ash body, making my own Keith Richards style tele!
Very smooth neck, Grover tuners, Ronaldo Custom radius, and vintage style frets. Get in touch with me if you are interested in their instruments. =]
The short and sweet on this luthier is that he has made custom instruments and done repairs for many major rock acts that include; Mark Wood, Anthrax, The Allman bros. Band, Blue Oyster Cült, and many more! These a high quantity guitars being made for a cost that falls below most custom shops, with wood options at such a fair price that it is truly a joy to work with this shop to put something together.
Continuing from last months post, I found quite a few parts that simply worked out to be perfect fits for this guitar, Sound wise the guitar has more of a strat sound because of the pickups I had available. The aged finish on the neck is comfortable and easy to play on, not sticky, and has a certain mojo that a thinner neck finish can facilitate.
some specs;
The neck I ordered was intended to be a copy of my Ronaldo Custom Tele’s original neck (was an ’83 fender tele neck). The 80’s to 90’s C neck profile with a more modern radius (10″ fingerboard radius), Rosewood fretboard, and Kulson tuners.
The included bone nut was something i needed to take to my guitar tech, but otherwise everything fell perfectly into place. I really enjoy how worn in the instrument feels, as well as how I can feel the woods vibrate because of the thinner & lack of paint. Theres a bold character to this guitar that a stock telecaster off the wall simply would not be able to contain.
Rewind to Spring of 2016, at my favorite guitar shop I am shown a MJT T style body. It was previously lake placid blue, but the way that nitrocellulose works is that it checks and ages over time so blue turns green over time, and this body was a wonderful shade of green, granting this guitar the name “Clover”. This was a first and pivotal step in my journey in my happy accidents guitar, starting with the matching of a rosewood board with a tortoise pick guard and my spare pickups going into this creature. The spare pickups in question are the neck pickup from my ’85 S type guitar, and the bridge pickup from my black telecaster before I swapped the stock single coil pickup for a Seymour Duncan Lil ’59 which I also highly recommend. This pickup blend is very special for me, the neck sound is a bit like an on board low pass filter, and the bridge sounds like a Tele bridge, bright but punchy, together they blend into a beefy but bright sound that’s something I’ve rarely found in other instruments, with a boost in signal as well!! =]
There is a charm and comfort to a worn in paint job on a guitar and my enjoyment of the character in the MJT body brought me to the point of ordering a neck from them, stay tuned ;).
The fender bass is a classic instrument, since its debut in the early 50’s it has been used in nearly every style of bass playing, and every genre of music. Vintage fender basses now cost upwards of $5000 , on the low end of the spectrum, sometimes less, but classic era basses cost the remortgaging of a home.
I myself would love to have capacities to afford such luxuries, but in the absence of such funds I found a great way to upgrade my Mexican made p bass, the Wilkinson 4 saddle bass bridge!
My p bass is an early Mexican made one from 1992, the neck is a more j bass profile, and it has shaller tuners which are solid, and these had a thin layer of finish on the neck which feels very nice. The bridge has always been ok and reliable on it, but it seemed to be a chrome, or nickel plated brass. The Wilkinson bridge has large brass saddles and upon installation and first playing it feels and sounds livelier and louder. These are marketed as a classic style bridge and it is very accurate. I found a massive difference in the resonance of the bass acoustically, and some extra clarity in the notes.
The old bridge had an ok sound, and the bass sounded good before swapping the bridges out, but I much prefer the feel of the bass with the new bridge. You can find the bridge I ordered here; http://www.wdmusic.com/wilkinson_bass_bridges.html
After a lovely visit to Duke Farms today I thought I would check their “Detailed Timeline” for a comprehensive record of all of their activities on the estate in the last decade.
You can check their timeline out at www.dukefarms.org/About-Us/History/timeline/
The ‘Detailed Timeline’ neglects to discuss anything about the 1909 conservatory since its retirement from the name, “Garden of Nations” following its closure and subsequent rot in 2008. It is also inaccurate to call the greenhouses 1917, because they were only modified in 1917 and again in 1958. They were erected under J. B. Duke’s direction in 1909.
The Hollywood wing was overseen by Nanaline, actually, not Doris- who was far less interested than her mother and husband in adding to the estate mansion
1947- Doris Duke Marries Porfirio Rubirosa(I found this info on WIKIPEDIA, first thing that comes up when you search Ms. Duke’s name, it took about 20 seconds of total research to find out this basic fact).
Photo from www.eclecticallyvintage.com/2013/05/a-day-at-duke-farms/ in 2013
2008- The Garden on Nations is dismantled, and the historic greenhouse is abandoned. Earliest allegations of open windows at the Duke Manor come to our attention.
July 30 2015- Duke Farms seeks permit to have the home of their founder demolished. Citizens group DORIS fights for the preservation of the historic home as the foundations founded by Doris Duke continue fighting for permission to demolish it. Emily Cooperman and Michael Catania present testimony without evidence of a written record of the claimed “mothballing” as well as no documented proof of a claimed “decade of research for adaptive reuses”. The meeting runs late because the line of people opposed to the demolition of the home of Doris Duke is around the wall to the door.
September 24th 2015 – Professional testimony was provided by members of DORIS accompanied with point by point elaboration as to how testimony applies to legal statutes which are supposed to guide the reasoning by which all preservation commission members ought to use. Public comments were limited to 3 minutes per person. Ed Henry speaks publicly regarding the opposition to their permit to demolish, stating that he is moved by peoples concerns about the preservation of the residence, but that the interest to demolish is also held by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
October 15 2015 – Hillsborough ‘s historic preservation commission votes 6-1 in favour of demolition despite very clear public opposition.
March 4th 2016- Demolition of Doris Duke’s home begins after nearly a year of legal resistance by a citizens group.
March 6th 2016- A Court Mandated Cease Work Order was Issued to prevent further demolition of the Historic Home of Doris Duke.
April of 2016- The historic home of Doris Duke is demolished by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation & Duke Farms.
Something that was discussed and thrown away during the Hillsborough Historical Preservation Committee meetings was the will of Doris Duke. In short, the will was seen as irrelevant to the case of if they could or couldn’t demolish. Demolition neglects article 5 C 1 of Miss Duke’s Will!
5.C. 1. “The bequests to my employees under this Subdivision C are in gratitude for their past services rendered to me and my foundations. It is my hope and expectation that my Executors and Trustees and the foundations in which I am a member, director, trustee or officer at my death or which are to be created under this Will shall employ as many of these persons as reasonably possible in order to maintain my various properties and to operate these foundations after my death. The determination of my Executors as to the persons to receive a bequest under this Subdivision C and the amount of each such bequest shall be binding and conclusive on all interested persons.”
Feel free to scroll through the entire will, but to give you a picture of Miss Duke’s desires the word maintain(or the like) is used NINE TIMES!
The word DEMOLISH was used ONCE ; “To manage, maintain, improve, lease (for any term whether or not extending beyond the term of the trusts created by this Will or the term fixed by any law), mortgage, partition or otherwise dispose of any real or personal property or any interest therein, to make repairs and alterations in any buildings now or hereafter located on any such property or to demolish the same, and to construct new buildings, all in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as they shall deem advisable;” This Article comes after 5 C 1 wherein it requests that her properties are maintained. The word “maintain” even comes before “demolish” in this clause!
If you want to check out the full document Miss Duke’s Will can be found at; http://livingtrustnetwork.com/estate-planning-center/last-will-and-testament/wills-of-the-rich-and-famous/last-will-and-testament-of-doris-duke.html.
Retro Curious Rebellious: The Revival 