I went back to my ToneLab LE for this . . .

[Egelund]

Hi Dave

Why is it, that whenever you post videos with different gear, sometimes alternative to the gear used by all the Hankies, a big discussion get started right away.
Maybe it is just me, but I look at it as interesting and maybe now and again you get to reflect on whether the Holy grail, can be closely achieved, without so much money spent.
I know that we all travelled through guitars, amps and echo units, spend fortunes, and enjoyed every minute of it.
I will support you here, my latest guitar is a burns marque pro, a custom elite serie.
It has trisonic pickups, Wilkinson tremelo system, and Wilkinson hardware.
The pickups has a lot of drive, compared to my other Burns, Marvin and Dream.
I played it live on several occasions and it sounded good, just needed more treble than my Fender.

Best regards
Niels

[dave robinson]

I have every confidence that your Marquee will deliver the goods with a bit of careful setting up Niels.
I spend much of my time doing what I call 'What If' experiments just for the hell of it and I get enjoyment from sharing and discussing with others.

One important thing I'd like to point out is that back in 1960/61 before I began playing, all the groups that came to our local pub 'The Centre Spot' which was across the road from our house, used Hofner, Burns, Fenton Weill, Vox and Antoria guitars with Watkins Amps or Linear Concords with a Watkins Copicat. Very rarely would you spot a Fender Strat or Vox or Selmer amp, if you did it was the more established groups that had those, with sometimes a Binson or Swissecho. The point is, all the guys with the cheaper gear sounded great, very close to my records of The Shadows - hence my interest in this area.

Back to the experiments , it's all about enjoyment these days so whilst I'm having fun and not causing anyone any harm, that's what I'm going to be doing, between gigs and cruises.

[abstamaria]

Dave, you wrote, “ There's no doubt that there's a 'snobbery' thing going on with what's written on the headstock, I suffered it myself a few years ago but these days I don't care.”

Perhaps for some, that’s true. But I don’t see that in my friends. They want to have nice guitars for their own pleasure, not to raise their status in other people’s eyes. They don’t suffer, I think, personality issues that require them to sport a Fender logo on the headstock. They just want to have the guitar for their own satisfaction. They feel good playing a guitar they’ve always wanted.

In my case,in high school, my guitar was a locally-made one with a Fender-style body and a Gibson-style headstock. I always wanted a Fender, but didn’t get one till I was close to 60. Did I want one for snob appeal? No, I just wanted one! It was such a pleasure to have one finally.

I know car collectors, for instance, that keep their collections very private. I feel sometimes that they would be embarrassed if people knew they had the cars. They find pleasure in seeing the cars, using them, looking after them, even just sitting in a chair in the garage reading a book, learning trivia about a car. I understand that perfectly. I don’t think they have personality or self-esteem issues. They’re just crazy. Like me.

I think this just underscores tthe diversity in this forum. Some play to satisfy a paying audience, others just sit alone at home trying to be Hank, and theres a whole range in between and beyond. Our quests and goals differ, but the point is, as someone wrote above, to enjoy what we do and have fun.

Your current quest is a worthwhile one. I’m happy you’ve a goal that occupies you and makes you happy.

Best regards,

Andy

[Gatwick1946]

Dave

I was 14 yrs old in 1960 and I can still remember the thrill of seeing,(in shades of glorious grey) Bert Weedon on the 16'' TV screen, or was it Joe Brown on OH BOY or Six Five Special with their Hoffners and Guild guitars, ( this must have been before Joe got his Gibson); I wanted to emulate them! Football, cricket etc. didn't stand a chance.

People will always carp and criticise, that is their right to express their opinion. The point I am trying to make is that I enjoy and read your posts, so keep it up!

I know that I will never be able to play like my guitar heroes, but I still need info so that I can keep on trying.

Lets keep this thread on track folks or the ref will be giving us a red card!

Kindest regards,
Christopher

[Gatwick1946]

Dave,

As a prime example of how interesting your posts are:-

The other day I was in a junk/antiques shop ('cos they always have a few cheap guitars), and on the wall was a Strat shaped electric thingy, in THAT red, with a worn maple board - but the price tag was £850!!! (or about £500 more than I forked out for my MIM Strat). On the headstock was the Tokai logo, so thanks to what you posted, the reason for the high (to me) price tag is explained.

kindest regards,
Christopher

[roger bayliss]

I has a Brian May for a while, but in the end it sounded like a Strat in many way with the exception of the bridge and middle being wired in series and the phase reversal thing. I did consider modding a strat for series or parallel wiring but never got around to it. The bridge neck sounds a bit like an humbucker and is meatier

[dave robinson]

The Brian May sounds like a Strat because it's three single coil pickups are wired the same. Only when you bring the phase switches in does the character of the sound change, but because of it's shorter scale length and mahogany body there are slight tonal differences, but in a good way. I like it.

[Uncle Fiesta]

What happened to just enjoying ourselves with our playing? I'm in my twilight years and I've got no intention of spending what time I've got left pursuing exact clones of original recordings from sixty years ago.

Quite right. Dave's demo sounds fine to me, but it does it no harm that he is playing the notes in all the correct positions - something that large numbers of people still don't realise is important.

[dave robinson]

I seem to have gone backwards having gone back to a Twin Reverb and the Vox Tonelab LE, but it's a simple set up, looks pleasing and it works.
The Katana, as good as it is doesn't please me aesthetically and folk say that people don't care about how it looks on stage but I care. If we can't use a bank of AC30s, the Fender amps are a good second choice for me.
I consequently have two new Katana 100 heads for sale and the GA-FC Foot controllers too. Anybody interested message me.