# Your funny/scarry Guitar Accuisition Story



## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

My 2014 melody maker

So I find this guitar on kijiji. $350 in toronto. I was like either I'm getting taken or somebody doesn't know what they have. So I meet the guy/kid in brampton @ about 930 on a weeknight in brampton in a shoppers drugmart parking lot. When I get there he's sitting in a newer Wrx imprezza the car had definantly had some money thrown at it but was filthy ( had the whole vibe of I have money but didn't earn it so I don't care) upon saying hey to the guy the best way I can describe him is russian mob kid. Had the full Adidas work out suit and everything. We talk for a min. He seems a Lil sketched out or something. I look at the guitar and everything seems legit I don't even bother asking why he's selling so cheap. He then directs me to his trunk where there is a bunch of other premo quality cables and such. He try to sell them to me I say I have no more money. So he just gives em too me anyways. I'm thinking weird but whatever if he wants to come make a money transaction under the influence of something and make silly decisions that's fine by me. So when all is said and done and as I'm loading the git in my truck. This kid walks over with the money I'd just given him to this murdered out Lexus that was sitting there the whole time but I hadn't payed attention too and passes the guy in the passenger seat the money. Then both cars peeled out of the lot. I was like wtf just happened. I guess I'll never know. But I got a nice sweet light gibby out of it. My grammer here will be abismal I'm on a cell phone.


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## skilsaw (Nov 4, 2014)

Drug debt.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

skilsaw said:


> Drug debt.


Pretty much what I was thinking


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Unfortunately, I think you guys are right. What a waste of a life.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

skilsaw said:


> Drug debt.


Or scoring.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

about 5 yrs ago, i wanted to buy a fakai from a guy on craig's list. the story i was told was that the guy's deceased father owned a music store, and he had several of them in storage. he wasn't a guitar player and just wanted to sell off the inventory. the guitar was supposed to be brand new unsold from back when. the deal was, he was supposed to send over his assistant with the guitar at 1o am to my house. so 11 am comes and goes, then noon. no guy. 12:30 i get a phone call from the assistant. he says " sorry i haven't been there yet. i came out this morning and someone put out all the windows in my car, and cut my tires. guess i pissed someone off. i'll be there by 3 if that's ok" so i say alright, but i have a funny vibe. 5 o'clock rolls around, i get a call from the assitant again. "sorry, got held up with something else, but i'll be on my way soon." so i tell him no thanks, i think i'll pass. he then screams at me into the phone " THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT, I SHOULD COME OVER THERE AND PUNCH YOU RIGHT IN YOUR FACE!!!" lucky for me he never showed. i absolutely hate it when i get punched right in my face. the next day, as i walked into my apt, i ran into mike mckenna. he had a really cool canadian dillion 533 he was flipping. i bought it, and it turned into a great guitar. someday, i'll find me a good tokai at a time when i have some cash.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

_Stares up at the ceiling in a big empty echoie room and yells......_guys if there's a mod in here can he toast the second thread of this I made by accident trying to fix the spelling error in the title but people used the spelling mistake one anyways lol


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

MelodyQuaker said:


> _Stares up at the ceiling in a big empty echoie room and yells......_guys if there's a mod in here can he toast the second thread of this I made by accident trying to fix the spelling error in the title but people used the spelling mistake one anyways lol


Or just leave it to see who answers twice.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

Electraglide said:


> Or just leave it to see who answers twice.


That works too


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

On a positive note there is still a spelling mistake in both titles, but carry on


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

I drove down to finch station to purchase a gibson flying V for 6 hundred bucks ages ago. 

One guy showed me the guitar while another guy paced back and forth - almost like he was looking out.

It looked fake to me. Telling them I didn't want it was tough to do, but I did it. I sped-walked backed to my car (I think I was even doing the speed walker elbow-thing).


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2016)

MelodyQuaker said:


> .. I made by accident trying to fix the spelling error in the title but people used the spelling mistake one anyways lol


You can edit the title of both. On the other thread, just add 'dead thread'.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

laristotle said:


> You can edit the title of both. On the other thread, just add 'dead thread'.
> 
> View attachment 19001


When I click on my thread tools all it says is add poll


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

MelodyQuaker said:


> When I click on my thread tools all it says is add poll


That's odd. The thread owner usually gets 3 options under "Thread Tools" - Edit Title, Add Poll, Delete Thread

At least that's what I see on any thread I've started. I was surprised to see that Larry's only shows "Edit Title".

Don't sweat it anyway, it's obvious we all know what you mean, LOL.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

davetcan said:


> That's odd. The thread owner usually gets 3 options under "Thread Tools" - Edit Title, Add Poll, Delete Thread
> 
> At least that's what I see on any thread I've started. I was surprised to see that Larry's only shows "Edit Title".
> 
> Don't sweat it anyway, it's obvious we all know what you mean, LOL.


Lol yeah. I can spell I promise lol


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2016)

I'm sure some of us have been 'scarred' as well.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

laristotle said:


> I'm sure some of us have been 'scarred' as well.


Imdeed


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

laristotle said:


> I'm sure some of us have been 'scarred' as well.


I thought this thread was going to be about "relic'd" guitars?


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

jb welder said:


> I thought this thread was going to be about "relic'd" guitars?


Ha ha ha


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

That would be a good thread too! (but without any accusations, lol).


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

In 1984 I was a skinny little 17 year old kid with $400 bucks in his pocket and dreams of becoming a rockstar. Headed down to Richmond's Trading Post to buy my first electric gEEtar!! The helpful salesman pointed me towards a guitar like Hendrix's. Sat there playing it for a bit when this big biker dude wearing a neck brace and using a cane comes hobbling in with his girlfriend. Starts showing some interest in said Hendrix guitar. I quickly take it to the salesman and say, "I'll buy it!" As I am wrapping up my transaction the biker says to me, "you better run kid". I was pretty certain he was joking and I did manage a nervous laugh as I quickly exited stage left. LOL.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

With his cane and neck brace...a brisk walk would probably have been sufficient.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

JBFairthorne said:


> With his cane and neck brace...a brisk walk would probably have been sufficient.


Sweep the knee  (then run like hell)


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I've never had anything like the previous tales--each one has its own story--but I don't know if any are funny, scary or scarry, or drug related.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

I had another one happen about 4 years ago. Guy had a 12 string up on kijiji. We email back and forth and I decide I am going to buy it. I had to go out to Mississauga to pick it up from Toronto. As I am leaving work I shoot him a text to let him know I am on my way. I am not overly familiar with Mississauga and we are meeting at a Starbucks. Shortly after he replies with an, "I'll see you there" I get another text from him. "Hide in the subway until I text you". Hmmmmmm.......not sure what to make of it so I reply, "should I be worried about the person hiding in the subway?" He gets back say "LOL just my gf". I am still a little suspicious but I figured we will be at a Starbucks. I leave my money in the car, story checks out. He has an Asian gf that tries not reduce her exposure to the sun. Decide I will buy the guitar and invite him out to the car to pay him. He says he will wait for me in the store. LOL. Guess that made us even.


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## Guest (Mar 7, 2016)

davetcan said:


> Sweep the knee  (then run like hell)


Wouldn't have to. It should be like escaping from 50's movie zombie. lol.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

fretzel said:


> In 1984 I was a skinny little 17 year old kid with $400 bucks in his pocket and dreams of becoming a rockstar. Headed down to Richmond's Trading Post to buy my first electric gEEtar!! The helpful salesman pointed me towards a guitar like Hendrix's. Sat there playing it for a bit when this big biker dude wearing a neck brace and using a cane comes hobbling in with his girlfriend. Starts showing some interest in said Hendrix guitar. I quickly take it to the salesman and say, "I'll buy it!" As I am wrapping up my transaction the biker says to me, "you better run kid". I was pretty certain he was joking and I did manage a nervous laugh as I quickly exited stage left. LOL.


In 1992, I was in a Moncton pawn shop when I spied a beat-up 59 Bassman...a real one not a reissue. The guy wanted $40 for it. I couldn't believe my eyes so I was muttering to myself, and took a peek around the back of it. It only had one power tube so nobody could try it out, and one of the 4 original P10Rs was absent. I muttered something about there being only 3 of the 4 speakers, so the guy did some quick mental math, and said I could have it for $30 (3/4 of $40, right?). I managed to say "Sure" while biting my tongue very hard, walked out slowly, put that thing in the trunk of my car, and drove out of town like I had just sold bad acid to a chapter of Hells Angels.

You know that Ikea commercial where the woman comes out yelling to her husband "Start the car! Start the car!"? That's how I felt. I was thrilled, but terrified I was going to somehow get "found out".

Still have the amp. Richard "nonreverb" Vernon did some work on it last year, and brought it back to non-shocking life. I replaced the missing P10R with a recent-issue P10R.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

JBFairthorne said:


> With his cane and neck brace...a brisk walk would probably have been sufficient.


Depends on his girlfriend. Some biker broads are as bad as a junkyard bitch with pups.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

laristotle said:


> Wouldn't have to. It should be like escaping from 50's movie zombie. lol.


Yeah, sure. Richard Denning maybe or Greg Palmer.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Electraglide said:


> Depends on his girlfriend. Some biker broads are as bad as a junkyard bitch with pups.



I kinda think she had a neck brace on as well. LOL.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

fretzel said:


> I kinda think she had a neck brace on as well. LOL.


Don't matter. They can still move fast. I.m married to one.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Not really funny or scary, but here's my story.

When I was 17, my sister started dating her now ex-husband. He heard me playing guitar in the house and said that his brother played bass and that I should meet him. Several months later I actually did meet his brother and we became pretty good friends for a while. We jammed a fair bit, talked about starting a band, interviewed a few drummers but got no where, and he also would randomly call me declaring a I needed a woman and begin reading me the 'personals' out of the back of the Super Shopper.....because nothing spells class like personals from the Super Shopper. He even loaned me a what I think was a Tokai P bass copy...not sure, but it wasn't a bad bass.

Anyway, after a few months I went over to his place one day and said they were cleaning out his grandmother's attic and found these; in front me me were an absolutely mint (unused) 50's Fender pedal steel and a mint 1959 Fender Harvard. At the time I really knew nothing about amps, but I knew old Fenders were worth a lot of money. It turns out that they were both his dad's. He bought them both new in 1959, used them once or twice, then lost interest and put them away and forgot about them. I thought it was pretty cool that he had them and thought he could sell them and make a fair bit of cash. I was just a teenager and knew nothing.

A few years later I became more knowledgeable about gear, especially old Fenders and realized HOLY MOTHER OF GOD he's got an awesome amp. By this point I was working full time and had some money. I remember clearly it being a Saturday morning when I was out and I saw his dad. I saw him, but he didn't see me, and it got me thinking I need to contact my brother in law's brother about the amp. My plan was to say no bullshit, here's the full amount for the amp. If you want to sell it, I'll buy it and pay every penny. I wasn't in touch with him much anymore, but I thought it would be alright with him.

The very next day, my sister and her now husband came over to the house and told me that his dad had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and had a few months at the most. My heart totally sank as I realized there was no way I could now offer to buy his dad's amp from him. I figured that was just how it was going to be, and I let it go. His dad died about two months later.

About two years after that, I was now at my niece's second birthday party and I ran into the b in-laws brother. We were talking and getting along pretty well. At the time I had been wanting a bass but didn't want to spend a lot of money so I asked him if he still had it and if I could buy it from him. He laughed and said it was long gone. I asked about the pedal steel and he said that had gone to the dump too (gasp). To this day I don't know what came over me at that moment, but I asked him if he still had the Harvard. He said yeah, it's still there. I then proceeded to give him a ridiculously insulting offer by saying, "Hey, I'll give you $500 bucks for it," knowing full and well it was worth a hell of a lot more than that. He looked at me really pissed off and said, "I'm not going to sell that to you." I then thought, oh shit, now I've done it. He then shrugged and said, "Meh, if you want it, you can have it. Call me tomorrow and I'll bring it over." As my heart started pounding uncontrollably, I walked away in a daze wondering what the hell just happened.

The next day I called him up and asked if he was sure he still wanted to do this. He said yes....

About a half hour later he shows up at the door with the amp, original cover on it and everything. He handed it to me, looked me dead in the eye and said, "If you sell it you're dead!" and walked off. To this day I don't know how this happened.

The amp was (and still is) in pristine condition and totally original (tubes and speaker) and works and sounds great. I had it checked out shortly after I got it and everything was fine with it. The tech I took it to told me afterwards that he had been in this business for a long time, and that it was the cleanest Tweed he had ever seen.

15 years later and I still have it and enjoy it. If anyone wants a pic, maybe I can put one up. Hope this story wasn't too long.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

butterknucket said:


> Not really funny or scary, but here's my story.
> 
> When I was 17, my sister started dating her now ex-husband. He heard me playing guitar in the house and said that his brother played bass and that I should meet him. Several months later I actually did meet his brother and we became pretty good friends for a while. We jammed a fair bit, talked about starting a band, interviewed a few drummers but got no where, and he also would randomly call me declaring a I needed a woman and begin reading me the 'personals' out of the back of the Super Shopper.....because nothing spells class like personals from the Super Shopper. He even loaned me a what I think was a Tokai P bass copy...not sure, but it wasn't a bad bass.
> 
> ...


Nah that was a great story


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

But really is there no mods around?


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

MelodyQuaker said:


> But really is there no mods around?


Nope, we just run amuck......


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

Electraglide said:


> Nope, we just run amuck......


I like it


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

MelodyQuaker said:


> Nah that was a great story


Definitely.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

Nobody else has got anything.???


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Electraglide said:


> Nope, we just run amuck......


Of course you have to be here a while first. The new guys buy coffee.....and none of that tim mies or starbucks stuff.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Electraglide said:


> Of course you have to be here a while first. The new guys buy coffee.....and none of that tim mies or starbucks stuff.


Starbucks isn't that bad. Not the best by far, but drinkable.


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2016)

GC prospects also have to do google research for us when we don't want to back up our comments. lol.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

laristotle said:


> GC prospects also have to do google research for us when we don't want to back up our comments. lol.


I don't need Google I've got me lol


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

mhammer said:


> In 1992, I was in a Moncton pawn shop when I spied a beat-up 59 Bassman...a real one not a reissue. The guy wanted $40 for it. I couldn't believe my eyes so I was muttering to myself, and took a peek around the back of it. It only had one power tube so nobody could try it out, and one of the 4 original P10Rs was absent. I muttered something about there being only 3 of the 4 speakers, so the guy did some quick mental math, and said I could have it for $30 (3/4 of $40, right?). I managed to say "Sure" while biting my tongue very hard, walked out slowly, put that thing in the trunk of my car, and drove out of town like I had just sold bad acid to a chapter of Hells Angels.
> 
> You know that Ikea commercial where the woman comes out yelling to her husband "Start the car! Start the car!"? That's how I felt. I was thrilled, but terrified I was going to somehow get "found out".
> 
> Still have the amp. Richard "nonreverb" Vernon did some work on it last year, and brought it back to non-shocking life. I replaced the missing P10R with a recent-issue P10R.


Mhammer, I found the pic! (Hope you don't mind)










Sent from my Other Brain


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

bzrkrage said:


> Mhammer, I found the pic! (Hope you don't mind)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What are those white fx boxes on top of the amp?


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## BSTheTech (Sep 30, 2015)

Story from a buddy. Found a Strat online and went to meet the guy. Guy meets him outside of a pawnshop, says he had to hock the guitar but they could go inside and see it. They go in and the owner asked the pawn shop guy to bring his guitar out so my buddy could look at it. Pawn broker tells them both to get the F$&@ out of his store and come back with the pawn money or F$& off. Buddy goes outside and gives the guy enough to get the guitar out of pawn and eventually leaves with it.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

bzrkrage said:


> Mhammer, I found the pic! (Hope you don't mind)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What's the guitar?


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Looks like a modified Wilshire, isn't?

In short, @mhammer we need a full report on this pic!


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Nothing as interesting as all of you, but...

20+ years ago the band leader loaned me his rather nice Washburn F style mandolin (spruce on maple, all solid woods) as he had several other equal or better instruments. He never asked for it back and told me to quit asking him if he wanted it back. Years passed and he happened to be at a gig I was playing with a different band. During a break he casually mentioned that he had a mandolin just like mine and that he should get it out again. He only laughed when I told him it was his...I'm sure he didn't believe me. A couple more years pass and he phones me to demand his mandolin back. He was kind of hostile but I graciously replied as he wished. He then loaned it to some punk guy who trashed it more in a few weeks than I did in several years. Fast forward a few more years and last summer I bump into my former band leader but this time he didn't remember owning that particular mandolin. I wonder if the punk guy still has it.

Peace, Mooh.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> What's the guitar?


It's a '64 "batwing" Epi Coronet, given to me by my late cousin, many years ago. It started out life cherry red with a single metal dog-eared P-90 and a bad vibrola. It has been modded so many times and in so many ways, that it's a source of shame. I replaced the skinny frets with jumbos after reading somewhere that they could help to increase sustain and stabilize a neck (and this neck is so wiggly you can use it as a whammy bar). The P-90 was given to singer-songwriter-rhythm-guitarist-extraordinaire Marshall Crenshaw in 1982 (because he also played a Coronet back in the day), and it has had a Strat complement, a bridge humbucker, and other things along the way. The current crème bridge P-90 is a Mighty Mite, and the neck pickup is one I had to build myself, given the annoyingly narrow neck (the outside strings lined up to the inside of their respective polepieces). The polepieces are from an old grey-bottom Strat pickup that bit the dust, but it ended up being a terrific pickup; one of my very best. It has had a BIgsby installed and removed several times, and had a Leo Quan Badass bridge for a number of years before switching back to the LP Jr type wraparound. If I ever find an arm for the Vibrola, or fabricate one, I'll re-install that. When I was in Nashville six years ago, I visited Gruhn's Guitars . They had a display of about 8-10 Coronets and similar, and none of them had the Vibrola arms. I asked the staff person if they were removed to prevent theft or something, and he told me that they came in that way. So I gather they were simply easy to fall off and lose.

The Coronet, Crestwood, and Wilshire shared the same body profile, so you are close. I picked up a re-issue Wilshire about 2 years back (love the family body shape and unlimited fret access). The neck is much wider and thicker than the Coronet (hence more stable), and the body is also about 1/4" thicker, giving more weight and more bass.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

mhammer said:


> It's a '64 "batwing" Epi Coronet, given to me by my late cousin, many years ago. It started out life cherry red with a single metal dog-eared P-90 and a bad vibrola. It has been modded so many times and in so many ways, that it's a source of shame. I replaced the skinny frets with jumbos after reading somewhere that they could help to increase sustain and stabilize a neck (and this neck is so wiggly you can use it as a whammy bar). The P-90 was given to singer-songwriter-rhythm-guitarist-extraordinaire Marshall Crenshaw in 1982 (because he also played a Coronet back in the day), and it has had a Strat complement, a bridge humbucker, and other things along the way. The current crème bridge P-90 is a Mighty Mite, and the neck pickup is one I had to build myself, given the annoyingly narrow neck (the outside strings lined up to the inside of their respective polepieces). The polepieces are from an old grey-bottom Strat pickup that bit the dust, but it ended up being a terrific pickup; one of my very best. It has had a BIgsby installed and removed several times, and had a Leo Quan Badass bridge for a number of years before switching back to the LP Jr type wraparound. If I ever find an arm for the Vibrola, or fabricate one, I'll re-install that. When I was in Nashville six years ago, I visited Gruhn's Guitars . They had a display of about 8-10 Coronets and similar, and none of them had the Vibrola arms. I asked the staff person if they were removed to prevent theft or something, and he told me that they came in that way. So I gather they were simply easy to fall off and lose.
> 
> The Coronet, Crestwood, and Wilshire shared the same body profile, so you are close. I picked up a re-issue Wilshire about 2 years back (love the family body shape and unlimited fret access). The neck is much wider and thicker than the Coronet (hence more stable), and the body is also about 1/4" thicker, giving more weight and more bass.


I thought it was a Coronet.


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## MelodyQuaker (Mar 5, 2016)

butterknucket said:


> I thought it was a Coronet.


Zombie thread........ kill it..kill it now


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