Enjoying my guitars, planning for my next one ...

Saturday, April 4, 2015 -- Been playing quite a bit in my spare time ... I purchased some lessons

from Scott Grove of Groovy Music Lessons ... I bought like 4 lessons and received an additional 10 or so free. The only problem I have with Scott's lessons is that you have to be pretty damn good to start with ... or have pretty big hands to cover the fretboard as well as he can. I'm not there, lol.

I'm still browsing Youtube and finding some good tidbits there, including some really nice pseudo-surf riffs that really sound unique by picking the notes and playing the chords right at the bridge -- nothing really new, but a nice technique for creating a different sound regardless of the guitar and pickups.

I recently switched from my Ibanez Gio GAX30 as my go-to guitar and picked up the Peavey Raptor strat clone. I recently put some Elixir polywebs on it, and it plays very very sweetly. I've got too many guitars leaning around my office ... the Peavey, the Ibanez, the Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollowbody, with my Davison Les Paul copy back behind the table. I don't have a hard case for the OS or the LP and I don't have funds to buy them. Actually, I'm more inclined to sell the OE-30 and don't think I'll invest in a case for it.

MY NEXT NEW AXE.  OK, I've decide what I'm going to buy next, and I'm prepared to sell some

of my other hobby stuff to fund it -- my next guitar is the Musicvox Spaceranger.

Yep, I've fallen in love with the funky, chunky look of the entire Musicvox lineup. The Spaceranger is the most radical of the line, followed by the Space Cadet and the more conservative looking MI-5. The company is based in the U.S., but from what I understand the guitars are produced in Indonesia. The reviews I've read have been nothing but glowing -- and the videos really highlight the range of tones, the quality of the fit and finish.

I'm going to liquidate some of my other hobby collection, and probably my OE-30, in order to fund the purchase of a new guitar or two. Musicvox has a couple of guitars listed on eBay, and there are a couple of used Musicvoxes listed in auctions.

Actually, I'm looking at the custom edition Musicvox guitars ... one with three pickups. It's on the order of $1,200 new, but that's still reasonable compared to a new Fender Strat.

There are still some guitars I have the hots for ... I want a real Telecaster, preferably in surf green; I

would like an Epiphone ES335 or similar guitar; heck, let's add a Rickenbacker 12 string, a Fender Musicmaster bass like the one I once owned. Or how about a Fender Jaguar? Yep ... I also would love to have a Gretsch Chet Atkins, though I really need to skill to play it effectively too.

GUITAR I ONCE OWNED.  Browsing eBay recently I was pleased to come across this little jewel .... it was believed to be a Teisco guitar though it didn't have a label, and neither did the one I owned. The machine-tooled metal pickguard looks much like that found on several models -- in fact, its identical to the pickguard on at least one Teisco model.

The one I owned was given to me by Kevin Fuller, a roommate I had when I lived in Jasper, Ind.  Kevin and I were electronic technicians for a company that manufactured electronic organs (the musical kind). Kevin had a beautiful Gibson SG -- cherry finish, late 60s or early 70s vintage, it was the real deal.

Anyway, Kevin owned this beaten and bruised Teisco guitar. It was pretty junky, to be honest. If I remember, it had some neck issues. I didn't know spit about setting up a guitar at the time, hell, I

played bass mostly, as well as my pre-CBS Fender Jazzmaster. The JM arrived setup beautifully, I never had to touch it.

The Junkmaster (as I called it) featured a single pickup. The action was soooo high you couldn't play down the neck beyond the fifth fret. The neck wasn't securely mounted, and the single pickup was so microphonic you could speak into it it like a microphone.

It was interesting to see the example on eBay, which was actually in better shape than the one I inherited from. What was also surprising was the price it was listed for ... had I know there would be a collector's market for these cheap Japanese guitars, I wouldn't have GIVEN the damn thing away!

I've seen a variety of Teisco models for sale on eBay, and they're certainly unique. I wouldn't mind finding one, but I'm sure not interested in paying what they're asking for. But that's just me.

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