|
|
#1
08-28-2020, 08:51 PM
|
|||
|
|||
Anybody need a Gretsch - CHEAP...? (MF Labor Day Deal)
$499 gets you this beauty: the stillborn Gretsch Mary Ford Standard - with a set of honest-to-Brooklyn, patent-number Professional Series Filter'trons:
  https://www.musiciansfriend.com/guit...lectric-guitar Some apocryphal Gretsch lore and trivia: After her divorce from Les Paul in 1963 (I was fortunate enough to see their last TV appearance as a kid, in 1962) Mary Ford was quietly attempting to jumpstart both a solo career and an endorsement deal of her own with Gretsch. It has been rumored that the short-lived (and now uber-rare) "Princess" pastel-colored solidbodies based on the '63 Corvette platform (vaguely resembling the contemporary - and strong-selling - single-pickup SG/Les Paul Junior, and sold as an outfit with the matching white case and amplifier) were in fact intended to be the first "Mary Ford" instruments, to be joined by similarly-colored Duo-Jet-based "Standards" and a double-cutaway White Penguin-based "Custom" model. Production of the Princess ceased by '64 when the deal fell through - no instruments of this type were ever produced under the Mary Ford designation - and while similarly-colored double-cut Duo-Jet "Standard" prototypes are said to exist (possibly as a single example, almost certainly no more than four or five) as well as her personal double-cut Penguin that was to be the platform for the "Custom," only the Corvette-based Princess "Junior" model saw the light of day. FWIW the above FSR Electromatic, in Surf Green with white back/pickguard/trussrod cover and gold Filter'trons/hardware, is probably a 90% accurate representation of what the Mary Ford Standard might have looked like (right down to the period-correct 16th-fret neck joint) - under Les' tutelage Mary became a formidable guitarist in her own right, and it undoubtedly would have been equipped with some proprietary cutting-edge electronic gadgetry garnered from their time together (which Les himself was extremely reluctant to license for mass production until circa 1970, with the Les Paul Professional/Personal/Triumph Bass models)... To add some fuel to the fire - and credibility to the story - Ken Achard's History and Development of the American Guitar shows a documented prototype of a double-cutaway Les Paul Standard produced circa 1962 by Epiphone, when they were under Gibson management and using the same methods/materials. For those who might not be aware Les Paul - who had complained long and loud about the SG version that would bear his name until mid-'63 (when he suspended his endorsement deal amid his divorce proceedings) - performed many of his first experiments with solidbody design on Epiphone guitars, and this may have been an attempt to appease him with a more "modern" appearing instrument while still keeping him in the Kalamazoo corporate camp; suffice it to say that the body shape is nearly indistinguishable from the contemporary double-cutaway Duo-Jet - the same one that would have been used for the Mary Ford Standard/Custom - and if push came to shove it could have been a very interesting state of affairs... 
__________________
"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased) 
|
|
#2
08-29-2020, 08:07 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I saw that one this week, and even though I surely don't need another electric guitar I thought of it. Then I thought of your remarks here about the Chinese made (as opposed to Korean-made) Electromatics and the GAS passed, so to speak.
I love the look, like the neck on my other Electromatic, and expect this one to be lighter and less cumbersome size-wise to try to engineer a recording while wearing around my neck. I'm not overly concerned with the niceties of fit and finish, and I've happily played a couple of Chinese-factory made Fender universe guitars, and a pair of Chinese Epiphone semi-hollows. Any thoughts on that factory origin Steve?
__________________
----------------------------------- Creator of The Parlando Project Guitars: 20th Century Seagull S6-12, S6 Folk, Seagull M6; '00 Guild JF30-12, '01 Martin 00-15, '16 Martin 000-17, '07 Parkwood PW510, Epiphone Biscuit resonator, Merlin Dulcimer, and various electric guitars, basses....
|
|
#3
08-30-2020, 09:29 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
__________________
"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool" - Sicilian proverb (paraphrased)
|
|
#4
08-30-2020, 03:18 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
If someone was looking for Filter-trons I wonder how the Guitar Fetish version stack up? I've used several of their knock-off pickups and have always been impressed with them.
https://www.guitarfetish.com/GFTron-...ups_c_838.html
|
|
#5
09-08-2020, 10:18 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
__________________
Steve Mcilroy A25c (Cedar, English Walnut) with Schatten HFN (custom MiSi Crystal Jack Preamp, putty install.) Maton 75th Anniversary OM 50th Anniversary Fender Am Std Strat. Gretsch 6120 Nashville Players in Blue. Line 6 Helix. If I played as much as I read threads, I'd be a pro....
|
