eldegas.com

I have a Classic Vibe 50's model and it is unreal. So many of my friends pick it up and fall in love with it. Far superior to a MIM and I think rivals a MIA.

Yup, the Classic Vibe series is outstanding value for little money!
The ones we have in the shop rival the real thing. They're not perfect but they're head and shoulders above the majority of stuff out there and a lot of guys pick them up as a backup for their gigging guitar.

Just for fun I replaced the original witch hat knobs with some chicken heads!


Now I can do the Funky Chicken!

Well, what can I tell ya?
I've been on the lookout for a number of guitars for some time, including the Hummingbird "mate" to my ED Dove, and, an affordable 12-string.
Didn't come across any ED brands that I liked BUT, I did find an outstanding Vantage brand that I love. (Vantage is one of the MIJ/Matsumoku related era guitars that I collect)
It was cheap too, relatively. The main reason being that there is an action problem which I must spend some time this winter correcting.
It's a stunner otherwise but playable only in the first position at present.

Here then, number 27!




(Note the arched back)
1982 / MIJ / Mahogany body & Neck (antique cherry sunburst) / Spruce top / Indian Rosewood Fretboard
Above pictures taken in "as received" condition. I've not yet done any refurbishing, and in addition to the mechanical work to be done there are some dents and dings to look after. Oh, and the previous owner had strung her with a set of nickel (electric) strings. Even with those she still sounds impressive.

Beauty!

Well...I have let this thread whither away quite a bit haven't I ?
I'm not even sure if all my "herd" is represented anymore, but for those who care, here are at least 4 more that I picked up in 2013:

Westone Thunder IA (1983)


Westone Spectrum X125 (1986)


Westone Spectrum SX -Trans Blue (1986)


Vantage Avenger AV325 -Trans Blue (1983)


For those keeping score at home, the total is now 31, but the acquisition pace has slowed down considerably, if not stopped altogether. These last 4 represent unusual opportunities and/or prices too low to ignore.

For example the Thunder came to me via a customer who walked into the shop one day looking to sell a badly beaten up guitar. I bought it for $50; the pickups alone were worth $200! Now fully restored, it's a bloody awesome guitar.

The X125 (a single pickup guitar by the way) was courtesy of a generous Westone Forum member who had 3 of them and offered me one for $100 plus shipping from California.

The beautiful SX belonged to a young man who sold it to me with the OHSC for $100! It needed its bridge posts and neck angle attended to which he obviously didn't know how to repair.

And the Avenger was the most expensive of the four at $140. I bought it in a weak moment to complement my stunnningly beautiful trans red Avenger. Unfortunately it reads more like black than blue and is very scuffed and scratched. I was hoping it would have more life in it, like the SX, but alas, not so. However, it rawks!! And that's the main thing eh?

I really like the body shapes on those new acquisitions.

Thanks Charles.
I've developed a love (obviously) for the Westone Spectrum and Thunder lines as well as the Vantage Avengers. Not only are they aesthetically pleasing but wonderful to play.

I just realized that I haven't included my latest guitar which i picked up last year About this time!
A 1980 Vantage VP710.


You can read more about it here; http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewto ... 01&start=0

Hmm, I'm slipping again. I didn't add my last acquisition from January 2015!
The brief back story:
• saw a Kijiji ad worded backwards..."wanted" rather than the expected "for sale"--I ignored it several times 'cuz I assumed the dude was looking to buy the items
• one day I stopped to read it more carefully and realized he was selling the guitar plus a bunch of other related things
• I emailed him and confirmed he was indeed selling--since it was out of town but near my brother, I asked him to pick it up for me

So, what did I get?
A circa 1998 MIK Danelectro DC-59 in retro purple PLUS a Nifty Fifty solid state Danelectro amplifier PLUS two Danelectro pedals, an Echo and a Tuner, both solid metal, not plastic!





Everything was in mint condition. The DC-59 makes a nice companion to my 56-U2, and that amp! What a great sound. You'd swear there was a tube in there! The only thing missing was a gig bag, but as luck would have it I had an extra Dano branded bag just waiting for this baby.

Oh, the price? $300 for the lot!! Happy, happy, happy!

Now that's a steal Barry. I'm looking forward to catching up man. send me a PM and I'll call you sometime to say hi.

S