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Heritage Owners Club

NGD (but don't tell my wife!)


myoldfriend

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Don't tell her 'cause I'm in L?VE! 

Picked up this minty sweetheart with a generously proportioned neck from an older Gent in Fillmore CA who was about to get hitched.  Again.  I didn't ask how many this would make, but it was clear it wasn't his first rodeo ?.  He said he was the second owner and that the guitar had no more than a few hours play time.  We met face-to-face and when he cracked open the case it was evident that he spoke the truth.  Cash on the barrelhead and the deal was done.

After a closer inspection at home, you could plainly see that the guitar was as if it had just left the factory.  Maybe a small indent or two 1/8th the size of a pinhead.  Fretboard as dry as a desert.  Sweet scent of vanilla inside the pristine case.  Took off the strings, applied a coat of BLO, and stuffed 'er back in the case and the case in the closet.  Fast forward over a year later and I pulled her out of purgatory.  Replaced the saddles in the locking bridge with Graphtech stringsavers, updated the plastics to my liking, and best of all swapped the 59's (nothing against them) with a set of Throbak Pre-T-301 pups put aside for just this occasion.  Three words:  Worth.  Every.  Penny.  

By the way, if you haven't installed pickups in a semi-hollow yet, a rich and rewarding experience awaits you.  NOT.  But I digress!  And fortunately I did not damage the pristine nitro finish in the process. ?

After thinly applying a new coat of BLO and a polish of those virgin(!) frets, I strung up a set of my fav's - Elixir Nanoweb 10's.  Tuned up, intonated, plugged in and ... wait for it...

Tonevana.  More sweet crunch than a fresh bowl of the aptly named Cap'n Crunch cereal.  Cr&p, I could have plugged this handsomely appointed beauty into a potato and it would have sounded just as sweet.  Just sayin'.  And now for the good stuff:

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Thanks!  But the zebra was not entirely on purpose.  I did see another 535 for sale a while back with double uncovered zebras.  This was a used set, purchased as you see them; thought I would try it out with the uncovered bridge and let the tone be my guide.  As you might can tell I'm enamoured - found the formula for that semi-hollow bodied tone that's been bouncing around in my head for a while now.

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Thanks for the kind words, All.  She’s a ‘16 btw.

Wonderful clip there!  That Tele-on-steroids vibe really comes through with his  playing style (and Fender amp I’m guessing?).

Could be YouTube/iPhone but the 535 def sounds a little more woody and organic.  With these Throbaks in this guitar there is a really appealing percussive (for lack of a better term) quality in the bridge pos. 

In the middle I hear this sweet, only slightly nasal and warm tone I’ve been chasing for a few years, but just haven’t been able to achieve.  Now if my chops were just a little (read: a lot) better...?

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12 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

I think they sound great!

Have mercy!  Always thought the Seths were it for the 535....  But having heard this, may have to reconsider!  Never heard a 335 bark quite like this! They clean up nicely, but boy, they seem to be able to get angry in a hurry!  I'll be watching this video more than once, today.  

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So let me get this straight; you "hid" this guitar for a year (because you love your wife, and nothing wrong with that btw) then popped it out, made the mods, and now your enjoying the heck out of it? Cool story, but I would never have been able to suffer that long!

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