My Basement (Lots of Pics - Many Offsets)

[fullerplast]

Here are some shots of my basement up in Georgia before I moved to Florida. Basements are mostly impossible in Florida. I really miss the space.















































Sadly, almost all these guitars are gone now. These were my collection and not necessarily inventory for sale, but after I moved I ended up letting most of them go. Someday soon I plan to go through ALL my pics and consolidate all the offsets (only) into one folder. There's many more than what's shown here. There's also a bunch of lawsuit LPs SGs and Hi-Fliers, etc. and other oddballs like Kay, Harmony, etc, and some Hagstroms. I need to get them all organized, thery're currently scattered all over my hardrive by date instead of type.

I also lost quite a few pics when I changed computers in 2004....   :(

I hope you enjoyed the pics as much as I have enjoyed taking this trip down memory lane on my hard drive....

[zhivago]

Doug, this must be what the Great Guitar Shop In The Sky looks like!!!

[i love sharin foo]

That is definitely a nice selection  Wouldn't it be great if you could step back in time and hold on to all of the great ones that you ended up letting go? I feel like that sometimes 

Justin

[fullerplast]

Hehe... It was so fun going down there after work and blowing off stress. My brothers would come out on the weekends and we'd jam. One plays drums (that's his vintage 1977 Slingerland set) and the other plays bass. My son did the lead and I played rhythm. We actually weren't too bad, country/blues/classic rock... easy stuff that I could handle. The other 3 are WAY better musicians than I and have their own (real) bands. Our son moved back up there this past summer to rejoin his band. That's his CAR Jagmaster in the pics. I built that IBM Strat for him too, and  a '58 Strat I built (not shown here). The Jagmaster is his fave.

We were on 1.5 wooded acres, so no neighbors could/would complain. We finished the bare-block basement into 4 rooms; family room with home theatre, music room, office and workshop. I insulated the crap out of the walls and ceiling of the music room. It wasn't too loud even upstairs, just the drumbeat and bass line mainly.

I planned on crown molding around the ceiling and mexican saltillo tile for the floor, but we moved before I had the chance. I miss it more than I thought I would!    

[fullerplast]

Wouldn't it be great if you could step back in time and hold on to all of the great ones that you ended up letting go?

yeah...

*sigh*

But looking through there, there's only a handful that I REALLY wish I had kept, even though I loved them all. 

[nealescott]

man i gots to get me one o nem wall hangin dealies, and it would be awesome to have a basement like that. nice slingerland kit too!

[daydreamdelay]

WOW! 

there's more of a few up there I'd love to own myself, that's a dream wall if I've ever seen one.. better than most shops I've been in!

i love those old slingerland kits too, very nice 

[fullerplast]

Before the slingerland kit... he had a mid 60s Ludwig Orange Sparkle kit he bought from some kid up the street! I'd love to have that now!
He sold it and saved up all his money for that Slingerland kit... and still has it after all these years.

Check out that '65 L-Series CAR Jag with the hangtag and manual. The body was refin, but the head was original and perfect. Also note the black '63 JM with the three plugs in the headstock....  That's the ex-9 stringer that I bought for $650 with white tolex case.

I paid $1150 for that sunburst XII in 2001!  I sold it in 2003 for $1750. I'd gladly give that to have it back.

I used to go on weekend gear runs all over the south, hitting every yard sale, pawn shop, thrift store, junk shop, music store... etc.  I'd drag home all kinds of crap, some good, some bad, some so-so.

Damn, I'm getting nostalgic...   :-[

[Jay]

I may be relocating to Atlanta next year.  If so, I WANT A BASEMENT!!!  Heheh.  I've never had a basement in any house I've lived in. but they're so perfect for  blasting the guitar without annoying the neighbors, or for a nice workspace.  Man.  I think I have to move for sure now.

[fullerplast]

That was my first (and only) basement. We were there for 4 years. It was a big adjustment to give up all that space when we moved down here.

Atlanta was cool. I moved there from Tucson, where we had lived for almost 10 years... so it was a big culture shock. I pissed and moaned and complained at first. And I have to admit, I never really felt completely at home there. But now, looking back... I miss it.

The cost of living is really good there too. And it offers just about anything anyone could want. I lived about 45 min outside the city in the country. There were lots of hardwood trees, hills, lakes... very green, very pretty. It is crowded there, even outside the city. But you're from So Cal, so... you know.

Anyway... back to OFFSETS!   

[aen]

I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again:

"Why for you want to make Aen Cry?"


Am I allowed to say "BONER" on here?

[Jay]

I really like ATL.  I've played there, recorded there, and just hung out there for the hell of it on numerous occasions.  I think it's probably the closest we can come to LA in the south except I can make good money there AND afford a home.  Oh, and ATL isn't anywhere near the kind of crowded we have here.

That was my first (and only) basement. We were there for 4 years. It was a big adjustment to give up all that space when we moved down here.

Atlanta was cool. I moved there from Tucson, where we had lived for almost 10 years... so it was a big culture shock. I pissed and moaned and complained at first. And I have to admit, I never really felt completely at home there. But now, looking back... I miss it.

The cost of living is really good there too. And it offers just about anything anyone could want. I lived about 45 min outside the city in the country. There were lots of hardwood trees, hills, lakes... very green, very pretty. It is crowded there, even outside the city. But you're from So Cal, so... you know.

Anyway... back to OFFSETS!   

[mezcalhead]

[scottme]

Thanks for sharing the pics Doug. Hmmm.... basement full of great gear, or live in a great house with an awesome pool next to a waterway, and play on the shuttle (well, sort of anyway....) tough choice! 

I would have thought that the arts culture and music would have been better in Atlanta compared to Tucson - But all I know about Arizona in general is that they have their own special way of doing things there. What's it like compared to Atlanta?

[fullerplast]

Well, that wasn't exactly the choice.   ;)

I was working for a small helicopter company and the 'writing was on the wall' that the job was going away fast. I was looking around for a brick and mortar facility to go full time with BVG when I saw the NASA job on the internet. Being an ex-gov employee with return rights... I thought I had a fair chance of getting it. Turns out I was right. I took the job in April, and my former company went into bankruptcy around June.

Yeah, the music scene was def better in ATL, but out where I lived there were only two cultures.... yuppie and hillbilly. I was out at the far end of Gwinnett County, it was mostly farms and subdivisions out there. The commute to/from ATL was horrendous, six lanes of traffic at a complete stop as you approach the perimeter, even at 5:30 AM.

I had lived in this part of FL many years ago, and was always envious of the civil servants who were fortunate enough to work on spaceships and have secure jobs with benefits... etc. Weighing out getting my gov tenure reinstated towards retirement, and being fortunate to work here... against branching out on my own (with a mortgage and  two kids in college)... the choice was not so hard.



Now we have to pay the webmaster for posting misc topics in a gear section, or face getting booted off the board.... *    :o 

*(a veiled reference to the old place)