Is "vintage = pre-1980" still a useful frame?

[Maggieo]

Lester Young

[JSett]

Some definitions (like "offset," perhaps) are dynamic and have some wiggle room about what is or isn't.

Here in OSG-land we don't subscribe to the idea that the term "offset" is fluid/dynamic We have a time-tested measurable guide



RIP Ferbis

[Rob]

Here in OSG-land we don't subscribe to the idea that the term "offset" is fluid/dynamic

Nor I, but I'm constantly surprised at what people try to argue is or isn't offset.

[JSett]

Here in OSG-land we don't subscribe to the idea that the term "offset" is fluid/dynamic

Nor I, but I'm constantly surprised at what people try to argue is or isn't offset.

I am amazed, but not surprised. People can be pretty dismissive of facts these days I've given up and don't frequent anywhere but here really anymore...this place is a nice little microcosm of mostly sensible people.

[sal paradise]

[JSett]

Ferbis would have appreciated a trigger warning there mate

[Maggieo]

Don't forget Bob, the offset cat!

[JSett]

Don't forget Bob, the offset cat!

*angle check on aisle 9 please, angle check please*

[46346]

Plain and simple, it's been the fact that Boomers were willing to pay more for Strats than Jazzmaster, because they saw their guitar heroes playing Strats and not Jazzmasters. And since they were willing to pay more, those guitars are considered to have that value still.

this makes sense, but upon reflection... what happened in my case?

technically i'm a Boomer (1963), though my millennial wife says i'm culturally Gen X...

call me odd, but i have never quested for the guitars of my heroes. heroes like:

Robert Fripp (Gibson Les Paul)
Adrian Belew (Strat, Parker Fly)
Steve Hackett (Gibson Les Paul, 12 string acoustic)
Frank Zappa (Gibson SG among others)
David Gilmour (Strat, Fender Steel)
Frank Black (Fender Telecaster)

... i have owned more guitars than i can count over the decades, many of them vintage 50's, 60's 70's
but i've never lusted for their guitars in particular. the only models from the above that i've owned are a 50's Fender double neck steel (wonderful swap meet bargain that i use often, it may be similar to Gilmour's, i don't know exactly...), and a '74 Tele Custom (that is very different from Frank Black's vintage single coil Teles). oh - and my SG is a Burny Japanese knockoff. i do think of Zappa when wobbling that neck joint sometimes.

but my fascination with the offsets was more of a path of self-discovery. sure, it was Nels Cline who first put a vintage Jazzmaster in my hands, when i asked him about it after seeing him play here in L.A. a few times in the 90's. but he was not quite *yet* becoming a contemporary hero, he was a fellow sonic explorer with a few years on me and a real natural aptitude. he helped me realize it was the actual fit and comfort of the guitar once it was strapped on, that got me into it. that little extra reach for the left arm. i wasn't sure, though, as the extra switching and electronics seemed weird.

but i already had a part-time career playing a 1974 Jazz Bass, which i had chosen among all available options in the second-hand (soon to be vintage) shops in Hollywood, for a mere $600. i didn't even know there had been a 'Jazz Guitar' version from Fender as well. AND, it was that weirdness of an actual 50's/60's Fullerton Fender that could be so misunderstood that also helped win me over, when it was time for me to play electric guitar.

i don't think any of Nels' heroes had played a JM or Jag either, he got that '59 Jazz from his local mate Mike Watt who went bass full-time.

anyway, i don't think i'll ever have the vintage Les Pauls, Strats, and Teles of my Boomer-era heroes, even though if i sold all my other gear, i could pay them down.
people hear the influence of my heroes when i play my JM's, Jags, Starcaster, Dohenys, Japanese SG, Firebird, and Tele, Yamaha SG-3, etc...
we have ways of making them talk!

[Twang Deluxe]

For me the vintage Fender era ended in 1981/1982 when Fender stopped producing in Fullerton

[panoramic]

Don't forget Bob, the offset cat!

Is he pre-1980?

[Maggieo]

Don't forget Bob, the offset cat!

Is he pre-1980?

Nah, he was born in 1997.

But he knows...things...


Bob, March, 2010 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

[JSett]

Blimey, Bob's a good age!

[Maggieo]

Blimey, Bob's a good age!

He died in 2010 of CRF. Too damn soon.

[JSett]

Blimey, Bob's a good age!

He died in 2010 of CRF. Too damn soon.

Oh shit. I'm sorry.

I'm terrified of any of mine leaving us...we've lost a couple over the years and they still pain me oh so much. They're all getting on a bit now too, none are under 10 years old. If only they could live forever