My younger son John has been busy buying and selling guitars, amplifiers and associated equipment. He rousts me this morning with a story about an American made Fender Jazzmaster that he wants to buy. He had a Fender Jazzmaster last month. What does he want with another one? Well that one was made in Mexico and this one was made in America. So? Aren't they the same? Oh, no, they are very different he insists. I quiz him about it, and he tells me I need to be more specific, so I ask him about the neck, and he procedes to launch into a detailed explanation of all the differences you can encounter in a neck, beyond the obvious like whether it is straight and how thick it is. There are things he has noticed and things he has read, and he obviously knows something about the subject. I am a little surprised by the depth of his interest, but I never really learned how to play a musical instrument. Machinery was what captivated me. He has only really been playing for about a year and this summer he is on his fourth guitar.
The one concept I haven't been able to argue with is tone. I recognize that different electric guitars sound different, and the difference comes mainly from the pickups. I have not sat down and tried to distinguish between different but similar pickups, so at this point I am taking his word for it. And it is his money after all. Hopefully he is learning something real from all this experimentation, and not just following the latest hype from whatever forums he is reading.
The guy who was selling the guitar let him try it out with his amp. It was one I had never heard of or seen before. I liked the name so much ("
Atomic Space Tone")I had to take a picture. I also like the violet pilot light. Click to embiggen.
Update January 2017 replaced missing picture.
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