Battle-ready 70s SG

Here's another gem. This 1970 Gibson SG is wonderfully grimy looking, with a walnut finish that's chipped and cracked all to hell. If this guitar had a voice, it would sound like Clint Eastwood after chewing nails and smoking unfiltered Marlboro's.

Relic? I'll relic your ass, punk...

Yes, every one of those battle scars was earned, dagnab it. Here at Wood & Wire, we like the scuffed up stuff as much as the crisp, slick looking stuff - maybe moreso. After all, when a guitar looks "well-played" like this, there's usually a good reason.

This guitar is no exception. It plays super-smooth and sounds as tough and gristly as only a prime SG can... And yes, with this much wear and parts swapping, this guitar will never end up behind a collectors glass - thank god! Something about SGs (and I happen to own one) just makes you want to bash out chords and play the living hell out of it - I think it's the horns. Also, you can bend the ever loving bejeezus out the neck- or make it sound like you are - if you're brave enough to practice it. I read that Bill Frisell, who uses subtle neck bending as an integral part of his sound, got into the habit when he was younger and playing an SG. Also, one of the best live shows I ever saw was the Hard-Ons (punk band from Australia); if you weren't there to see the guitar player do the neck trick you would've sworn he had a bigsby. Now, if you come and play this one in the store, don't get too frisky with the neck-bending - you might freak my boss out. But if you were to take it home with you...well, whatever happens between a man and his guitar in his own house is his own business.

Guaranteed to melt faces...

More new arrivals

Here's a nice little duo. The guitar is a 60s Kay Vanguard - a K100 I think. The single DeArmond pickup is nice and chimey, and the headstock is the snazzy art deco version. It plays, too, in an endearingly clunky way that's great for garage-y rhythm clang. The amp is a late-60s/early-70s Harmony H500, an early solid-state amp with an appealingly scrappy sound and a sweet "rally stripe" down the grill cloth. And of course, there's a very nice silverface Super Reverb in there, too - but hey, let's get a closer look at that rally stripe...


And that nifty headstock badge...


These two are rude and funky enough to get you run out of Tone Town on a rail, but that's okay. They're also enough to make Jack White turn Pea-Green with envy.

And on that note - Happy Turkey Day, everybody! See you on Black Friday!

Univox Hi-Flyer Bass

A quick one today. Here's a late 60s, Univox Hi-Flyer Phase One bass. Classic Mosrite homage/rip-off for your discerning punk rawk surfer dude. My boss has a special affinity for these beasts (Univox's, that is), so maybe someday we'll have a few of this guy's six-string cousins pass through here.

Amazing Find!

A guy came in today and this was his story: he had a guitar when he was ten. He played it for a few weeks and then the instrument cable crapped out. He must not have been that into it, because after that it got slid underneath the bed at his grandmother's house. And there it stayed, until about three years ago when his grandmother passed away and he found it again. It is, of course, an archetypal "grandma's attic" story - the kind that is becoming increasingly rare in the vintage guitar world. Sometimes it seems impossible that there would be anymore buried treasure like this out there in the world...

So anyway, the guy decided to sell it to us.

Drumroll please.....

Ladies and gentleman, I present to you:

Holy...

A cherry-red 1965 Fender Mustang. Showing some signs of age and those few weeks of use, but otherwise in fantastic condition. Original case - hell, original everything. Original strings. We happy?

"Yeah, we happy..."

Wait, it gets better. The guy also had the amp that his family bought with it, which just happens to be...


A 1964 Blackface Fender Vibro Champ. Original tubes. It works. It's getting hard to find these little puppies without cigarette burns in the grill cloth and big holes in the tolex. But the thing that, to me, really makes this a perfect "time capsule" find is the little extras...

A couple of old-school Mel Bay instructional books and some sheet music - "It Won't Be Long" from Meet the Beatles, among a few others. It won't be too much longer before finds like this are completely unheard of. This is a little slice of history. Here's a cool pic of everything...


And a few more:

L to R: Donnie Duncan, our in-house amp and guitar repair tech, local musician Allen Glenn, and Wood and Wire owner Mike Goe

We'll be checking and generally going through both the guitar and amp in the next few weeks, and hopefully we can document the process here. Check back soon for updates, and more sweet gear finds...

Another "not a reissue"

Birth Year Guitar for Generation X

Here we have a 1973 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Thankfully, this one has not been humbucker'D. Gotta love that Tobacco 'burst. Sometimes you just see a guitar and everything seems right.....right color...right model....right price......no repairs.....no issues......

Vintage Acoustics (and Mojo)

Here are some particularly sweet vintage acoustics we happen to have on hand at the moment. In the front is a 1973 Guild Bluegrass D-25, behind that is a 1963 Gibson B-25, and in the very back, keeping the other two in line, we have a 1955 Gibson LG-1.

Here's a photo to compare the big dreadnought Guild with the smaller-bodied Gibson. What the LG-1 lacks in size, though, it makes up for in sheer mojo. Forget selling your soul to the devil - if you show up to the crossroads with this baby, you'll have Ol' Scratch shining the hubcaps on your Cadillac just to get a few licks in on such a fine instrument.Of course, the B-25 is no slouch, either. Just about the prettiest finish you'll ever see, and it plays fantastic. It's had a headstock repair, but the fix is so clean you'll probably never have to worry about it. Still, the repair means that this guitar can be had for a very reasonable price considering it's age (and quality).

There you go - three vintage acoustics in search of a player. Stop by and check them out!