May I introduce "Francine"... (NGD, now with clip!)

[HTH AMPS]

It's all the grain/flecks/mineral streaks that make it look "vintage-y" to my eyes.  A lot of Les Pauls, in fact most of the newer flame tops, are too PRS-like and perfect.  A Les Paul, to my eyes, should look like the original bursts.

I guess you can all see why I just HAD to have it now  :lol:

I still don't think it has that 'played in' vibe yet - you should let me gig it for the next ten years just to make sure  8)

[Twinfan]

Ha ha!  I've been playing along with the ZZ Top at Rockpalast DVD all afternoon with it....

[Brow]

Brow - sorry matey, I didn't mean what I said to come across in any way "high and mighty" and belittle anyone on this here good forum  :)

It's this old cost vs tone thing, that people have different views on.  My own personal view is that the quality of the wood, and the preparation of it for making a guitar, is everything.  The people who seem to get this consistently right seem to be the likes of Suhr/Fender CS/PRS/Martin acoustics etc.  They tend to cost a bit more, in part due to the higher cost of the raw materials, plus cost of the time spent sorting, drying and grading the wood.  The less desireable wood gets passed to the cheaper guitars.  Fender is a prime example here, using a sliding scale of Custom Shop/USA reissue/USA/Highway One/Mexican.

There are great guitars at all price points, but I've found the better tone and more inspiring instruments for me to be the more expensive ones.  By that, I mean the £1000+ price range.

And just for sake of the newer folks here on the board, I own a range of guitars from Francine at £5k down to an Epiphone SG which cost me £375 (before I started upgrading it).  I regularly gig the Epi in my 'DC band, and have no plans to swap it for anything else.

Hi Dave.

Cheers for your polite reply and thanks for seeing where I was coming from. If Id've said something like I did on a few other forums I visit I would've been 'ripped a new 1' so to speak!  :lol:

Those new pics look great and I imagine they give a better view of what it looks like in person?

I need to speak to you about your Orion, but will save that for a PM and won't clutter up your thread with OT stuff  :lol:

[Ian Price]

Those pics are very nice indeed Dave. Veeeery nice. I'm determined not to get a LP though as I know it probably wouldn't work out for us!

[AndyR]

Ha ha!  I've been playing along with the ZZ Top at Rockpalast DVD all afternoon with it....

Slightly off-topic... which disc do you prefer? I love disc 1 with the pre-Eliminator gig, for me, that is the stuff... but I haven't managed to sit all the way through disc 2 (maybe if I played along to it, it might seem a little more interesting! :lol:)

[Matt77]

disc one for me, even though Billy doesn't appear to tune his guitar at all throughout the gig

[shobet]

Disk one for me as well. I was very disappointed in disk 2 as it's obvious the video doesn't match the live sound in lots of places.

[AndyR]

I shall no longer feel any guilt at all over not trying to watch disc 2 then! :lol:

I'm quite fond of the Live from Texas DVD, but the 80s Rockpalast, even with it's lower quality, is a beauty.

<back_on_topic>what a nice guitar you have there Dave</back_on_topic>

[Twinfan]

:lol:

Disk one blows away disk 2 - I watched it once and probably never will again.  Disk one gets played quite a bit!

I've seem him tuning up once in the disk during She Loves My Automobile (I think) - a quick tweak during a verse...

[Johnny Mac]

Just seen the new pics Dave. She does have that vintage vibe alright, it looks lovely mate. I just listened to the clip on you tube too, great tone.  8)

[Twinfan]

Thanks Johnny - she's a belter!

[ToneMonkey]

I still think you're going to paint it blue  :lol:

[Fourth Feline]

I still think you're going to paint it blue  :lol:

Hot blue -  and righteous ?   8)

[AndyR]

I really don't think he'll paint it blue guys... :lol:

But, remember that he ordered some of those rocknroll transfers we were looking at on here a while back...

I can just imagine a nice scantily clad 50s lovely, carefully applied to the front...

[Fourth Feline]

I can just imagine a nice scantily clad 50s lovely, carefully applied to the front...

I'll ring my mate's wife ...  :P