pictures of your guitars here

[dots]

Gorgeous!

[Bacchus]

A twin for the Jaguar?

[MattK]

Ooh yes, I’ve had a lot of work on this week but I’ve been meaning to bust out the red Jag for a photo op. I’ve had it tucked away for months since the Squier one arrived.

[MattK]

Not quite twins. I'll be glad when 20 years of aging brings the JM (2004) into the ballpark of the Jag (1985).

[plopswagon]

Hot!

[Doog]

What a beaut; love a red Jazzmaster

[Bacchus]

Insanely jealous. I've never owned a Jag or a Jazzy, but both/either of those have always been my dream version of both/either since before I knew what the difference was as a 15 year old.

[Gavin]

Insanely jealous. I've never owned a Jag or a Jazzy, but both/either of those have always been my dream version of both/either since before I knew what the difference was as a 15 year old.

Ehhhh, how are you even allowed to post here?

[plopswagon]

Insanely jealous. I've never owned a Jag or a Jazzy, but both/either of those have always been my dream version of both/either since before I knew what the difference was as a 15 year old.

Ehhhh, how are you even allowed to post here?
A WITCH!! BURN HER!!

[MattK]

Aw thank you, I didn’t think I was much of a CAR fan but when I saw this one …

[dub]

Aw thank you, I didn’t think I was much of a CAR fan but when I saw this one …

Looking very nice.

I can't remember if I ever posted this photo from a few years back after cleaning everything out of my apartment's lounge. (excuse the depressing carpet).

[MattK]

That cream Gibbo is pure hotness, presume it's one of those 70s called either the Les Paul Motivator or Gnathus. Would love to hear about it!

[dub]

That cream Gibbo is pure hotness, presume it's one of those 70s called either the Les Paul Motivator or Gnathus. Would love to hear about it!

Let me tell you the tale of the Sonex, the cheapest Gibson until recent years. With sales going downhill at the end of the seventies and Gibson falling out of fashion and being beaten by Japanese copies, the company decided to try a budget line. They had the necks made overseas, got hardware from japan and assembled them in the USA to keep the “made in the USA” tag.

The bodies were made of “resonwood” a mixture of glue and sawdust moulded around a tonewood core of mahogany that the neck would bolt(!) onto. Advertising materials would boast of the lengthy sustain this material sandwich could attain, to head off concerns around the bolt-on neck.

There were a few oddball models, but the Sonex line had three models.
The Deluxe was the cheapest and most common. Featuring Bill Lawrence designed “velvet brick” pickups, a three-piece maple and rosewood neck. The Standard model upgraded the pickups to dirty fingers (with coil taps) and the Custom model got the dirty fingers plus an ebony fretboard. There was also a model with the onboard moog electronics that were in the RDs at the time.

Mine is a Custom, someone has replaced the original black pickguard with a cream one and I swapped out the much corroded bridge piece. It’s about due for a new input jack too.

Gloriously beat up, heavy as hell and the DF’s sound pretty nasty. I love the neck on this. The frets are fucked but I think they’ve been shaved down to match the neck angle? Really flat by the nut and pretty much full at the body. Plays okay.

[MattK]

You've tried to put me off but now I ONLY WANT IT MORE. Thanks for that!

[Pacafeliz]

JESUSGOLLY THAT SONEX IS SEX

[plopswagon]

My old lead singer had one that had been smashed by Paul Stanley of KISS.

[Dillon]

Did that Sonex have a harmonica bridge originally? Wondering what you replaced it with if so.

[dub]

It was just your standard abr tunematic, with a guard wire, but to metric dimensions.

It's in that gallery of pics if you click through a bit. The new one is a shiny NOS gotoh from either the 80s or 90s.

[Dillon]

Link goes to a blank page for me Anyway I asked because I have a "The Paul" from the same period, a close relative. It came with a harmonica bridge which was also corroded, although not that badly. Took a lot of searching to find something to retrofit.

More to the point, seeing your Sonex kinda makes me want to switch to zebra buckers, cream pickguard and speed knobs. Sadly I only have one of the original dirty fingers though, if that's what it even came with. Some of the later Norlin-era guitars were parts bin specials, this one included. I'd love to see what the base plates of the pickups on yours look like.

[plopswagon]

I hadn’t seen a “The Paul” with a burst like finish before. I thought they were all walnut oiled finish