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Topic: Ol' Blue is coming along! |
Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 31 Dec 2019 3:59 pm |
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Looks like it's time for paint... Junior has chosen blue. I was pulling for old-timey Fender sunburst. Big Red is still missing.
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Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
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Posted 31 Dec 2019 5:13 pm
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I never knew you were the guy who made them. Will the new one be a clone or does Jr. want some options?
When I was a young man starting my Tool and Die maker apprenticeship I bought one of those Optivisors. After I bought it, I thought, why did I spend the money on this.............52 years later I now know why! 
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Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40 |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 31 Dec 2019 7:38 pm
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| Bill Groner wrote: |
I never knew you were the guy who made them. Will the new one be a clone or does Jr. want some options?
When I was a young man starting my Tool and Die maker apprenticeship I bought one of those Optivisors. After I bought it, I thought, why did I spend the money on this.............52 years later I now know why! |
Oh man, that's not me! Most folks should know Michael Stevens when they see him... started the Fender Custom Shop, an amazing person to know. His shop is in the town I was born in... that's how I met him, when he moved to west Texas.
Just got off a nice long phone call with him... he's got many irons in the fire, the latest (besides building Ol' Blue) is working with Fender and Eric Johnson on a line of sassafras-bodied custom shop Strats. He makes very fine guitars that you and I can't afford, most likely.
Big Red had a Sho-Bud pickup installed, but Ol' Blue is getting the real-deal NOS Stringmaster pickup treatment (rat-holed from his time there)... so it's basically a normal Guit-Steel, aside from whatever parts Junior gives him to use. He'll be at NAMM hanging out at the Fender booth with Eric etc... that would be a cool one to make!
www.stevensguitars.com
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Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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Bill Groner
From:
QUAKERTOWN, PA
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Posted 1 Jan 2020 1:18 am
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| Stephen Cowell wrote: |
| Bill Groner wrote: |
I never knew you were the guy who made them. Will the new one be a clone or does Jr. want some options?
When I was a young man starting my Tool and Die maker apprenticeship I bought one of those Optivisors. After I bought it, I thought, why did I spend the money on this.............52 years later I now know why! |
Oh man, that's not me! Most folks should know Michael Stevens when they see him... started the Fender Custom Shop, an amazing person to know. His shop is in the town I was born in... that's how I met him, when he moved to west Texas
Well don't I feel embarrassed! Now that I put my optivisor on, I see that guy looks nothing like your Avatar! You have to forgive me, even after 3 years since my first build and joining SGF I am still a newbie and learning a lot. Thanks for the clarification.
Just got off a nice long phone call with him... he's got many irons in the fire, the latest (besides building Ol' Blue) is working with Fender and Eric Johnson on a line of sassafras-bodied custom shop Strats. He makes very fine guitars that you and I can't afford, most likely.
Big Red had a Sho-Bud pickup installed, but Ol' Blue is getting the real-deal NOS Stringmaster pickup treatment (rat-holed from his time there)... so it's basically a normal Guit-Steel, aside from whatever parts Junior gives him to use. He'll be at NAMM hanging out at the Fender booth with Eric etc... that would be a cool one to make!
www.stevensguitars.com |
_________________
Currently own, 6 Groner-tone lap steels, one 1953 Alamo Lap steel, Roland Cube, Fender Champion 40 |
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2020 7:22 am
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| Bill Groner wrote: |
[color=blue]Well don't I feel embarrassed! Now that I put my optivisor on, I see that guy looks nothing like your Avatar! |
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Dan Yeago
From:
Virginia, USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2020 2:29 pm
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| Thanks for posting this. What a great connection...did he mention what p/u's are going on the round neck side? I recall seeing a famous pic of Leo Fender wearing one of those magnifiers. Maybe from the G&L days? |
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 5 Jan 2020 11:10 am
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| Dan Yeago wrote: |
| Thanks for posting this. What a great connection...did he mention what p/u's are going on the round neck side? I recall seeing a famous pic of Leo Fender wearing one of those magnifiers. Maybe from the G&L days? |
The pickups for the guitar side are normally Duo-Sonics... they came RWRP* already, and that's the most interesting thing about Junior's tone, the Stringmaster-type humbucking pair on the bridge. That was my first Fender, a Duo-Sonic II that I found under my uncle's bed after he left home. Stolen! I eventually paid him back.
Michael is now selling off his Stringmaster parts stash... you can get a NOS in-the-paper tuning pan for 200$... SM diamonds are 50$ a pair, one big/one little.
*RWRP... reverse-wound, reverse-polarity.
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Too much junk to list... always getting more. |
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