Steve Soest and Stevie Ray Vaughan… Double(neck) Trouble? (Hah)

TIME FOR MORE “KEEPIN’ IT REAL”

It’s been a while since we’ve had a post like this..or any new post at all for that matter. Time gets away from all of us, especially me lately…

So it’s beyond time and way over due for a Steve Soest Post. Time For More “Keepin’ It Real” has been waiting in the wings.

Yes, it’s time for some sound advice from Steve Soest on how to keep that guitar in tip top shape and playin’ like it should. So be sure to write in to Steve here at: [email protected] for some great free advice – (or we’ll have to raise the price…and who wants to pay double free?)

EXPERT GUITAR MAN STEVE SOEST does this out of the goodness of his heart. There aren’t too many guys out there with this much guitar knowledge who share their love of guitars like this…for free…making the world a better place, one guitar at a time. For goodness sakes, Stevie Ray Vaughan used to come to Steve…Steve has always been THEE GUITAR GUY!

How many guitar doctors will give you this kind of guitar advice for free? All you have to do is write in with your questions and Steve will advise. You don’t even have to pay an insurance premium here, a deductible, nor even pay for an office visit. Steve prescribes just the right amount of medicine for your individual guitar situation!!!

I mean really??? How many guys do you know that can drive around town with this many black guard Teles at once?  Only one I know of.

TIME FOR SOME QUESTIONS

Steve, I have a mid nineties Strat from Japan and want to put some cool looking old style Fender tuners on it with the roundish oval style part you turn. The tuners that are original on it now say Fender on the round part of the tuner on the backside and are flat on the sides of the part you turn to tune it with (locking tuners maybe?).

Do you know if the Fender vintage style replacement tuners will fit this guitar? I don’t see any screws on the back holding the tuners on it so I guess I have to drill new holes into the headstock for the vintage style tuners. I want to find out if they would fit first because I don’t wanna drill holes in it and screw it all up with extra holes there if they won’t fit this. Its 1995 or 96 Fender Japanese Strat guitar cuz the guitar is pretty nice.

Thanx, Pete Waterton

Hello Pete,

And thanks for your question! The Old Kluson-style tuners do lend a nice vintage vibe to a Fender guitar. Gotoh (Japan) makes a very nice replica as well as other Asian manufacturers. It sounds like your Strat came with a diecast-type tuner that has a hex nut and washer on the face of the headstock and a couple of locating pins on the backside that fit into some tiny holes on the back of the headstock.

Those tuners  generally require a larger mounting hole in the headstock, and you’ll need to get some reduction bushings/ferrules to fit the outside diameter of the larger hole, and also the diameter of the smaller tuner post of the new Kluson-style tuners. Allparts (Texas),  WD (Florida), and Stewart-MacDonald (Ohio) all sell the tuners and the reduction bushings online via mail order. Good luck with your project!    –  Steve Soest

 

Steve, Why do they call the finish on the old Fender, Magnatone, etc. lapsteels “Mother of Toilet Seat”?  Lon Moore – Idaho Falls

Hey Lon, – Thanks for asking! Back in the Post World War II era, thin sheets of pearloid patterned celluloid plastic were used on many bathroom accessories (toilet seats, laundry hampers, tissue boxes, etc.) The material was shrunk around a solid wood shape using heat and sometimes acetone fumes. It was easier and cheaper than prepping and applying a lacquer finish and provided an attractive ready-to-go surface that didn’t have to be sanded and polished.Fender actually had a large drum of acetone outside of  their old building on Santa Fe Street in Fullerton and the workers would apply and shrink the material there!

When the generation of Baby Boomers came of age and started to unearth these little musical gems in the early 1970’s,  the covering reminded them of the bathrooms in their childhood homes…”Mother-of-Pearl” already was in use for organic shell material, so the term “Mother-of-Toilet Seat” was lovingly coined.  –  Steve Soest

 

Steve, Is there a pedal made today for the Vincent Bell’s underwater effect?
Gail McGuckin

Hi Gail,

Great question. Thanks! The only thing I’ve seen that came close to that is the old Fender Dimension IV unit. It was a free standing box as well as part of the Fender Super Showman solid state amp.

With the thousands of pedals out there these days , someone MUST make one. Let’s put this one out to the pedal geeks out there!  – Steve Soest

Keep the questions coming! Send them to: [email protected]

A huge THANK YOU to Steve Soest for taking time out of his busy schedule for us!