Tag: Steve Soest

TIME FOR MORE “KEEPIN’ IT REAL”

Even-StevenSteve 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!!!

Steve-MustangI 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!

A POST FROM STEVE SOEST CONCERNING SOME RARE DANELECTROS

A POST FROM STEVE SOEST CONCERNING SOME RARE DANELECTROS

At Jackaboutguitars.com we are helping to get the word out to all of you Danelectro lovers about some unique Danelectro prototypes and rare instruments that are for sale only for a short period of time.

Danelectro expert Steve Soest, who is the man responsible for the reverse engineering on the Danelectros which brought the new reissue Danos to market (see https://www.jackaboutguitars.com/new-danelectro and https://www.jackaboutguitars.com/the-danelectro-story, as well as designing new models that had never even existed before, has some way cool unique stuff for sale that’ll more than ruffle the hair of any DANELECTRO GEEK!

Dano Covertible

So pay attention to what follows as a post from Steve Soest concerning some rare Danelectros might just land you with that rare and unique instrument that you’ve only been dreaming that you might own someday!

www.soestguitar

Hi FaceBook Friends (and Jackaboutguitars.com Readers),

A good number of you are probably aware of my involvement with the re-issue Danelectro Guitars starting back in 1997. I am proud to have reverse – engineered most of the re-issues of the original 1950’s – 1960’s models, as well as designing new models that didn’t previously exit.

Over the last 18 years I was able to purchase many of the hand-picked trade show display models, as well as one-off color samples and prototypes. Due to lack of storage space in my current shop location, I’m going to thin the herd a bit.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be compiling a list of what’s what. These instruments are all new-old-stock, unplayed, still in the internal packing bags and sealed inside the original Danelectro shipping cartons. If you’ve always wanted a “special” Danelectro, the wait is over. Please private message me for more details and a complete list.

Thanks,?Steve Soest

Soest Guitar     ?[email protected]

THE EVEN MORE IMPORTANT SECOND POST

Thanks for all your interest this morning! Just a bit more info regarding the original post… IF you’re looking for a run of the mill INEXPENSIVE, used Danelectro, the best place to search would be Ebay or Craigslist.

The ones I’ll be listing are very special, unique instruments, and possibly only of interest to myself and a handful of other Dano geeks. The rarity will be reflected in the price.

There was SO much interest  today, I thought I’d better get on it. I think everything is here. I don’t need to sell all of it to make the room I need, so I may halt the sale once I see some extra space.

As I mentioned, these guitars are taped up in original shipping boxes, but I will open them up only if there is interest in specific one.

Thanks,
Steve Soest 9/10/2015

1. Longhorn guitar prototype (never produced)  w/ Soest designed 1-off vibrato bridge. (2) pickup, commie red – in Dano gigbag $1499

2.  ’56 U-2 copperburst  from 1st production run. (4/98) converted to one of two electric sitar prototypes (never produced) Gotoh sitar bridge added later – in Dano gig bag. $1299

3. ’56 U-3T prototype (NFS)

4. ’59 DC (1st run) commie red (11/98) – in box – $899

5. ’59 DC (no pickups) peachy keen ( 3/99) – in box – $399

6. ’59 DC Namm show color sample pick (metal flake silver) w/ Soest bridge design – in box $1299

7. ’59 DC (1st run ) 11/20/98 pre-Namm. limo black ( J. Page style) – in box  $899

8. ’56 U-1 body only, no neck, yellow – in box 11/20/98  $399

9. ’56 U-2 black burst (1999) converted  to one of two electric sitar prototypes (never produced) Gotoh sitar bridge added later – in box  $1299

10. ’56 U-2 Namm pick color sample (1 of 1) Pink! First one w/ Soest bridge design upgrade – in box  $1299

11. ’56 U-2 “Yesteryear” (limited production relic) beat-up w/ de-gaussed pickups, nifty aqua – in box. NOTE: the box has two conflicting descriptions – this could be a prototype deep body DC w/ blue and pink formica back and top! price TBA

12. DC 12 string metal flake blue early production 1/23/99 – in box $899

13. Convertible Namm pick color sample (1 of 1) purple metal flake – in box $899

14. ’59 DC first run. Limo black (J. Page style) 11/98 – in box   $899

15.  Convertible Namm pick 1/99 blue burst – in box  $899

16. Hodad non/trem hard tail. Purple body routed for humbuckers. unfinished shop prototype 1/2000 – in box  $499

17. Long Horn Bass first run 11/98 pre- Namm introduction commie red – in box  $1299

18. Convertible deep body Soest built prototype unfinished 11/18/98 – in box $1299

19. ’56 U-1 first run aqua factory sample 10/98 – in box  $899

20. Convertible Soest built prototype. Piezo bridge, formica top and back, bridge block 2 1/2″ deep. unfinished 11/2/98 – in box $ 1299

21. ’59 DC-3 Namm pick color sample (1 of 1) never produced. Teal? – in box  $1299

22. ’56 U-2 early pre-production factory prototype. commie red w/ different  bridge posts, tuners, and truss rod access at body. pre-Namm introduction, before changes were made – in box $1499

23. 6-12 doubleneck 1st run Namm pick sample pearl white – in box $1499

24. 59-DC pre-production factory sample from Indonesia – never produced. commie red – in box $1299

25. ’56 Pro III. factory prototype from 2005 (1 of 3 made) never produced – in box  $1299

26. ’56 U-2 early pre-production factory prototype. copperburst w/ different bridge posts, tuners, and truss rod access at body. pre- Namm introduction, before changes were made – in box  $1499

27. ’56 U-2 Namm pick color sample (1 of 1) dark blue metallic, never produced – in box  $1299

28. U-3 turquoise metalflake. Namm pick 1999?) – in box  $1299

29. ’56 U-2 aqua burst early production 4/98 – in box $999

30. ’56 U-2 early pre-production factory prototype 1997 aqua burst w/ different bridge posts, tuners and truss rod access at body. Pre-Namm introduction, before changes were made – in box  $1499

31. ’56 U-1 commie red, 1st run Namm pick – in box  $899

32. ’56 U-2 Namm pick color sample red-cream burst 1998? – in box  $1299

33. ’59 DC Pro long scale bass. silver metal flake w/ parts upgrades ( bridge and tuners ) early prod. – in box  $999

34. New (6/2015) DC 12-string sunburst w/ f-hole double cutaway body. latest from Korean factory again – in box  $399

If you have any serious interest in any of the items, I WILL cut the tape and photograph the guitar. I prefer dealing face to face rather than shipping. Payment by cash or Paypal only.

Once again, you can contact Steve Soest by email @ [email protected]

 

BARNSTORMING WITH STEVE SOEST…AND MORE

BARNSTORMING WITH STEVE SOEST…AND MORE …OR SHOULD THAT BE STORMING THE BARN

Steve Soest, Guitar Guy Extrarordinaire, Fielder of Dream Guitar Questions for the “Keepin’ It Real” Column here on the site, really has some interesting guests who pop by and spend time at his way ultra cool shop out in Orange, California… a place where the weather is always perfect!

We’ve got a few photos here taken just outside the barn by his wife Paula that show some of the folks that frequent Steve’s Shop and trust one of the BEST guys in the business out there to work on their valued instruments.

After you check out the photos, do take a look at the list of clients that Steve has served well over the years which I have borrowed from his web site and listed just beyond the photos.  I’ve even included a link here to a story and interview that we did with Steve a few years back… just in case you missed it the first time around…pretty darn interesting stuff. Click right here –>: Steve Soest

Don’t forget to send in your guitar questions here to the site as Steve will answer them for you as he has had plenty of years of experience repairing instruments the right way for a lot of the right people and he won’t steer you wrong.

SOME WAY COOL BARN PHOTOS FROM PAULA SOEST…

Continue reading BARNSTORMING WITH STEVE SOEST…AND MORE

RANDY CALIFORNIA HAS KEPT AN UPDATED SPIRIT ALIVE
 BY JIM WASHBURN


RANDY CALIFORNIA HAS KEPT AN UPDATED SPIRIT ALIVE
 BY JIM WASHBURN

This was one of those interesting articles I missed way back when it ran in 1986, being newly married with a 7 month old son at the time, and just trying to stay working (as a professional product) photographer, while living down in Orange County, California.  In fact, this was some 2-1/2 years before my wife, 2 kids, and I headed on to new adventures to the Pacific Northwest in Portland, Oregon, after having lived all of my life previously in Southern California.

 

Spirit had been one of my favorite bands as I was growing up. I was fortunate enough to have older brothers who knew about music (not just plain old everyday music, but good music, and that’s what they brought home – thanks Al & Ger.)  I got to see Spirit live at places like the Anaheim Convention Center, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and even the wonderful Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California.

 

I grew up with great music all around me to listen to: surf music from Dick Dale, as well as surf songs from The Chantays, The Surfaris, and even The Challengers. There was all the other cool music too, instrumentals from The Ventures, and all the cool stuff from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag, Spirit, and so on and so on.

 

Guitarist Randy California of Spirit was one of my guitar idols. As a seventh and eighth grader, and then later as a high school and college age kid, I actually really tried to play in a “style” as he did. I even had a Danelectro Silvertone and a Boss Tone. He was one of the greatest players ever as far as I was concerned.  As a fifteen year old he played guitar alongside Jimi Hendrix in Jimi’s band Jimmy James and The Blue Flames.

 

His name was Randy Wolfe at the time and the name California was given to him by Hendrix to distinguish him from another Randy in the band whom Hendrix called Randy Texas.

 

It’s hard to wonder just what else Randy California might have done musically as his life was cut short when he drowned in Hawaii while in the process of saving his son from a rip current. This happened on January 2, 1997, some 10 plus years after Jim Washburn wrote this story.

There’s also the others too that I can’t help but think about that influenced the music I have liked to play who left us way too soon: Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Mike Bloomfield, Stevie Ray Vaughan, George Harrison, Randy California…and I had better stop here.

 

Every time I use my Danelectro or my BossTone, I think of the great guitar sounds and solos that Randy California gave us, along with all of the cool songs that he wrote (I actually still play a lot of those solos – by myself).

 

And one more thing before getting to the story, regardless of what anyone else says, or thinks, the first time I heard Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin, I thought to myself,”That was pulled right from Randy California’s “Taurus” off the first Spirit album my brother had.”  Just sayin’. I know those descending types of things are quite common in music, but as a kid who hardly knew anything about music “the first time I heard it”.

 

Spirit

Enjoy this cool story by a most knowledgeable music writer, Jim Washburn. If you like this story or are interested in Danelectros at all, check out The Danelectro Story right here on Jackaboutguitars.com by Jim Washburn and Steve Soest.

Also check out “A Bit on The New Danelectro Company” which contains a whole bunch of info including an interview with Steve Soest, the guy who seems to know more about Danelectros than just about anybody on the planet!

Special thanks to Jim Washburn for sharing this.    –  Jack

Continue reading RANDY CALIFORNIA HAS KEPT AN UPDATED SPIRIT ALIVE
 BY JIM WASHBURN


FORGOT YOUR MEDICINE? TIME FOR A DOSE OF KEEPIN’ IT REAL BY STEVE SOEST

FORGOT YOUR MEDICINE? TIME FOR A DOSE OF KEEPIN’ IT REAL BY STEVE SOEST

That’s right, the GOOD DOCTOR is in!Even-Steven

…and I thought I was busy. Steve Soest is playing gigs all over Southern California,  fixing EVERYBODY’S GUITARS, living life large, and he still has time for us here at Jackaboutguitars.com  What a great guy!

 

                                                              Woops! Two Steve’s…

I’ll have to send him out one of these new extremely way cool Jackaboutguitars.com tee shirts when they become available in the very near future!  They’ll look something like this:

Jag Shirt240-3This is only a mock up.  Of course the real shirts will look way much cooler than anyone can even begin to imagine or anticipate!!!

Prices aren’t set in stone yet but the way it’s looking I’m guessing they’ll probably be somewhere around $25 which will include shipping within the continental U.S. and for any of you other readers in the other 102 countries where we have been seen, we’ll have to calculate that extra shipping cost (sorry  Paul M., Eric C., Jeff B., Jimmy P., Peter F., and Pete T.) (Besides, if you guys mentioned here request a shirt, I may just send ’em with no extra shipping charge if you promise to give ’em plenty of exposure.)

As we get this all figured out (depending on demand and feedback –  please drop us a line at [email protected] and if there’s enough response, we’ll probably put up an order form in the right hand column to make it easy to get one of these cool tee-shirts that boast a logo design by the same artist who designed the famous AC/DC logo, my talented brother, Gerry Huerta.

Continue reading FORGOT YOUR MEDICINE? TIME FOR A DOSE OF KEEPIN’ IT REAL BY STEVE SOEST

SOME WAY COOL GUITARS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FROM STEVE SOEST

SOME WAY COOL GUITARS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FROM STEVE SOEST

THAT’S RIGHT! Some WAY COOL GUITARS are now available from STEVE SOEST(Soest Guitar)! Get ’em while they’re hot before somebody else does… because STUFF THIS COOL WON’T LAST LONG…

Steve-MustangSteve Soest with more than a carload of COOL and DROOL!

I may have to sell my SPECIAL PEDIGREE ALBINO MILKING CHICKENS and “MUSEUM QUALITY” CHIA PET COLLECTION to get in on this action and getting one of these babies for myself!

FOR SALE: 6.5 milking chickens-WELL TRAINED -THAT’S RIGHT – 1/2 a milking chicken too! (NON SHEDDING VARIETY!!!)

FOR SALE: 13 CHIA PETS -they don’t eat much and come from a VERY CLEAN CHIA FAMILY!!!

My apologies.  These guitars are just SO WAY COOL I got a little caught up and carried away about how I was going to bag something here for myself.  Back to the guitars…

Check out this list of WAY COOLNESS:

1. 1920 Gibson Style “O” Artist $3850

2. 1959 Martin OO-18G (he said he has this one sold, so it might be going back to him)

3. T. Haruo Fancy Martin Style Model 80 $450

4. 1942 Epiphone Century Electric $1100

5. 1930’s Washburn (Tonk Bros.) Model 5200 $1200

6. 1960’s Ampeg by Burns of London “Wild Dog” $1200

7. Hamer Parallelogram Solid Body? MILLER BEER Promo  (Graphics covered with sparkle sticky paper) $350

8. 1960’s Yamaha SG-2 Red Solid Body, Tremolo, Weird Cool Link Wray Model $1400

9. 1960’s Crucianelli (Italy) “Panoramic” Solid Body $485

10. 1968 (?) Fender Mustang Bass C.A. Red/Racing Stripe $1400

11. 1930’s S.S. Stewart Carved Top Archtop Model 7008 $850

12. 1972 Fender Strat Sunburst, Maple Neck Staggered Pole Pickups $2600

13. 1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom Artisan 3 Pickups, Walnut, Fancy $2600 SOLD

14. 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass, Blonde (Keeper)

15. 1960’s Mosrite Sunburst Ventures Style $2600

16. Silvertone/Danelectro Model 1457 2 Pickup Guitar Red Burst with Amp-In-Case. VERY NICE $785

17. VERY RARE Hallmark Mark IV Solid Body, Gold Sparkle With Matching Headstock, 2 Pickup, Tremolo Mosrite Influence , Made in Bakersfield by Former

INDEPENDENT MUSICIANS RISE AGAINST CORPORATE GIANTS: THE STORY…

INDEPENDENT MUSICIANS RISE AGAINST CORPORATE GIANTS: THE STORY

 

EVER FELT TOTALLY HELPLESS AND RIPPED OFF?

Have you ever felt totally helpless after being ripped off by a big corporation?  Maybe it only had to do with the ultra ridiculous charges inflicted upon you by a MEGA GIANT CABLE COMPANY just to be able to enjoy a little T.V. watching and have internet service.  They get you to sign up for what seems like a fairly reasonable fee, give you all of the “EXTRAS”, only to stick it to you for the next couple of years until the contract expires (who has time to read, let alone understand everything on those 3 pages of fine print that happens to be in a language which only resembles English!)

 

 

Maybe it’s only the high out of pocket expenses that you work so hard for to pay for your $5000 deductible insurance only to find by year’s end you put out only $4950 towards medical expenses besides the extremely high premiums you’ve paid all year long just to try to protect your family.

 

Imaging inventing a way cool product and people seeming to work with you under the guise of helping you to bring that invention to market!  Big corporations pretending to help you out but really behaving like THIEVES and stealing and marketing the product that YOU INVENTED! Would you like the opportunity to feel a little bit better about some of the wrong doing that goes on in this world that seems to rain on you and I (the little guy)?

 

I know that just presenting this article to you for my friends Michelle & Steve helps me to feel quite a bit better about the unfortunate unfair things that most of us have to endure on an almost daily basis by the “big boys” who reign it all over us.

Continue reading INDEPENDENT MUSICIANS RISE AGAINST CORPORATE GIANTS: THE STORY…

NOW THAT THE SMOKE HAS CLEARED, IT’S TIME FOR SOME KEEPIN’ IT REAL

FORGOT YOUR MEDICINE? TIME FOR A DOSE OF KEEPIN’ IT REAL BY STEVE SOEST

That’s right, the GOOD DOCTOR is in!Even-Steven

…and I thought I was busy. Steve Soest is playing gigs all over Southern California, fixing EVERYBODY’S GUITARS, living life large, and he still has time for us here at Jackaboutguitars.com What a great guy!

 

Woops! Two Steve’s…

I’ll have to send him out one of these new extremely way cool Jackaboutguitars.com tee shirts when they become available in the very near future! They’ll look something like this:Jag Shirt240-3

This is only a mock up. Of course the real shirts will look way much cooler than anyone can even begin to imagine or anticipate!!!

Prices aren’t set in stone yet but the way it’s looking I’m guessing they’ll probably be somewhere around $25 which will include shipping within the continental U.S. and for any of you other readers in the other 102 countries where we have been seen, we’ll have to calculate that extra shipping cost (sorry Paul M., Eric C., Jeff B., Jimmy P., Peter F., and Pete T.) (Besides, if you guys mentioned here request a shirt, I may just send ’em with no extra shipping charge if you promise to give ’em plenty of exposure.)

As we get this all figured out (depending on demand and feedback – please drop us a line at [email protected] and if there’s enough response, we’ll probably put up an order form in the right hand column to make it easy to get one of these cool tee-shirts that boast a logo design by the same artist who designed the famous AC/DC logo, my talented brother, Gerry Huerta.

Continue reading NOW THAT THE SMOKE HAS CLEARED, IT’S TIME FOR SOME KEEPIN’ IT REAL