Straight off - you had better know that this story contains all things to all men/women/others -
love - hate - despair - the dizzy heights of success - madness - peace - are just
some of the things to be found here... along with a
plain and simple, old fashioned rant...
The same provisos apply as with all my previous postings, one here and two abroad (linked at the end...)
The Sturgeon Generalisimo has decreed
ALL WHO PASS THIS POINT
FOREVER GIVE UP HOPE...
that there is any form of sanity...
to be found on these shores...
Here endeth the Goverment Health Warning
When I bought my RD Artist in 1979 I was hooked, but also conned...
Enter stage right, a greasy haired clammy palmed salesman with cheesy moustache, suitably drooping...
Our hero is spotted drooling at a sunburst Gibson Thunderbird...
"
How much on HP..?"
"
Sorry sir, second hand... no HP possible... No need to look at the Fender's sir, how about this Nice RD Artist, beautiful plumage, er action, sorry Sir, and quite WONDERFUL Moog circuitry, quite the Rolls Royce of the guitar world..."
"
That will be £700 please sir, oh yes, and the fitted Gibson case is an extra £50..."
Our hero stands aghast...
"
An extra...?"
"
Yes Sir, an extra..."
"
But it is a fitted case, and the only one for the only RD Artist you have in the shop, and you already told me you will probably not be able to get another one..."
"
Sorry Sir" he said, rubbing his hands gleefully, "
that is just how it is..."
"
But..."
"
Moog Circuitry..."
"
Where do I sign...?"
Some are born to be suckers, some just fall into it... and just in case, the case was supplied as part of the package, I discovered from Norlin (?) later, but too late for retribution - the shop still trades, so... no, I'll just think it...
... this did include HP charges, all to be paid off over 9 months, which I did, my other primary guitar was/is a Peter Cook T'bird (on a thread running elsewhere on this site) and the two are as different as chalk and cheese...
the RD and the PC circa 1979Now don't get me wrong, I love this instrument, just like all my others, and it would pain me to lose her, but the joy of the purchase did not last...
Firstly the switches - no musician in their right minds would position a pup selector there, would they... and as for that multi-leaf thing for the
MOOG - so much
fritzing (sorry Uwe, a poor
connection issue, honest)
and buzzing and clicking - newer models had the following idea, but that was too late for me...
This is where the
purists should brace themselves...
... so they were the first thing to go - I fitted minature switches after
cutting a hole through to the front of the scratchplate area, one for expansion, one for compression and moved the pup selector (
more cutting) to a LP type position - this worked great, promise you, and she gigged like this...
Prior to this point and during 1982 I decided to
burn the serial number into the back of the body in numbers 2" high - I had decided I liked her too much to lose her so I'd make her unsaleable... a strange form of logic but I felt quite proud of this and still find that to be a head turner...
circa 1983 - a band called "Nice Nightmare" with a truly gifted, exceptional guitarist called Ricardo Kazik - anyone ever heard of him...? oh yes, I went from long hair to crop around this time - shocked everyone I knew... the mini switches formed a nice ciggy perch - presently not smoking and have not been since '93, oh yes, and the drummer went by the name Norman D Seagull, on occasion...
In her "EXTRA" home, post original switch mods - I'd forgotten how I'd filled the holes until now, but that was then and this is now...
I used packing case brands from the site I worked in, so she was "branded"... stop sobbing over in the corner, show some backbone, man...!During my stint with the
Nightmares (in more than one way, don't get me wrong, I had big hopes for this band, I really mean that, but...) the rest of the guys and I decided that the quirky blend of
jazzy metal would benifit from a
fretless influence - I had her frets ground down after a discussion with Peter Cook, prior to a permanant conversion, so If I decided to revert it would be less hassle - when I had this done found that she was much nicer to play not so low slung, and this led to discomfort dure to the profile. now, there were a number of quirky issues I found to be iritating playing in this style- the
side on shape - around the top near the neck she was very "
hard edged" and the same could be said for the
FIN so I had to think about this so out came the spoke shave and off came the corner near the pup selector...
a close shave...? - something I have not had in very nearly 20 years...The
FIN was a bigger problem - out came the "
WORKMATE" (TM) and in went the RD - I chose a
good clean new saw for the job, took a deep breath, and...
I believe news of this eventually resulted in a popular horror movie...
Oops... need to lower that action, I forgot to check that...Anyone with an RD who does not play
low slung would appreciate this mod,
I promise you, and when seated the mod by the switch is a comfort...
So, anyway, I digress... I had her
permanantly defretted by Andys in London, WC2 circa 1987 and she came back a treat - I had bought a third instrument at that point, a Hohner Jack (
love her, but that's another story...) so I could spare her for a while... there was talk of a new fretboard in ebony but the appeal of
conning people into thinking she was still
fretted worke to my perverted sense of delusion... and then the MOOG died...
1987 - the RD shortly before the death of the MOOG and just prior to permanant defretting... a shot then of the "resurrected" band with original keys player, and not my Peavey...! far too clinical... Is there any German influence in PCB AMP DESIGN...?She got packed away as gigging weas a priority and cash was a bit short, and when the band folded in '88, she got put away, one of those rainy day projects that never come...
Whilst in a state of dismantlement an accident broke her scratchplate, wrecking the support and end for the bridge pup and also snapping off the "top" support on the pup - this was a low point, and into the loft she went, only to come out a month back...
The band has reformed for the drummer's 50th, cutting a bizarre story short, and we play to a select invited audience in a village hall in Surrey on the 14th March, so a rush job was required on all my instruments (the only instruments presently lose around the house were an Ibanez 12 string acoustic I got as a 21st and a Collins mandolin I was given as a birthday presnet by my wife and daughter in 2004 - a long obsessed passion, for some highly obscure reason (
a copy of Mel Bays "play the mandolin" book I was given as a joke decades ago by someone long forgotten, if you must know...), so...
The here and now...
I had to butcher what was left of the scratchplate and hook up the pup to a 500k pot I had knocking about in the shed, dig out the bridge from several locations, and re-string her, and here she is, as of about a week back - the sound is a bit boomy but I need to locat a new scratchplate, or some other option re mounting pups with those large
GIBSON CUT HOLES she came with - I have seen someone in the US selling the right plate so may go for one, and then I will need a replacement pup...
A shape to rival a T'bird, IMHO... but that will still not quench the passion to own one...
that's her in THAT case... oops, forgot about the mod for whatsit connectors (XLR?)...
"... and it burns, burns, burns..." that serial number...
a close-up of the neck finish... plays like a dream, for those that live the dream...
The head is the only place the finish has deteriorated, and I have mislaid the truss-rod cover, and yes, haven't those tuners tarnished...Which brings us up to now - Istill have to think about what I am going to do with her bodywork - lots of holes - so many colours to chose from...
OMG is that the time...? - I'm DEAD... gotta go... back soon... 
