Hello Everybody ….We are back online...after Large Amounts of Time Having Past...being offline....
Welcome Back....
April 1st 2020 ..Late ....afternoon....in Austin Texas.
What can we possibly say...so much time has past....we are caught in the Covid 19 Bummer...and ...to maybe ….give a little relief to people or at least...entertain folks for a bit....We will do some story telling on my guitar adventures...seems like the fun thing to do right now....it will be in no particular order.
..just the 1 st 2 guitars we write about will be recent finds....both are fun and interesting guitars.....so here we go...before We start, please keep safe in these trying times....don't risk getting caught up in this deadly virus...and We are gonna try and put out a lot of fun info and stories...in the next couple of days ….to keep people informed on a little bit of Texas Joes recent guitar finds and whats going on with Valles Flying Machine.
Ok Guitar Lovers here we go...Ok..?
A few weeks ago on February 29th of 2020....I was offered a very kool...flamed Koa Top Super Strat at a very good price. A studio owner was getting rid of a lot of gear and was cleaning out his storage and he offered me this Koa Strat...I jumped on it because it had a lot of very good parts...beautiful Koa Stratocaster style body,Bill Lawrence L250 single coil pickups and a very sweet all Rosewood Neck with vintage Fender feel and headstock route....I fell in love with the guitar....or was it lust ? haha either way the guitar feels good in my hands responds great...and looks amazing !
I have it now with my tech getting a hot rail type humbucking pickup placed in the rear lead position...and cleaning up the wiring....plus having it cleaned up and intonated.
Its a super nice guitar ill probably shoot video with this guitar soon.....here are the recent pictures....enjoy.....
Up next is a crazy looking guitar many hardcore Valles Flying Machine Fans will identify with Texas Joe. The weird and Wonderful Peavey Razer. An American made guitar from the early 1980s. This particular guitar is in a very rare Silver Color....Peavey did not make many in this color...Red, Blue,Black and White being more prevalent in this series of guitars.
Texas Joe walked into a pawn shop just a block down the street from his house in Austin to make a payment and as he was walking out decided to walk to the guitar wall just to see what was in the offering. Lo and Behold his eyes BUGGED OUT ! NO FRIKKIN WAY.....! AMAZING...HIS HEART SKIPPED A BEAT! A Frikkin Peavey Razer in a Rare color wow ! Silver his mind was blown! no the scary part ...check the price..! only 299.00 ! wow what a deal....Joe grabbed the guitar he was in luck ! the guitar was in very clean condition.....all the parts were original everything worked on it and all the parts were original Peavey ! What a Find what A blessing !
He walked on over to his favorite pawn shop girl..at this particular pawn shop...and asked her for a price on the guitar...she was very kool and knocked a nice chunk of the price..and to Texas Joe's surprise the guitar came with its original case and a silver Peavey strap...total score ! This all happened on Dec 1st 2019. Texas Joe put the guitar on Layaway...with a lot of excitement and future visions of rocking the stage with this killer sweet guitar.....
Texas Joe took the guitar out of the pawn shop in January of 2020...and here are the pictures....below...1 st picture in Green Shirt is in very early Dec 2019 1st or second week of the month the day he discovered the Peavey Razer in the pawn shop. The other pictures in yellow shirt are of the January 2020 date he picked the guitar up from the pawn shop and a quick photo pose with his favorite pawn shop girl....it was a quick foto opportunity with Texas Joe a very happy camper indeed..... The collection of Peavey Razers is growing....this particular Peavey Razer is very light just a few tiny dings...again all original parts....Texas Joe took the guitar home cleaned it up and restrung it with new strings 9 gauge set...and ran it through his guitar setup...the smile on his face was huge a monster tuneful guitar indeed !
and Joe could not be more happy with this raging tone machine !
enjoy the photos below...…
The next guitar I would like to have a chat about is also a recent find....a total surprise find if you will. It is very uncommon to come across this type of guitar in Texas pawn shops...in any degree of regularity....its a rare occurrence to say the least . In all my time of guitar hunting since I moved to Austin in 2017,I have only seen 3 of this brand of Guitars for sale in pawn shops ….this particular brand you ask...what is it..?
Rickenbacker ! Yes Rickenbacker Guitars are some of the most iconic and sought after American made guitars that you almost never find in Austin area pawn shops.....and again I have only seen 3, a Beatles 325 in New Braunfels, Texas in a pawn shop and a Model 1997 V63 in rare Turquoise Blue..at the same pawn shop where I found this guitar pictured below.
Now the Tourquise Blue I put on Layaway and I have pictures also of the guitar but tough times and I could not pay it off and I lost it plus my 260 dollar deposit yikes that hurt....! but revenge is sweet...against the pawn shop Gods and I got my Revenge with this model pictured below 9 months late after the loss of the 1997 model....so here goes the story....read on....haha !
On the last day of November I walked into my local pawn shop to pay on my pawns and layaways...yes Texas Joe struggles and juggles his pawns and layaways..in order to survive in Austin, Texas...haha. but this day was different....always in a rush...I ran into the pawn shop to pay on my pawns...and got that done but as I was walking out ..I turned to the guitar wall and to my amazement...Wow ! No...frikkin Wayyyy...staring me back was a Black Rickenbacker 360 12 string guitar...I could not believe it..... Jetglo is the official Rickenbacker color.
I walked over to the guitar as it was in a solo guitar show case...and pulled it down....I looked it over I was a little sad as it was really really dirty....I looked for a second to see if it was a fake...Nope...it was not..it was the real deal....just for the rusty strings and dirt and grim ...it was a real Ricky 360 12 string....now I was really nervous...I thought to my self....this guitar is probably over 1500.00 bux...I cant afford that...I told myself....but then I looked at the price tag...wow way under 1000 bux….I thought well this is manageable....how do I approach this? I asked myself...?
I liked the guitar right away....This guitar is the answer to my 12 string...Live Guitar needs...here in Austin I thought....what do I DO? SO I looked it over and played it for a bit....then I decided to leave the pawn shop and figure out if I could afford this great Ricky 12 string....
I went home and pondered the idea....how do I afford to buy this guitar I was not flush with big bux….!
Then later on that night it hit me...Ill dump some of my guitars that are just ok....about 4 or 5 of them and ill have enough to purchase the Ricky 360 12 string.....yup that's what Ill do. so went to bed all happy with my idea.
Next morning was Dec 1st 2019.... I called the pawn shop up and told the lady that answered the fone...I wanted the Rickenbacker Guitar and I would go in about an hour later and buy it ..well she got excited as they work on small commissions...and she told me she would hold it for me.
I loaded up my car with the guitars I would sell the pawn shop...and went down there....when I got there to my surprise a guy who looked like Jake Sparrow a total rock and roll pirate was playing my Ricky ! I didn't like the feeling.....I was gonna have this guitar plus I had called beforehand so legally the guitar as mine....ha ha ! I was not gonna let it go..! to some pirate..! ha ha !
I told the guy I had the guitar on hold...and the Lady in the pawn shop agreed that's why the guitar had been behind the counter....where he grabbed it from....I was nice to the guy and let him play it...as much as he wanted...but I was firm the guitar was mine! Pirate kept questioning me if I was gonna guy it I said yes for sure....he looked me up and down and would not hand the guitar over....finally after about 20 minutes I put my hands out and said ...Can I have my guitar please..? Looking him straight in the eye....ha ha ...he winced and gave up the guitar I could feel he was pissed off but there was nothing he could do about it....lol...I legally had the right to the guitar...
Anyway....I brought my guitars to sell into the shop...and oddly enough the pawn shop lady gave me a good price for the guitars I wanted to sell and even made 50 bux more then the price of the Ricky 360..! So I made 50 bux more haha !
I sold my 4 guitars to the pawn shop and put the money on the Ricky 360...paid it in full thanked the pawn shop lady and ...the whole time Pirate guy was watching me do my deal....I guess he could not believe my way of wheeling and dealing...ha ha ….he walked out just as I was asking the pawn shop lady to take a picture of me with the guitar..before I drove home with my new find....I was super happy with my deal.
I came back home and showed my GIRLFRIEND MY FIND...SHE LOVED IT...Im glad she likes guitars also....ha ha
the guitar was super dirty.....I immediately took it out of its case and began to clean it up...and to my surprise...it shined up beautifully...just sparkled...and gleamed wow !...all the chrome was brilliant. All the electronics worked...and the finish was so jet shiny black it was like a mirror almost...I restrung the guitar with my light gauge setup of custom strings and started to play it....I loved it ..the sound was beautiful just beautiful ….the only buggy thing was two small scrapes in the back of the body but they are not noticeable ...so I was glad about that...only if you really look you will know.....This Ricky 360 look almost showfloor condition....and it sounds like magic runs through it ..Im very happy with this guitar....wow !
It took about 2 weeks to finally set the string height the way I like it and it needed a truss rod adjustment but I got it done and it feels like playing on butter wow ! I love the feel and sound of this guitar just amazing....!
See Pictures below
Above the day I picked the Rickenbacker 360 12 string....from the pawn shop Dec 1st 2019 a little after noon that day...would spend the rest of the day pampering the guitar ha ha !
Note see the glass case behind me with an acoustic guitar inside it..? well this Ricky was in the next case over right behind me....lol....
Above the 1 st gig where I used the Black Ricky 360 12 string..it did not disappoint...! Christmas weekend gig Dec 18th 2019 at a place called Poppa Jacks in Kyle Texas...was a fun gig a lot of people showed up it was a very nice gig full of Holiday Spirit !
Above another picture of my Ricky 12 string ..wonderful guitar....Valles Flying Machine in Full swing...left to right...Eloy Valles on congas...Sam Martinez on Bass Guitar ..Texas Joe Valles on Ricky 12 string...and our sweet friend Jo Anna on vocals a lot of fun that night !
Same night I used my Ricky 381...beautiful guitar just right for the Christmas Spirit....