Monday, March 08, 2010

Two Shades Of Antique White

<====1988 Strat Plus. Twin Six shirt! (pic by Jacob Stevenson)

This weekend was all about a color. Call it "creme", "off white", or whatever, my weekend was centered around these two objects that are categorized in that "not quite white" column.

I played this guitar on Saturday and Sunday at my church in the band. (Yes- dressed like this!)

First- the Fender Strat Plus. I always thought it looked "pastel yellow", but the hang tag from the guitar said "Antique White". ......Huh?

Well, to me it has always been "the yellow Strat".  For any guitar buffs that may read this, the Strat was purchased new in April of '88. It has the Wilkinson tremolo and roller nut with the locking tuners. I set the bridge up to "float" so I can get a bit of pitch change sharp and flat. It is pretty fun. It also has the gold label Lace Sensor pickups which sound just fine to my ears. The little dot you see on the upper bout is a sticker from an inspector of some pants I bought back when this guitar was new that was a round white circle with the number 8 on it in red. Since this was the 8th guitar I ever bought, I put it on there and it has survived up to this day.

Weird, I know!

<====Singular Gryphon.

The other thing was this drop bar rig. The Singular Cycles Gryphon is here for testing on Twenty Nine Inches. The frame is creme, off white.......whatever! It looks pretty sharp and the green panel job is sweet. I scored a green Brooks Special B-17 and I dug out this old 34T White Industries ring to match it up along with some green Deda tape. The copper rivets and rails on the Brooks are reflected nicely by the Industry 9 hubs. Those hubs were supposed to be orange, but have always been more of an electrical wire copper color instead. They found a nice home here I think. By the way, you can get one of these frames and forks from here.

The bike got ridden for the first time on Saturday. I won't spoil the write up for TNI, but I will say the set up fits like a glove! Nice too because I didn't need a high rise stem or two inches of spacers to get the Woodchippers where they needed to be. Now I just need some time to get out on the gravels to see how I like that Brooks and to see how the bike rides for a longer gravel grinder.

That may not be for awhile now as I am leaving this weekend for my Texas trip! Warm desert. Ahhh! I can't wait!

5 comments:

MG said...

Have a good trip, bro... I feel a ZZ Top song comin' on. :-) heh heh...

Travel safely. That Griphon is lookin' sweet.

Cheers!

Steve Fuller said...

Enjoy your trip south. Hope you get some good riding and testing in. :)

paxtoncoyote said...

Did someone say ZZ Top? Oh man, anything from the early stuff is GREAT when it come to that little old band from Texas.

If I didn't have a Fargo to build I'd be seriously looking at one of those Gryphon's, nice looking for sure, have a good trip south & soak up some warmth for all of us.

Guitar Ted said...

Thanks guys. I'll be having some fun in the desert rocks soon. Can't wait!

@paxtoncoyote: I haven't forgotten about ya dude! Look for a package coming your way soon.....

paxtoncoyote said...

no worry there Mark, you seem to be a busy guy & I'm in no big rush, I'm getting a few parts gathered & can't wait to "go far"