Fender Cable Convention

Brandin · Post by **Brandin** » 29 Jun 2006 10:53 pm

Jim, where can ya get one of those?

GB

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 30 Jun 2006 4:04 am

No place, yet - This was a prototype made by Gary Spaeth. He's not set up to make production runs of them...not sure there's enough customers.

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 30 Jun 2006 5:32 am

The roller bridge is a great idea. I assume you are tuned to E9th. On the advice of Bobbye Seymore, who sold me the guitar 5 years ago, my top neck is tuned to D9th rather than E9th. Using a standard set of E9th strings (with a couple of substitutions for heavier guages), my 1000 rarely breaks the high F# (G# in E9th) and never breaks any of the other strings. The C6th neck never breaks strings either, using standard pedal steel C6th strings.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 30 Jun 2006 1:30 pm

The D9 tuning was used for many years by Fender players to avoid string breakage. With Gary's gadget, E9 has been no problem at all. The aftermarket Fender roller bridges seem to work as well - so there's a group trying to get those made by one of the parts fabricators.

But I still think Gary's thing may have the edge on tone.

Fred Layman · Post by **Fred Layman** » 2 Jul 2006 7:06 pm

I'm adding two pedals on my Fender 2000 and need a couple of Fender turnbuckles, also 8 to 10 Fender cables with both ends intact for knee levers I'm adding. Length or condition of the cables are not important; I just need the ends. Email me with a price.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 2 Jul 2006 7:27 pm

Fred - are looking for cables for pedals 8,9 &10...or do you need eight...or ten..total cables?

And are you looking for the whole assembly including the small pulley? Or just the pieces of cable with two loops on them tham runs through the small pulleys?

FWIW the end/cable assembly is not tough to make. Wre rope from Home Depot, some copper tubing and stiff wire bent to shape.

Also, for turnbuckles the aluminum hardware-store ones with a hex shape to the "body" work great. I have several on my 400, including on both knee levers. I think there may be a pic earlier in the thread, or in another knee lever thread.

Fred Layman · Post by **Fred Layman** » 3 Jul 2006 8:33 am

Jim. I have the original pedals and don't need them. I'm aware of several of the alternatives you suggest and may end up usind them if I can't find the original Fender parts. Thanks for your suggestions

Willis Vanderberg · Post by **Willis Vanderberg** » 3 Jul 2006 10:08 am

Did all the fender 1000 guitars come with the aluminum frame painted black or did some come in polished aluminum?

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 3 Jul 2006 11:49 am

Mine, a 1958 model (see picture above), is the polished al-mag. Fender switched to black frames, I want to say, around 1960.

Russ Tkac · Post by **Russ Tkac** » 3 Jul 2006 12:13 pm

Here is a picture of my roller bridge mod.

And before cleaning...

[This message was edited by Russ Tkac on 03 July 2006 at 01:18 PM.]

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 3 Jul 2006 2:35 pm

Fred, if you shoot me an email remindeer of what exactly you need I'll check my stuff tomorrow.

And FWIW my '57 1000 has a black frame. Go figure.

Brandin · Post by **Brandin** » 4 Jul 2006 8:04 am

I have a 400 S/N# 00290 (not sure of year)
that has the polished al-mag frame. I think
they went with the black frame because it
worked better on TV. I'm sure Jody would
know the real reason.

GB

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 7 Jul 2006 12:18 am

I have a blonde Fender 400 S/N 00277 with the polished frame and tweed case, it's from 1958. I think they went to the black frame mid to late '59, around the same time they started using the brown tolex cases.

About two years ago I had four Fender 400's and a 1000. Now I'm down to just one 400, and I'm keeping this one.

Tim Jones of Kansas · Post by **Tim Jones of Kansas** » 7 Jul 2006 8:12 pm

That 'ethyl and the regulars' site is great!

Non-Fender players, let me hear an intro to 'Long Gone, Long Forgotten' thats better than them!

Time's up. There ISN'T a better intro than that!

Great Work! I LOVE IT! Cannot beat that sound!

Tim Jones
~)Fender 1000 and nothin' else(~

Tim Whitlock · Post by **Tim Whitlock** » 8 Jul 2006 7:23 am

Thanks for the nice endorsement, Tim! The tracks are from a CD we're working on. Some of them are obviously not finished yet. Glad you like it!

Post by **Joey Ace** » 14 Aug 2006 10:46 am

I've just heard from Al Brisco that he is taking his Fender 400 to Scotty's Convention this year.

He'll be using it on the Main Stage for a Buck Owens / Ralph Mooney tribute.

see http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum4/HTML/011149.html

for more info.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 14 Aug 2006 3:21 pm

Did all the fender 1000 guitars come with the aluminum frame painted black or did some come in polished aluminum?

The earliest ones were all polished, I believe, and Fender probably went to the painted frames because the castings had a lot of imperfections that couldn't be polished out, and because the aluminum-magnesium alloy they used didn't polish real well, anyway! The textured paint they adopted hid imperfections pretty well, and that gave them a more consistent appearance. (On the downside, it chipped pretty easily.

As someone else mentioned, large, flat, polished metal surfaces were also frowned upon due to the many reflections they caused on TV and at big shows (where they had spotlights).

One Baltimore guitarist back in the '50s had a custom-made guitar, the top all chrome plated. When he played the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, they made him wipe it down with a wet rag and Bon-Ami cleanser to kill the reflections!

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 14 Aug 2006 4:13 pm

Brandin

Leo Fender went to the "black frame" due to television lights throwing off too much glare.Causing problems for the camera crew.
I used to wet some kitchen cleanser and wipe the frame before doing a TV show to dull it down. Hope this helps PS The almag fram guitars as we all know are built like Sherman Tank.

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 14 Aug 2006 4:15 pm

Brandin

Leo Fender went to the "black frame" due to television lights throwing off too much glare.Causing problems for the camera crew.
I used to wet some kitchen cleanser and wipe the frame before doing a TV show to dull it down. Hope this helps PS The almag fram guitars as we all know are built like Sherman Tank. I see that my Fender Buddy Donny nailed it again in a prior post. Damm he should have been with us at Fender.

I am sincere my friend.

Paul Redmond · Post by **Paul Redmond** » 14 Aug 2006 11:46 pm

There IS a site out there in cyberspace y'all for old FENDER's. . . www.unclestick.com/fender/nice-fenders.htm
Might be a good place to start. Also has the 400 I just finished for ebb. By the way, y'all are correct. . .NO cabinet drop or detuning issues on his PSG. And I was looking!! Didn't want his guitar leaving the shop with a problem. In 2 days I found zip!!! Great, great sound. Gotta love these creatures!!! Check out Al Brisco's site. Takes a while to load, but well worth the wait. Don't know if it's relevant or not, but the ash neck on ebb's guitar was held in the aluminum frame with only 4 small screws on all four outer corners!!! I found a piece of tape on the neck signed and dated 11/25/58. I hated to ship it back to him, but we parted company and I bid her fond farewell. What a lady!!! I'll always cherish the fond, intimate moments I was privileged to spend with her.

Paul Redmond · Post by **Paul Redmond** » 14 Aug 2006 11:53 pm

Jody - The name I referred to in my prior post was Bill Carson. Ring any bells? I razor-bladed the tape off B4 doing anything else, then Elmer's-glued it back on when I was done. Urethaned over the top of it to preserve it hopefully forever. (Min-Wax Satin FWIW).

Brandin · Post by **Brandin** » 15 Aug 2006 7:24 am

Paul, do you know what the serial# was
on that 400?

GB

Jody Carver · Post by **Jody Carver** » 15 Aug 2006 7:34 am

Pual.
I have known Bill Carson since 1948. Bill is a good friend and lives at the present time in Nashville. Bill saved my life one time at the NAMM show when it was beleived I suffered a heart attack and it was Bill who insisted I go to the ER in Chicago. Bile has some emergency medical backround from being in the Armed forces.

Gerald Pierce · Post by **Gerald Pierce** » 15 Aug 2006 12:18 pm

Brandin,
The 400 that Paul did such fine work on is serial # 278. There were photos of it on the link in Paul's last post. I changed the page some and saved it under the wrong name...lost the original, so I'm re-creating that page. I hope to have it again up by later tonight.

There are some photos of the finished guitar HERE [This message was edited by Gerald Pierce on 15 August 2006 at 01:19 PM.][This message was edited by Gerald Pierce on 15 August 2006 at 01:21 PM.]

Lee Jeffriess · Post by **Lee Jeffriess** » 15 Aug 2006 7:19 pm

Paul, whats the story on the brown fretboard?.
Is that stock, or did you alter the color?.
Lee