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Thread: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

  1. #26
    International Vimana.'s Avatar
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    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Nelsonca61 View Post
    My lad bought his recent Bass from PMT, a Fender USA Job, it recently let him down during a recording session, he took it to Dave Dearnaley for the repair he's not impressed with PMT. or with Fender!!!!, he has 3 older Fenders that haven't let him down and an Ibanez model circa 1984 which has never gone wonky on him. Bring back the Sound Centre
    Good to hear that Dave D. is still doing the do.
    Now there is a bloke who knows his stuff.

  2. #27
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    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Vimana. View Post
    Good to hear that Dave D. is still doing the do.
    Now there is a bloke who knows his stuff.
    I think back to when i used have a few guitars but could never afford the £350.0 Les Paul and Strats and had to settle for the £50.0 Avon and Eros copies, a little investment in a few early 70's Les Pauls grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

  3. #28

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Do you have Guitar Center (or an equivalent) over there?

    http://www.guitarcenter.com

  4. #29
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    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by NYCBlue View Post
    Do you have Guitar Center (or an equivalent) over there?

    http://www.guitarcenter.com
    Not really.
    Mainly independents, though some quite big - e.g. Andertons and the like - but dotted around the country, and usually just one main outlet.

  5. #30

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Vimana. View Post
    Not really.
    Mainly independents, though some quite big - e.g. Andertons and the like - but dotted around the country, and usually just one main outlet.
    So what's left in Cardiff if you're looking for a music gear.

  6. #31

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Vimana. View Post
    Not really.
    Mainly independents, though some quite big - e.g. Andertons and the like - but dotted around the country, and usually just one main outlet.
    I think for PRS guitars for example, PMT are as good an outlet as any. The local branch get an order number from their HO and raise the order. The price for the model I pre-ordered seems to be be fixed for the moment wherever you buy, so I welcomed the chance to support my local store. And I had the chance to check out the playability of a similar guitar without feeling I was using the shop. When it's ready for collection I'll have a chance to play it and check it over for dins - something I worry about when buying blind. So far, all good - and there was a guy in there who obviously loved PRS guitars.

  7. #32

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by NYCBlue View Post
    So what's left in Cardiff if you're looking for a music gear.
    Nobles is still trading. They shifted from Llanishen (where I bought my Washburn Hawk a long time ago) to Crwys Road and thence to Old Church Road at Whitchurch. Different Noble now behind the counter to 1979. That luthier at Dinas Powis seems to have disappeared.....

  8. #33

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    Nobles is still trading. They shifted from Llanishen (where I bought my Washburn Hawk a long time ago) to Crwys Road and thence to Old Church Road at Whitchurch. Different Noble now behind the counter to 1979. That luthier at Dinas Powis seems to have disappeared.....
    Personally I'd take the Washburn Hawk over a PRS SE any day of the week. I do have a soft spot for that lovely old Jap stuff

  9. #34

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Veg1960 View Post
    Personally I'd take the Washburn Hawk over a PRS SE any day of the week. I do have a soft spot for that lovely old Jap stuff
    I still love playing the Hawk - it's my instrument of choice and cost me about £750 in 1979. I'm buying the PRS for the Floyd Rose whammy bar - and the neck dimensions are very close to the Hawk; so the playability is almost the same. The pick-up configuration is also similar to the Hawk, and a selling point of the PRS SE Floyd is its 85/15 pick-ups

  10. #35

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    I love those old Washburns - never had one of the Hawk Series but have an A15 and A20. The A20 is killer! Those EMGs may take a bit of getting used to, with the Floyd should be very different from the Washburn

  11. #36

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    I bought a Hohner 335 copy in blonde from Nobles on Crwys Road in about 1990. It was a surprisingly good guitar. I think my son has it now.

  12. #37

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    I've never had a decent semi, so not really familiar with them. I once passed over a Cherry Red Edwards 335 in Cash Converters for £125.00 - I didn't know what it was. Doh! By the time I hit google it was gone

  13. #38
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    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    I still love playing the Hawk - it's my instrument of choice and cost me about £750 in 1979. I'm buying the PRS for the Floyd Rose whammy bar - and the neck dimensions are very close to the Hawk; so the playability is almost the same. The pick-up configuration is also similar to the Hawk, and a selling point of the PRS SE Floyd is its 85/15 pick-ups
    I'd never seen a Washburn Hawk, or at least I had forgotten if I had - I had to google it.
    Looks like it comes from the same factory or 'gakki' (Matsumoko I guess) as the venerable Westone Thunder.
    But yeah, it's much prettier ;)

    I like old late 70's - 80's Japanese guitars too, mainly the F style.
    I've bought and sold a few over the years, Greco, Fernandes, early Tokai, Antoria , early Ibanez etc . Early JV Squire's too.
    Not kept any. Doh...
    My Strat still has an old Tokai body though ;)

  14. #39

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Veg1960 View Post
    I love those old Washburns - never had one of the Hawk Series but have an A15 and A20. The A20 is killer! Those EMGs may take a bit of getting used to, with the Floyd should be very different from the Washburn
    I've got a Floyd on an Ibanez so I know what I'm getting. Although the Ibanez has a thinner neck, I find it harder to play than the Washburn because of the jumbo frets. The up-side is when I go back to the Hawk, it feels so fast!

  15. #40

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Got an old Greco Strat - Lovely! Not as nice as my battered old JV Squier though -Had that for 25 years and still my main squeeze

  16. #41
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    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Veg1960 View Post
    Got an old Greco Strat - Lovely! Not as nice as my battered old JV Squier though -Had that for 25 years and still my main squeeze
    Good stuff

    Edit: yeah .. I spelled Squier wrong earlier ..;)
    Last edited by Vimana.; 11-04-17 at 21:47.

  17. #42

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    I've got a Floyd on an Ibanez so I know what I'm getting. Although the Ibanez has a thinner neck, I find it harder to play than the Washburn because of the jumbo frets. The up-side is when I go back to the Hawk, it feels so fast!
    Those EMGs will be a lot more aggressive sounding that the old Di Marzios in your Wing series. It's great to have the contrast between the two

  18. #43

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Vimana. View Post
    I'd never seen a Washburn Hawk, or at least I had forgotten if I had - I had to google it.
    Looks like it comes from the same factory or 'gakki' (Matsumoko I guess) as the venerable Westone Thunder.
    But yeah, it's much prettier ;)

    I like old late 70's - 80's Japanese guitars too, mainly the F style.
    I've bought and sold a few over the years, Greco, Fernandes, early Tokai, Antoria , early Ibanez etc . Early JV Squire's too.
    Not kept any. Doh...
    My Strat still has an old Tokai body though ;)
    I picked up a Westone Thunder Jet for £15.00 a while ago. One of my students has a Gibson Les Paul Tribute - The Westone is a better guitar in every respect

  19. #44

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Veg1960 View Post
    I've never had a decent semi, so not really familiar with them. I once passed over a Cherry Red Edwards 335 in Cash Converters for £125.00 - I didn't know what it was. Doh! By the time I hit google it was gone
    Ouch!

  20. #45
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    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Veg1960 View Post
    Got an old Greco Strat - Lovely! Not as nice as my battered old JV Squier though -Had that for 25 years and still my main squeeze
    I used to have an EKO 12 string Jumbo with a pick-up, my Dad got it for me, fell off a back of a lorry ended up in the Rompney Castle where he acquired it for me

  21. #46

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Veg1960 View Post
    Those EMGs will be a lot more aggressive sounding that the old Di Marzios in your Wing series. It's great to have the contrast between the two
    The blurbs re: the pick-ups - "The 85/15 set is based on Paul Reed Smith's 1985 Standard Treble and Bass pickups, much-respected for the ability to offer great humbucking and single-coil tones. These new humbuckers are wired through a master volume, master tone (with a built-in push/pull coil split) and a three-way pickup selector blade switch offering both pickups solo and combined. Textbook stuff.

    Time to plug in. Running through our amp's clean channel, the bridge 'bucker unloads a whole sackful of sparkle. While this setting works great for choppy rhythm stuff, we prefer adding the neck pickup into the mix. This combination retains the bright clarity of the bridge pickup but adds some warmth. Switch to single-coil mode and you're almost in Hendrix Little Wing territory'

    http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/gu...stom-24-646172

  22. #47

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Nelsonca61 View Post
    I used to have an EKO 12 string Jumbo with a pick-up, my Dad got it for me, fell off a back of a lorry ended up in the Rompney Castle where he acquired it for me
    Those old Ekos were built like tanks, I had a 12 string and a 6 string. I remember a time when everyone in Caerphilly had Gretches for a while after the warehouse got turned over

  23. #48

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    The blurbs re: the pick-ups - "The 85/15 set is based on Paul Reed Smith's 1985 Standard Treble and Bass pickups, much-respected for the ability to offer great humbucking and single-coil tones. These new humbuckers are wired through a master volume, master tone (with a built-in push/pull coil split) and a three-way pickup selector blade switch offering both pickups solo and combined. Textbook stuff.

    Time to plug in. Running through our amp's clean channel, the bridge 'bucker unloads a whole sackful of sparkle. While this setting works great for choppy rhythm stuff, we prefer adding the neck pickup into the mix. This combination retains the bright clarity of the bridge pickup but adds some warmth. Switch to single-coil mode and you're almost in Hendrix Little Wing territory'

    http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/gu...stom-24-646172
    My mistake - had assumed they were EMG 85/81 set. Totally different kettle of fish.

  24. #49

    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    Quote Originally Posted by ninianclark View Post
    George Ostricher owns Cranes, he does the range of TangleWood guitars which he imports from a factory in South Korea. Mike the manager of Cranes left him last year to go and work at PMT and ever since then Crances realised they couldnt or didnt want to compete.

    George is not a daft man though, he owns the Cranes building as well as countless other large buildings in Cardiff - so he wont be destitute any time soon. Last time I spoke to him he was thinking of opening a smaller shop and doing high end products only somewhere else in Cardiff.

    A lovely fella and there is an old saying - if George has sold something to you - you have paid too much, if you have sold something to George - he hasn't paid enough for it.

    A crafty old devil, that loves his music, he came to Cardiff in the 1940's with his parents from Hungary - and is a self made man.

    He once sold me a guitar and a bike in my lunch hour - when all I wanted was a set of drum sticks .........
    Blimey, there's a blast from the past. I recall meeting him when he was running a wimpy bar on Westgate St, must be 35 years ago. I remember him as a really nice guy. Clearly a business man, but when he picked your pocket you couldn't help smiling.

  25. #50
    International Vimana.'s Avatar
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    Re: Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

    This thread has taken an interesting turn (well, 'interesting' for some of us maybe) ;)

    I am a bit of a fan of the underdog / alternative / outsider (goes well with supporting the City) and although I had ownership dreams as a young man, I prefer something interesting or quirky over a Fender or Gibson.

    Some memorable / favourite 'alternatives' over the years have been:
    Maison 335 style (decent quality late 80's? MIK) that particular one just had that something. So .. I sold it (one of many 'FFS' moments)
    Mid 80's Fernandes 'The Revival' Strat . Wowza. Also sold that. There is a pattern here !
    But my dearest possession/memory was a 70's Ibanez 'Custom' LesPaul clone which was my everything for years, many, many moons ago.
    I played/abused the **** out of it until it truly died. I still have the tuner pegs ;)

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