I didn't get many pics either
Alan playing my ES130
Alan's mate Adrian (not a member) was filmed by Tom doing some comparative tests. Playing through his Hot Rod Deluxe, he tried 3 different Goldies, two with Tokai pickups, & mine with Duncan's. Then he tried both Springy ST80s, Alan's with Es & mine with Texas Specials. And John's Bacchus too, so hopefully the vids will be useful, once Tom gets around to sorting them out.
Later, Tom filmed Alan playing old & new LPs through John's Ceriatone/Marshall.
So could we reach agreement on which pickups were best? Of course we couldn't! Opinions varied, some liked the warmer/fatter sounding pickups, other preferred the thinner/brighter Tokais. The truth is they all had something to be said for them. A very interesting test.
The highlight was meeting everybody, but the guitar highlight for me was getting 8 right handed Goldies together in one place - and not a Sunburst one anywhere.
If only I had brought my black one, & John his Metallic Red one. I couldn't resist getting my pic taken with 8 gorgeous 25 year old models. :wink:
In the background, Alan is talking to Dave, Tom has his back to us, & Adrian is playing Alan's ES120.
Onto the guitars. It was a great day for anyone who loves custom colour Strats. Luckily I do. The blues won it for me.
L to R.
ST55 Sonic Blue (SO) - Iain. Hard to believe that this is Sonic Blue, looks more like Surf Green, but the code says SO.
Bacchus BST64 - Lake Placid Blue? - John. Although maybe this isn't LPB?
ST50 colour code not known - Dave (imosdad). I guess this must be MB, same as Iain's.
ST55 - Metallic Blue (MB) - Iain
Strange that Dave's blue one is an ST50 - a custom colour Goldie should be a 55, but it was the only one with a sticker.
In the background, Iain plays Dave's Firebird while John takes a pic. Dave also had a Tokai Jazz bass JB50 in a darker metallic blue, but I didn't get a picture of that. Hard to pick a favourite, I thought I would go for Iain's matching headstock blue/green beauty, but Dave's rosewood board blue beauty would just edge into the lead for me. Dave - didn't you say you'd had it from new?
The Goldies all together:
My Olympic White ST50, Iain's Sonic Blue ST55, Dave's Metallic Blue ST50, Iain's Metallic Blue ST55, Tom's very pink (PP) ST55(?), Jez's Olympic White ST40 (changed scratchplate), Jez's Flamingo Orange ST55. Iain's Olympic White ST40.
And every one of them was nice. 8) Good condition, playing well, ageing beautifully. All the rosewood board ones had gorgeous, dark, close-grained rosewood, the quality was consistent, as expected.
Also there were John's 3 Love Rocks - though after trying the Goldtop, I don't think I tried the others! Alan & Dave both had newer Love Rocks. I think there was a Fender Japan Strat that I didn't get round to trying, & there were a couple more that I can't remember. A very impressive collection all round.
So, where's the next one? London? Or are you going to let them down under go next?