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White look pretty sharp too and they'd be ideal for the wedding?

Agreed. I think silver would actually look really good.

I absolutely love it. Has that blend of hashiriya x endurance racer vibes that looks absolutely amazing!

Reminds me of one of my favourite IG accounts Hashiriya Pride

These are absolutely mind blowing. Haven't had the (mis)fortune of hearing one in real life but the videos leave you in no doubt as to how loud they are!

Very beige. CFMoto 450SR S is a lot more appealing.

Aprilia RS660 the more obvious comparison and much more handsome.

Exciting times ahead! Street Triple 765R does sound a bit weaponised for a first bike but I also reckon it depends entirely on the head on your shoulders. If you have a healthy respect for the bike then there's no reason for it not to be a great first bike!

What a great looking thing!

That sounds awful man, hard to believe there aren't any good shops 'round your way to be honest? I'd have expected the vintage guitar scene was going well over there considering the success of "vintage guitar" bands like King Gizzard / Murlocs / Glass Beams etc.

All this chat made me go and have a look at the Gretsch Custom Shop page on their website...

That's good to hear! To be fair I've always been happy to pay whatever Some Neck charge because they're absolutely trustworthy.
I dropped my Collings in for service a few years ago and as it would happen someone else dropped in an almost identical Collings OM2H on the same day to have a pickup fitted.
When I went back to collect my Collings Owen, the owner, with a great deal of gravity told me he had to tell me something...
Apparently he had my guitar on the bench with the drill in hand ready to fit the jack end pin for the pickup before realising that there had been a mixup in the Collings's.
No harm had been done and I actually thought it was kind of funny because what are the chances of two Collings OM2H arriving in to the workshop on the same day.
Anyway... he refused to take payment for the service on the basis that it was unacceptable that there had even been a mixup between the guitars even if no harm had been done.

I really couldn't recommend Some Neck highly enough, if you want the very best setup you'll ever get or are in the market for something nice they're well worth a look and happy to ship to anywhere in the world.

Some Neck Guitars Website
Some Neck Guitars Instagram

Anyway... advert over :)

No clips at the moment but I'll make a few over the weekend. I just plugged it in to a little Orange Crush 12 at home and it even sounds great through that. I just have to keep constantly reminding myself how the odd control layout works :)

It's a 1968 Blackhawk... apparently there were only 358 of these built so extremely rare but not really all that valuable by vintage guitar standards.
They're Baldwin-era so basically Gretsch's equivalent of Norlin Gibson or CBS Fender and apparently disgruntled Gretsch employees caused all sorts of havoc in the factory at the time of the transition which explains why my guitar doesn't have a serial number, lol. Also explains why they're prone to flying necks and mine has already been reset by a former owner at some stage.

It sounds phenomenal though. Supertron pickups which are a little bit hotter than Filtertrons and fully hollow.

Ah it's 55 years old this year and I absolutely trust Some Neck Guitars above all else to work on it so I'll probably just stomach it. I am conscious of it being done as sympathetically as possible and to be honest it doesn't need to be done right away so I'll live with it for now.

Just back from a service and holy smokes it does sound good. Plays pretty well too though tech recommended a re-fret and reckons c. €450 for the job to be done right.

The joys of it...

It doesn't help I've never written lyrics and hate the sound of my own voice.
I'm terrible at lyrics and don't push myself anywhere near hard enough to write them.

I've struggled so hard with this for my entire life, always been a guitarist guitarist...
During Covid my mate Lewis (bass) and I started what working on what would become the band that we're recording at the moment and it was basically just something to do once a week ot get out of the house and sit with some acoustic guitars and try to write songs...

It's definitely a muscle and the more of it we did the easier it got and the better the results. I've recently even gotten to a point where I'm comfortable writing on my own now and again, pretty happy with the results of how that's been going...
In terms of vocal I can solely attribute any capabilities I have as a singer to existing solely on a diet of Bon Iver throughout a lot of Covid... listening to Justin Vernon and singing along in the car made me realise I've forever been trying to sing in the wrong register to try and sound like other people when my voice is better suited to lower registers and falsetto...
I'm by no means a great singer or vocalist all of a sudden but I definitely feel like I've found my voice on both fronts in the last few years...

Shadows and Dust

I played bass... It shouldn't take much sleuthing to figure out who went on to greater things...

Dancing Under Red Skies

I always wished we had a better recording of this track.

Homely Ground

I'm in a not dissimilar boat too I guess... I was in a band in my early 20s with some people who went on to be extremely successful without me (12.2m monthly listeners on Spotify successful).
It's taken me a decade to get over it and actually get a band together and write some songs I actually love, I hate that I didn't do this years ago... we're self-recording an EP now and I don't think I've ever felt so excited about music, even when I was previously in a band playing sold out shows in some really cool venues.

In terms of progression from here I think the four of us are all confident that we're actually going to release something that we're really, truly proud of but we're also conscious that we're in our mid-thirties with careers, businesses, mortgages and family obligations so we're not going to get into a van and go and try to "make it".

We're definitely planning to play shows but I think they'll likely be to assorted friends / family and maybe some small number of "fans" (if the music is as good as we think it is) and honestly I'm happy with that thought for the act of art alone.

I've always felt like the place I feel most comfortable is on a stage playing music for people and I'll die a lot happier knowing I've done more of that and have left behind some sort of musical things even if I never win that Grammy :)

That new track is extremely pretty by the way.

I think the 954 or 929 would be a great outcome! I actually saw a clean (looking) 954 pop up for sale locally today for €2500 which I suspect will be sold before I get to it so I think I just need to assemble the euros and watch in wait!

Ná bíodh brón ort, táim an-tógtha! Is dócha gur fearr do chuid Gaeilge ná mo chuid Gaeilge :)

I've been looking for sure and I'd love the excuse for a little Europe weekend roadtrip. If things change and budget expands I'll definitely go with this route (I have an awful grá for an MV Agusta Brutale 1078RR which are impossible to find here) but at the current capex I probably won't be able to justify it...

Can't tell if gaeilgeoir or snide sasanach ;)

Good notes on the ZX swaps, I'll keep an eye on them if seller ever replies to me...
I'm in Ireland, there's definitely plenty of choice in budget but it seems like there's more 90s 750s to choose from than 00s 1000s which are obviously more desirable here for some reason?
There's lots of pre-SRAD GSXR750s for example...

There's an extremely handsome Erion Racing 929 available at the moment though I suspect it will be sold before I've the readies assembled (saving for mortgage approval at the moment so can't spend money on bikes... there are other avenues though).

It's a funny one... I saw a 9000 mile ZX7R in mint condition for €3800 the other day and it didn't even sell quickly. Just seems like the demand is different for different models over here.

Ah mate sadly since Brexit UK is practically off limit as we've to add 23% VAT on it to import back to Ireland... such a shame because there's lots of value over there!

They don't half hold their value over here though... the only one in budget is a project and I really just want something I can get out on with no work ideally.

I quite fancy a TRX850 alright but it seems like a wasted opportunity to sample something different to get another bike with the same engine...

Did spot a particularly nice TL1000S for sale locally but it's a bit out of budget and if I were going to stretch for a big twin I'd probably look out for an RSV Mille R.