So having handed off Ron his Tele from the Country Club Collection, he showed up in the Shed one day with this lovely looking Strat.
Me: "It lovely and Red but what is it?"
Ron: "Its a signature Strat"
Me: "You don’t often see a Zara Ling Itun signature model"
Ron: Sighs "It's one of Mark's - handwriting was never a strong point"
Me: "Ah - Just the Tunes and Lyrics then"
So we put it up on the bench and had a little tweak, as it had settled in over the ten years or so since Mark gave it to Ron (as his long service medal). We dropped the pickups just a bit as the magnetic field from the Texas Specials was choking the strings and acting as a damper, but it was still just a little sad sounding. An appropriate comment since neither of us have forgotten the day that Mark said:
M: "Can you have a look at my amp for me"
Us: "Sure what's the problem?"
M: "It makes me sad"
(Give us a clue lol, but that was the rollercoaster life of the Road in the 80's - but we generally knew which county were in and sometimes even the Town. It was on the Itinerary).
So again off down the road to Seb's with it, since it needed a real grownup to look at it, and Seb is the only guitar grownup I know and trust with my life for any fix especially to something as lovely as this particular Strat and has a habit of doing just enough to make it perfect. So little bit of a Truss rod adjustment and a fret dress low down the board and some other tiny tweaks and this thing was singing - I mean really ringing out with all that clack and tone Strats are known for, just beautiful, and now sounds as good a it looks.
And no matchsticks were harmed in anything involved with this activity.
