the 70s Grattans catalogue goto section was lingerie, never made it to the guitars 😳

2:55 "There are two memories I have from the 1970s..." That must have been a hell of a decade John.

As a teenage guitar player in the late 70’s reading the guitar magazines, it seemed like a good idea to have my Japanese Les Paul copy fitted with a brass nut, to improve sustain. It wasn’t. It didn’t. 🙄

I've got an early 80s Eko Artist with a brass nut, brass bridge and brass back covers, one for the controls and another for the rear mounted pickups!

Back around 1983 I was gigging with 11 guitars, including a Roland Guitar Synth, and three amps. Madness.

Kinman and Dimazio are my go to sounds

A nice fly through the times - also my range of memories - Well done

The 80s I had an Ibanez blazer strat , wish I still had it 😢loved that guitar 🎸 think that had brass nut & control nobs, plus a headstock to die for

I put a brass nut on a 3 Dimarzio humbucker Strat I built in 1977. Did nothing for sustain, but gave it a very bright sound and I ended up selling it to a studio guitarist because of all the mods it was quite a good studio instrument. First Strat I ever heard of that had an onboard preamp (Alembic) back then.

With the boss sy series and similar products by other manufacturers, I would attest to the fact that there's more guitar synth around than before. Big hair does help you play better as well.

Happy memories! I tried some Di Marzios in my '68 LP Custom - they lasted a week . . . just too hot, frankly. Still have 'em so who knows, may bang them into something one day! When the Roland GR 300 Guitar Synth was launched Roland NZ asked me to demo it in a few events and I really enjoyed it. There were 2 guitar 'controllers' made by FGN (who Fender ultimately took on for their Japanese made guitars - smart move!). One was a sort of chunkier SG style but I ultimately kept the FGN Strat - still have it and the synth still works - probably best examples of what it sounds like are Pat Metheny's solo on Offramp and some of Fripp & Belew's stuff on the Discipline album. Tried a few since then but the only one I think I would go for is the Boss SY 1,000 (?). It tracks nicely and has lots of very usable sounds. Still haven't found a decent MIDI guitar controller - maybe there's one out there with my name on it. Tried the POD but ended up with the blue Vox one with the very visible valve poking out the top - used it a lot in the studio, very handy when we were doing a TV ad track every other day! Thanks for the nice walk down memory lane! 😅

Chrissy Hind was even putting brass in her pocket😮

Well, I picked up my first guitar around 1970 at the age of 16, just to put myself in a temporary context. And that was an acoustic guitar for ca. 8€, on a holiday in spain. An aria strat followed a year or two later. So I kind of observed the time span you're talking about. However, even though I joined several rock bands, my main interest remaind in the category singer-songwriter (think Donovan, Simon&Garfunkel, Leonard Cohen), so all the "fashions" passed me by. Then again, some were/are still of interest: The synth: I'm still fascinated by Boss's smallest one, which isn't a real synth, even (it's a sample player). Just imagine to play the opening of "Child in Time" with no key board around :-) Don't know if that's worth the price for the pedal, though. Brass: I have an HB-35+, and the original bridge is --how to put it politely -- ah, functional. I changed that to a full brass bridge, and boy, you can hardly regognize the tone. Speaker and amp simulation: I don't think that will last. E.g. I play stereo over two 40W combos with 10" speakers ( and a pedal board with delay, reverb, eq, Boss bd-2, etc). Now, should I want the sound of a full Marshall stack (I don't), would any pedal in the world enable my meagre setting to do that? "I think not, sir." Just my 0.02€. Thank you for reminiscing a time that had its highlights as well as ample silliness!

Nice trip down memory lane. I bought one rack mount effect, and rarely use it. It’s really good, but I have a bunch of pedals, so maybe I’ll sell it. And supposedly tube amps were going away, as nobody used tubes other than some musicians and audiophiles They’re still here, but solid state amps have also gotten better, and now digital

My 8 string, Multi-Scale, Fan-Fret, Headless electric is a guitar is one that I would have bet good money on me NEVER owning! For my Ambient Guitar journey it is truly an amazing instrument...and one that I actually do enjoy playing! They aren't just for "Djent" or Death Metal! One might fit into your playing style if you give it a try..... Honestly, I was shocked at how much I love mine. I'm over 70 years old too!

I got brass nut, tuners, saddle and bridge pins on my acoustic.. dunno about tone, but it sure looks good against the mahogany!

Low impedance was a big thing in the 70s (Gibson), and acrylic guitars (Dan Armstrong), I was briefly flirting with both but got talked out of it by my buddy, and neither has aged well. As for brass not just '70s, I passed up a good condition used 2015 Les Paul because it had that crappy, factory brass, zero fret nut that wore grooves into it way too quickly and had to be replaced with factory titanium versions (really!), if you could get one out of Gibson before they quickly ran out. I had the Zoom 9002 in the mid 1990s which was a very portable (fit on guitar strap) amp modeler with tons of fx. My daughter still has it.

the 80s were all pointy guitars, with a headstock so pointy it could take your bandmates eye out. and i seem to remember aluminium necks as well.

John Edwards from status quo plays headless status bases

Coated strings were an innovative addition to the guitarists arsenal. They will be here forever.

Product catalogue, i really muss a good catalogue

I took the Roland GR 700 (odd crossbar thing) on approval for a fortnight from one of the London Guitar shops. The note tracking was dire for single lines although the synth pads weren't bad-ish. But in the end I found it far too fiddly and I took it back.

I play my hohner headless guitar every day, what ever happened to MIDI 😂

Google St Mary and All Saints Church, Chesterfield. They didn't use roasted maple.

I have a brass nut on my GS2. I don't think it makes much difference either way

I still think the Parker Fly is a decent-looking and -sounding guitar. A bit wacky, but decent.

I had a Tom Scholz Rockman in the 80's, man I thought I was the shizz.

What? There are nuts made of other materials than brass?

The more innovations players want and demand, tme more makers bend and twist to "catch the wave of demand." That's a real hit and miss way to run a business. I think amp sims for your phone and playing and recording with headphones is what's going to happen. Rents and rooms now cost and arm and a leg, bringing us back to near Depression Era economics. Cheap will rule for 99% of us.

BTW, that wall behind you is far less populated than previously..... what have you got up your sleeve?

Guitar synths... yes. I'm a big fan of Allan Holdsworth, but wish he'd gone back to all his Synthaxe tunes and rerecorded them with a damned guitar!

How long before ripped jeans make a come back?

When you pulled a string on a Floyd or Kahler fitted guitar it made this strange strangled chicken sound! Great for Country perhaps? 🫣