Fame Guitar

In the early 70's, the music man came to my elementary school. Just like in the movie of the same name, he came, promising to create a school band, with uniforms and everything. I sat at the school assembly and listened to what he had to say, and knew that I wanted to play drums.

I convinced my parents to come and listen to him that evening, when he gave the same spiel to the parents, and I proudly told my parents that I wanted to play drums. My parents were having none of that, but were interested in me playing some sort of instrument. They offered me guitar.

In the same South Gate music school where Weird Al Yankovic learned accordion, I learned the Chet Atkins'  "Fame" method of guitar lessons, a system involving film strips, a record and an instructor. As part of the plan, it was necessary to buy the "Fame" guitar. Interestingly, it had the pickup that you see in the picture. It came with an amp, probably still in my mother's garage, and a cord.

I diligently took lessons for a few years, until I broke my arm bike riding. By then, I could play the usual beginner folk songs, "On Top of Old Smokey," "Little Brown Jug," and "Tom Dooley," among others, but I would always try to speed them up. I could play the chords A, C, D, E and G, but the F and B were too hard for me.

Though I didn't realize it at the time, I learned to read music slowly. After I stopped taking lessons, the guitar stayed in my room, where I would occasionally take it out and play, but not well. When I went off to college, I took it with me, but again, didn't play very much. I did have a roommate one summer who showed me a couple of things, and would occasionally run into someone willing to teach me more.

As I've mentioned elsewhere in this blog, I ran through several electrics (including the unplayable-until-recently Crown, and a very difficult MIJ Fender Stratocaster), but never bought another acoustic until '95, when I bought a Epiphone PR-5E, an acoustic-electric cutaway, which was then followed quickly by a Baby Taylor and a Mitchell 12 string. The Fame stayed in the case, and I almost threw it away before moving to Ventura, but was talked out of it.

It's been in the garage since then, and I'd take it out once in a while, but the strings were so old that I never played it. But the summer's coming up and I like to barbecue and I don't really want to take the good guitars into the yard while trying to cook, so I thought maybe I could restring the Fame. I know it was made in Japan-the label is still on the headstock. Back in the 70's, everything made in Japan was still considered cheap, but everything I've been able to find on the internet suggests that by the '70's, the Japanese craftsman were able to make better instruments than what was coming from the USA at the time. The tuning machines still seem to work well. I believe the guitar is a laminate, but the fretboard is rather nice, and as you'll hear, with some decent strings it has a pretty good tone.

I took all the strings off for the first time ever. I remember when I was young, I would only replace a string when it was broken, so it is possible that some of the strings had been on the guitar for the entire time I owned it-in all of my recent playing, I can't think of any time that I broke an "A" string. I dusted and polished the whole guitar with some wood wipes I bought from Lowes. I thought the neck was separating from the body, but now I think the finish is just cracking. It doesn't really show in the pictures.

Considering it's age and the age I was when I got it, it's in very good shape. I always took pretty good care of my stuff, and the guitar came in a pretty good chip board case. There's a few blemishes, but overall, the guitar shined up pretty good.

Using a quarter, here's where the action is at the 12th fret. It's about the same as the Japanese Sigma that I had set up for me not too long ago, which I found rather surprising.

Okay, now for the part you've been waiting for, the sound. I used the iPhone to record, and I'm sitting outside, so there's probably some backyard noises as well. I checked the pick-up a few months back, and it worked. I didn't have an amp to plug into, so I'll try to get another post up with the pick-up plugged in.

If you know anything about the "Fame" course, or you still have your "Fame" guitar and know more about it's manufacture, let me know and I'll post it up.