Leon Todd’s trip down memory lane

[Bruce]

I enjoyed the hell out of this video. Hope he gets his hands on some more old buyers guides

 

[DrewJD82]

This is awesome! I'll definitely watch this whole thing at some point today. I used to love those buyer's guides and would go over everything in them, especially in the very beginning when I was just starting to learn about gear and especially effects. I wanted to know what all of it did. Those buyer's guides and Musician's Friend catalogs were were like bibles to me. It's kinda crazy to think, but in those pre-internet days you could actually know every piece of gear by every big gear company because there wasn't nearly as much of it available as there is today. I used to know what every Boss and DOD pedal did and how many different pedals they made, even with the internet, it'd be impossible to retain that much information for what's available today. There was barely anything available outside of Dunlop, MXR, Boss and DOD and unless you heard about it word of mouth, boutique/small builds were barely a thing.

 

[Bruce]

This is awesome! I'll definitely watch this whole thing at some point today. I used to love those buyer's guides and would go over everything in them, especially in the very beginning when I was just starting to learn about gear and especially effects. I wanted to know what all of it did. Those buyer's guides and Musician's Friend catalogs were were like bibles to me. It's kinda crazy to think, but in those pre-internet days you could actually know every piece of gear by every big gear company because there wasn't nearly as much of it available as there is today. I used to know what every Boss and DOD pedal did and how many different pedals they made, even with the internet, it'd be impossible to retain that much information for what's available today. There was barely anything available outside of Dunlop, MXR, Boss and DOD and unless you heard about it word of mouth, boutique/small builds were barely a thing.

Music row here in NYC was 48th street. It’s long gone. All the music stores were there and we would go and lust over all of it. Manny’s and sam ash were next door to one another. Great stores. Was a different world for sure.

 

[DrewJD82]

Music row here in NYC was 48th street. It’s long gone. All the music stores were there and we would go and lust over all of it. Manny’s and sam ash were next door to one another. Great stores. Was a different world for sure.

Oh, I'm familiar with 48th St. I got my JEM at Manny's in '97 and used to skip school when I lived in Staten Island and just hang out on 48th St all day. Going into Manny's was just a trip, knowing the history of it and who got their guitars there.

 

[Bruce]

My condolences for having a Staten Island zip code

 

[TubeStack]

Yes, just saw that and really enjoyed it, too. Memory lane for sure. Great job, @2112 !

 

[2112]

I do love a good catalogue! This was super fun and eye opening.

 

[Bruce]

The cool thing about this catalog review and what some younger members may miss or not appreciate is this is ALL WE HAD! There was no YouTube or Google or anything else to see what was on the market short of taking a train ride over to the music stores. When these catalogs came in, you’d study every page, read all the specs and probably even memorize some prices too. It was like albums were. You bought an album maybe for one song you saw on mtv. You read the album notes, saw where it was mixed, mastered and who worked on the record. What extra musicians may have played on it etc.
one cool gem from this video was you flipped right past either a Colombia house or a BMG music add for X CDs for a penny. I bet a lot of younger folks have no idea what a great way that was to get music and end up with bad credit .

 

[TSJMajesty]

The cool thing about this catalog review and what some younger members may miss or not appreciate is this is ALL WE HAD! There was no YouTube or Google or anything else to see what was on the market short of taking a train ride over to the music stores. When these catalogs came in, you’d study every page, read all the specs and probably even memorize some prices too. It was like albums were. You bought an album maybe for one song you saw on mtv. You read the album notes, saw where it was mixed, mastered and who worked on the record. What extra musicians may have played on it etc.
one cool gem from this video was you flipped right past either a Colombia house or a BMG music add for X CDs for a penny. I bet a lot of younger folks have no idea what a great way that was to get music and end up with bad credit .

Sounds like you're lamenting the good-old days. I do. Somewhat. While I appreciate the convenience, I'm not so sure if the price has been worth it. I still have a few of my old buyer's guides. But the SW catalogues go right into the trash (and the landfill) without being read.


(Aside: And I never had a problem with Columbia House affecting my credit negatively. It taught me some discipline: Take that card, check the box that says, NO, I don't want you to send me the selection of the month, and put it right back in the mailbox before you even walk back into the house. Seriously. It trained me to just, Do it now.)

 

[Stone]

Yes that was amazing since all this was way before my time, and was really fun watching Leon like a kid in a candy store

 

[DrewJD82]

My condolences for having a Staten Island zip code

I got my JEM out of the deal and was only there for 9 months....and the dump was on the other side. I had Mandolin Bros right around the corner from me and that alone would have made it all worth living there, I'd go in there every day I actually went to school and they never gave me any sh*t when I'd be picking up the vintage Strats, I was 14 or 15 and you could tell by lookin' at me that I was broke.