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Other hobbies or collections?


Filler

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A bit of a loaded question as I just felt like showing off my collection of beer bottle caps, but other than collecting tons of plastic kits to keep in our lofts or on top of cupboards, what else do we collect (or hoard)?

 

So here’s my aforementioned collection of beer bottle caps. I think I started collecting these around 10 years ago now and there are 593 of them and I have drunk the contents of the bottles of all but maybe half a dozen of them. They’ve largely come from supermarkets and specialist off-licenses with the rest coming from my travels and a few gifts from other people’s travels. My wife has got used to nipping into each and every supermarket when we’re overseas and me buying one of everything . I even have quite  a stash of bottle openers that I’ve bought to open them.

 

5-E643262-77-DF-438-D-A957-FFBD607-C57-F

 

288-D3-BEE-18-E0-48-E2-8502-0255-B354-FE

 

A168-DBE7-2685-4742-A879-A13988-D6795-B.

 

B8762293-9742-484-B-809-C-0-A59-D5-C8851

 

2690-DEB3-CF02-4-D9-F-A12-D-950-E4-F41-F

 

BCA2003-B-80-CE-4-EA4-80-E3-370-DD738595

 

ECB6925-D-65-EE-4-ADB-9-F55-89-E00078545

 

FF32-A67-D-41-AC-415-A-9-DD6-C931-A465-E

 

EEB4-F926-0741-4-AF7-BFE8-F1777-FEFC650.

 

ED7-E8633-9-E78-4466-839-F-998-A39-DB788

 

6-F19-F6-AE-5-F97-4-DB2-955-D-FF130-FDE6

 

 

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  • Filler changed the title to Other hobbies or collections?

Thanks @Pete F. They have come from a company called Safe Albums.

 

The display cases are here https://www.safealbums.co.uk/other-collecting-systems/for-crown-corks-beer-mats-and-champagne-caps/wooden-showcase-corks-caps-1961.html

 

And the carry cases are here https://www.safealbums.co.uk/other-collecting-systems/for-crown-corks-beer-mats-and-champagne-caps/champagne-case.html

 

I have four of the display cases and two of the carry cases. They seem to have crept up in price a bit over the years.

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I will ask this as someone else is bound to, do you just collect the tops when you see them or is part of the fun actually emptying the bottle first? 

I collect rolling stock and some locos, but that is in the so far unrealised model railway project 

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@Mr T, all the beer has ultimately gone down the drain, but via my belly! I think maybe half a dozen I’ve not drunk as someone has brought me a top back from a far flung place.

 

My biggest challenge has been developing a technique for removing the caps without damaging them. I’ve perplexed a few bar staff over the years asking for a bottle of something and requesting to open the bottle myself and then faffing around with a piece of card and a bottle opener.

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I don't collect them as such but I seem to have accrued a bit of an electric guitar collection. 😳

 

Fender Strats...

 

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Gibson Les Pauls...

 

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My main collection is watches though. I think I have around a couple of hundred at the moment.

 

They have been a great investment over the years.

 

Can't possibly show them all but here are some Omega Speedmasters...

 

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4 hours ago, Neil.C said:

I collect pre war cigarette cards, mainly of the actress/pin up/bathing beauty genre.

I say collect, but I probably own all the sets now.

 

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Those look like Pictures of Lily ......

 

 

Edited by Whofan
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5 hours ago, Neil.C said:

My main collection is watches though. I think I have around a couple of hundred at the moment.

 

They have been a great investment over the years.

 

Can't possibly show them all but here are some Omega Speedmasters...

 

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Crikey! I’m no expert on watches, but that looks line a few bobs worth. And you have a couple of hundred?!

 

Do you keep them in a safe?

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19 hours ago, Filler said:

Crikey! I’m no expert on watches, but that looks line a few bobs worth. And you have a couple of hundred?!

 

Do you keep them in a safe?

I keep a dozen or so for normal rotation and the others are put away.

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My other great passion is music, with guitars and effects being my main area of focus. I have around twenty guitars and basses, circa 130 effect pedals and 22 rack-mount effect devices.

 

My favourite guitar of all is the Fender Jazzmaster. The first time I saw one was in the video for Play For Today by The Cure, back in the mid eighties. From that moment, I knew I had to have one! It took me until 1992 before I eventually found one (they were rare in the UK at the time) and I have bought a couple more since.

 

Despite it having been intended as a jazz guitar, I can only think of one jazz guitarist who ever used one! The vast majority of Jazzmaster players are from the "alternative" camp, which is probably due to the guitar working very well with effects, the unique tremolo design and the way that it creates amazing harmonics across the fretboard.

 

I'm also a big fan of the other Fender "offset" designs, and have  a Jaguar, Electric XII and a Bass VI.

 

The other manufacturer I like a lot is Rickenbacker. They've always done their own thing, which appeals to my sensitivities greatly. I love the deigns and IMO, make the best basses of all. Anyway, some pics.

 

Top: Fender Jaguar. Bottom: Fender Jazzmaster. Both are limited edition releases from 2008. I believe only 25 of each colour were made, which makes them very rare indeed.

27391608079_155435fd42_b.jpg

 

 

 

Fender Jazzmaster. This was the first one I bought and is a 1986 made in Japan model. The pickups have been replaced by a Mojo Pickups "overwound bridge" set and sound incredible.

30107759868_4f9ef016dc_b.jpg

 

 

 

Fender Jazzmaster. This is the third JM that I bought and is a '94/'95 crafted in Japan model (the CIJs were made in a different factory to the MIJs). The yellowed knobs have since been replaced with more suitable white ones.

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Fender Electric XII. This one is the oldest known guitar I own and is from 1965. I love 12 string electrics!

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Fender Precision bass. This one's from 1973. It's the first bass I bought, which would have been 1985, IIRC. It was just £135 and worth considerably more now! The (faux) tortoiseshell scratchplate isn't original and I'm going to swap it back for the original black one soon.

27391609149_c7862d20be_b.jpg

 

 

Fender Bass VI. Kinda part bass, part baritone guitar. Two of my favourite bands (Cocteau Twins and The Cure) were big users. Also good for those moments where you want to be Peter Hook.

38288874465_01c7021a1b_b.jpg

 

 

Rickenbackers! L-R: 330/6 (from 1990), 4001 (1973) and 330/12 (1989). The 4001 bass (centre) is the most amazing bass I've ever played. I absolutely love it to bits! I chanced upon it in a Cambridge music shop in 1990. They wanted £299 for it. Once they'd handed my credit card back, I almost ran out of the shop, in case they changed their minds! I've had random strangers offer me stupid amounts of money for it, but it's one I'd never part with. This one will be coming with me when my pyramid's completed.

38288876085_5f0759ff64_b.jpg

 

 

A bit of an odd one, this. It's a Yamaha SGV800 and this particular guitar starred in a Lee "Scratch" Perry video, though I've never managed to find out which one. Bought for a snip, the guitar's now worth almost ten times what I paid for it!

27391610249_9a3c50d912_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

The first guitar I ever owned. This is a Kawai S170 and was given to me by my uncle, shortly before he died. It has a neck like a baseball bat and the pickups are microphonic as hell, but it sounds great and has huge sentimental value. I have one of the original pickups (the chrome one) knocking around somewhere and I plan to source another to bring it back to original spec.

38288870545_1afe3d2e70_b.jpg

 

 

 

Vintage VS6. This Gibson SG copy was bought for me by my lovely Mrs as a 40th birthday present and was hugely instrumental (sorry!) in getting me back into playing guitar after a decade of almost completely switching over to synthesisers. Despite being the oldest Indie Kid in town, I love to tune down to C# and play Sabbath riffs.

38288714815_43ffcace62_o.jpg

 

 

Indie Les Paul copy. This is a one of four prototype for a finish that never went into production. I mean, who wouldn't want a white, mother-of-toilet seat guitar? It's the mass of a neutron star, but does sound amazing.

38288718965_68752320be_o.jpg

 

 

 

Peavey JF2 EX. This one actually belongs to my wife, who spent some of her redundancy money on it, mainly because she liked the sparkly, red finish!

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Indie IHD-30S. The other guitar that got me back into playing again after a ten year hiatus. I originally set out to buy a Vintage (brand) parlour acoustic, but tried this one out and fell in love with it. It has a "soft V" neck profile that is ridiculously comfortable and IMO outperforms every Martin and Taylor I've played.

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Indie IJ20S. A one-off prototype for a model that never went into production. I keep some pretty dead-sounding strings on this one for a Nick Drake style tone, not that I can play anywhere near as good as he could! Usually tuned to DADGAD.

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Indie ID20-12. You can probably tell I like Indies! Anyway, The Indie Guitar Company didn't survive too long. I think they struggled to get into the bigger guitar shops. I think the daft name didn't help (despite me being The Oldest Indie Kid In Town) but they did make some bloomin' good guitars. I needed a 12 string and was looking on eBay and found one of these going for just over a hundred quid, brand new. They were originally around £250, so I snapped it (and another guitar) up immediately. I like to tune it to DADGAD or open G and play Big Star's Watch The Sunrise.

24307708037_ed00da7031_b.jpg

 

 

So while I was hunting for the 12 string (see above) I also noticed that they had another Indie acoustic on sale. The model (ID400SM) rang a bell, so I took a look at the by now defunct Indie website via the Wayback Machine and found the details. The ID400SM was a limited run of 20, hand-built using solid woods, top of the range, flagship model with a price tag of £895. It was on sale here for £149. I've never hit a Buy It Now button so quickly. It's the only time I have ever bought two guitars in one day. It has the same soft V neck profile that I love so much and a sumptuous, harmonically rich tone.

24307709207_330745855b_b.jpg

 

 

Not pictured are my "bitsa" Jazz Bass, which has a late 60s/early 70s Fender body, Fender Custom Shop pickups and a Mighty Mite neck, a First Act guitar which lives in my workshop (used to test the effect pedals I build) and a Squier Precision Special bass which I resprayed in a purple metalflake finish and am adding a Musicman Stingray 2-band EQ preamp.

 

TLDR: I like guitars!

 

Cheers,

Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

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On 4/19/2021 at 9:29 PM, Filler said:

@Mr T, all the beer has ultimately gone down the drain, but via my belly! I think maybe half a dozen I’ve not drunk as someone has brought me a top back from a far flung place.

 

My biggest challenge has been developing a technique for removing the caps without damaging them. I’ve perplexed a few bar staff over the years asking for a bottle of something and requesting to open the bottle myself and then faffing around with a piece of card and a bottle opener.

 

I was going to ask how you open them without damage! Great collection, fairly unique and it comes highly enjoyable by-product :cheers:

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No-ways  on the level of youse lot but I've accidentally drifted into collecting two types of items

1, round, disc shaped, glass paper weights

2. old sewing machines

a third item I used to collect. then lost my main collection and I'm trying to get back on it is

3. treen, mainly small to medium size boxes

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Another one for guitars here.

As a bespoke furniture maker I have a well equipped woodworking workshop at my disposal. I'd like to eventually progress to making guitars full time, but for now it's just another hobby until I get a reputation.

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A Selmer Macaferri Gypsy jazz guitar I made last year. It's very light and as a result very loud! Cedar and walnut with a ziricote fretboard. Shorter scale length and wide fingerboard makes it easy to play quite intricate compositions.

 

And currently on the bench:

A heavily embellished parlor guitar.

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I dread to think how many hours I've spent on this so far let alone the cost for the set of Rodgers tuners I'm having made for it. As Dr Hammond from Jurassic park would say "I've spared no expense" 

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19 hours ago, Jered said:

Another one for guitars here.

As a bespoke furniture maker I have a well equipped woodworking workshop at my disposal. I'd like to eventually progress to making guitars full time, but for now it's just another hobby until I get a reputation.

 

A Selmer Macaferri Gypsy jazz guitar I made last year. It's very light and as a result very loud! Cedar and walnut with a ziricote fretboard. Shorter scale length and wide fingerboard makes it easy to play quite intricate compositions.

 

And currently on the bench:

A heavily embellished parlor guitar.

 

 

I dread to think how many hours I've spent on this so far let alone the cost for the set of Rodgers tuners I'm having made for it. As Dr Hammond from Jurassic park would say "I've spared no expense" 

 

Beautiful work. I've made a few electrics from scratch, but my craftsmanship is nowhere near yours.

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Expanding on my previous post, if the number of effects pedals seems excessive, that’s probably because it is! Seriously though, I build them for something that approximates a living, so many are prototypes, quite a few are pedals that I bought broken off eBay and then repaired (or, as has happened too often, advertised as working but arrived borked), ones I got cheap or were just pedals I fancied owning. I also intend to build every single iteration of the EHX Big Muff fuzz pedal, which will probably result in 50+ pedals alone!

 

I’m particularly into phase shifters (or phasers) and have nineteen of them built and working, with three more under construction at the moment. Two of these are up and running, have the enclosures drilled but need the artwork doing (my lovely Mrs will be doing that later today) and need painting. These pedals are clones of the Lovetone Doppelgänger and a heavily-modified Ross Phaser (with phase/vibrato, LFO symmetry, 4/8 phase stages and LFO speed range switches, plus depth, LFO sweep and volume controls). The other one is a clone of the original EHX Polyphase.


I have quite a few rackmounted effects too, including a number of vintage digital delays (echo) and reverbs. Most guitarists seem to prefer analogue delays, but I like my delays loud and proud! My favourite digital delay at the moment is the one in the Roland DEP-5, which was a mid-80s multi effect unit. The delay quality is quite low resolution and “grainy” by today’s standards (I think it’s 12-bit) but sounds very musical to my ears.

 

My other rack pride and joy is a rare beastie from 1984- the Ursa Major Stargate 323 reverb. Again, by today’s standards, it’s very primitive indeed, but has a unique method of obtaining reverberation by modulating multiple multitap delays. The result is a think, dense reverb that sounds incredible on guitar and keyboards. 
 

There’s a few more rack effects I’d like to get hold of. Top of the list is the Lexicon PCM70 reverb/effect unit, though the price has gone up significantly over the last few years and they are prone to breaking down (for some reason, old Lexicon units go through DRAM chips like crazy). I’d also like a Roland RE-3 Digital Space Echo, Yamaha D1500 digital delay and Yamaha SPX90 multi effect unit. And if I ever had a spare £1500-2000, a Lexicon 224XL.

 

At some point I should gather all my pedals together and take some photos, though my main pedal board (and Orange amp) is over at a friend’s house and has been for a couple of years. That’s something I need to get back after everything has blown over.

 

 

 

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Apperently, I collect cats ....

 

I live in a rural area and have 13 cats that I consider to be " permanent residents. 

However, the local townspeople sometimes dump unwanted pets in my area . We have had as many as 27 cats wandering around our property.

We will feed them, and in a few cases we have managed to find them new homes, but mostly the local coyote population eats them.

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55 minutes ago, Mike said:

I'm an avid collector of dust.  i don't think you need any pictures though

Personally I don't collect dust, but my flamin' models do🙁

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On 4/19/2021 at 1:10 PM, Filler said:

So here’s my aforementioned collection of beer bottle caps.

That's a fine looking collection and certainly a deduction to the cause.

It's good to see the old Newcastle Blue Star in there. 

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