Who here can be RETRO at times?

[65refinyellow]

Manual shift only, vinyl, rotary dial phones, tools, instruments, etc?

My favorite guitar and synth are first version design (reissues): Fender 50’s reissue strat with six screw trem and butt end truss rod AND Moog reissue of one of their earliest synths when they used to not employ piano keys yet and were getting new sounds that may have to employ patch cables.

 

[duceditor]

One advantage of being my age is that you don't need to do or be anything but yourself and you're "retro."

Buy when you are young or youngish, then stop buying and keep the stuff. Bang you are there!

My Dear One, Jan, isn't into "new" for new sake. (She's even kept me for 54 years this month!) Nothing gets chucked. Nothing is seen to need replacement before it actually wears out. And she has always had the wisdom (even when, years back, she had to fight me some about it) to buy "fine." -The best she/we could afford.

So yeah, I/we are "retro." Even our home itself is such. (110 years old)

Old guitars. Old stereos. Old furniture. Old... people.

Yup! "Retro."

-don

 

[driver8]

Retro rules

 

[65refinyellow]

Even my retro Windows 2000 friend who honestly believes Silicon Valley hasn’t come up with anything really new since Napster (but thinks, maybe somewhat correctly, that it’s mostly hype marketing since then)…

…even says that a butt end truss rod is TOO retro even for him because pretty much all guitars have headstock end truss rods!!

 

[Slacker G]

My trike is a stick shift 1976 engine & 53 Chevy truck fenders and hood, I have a landline and no cell phone, I have several axes from the late 60's and early 70's, my freezer is 40 years old, my house is over 100 years old, I am typing this on an old HP tower, ..................
and then there's me.

 

[65refinyellow]

My trike is a stick shift 1976 engine & 53 Chevy truck fenders and hood, I have a landline and no cell phone, I have several axes from the late 60's and early 70's, my freezer is 40 years old, my house is over 100 years old, I am typing this on an old HP tower, ..................
and then there's me.

That is super cool.

I want to say that older was better but with me (even if new ones are better) in whatever product/service, I like still prefer and love old stuff.

Carpenters may laugh at me because arguably the best framing saw in the world in that bells and whistles overpriced and overpowered Flexvolt saw which just sits on the table most days while I use lesser saws which are really and honestly just as fast.

I still most prefer my 1940s design Skilsaw, non-magnesium build Model 77.

 

[Triple Jim]

I like old stuff and old technology, as well as the new stuff. Vacuum tubes fascinate me, and I like tube amps for that reason, among others. I have a working dial phone in the house.

I never really did like playing vinyl records because playing them degrades them. I always recorded them to tape and played the tapes, so most of my LPs have been played once or twice.

I had to retire my '73 Dodge van a few years ago, but I'm still driving the '84. I have a 1967 Correct Craft Mustang (ski boat) with its original 289 Ford engine, and the 1972 Kawasaki H2 I bought in 1978. Also a 1964 Ford 4000 tractor and a 1950 Gravely walk-behind tractor.

Interestingly, my kids like old stuff too. One daughter has a Rhodes piano and recently bought a '70s "real" piano. The piano is taking it a step farther than I'd go.

 

[Shaytan]

Retro stuff is cool. I suppose among the "youngsters" it has became trendy and, specifically in regard to clothing, fashionable to buy vintage/retro. So much so that the one reason the trend started - because it was cheap - no longer seems to apply.

While I certainly don't take it as far as some folks I know, who buy mostly vintage and second-hand out of lifestyle or for fundamentalist environmental reasons (which do take their non-extreme role in my choice and preference, mind you), I've always been fascinated by old stuff since kid, after all, my grandparents always had plenty of interesting stuff around their home and as I've grown, the simple act of visiting pawn shops is always amusing to me.

That, on top of learning frugal ways of living during my childhood and early teens throughout the global crisis of 07, have made me find interest in repairing and extending the life of my stuff (not to mention that, in this regard, besides things whose production has mostly stagnated, such as the world of electric guitars, older things not only seem to be made to last longer, but also to be easier to repair with simple tools and less knowledge than their modern counterparts), then the joy and fascination for old movies and TV shows reflects into trying to get old clothing and other general items.

 

[duceditor]

Just for fun, I was "retro" even before I got old.

When Jan and I married (she had just turned 18, I was 22) she wore a dynamite mini dress -- totally 60s (and gorgeous). Me? I wore a zoot suit from the 1940s. -One I'd found unsold since that time in a small shop in the Bowery (NYC).

Oh, such memories

A couple of months ago Jan and I went thru boxes and boxes of stuff from our early days together, and in her case even earlier. Everything from newspaper clippings of her modeling days and dance (modern and ballet) shows, to clothes from that period. All well kept.

Sadly neither of us any longer fit into the clothing of that period. (Wouldn't that be fun?!!!)

Life does move along. But time, to the extent we have it, can be truly our own.

Yeah retro!

-don

 

[HighwayStar106]

I can’t really afford a lot of the stuff (cars, guitars, hi-fi equipment etc.) from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s that I’d like, but I do plug my Strat into a valve amp, listen to most of my music on vinyl and drive a car with wind-up windows.

Oh, and I’m currently wearing flared jeans. You can’t get much more ‘70s than that.

 

[Lonn]

My main guitar is a 93 and my car is a stick shift, although 6 speed.

 

[Uncle Joe]

If you live log enough, and stick to what works, you become retro by default. I'm assuming everyone reading this owns a Telecaster and/or a Strat, so that's a start.

 

[driver8]

Even my retro Windows 2000 friend who honestly believes Silicon Valley hasn’t come up with anything really new since Napster (but thinks, maybe somewhat correctly, that it’s mostly hype marketing since then)…

…even says that a butt end truss rod is TOO retro even for him because pretty much all guitars have headstock end truss rods!!

He's right on that, I hate those!
I'm seriously considering selling my CP 50s strat just because it has that configuration, and just getting a classic vibe or Player instead. Not only is it a PITA to keep removing it to adjust, but there are some finish cracks around the area that make it dicey. A piece already broke off that thankfully I was able to superglue back on, but I'm afraid to take off the neck again b/c I don't want to deal with it!

Napster - oh man, those were the days!

 

[BlueSquirrel]

Manual shift only, vinyl, rotary dial phones, tools, instruments, etc?

My favorite guitar and synth are first version design (reissues): Fender 50’s reissue strat with six screw trem and butt end truss rod AND Moog reissue of one of their earliest synths when they used to not employ piano keys yet and were getting new sounds that may have to employ patch cables.

All my cousins who currently go to Middle school and high school are crazy about 50s to 90s stuff, which, to them, feels "vintage" or "retro"... they often dress in flared jeans, love borrowing black and white film cameras, plug their Squier Bullet telecasters into valve amps or play the piano and, every now and then, listen to Led Zeppelin on vinyl. Needless to say, we get along great !

 

[BlueSquirrel]

My trike is a stick shift 1976 engine & 53 Chevy truck fenders and hood, I have a landline and no cell phone, I have several axes from the late 60's and early 70's, my freezer is 40 years old, my house is over 100 years old, I am typing this on an old HP tower, ..................
and then there's me.

Hats off to you!

It does take a strong personality to resist the call of the cellphone!

 

[65refinyellow]

He's right on that, I hate those!
I'm seriously considering selling my CP 50s strat just because it has that configuration, and just getting a classic vibe or Player instead. Not only is it a PITA to keep removing it to adjust, but there are some finish cracks around the area that make it dicey. A piece already broke off that thankfully I was able to superglue back on, but I'm afraid to take off the neck again b/c I don't want to deal with it!

Napster - oh man, those were the days!

Some tone purists claim that no hole on headstock of pre-1972 headstocks makes for better sustain.

That same crowd likes metal or ebony rods in vintage acoustic necks as opposed to truss rods because pre-truss had more sustain. I had an old pre truss Martin and it had unusual sustain.

The cowboy chords had a huge sound. It does have a more robust anchored feeling around the headstock knowing your guitar isn’t a hollow straw where the nut passes over but just plain old wood. I notice it on the old Martin like the vintage Martin players say is the case, but not at all on strat necks with solid headstocks where the tone is mostly
“Derived “from pickups.

That tiny channel of a truss rod going through headstock is definitely felt on an acoustic.

 

[DrBeGood]

My body has all the retro I would ever want.
Retro is greatly overstated.

 

[Las Palmas Norte]

 

[otma]

I don't think either old or new has any inherent virtue to it. Sometimes, the newer innovations are an unqualified step forward. Sometimes, older things can have advantages, or even be overall better. Sometimes, there's just no reason to replace something that still does what you need it to do, or that you like, even if newer and arguably or even provably better is available. It really depends on what it is, and what you want from it.

In the late 90's, I was using a mid 1980's Macintosh all-in-one to run my last campaign of 2nd edition AD&D before 3E came out. All my maps and such were made in MacWrite and MacPaint and stored on 800k floppies, because the old Macs had no hard drives. I carried the computer to the game in a European military surplus frame pack, probably from the 50's or 60's, while crossing town on a gasoline powered stand up scooter. I didn't have a laptop at the time, so the old Mac was as portable a machine as I had.

On the other hand, I still own a number of records and cassettes, but haven't listened to one in years, and any music I buy now is downloaded or on CD. CD itself is getting "retro" I suppose, but you can easily rip the CD, and use it as a backup copy.

So, I'll use "retro" if it can do the job, or if I just like it, but I'll also use modern. I have a smart phone. I don't like it for most computer tasks, but there are conveniences to having it. It all depends on you.

 

[Mark225]

I think I'd just be going through the motions at this point. The best part of being retro was being young. Some of us no longer have that spring in our step or a young person's enthusiasm for our futures. Our dreams either did or didn't happen and we're now dwelling on just how well spent our lives have been. Besides, if being retro means living in the past, I've been doing that since 1978.

Anybody remember when Levi's used to sell corduroy jeans, jackets and denim vests? Mood T-shirts and rings? Blacklights and blacklight posters? Getting a MacDonald's meal with change from a dollar?

Ah, those were the days. I'm glad I was there.

Regards,
Mark225