Prove it...

Ok, so if you've poked around the site you might have noticed we've given a facelift to our artist pages.

Along with that, we decided it was about time to deal with the thousands of submissions around the site that don't have any proof attached to them. This was more prevalent in the early days of Equipboard, and since then we've required that proof accompany any gear submitted to an artist.

So, it's time for a gear scavenger hunt. You'll see many artist submissions that lack proof have been marked as NEEDS IMPROVEMENT. For example, John Frusciante's Fender Stratocaster 1955 was originally submitted to Equipboard without a shred of proof.

The submission details are pretty self explanatory:

John Frusciante's Fender Stratocaster 1955 was originally submitted to Equipboard without proof. If you can find a valid source, please edit this submission to override these notes and add proof.

Otherwise, rate the submission quality as "Completely Incorrect"

If you notice these types of submissions on your favorite artist(s), it's a great time to do some detective work and either substantiate them, or let's get em off of here!

I'm not doing gear by year... its mostly goofy.... unless its a vintage guitar article where guys proudly date their old axes or soemthing like that its really hard to tell a vintage instrument's year or if its secretly a reissue. Custom shop guitars look mighty convincing these days unless you inspect them in hand and know what you're looking at. Amps by year should be right out. Many models didn't change at all for years in ANY way. Other amps like the marshall superlead might change all throughout the year in little ways due to parts availability etc

There are some items that just aren't going to get substantiated and should be made less specific by a certain date if they're not proven.

Hi, in trying to help, a Simon Gallup Guild Starfire bass was marked needs improvement. I found several written submits online referring to it, but no photographic evidence. Is written enough to substantiate?

is it written in a magazine or quoted from an itnerview? Or is it written by some dude on a forum who was at a show in 83 and sort of remembers?

it's not interviews, they are purely comments. One youtube clip that neither confirmed nor denied anything in its poor resolution. You know me Jim, not after the glory shot, tried to have a look.

Hi, in trying to help, a Simon Gallup Guild Starfire bass was marked needs improvement. I found several written submits online referring to it, but no photographic evidence. Is written enough to substantiate?

Yeah! Well, I guess the question I'd ask myself is, "would I make the submission in the first place with this proof/source"?

This isn't a project that needs to be done all at once! There are many submissions without proof that need fixing.

Flagging them is just a good way to tell the Equipboard community that they need attention, and if they are to live on they should be eventually substantiated.

The way I would go about it is to just Google the artist and gear and see what kinds of things come up. Googling John Frusciante Fender Stratocaster 1955 led me to this reddit thread which gives some good videos to go off of, namely this and this.

There are some items that just aren't going to get substantiated and should be made less specific by a certain date if they're not proven.

Completely agree, and that's a valid way to go about it.

That Frusciante Strat is a good example. Plenty of evidence that it's a mid 1950s model (Vintage Guitar mag), but nearly impossible to verify 1955 exactly. Not even Frusciante seems to know - in a video at 0:17 he refers to it as his "57". ¯_(ツ)_/¯

little change in strats until rosewood boards...

Here are some items I'd like deleted with reasons:

Cliff Burton:

Aria Pro II Cliff Burton Signature Bass - Came out after he died

Rickenbacker 4003 - Incorrect Copy item

Rickenbacker 4001 Burgundyglo - Copy item

Mesa/Boogie Mark 3 - Incorrect but similar to another item

Ibanez TS808 - Incorrect but similar to another item

Morley Cliff Burton Tribute Series Power Fuzz Wah - Came out after he died

MXP Dyan Comp Compressor M120 - Incorrect but similar to another item

Electro Harmonix Russian Big Muff - Came out after he died

MXR Dual Limiter - Incorrect item

Also if I may say so I personaly hate the new site format.