Those vantage guitars are really well built, and actually sound good too. especially for metal. there are ones that have all the gold "bits" that look a little flasher than this one. think a less ugly jerry garcia guitar... I bought one here in Australia (left handed) for $215 about a year...
The only distortion pedal worth buying these days is the Stanford and Sonny Blue Beard!!! http://www.myspace.com/sanfordandsonny Best pedal I have ever bought. My friend Sonny makes them. They are copies of the big green USSR big muffs. They sound better than the originals. If you can, I recommend ...
i would also love to have all the 7"s and things in one place too.
i own a few, but converting is a nightmare and if someone has already done it then that would be grand.
I would be keen to set this tour up for the band IF the band were interested. I've done a few tours before, lost a lot of my own money in the process but it was always fun and the bands and everyone involved (besides me) always got paid and had fun. Shellac, Feel free to pm me if your interested.