What I really enjoy about this site!

ellengtrgrl said:
I agree with you 100% Howie. :thu:

Maybe it's because I'm an old-timer on guitar (been playing for 31 years), but I could care less if my guitars sound like the guitars of <insert guitar hero of choice>. I just want to sound like me, and play guitars because I like the way they sound. I got my Ric because I know for a fact that while they sound good doing chimey stuff, they sound soooooo cool, at high gain - not because the Beatles, Petty, or R.E.M. played them. I am NOT a fan of the way so many players pigeonhole guitars into certain musical categories or roles. When I was active in the Gretsch forums, that attiude used to drive me crazy! I even had a few times, where I came to posting blows with a guy on the Gretschpages, because he felt it wasn't proper to play heavy rock with Gretsches and Rics. I also don't believe the nonsense about a guitar being best for playing lead guitar, or rhythmn guitar. I play lead on my Ric all the time. Sorry, my guitars are not one-trick ponies.

OK, off the soapbox - notwithstanding the above comments, you know as well as I do that pickups have been marketed by citing the fact that such and such a guitar god uses them in his guitars (remember all the ads by Seymour Duncan, that used Jeff Beck?). By doing so, the inference is made to the potential buyer, that he or she can sound like said guitar god, if they use the same pickup shown in the ad.

Still, nevertheless, I prefer to sound like myself! :embarrassed:
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how would you like them to sell pickups then?
 
What I'm enjoying about this site at the moment is that a thread that could have turned into a "sling poo at another forum fest" is actually a healthy discussion about guitar tones and musicians perceptions.

Makes me happy. :)
 
Mark Wein said:
What I'm enjoying about this site at the moment is that a thread that could have turned into a "sling poo at another forum fest" is actually a healthy discussion about guitar tones and musicians perceptions.

Makes me happy. :)
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guitarists are uninformed consumers and will buy anything you tell them to *flings poo*
 
The First Act acoustic in this picture sounds and plays as good as any Martin or Tayler that costs 30 times more:lol:

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I've got an SX and a couple Xavieres. They're good for what they are, neat looking cheapies that play comfortably and get some good sounds. For what it's worth, they're all Fender-type bolt-ons. I think that type of construction lends itself to producing a pretty good budget instrument. Each of them have some tweaky little things and require attention to set up. I also have a reverend and a mid-priced odd-ball Fender that feel a little more "solid," but still can be tweaky themselves. I swapped the pickups in the SX, but I bought it planning to do that because I wanted to try out a particular set of pickups (and good thing, because the originals sounded like chromed doo-doo).

I also had a mid-priced Agile tele that I sold to fund (in part) a big purchase. It really was as good as an MIM.

Anyway, the whole "as good as" argument seems kind of silly to me. Either you like it--in terms of sound, playability, and looks--or you don't. If the house burned down tomorrow and I got a check to replace everything, I'd probably not rebuy all the stuff I have; I'd likely just buy once nice-ish electric guitar, a nice-ish acoustic, and little tube amp just for simplicity's sake. Still, I think the corksniffer vs. cheapie-humper thing to be dumb on both ends. It should be about what works for you.
 
Sad Navigator said:
Anyway, the whole "as good as" argument seems kind of silly to me. Either you like it--in terms of sound, playability, and looks--or you don't. If the house burned down tomorrow and I got a check to replace everything, I'd probably not rebuy all the stuff I have; I'd likely just buy once nice-ish electric guitar, a nice-ish acoustic, and little tube amp just for simplicity's sake. Still, I think the corksniffer vs. cheapie-humper thing to be dumb on both ends. It should be about what works for you.
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This is pretty much it. One of the things I fell into out of college as a working player was that you HAD to have the "right gear" to work here. I think thats an LA thing but I spent so much money on the "hip" gear and sounded like shit for years. It took me a long time to find what I liked and worked for how I play. If I lost all of my gear tomorrow I'd probably rebuy much of it (at least the stuff I play all the time) because thats where I've ended up after years of buying and selling gear...I'm finally happy with what I have.
 
Mark Wein said:
This is pretty much it. One of the things I fell into out of college as a working player was that you HAD to have the "right gear" to work here. I think thats an LA thing but I spent so much money on the "hip" gear and sounded like shit for years. It took me a long time to find what I liked and worked for how I play. If I lost all of my gear tomorrow I'd probably rebuy much of it (at least the stuff I play all the time) because thats where I've ended up after years of buying and selling gear...I'm finally happy with what I have.
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My local CL has a slapfight brewing because some indie band has been turning down potential second guitarists (allegedly) because of "wrong gear" issues. WTF?!? Seriously? I can get the bloozehats or the metal kids being pretentious like that, but indie types are supposed to be pretentious in other ways.
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
feh.
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Thats really part of trying to fit in while you're establishing yourself as a working player. In the 80's and early 90's if you didn't have a rack system you weren't "pro". For most guys "pro"=sounding like shit.

If you were already established people were more accepting of you "doing your thing" but a brand new face on the scene at least needs to have their gear together if anything.

I don't really think it works that way very much anymore around here, though. Cheaper gear is better than it was 20 years ago.
 
Sad Navigator said:
My local CL has a slapfight brewing because some indie band has been turning down potential second guitarists (allegedly) because of "wrong gear" issues. WTF?!? Seriously? I can get the bloozehats or the metal kids being pretentious like that, but indie types are supposed to be pretentious in other ways.
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Actually I can believe that more than you know. The indie types around here for a long time had to have vintage Mustangs and Jaguars. Or it had to be made in Japan no later than 1975.
 
Mark Wein said:
Actually I can believe that more than you know. The indie types around here for a long time had to have vintage Mustangs and Jaguars. Or it had to be made in Japan no later than 1975.
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But Mark, this is KANSAS CITY. This town couldn't scenester its way out of a wet paper bag. If I wanted to buy a vintage Mustang I'd probably have to get it when visiting Chicago.
 
Sad Navigator said:
But Mark, this is KANSAS CITY. This town couldn't scenester its way out of a wet paper bag. If I wanted to buy a vintage Mustang I'd probably have to get it when visiting Chicago.
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Yeah. That makes it funnier :embarrassed:

At least I'm talking about the Silverlakers and their OC counterparts.
 
Sad Navigator said:
But Mark, this is KANSAS CITY. This town couldn't scenester its way out of a wet paper bag. If I wanted to buy a vintage Mustang I'd probably have to get it when visiting Chicago.
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that's how they know your hipster enough for them. you're so cool, you have a guitar that's unobtainable for 500 miles.
 
I've got an Agile 335 copy. It's adequate to quench my semi-hollow needs. I wouldn't put it anywhere close to a Gibson on the quality level though.

I've also got an Edwards LP goldtop with P90s. It's a great guitar in its own right, but still, I think my Gibson LP Standard feels like a higher quality guitar. The Edwards has a perfectly done finish, it's light, it sounds great, and it plays great. The Gibson has a few tiny little imperfections, like some file marks on the neck binding, the scraping on the body binding wasn't 100% consistant all around it...little stuff like that. It's also a good pound heavier than the Edwards.

But, the Gibson feels like a better guitar.
 
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