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I play guitar because I like it, not because I'm good at it.

Started by Sydward Lartle, April 17, 2017, 11:08:33 PM

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Sydward Lartle

Earlier this year I decided to take some of my savings down to Denmark Street where I invested in this pair o' beauties...



...which I then had modified by a local craftsman to remove the 'ashtray' bridges in favour of flat bridges, which aren't exactly period correct for a pair of '69 reissues, but they make them much easier to play. They're Fender Japan's 2006 reissues of the '69 Red Paisley and Blue Flower Telecasters, since you (don't) ask. I've also got a sunburst Mexican Tele which I use as a 'workhorse' guitar on the odd occasions when I try my hand at writing a song or something poncy like that.

Anyway, this isn't a very good start to a thread, but this is for all the C&B guitarists. Show off your wares, boast about your gear, tell your stories, call Ed Sheeran a stupid ring sausage. That sort of thing.

I've got a simple Squier Strat, a banjo guitar, and a bashed up acoustic. I've never been one for "equipment" - the sound was more important. Unfortunately, this lack of interest in the equipment itself has led to every guitar I've had losing it's intonation, and me not having a clue how to fix it. Despite this, I play a mean Am(dim13) :D

But seriously, I can't get the bloody things to stay in tune.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

I'm like you, simple strat + few pedals, and an acoustic that's seen better days, and no idea how to get either back to a proper state.

I tend to tune out when bandmates start going on about their rig with their boutique pedals and so on. Sometimes feels like they're trying to convince themselves more than the rest of us that their £300 overdrive pedal was worth the money and they were right not to just get some Boss warhorse that does the same thing.

I realise I was just being stubborn and thinking I was some kind of hero sticking with my run of the mill pedals and squier strat. My reverse snobbery has come back to haunt me since I also let myself slip in terms of even taking care of the guitar and now it plays like shit. Never too late to learn I guess, should spend a weekend giving it a once over.

Dr Syntax Head

I've been playing for over 20 years now, because I like it.

Thanks to a very generous wife I have now more gear than I really need[nb]USA Strat. USA Tele, Gibbo Les Paul single cutaway melody maker, Squier Jazzmaster deluxe, one of the new beauties[/nb], because I fucking love guitars.

I won't be getting any more guitars now though, but I'll probs never stop buying effects pedals[nb]shoegaze is my main thing[/nb]

I was bought a lovely Fender Precision bass by Mrs Syntax last year and that has now become something I'm getting my teeth into. It revitalised my love of making music after a bit of a dry spell.

I'm having musical block again at the moment so I'm tending to play along to rock/metal/grunge songs just to keep my tekkers up.

I fucking love my guitars

Dr Syntax Head

Quote from: Rich Uncle Skeleton on April 18, 2017, 07:13:29 AM


I tend to tune out when bandmates start going on about their rig with their boutique pedals and so on. Sometimes feels like they're trying to convince themselves more than the rest of us that their £300 overdrive pedal was worth the money and they were right not to just get some Boss warhorse that does the same thing.



You're not wrong. Though the reasoning for owning so much gear[nb]what I tell Mrs Syntax[/nb] for me is that if we ever need quick cash it's there. Apart from my Strat and Twin reverb amp everything else is replaceable.

I'm not a particular fan of boutique pedals, they have their place but unless your occupation is 'Guitar player' there's no need as yer normal mainstream pedals (I love Boss and TC pedals) sound just as good in your bedroom/pub/student union bar etc.

I tend to get my pedals from the local pawn shop and second hand online. I've found many a bargain.

Neomod

I've never been a collector so have bought what I need. My favourite gear was small but perfectly formed, Fender Strat, Vox AC 30, Marshall Guvnor and a Guild 12 string.

Now I have a crappy acoustic with a great set up (perfect action) and three fenders, a strat, a telly and a jazz bass.

Any talk of gear bores me shitless though. How 'punk' of me.

Dr Syntax Head

The thing is I tend to have a go at football fans for being boring but as someone that loves a good chat about gear with other musicians it's apparent I'm really no different. But fuck it, I'll talk gear all day if I can

HappyTree

I'm a Brian May fanboy. Queen was the first band I got into properly and at 15 I was captivated by his guitar. Over the years there have been various attempts to make copies but it wasn't until Andrew Guyton got permission to repair and study the original, x-ray it and stuff, that properly authentic copies became available. So, it took me almost 30 years but I got his guitar in the end. And it is as amazing as I imagined.

http://s94.photobucket.com/user/happytree15/library/Guyton?sort=6&page=1

The amp at the end is a copy of the AC30 hand-built by Dave Peterson from Vox.

mrpupkin

I have an Eastman E10om acoustic (with an LR Baggs M1A pickup for playing out). It's the one thing I've spent considerable money on in my life and it repays me every day with utter joy. To anyone looking for an acoustic I would recommend having a go on some Eastmans, I spent a few years looking around and this was the boy.

Sydward Lartle

I used to have a Vox VT modelling amp but I couldn't get along with the fucker. It's okay for people who want a very specific sound for studio work since it has literally hundreds of presets to choose from, but for a bedroom strummer like me who's happy with a straightforward jangly sound with a touch of chorus and reverb, it was like using a powerful computer to play bip-bop tennis on, so I traded it for a Vox Pathfinder and a Boss ME-80 multi-effects board, simply because it was cheaper than buying separate compressor / chorus / reverb pedals. I've got a Fender amp on the way which has a more zingy, trebly sound than the Vox so I should be getting my ideal tone pretty soon. Stupidly excited.

Dr Syntax Head

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 18, 2017, 11:30:43 AM
I used to have a Vox VT modelling amp but I couldn't get along with the fucker. It's okay for people who want a very specific sound for studio work since it has literally hundreds of presets to choose from, but for a bedroom strummer like me who's happy with a straightforward jangly sound with a touch of chorus and reverb, it was like using a powerful computer to play bip-bop tennis on, so I traded it for a Vox Pathfinder and a Boss ME-80 multi-effects board, simply because it was cheaper than buying separate compressor / chorus / reverb pedals. I've got a Fender amp on the way which has a more zingy, trebly sound than the Vox so I should be getting my ideal tone pretty soon. Stupidly excited.

I have a Vox VT but mainly for bedroom playing or rehearsals. It's a good sounding solid state but yeah there's too many presets. I only use the AC30 one and use my pedalboard.

I have a silver face Fender Twin Reverb. Best amp I've ever heard. It's currently broken and to be honest is way more amp than I need. It shakes the windows and makes me very unpopular with the neighbours. I keep telling myself I should trade it for a smaller Fender but I can't part with it. It's bloody impractical too as it's heavier than a small town.

Shit Good Nose

An ex guitarist here who basically did almost everything wrong.  One of my biggest regrets in life this...

Started to learn when I was 14 or 15 - found a decent private tutor in Bristol who was very reasonably priced - and picked up a second hand very battered but still functional genuine early 70s Gibson Custom SG, similar to the one Frank Zappa played.  This was back in the days when you could still pick up a second hand bargain from someone who didn't know any better and didn't have the benefit of eBay and the internet to be more savvy about how much things were worth.  However, the bargain £150 I got it for WAS a lot of money to me back then, and I saved up for ages to get it.

Anyway, went straight in to my tutor and said "I want to learn lead please, and especially these solos" (gave him a load of songs).  Whilst I was soon fairly proficient playing solos by imitation, learning them by ear, and very good at fret-tapping, when it came to playing simple chords I was hopeless.  I didn't learn the rudiments and starting off at the more advanced lead level then made it VERY difficult for me to pick up chord changes and scales, to the point where even a Bert Weedon introduction to guitar video had me stumped.  A stupid stupid stupid cunt I was.

Anyway, after a couple of years of this noodling, my tutor announced that he was moving to Scotland to go pro (he's in several jazz combos both her and abroad, and was good friends with the recently departed Larry Coryell, whom I met a few times via my tutor), and it also got to the point where I was starting to require my own independence and I had passed my driving test.  Back then I needed a car far more than I needed a guitar, so the SG went for £450 and that pretty much paid for my first car (postbox red G reg 1.3 Ford Escort - great little car that gave me no problems until some 80 year old woman driving on the wrong side of the road wrote it off).

Since then I've not picked up a guitar.  It's something I'd like to do again in future but, alas, at the moment time doesn't really allow.


So, my MAJOR tip to any budding guitarist reading this - ignore your own ego and make sure you learn the basics from the very beginning before pretending you're Jimi Hendrix...

I'm the complete opposite - I went exclusively to chords from the start, and became quite decent at rhythm guitar, up and down the fretboard. I never got into equipment because I am a massive Beatles fan (and other late 50s/early 60s groups) so I was quite content with jangly guitar chord tones, so I never really bothered to learn the dexterity for blistering solos, despite listening to a lot of Hendrix/Clapton/Slash etc. I regret that, because when I hear an interesting guitar lead part, I want to learn it now, but at the ripe old age of 40, my fingers are shot for that kind of intricacy. The one I really wanted to learn was the guitar version of the solo from "Digital Love" by Daft Punk, but there is no chance I can get my fingers to fret quick enough for the scale run at the end of it. So I kind of hack it.

As for equipment, I've only ever owned two pedals in my life - a Boss Overdrive that I wasn't impressed with (I'm not that into overdriven guitars anyway), and a Boss Octave pedal I needed to get when the band I was in lost our bass player a day before a gig. Since I played "intricate rhythm" - as opposed to the "acoustic rhythm" of the other guitar player - we stuck the pedal on my guitar, and it was a lovely beefy full sound, until you had to sustain a chord for longer than 3 seconds, at which point the lovely beefy sound turned into something like "blplbplblllblplblblbll". It was a shame, because it would have been great to dispense with a bass player altogether as they were hard to find in those days. The few solos I did play sounded incredible though, with the octave pedal matching the notes. "Day Tripper" sounded quite good, especially when people would ask after where we were hiding the bass player.

Sydward Lartle

What's everyone's view on Rickenbacker guitars? I've tried both the hollow and solid bodied Ricks but I just can't get on with them. Love the sound, hate the way they play and they have zero sustain unless you put them through a decent compressor - even Roger McGuinn admitted to this.

Dr Syntax Head

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on April 18, 2017, 12:26:12 PM


So, my MAJOR tip to any budding guitarist reading this - ignore your own ego and make sure you learn the basics from the very beginning before pretending you're Jimi Hendrix...

Excellent advice. Though I would say that it depends on what you want out of a guitar. They really are probably one of the most versatile instruments you can play. I learned all the technical solo type stuff, never got into shredding but more of yer Slash style bluesy thing. I only ever play that stuff in a mate's funk project and never anywhere else. It wasn't a waste spending hours trying to work out a Pearl Jam solo or perfecting a Hendrix bend but I wish I'd discovered shoe gaze and ambient guitar sooner. It requires a larger knowledge of chords and intervals rather than patterns.

I dunno I'm rambling. I'm actually working on trying to play the Another brick in the wall solo because I've always wanted to and never bothered. It's not as easy as it looks because Gilmour is a magician with his bends and phrasing.

Dr Syntax Head

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 18, 2017, 01:47:29 PM
What's everyone's view on Rickenbacker guitars? I've tried both the hollow and solid bodied Ricks but I just can't get on with them. Love the sound, hate the way they play and they have zero sustain unless you put them through a decent compressor - even Roger McGuinn admitted to this.

Not my thing but RIDE wouldn't have sounded how they did without them

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 18, 2017, 01:47:29 PM
What's everyone's view on Rickenbacker guitars? I've tried both the hollow and solid bodied Ricks but I just can't get on with them. Love the sound, hate the way they play and they have zero sustain unless you put them through a decent compressor - even Roger McGuinn admitted to this.

Not a fan of their guitar sound, but love the Rickenbacker bass rumble.

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 18, 2017, 01:47:29 PM
What's everyone's view on Rickenbacker guitars? I've tried both the hollow and solid bodied Ricks but I just can't get on with them. Love the sound, hate the way they play and they have zero sustain unless you put them through a decent compressor - even Roger McGuinn admitted to this.

I love them, and have always wanted one. From Lennon to the Byrds to Peter Buck and Johnny Marr, I love a good old crashy, jangly Rickenbacker. Have never had the funds to have one, and I'm almost afraid to get one if I ever did, in a "never-meet-your-heroes" kind of way. I'd be devastated to fork out the readies and then find I don't actually like it.

HappyTree

I like the look of Rickenbackers but I'd need to try one before buying to see how the neck feels. They look quite narrow and I prefer the space a wide neck gives you.

Player of 25 years up until about 3 years ago when I gave it up completely, just wasn't interested in it any more. I've owned at least a couple of dozen guitars and about as many amps. I still have two guitars left gathering dust, one of which is my 1977 Strat that I've owned since I was 16 and have heavily erm customised and the other is a beautiful Cole Clark acoustic that I've kept because I might just one day want to pick up a guitar again and play something (unlikely though).

I'll be keeping this one till I snuff it I think.





Most beautiful guitar I ever owned *dabs moisture from eyes* A Gretsch Silver Falcon



PaulTMA

In terms of cheap guitars which are amazing, from my experience the Squire Classic Vibe series is astoundingly good for the money.  I got a 50s strat a couple of of months ago and it's easily the best guitar I've ever owned.  The fact they are Chinese-made rather than American and say 'Squire' in bigger letters than 'Fender' is immaterial.  I got a barely-touched second hand model for £265, but I've seen other used ones go for less.

SteveDave

I bought a second hand Fender Sonoran acoustic guitar a few weeks ago. It looks lovely.

I tried restringing it last night and almost threw the bastard thing across the room. This morning the high E string pinged off. Still intact but off.

Steven

Fender Hendrix signature Strat, left handed guitar strung for right handed players as there's a different tension on the strings and a diff sound because of the reversed pickups, got really into Hendrix and learned to play that style as the BBC played his set at Woodstock the month I started learning so taped it and just watched it to death. Though in the last few years I've dropped using a plectrum and play acoustic more as I've got more into fingerpicking patterns like monotonic/alternating bass, travis picking and percussive techniques:


kngen

When I picked up a 'proper' 70s Gibby LP, I sold my Epiphone one that I'd bought new and cheap off the peg. Still regret that, as the 'copy' played so much nicer than the original version (although the Gibson does sound a lot better, prob because of the 50s neck as opposed the 60s neck on the Epi).

I've trimmed my collection down to the Les Paul, a Jackson Dinky, an ESG Viper (which is like a hotrodded SG with EMG pick-ups) and a Gretsch double cutaway, for when I'm goin' country (which is my pride and joy). Haven't touched any of them in weeks though, which is unfortunate, as I've got a fair few folk waiting on me to write stuff for various  projects, but it will come ... although nothing gets the creative juices flowing like a new guitar, ammirite fellas?!

And I got one of these when the guy who makes them decided to take orders for another handful when a tax refund happened to land in my bank. Kismet, really. It's actually a very nice delay, and goes very well with some gentle Bigsby action on the Gretsch. Brawaaaooooh-owww-oww-ow-owww-oww-owowww-oww-ow

Sydward Lartle

Quote from: PaulTMA on April 18, 2017, 04:59:45 PM
In terms of cheap guitars which are amazing, from my experience the Squire Classic Vibe series is astoundingly good for the money.  I got a 50s strat a couple of of months ago and it's easily the best guitar I've ever owned.

The Squier Classic Vibe Telecasters are extremely good - possibly the best 'bang for your buck' instrument on the market at present. In fact, some players I've spoken to actually prefer the slightly more trebly, 'ratty' sound of the Squier Tele pick-ups to the pick-ups on genuine Fender Teles, even the Californian ones. Also, Squiers manage to keep a very decent resale value, which is important when you come to upgrade or part-exchange them.



For various reasons, I've never been taken with Stratocasters, probably because they have very low output pick-ups. Don't get me wrong, I prefer single-coil pick-ups to humbuckers or P90s (horrible things they are), but they have to pack a meatier punch than the ones Strats have fitted as standard. If I could find one where all three pick-ups had been replaced by the big, fat, overwound Tele bridge pick-ups, perhaps I'd change my tune.

Dr Syntax Head

Nah mate P90s are ace in the right guitar. I have them in my Les Paul and it sounds brilliant.

Mrs Syntax recently bought me a Squier Jazzmaster Deluxe, released this year and I love it. I needed an offset for more authentic shoegazey stuff, the Kevin Shields shimmery stuff. £360. Bargain. It's well built, plays beautifully and sounds amazing through my pedal board. It looks amazing too.

NoSleep

I started buying guitars for myself in the latter half of the 00's after getting some encouragement from one of the people I work with for my playing and after deciding that I couldn't afford a decent upright bass (after spending some time playing a very decent one that used to belong to Tubby Hayes' old bass player - Phil Bates).

Not having a wad of money, I've chased bargains on ebay and got wind of the quality of Aslin Dane guitars; a company who came and went without many people cottoning on to how good they were. Aslin Dane guitars were bargains to start with, then many brand new guitars that had been sitting around in shops were sold off in sales. Got an Aslin Dane Precision Bass copy for £50 including postage, brand new from the US; needed a little work on the frets but it sounds huge. Beautiful Strat copy with the Full Contact Systems bridge which retains the tone even through whammying. And a couple of Musicmaster copies, one of which also has the Full Contact System bridge and the other...

...I converted into a fretless guitar (which I dedicated a whole thread to on here[nb]Sadly Dropbox has stopped providing links to my images in that thread[/nb]):




I've recently got back the nut files I had loaned to a friend (who had mislaid them for at least a couple of years) so I am going to finally be able to lower the action even more (needs only to be a paper thickness above the fretboard at the nut end). Also going to remove the Araldite epoxy that I used to fill the fret slots and either leave them open or possibly fill them with something that isn't going to slowly creep back out (preventing notes from playing, especially on the high strings), as the Araldite has done.
Anyway, it's already a lovely thing to play ( I call it "my trombone") and together with my interest in microtonal music, it's usually the guitar I pick up to just play around on (even though it's the hardest to play in some respects; a bit of Fast Fret helps to counter this).

Aside from the Aslin Dane's I also have a Westbury TrackTwo bass, a very cheap (but nice) Tanglewood Strat copy, which has very soft metal for the frets, so it may be the next in line for customisation (this time with microtonal frets rather than fretless). Also have a Blue Moon (Hobgoblin's own brand) steel string acoustic and a Hohner classical guitar (which I'm considering for defretting, although I will buy another classical guitar first and decide which to get work on afterwards).

Spiteface

Quote from: Dr Syntax Head on April 18, 2017, 06:15:02 PM
Nah mate P90s are ace in the right guitar. I have them in my Les Paul and it sounds brilliant.

Mrs Syntax recently bought me a Squier Jazzmaster Deluxe, released this year and I love it. I needed an offset for more authentic shoegazey stuff, the Kevin Shields shimmery stuff. £360. Bargain. It's well built, plays beautifully and sounds amazing through my pedal board. It looks amazing too.


Is that the one that's essentially a rebranded J Mascis with a new paintjob? I have a Mascis, best guitar Squier ever put out (Although add me to the people talking up the Classic Vibe line - got a tele that I think I like more than the Baja I own).

Anyway, this is my favourite:



An Edwards LP - unsure of the exact model number, but this is awesome. Normally comes with Seymour Duncans - JB bridge, 59 neck - as standard, but the previous owner swapped the JB for a Bare Knuckle Nailbomb. I then put in Iron Gear Tesla Sharks (Imagine the Duncan Slash set, only half the price and just as good). Currently waiting on some new pickups though. I bloody love this. Sometimes I go without the pickguard:



A few times I've thought about getting some pinup decals and making it a Steve Jones-style thing.

Sydward Lartle

Can someone please explain, patiently, as though to a child, what the fuck 'shoegaze' is, because I'm buggered if I know.

Spiteface

Quote from: Sydward Lartle on April 18, 2017, 07:14:27 PM
Can someone please explain, patiently, as though to a child, what the fuck 'shoegaze' is, because I'm buggered if I know.

A genre of "indie" music involving loads of effects pedals. Name comes from the idea that members of such bands are constantly looking down at said pedals, as though gazing at their shoes.