2011 musings: I love variety, but....

[Edward]

Warning, miscellaneous ramblings alert!!! 

So yes, I love having variety; you know, that "spice of life" thing.  But the funny thing with me, now that I am musing over yet another cup o' joe on this New Year's eve, I've noticed that I simply end up with gravitating toward my initial preferences.  That in the final analysis, I end up selling all that "cool stuff" that had offered genuine variety and innate "cool factor" and simply keep the stuff that reprents "me."  If I may illustrate:

- Gone through the gamut of electrics over decades.   Multiple Fenders, Gibbys, PRS, etc, only to thin out and end up with my core few ...that I will never sell.
- Gone through the gamut of amps over decades.  Old, new, then discovered the glory of tubes; restarted the quest.  Only to end up with two, both Boogies ...that I will never sell.
- Gone through the gamut of stomp boxes/miscellaneous FX gizmos over decades.  Now all gone and have a simple multi-unit which I've set up pretty "stripped," in other words almost absent in the mix.  Perfect.
- And now, gone through the gamut of acoustics (only within the last several years).  Same story.  All good stuff, but sold em all only to end up with an all-maple stable of two glorious RTs and a BTO Taylor.
 
Call it "tone in the head" or maybe even "gut instincts," but you'd think I would have been able to cut to the chase and bypass all that admittedly "cool stuff," and simply hone in on what I wanted.   Nahhh, I can get pretty dense, and sometimes have to trip over myself to finally "get it." 

So that's where I am now with my acoustics, laughing at myself for three maple guitars!  Where there was once marked variety, I now have three different shades all cut from the same cloth.  Yet I am thrilled!   I did not plan it; it was as if they all just kind of followed me home, lol!  Ha!  So much for having "representative examples" of gear.  In the immortal words of that sage Popeye, I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam.

Be well, my friends of the new board!  I truly enjoy and am blessed with my variety of gear, what "variety" is there .  And I very much enjoy not only all your company here, but also love seeing you all with your guitars; all your joys, as it were.  So there is my new "variety."  That I am fulfilling GAS by seeing you folks so dern thrilled with your beauties!  I don't know why or how that is, but I just dig it all!  Have a wonderful 2012, compadres!!

Edward

[sthompson]

I know exactly what you mean, Edward.  With electrics, I want the Tele and
vintage humbucker vibes....and maybe a P90 when Taylor adds them to the
Solidbody line.  Marshall tubes bring those to life...and with that, I'm happy.

As for acoustics, I have traded, experimented and otherwise kissed a few
children goodbye to the hands of other parents.  All in search for the clear
bells in the Mahogany & Koa R.Taylors and Taylors.  I also have found the
right Rosewood nuances in some EIR and Braz beauties.  Along with a
couple of others, I'll never let them go barring some financial catastrophe. 
Even then, I might have to sell a kidney first....joking, of course.   

Like you, I've got the "tone in the head" (and heart), and I love looking for
it and finding it.  We are so very fortunate to have so many great guitar
designers and builders.  It's almost to the point that if one can describe
the tone, a luthier can make it come to life. 

Even so, there are times I see a guitar and I have to calm the desire to
get my hands on it.  Sometimes, I just cannot help myself.
st

[John429]

So that's where I am now with my acoustics, laughing at myself for three maple guitars!  Where there was once marked variety, I now have three different shades all cut from the same cloth.  Yet I am thrilled!   I did not plan it; it was as if they all just kind of followed me home, lol!  Ha!  So much for having "representative examples" of gear.  In the immortal words of that sage Popeye, I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam.

Be well, my friends of the new board!  I truly enjoy and am blessed with my variety of gear, what "variety" is there .  And I very much enjoy not only all your company here, but also love seeing you all with your guitars; all your joys, as it were.  So there is my new "variety."  That I am fulfilling GAS by seeing you folks so dern thrilled with your beauties!  I don't know why or how that is, but I just dig it all!  Have a wonderful 2012, compadres!!

Edward

Edward,

Thanks for sharing your guitar journey with us! I have heard the phrase many times on the guitar forums about how folks will have those special guitars that "speak to them".  It looks like after trying many kinds, that you have found those that speak to you. This is the sort of magic that can occur with being interested in and loving a musical instrument and I'm glad it happened fpr you Happy New Year to you and my other forum friends as well!

[Strumming Fool]

I can relate. Look at my signature - all GAs! I like what I like....

[Steely Glen]

I'm still in my season of finding "the tone" but I can already foresee this same thing happening in me.  I'm not sure if any of the guitars I now have will survive the cut, but the 714ce definitely has the best chance so far. 

Here's a New Year's Eve toast to the complicated journey toward simplicity! 

[Gary0319]

For a number of years I continued to buy and sell different makes and models. After I purchased each one I went through an elaborate process of saddle changes and string changes until I got that special tone I was looking for....which was invariably  the same tone I had on the one I just sold.  What madness was that??

Now I buy it for the tone it has and leave it alone.

Gary

[Jannie]

Last comment about trying to get the same tone of the last one that you sold is funny because in a way I think I'm trying to do the same thing. I went from a cedar/rosewood classical to a GC3 and I'm missing that decidedly cedar sound but fully expect to get used to the new guitar, find the right strings or simply the right approach and become one with the instrument. When I first got the classical I was constantly changing strings until I got it to someplace that I resonated with, yes both of these guitars were the best sounding of all I tried when I bought them but time playing drew out of me the desires for changes that I couldn't even put a name to.

[Edward]

It's funny ...folks speak of "the journey" all the time, but I don't think anyone really realizes what that truly means until they have walked it, stumbling along the way.  Whether it's finding that "right" acoustic, electric, amp, or whatever doohicky, going through the process of hearing it all (and living with it over time), I now have come to believe, is a necessary part of the process.  Kind of like Edison finding out 968 ways how not to make a light bub.  Not to mention separating the glam of "if only" from the realities of "is that all it is?"  Every time I thought I had "found the one," I was no sooner confronted with another fill-in-the-blank that is "the one."  Not only can this lead to never-ending GAS, but there is an air of futility to it. 

Yet paradoxically, that very frustration was the very beginning of my finally "getting it."  That I have arrived at some tonal understanding with myself.  That I have come to discover what tone suits me: not what guitar, not what device, but what tone; "my tone."   This is not so much an epiphany for me as much as it is a reflection on my tonal journey, and now I get to draw conclusions from where I've been.  And I like where I've arrived.  Not a waste of time by any stretch as much as it depicts an acoustic discovery.  And here's the kicker: I didn't discover the "right gear" as much as I discovered the right frame of mind.  Not bad for my first day of the new year ...lol!

Edward

[John429]

Not a waste of time by any stretch as much as it depicts an acoustic discovery.  And here's the kicker: I didn't discover the "right gear" as much as I discovered the right frame of mind.  Not bad for my first day of the new year ...lol!

Edward

Edward - I've never heard it put this way before and I think you are exactly right!

[spieler]

For a number of years I continued to buy and sell different makes and models. After I purchased each one I went through an elaborate process of saddle changes and string changes until I got that special tone I was looking for....which was invariably  the same tone I had on the one I just sold.  What madness was that??

Now I buy it for the tone it has and leave it alone.

Gary

Hey, I like this. :-)

I haven't changed out anything on my GC, other than switching to PB Nanos almost as soon as they came out.

However, the B string is now wearing an ever-deeper groove in the original Tusq saddle (after almost 7 years of playing). I'm leaning toward a bone replacement, mostly just because it doesn't wear as quickly. Hopefully, any tonal changes will be of the welcome variety.

~ S.

[S MS Picker]

W African ivory,from Bob Colossi, is the best nut material I've ever used.Very hard& durable.Should last for decades.
I put W African(not from Bob) on a Tak years ago after a refret.It had good bone that wore w/the frets,but the new frets were obviously higher.If you aren't shim shy,you can use aluminum duct tape on the bottom. Each layer adds about .004" & I can't hear any difference.
A little graphite (pencil lead) in the slots also reduces wear and facilitates tuning.
Steve