What Guitar?

[john]

Hey

Ok, I've asked a similar question, though not focused on guitars...

If budget was not a problem, what electric guitar, and what acoustic guitar would you buy?

For me, if it was only one of each, it would be a decent Fender Stratocaster with a locking tremolo system and for an acoustic I would be torn between buying either a Taylor or a Martin acoustic. As for model, I would spend a day in the shop choosing, though it would be one with built in electrics, with a decent 3 or 4 band EQ!

Cheers

John

[hariossa]

there was a time when I wanted a Parker Fly Deluxe, but then I played one and didn't like it, I play really hard and the piezo bridge didn't handle it, the sound was very harsh distorting, also I realized that the weight of the instrument was very important for my playing and this is a very light guitar... so, I love my cheap guitar.

as for acoustics I surely go for a Benito guitar, he used to work for Taylor guitars:

Benito, the man behind Benito Guitars, was a rock star in Chile in the ’70s with the group Los Escombros, and was later an itinerant musician in Germany. Jorge Rosenblut, the band’s manager, found him a Les Paul while on a shopping trip in the U.S. with Elvin Bishop.

“When I got the guitar, I took everything apart... crazy,” he said. This curiosity led Benito to Spain to study theory and technique of building classical guitars.

There, he did repairs and made jewelry to supplement his income, and finally ended up in the U.S.

While building guitars for Taylor, Benito took advantage of the company’s policy of allowing employees to build themselves one guitar a year, a strategy designed to expand each worker’s overall knowledge of the building process. Lito took his wood home instead of jobbing it out to other factory specialists. Bob Taylor was impressed with the result, and Benito later became head of final assembly. In ’97, Benito went to Mexico, where Taylor set him up in a factory that fabricated parts, part-time. This allowed him time to build guitars in the afternoons. He also made luthiery machinery for Dell’ Arte.

His time in Mexico was, as he says, “Like a university.”

In 2001, Benito returned to Chile and reunited with Jorge Rosenblut, who helped him establish a factory, where he started tooling to produce guitars.

[Alistair]

I've had the relatively recent pleasure of buying a new acoustic guitar, though within a budget. I spent a lot longer than one day trying them out though! If budget wasn't a problem I suppose I could just buy another one if I didn't like what I bought.

Martin and Taylor undoubtedly make great guitars. The £1800 Martin I tried out (just for fun) didn't sound £1300 better than most of the mid-rnage guitars though.

I'd go for a Gibson acoustic, and ES something or other, the kind that the big country players use. Big sound but good for picking too. Electric guitar? I have Strat now which I don't use that much but I'd probably trade it in for a Gibson Les Paul or SG.

[Kievien]

I'm a real Strat man

On acoustics im completely clueless though

[john]

Any strat in particular?

[Alistair]

Any strat in particular?

You didn't ask me but I'll tell you anyway

American, 1960's series in Cadillac Blue, rosewood fingerboard.

[Kievien]

nope...any stratocaster model will do

[Lazz]

If budget was not a problem, .....

If I had a spare 6 million bucks, I guess I could be tempted by this particular old Gibson L1

[Hope4Peace]

If I had a spare 6 million bucks, I guess I could be tempted by this particular old Gibson L1

this picture looks either edited or a fake http://www.rjguitar.com/enter.php?page=7

look down near the bottom blurry and the strings DISSAPEAR as well as look at the fret board, on the right side down, blurry spot here, blurry spot there ??? is this crap for real?

[Lazz]

this picture looks either edited or a fake

Oh I don't think so.

Why would they wish to fake their own picture?

is this crap for real?

Veracity is of course the core issue.

The provenance is only absolutely convincing if you want to believe. And it is certainly not exhaustive by any means. Then again, they do seem a reasonably reputable dealership in arcana and other historical/cultural stuff.

So it (the offer, the site, the business) seems real to me.

The rest is up for grabs.

Wonder who will buy.

(Bet somebody does)

[Hope4Peace]

Oh I don't think so.

Why would they wish to fake their own picture?

I wouldnt begin to have a clue. but thats beside the point. the fact is that, it still looks edited. AGAIN, note the dissapearing strings and blur factor

[Lazz]

but thats beside the point

Oh

I thought it was quite a salient point.

But never mind.

I'm more curious about the claim that it was Robert Johnson's.

How could we know ?

Is it proven ?

Dunno.

Never heard before of any guitar claiming to be that of Robert Johnson. Where has it been all this time ? Whose hands has it been passed through ? What's it's story ? Not even the current owner's identity is revealed. The sellers don't say where they got it from. This sort of information is normally central to what we generally understand as constituting 'provenance'. It's very hard to authenticate without any documented hostory. And all they offer in its place is an argument based on a photographic comparison.

Nonetheless, the mythology of Johnson is a pretty powerful one so it still wouldn't surprise me too much if some avid fan and collector with spare cash to indulge a taste for legend was already haggling over the purchase. And personally I would love to feel it in my hands and see whether sound and touch were enough to convince myself it was a true artifact.

I just thought it was a nice story to share- plus some very pretty pictures, too.

[Donna]

I didn't like the Martin acoustic I tried, and the Cort is now off my list, too.

Electric...that one of Bleem's he let me try, long ago.

I'm no help

[roxhythe]

When I was shopping for a guitar, 30-odd years ago, I had the good fortune to run into a music store owner who let me play a 1910 Gibson he had hanging on the wall. Not for sale, he toldf me--he just wanted me to have played something I could compare every other guitar to.

I ended up buying--from another shop--a Japanese clone of the big Gibson J-200, which I maintain sounds better than the real thing. I bought it because of how it played and how it sounded, not because of who made it. It and I have been together ever since, and I still maintain it's the only guitar I'll ever need.

That said, I did acquire a Strat about two years ago. I had helped my daughter pick it out--she wanted at the time to learn how to play electric guitar, and the Strat was the best general-purpose electric guitar I knew. And no, it's not one of them fancy, expensive American-made Strats; it is (I think) Japanese. I could care less. I chose it--again--because of the way it played and the way it sounded (and in fact, the action is about the same as on the J-200). My daughter never did learn how to play it--she stuck with flute instead--and I ended up buying it from her a couple Christmases ago for what she bought it for (which was cheap, because the music store we got it from was discontinuing carrying the things).

And so the advice I give people who are shopping for a guitar is to ignore brand names. Play something really, really good, and then play everything. When you have found the guitar that is perfect for you, it will be obvious.

Joe

[Nightwolf]

Good advice for sure Joe, people do tend to get caught up in labels, although it has to be sadi, the name brands got to be name brands for a reason. Whether they remain true is a different story.

So do you find yourself playing the strat at all or do you stick with ole faithful?

[roxhythe]

N.W., the J-200 (I still think of it as "The Guitar") is the one that goes everywhere. It's the one I do all my performing with, and most of my playing with. It's got an airline-proof case (thanks to a plane trip a couple of years ago). It's got an ancient D'Armand pickup in the soundhole that gives it a very electric sound and is good for lead work, and I can take it out if I'm playing, like, at a bluegrass festival.

The Strat doesn't have a case--just a gig bag--and doesn't leave the Garage Studio. I have found it to be a more versatile lead instrument, because of that long, long neck, and I can get around 40 different sounds out of it thanks to all them levers and knobs. When I'm recording, I will often do the lead with the Strat. I will use The Guitar for the rhythm track on recordings, though, because I can make it sound like an acoustic guitar. I cannot do that with the Strat.

A War Story. I know a lady who collects banjos (kind of like Guitar Acquisition Syndrome, only earlier in the alphabet). She'd called me one day to tell me somebody had talked her into buying this guitar. A "Nashville Sweetheart," it was called. Limited Edition, it was. I had her bring it over.

The thing came in a cardboard box and *looked* cheap. It was garish--the entire body covered in badly-painted pictures of cowgirls, and horses, and mesas, and cacti, and such. If I'd played it on stage, I would have wanted the lights off (the thing probably glowed in the dark, anyway). I played it. Not only was it easy to play, it sounded really, really good and projected well. She'd paid $145 for it. I told her, "Keep it. You got yourself a good guitar."

Joe

[Nightwolf]

Never can tell huh Joe.

I have GAS too

[roxhythe]

T.A.N.A.F.T., I believe--There Ain't No Accounting for Taste. Nice studio, by the way. Looks like you could do some good work in there.

I'll see if I can upload a pic of the "Nashville Sweetheart."

Joe

[Nightwolf]

GOOD GOD, that is the ugliest thing I've ever seen, crying out for sandpaper

[roxhythe]

Yup, it is. That's why I thought it would be better played in the dark. It was such a nice-sounding guitar. Can't escape the feeling, though, that the people who made it thought it was enhanced with all that landscapery. T.A.N.A.F.T...

Joe