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Post by Runewalker on Mar 2, 2014 9:33:16 GMT -5
I was feeling a bit lonely with this position, until you came along. Amen to that! [/quote] mo' is bestest.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2014 15:35:08 GMT -5
Thing is GAS might not be only for new guitars or gear, but for mods as well. So if we just define "meta-gear" as a meta concept from which gear, guitars, mods can be described as subcases, then it makes sense to say that maybe the motive behind hot rodders, modders, modeling users and just plain old guitars buyers is the same. It is the force for GOOD sounds!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2014 15:43:19 GMT -5
I crave the variety, the palate on tones and moods, and different guitars take me to different places, even if I settle on some favs. But sometimes I feel like a 7 string, sometimes I want to scare women and children, sometimes I want lilting shimmers, sometimes I wanna wang dang doodle with a whammy bar. Each guitar fulfills a different set of moods and directions. And since I rarely have more than $200-250 in a build, and they play and sound better than the $1500 units on GC's wall-o-guitars, why not. They are not 'collectible' in the sense they will ever be worth more than the $ I have in them, and all labor is non-compensated value-added, but they do add up to some quantity. RW That's the situation. Also i have found that Chinese/Indonesian made budget guitars in the range of 600-1200 EURO, with some very light fret-work done can be ultra-competitive. That said, i gotta admit here, that my 300 EURO build didn't end up very well. It was a very easy to play partscaster ( ) , very light, very handy, low action, no buzzing, lovely scalloped neck, the sound i was looking for .... but poor sustain.... and thin sound.... apples and oranges comparing to my other strat.... so, considering that besides money, also space is a factor, i finally sold it, to make room for something i would like better.
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Post by 4real on Mar 2, 2014 19:12:07 GMT -5
I have a lot of guitars, but there are a number of aspects to this and some history...
I see this kind of thing as a 'quest' you know and different aspects of the creative nature, and evolving.
But I've always coverted the one guitar approach. I had the feeling I should get the best guitar I could so there would be no excuses for the playing and practice side. That guitar ended up being a black LP I bought second hand and I got professionally set up and modded as was the thing in the day, jumbo frets and lots of brass and coil cut switches.
I played that gutiar exclsively for perhaps 25 years in all kinds of contexts, rock, jazz, singer guitar duo, you name it.
Another side of creativity is the guitar as object as well. Before that I used to get scrap guitars and parts and build up simple guitars in my early teens, some quite good in their own way and my skill level. So, in a way there is the 'playing side' and the technology side.
A lot fo teh experimentation thing was on that kind of inventive possibilities and art and craft and exploring what might be possible, to improve perhaps or stretch the possibilities further and to find 'that' guitar.
I had alwayss noted that the players that I and most admired were those with a "unique voice" and for me this has always been the main aim I guess. Players like Hendrix, Knophler, Gilmour, Beck, Page, Summers, Edge, etc and way back to BB King et al, Les Paul, Atkins, Django and such were easily identifiable and admired. It's not so much their 'tone' but their approach and in many cases, pushed the technology or had identifiable instruments to suit their needs. There is no reason for me to think that theirchoices would suit me or that emulating them would find my "unique voice" ... so moding guitars is one way to explore that, exploring different musical approachs and such another thing informed by that impulse.
One's playing life also goes through a lot of changes and development.
I always had some 'tremolo envy' which the LP could not satissfy and cheap strats were obvious choices for modification as well. So, once I ahd started that, the LP was put pretty much into mothballs and I was playing these kinds of guitars all the time. But at any one time, there always seemed to be a favorite on the road towards that 'one' kind of guitar. There is a progression in them as well, so it is not acquisition for aquisitions sake I don't think...who knows.
For quite a while my Tele became 'the guitar' playing soul music with a bass player for a bit. Once I finished the strat thing, it became a suitable alternative. But now I ahve gone 'acoustic' the modifications have expanded and improved. I am still keen on the multituning jazz-box thing as an idea, but in the end I needed a better quality and wider fretboard for the music and techniques I was attempting.
Hence the current 'Seagull', but that too was a development from that project, the locking tuners and top support an alternative tothe 'trilogy' but carrying on with the idea of stereo electronics and going into exploring the amplification and effects that it might offer.
There is also something very cool about being able to pickup an acoustic and simply paly, no amplifiers or anything and that is what I do mostly these days.
So, a one guitar guy, at least one at a time, by nature. If it is not quite cutting it I seek to improve it to do the things I want to do (within reason). I am sure that there are plenty of things and future projects that I will attempt or already ahve in mind to find that sound which gives me that 'voice'. I think this is largely "in the fingers" but, the instrument is a part of that...
When I was younger, I used to haunt music shops and noted that a new or different instrument would instantly inspire one to explore new things, not just the sound but the feel and everything. Playing a different guitar can quite often kick start ideas and there is quite a difference between the various 'types' like acoustics and electrics and all that, reason enough to have a few. I doubt that 'perfect instrument' is going to be available in a guitar shop anywhere and often the things one might think are going to be an ultimate goal turns out to be different anyway or things change over time.
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Post by Runewalker on Mar 7, 2014 12:12:21 GMT -5
"I have a lot of guitars, but there are a number of aspects to this and some history...
I see this kind of thing as a 'quest' you know and different aspects of the creative nature, and evolving...." This thread has more or less run its course, but expanding on 4R's comment, I propose a different category of GAS for the modder sector. Maybe MAS, or Modder's Artifacts Syndrome. Elements of quest and experimentation certainly are involved in the almost ancillary output of different test "jets". You would see the same thing of numerous prototypes from inventors or hobbyists in different genres. I have a friend who does the same kind of quest/experimentation/modding on races cars and has several, and more in process. Boy that takes up some landscape, but I would not accuse him of having CAS, Car Acquisition Syndrome. Rather the modder does not (mostly) collect for collection sake. The "quest" impetus is different than collector's motivation. Finally, the process, execution and output are as much an art as actually playing the final instrument. And that notion may be overlooked as non-modder audience looks over our room(s) filled with guitars or works in progress. I have absorbed myself in hours of planning, assembling, soldering, fret leveling and dressing, mechanical tuning and other aspects of the build and in someway lost just as much awareness of the external world as I do in an extended jam. Perhaps we overlook acknowledging the "quest" and the building process as being as much of the art as playing. RW.
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