New and Weird Experience

[Road King]

I noticed something tonight while thumbing through some webpages. After 30 years of playing, I don't feel that old familiar discontentment. Like somethings missing somehow. And I realized what it is. I do not feel guitar lust anymore. Since aquiring my TAG last summer I finally feel at peace with the instrument I play. I even gave my son my ash Tele that I never play anymore. I know this can't last forever, but I think I will just enjoy it while it lasts. The disclaimer in this is that my pedalboard is in constant upheaval. Putting on and taking off as fast as I can spend the money. And I am constantly working on my amp. Maybe thats it. Maybe I'm so distracted that........na:) :) :)

[dannopelli]

Yep! i just built a second pedal board. I call it my "small board." In case I don't need my big board.

But we all need a second pedal board. And we have to have a small amp and a big amp. Or two medium amps for bigger gigs, that makes more sense but you never sell the big amp. And a backup amp or a POD as a back up. And a pocket POD for practicing in the hotel with you Mac Book and iTunes.

We all need an S and a T from the F company and several from the A company. Some sort of single cutaway thing or two is nice. Maybe an alder. An ash. And mahogany. Maple over alder. And maple over mahogany. And at least one hollow. Maybe one laminate hollow and one carved. And a Jazz box. A cutaway steel string acoustic and a traditional D something or other. And a nylon string. And a beach guitar.

I think I need a banjo soon...

[marsodude]

Yep! i just built a second pedal board. I call it my "small board." In case I don't need my big board.

But we all need a second pedal board. And we have to have a small amp and a big amp. Or two medium amps for bigger gigs, that makes more sense but you never sell the big amp. And a backup amp or a POD as a back up. And a pocket POD for practicing in the hotel with you Mac Book and iTunes.

We all need an S and a T from the F company and several from the A company. Some sort of single cutaway thing or two is nice. Maybe an alder. An ash. And mahogany. Maple over alder. And maple over mahogany. And at least one hollow. Maybe one laminate hollow and one carved. And a Jazz box. A cutaway steel string acoustic and a traditional D something or other. And a nylon string. And a beach guitar.

I think I need a banjo soon...

Man, ya'll got me laughing so bad I can hardly stand it!

When we moved to Tokyo we sold everything we had. Pots, pans, donated the SUV to the pastor, dogs, everything. My wife called it purging! It's good to purge!

Anyway, I too, had spent quite a bit of time and money on a spare pedal board, stuff modded and tweaked, etc.

Now, all I have is the TAG, a Vox TLLE and a Vox 10 Pathfinder. Last night I had the Apogee Duet hooked up to the macBook and was playing along with tunes in iTunes. Awesome, simple, but good.

On second thought, I think I need a beach guitar too...

[kurt1981]

Hey, this made me stop and cringe, I can't even guess how much cash I've spent and not fully recovered buying and selling amps and pedals. I too have gotten no guitars since my TAG's, and that's a relief, but pedals, my gosh, it never ever ends. My favorite thing is that I have to buy some pedals four and five different times to ultimately decide that I do or do not like them. I've had 6 fulldrives, and nearly that many dl4's and dd-20's. I always forget what I didn't like, till I get the pedal home and then it slowly comes creeping back. I do love the fulldrive and dd-20, but why couldn't I have just kept them the first time instead of reselling. I'll never know, but now that I'm in a serious relationship, I have a feeling my gear spending will take a dramatic plunge, and I think this is for the best,

[StudioRat]

We all need an S and a T from the F company and several from the A company. Some sort of single cutaway thing or two is nice. Maybe an alder. An ash. And mahogany. Maple over alder. And maple over mahogany. And at least one hollow. Maybe one laminate hollow and one carved. And a Jazz box. A cutaway steel string acoustic and a traditional D something or other. And a nylon string. And a beach guitar.

I think I need a banjo soon...

Danno,

How right you are. I'm looking at your list here and yup, and I've pretty much got most of that, including a BEACH GUITAR I keep in FL. A $200 Washburn that plays like a thousand bucks on the beach. It's nice to have a beater that you never worry about getting covered with sand or suntan lotion. And if you need a paddle for the kayak it'll work there too.

[mbrown3]

It's funny, for a long time I just had an Anderson and a Baker for my electric guitars and was content, but I was constantly swapping pedals, trying different amps, etc. Then I started having these little things on each guitar where they were preference issues, and neither guitar was 100% perfect for me (both were incredible, but neither had all of my preferences in one guitar). So I sold those two and had guitars built by Tom (Atom) and David Myka with 100% of the preference design choices, and both guitars are not going anywhere. Ever. (I'm not one to say that too often...when I get a new guitar, I'm usually pretty good about recognizing that there's a chance, somewhere down the road, that they may head out the door. Not so with these two).

Then I tried the Soloway Swan and loved it, ordered one of those. VERY cool guitar, but it was one that when I first played it (the custom ordered one, I mean), I thought, "This is great for jazz stuff, it's different, and it's got a cool vibe to it. BUT, I could see sending it out again some day." Part of that was that it didn't have 100% of my personal preferences (like, Jim wouldn't do the neck carve I like, since it would throw off the balance of the guitar). With me, most likely the best sounding guitar in the world will head out again some day if I can't get the preferences I've become comfortable with. Life is too short to have to adjust and accommodate to less than 100% of your preferences. And it took a lot of hunting, trying, etc., but I've finally figured out what I prefer in ALL aspects of the guitar.

Recently, I've had some gig situations come up that require a strat style guitar, and I've kind of missed that strat sound (I was BIG into Dire Straits and Pink Floyd in College, and SRV has always been my favorite guitar player). So I found a Melancon Pro Artist that I liked, bought it with a return policy, played it for 2 days and sent it back. Unbelievable tones out of that guitar, but the neck was just too small. So I put in a custom order with Gerard and am waiting on that one (and was able to borrow a friend's strat in the meantime, for gigs in between). Hopefully the custom ordered one will have the same great vibe and tone, and I know it will have 100% of my preferences.

In the meantime, on the amp front, I got an Egnater MOD50, and love it so much (even at low volumes) that it's eliminated the need for most of my pedals. I don't even find myself wanting to "check out" some of the latest and greatest pedals any more. I'll probably sell off the remaining ones (and I have some nice ones) and get a G-System at some point, but it's mostly for the combination of TC's great delays, etc., and the amp switching built into presets. And certainly not a gear lust issue, or I would have it already. :)

So, all this is to say, the tables have kind of turned for me in the last couple of years. With the Atom and the Myka (and hopefully the Melancon will fall into the same category), I no longer have guitar lust, and with the MOD50 I no longer have amp OR pedal lust. There are some cool axes out there that I still find interesting (I think Ben Bruton is making some interesting stuff, I'd like to check out the carve top atom at some point, and if Jim Soloway will ever agree to build a guitar with my neck specs I may get another of those), but my basic needs are met and then some. I still LOVE Barber's pedals (my Small Fry isn't going anywhere, no matter HOW great the tones are on the MOD50), but am no longer hunting for the best pedals to supplement my tone. I'm 100% content with the gear I have; everything now is just tweaking, and any future purchases will be additions, not replacements.

Some people say you shouldn't worry so much about gear and just focus on your playing. But for me, I HAD to find my complete preferences AND the tones I wanted before I could do that, because otherwise, I was always wondering if the grass was greener. Now, having been there and done that, I know the grass is always greener on my side :D , and I've been able to focus more on playing than ever before (well, when I was in college, it was 15 to 17 hours a day of practice, and I just can't do that now, but at least when I pick up my guitars I'm not thinking about tweaking or 'what ifs' any more).

[dannopelli]

[QUOTE=mbrown3]....Some people say you shouldn't worry so much about gear and just focus on your playing...QUOTE]

Picking up where I left off:

...and a bunch of Jamey Aebersold play along books. And a couple of chord books. History of the Strat and LP books to adorn the coffee table. Guitar Player/Guitar World, etc. Garage/Logic/Pro Tools/(fill in your fave) and an Apogee/M Audio/Presonus/(fill in your fave). So you can write. Or you can also record your practicing? (BTW I still don't have a recording interface but I do have Logic!)

Did I mention you HAVE to have a small PA?

I do know this. My rig is slowly getting smaller. I have the four Andy's I really like. I would like another T Classic but not until at LEAST four other guitars and one or two amps and half of the PA stuff and a bunch of FX go away.

[wreckfan]

Probably like a lot of players I have been up and down - from a few to a dozen guitars at a time. I can't remember a time I have been content with just what I have (including now)

I decided a few years ago to sell off everything except my amp and start over. With that accomplished my wife and I met my best friend and his wife for dinner and when the bill came I grabbed my high-tech money clip (paperclip) and paid the bill. My wife looked at me in amazement and said what happened to your money clip - said "it broke - I don't have a guitar anymore" to which we all laughed.

She told me to go get a new guitar tomorrow (I had witnesses) which I certainly took her up on (brand new Gretsch Brian Setzer signature) and when I got home there was a nice new Tiffany money clip for me..........guess things were not all that bad after all !!

[dave]

...a banjo....now there's an idea!
Tom.......????

[Pietro]

I am currently in an ecstatic "don't want anything" period...

...except a Hollow Cobra with a piezo and maybe gold hardware...

...and sign me up for one of those beach guitars...

[Road King]

OK, I'm putting seven pedals and the guts from a 62 brownface bassman on ebay today so I can revamp the board again. Kurt ruined everything with the BB plus thread. So I have to have one of those now. BTW Kurt the DD20 you sold me has what I feel like is a "permenent" place on my board. Thanks again for the deal on that. Actually guys, Kurt should recieve some sort of award from the forum for keeping so many people in pedals and amps for at least as long as I've been around here. Anything cool for sell?
Danno, laughed my booty off at your replies. I think your sentiments are the true mental state of all guitarists whether we want to admit it or not.
You know, come to think of it a drop top T maple over mahg. H/S/H with a vintage trem and rosewood markerless fingerboard sounds like just what the doctor ordered. OK I lied. I really posted this thread so my wife would quit looking at me with the evil eye everytime I get on the TAG website;)

In repentance,
Brad

[picnic]

Buying a new Classic and two months later a new HTC certainly has made me a happy player. No GAS for guitars. OK, maybe a TAG with VA's or M's someday. All my other electrics are gone and one last Fender is for sale. I tried several types of pickups in it and all fell short. Nothing came close to the TA's pups. Even though I may have spent money on pickups that didn't do it for me, the end result is I know what I want and what pleases me.

The amp GAS has almost passed after going through a taste test that lasted three-four years. New stuff will always be of interest, but there is no GAS working at the moment. Until I read about the new Bogners.

Pedals, a few but the Red Snapper and channel switching amps are enough for me.

That first TAG really changed my way of thinking about guitar playing. Much more enjoyable and rewarding playing a guitar that satisfying.