Aloha!

[Spying Beast]

Hey there folks,

My name is Keith, I've been playing guitar since I was 12, I'm forty now :o , and love guitars!

I've got a nice collection of Gibson, PRS, Am Fenders, etc. I'm particularly proud of my collection of solid body Takamine guitars. I've got one of each color of every model they ever made. Pretty nice guitars made from 82-84, my first was a Takamine Gx-100T that I still have and play to this day. They don't play like a custom shop LP or Tele, but they do play. Nice tone, great action, and they stay in tune forever! Old Japanese quality...

Anywho, I've seen TAG's for years now, but never bothered with them until a friend insisted that I was missing out on something special with these guitars. He was right! Through my entire collection, some of them quite pricey, I had never experienced a guitar like his. He has a 06 Drop Top Classic with a Root Beer quilt. I fell in love immediately after the first little riff!

Do all TAG's play this way, because I've got to get me a one QUICK if that's the case...

I play mostly 70's-recent rock and would like to find an Anderson that would best play that style.

Any help or suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

Keith

[dannopelli]

Hi Keith!

I have five. Been through 11. And yes they do ALL play that way.

70's rock is a pretty broad spectrum. Are you interested in Classic Strat or Tele tones? A powerful humbucker guitar? Tom makes a lot of models that can bring you what you want. Guys on this forum will help you with ideas. And Roy at TAG will help you nail down the specs.

Welcome to the forum!

[BigE]

Just got mine end of June. Jaw dropping playability. like nothing I ever played before, old, new, or custom shop. I have played Three now and all were amazing.

[Spying Beast]

Hi Keith!

I have five. Been through 11. And yes they do ALL play that way.

70's rock is a pretty broad spectrum. Are you interested in Classic Strat or Tele tones? A powerful humbucker guitar? Tom makes a lot of models that can bring you what you want. Guys on this forum will help you with ideas. And Roy at TAG will help you nail down the specs.

Welcome to the forum!

I like the big humbucker tone. My understanding was that Tom's guitars sounded like Tom's guitars, and not like a copy of someone elses. Am I wrong to assume that?

For instance, I love playing an older Custom Shop Tele that I own, but it's nearly impossible to get it to sound like it belongs playing some serious 80's metal tones, whereas almost anything else I own can do it easily. I thought the magic was in the pick-ups, not so much the shape of the guitar..

No?

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

[tom]

pickups can only hear what the wood is producing, so wood first. then the pickup can accentuate particular stuff. body shape does have a contribution in both the tone and attack response time.

[dannopelli]

... My understanding was that Tom's guitars sounded like Tom's guitars, and not like a copy of someone elses. Am I wrong to assume that?
...

Well, I can get remarkably close to a vintage Strat sound from one of my Classics with the VA5's. But not identical. I can get Santana sustain from my Cobra S. But not identical. I have had Cobra's that sound VERY HEAVY or VERY JAZZY. But not like a LP.

Which I like. I don't want duplicates of other manufacturers. I can just go buy theirs if I wanted that. I think you'll find, once you have a couple, that you will likely feel the same way. You can get vintage or heavy or country or jazzy, but you will sound like you.

Tom's guitars do sound like Tom's guitars. They can make tones that will fit in all genre's. Examples run from Keith Richards to Neal Schon to Christopher Cross to Clint Black to Joan Armatrading and on and on. They will fit into all kinds of music.

http://www.andersonguitars.com/cfpages/whosplaying.cfm

If you want to nail 80's rock, that should be no problem. A Drop Top or Cobra will do that just fine. If you get one with two M's and an H in the bridge you might just end up with a Swiss Army Knife guitar!.

Post your thoughts over in the Cobra Pit. I am sure guys will chime in.

[Spying Beast]

Thanks guys...

I like that most manufacturers guitars have a particular sound to them. My Gibson collection for instance, they all have that particular tone whether it's a LP or an SG, DC, etc. American Fenders in my opinion are the same way, whether tele, or strat, they just have that cetain "twang" to them.

The T.A. Drop Top that I had the pleasure of playing sounded similar to a PRS Custom with respect to tone, but played much better. As I get older, everything is about "the ride" so to speak, and the second I fretted a note on that Drop Top, I knew the ride was going to be sweet.

In a nutshell, I just wanted to be sure that ALL TAG's played as smooth as his, and that buying a T.A. strat copy wasn't going to play like like a strat, I already have enough of those...

I'll report back when I find the right one for me!

Keith