Members badpenguin Posted September 24, 2015 Members Share Posted September 24, 2015 We all have those things in the guitar world that don't make sense to us. Here are a few of mine, share yours. The Fender Jazzmaster. Every time I pick one of these up, whether it's vintage, or fresh off of the shelf, I think to myself "What a piece of sh*t!" The neck is wrong, the body is wrong, and the electronics were taken from an acid inspired sketch by Telsa, to screw with Edison. it's real high on the list of stupidest guitar concepts ever. The cult of Gretsch. Don't get me wrong, I love a good playing Gretsch, and despite my views on the destructive ways of Fender, think they did a great job in resurrecting a dying company. But Gretsch players are a weird bunch. Where I might have 10 guitars from one company, they all sound and play differently. A Gretsch player will have 10 guitars, and they sound exactly the other 9. And look the same. I am sure at a Gretsch convention, they all go into a room, light up effigies of Leo and Les, all the while chanting.."Fred... Fred... Fred..." then going off to talk about things Gretsch like in a strange numerical language. "6122... nah, 6120. 6119.... oooh Chet...." Just my opinion of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKCM Posted September 24, 2015 Members Share Posted September 24, 2015 Rickenbacker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted September 24, 2015 Members Share Posted September 24, 2015 I used to come across allot of Vintage Gretch guitars back in the 70's. I'd plug them in and try and get a little balls out of them and they just weren't rockers. They were Old men's guitars that were better for country western or maybe jazz stuff. They produced almost acoustic like cleans they just didn't push a tube amp into saturation on their own. Of course my opinions did change over the years as I got to try other models and investigated how other artists got their unique tones. The first that changed my attitude was the Guitar work done by Stephen Stills on the 4 way Street album jamming those long leads with Neil Young. The tones of those dueling Lead Guitars is still to this day a killer tone you cant get from any other guitar. Second is the Classic Whose Next Album. Joe Walsh gave Townsend a Gretch Country Gentleman guitar, an oddball 59 Fender bandmaster amp with three speakers, An Edwards Pedal Steel volume pedal and a Whirlwind guitar chord. He told Townsend he had to use those specific items together to get a killer sound. An the sustaining guitar parts made that album go platinum. He used it on Qudrophenia too I believe too. Good Reading> http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/gretsch.html Then you have the more modern players, BTO, New York Dolls and AC DC Highway to hell recorded with a Gretch. Of courser I don't know if the guitars were modeled better then the Cowboy models I played but you can make any guitar sound good just so long as you can play the hell out of it. Stills talks about his White Falcon from this site.http://www.gretschguitars.com/blog/t...ash-and-young/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKCM Posted September 24, 2015 Members Share Posted September 24, 2015 I played vintage Gretsch in the 70s too. I could get as raw a sound as I wanted. I suppose its all a case of experience and knowing how to set a rig up. Glad you got there in the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted September 24, 2015 Members Share Posted September 24, 2015 The culture of theacousticguitarforum bewilders me. How anyone can pontificate in the manner they do is beyond what I can tolerate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knotty Posted September 24, 2015 Members Share Posted September 24, 2015 People who have been professional musicians for like 90 years and recording technicians for 30 years, field technicians for 40 years and luthiers for another 50, but have NO recorded examples or videos of them playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucksstudent Posted September 25, 2015 Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 I don't get why I've got a short attention span and go from guitar to guitar, and people like Richard Thompson can use the exact same guitar for decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted September 25, 2015 Author Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 Buck, I have 35 guitars and basses, and my fav changes daily. I feel your pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chordite Posted September 25, 2015 Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 Acoustic guitars in countries that have electricity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Gretsch players are a weird bunch. Where I might have 10 guitars from one company, they all sound and play differently. A Gretsch player will have 10 guitars, and they sound exactly the other 9. And look the same. I am sure at a Gretsch convention, they all go into a room, light up effigies of Leo and Les, all the while chanting.."Fred... Fred... Fred..." then going off to talk about things Gretsch like in a strange numerical language. "6122... nah, 6120. 6119.... oooh Chet...." :lol: Post of the week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted September 25, 2015 Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 With Gretsch people usually play the crappy Baldwin models or the awful reissues. The mid-50s to early 60s they made some amazing guitars and those are the ones you want to try. Rickenbacker guitars are different. They're probably the best made production guitar out there but they have their quirks. I don't have any issues with the way they play at all. I have done jazz, blues, country, etc... on mine but it really excels in the studio for nailing that jangly sound. They are really special instruments that have a unique sound. The majority of what FMIC makes pretty much is just garbage. They started going downhill in about 1995 and some of the stuff they make is really bad. The American Vintage Reissues, the signature models, the Custom Shop amps and some other things are really nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted September 25, 2015 Members Share Posted September 25, 2015 I do have a short scale Gretch bass and its a killer recording guitar, even though the body is just made of plywood. I've played other Electromatics like their LP copy with a bolt on neck and they just feel cheezy to me. BG76 mentioned the Baldwin Guitars. They were surely another funky guitar. My X had one and it again had that old man feel to it. Now that I'm an old man I'd probably like it. I did own a Moserite Celebrity for about 10 years and it had that old style feel to it but the zero fret and Super smooth Mosley Bigsby made it a cool guitar to play. Not as good as my 60's Riviera or the ES335 but still a unique sounding player. The Moserite P90 type Pickups had allot to do with it. I always found the Jazz guitar pretty cool. I'd really wouldn't mind having one over a strat. I think its because I played an old 60s vintage one for awhile when I was a kid. They didn't exactly play or sound amazing but the way the electronics were set up and oddball look and feel compared to the Gibsons I was used to playing was neat. The Jags were a weird animal too. I had a cheap one. The pickups were great but the rest was beginners grade. My buddy had a high end version with the mute bridge and locking whammy and all. Wish I had bought it from him for the $100 He wanted back then but all most used 60's guitars could be bought cheap back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundcreation Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 Every "tune your guitar" vid or article that says "always tune UP to the note" Why? I tune "down" to pitch ALL the time and it makes NO difference whatsoever. A tuner doesn't give a sh.......which way you went to the note and neither do your tuning pegs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AlamoJoe Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 Now THAT...Is Funny Bud....I mean it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AlamoJoe Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 A garage band I was in during the late 60's had a killer guitar player who found a '63 Strat and a '60 Bandmaster in a pawn shop. They, and he sounded great. He was taking guitar lessons from a guy named John(Last name gone from my memory) who played with some Cali band named Mother Earth. Anyway he met this kid named Wally whose parents were rich and he ended up getting a Gretsch Country Gentleman for Christmas. He came over to one of our practices with it and a new 100watt Kustom amp. He and it sounded like crap. Then Mark(Our Guitar player) took a turn with it and it sounded absolutely beautiful.Chet Atkins played Gretsch guitars a lot as well.Sometimes...It's just whose playing the instrument, not the instrument. George Harrison pulled some fine tones out of Gretsch guitars, as did Malcolm Young. I realize I may have stars in my eyes about all this. Chet probably had custom made guitars tailored for him. That Country Gentleman was a helluva beautiful guitar though, if memory serves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members onelife Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 Every "tune your guitar" vid or article that says "always tune UP to the note" Why? I tune "down" to pitch ALL the time and it makes NO difference whatsoever. A tuner doesn't give a sh.......which way you went to the note and neither do your tuning pegs. I tune up to the note because it tightens the winding around the post. I find that tuning down sometimes allows the string to go flat if the winding gets a bit loose. Maybe I just need to lubricate my nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 I tune up to the note because it tightens the winding around the post. I find that tuning down sometimes allows the string to go flat if the winding gets a bit loose. Maybe I just need to lubricate my nuts. I tune up because that's what I was taught to do. The explaination was string tension as you've said. But if it comes down to a few cents I go down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 What I don't get is, I buy more guitars and amps and try different picks and strings but my playing still sucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knotty Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 What I don't get is' date=' I buy more guitars and amps and try different picks and strings but my playing still sucks[/quote'] You are clearly a cheapskate. You need to invest heavily for serious improvement. Doubling that post rate will help as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gardo Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 You are clearly a cheapskate. You need to invest heavily for serious improvement. Doubling that post rate will help as well. So that's it , I'm limited by the quality and quanity of my gear ? If I spend big bucks on the best gear and make more posts proclaiming myself to be an expert, eventually I will believe the.hype and become the superstar I deserve to be. This is the part I've been missing . Thanks for pointing me down the road to success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Danhedonia Posted September 26, 2015 Members Share Posted September 26, 2015 I love Jazzmasters. Some things feel 'right' to some, 'wrong' to others. What I don't get is why at this point in mass electronics we are still working with solder to swap pickups. It's utterly ridiculous that the connections are not simpler and standardized. I also do not 'get' Gibson's pricing, but hey, I know how sensitive the folks around here can be, new sheriff in town, etc. etc. etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundcreation Posted September 27, 2015 Members Share Posted September 27, 2015 I also do not 'get' Gibson's pricing, but hey, I know how sensitive the folks around here can be, new sheriff in town, etc. etc. etc. That's one of the easiest things to understand. Market your product as "premium" and purposely charge MORE than it's actually worth and people will buy it. It's sometimes called "chivas" pricing as the legend goes chivas wasn't selling much whiskey until they doubled the price of it and marketed it as "exclusive". Some say this is just a myth in terms of the pricing being doubled but the marketing was no myth. And so it is with gibson. Market the hell out of your product and attach tons of warm and fuzzy classic rock feelings with your brand. Make people think you HAVE to have that name or it's not the same and then charge them for it. And for the most part it works. Fender, really, is no different. I quite ready to shoot that sheriff....haha...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members *BLEEP* Posted September 27, 2015 Members Share Posted September 27, 2015 ...Doubling that post rate will help as well. And, Gardo's posts need to be at least 1200 words in length and cover some aspect of The Battle Of Hastings and its significance on society in the mid section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members knotty Posted September 27, 2015 Members Share Posted September 27, 2015 And, Gardo's posts need to be at least 1200 words in length and cover some aspect of The Battle Of Hastings and its significance on society in the mid section. A very good point, attaching a disney corporation CV would also help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chordite Posted September 27, 2015 Members Share Posted September 27, 2015 I also do not 'get' Gibson's pricing, but hey, I know how sensitive the folks around here can be, new sheriff in town, etc. etc. etc. They are guitars for the middle classes. Bank people and Doctors want all those faux violin curves and will pay for it,like with their mock Tudor houses, Those curves don't do anything on a solid body except make it look classical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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