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What is your biggest guitar mistake?

Northstar

By Northstar
in Electric Guitars

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_pete_ Newbie

_pete_

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Buying way too many guitars and amps. Should have bought one nice Strat and amp and left it at that.

 

 

 

Yeah but think of what you learned from all those cheapo guitars. By going through those you learn set up, assembly, wiring, and how to determine what parts need replacing and what to replace them with.

 

I've gone through a ton of guitars and have now settled on my current three. All the ones that have gone before taught me something.

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cBc Newbie

cBc

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Buying two late 70's MIJ Ibanez Iceman guitars (one black with cream binding, the other a set neck beautiful violin sunburst, both with DiMarzios in them) back in the band daze, and then later selling them/trading them for some junky bass guitar.

 

Jeebus, wtf was I thinking? :facepalm:

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The Eristic Newbie

The Eristic

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Hi Eristic. who is Marc? I'm highly interested in your comment but I'm afraid I did not quite understand what you meant. Could you elaborate a bit? Thanks!
:thu:

 

Marc Beneteau, the renowned luthier. Unless maybe your guitar was built by a different Beneteau?

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cratz2 Newbie

cratz2

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I get caught up "chasing tone", it's a big mistake. I spend a lot more time modding, tweaking, changing pickup configurations, etc. than I do actually playing. It's all fun and exciting for awhile, but sooner or later I realized just how much time & money I've wasted dinking around while my recording gear gathers dust and my friends talk about their last show.

 

This is me for sure. My MO is to buy relatively cheap guitars, mod them with good pickups (and usually a few other minor things) and then brag about how good my stuff sounds compared to high end stock stuff. BUT... filling out a spreadsheet to add up how much $$$ I have in those relatively cheap made me almost sick. Plus throw in that if I had to get down to 4 guitars, I could do it with ZERO problems... it was just sort of the 'WTF have I been doing lately' kinda deal.

 

Still, I've learned a lot.

 

In terms of of playing... I took about 6 or 8 years off from playing electric. That definitely sets you back a bit. And I broke my wrist on my job 2 or 3 years ago. That DEFINITELY sets you back a bit.

 

:lol:

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EllenGtrGrl Newbie

EllenGtrGrl

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The biggest mistakes I've made guitarwise?

 

1. Back in 1999, deciding that I needed to force a change in my musical preferences, in order to "expand my musical horizons". This meant selling all of my gear that had served me so well, playing metal, hard driving alternative rock, and indie rock, and buying gear more suited for cleaner sounds. I found out the hard way, that you can't forcibly change your musical tastes, and "learn to like" the music you've switched over to. I wound up hating it. Unfortunately, by the time I realized this (about a year later), I was well into a period of hard economic times, and I could not even come close to affording the Mesa amps I used in the past, or the Gibsons I used to play. Since then, it's been a long journey to get back to to a setup I'm happy with. I finally seem to be getting there.

 

2. Getting caught up in the Gretsch stereotype - for the longest period of time, I would never even consider playing a Gretsch, feeling that they were only good for twangy stuff like rockabilly, or Chet Atkins-style country. It took a friend tricking me into trying one out, to shock, and convince me that they are great playing guitars, that are suprisingly versatile soundwise, for different musical styles. As a result, I seldom am without a Gretsch in my guitar stable, for more than a few months.

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notcool Newbie

notcool

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My first electric was a plywood Strat copy. It was a trainwreck, but good enough to start with. I had it for about a year, and I thought I could get a slightly deeper tone by trading it in on a Les Paul copy.

 

That turned out to be a huge mistake.

 

The guitar I got in trade was a worse trainwreck than my first guitar. The body was also plywood, but the mid section had one gigantic rout for the pickup and control cavities, making the guitar hollow inside. The mid section was covered with a flat veneer on the back and an arched veneer on the top (the top veneer simulating the carved top of a Les Paul). The guitar had a bolt-on neck, flimsy tuners, and fretwork that was so bad that there were notches in some of the frets. But the worst thing about that guitar was that it had single coil pickups that were disguised to look like humbuckers. I played that piece of {censored} for about eight months and then I grabbed a brain and traded up to something better.

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JTEES4 Newbie

JTEES4

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My first real guitar was a 66 Non reverse Firebird, which i bought used in 74 or 75. Late 70's I decided to refinish it. I f'd that up! Then I decoded that since I f'd up the refinish...I would cut the guitar into a strange shape. I did it. The guitar never played right after that and I eventually threw it out (pickups and all)....what a dumb ass I was when I was young! I still kick myself often for that one! :mad:

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RufusFussbuster Newbie

RufusFussbuster

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My first real guitar was a 66 Non reverse Firebird, which i bought used in 74 or 75. Late 70's I decided to refinish it. I f'd that up! Then I decoded that since I f'd up the refinish...I would cut the guitar into a strange shape. I did it. The guitar never played right after that and I eventually threw it out (pickups and all)....what a dumb ass I was when I was young! I still kick myself often for that one!
:mad:

 

Thread winnar. Ouch, it hurts just to read that. :cry:

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dbsens13 Newbie

dbsens13

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I've got the mother of all guitar mistakes. And I have to live with it every single day. When I first started playing guitar back in '97 I was given my fathers nylon string Martin acoustic from probably the 40's or so. It had been given to him from his parents or grandparents or something. I just wanted to learn to play and I did that but I had no regard for the guitar or taking care of it nor did I understand the value of certain instruments, especially vintage ones. I was real big into punk rock and metal and it got real beat up. I even carved some things into the wood with a knife :cry: . Eventually after a couple of years I had a few other guitars (Yamaha acoustic, Squire Strat, Ibanez 7 string) and I was browsing some local guitar shops in the Whittier, California area and I had my Martin in the car with me. I saw a Blue HSS Stratocaster in the shop and played it and really liked it but didn't have any cash. So basically I swapped them my vintage classical Martin for a {censored}ing strat. :facepalm: Ya, I gotta live with that horrible mistake for the rest of my life. Unless I can one day find it. That'd be sweet.

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