How much of it is in our heads?

[kidblast]

6 hours ago, rct said:

I think relics are for people that want to tell others they have a real 52 Telecaster.  There can be no other reason.

rct

Unless your Joe Bonnamassa, and can afford it..

[sparquelito]

I thank all of you for your thoughtful and civil contributions to this thread.

I didn't have an agenda when I posted it, nor did I have any ulterior motives.
To the original questions, "how much of it is in our heads," I guess I was on the fence about it. 

We all want what we want, and each of us likes what we like.
And rarely do we agree on much, this much is true.

I have been a guitar player for many, many years now, and I have owned, bought, sold, traded, and acquired more guitars than I can reasonably-account for.
My band-mates put up with my collecting mania, and they share in my joy at the discovery of something new and wonderful.

The reality is that my tastes and preferences have not been demonstrably-steady and consistent over the past four+ decades.
That which I believed to be the ideal guitar back in the 1970's turned out to be a dust collector just a few years later.

At the age of 61 now, and realizing that there are less days ahead of me than behind me, I have come to put more into the thought-process of acquiring guitars than I did just five or fifteen years ago.

I have just around 17 guitars now, and I would probably like to thin that herd down just a bit more. (If I could find it in my heart to let go of a few of the 'sentimental value' ones.)

I have name brand guitars that are awesome, and I have pawn-shop prizes that turned out to be diamonds in the rough.
My brain is just now settling into the notion that there have been top-name guitars that I had to have just because I always wanted to own them. Whether they sang to me or not. 

One part of that grey lump says, "This is it, you got your beautiful prize, your reward for a life of hard work and perseverance."
The other hemisphere whispers, "But you never haul it to gigs, and you rarely play it. It's like that trophy  taxidermy head hanging on the wall of the hunter's den."

I guess that's why I have let go of so many guitars this past month. 
No matter what the brand name on the headstock, I am steadily divesting the ones that don't really sing to me, and those which could be better off in some other's player's hands. 

I appreciate your kind attention to this thread, and I am grateful for your (as internet-centric and tangential as it may be) friendship.

Play well, collect judiciously, and make a raucous and joyous noise whenever you can.
🙂

['Scales]

Fair enough Sparky. It's great if people like collecting guitars, just like people might with paintings or fishing gear or hunting rifles or whatever they admire. Personally I can enjoy looking at other peoples guitars without wanting to own them and think that any time I play any other than the one I like the most is kind of like playing time partially wasted 

But your question was about gigs, and myself, i've no desire to walk on stage carrying a Strat or Les Paul etc because of the brand and what it might suggest as some sort of 'statement' (in fact, completely the opposite) ...but if I went on stage with it because it felt like the greatest thing to play and helped me feel at ease then I'd have no question about using it. I guess maybe it's about what you need from the experience and what motivates you.

Interesting topic and hope you figure out what's best for you 

[kidblast]

We all want what we want, and each of us likes what we like.

yea. That's pretty much where it's at.  

my guitars were bought to be played, when I gigged,  they didn't stay home.  of course, that puts some road scars on them, but I didn't buy them as museum pieces.

I was always careful, but s--t happens.

I work with a guy a lot who just won't spend more than 350/400 bucks on a guitar.  He's a great player, and knows quite a bit about setups and general repairs.  Doing a restoration project is right up his alley, he's retired.  So it's just more or less a hobby for him to buy some thing off Ebay that he doesn't have to spend a lot on, fix it up, get it playing great, use it for a few months, then move on to the next reclamation project.

Me, heck, I have no problem talking myself into a guitar that he'd not be able to sleep at night if he bought it.  We are best of friends and have a playing chemistry that I've never had with anyone else before ever.  (I've played with a lot of people, and have been at it over 5 decades..)  So while we are a bit different in what we chose to play, "How" we play when we are playing together, is something you can't put a price tag on and the cost or brand of the guitars being used at the time, is just not relevant. 

it's really about the music, and when you're doing that, nothing else actually matters.

Edited August 27, 2020 by kidblast

[merciful-evans]

There’s one thing I’m pretty certain of. If I only had a cheap guitar and had no experience of a high end one, I would assume that they would be better than they generally are.

Like jdgm and his Vintage, I have a (MIC) Hagstrom which sounds like a proper LP. The pickups are stock but clearly modelled on 57 Classics (Hagstrom call theirs 58 Classics). The only mods to it are wiring/pots/switch/OP jack.

AAMOF, it sounds more like a LP* than my LP does through the new practice amp! *=authentic

Guitarists always respond to the Gibson LP (though not the ES-339 for some reason) and never to the Hagstrom or Squier. But to be honest, I am more appreciative when non-musicians complement me/us, because they have appreciated the music regardless of the tools we used to make it.

 

 

[MissouriPicker]

Around 2006-2007, I went to a Johnny Cash convention/Memorial gathering in Nashville.  Marty Stuart was there and a bunch of us were talking about guitars (imagine that).  He told us about his collection, which  consisted of guitars from Cash and Dylan, Patsy Kline guitar, The Beatles, etc.  But he said that his most played guitar on stage was probably an old Fender Strat that cost less than a hundred bucks when he got it as a kid.    

Edited August 27, 2020 by MissouriPicker

[kidblast]

16 minutes ago, ghost_of_fl said:

I can't think of any guitar that's more of a 'museum piece' than Willie's "Trigger".   Good thing he kept it in pristine condition.  😆

I know, right??!! 

any one care to take a stab at how much this thing will be worth after Willie has left the planet?

$5,000,000???

[rct]

7 hours ago, 'Scales said:

...But your question was about gigs, and myself, i've no desire to walk on stage carrying a Strat or Les Paul etc because of the brand and what it might suggest as some sort of 'statement' (in fact, completely the opposite) ...but if I went on stage with it because it felt like the greatest thing to play and helped me feel at ease then I'd have no question about using it. I guess maybe it's about what you need from the experience and what motivates you....

 

I think it is more about what works for someone, and what reason they have to change, than just the "brand".  When we were young we could play a Kent Les Paul or save some bucks and get a Gibson.  If you were in a band you definitely saved up for a Gibson, because you knew what you could rely on inasmuch as you can possibly rely on any guitar.  You could spend half the money on an Ibanez strat or tele, or save some more and get a Fender.  Once you did that, you had something that worked, worked well, could be fixed/get parts easily, and could be replaced in a day.  We couldn't afford Martins, so we used the best we could get until we were older and could buy one.  The people that did this for a living, 200 plus nights a year weren't using Kent Les Pauls and Ibanez Strats, and probably for good reason.  If it worked for them it would likely work for us, and that's how we ended up the brand snobs we are today.

So it worked.  I've tried every thing that has come along in the last 45+ years and if I liked it, and it did what I need better than what I already have, I bought it.  Unless it works better or is more reliable or easier to fix or get parts for, I don't see a reason to change anything, not just change brand.  It is my experience that in any given crowded bar on any given weekend there is only one, possibly two people in there that actually know what you are using, and more often than not they just want to tell you all about their guitars.  So in the end, the brand doesn't mean a thing really.

rct