Familiarity

[Rocky4]

Can you pick up any guitar and play it well? My guitars feel so comfortable, so easy to play. When I go to the local guitar dealer and pick one up, it feels so awkward. The only exception was my Special that felt good from the get-go. I almost dread trying new things out at the store because I can't get a good feel for anything. I wonder if it's a factory set up thing. I like Super Slinkys and low, low action

[milod]

It depends, as you suggested, on the setup and strings. I'm a "low action, light string" guy ever since I started on a classical some weeks ago. <grin>

 

In another thread I noted how I was not physically capable of playing Wildwood Flower on Mother Maybelle's - an the lovely little lady did it effortlessly on those heavy strings.

 

I don't particularly care for Fender necks or "fat" necks or string spacing less than the "Gibson standard."

 

Also, I think different guitars almost force different technique and technical concepts on you. That's not good or bad, just how one is going to be guided to an extent by the shape and feel of the instrument.

 

m

[charlie brown]

Well (for me) some guitar necks feel better, initially, but I can get used to almost any

neck, within minutes, seemingly. Heavy gauage strings, are another thing, entirely...

I cannot (for some reason) get used to, or even like to play heavy guage acoustic

strings...no matter how I try to "like" them...I Just Don't!! Consequently, my acoustic

playing is a bit lax, to say the least. I LOVE acoustic guitar, and it's music...don't get

me wrong, but I guess I haven't done it enough, to feel comfortable. Heck, I'm still

attempting to reconnect with my "electic" guitars...after a 30 year hiatus! Whew!! ;>b

 

CB

[cwness]

I used to only like certain set ups light and low. Back about 30 years ago a

friend could pick up any guitar and play it like he'd been playing it for years.

I asked him and he said he played his acoustic like it was an electric. I tried it and

after getting use to the acoustic it now makes now difference. I feel the difference

but still pretty much play any guitar. That said I do know what I like in a guitar

and I'm pretty fussy when it comes to buying one. Just because you can play any

type of set up doesn't mean you have too.

 

CW

[Tim Plains]

I can never get use to Fender C-shaped necks.

[FirstMeasure]

I recently got my old 88 Strat up and running. It's been my main guitar since I was 17, but I was without it for the last 4 years or so. After that amount of time, I thought my new strat and Nighthawk would be just a familliar, but no way.

 

My old 88 felt like I had nothing in my hand, it was as if it was my fingertips. Absolutely effortless navigation of the fretboard. Gigged with it last weekend and I really felt like my Old Self. Maybe it's the comfort of a familiar old friend, or that thing is haunted (I'm sure the super thin neck has something to do with it. That Modern C shape is a little clumbsy). Either way it adds up Mojo!

 

I still love my other guitars, and my Nighthawk is nearing that level of familiarity, but there's nothing like really knowing your neck.

[Riffster]

All new Gibsons to me are hard to play when new, when I try a guitar more than anything I "feel" the neck to get an idea of the shape. I can't play well with one of my own guitars much less one with an unbroken in neck.

 

The neck on my Casino is too thin, I cannot get used to it hence is my least played guitar. B7 chord? give me a minute.

[DAS44]

I can always feel a difference but I find it takes me only minutes to adjust to the neck.

[MojoRedFoot]

It's like having sex using someone else's d!ck. I know what you mean. I have been searching at least 7 years for another Strat Plus that feels as good as mine and the search continues. I have had my hands on only 5 but they just did not feel right.

[Shnate McDuanus]

It's like having sex using someone else's d!ck.

 

I've never heard an analogy like that.

 

But I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes it's hard to adjust to a different neck.

[MojoRedFoot]

I've never heard an analogy like that.

 

But I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes it's hard to adjust to a different neck.

Feel free to use it whenever applicable.

I too am super picky about necks. I'll inspect it for quite a while before I commit.

[milod]

To me different necks have the disadvantage of kinda forcing a different kind of technique - and they have the advantage of kinda forcing a different kind of technque.

 

But strings and action are to me the major difference between being comfortable or not with a given instrument, far more than even neck shape. Another set of factors for me - and a reason I don't care for Fenders - are fretboard radius and nut width. I like a relatively wide nut width - I'd really like something just under 1.75 - and an almost flat fingerboard.

 

The neck shape... I've gotten by with stuff ranging from about half a baseball bat to reeeally flat on the back. Some, I swear, are more like a "V" on the back. But it's more to me about the nut width, string height, string tension, and fingerboard.

 

Those heavy strings? I swear I have no idea how Maybelle Carter could play those things. They were the closest to heavy piano wire bass strings I've ever seen. OTOH, the old "Silk 'n' Steel" were too light, even on a 12-string and especially if used with any kind of on-guitar pickup.

 

m

[Silenced Fred]

It's like having sex using someone else's d!ck. I know what you mean. I have been searching at least 7 years for another Strat Plus that feels as good as mine and the search continues. I have had my hands on only 5 but they just did not feel right.

 

Rephrase that last sentence please......

 

I don't find it too hard to adapt to a different neck, unless it is an extreme, either really thin, or really thick.

 

I just play, I have no finesse, I beat the piss out of the guitar when I play, I don't have a soft touch, I just bang stuff out

[Rocky4]

Does the curved top of a Les Paul throw anybody off?

[MojoRedFoot]

 

Rephrase that last sentence please......

 

I don't find it too hard to adapt to a different neck' date=' unless it is an extreme, either really thin, or really thick.

 

I just play, I have no finesse, I beat the piss out of the guitar when I play, I don't have a soft touch, I just bang stuff out[/quote']

 

I tried 5 Strat Pluses....

[duane v]

I have trouble with Fender necks and fret-boards for some reason.

 

I also despise fret-boards with low fat frets. (Norlin Les Paul Customs)

 

I have major issues with lacquered fret-boards.

 

Floyd Rose trems are a PIA for me because I have a heavy picking hand, and it takes the guitar out of tune.

 

I have found that the lower priced Gibson's (MM, LPJ, SG Faded) have almost the perfect fret and fret-board set-ups in which my fingers feel very comfortable with.

[Rocky4]

I have trouble with Fender necks and fret-boards for some reason.

 

 

I have found that the lower priced Gibson's (MM' date=' LPJ, SG Faded) have almost the perfect fret and fret-board set-ups in which my fingers feel very comfortable with.[/quote']

 

I used to have a 70s Tele that sounded fantastic, but was an absolute battle to play. I recently bought a Tele neck from eBay for my Warmoth Tele that very easy to play.

 

My 06 Faded Special is a lower priced Gibson that is a breeze to play.

[charlie brown]

Well, I'll certainly go along with the "Faded" double cut special, I have, having a great neck!

It's a breeze to play! I did have the frets dressed (you know some of Gibson's fret work...;>:-,

but otherwise, it's "Stock!"

 

CB

[saturn]

It sometimes takes me awhile to get used to something different. But, given enough time, I can usually adjust to almost anything. That actually expands beyong guitar references. :-

[deepblue]

I can never get use to Fender C-shaped necks.

 

The C-shapes werent so bad, it was the U-shapes from the early '70's that

gave me hand cramps.

[cwness]

Once you got it in your mind that you can't play a certain neck size, string

size, or even a guitar your going to have trouble with it. I try not to fall

into the rut. I just think of it as a different playing guitar and adjust.

 

CW

[Hector Arcadius]

The only Fender that I felt comfortable with,within minutes, it was that Eric Clapton signature, with that V-shaped neck that everyone else seems to think is ''difficult''. When it comes to Gibbies and Epis, they all feel great and friendly to me!

 

And that Japanese designs (ESP / Ibanez) are also very nice, built mainly for speed and I seem to adjust to them, more or less...

[milod]

Actually I'd go further than to say that some different necks are a matter of "a different guitar."

 

I almost consider them a different instrument entirely. It's easier for me to switch to a banjo or mandolin than to a standard sort of Fender neck, for example.

 

I find that I end up playing an almost entirely different "style" of technique on a Fender. On most guitars, from classicals into electrics, it's not that big a deal and little difference in how I play as long as there's a relatively wide nut and relatively flat fingerboard...

 

m