Does Anybody Actuall Play?

[shartom]

Does anybody actually play their Epiphone or do they spend all their time tearing them apart?

No two people play or sound the same even on the same guitar.

Just curious. Personally, I prefer playing. I do six or seven gigs a month with my stock Epi's. I am somehow managing to get a good sound (at least that is what my listners tell me). No complaints from the group's leader either.

[Bender 4 Life]

Right now, all but one of my electrics(a MIM Tele) are stock....I play much more than I "tinker".

although, I AM concidering opening up a repair/customizing shop (already have 95% of the tools)

if i'm ever able to retire.

heres the main mod to the Tele....you'll see why I "just couldn't resist"

[JefferySmith]

Does anybody actually play their Epiphone or do they spend all their time tearing them apart?

No two people play or sound the same even on the same guitar.

Just curious. Personally' date=' I prefer playing. I do six or seven gigs a month with my stock Epi's. I am somehow managing to get a good sound (at least that is what my listners tell me). No complaints from the group's leader either.

 

[/quote']

We sound like we are tearing them apart? Then why do we keep buying them? I have 10 of them, I play them, and I have yet to make disparaging remarks about anything except the head plate on my AlleyKat.

[The_Sentry]

No, other than tearing my Epiphone apart for fun, I spend most of my spare time watching reruns of Gilligan's Island whilst entertaining fantasies about Mary Anne...

[Just Strum]

I play them, down time for me is usually string change. One reason, I don't do mods, the other is they sound ok to me.

[Just Strum]

No' date=' other than tearing my Epiphone apart for fun, I spend most of my spare time watching reruns of Gilligan's Island whilst entertaining fantasies about Mary Anne...[/quote']

 

I respect a guy that knows his priorities.

[JefferySmith]

Does anybody actually play their Epiphone or do they spend all their time tearing them apart?

No two people play or sound the same even on the same guitar.

Just curious. Personally' date=' I prefer playing. I do six or seven gigs a month with my stock Epi's. I am somehow managing to get a good sound (at least that is what my listners tell me). No complaints from the group's leader either.

 

[/quote']

Okay okay, you got me. I have no idea how to play a guitar. It didn't even occur to me until you wrote this post. How on earth am I ever going to explain to my wife that the living room and bedroom are full of guitars and I don't even know how to tune one no less play one. I tried once, but when I read that the high E is at the bottom, and the low E is at the top, well, I just gave up. That's me in the avatar, during one of my feeble attempts to look like I was playing.

 

Lord, please forgive me.

[charlie brown]

I think we ALL "Play!" How WELL, is another story. Some, I'm quite sure, are awesome players, some are less so, but...

still enjoy it. I wonder, too, as much time as I spend on this forum, if I shouldn't be playing MORE! LOL! But, it's fun to

hear about each other's ideas, HNGD's, and garner some great information, in the process. Even a good "rant" now and

then, is/can be helpful or at least amusing, as well. This forum is much better about staying "loose" and not getting too

uptight, than a lot of others seem to be. So, that's appreciated, as well. But yeah...I think we all PLAY, as well as mod our guitars,

and trash Gibson's pricing policies. LOL! I Still love, their guitars, though...even if their pricing makes me crazy!!!

 

CB

[Nic]

Does anybody actually play their Epiphone or do they spend all their time tearing them apart?

No two people play or sound the same even on the same guitar.

Just curious. Personally' date=' I prefer playing. I do six or seven gigs a month with my stock Epi's. I am somehow managing to get a good sound (at least that is what my listners tell me). No complaints from the group's leader either.

 

[/quote']

 

Epiphones are begging to be modified. Drop a couple really good good pick ups into those stock and EPi's and you'll quite playing and spend all your time bent over a work bench.

[Randy1281734003]

I think about mods but I'm too busy playing, heck I don't even have much time to spend on guitar forums.

[JefferySmith]

The only mods I've done are putting P90s on the Dot and changing my knobs to speed knobs on the black Sheraton and Byrdland. I'd like to modify the headstock of the AlleyKat, but I would probably never play it in public. After all, it is cherry burst [barf!]

[ef_in_fla]

You're supposed to play them?

[poverty]

modding a guitar doesn't mean it's ****, it just means your changing it to what you want.

Epiphones are great for doing that because

A: they are affordable( although the new '08/'09 prices are "iffy")

B: resale does not decrease, as long as the mod is done properly.

C: your not sweating your balls off because you changing the pots or pup's or pickguard in a $2000 guitar.

 

it meets all demands.

[poverty]

FYI...... i just found out that when you type SH@T, it puts in ****!!

i love it!

[Notes_Norton]

I don't play the guitar -- the guitar plays me !!!

 

Notes

[djroge1]

Personally for me it just comes to the point that I sometime just enjoy working on my guitars. I enjoy playing and I've been blessed enough to have more than one guitar so I can take one apart and still have another to play. There just comes a time in life when you do what you love. I've been playing for a lot of years thru different era's of music and I've been burned out from playing - it can become like a job; if you ever played the bar circuit then you may understand. So in down times, why not work on modding one of my guitars? Also it's all about searching for your own personal sound, look, and style.

 

The same could be said of my motorcycle. Why would I want a custom paint job on a perfectly painted bike when I could be riding? It's all part of the simple answer - because I want to and I can.

[Bender 4 Life]

Wait a second...high E at the bottom, low E at the top...

next you'll be telling folks that "up" the neck is towards the floor,

and "down" the neck is towards the ceiling, or...or......shux.

& Whoever said this forum is somewhat "looser" than others, is

absolutely right......everyones friendly.....ideas bounce around freely,

I love it!

[keoki]

OH CRAP ! Now I have to restring

[Bender 4 Life]

OH CRAP ! Now I have to restring

 

Is re-stringing concidered "carving 1 up" or "modding"?

 

might wanna leave it like it is and just play it til' all 6 break. :-

[poverty]

WTF are strings?

[Gashole]

I have to pay to have mods done, because I'm incompetent. I am not incontinent at least.

 

Seriously, I can barely change my strings. In 22 years I still can't get a good winding on the post! It's embarrasing really, but admitting it to you all is like the therapy I can't afford because of G.A.S. It's all to the good. [-(/

 

So on the plus side, I have several guitars; and I'm still playing even if one is in the shop being worked on. And realistically, there isn't much time spent in the shop either.

 

I try for 2 hours a day, 1 on the 3 days a week I work both jobs. And of course, there are the "off" days that happen occasionally too. I really would like to play more. I need to turn my part time job into yet another bar band so I can quit it and kill 2 birds with one stone. Well, no, I'm more of a catch and release kinda guy. So, catch 2 birds with one net and let them go...hmmm? Damn! It *is* just a metaphor...I guess *here *I could say "kill" the birds? Yeah, sounds better that way; so, "kill two birds with one stone."

That's it.

[Notes_Norton]

<...>There just comes a time in life when you do what you love. I've been playing for a lot of years thru different era's of music and I've been burned out from playing - it can become like a job; if you ever played the bar circuit then you may understand. <...>

 

I guess I'm weird. I've never gotten burned out from playing. It is a job' date=' and it [u']is[/u] what I love to do.

 

Instead of saying "I have to go to work today." I say, "I get to go to work today!"

 

A wise man once said, "If you do what you love to do to make your living, you will never work a day in your life." And other than a few "day jobs" I've had, I've never worked a day in my life.

 

Now I must say I get tired of moving the equipment around (I do one-nighters). But I look at it this way. Many people pay big money to a gym so they can lift heavy weights. I have heavy weights I get paid to lift. I call it "speaker-cise"!

 

Actually, I tell my clients that we charge them to move the PA system around and we play for free.

 

I have played in bars (from the tacky to the grand), 5 star hotels, on CBS, NBC, ABC and MTV television, in recording studios, on cruise ships, in concert with major acts of the day, and private parties for as few as 10 people. The only kind of a gig I'm burned out on is wedding receptions.

 

Why wedding receptions?

 

The wedding industry, in order to extract as much money from the parents of the couple to be married have one thing in mind -- to convince the bride that this is going to be the happiest and most important day of her life, and if her wedding isn't more extravagant and more perfect than that of her girlfriends, she will live in shame for the rest of her life branded as a worthless individual. This makes the wedding extremely tense. I saw a bride go ballistic because a bouquet of flowers was placed in the wrong location.

 

Wedding receptions are supposed to be a celebration of a couple getting together and should be fun.

 

On the other hand, the best wedding I ever played, the cake never came, so the father of the bride went to the local grocery store and got a "sheet cake". He also danced with every female in the house between the ages of 7 and 107 and we went overtime 2 hours. The bride and groom visited every table in the hall and personally thanked each person for coming to their party. Everybody had a great time. Unfortunately, these kinds of weddings are rare.

 

So I don't do weddings anymore. The DJs can have them. The only exception is if one of our regular clients hire is for their second wedding or the wedding of one of their children.

 

But I love to go to work. I can't perform for the public enough. It is my second favorite thing to do (I won't tell what is first as this is a family forum).

 

Back on-topic.

 

I've replaced the pickguard, switch cover, and knobs on my Casino and the previous owner replaced the tuners pots and switch. I probably won't make any more mods on the guitar, but of course will fix something if it breaks.

 

My Gibson ES-330 which I've had for decades is stock.

 

I'd like to work on my guitars, but I'd rather play them.

 

However, I do learn a lot from the people posting about their mods in this and other forums in which I visit, and I do appreciate the information they selfishly share with us.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[RSDx]

FYI...... i just found out that when you type SH@T' date=' it puts in ****!!

i love it![/quote'] **** !!! **** !!! **** !!!!

[Sheik Yerbouti]

I think this could be said about most guitars, you tinker, you play, you replace a pup, you play, you replace a pot, you play, you replace a nut, you play.

I don't delve into the heavy stuff, but I am seriously considering a bigsby for my dot studio. It's a great platform to work from.

Sometimes, I just like tinkering on it, listening to some music, getting really focused on that. Personally and this is my opinion only, focusing on a repair works the other side of the brain, while playing molds the creative side. Gotta keep things balanced

[djroge1]

I guess I'm weird. I've never gotten burned out from playing. It is a job, and it is what I love to do.

 

I wouldn't say your weird, I'd say your blessed. I think I burned out because I was playing music that I really didn't like. Add to the fact that I couldn't seem to find people to jam with or take lessons from that could help me get to the next level in my playing - not that I was or am all that great, but I just wasn't meeting them.

 

I think given the opportunity to play music for a living - I might say yes if everything was the right fit for me. Right now I'm doing what I've been called to do.