Losing my religion

Wormwood · 2013-03-05T14:19:24+00:00

my first guitar was a Hondo, a black and white strat copy with a birds eye maple neck. I learned how to play electric guitar on it (this is important, acoustic is another animal entirely with its own skills and feel) , I learned about bands, fans, how irritating a G string is and ( thanks to the rather wild interpretation of the fender headstock, what it was like to drive your guitar forcefully into your bassists ribs. I received a lot of flack for having a HONDA from my drummer, but it was imperative we keep him (also he was a natural musician and a pianist who would sight read Handel for fun, like you and I would a book and at the same time have 4 girlfriends at once...drummers). So along with the 1 castle quart and a packet of camel filters every practice it was tolerated...unlike the tone deaf bassist. During my time at "Natal Tecknikon light jazz fool around club" it served me well and all I could dream of to replace it was a MIA black strat. When it my grandmother gave me some money , however I bought a bike, as I had started to jog from near Entabeni hospital to City campus every morning cause I was always late for the bus and it was getting a bit much. Anyway I had to sell that guitar to " defray expenses" but that is besides the point. When I hit Dubai, the 1st thing I bought was a mattress and right next door, another Hondo strat, black, twisted maple neck, with a sticker that repeated ALICE MACHINE GUN ELEPHANT on it from black to grey. clearly Japanese and apparently a relatively famous band. this guitar sucked BALLS. During this time I dreamed of a Gibson Les Paul. ( actually I always had, but they were a thing of legend and myth, purchase wise). They were played by my heroes and I dreamed of a particular sound that the strat wouldn't provide no matter how close. Not long after that I saw an advert: Gbson les paul studio, SD jeff beck and '59, spergel tuners, strap locks and so on. Im not going to go into how weird the guy was that sold it to me, or how incredibly Tatooine his flats were, how I almost died getting back or how difficult it was to find or how he hounded me for 6 months to join his band who's lyrics dealt specifically with his incredible lust for Asian women. Point is I had a freaking les paul. And i was dissapointed. I mean the quality was unmistakable, the sound was piano like (unlpugged) this was clearly something ina different league but it seemed to do a particular sound and it was dark. where was the glass? why do i have to play on the bridge all the time, where are those harmonics? fast track to recently: where I bought a Russian Big Muff. It is the sound i have been looking for forever. The earliest album i listened to was Animals for bog sakes, then cream and so on. It is easily the most transparent distortion ever and brings the growl i thought only achievable with humbuckers and mahogany. So what do i do now. Clearly im regretting not buying the Eric Clapton Signature I saw on Dubizzle ( Dubai gumtree) for the same price. Hell even financially they command oodles of moolah more than my studio in south africa. so that i sout of the picture ( seriously i was looking at the equivalent of 12 grand for a near to new one). Im writing this so that people can understand that a Gibson, despite it marketing and mistique, might not be the sound you were chasing adn also perhaps that in this ever tightening funnel of today's economic times, perhaps it is maybe even ethically responsible that we reduce our wants into needs and have only one of a particular thing, its best to really do your research, physically before an emotionally driven purchase. Maybe another reason im writing this is that perhaps there is someone out there who has made a similar but opposide mistake and woudl like to perhaps entertain the notion of a trade. Im not sure yet. What do you guys think. it is the ever strat vs les paul debate. I was pretty sure where I lay, but now?

BMU

Hi Big G. It's not quite worth another thread, so just shortly: It was just an impulse buy PRS SE Custom 24. Fantastic guitar, great value. Astonishing, really, esp. for the price. Just not something I'll ever play. But then I guess it was worth finding that out. So the purchase was a failed experiment, not the guitar.

I made an NGD thread when I bought it:
http://www.guitarforum.co.za/your-gear/ngd-prs-se-custom-24/

I see I didn't embarrass myself with too much enthusiastic gushing, I pretty much knew it was likely to be a failed experiment.

chrisbark

Wormwood wrote With regard to Ibanez.. and I really mean no offence here, but they remind me of something a wizard might play..
Theyre like the anthropomorphisation of a doff '80s big hair chick with neon green leg warmers and leopard spandex.

None taken, although Wizard might not be so forgiving 8)

I thought this post was all about how perception often differers from reality ?
Brand loyalty only benefits manufacturers, not consumers and methinks you are making the same mistake writing off Ibanez that you made buying a Les Paul without playing it first.
Yes they make shred machines with funny names, but they make a whole bunch of different guitars for different players, and a good guitar is a good guitar.

Who knows maybe a JS or an artcore will give you the sound you have been dreaming about.

Wormwood

Those certainly are pretty.

As a matter of course, I googled "wizard playing guitar" and all I got was a pic of Sauroman playing a Les Paul Custom ???

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