Have you ever just got "over" your gear?

Chocklit_Thunda

Just as the title says; have you ever just found your self suddenly unimpressed by your gear?
Gear that you've had for a while and it served you well but one day you just wake up and you aren't feeling the same way? I'm talking a drastic change as in one minute you live it, the next you hate it or something along those lines... Kind of like a bad relationship... You have your Tele but you find yourself looking at jazzmasters and les Pauls and other guitars that have had work done (bigsby augmentation surgery)

My story... It happened a few days ago... I picked up my Tele (the homemade one) and jammed the usual riffs with it and for some reason the magic just wasn't there.... I put it down and then tried my Yorktown but that felt fine albeit a little dull (those wax block pickups have to go....) and I thought that maybe I was having the off day and it wasn't the guitars.... So I tested it once again by jamming on my X-1 and I'm just blown away by how good it sounds! It blew both guitars, which are leagues ahead of it in price range, right out the water.... Now I'm wondering if I should sell the Tele and build something else or would I regret it? Right up until now I was madly in love with it.... I guess the honeymoon phase is over? The dilemma is should I sell it with the risk of regretting it later or keep it with the risk of hating and neglecting it....

Anyone else ever experience this? What did you do?

arjunmenon

Not an entirely unfamiliar scenario. To wax a little philosophical, everything has its ups & downs.
This too might be a phase (maybe jaded?).
In my limited experience, no guitar player is able to extract everything a guitar has to offer (unless your name is Eric Johnson).
And most times, i find that it isn't the instrument that annoys me...it's that i've either run out of ideas/things to play or play the same old stuff.

Hang in there.

Oh ya, and don't sell the gear if you're going to regret it.

Psean

Never had it. I've had gear (an amp) that I realised had served its purpose and had to move on though. The closest I've come is selling my Big Muff but that was more because I got an amp with good overdrive and stopped using clean channels - still like Big Muff tones but I fell in love with valve drive.

If I was you, I'd keep the Tele, think what exactly about it isn't "doing it" for you, and if it can't be modded so that it does. Upgrade the Yorkie's pickups as well maybe.

I'd also play them both through a different amp - maybe if both of the good guitars aren't shining because the current amp isn't letting them. Not saying you need another amp, or that you need somethingbetter, just might be worth hearing them through something different

Psean

Arjun Menon wrote: Not an entirely unfamiliar scenario. To wax a little philosophical, everything has its ups & downs.
This too might be a phase (maybe jaded?).
In my limited experience, no guitar player is able to extract everything a guitar has to offer (unless your name is Eric Johnson).
And most times, i find that it isn't the instrument that annoys me...it's that i've either run out of ideas/things to play or play the same old stuff.

Hang in there.

Oh ya, and don't sell the gear if you're going to regret it.

+1
I get "over" my own playing way before I get "over" gear. I know even the fairly simple setup I have can do pretty much everything I need it to and then still lots more. I sometimes get frustrated that I can't take it there. You know: "all this kit and I still sound like shite"...

giggsy

Happens way too often, almost annually ? Haha

I had 18 guitars that I'd collected over a few years, then one day decided to sell them all and start again (quality over quantity...) Been happy with my setup for a while guitar wise, though the collection is suddenly growing with three new additions over the last two weeks. But it also happened with my pedals - was very happy then decided out of the blue to sell them all.

ryanguit

OK my solution is simple. Don't try to like it. Put the Tele in a case and forget about it for at least a week. If you only pick it up in a month, have a set of strings ready. Guaranteed to work if you ever liked it. If 3 months or more pass, sell it. You went through a phase.

Squonk

Agree with Arjun and Psean

I go through this quite often and it's happening to me right now. And it's either a phase or a slight change in musical direction that I find myself in.

Just this weekend I nearly ripped out the speaker in my Cube 30X and planted herbs in it instead.

Psean

ryanguit wrote: OK my solution is simple. Don't try to like it. Put the Tele in a case and forget about it for at least a week. If you only pick it up in a month, have a set of strings ready. Guaranteed to work if you ever liked it. If 3 months or more pass, sell it. You went through a phase.

Have you put new stings on 'em btw?

Bob-Dubery

Surely it's part of playing guitar - maybe more so for electric guitarists who have more to fiddle with. Take just about any player you can think of who has had a multi year career and look at their gear - it changes all the time. Why? Either they have old stuff that craps out and they can't get fixed, or they want to keep on tweaking their sound. In some cases it's not so much "tweak" as completely change. Clapton went from a Telecaster (early Yardbirds) to humbuckers and then to strats (mostly). Knopfler went from strats (actual or clones) to Les Pauls. I don't see Clapton with Marshall stacks anymore.

And there's horses for courses. Jimmy Page and Steve Howe (to name two) tended to have different armouries for live shows and studios.

It happens. Not to everybody, but enough that you shouldn't worry about it. Obviously some players are more able to chase their personal chimera than others (IE they have more money).

Keira-WitherKay

absolutely what bob said..... +1

just spend more time learning more challenging material , you will focus on the playing and not the guitar

babbalute

I have this feeling every time I play in a different venue. You can never get that right sound due to bad acoustics of the place(and most if not all places bands play in have terrible or no acoustics at all) So you are continuously busy adjusting the damn thing to make it sound right from the distance you stand and play. Move back and forth and the sound changes like from black to white with grey in the middle ?
If you get the same feeling when you play at home with the same equipment in the same position you and the amp guitar or other and the sound goes haywire then it is most likely you and not the gear. Of course I assume you use relative new strings, do not have 20 year old valves in the amp or the thing has never been serviced, you didn't redecorate/refurbish your practise area etc.
Also playing in an empty or full of people venue changes the sound big time. Maybe not as much on stage but for sure amongst the public. (playing in a full or empty stadium one can hear the difference very well)

Someone should design a gadget (actually it exists I think but is not commonly used or commercially available) e.g. like a microphone that you place in a certain position. It is linked to your amp and the amp (or some other hardware and software in between) analyses the sound and then automatically adjust your amp to produce a pre-programmed sound. It should be made for a PA system so the techie's job becomes easier if not absolute(who are we going to blame then for bad sound ?) Imagine you can have it adjust to a particular sound for a particular song! Maybe ?,...Yeah,...dream on. If it then still not sound right we can blame the hardware again or the software ?

V8

Keira WitherKay wrote: just spend more time learning more challenging material , you will focus on the playing and not the guitar

+1

Attended a Darryl Andrews (Jazz guitar) workshop on tone last week. He brought along his guitar and amp and bothners had a bunch of guitars and amps for him to demo on as well. Sure, it sounded different as he switched between guitars/amps - but how he played and got the tone out of whatever he was playing didn't change. It really hit home when a few of the audience were invited up to jam with the band, and you really appreciate how much work he'd done to get the sound that he does (Plugged straight in, touch of 'verb on the amp)

Tough to put into black and white : If you took away the instrument/amps & the complexity of what he was playing - He just sounded really smooth, mellow - whether playing leads, comping a rhythm playing fast or playing slow - he remained a super smooth player and his personality came through the music.

If I can manage to get a lit' of that magic in what I play, I'll be a very happy camper!

DaFiz

I've changed my toys so many times over the years. Acoustic guitar to classical.
12 string acoustic to electric guitar with effects pedals. From electric guitar to bass guitar.
One year I'm playing bass guitar in a rock band the next I'm playing rhythm in a blues band.
Then it's the Precision bass, then it's the Telecaster.
Now it's the Takamine, and o.m.g. they even got me on vocals ?

Keep on changin' the toys in the box and you can't get bored ?

Wizard

Seasons change.
Don't throw out the winter stuff because it's summer

DaFiz

Wizard wrote: Seasons change.
Don't throw out the winter stuff because it's summer

So true... While I'm loving my Telecaster I miss the Precison sooo much :'(

Chocklit_Thunda

Thanks for the replies guys ? It's nice to know I'm not completely alone... I can't reply to everyone but some points are similar so the replies count for all of them ?

ryanguit wrote: OK my solution is simple. Don't try to like it. Put the Tele in a case and forget about it for at least a week. If you only pick it up in a month, have a set of strings ready. Guaranteed to work if you ever liked it. If 3 months or more pass, sell it. You went through a phase.

I'd be willing to give this a try ? It seems like it could be a solution

Arjun Menon wrote: This too might be a phase (maybe jaded?).

The thing is, this is coming from a serious dry period. I was so busy with my final projects that I didn't touch a guit in over a month. Perhaps the opposite of jaded then?

Arjun Menon wrote: And most times, i find that it isn't the instrument that annoys me...it's that i've either run out of ideas/things to play or play the same old stuff.

Also the opposite as I've found myself exploring many new styles and artists. I'd been learning a lot of new songs and riffs before the drought and wanted to pick up where I left off.

Psean wrote: If I was you, I'd keep the Tele, think what exactly about it isn't "doing it" for you, and if it can't be modded so that it does. Upgrade the Yorkie's pickups as well maybe.

I'm still trying to fully understand WHY I'm not liking it. At this stage there's just something completely off about it.
I'm in the process of upgrading the Yorktown's pickups. Right now I'm just not sure if I want classic PAF, Slightly hotter or maybe some of those GFS Retrotrons to get me in the Gretschy ballpark without breaking the bank ?

Psean wrote: I'd also play them both through a different amp - maybe if both of the good guitars aren't shining because the current amp isn't letting them. Not saying you need another amp, or that you need somethingbetter, just might be worth hearing them through something different

Right now I've got 3 amps I use. The 10W Cort cheapie I like cranking (the drive is surprisingly good!), the Roland AC90 and then my Ibanez and i wasn't enjoying it through all 3. Plus the Ibby is a SS modelling amp so it has a lot of tonal range and it really works for the other 2. I even have presets made specifically for the Tele that I wasn't enjoying.

Psean wrote: Have you put new stings on 'em btw?

Set 'em up about a month or 2 ago? except the X-1... Those strings are about 2 years old and filled with mojo ?

Squonk wrote: Just this weekend I nearly ripped out the speaker in my Cube 30X and planted herbs in it instead.

Is there ANYTHING the Cube can't do??? ? ? ?

Giggsy wrote: I had 18 guitars that I'd collected over a few years, then one day decided to sell them all and start again (quality over quantity...)

I have a relatively small collection of gear and haven't actually sold anything (fully assembled ? ). I haven't gotten to the "great gear clearance" stage yet... I was relatively happy with my setup. 3 vastly different guitars, fuzz, wah, a modeling amp and some acoustics. It covers a lot of sonic ground ?

X-rated Bob wrote: Surely it's part of playing guitar...
Either they have old stuff that craps out and they can't get fixed, or they want to keep on tweaking their sound. In some cases it's not so much "tweak" as completely change. Clapton... Knopfler... Jimmy Page...Steve Howe...

It happens...

I agree. I think this may be in part due to being bitten by the building bug. I find myself more interested in building different styles of guitars than buying them... My stuff is much newer seeing as my career is under a 5 years but I don't want to completely change my sound (that I know of). In fact, a bright plucky single coil guitar sound is actually the sonic direction I've been moving toward. Lots of local bands like Desmond and the Tutus, The Plastics, Al Bairre, Shortstraw and The December Streets.

babbalute wrote: I have this feeling every time I play in a different venue. You can never get that right sound due to bad acoustics of the place(and most if not all places bands play in have terrible or no acoustics at all) So you are continuously busy adjusting the damn thing to make it sound right from the distance you stand and play. Move back and forth and the sound changes like from black to white with grey in the middle ?
If you get the same feeling when you play at home with the same equipment in the same position you and the amp guitar or other and the sound goes haywire then it is most likely you and not the gear. Of course I assume you use relative new strings, do not have 20 year old valves in the amp or the thing has never been serviced, you didn't redecorate/refurbish your practise area etc.

I don't really play any venues as I don't perform at the moment. I may start in the not too distant future, but at the moment, I'm a bedroom rockstar. I play at home in the same room for the past 2 years on a chair with wheels so I move around a lot within the room ? The amp is SS, the strings are fresh and the room is the same... I think I'm the problem :-\

V8 wrote:
Keira WitherKay wrote: just spend more time learning more challenging material , you will focus on the playing and not the guitar
...Sure, it sounded different as he switched between guitars/amps - but how he played and got the tone out of whatever he was playing didn't change.
If I can manage to get a lit' of that magic in what I play, I'll be a very happy camper!

I've never been too fussed about which guitar I was playing though. I just picked one up and played the same stuff on it regardless of whether it was an ultra slim superstrat or a full bodied, 12 string dreadnought. So in part I think I do focus more on the playing than the guitar. I like to think that my technique and overall tone remains fairly constant. I picked up the Tele and played it exactly as I would any other guitar... I'm still at a loss as to why i had this sudden change but I know it's there...

Wizard wrote: Don't throw out the winter stuff because it's summer

This makes sense.
I think the general consensus is for me not to sell yet ? I think I'm gonna hold on to it and see if it gets better.

arjunmenon

Chocklit_Thunda wrote:
Wizard wrote: Don't throw out the winter stuff because it's summer
This makes sense.
I think the general consensus is for me not to sell yet ? I think I'm gonna hold on to it and see if it gets better.

Good call :goodtimes:

Bob-Dubery

Chocklit_Thunda wrote:
X-rated Bob wrote: Surely it's part of playing guitar...
Either they have old stuff that craps out and they can't get fixed, or they want to keep on tweaking their sound. In some cases it's not so much "tweak" as completely change. Clapton... Knopfler... Jimmy Page...Steve Howe...

It happens...
I agree. I think this may be in part due to being bitten by the building bug. I find myself more interested in building different styles of guitars than buying them... My stuff is much newer seeing as my career is under a 5 years but I don't want to completely change my sound (that I know of). In fact, a bright plucky single coil guitar sound is actually the sonic direction I've been moving toward. Lots of local bands like Desmond and the Tutus, The Plastics, Al Bairre, Shortstraw and The December Streets.

Sure. Some guys seem to overhaul their sound, others seem to be constantly tweaking.

Guys like Richard Thompson or Tom Verlaine are closer to your situation. They figured out the broad strokes of what they wanted early on, but they keep on tweaking. Thompson for years has been playing Fenders or Fender-ish guitars, through Fender-ish amps and usually with some sort of modulation effect, but the specifics keep on changing. Since I saw him in 2007 he has a whole different rig - different amp, different effects (along the same lines, but not THE SAME), different main guitar (again, always along similar lines, but not THE SAME), different alternative guitars that he uses as a variant to the main axe for specific numbers. In the last four years he's put at least five new (to him) electrics on stage and changed his stage amp at least twice. He keeps on changing stuff whilst staying within a sonic ballpark. For a while he used hotter pickups. Then he reduced his touring outfit down to a power trio and at that point he started using more overdrive (and having two such pedals on his board) and one of those octave thingies - presumably to make a bigger sound to compensate for the loss of other instrumental colour. He's still recognisably himself, but not quite the same.

Point is that often the set of gear that is used is not constant, and you shouldn't be that surprised if you find yourself changing things.

Chocklit_Thunda

Thanks Bob ? I think this is more or less where I'm at. Between wanting to change the pickups on the Yorktown and wanting something more from the Tele, I'm probably just in that adjustment phase and don't fully realise it or what I actually want to change....