Why I Would Rather Gouge My Own Eyes Out Than Play An Ibanez

Hollowaxis · 2009-11-14T23:33:05+00:00

Hmmmm. After much consideration & many years of playing (Mostly Fenders), I've come a simple conclusion. I will never, by my own free will or choice, ch...

Why I Would Rather Gouge My Own Eyes Out Than Play An Ibanez

Sean

Oh great, thanks Wizard, now I'm visualising it too...

inflames

IMO A good guitarist should be able to get an acceptable performance out of even the humblest of guitars

Bravo Bravo Rene

NorioDS

I'm enjoying the new direction of this thread. For me, the long and short of it is, it's not the guitar but the muso.

There is no shortage of metal + jazz players who swear by Fender and no shortage of blues (and again jazz) and rock players who swear by Ibanez. I don't play metal but I enjoy the versatility of an Ibanez. Alan will say the same to me about the versatility of a Fender-like guitar. It's really us, not the style/shape of the instrument.

Heck, as long as we're having fun, who cares what we're playing ?

singemonkey

Keira WitherKay wrote: heheh rene thats a trick question surely ......... if you playing to 25 000 people and you don't have a backup guitar ...you deserve to get your eyes gouged out.......

LOL!

I think this thread is really about super-strats (would the poster have been okay with a Jackson or a Charvel instead? I think not). And it's about the image of guitars. This is not an unimportant thing for musicians. An intriguing image is important to putting people in a frame of mind where they look sympathetically at what you play. You can get people involved quicker if they are predisposed to liking the music because of the image (as long as it's congruent with what you're playing).

A guitar is a very small part of it - but often seems quite big to the guitar player because of how much we like guitars. I'm guessing the poster would just as likely gouge his eyes out before performing in a Bryan Adams T-shirt. Since he's not going to find much evidence for poor quality in Ibanez guitars, it's got to be about the looks.

I think musicians should care about how they present themselves. It shows a respect for their audience. I get irritated watching a Clapton video when he's wearing a hugely oversized T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He looks like he just came from a braai. Different music may require different appearances, but it's about showing that you've put a little effort into it.

When it comes to guitars, in general almost anything goes, but we know that certain forms are associated with certain kinds of music. Concert guitarists don't play guitars with cutaways. Jazz musicians play hollowbodies - referencing the heyday of jazz - most of the time. Blues players mostly play classic electrics - solid bodies, or semi-hollows, referencing the guitars played by the Chicago blues players. Despite all this, you can make almost any guitar your own - think Ted Nugent playing heavy rock on his hollowbody.

But the super-strat, I think, is anathema to some musicians, because it's clearly, visibly designed to be as versatile as possible for technical playing (deep cutaways, versatile pickup configurations, 24, fret low-action necks, Floyd Rose bridges). If your music is against the concept of technical playing (punk rock as an obvious example), a super-strat says the opposite of what your image is trying to convey. Hence, I speculate, the eye-gouging.

NorioDS

Geez excellent post Singe! Nail on the head in so many ways. I personally don't have an issue with under-dressed but Clapton, but get your point ?

Bob-Dubery

Time to recycle some old jokes....

Q: What do you call 20 Ibanez guitars at the bottom of a well
A: A good start

Q: How do you know when an Ibanez is perfectly pitched?
A: It lands right on top of the bonfire.

Q: What's the difference between a regular Ibanez and a baritone?
A: When you throw all the Ibanii on a fire the baritone burns longer.

Renesongs

I think musicians should care about how they present themselves. It shows a respect for their audience. I get irritated watching a Clapton video when he's wearing a hugely oversized T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

One of the big wigs in fashion (I cant recall who exactly) is responsible for Claptons comfortable stage look, the plain cotton shirts baggy shorts and extremely comfortable footwear. It is also a status thing amongst jazzmen to dress more casually as you are supposed be more esteemed by what you sound like than what you look like as opposed to an anonymous aging metal head that insists on trying to stuff his black leather pants with his middle age spread.

Renesongs

For those who would "Rather Gouge My Own Eyes Out Than Play An Ibanez"

RobK

Bob-Dubery

Renesongs wrote:
For those who would "Rather Gouge My Own Eyes Out Than Play An Ibanez"

Since it's EYES plural, that piece of equipment would be surplus to requirements.

A white cane and a guide dog may come in handy though.

Yours pedantically

Bob

Renesongs

I can picture it now - a blind man on a street corner busking with his battery powered amp and what he believes to be a Les Paul except it is an old 80 Ibanez copy of a Les Paul but he doesn't know this because the self mutilation that caused his blindness caused an infection that took away much of his hearing and the ensuing insanity took away his taste in music - yes I hear it now, he is playing strains of Peter Framton's "Show me the way".

Ray

I thought we whupped his ass but looks like he whupped ours.

Heath

This is starting to sound like a cliche blues song , all we need now is a woman to leave and its done

Renesongs

You mean like...

Woke up this morning
My baby left me she's so unkind
T'was early in the evening
But I couldn't tell 'cause I'm totally blind
That no good Ibanez guitar
Made me loose my mind

Heath

Bwhahahahaha , thats brilliant.....

Riaan-Combrink

Renesongs wrote: You mean like...
Woke up this morning
My baby left me she's so unkind
T'was early in the evening
But I couldn't tell 'cause I'm totally blind
That no good Ibanez guitar
Made me loose my mind

Lol x 1000 ?

singemonkey

Renesongs wrote:
I think musicians should care about how they present themselves. It shows a respect for their audience. I get irritated watching a Clapton video when he's wearing a hugely oversized T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
One of the big wigs in fashion (I cant recall who exactly) is responsible for Claptons comfortable stage look, the plain cotton shirts baggy shorts and extremely comfortable footwear. It is also a status thing amongst jazzmen to dress more casually as you are supposed be more esteemed by what you sound like than what you look like as opposed to an anonymous aging metal head that insists on trying to stuff his black leather pants with his middle age spread.

I hear your point. But I never saw a pic of Miles Davis performing dressed like he was at the gym. I fully agree that you need to watch what you wear when you get older (Keith Richards somehow manages to still hip as an old rocker - but then, there's only one Keith Richards). A lot of people do a great job - usually by going towards suits (which even Clapton does a lot of the time).

Svenddw

Back to the whole guitar thing, I always thought cheaper Ibanez’s where good value. A friend of mine bought one brand new for R1500. The feel of the fret board wasn’t too far from my Gibson’s or my Vintage xx series, and it had an excellent sound for metal. However, I’ve never really been overly interested in them, partly because it’s almost impossible to tell them apart esthetically and they usually have these names with twice the letters than the alphabet. Have you ever heard people discussing them? “Oh yes, l love my CZZQQY666dqy custom”. “Well I just bought the ewe4q-CompensatorXXL Pro and it’s fantastic”. No! The only way to convey what model you have is by stating how much you paid for the thing. Secondly all the models I’ve played weren’t very versatile. It seems you have to buy a different model for every type of music you like. Again I won’t be able to tell you what models I’ve played because there’s no way to tell them apart.

As for Fenders, I love telecasters but why do strats still Exist? Even Fender realized that the strat was rubbish and was about to discontinue it and replace it with the Telecaster (which had the same unique tone as the strat but paired with another better pickup to make it more versatile) when a guy by the name of Hendrix took the stage at Woodstock. I think he thought the Stratocaster was rubbish too, because he smashed his to pieces and then proceeded to set it on fire. Unfortunately his entire audience was stoned out of their minds or tripping on acid and thought that was the best thing they ever heard. As a result over the following weeks Fenders Stratocaster sales went through the roof, outdoing all of Fenders other guitars. This makes the Stratocaster a testament to the power of marketing and the danger of drug use. The irony is that those who bought strats to be cool like Hendrix seemingly forgot that to be cool like him required them to smash their new purchase to pieces. Either way the strat became an icon overnight for all the wrong reasons.

So admittedly that does put me off Fenders a bit even though I own a Fender semi electric. But I just can’t stand all these media conditioned kids that want a strat but when you ask them why, they can’t give you a proper answer. Not when from a logical or any point of view other than the way it looks, it’s the telecaster that is the superior guitar. :?

chris77

Hmmm... Wasnt the tele the one being replaced by the more versatile and better designed strat?? Besides, when The voodoo child played his strat at Woodstock it had been in service for longer than a decade and had a well eastablished fan base already. Still, I want a tele so bad I can taste it... And a LP, and Es-335, and a Starcaster, and a Jem, and...

aubs1

Svenddw wrote: As for Fenders, I love telecasters but why do strats still Exist? Even Fender realized that the strat was rubbish and was about to discontinue it and replace it with the Telecaster (which had the same unique tone as the strat but paired with another better pickup to make it more versatile) when a guy by the name of Hendrix took the stage at Woodstock. I think he thought the Stratocaster was rubbish too, because he smashed his to pieces and then proceeded to set it on fire. Unfortunately his entire audience was stoned out of their minds or tripping on acid and thought that was the best thing they ever heard. As a result over the following weeks Fenders Stratocaster sales went through the roof, outdoing all of Fenders other guitars. This makes the Stratocaster a testament to the power of marketing and the danger of drug use. The irony is that those who bought strats to be cool like Hendrix seemingly forgot that to be cool like him required them to smash their new purchase to pieces. Either way the strat became an icon overnight for all the wrong reasons.

? ? ? ???

Svenddw wrote: But I just can’t stand all these media conditioned kids that want a strat but when you ask them why, they can’t give you a proper answer.

And this includes EC, Jeff Back, Dave Gilmour.......etc etc etc etc...???

Svenddw wrote: Not when from a logical or any point of view other than the way it looks, it’s the telecaster that is the superior guitar. :?

??? ??? ???

I give up!!!!! ..........