Tiny Tim was NOT cool... he was a freak. Maybe a lovable freak, but still...
Hearing him sing always made me want to reach for a baseball bat. And I am a
man of peace. A paragon of tolerance and the open mind.
Also, I am a switch hitter, like many of my friends and colleagues.
I play acoustic and electric and bass. My early years were spent on acoustic,
but the first guitar I bought with my own money was a Japan made ES-335 copy.
If you don't have enough money to afford both a guitar and an amp, a hollow body
electric gives you something to practice with until (maybe) you can save up more.
You can dream.
I was a student then, working for $1.25 an hour. A 1966 Gibson SG would have cost about
$330.00 new then, and that was way beyond my means. I needed all my money for school.
A used Gibson SG would have cost probably $250 in a pawn shop, but even that was so far
beyond what I could make. A Fender Deluxe amp from those days would have cost a couple
hundred too. So acoustic was what I played, because I needed to play.
Here I am, fifty years later, still gigging. My acoustic guitars have served me well, and entertained people at
literally thousands of gigs. Being able to play both acoustic and bass helped me get started, as did being able
to sing harmony, and later to sing lead. The first good electric guitar I ever bought was a 2007 Gibson SG special.
It was my gift to myself for reaching sixty in 2008. I never believed I'd get this old. Electric was always my first love,
but the acoustic and the bass get the job done and pay the bills. Go figure.
G.A.S. does tend to affect me, so I now have a fine collection of ten interesting guitars, each of which has its own
unique tone. I have worked the electrics into my music, so that I often will have a work station like the
one above. But if we have to travel light, or play as part of a program that requires quick changeovers
between groups, I can do with just one acoustic and one bass, and one amp. I don't tend to think of one
guitar or type of guitar as being better than another, they are all different... and they are all useful in one
way or another. It depends on the song, and what it needs.
I think each of these guys is laughing at the other...
