Your Go To Guitar

Leedspool

Leedspool

Well-Known Member
Country flag
So I have been playing my Variax 700 for nearly 6 months now and I am beginning to think it’s the only guitar I can play. I have a Gibson Les Paul J and several other guitars including a fender Strat, a Godin and a 335 copy.

I have concentrated on paying the 700 to get ready for recent gig and can say I am reasonably confident play that the guitar.

So thinking I am now a guitar wizard Lol :) I picked up the Gibson and then the fender and realized 50% of my playing ability and from the fact that the 700 is easy to play where as all my other guitars make my life difficult. I really wanted it to work with the Gibson but it’s just not working, everything I try on it is just too difficult except for AC/DC A-D chords.

So what is it about the Variax I ask myself that makes it so playable. Well....It’s just a really well-made guitar made an a Japanese factory using decent quality parts. And I think I am now stuck with this guitar for a long time to come01C5FAF5-EB6F-4CBA-AA2B-988765F44D53.jpegAE9F3C35-80A0-4599-9882-49C26C8ED38A.jpeg01C5FAF5-EB6F-4CBA-AA2B-988765F44D53.jpeg

So I was wondering what guitar is it you always pick up and play and no matter what it always sounds great.
 
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I only possess 4 guitars. All four are working guitars I use to make a living. No wall hangers or flippers.

For me, the greatest "comfort factor" in a guitar is neck profile and scale length. I have come to feel very comfortable with a Les Paul. I have only 3 and all have identical setup and electronics.

My Von Herndon Double Neck has the same neck profile and scale as my Les Paul's and it feels the same even with a bigger body.

When I try to play a Stratocaster, it feels foreign and I find myself fumbling with controls and not playing solos with the same fluidity I do on my Les Paul's.

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My go-to is this:

full


It's a 2016 Les Paul Tradtional Plaintop from the Sweetwater special run without weight relief. I enjoy all of my guitars but this is the one I'd keep if it came down to only one. Everything about it is perfect.
 
This one still gets a fair amount of use, too. I paid a guy $600 for it when it was 6 months old. He thought it was garbage because he couldn't get it to stay in tune. The problem was, he didn't know how to string a guitar properly. I gave him the cash and never told him what he was doing wrong....20190615_110758.jpg
 
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mcblink said:
This one still gets a fair amount of use, too. I paid a guy $600 for it when it was 6 months old. He thought it was garbage because he couldn't get it to stay in tune. The problem was, he didn't know how to string a guitar properly. I gave him the cash and never told him what he was doing wrong...
Click to expand...

haha... isn't that often the case? I spent most of my life playing used guitars,
and the knack of buying a used one is to figure out why the guy sold it, and
put that right.

And that is sometimes very easy. Some guitarists refuse to learn anything,
and blame their equipment for their problems. We see posts like that sometimes.
The value of these things is in the music they make. Rock on.
 
Col Mustard said:
haha... isn't that often the case? I spent most of my life playing used guitars,
and the knack of buying a used one is to figure out why the guy sold it, and
put that right.

And that is sometimes very easy. Some guitarists refuse to learn anything,
and blame their equipment for their problems. We see posts like that sometimes.
The value of these things is in the music they make. Rock on.
Click to expand...
For a very very short time, I actually felt bad about it....like I had stolen something from the guy. Of course, he was happy with the deal and so was I, but I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit guilty about it, especially after I realized that he just didn't know what he was doing.

Then I got it home and restrung it and played it, and all that went away lol
 
Leedspool said:
I picked up the Gibson and then the fender and realized 50% of my playing ability and from the fact that the 700 is easy to play where as all my other guitars make my life difficult. I really wanted it to work with the Gibson but it’s just not working, everything I try on it is just too difficult except for AC/DC A-D chords.

So what is it about the Variax I ask myself that makes it so playable.
Click to expand...

I recommend you take your Gibson to the best luthier you can find and/or afford
and get it professionally set up. There is no reason that a Variax should be easier
to play than your Gibson, except setup. Setup is crucial. Many of us feel that we
can do our own setup work, but when one guitar outshines another one in any
dramatic way, it's bound to be setup IMHO.

Some players will claim it's the neck shape, or the weight, or the scale length,
or some other silly thing. But I believe that any decent guitar has the potential
of being easy to play. That's why luthiers can support themselves. I usually can
keep my guitars in shape once I've paid my luthier to get them there.

IF this makes a difference, and your Gibson seems a lot easier to play
and becomes a companion to the Variax, then I recommend you take your
Fender in for the same treatment. Why not have three Gotoh guitars, instead
of just one?
 
My Gotoh guitar: (of the week)SPRING GULCH 2018@100.jpg
It's a 2018 Gibson J-45 AG...
This one was new in my hands just before Gibson declared bankruptcy last year.
It has worked its way into my heart and soul, and been from Connecticut to West
Nowhere, Wisconsin, and from Saulte Ste. Marie, Mi to Surfside Tx last year.

I'm off the road now, with my new career as care giver to a loved one,
but this Gibbie is coming with me where ever we go.

I'm a confirmed guitar slut, I confess... so do I have to pick just one
gotoh guitar? I've been selling everything, and wrangling in my soul
about which of my guitars to let go of. I do have too many, I confess
that too. Can't I have several gotoh guitars?
four electrics@100.jpg
Each of these has been set up perfectly, and I've been playing them all,
trying to decide which to sell off. But I like them all. The Queen of my music
room is that faded SG special at right. I always come back to that one,
and she always makes my music sound better. The acoustic above is that
way too. For me, Gibsons are like that.
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Being a guitar slut, I can't give myself to just one...
I have to make music with this one today, and that one tomorrow...
and another one tomorrow night.
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lucky me, having all these to choose from, is it any wonder
if I can't settle down with just one...
 

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Col Mustard said:
I recommend you take your Gibson to the best luthier you can find and/or afford
and get it professionally set up. There is no reason that a Variax should be easier
to play than your Gibson, except setup. Setup is crucial. Many of us feel that we
can do our own setup work, but when one guitar outshines another one in any
dramatic way, it's bound to be setup IMHO.

Some players will claim it's the neck shape, or the weight, or the scale length,
or some other silly thing. But I believe that any decent guitar has the potential
of being easy to play. That's why luthiers can support themselves. I usually can
keep my guitars in shape once I've paid my luthier to get them there.

IF this makes a difference, and your Gibson seems a lot easier to play
and becomes a companion to the Variax, then I recommend you take your
Fender in for the same treatment. Why not have three Gotoh guitars, instead
of just one?
Click to expand...

Some guitars are just more comfortable in the hands and easier to play than others. This may be due to setup and adjustment, but there are also a number of physical things at work here when comparing Gibson & fender guitars and most people miss them completely.

I do not have experience with the Variax, so i will refrain from speculation. However, between a Gibson and a Fender, I will tell you what I experience personally.

The frets are closer together and the string spacing is narrower on my Gibson's than on a Fender and it's a difference I notice immediately. The string tension on a Gibson (24.75" scale) will always be lower than on a 25.0" or 25.5" scale guitar at the same tuning. fretting and bending strings requires less physical effort on a Gibson. The flatter neck radius on the Gibson also feels much more comfortable to my hands, as does the thicker neck profiles.

(For the record - my Fake 59 Les Paul and my Fake Les Paul Custom all share Identical dimensions to my 'real' 2016 Gibson Les Paul 50's Tribute)

The result??? I can play faster and with greater fluidity on my Les Paul's and play longer with less fatigue, despite the Les Paul's being heavier than the Stratocasters.

A professional setup isn't a bad idea, but it may not make an uncomfortable guitar more comfortable...FWIW
 
mcblink said:
For a very very short time, I actually felt bad about it....like I had stolen something from the guy. Of course, he was happy with the deal and so was I, but ...

Then I got it home and restrung it and played it, and all that went away lol
Click to expand...

If you bought a fine vintage '59 Gibson Les Paul from a poor widow whose
husband died suddenly and she didn't know what to do with his guitar(s)
and just wanted someone to take it away because every time she looked at
it she started crying all over again, and you offered her $600 and she
thought that was generous... and thanked you profusely...

Then you ought to feel bad. But if you gave a guy $600 for a guitar he
thought was garbage, then he ought to be happy with the deal, and you
should not worry too much.
 
Robert Herndon said:
I only possess 4 guitars. All four are working guitars I use to make a living. No wall hangers or flippers.

For me, the greatest "comfort factor" in a guitar is neck profile and scale length. I have come to feel very comfortable with a Les Paul. I have only 3 and all have identical setup and electronics.

My Von Herndon Double Neck has the same neck profile and scale as my Les Paul's and it feels the same even with a bigger body.

When I try to play a Stratocaster, it feels foreign and I find myself fumbling with controls and not playing solos with the same fluidity I do on my Les Paul's.

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Not to pick.....but I only se one actual Les Paul...
I do see two more Faux Pauls though. ;)
If that’s what floats your boat...own it.
:flame:
 
Thatbastarddon said:
Not to pick.....but I only se one actual Les Paul...
I do see two more Faux Pauls though. ;)
If that’s what floats your boat...own it.
Click to expand...

Yes. One 'real' Gibson Les Paul and two Faux Paul's with identical physical dimensions to the genuine Gibson. All three are setup to identical specs and all 3 are indistinguishable on a recording, despite the Gibson having a PCB and 498T/496R and the Faux Paul's having $20.00 take-out Epiphone Hb8n/Hb6n (from Stratosphere) and regular wire harnesses.

The Double Neck is the only one that sounds different, most likely due to the placement of the bridge pickup...
 
A few interesting comments above thanks guys

I had an small issue with the Variax when I first bought it used in that it had fairly light fret wear/grooves and I took it to my luthier who leveled and polished the frets then set up the guitar for me. However the action wasn’t low enough for me so I tweaked it a little. But I guess that the fret work made a difference.

The frets on my Gibson are bigger, when I press too hard it goes outa tune. I think I needs to have it looked at before I give up on it, maybe a fret level and set up
 
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