One of My Favorite Things About Here

[DonP]

I said this along the way here that when I test a guitar that I might buy I play it with out an amp. I have no distractions. I played a Les Paul in a nice amp a few years ago and I bought the amp and left the guitar. With no amp I listen to the guitar only. Fret noise and feel, the weight of the guitar.
If I need to I will plug it in, I end up changing the pickups down the road anyway.

100% with you on this. I'll only plug the guitar in to check that the electronics are all working OK.

 

[Inspector #20]

I'm similar, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, I guess. I want my guitar necks to each feel different! That's part of the fun of swapping guitars for me. I mean, the main thing is the sound difference, but I enjoy the sense of going back and forth between the different neck profiles and feel of certain guitars.

This is what totally wrecked my playing - switching between guitars - and why I have nothing but 24.75" scale guitars.

Most of what I play and enjoy, has some dramatic bends. Take the Hotel California solo for example. There are numerous bends - up to and including step and a half - that must be executed with absolute precision to sound right.

The increased string tension and lower neck radius totally threw me off - so much so that I had to start thinking about the bends, instead of just playing on mental auto pilot.

Now, I can switch between my Gibson SG and my Von Herndon Doublneck with complete seamlessness, because both have the same scale/string tension and all 3 necks share a 12" radius.

When I play a Fender - or other 25.5" guitar, I struggle with the accuracy of my bends, to such an extent, that playing them isn't fun - or fluid for that matter.

Now, some fellows like to put .008's on a Fender scale and I dislike the tone of the smaller gauge strings, not to mention it still creates a totally different feeling guitar.