Player or Inspector?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Biddlin
  • Start date Start date
ninjaking67 said:
Most of my guitars were purchased in the used market and have loads of scratches and dings! They add character!;)
To be total honest, I tinker with my guitars as much as I play them. I definitely wouldn't call myself a "player" but definitely not an Inspector.
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I never bought a used guitar until recently. I needed a bass for a paying job and with some sound bass advice from E.SG I bought an imported Ibanez off Craigslist for $60.00

It's not old, but its had a rough life. I filled some deep gouges with nail polish and clear. Plays good and is quiet, much better than I expected.

It amazes me how beat up guitars get. I gigged with my 1987 Squirecaster since new and no dings, or chips. The paint has been polished through on a few places on the back and a Levi rivet has worn a groove in the spring cover plate, but it still looks new.

I guess because I never had much, everything was cherished...

I still have the Pinewood Derby car my Dad and I made in 1974...

IMG_20170315_25455.jpg IMG_20170315_52975.jpg 20160731_100825.jpg IMG_20170315_2579.jpg
 
When I first saw my Gibson SG, I did not care for the orange stripe on the fretboard, but I wouldn't send it back based on that. The neck looks much better after repeated oiling and lots of playing and from day one, the neck had a good feel.

I had a seemingly endless array of mechanical and electrical problems, but, it was nothing a complete overhaul didn't fix.

There is nothing Gibson inside this guitar anymore and, unfortunately, that's what it took to make it a great instrument.

In retrospect, I would have been better off to have bought a stripped Gibson SG body from Stratosphere and just built it from scratch with the best quality parts...IMG_20160929_1176.jpg IMG_20161019_3631.jpg IMG_20170121_22188.jpg
 
Biddlin said:
It's called Tommy Tourbus syndrome!
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what ever happened to Tommy Tourbus? I vaguely remember a lot of hoopla-oink surrounding
his brief sojourn on ETSG. Did he get himself expunged for being an A-hole? I don't think I
was involved in whatever went down, but returned to the forum before all the smoke had
cleared.

And did it involve nibs? *grins
 
Tommy bought a Custom Shop SG with aged parts, complained about the finish in places no one could see it when the guitar was put together and then announced that he was going to gut and replace the aged parts with new shiny ones. He took offense when some of us pointed out that he could have purchased a new SG standard for about a third of what he was spending and his head exploded. Last I heard he was still whining over at LPF. No player there, I dare say.
 
I might have made a comment like that on the thread. I confess that I just don't get it
when people go on and on. My experience with Gibson has been great, and there are so many fine alternatives: If you can't relate to your overpriced Gibson
you do have a lot of excellent other choices.

Oh right... I don't buy the overpriced models. So maybe my outlay and my expectations are more
down to earth. I don't look at them with a microscope either. I change the strings, lube the nut slots
and bridge saddles, rub down the fingerboard with fret doctor, plug it in and play. Let's keep it that
way. My head hasn't exploded since about 1973 when there was some really good windowpane
in town. wow, man... far out...
 
However, the converse of my opinion above is: When you do make up your mind to lay
out serious money for an instrument you might hope will be the guitar of a lifetime...
Do you have a right to expect perfection? Maybe you do.

For me, laying out a thousand dollars is considered 'serious money." So my head spins when
I read the new Sweetwater catalog, with the lovely pictures of Les Pauls for four and five thousand
...or Martins and Taylors for three to eight thousand dollars. Those had better be good!
But it's all imaginary for someone like me. For me, removing $7500 from my retirement funds
in order to indulge a whim for a fancy grade and shiny overdecorated stage prop is:
INCONCEIVABLE!
Vizini.jpg

I prefer a less expensive piece of equipment. So I don't mind cleaning up a used guitar
correcting its flaws and putting it to work. I do the same thing with an Epiphone or a cheaper
Gibson. Bring it up to my standards, and play it. My standards are doable... reasonable
and possible. I know what's important, and what's not.

But I know that others can afford the cash for a really high class guitar,
and if so, I'm glad that there are finely made alternatives available. I get to drool on my keyboard
or pore over slick and glossy catalog pages, imagining myself onstage with one. That's fun.

So I can't really disagree with a person who spends serious money and wants the instrument to
live up to its exaggerated reputation. There are whole forums for them to boast and thump their
chests. I try not to say snarky things (I really do) when they start finding fault with their fine new guitar.
Because maybe I'm just jealous of someone who's got that much money to blow.

But I don't usually make more than one comment in such threads. And I don't read all of the
entries.
 
You know what I don't get (typed as I'm sitting at the 19th hole clubhouse and bar) is why grown men (other than the very attractive greenskeeper, putting her gear away there are no women out here at this hour) get up at the crack of dawn, to dress like numpties and swat at a wee ball on the ground with sticks, trying to get it in a hole 180 yards away. And then repeat it 17 more times. I have less money into my whole guitar collection than some of these guys have into a couple of clubs and I don't have to dress stupid if I don't want to. I kid you not, I have been listening to a debate over graphite v. titanium re: pitching wedges. Snack bar has the best biscuits and gravy in town, though.
 
Biddlin said:
You know what I don't get (typed as I'm sitting at the 19th hole clubhouse and bar) is why grown men (other than the very attractive greenskeeper, putting her gear away there are no women out here at this hour) get up at the crack of dawn, to dress like numpties and swat at a wee ball on the ground with sticks, trying to get it in a hole 180 yards away. And then repeat it 17 more times. I have less money into my whole guitar collection than some of these guys have into a couple of clubs and I don't have to dress stupid if I don't want to. I kid you not, I have been listening to a debate over graphite v. titanium re: pitching wedges. Snack bar has the best biscuits and gravy in town, though.
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I golfed for many years until age intervened and it just became frustrating. The talk about gear is much like a couple of guitarists sitting in a bar talking gear. The quest for a lower score is iike the quest for tone. What we lack in skill we try to make up for with technology.
 
Biddlin said:
You know what I don't get (typed as I'm sitting at the 19th hole clubhouse and bar) is why grown men (other than the very attractive greenskeeper, putting her gear away there are no women out here at this hour) get up at the crack of dawn, to dress like numpties and swat at a wee ball on the ground with sticks, trying to get it in a hole 180 yards away. And then repeat it 17 more times. I have less money into my whole guitar collection than some of these guys have into a couple of clubs and I don't have to dress stupid if I don't want to. I kid you not, I have been listening to a debate over graphite v. titanium re: pitching wedges. Snack bar has the best biscuits and gravy in town, though.
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I agree, especially when you can go to so many renaissance faires...
 
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You know...

Speaking of golf.

I played tennis for a good couple pf years and never did it really well, though I trained my @$$ off.

At first it bothered me to death. Until one day I realized that it was stupid to feel bad because I sucked at... Driving a ball over a net with a racket.
 
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