Show US the Guitar that Speaks to You...

Mr Grumpy

Mr Grumpy

Ambassador of Comings and Goings
Country flag
...& tell the story.

You lot are better players and more experienced than me, so I'm feeling this special thing for the first time - share your first experience!

I've been playing for over 30 years and had between 20-30 guitars, many I've liked a lot, but none 'spoke to me'; I almost felt this was a cliched idea that didn't really exist. But then:

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&, she's almost like a kind teacher egging me along to play more and improve. My guitar playing experience is now tangibly different.

What's your first experience?
 

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Nice story and guitar, Mr. Grumpy. Glad you found your "Number One....:)

I grew up in a recording studio, so I was literally surrounded by music and guitars. As a kid, I remember hanging out at Buck Owens Studio in Bakersfield and watching Roy Nichols and Terry Christofferson, who were always playing Telecasters, but I was drawn to Gibson's.

Then I saw Jimmy Page playing a double neck on TV and I was just mesmerized by it. To me, it was like seeing someone who had tamed a tiger. And the sound of the 12 string was just amazing.

Then, around 1976, I saw Don Felder playing one. I think what grabbed me so hard about Don was that he was dressed like me - jeans and a flannel shirt - I mean, i was just a farm kid who got teased at school for his clothes and this guy suddenly made me feel good about my farm wear....not to mention his phenomenal playing.

Double Necks were always a huge fascination for me and it was over 30 years before I ever got to actually pick one up in person. It was just a few moments of strumming, but it only added fuel to the flame.

For almost 30 years, I played a MIK Squirecaster because it worked and it paid the bills, but I always wanted something more.

I looked at quite a few Gibson double necks over the past year or so and i was shocked to see such a wide variation in neck profiles. A brand new 2017 EDS-1275 i saw last year at Gibson's showroom in Beverly Hills had a reasonable $7,500.00 price tag, but the six string side had that super-thin, 'slim taper' neck that I just don't find comfortable.

There was a Jimmy Page signature EDS-1275 there too, and it had a very nice, 50's style rounded profile neck, but the $15,000.00 price tag just wasn't reasonable in my mind.

I did look at a nice Epiphone G-1275, and while very reasonably priced, I just did not want a Made in China guitar. Not that there is anything wrong with Epiphone, but I wanted something American made, like the old Gibson's I grew up playing in the studio.

So, last year, I started doing research. I first got in touch with Simon Biggs from Gibson's Artist Relations Program and then ended up talking to the Custom Shop at Gibson. While very polite, it was also very clear that Gibson had no interest in building a one-off EDS-1275 with all sorts of custom dimensions.

Next, I called B.Hefner in Whittier, California, who had been supplying me with bodies, necks and doing great finish work for me. This turned out to be the open door I had been looking for.

Through a mixture of custom made parts and some sub-contracted work, I was able to have the double neck of my dreams. Everything I had learned over the years about guitars went into this project.

Experimental Tongue and Groove neck joints, a thicker, slightly larger body, huge neck profiles with twin volutes, thicker headstocks, 13 degree headstock angle on the 12 string side - 10 degree headstock angle on the 6 string side, ebony boards, hand-carved MOP truss rod covers, hand selected (heavily marbled) MOP inlays, my name on the headstocks in MOP and a super hard catalyzed polyurethane finish that looks dripping wet....literally every aspect of this guitar is custom in some regard.

I put almost 1/2 pound of copper tape in this guitar, shielding even the wire routes between the cavities. It is absolutely impervious to RFI/EFI.

To play it is just an amazing experience. It has this incredible resonance - as if its filled with angry hornets - and it is nearly as loud as an acoustic guitar unplugged.

It has been not only my single-most satisfying guitar experience, but it is also a most incredibly versatile guitar.

Despite its weight (11 pounds) and its tendency to neck dive, I still used it as a main guitar - with no backup - and it has proven itself to be reliable.

I've spent hours on end practicing while walking around with this beast, just to bond and get comfortable with it. I learned to use my right elbow to keep the body from rolling upwards while playing rhythym and I roll the necks vertical for soloing.

I am very happy with both my 2016 Gibson SG T Series and my 2016 Gibson Les Paul 50's Tribute, but there is definitely something special about this behemoth.

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And although its purely aesthetic, I ordered a pair of MOP switch tips too... :)
 
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DSC00109.JPG Yes its a great thing happening when you find the guitar or guitars that are a Joy to play. I enjoy each guitar they have their own voices.:) Play the strings off your guitar Mr Grumpy.(y)
But there is one guitar in my hangar that has a slight edge over my other guitars that I have is my Godin Core CT GT. It has a slimmer neck, more sustain and the P90s are powerful. Very smooth playing axe, good rich tones and it is light in weight just under 7lbs. It is a dream to play.
 
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Robert Herndon said:
To play it is just an amazing experience. It has this incredible resonance - as if its filled with angry hornets - and it is nearly as loud as an acoustic guitar unplugged.

It has been not only my single-most satisfying guitar experience, but it is also a most incredibly versatile guitar.
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Great story and thanks for detailing it. That Von Herndon is certainly an amazing guitar.

Now, you're a proper player, a talented guitarist to say the least, so to hear stories from yourself/your ilk just shows that their is a magic roundabout at the end of the Neverending Story...

:guitarking:
 
eSGEe said:
Grump I am THRILLED you found such conversation in a Lady so lovely ;)

ALL mine speak to me --- in different voices and with different attitudes.
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Thank you, Sir.

You are clearly more sensitive than me to these guitars; a fine quality indeed. It must be wonderful to have such understanding of gradients of experience in this artfilled area.
 
Session 5 said:
Yes its a great thing happening when you find the guitar or guitars that are a Joy to play. I enjoy each guitar they have their own voices.:) Play the strings off your guitar Mr Grumpy.(y)
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Thanks, Sir Session.

You're a lucky guy to feel all these different experiences. Maybe I'm just talentless, but guitars can appear so bland at times. That's one of the reasons why here is such a pleasant place - folks do know their stuff and feel it.
 
You found "the one" for you. a truly great thing.
I know people playing 50 years + that are still searching.

I was lucky.
I found mine early on, about 6 years in and someone pointed me in the right direction.

(Oh God, He's gonna tell that same old story again...)

In 1967 I went to the Shrine Exhibition Hall in Los Angeles to see Steppenwolf. They were the first band. The second band was some guys named the Quicksilver Messenger Service. One of the guitarists had an SG and I had never heard anything like what came out of his amplifier before. His style of playing was unique and totally "rang my chimes". After the show, they actually came down to mingle with the audience (things were different back then) and I met John Cippolina. When I told him the effect his playing had on me, he said "It's the guitar". I looked at him like he had 3 heads. He saw the look on my face and elaborated "It's the guitar. It does everything I ask it to do"

Early 1969 I am back in NYC and what he told me is still in my head. I am SG shopping. I find this guitar in a store in Manhattan. As soon as I touch it I feel a connection. I plunk down my money and take it home. For over 49 years now this guitar has always, ALWAYS, done everything I have asked it to do. It is the guitar I play best on and sometimes it almost seems to anticipate where I want to go and gets there before me.
Thank you John.

Nowadays I play it mostly at home for my own pleasure but once in a great while I take it out to a job.
If I could only keep one guitar this would be it.

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Tony M. said:
You found "the one" for you. a truly great thing.
I know people playing 50 years + that are still searching.

I was lucky.
I found mine early on, about 6 years in and someone pointed me in the right direction.

(Oh God, He's gonna tell that same old story again...)

In 1967 I went to the Shrine Exhibition Hall in Los Angeles to see Steppenwolf. They were the first band. The second band was some guys named the Quicksilver Messenger Service. One of the guitarists had an SG and I had never heard anything like what came out of his amplifier before. His style of playing was unique and totally "rang my chimes". After the show, they actually came down to mingle with the audience (things were different back then) and I met John Cippolina. When I told him the effect his playing had on me, he said "It's the guitar". I looked at him like he had 3 heads. He saw the look on my face and elaborated "It's the guitar. It does everything I ask it to do"

Early 1969 I am back in NYC and what he told me is still in my head. I am SG shopping. I find this guitar in a store in Manhattan. As soon as I touch it I feel a connection. I plunk down my money and take it home. For over 49 years now this guitar has always, ALWAYS, done everything I have asked it to do. It is the guitar I play best on and sometimes it almost seems to anticipate where I want to go and gets there before me.
Thank you John.

Nowadays I play it mostly at home for my own pleasure but once in a great while I take it out to a job.
If I could only keep one guitar this would be it.

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Great story - thanks for sharing. &, yeah, I've seen that guitar before, and it's clearly outstanding.

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If I were to respond to this thread with pictures, I’d have to post pics of all my guitars - every electric and each acoustic.


Each guitar says something a little different and provides its own type of inspiration with its own personality.

It’s not like Highlander. There doesn’t have to be only one!
 
I learned the secret to the mystical languages of the guitar. I now have 3 guitars, that speak to me, but all feel nearly identical - same neck profile - same scale length - twin humbuckers....that's the key.
 
I'm with the folks that say I like them all.
But one is a standout from the rest.
I've also had it for close to 20 years.
It has always spoken to me, but I haven't always listened. So she got neglected as other guitars came & went.
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My 1998 PRS Custom 22. Wide thin neck & 5 way rotary switch.
Now with a trio of Lollar Imperial humbuckers, she's speaking loudly once again, and I'm listening this time.
 
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