leftybassman392

Fairy nuff. I remain to be convinced that I'll discover much that I don't already know, but it's a free country... sort of...

Not a worry. Just don't see the point is all. I played and taught professionally for around 15 years, and apart from putting Elixirs on my Takamine acoustic for the first time string changing was just another routine for me. I did enjoy the ritual of cleaning the guitar, polishing the frets and oiling the board every time I changed strings, but with very few exceptions the strings themselves are - or at least were - much of a muchness. Last time I looked the vast majority of the world's guitar strings were made in one of about three (I think it was three) factories, so unless the strings had something specific that actually made them notably different from all the others (Elixirs being a case in point) I never felt the need to experiment. I sense a bit of snake oil thinking here. I sense a search for that magic tone and feel. I sense a distraction from what the strings are actually there to do.

Funny, I've always used Ernie Balls (with the exception of the jazz guitar, for which I used D'addario flats IIRC - been a while so I could be wrong about the make). Never found a reason to change TBH. Elixirs on the acoustics. I don't gig any more so don't go through them like I used to, but I've never been much of an experimenter with strings: life's too short to worry about such stuff IMHO. Once I've found something I'm happy with the job is done.

Well duh! What!!! You can't be serious! You cannot be serious!! What a gip! etc. etc.

Any chance?

I used to use flats on my jazz guitar (a Heritage 175 clone). They suited the music I was playing on the instrument and felt good to play. Definitely worth considering if you are looking for a smooth tone. No good for metal though.

After a series of Marshalls, Mesas and Fenders the current weapon of choice is a Cornford Hurricane. (I also have an AER for acoustic and a lovely little DV Little Mark for Jazz, but they're both solid state so don't really count here.) I don't gig these days though so it hasn't even been switched on since it had a service and revalve last year. I did actually have it up for sale a while ago (and if I got a decent offer I'd probably still consider selling it), but keeping it certainly won't be a problem. I mean, you never know...

Liking the '57. I had a MIJ '57 RI that looked very similar to this (apart from being a leftie of course ). Fretboard on mine was a little darker as I recall, but otherwise pretty much exactly the same. Lovely guitar, currently in the possession of my nephew. I gave it to him as a gift on condition that he never sell it so that I can buy it back off him if I ever change my mind . That was around 5 years ago, and he still had it when I asked him earlier this year.

Just a thought: If you're after a rock sound then what about a superstrat? Plenty of Ibanez RG's (various models but any 470/570 would be good choice) within your budget on eBay and elsewhere. Seriously good instruments.

PMT in Birmingham is a nice place with a mahoosive range of gear (including a decent selection of lefties ) and staffed by people who actually know what they're talking about. Pretty relaxed too.

Yeah, it's a bit of a personal thing. I like that the guitar's wearing it's history on it's face (so to speak...). Anyhoo; enough about me. Where's yer Strats guys?

Set up as a partner to GuyR's Tele thread. Here's my much-loved, much-gigged and slightly non-standard American Standard. I bought this new in 1990 from what was then Musical Exchanges in Snow Hill, Birmingham. Since then it's had, er, a few mods. Can you tell? Pups are David White Old Glories (the gap in the scratchplate is where one of a pair of blue Lace Sensors once lived), and if you look carefully you'll notice that the frets are jumbos. Very much a personal thing that will no doubt have the purists chirping, but I just prefer it that way.

My Rob Williams custom set-neck. Made for me by Rob in 2013.

All due respect, but you don't think you might be overreacting a little? If it's to be a discussion, then what's wrong with actually having a discussion around the subject? Any opinion on and around the subject at hand ought to be welcomed, surely? I'm not stifling debate. All I'm saying is that for an instrument whose ancestors go back quite literally thousands of years, picking developments from the last 150 years or so as your Mount Rushmore moments strikes me as a bit, well, convenient is all. If as you say we're to have a discussion about the nature of the guitar, then let's have a proper discussion about the nature of the guitar. What about the development of the 6-string, E-A-D-G-B-E format? Or frets? Or the plectrum? Or the design and shape of the resonance chamber?

Well yes, but a lot of other people had a big say on the development of the guitar as we know it today over many hundreds of years is my point. Why the big deal with Martin? And why the big deal with cross-bracing? Why start with him? I mean, guitars had been doing very well thank you without it for an awfully long time. Not a problem; just seems a bit random is all. Oh, and I'm specifically not trying to be a killjoy - I thought I'd already said that actually, but hey ho!

Well yes, I get all that. I was just a bit surprised a few big names didn't come up even with a very small sample size is all. I mean, anybody calling themselves a guitarist ought to know most if not all the names on my list, surely. In fairness though, I probably over-egged it a little.

Not to be picky, but guitars go back waaaaay further than C.F. Martin. Instruments with a recognisably guitar-like shape go back hundreds of years, and by tracing the family trees of guitars, lutes, harps and other chordophones back to the source it's possible to go back at least as far as an ancient Greek instrument called a Kithara (which is actually a lyre, but you get the general idea). The European Vihuela and it's offspring the Baroque guitar, the Indian Sitar, Persian Setar, Arabic Oud plus a whole lot more are all descendants of this instrument in one way or another. Accounts of the lineage vary, but guitars were certainly in common use in the Medieval period: Example Not wishing to be overly critical, but putting C.F. Martin at the birth of the guitar because he invented cross-bracing is, I'm afraid, a bit arbitrary. It's like putting Dunlop at the birth of the wheel because he made the first commercially viable pneumatic tyre. Sorry. Not trying to be a killjoy, but facts is facts.

I do like Thompson's acoustic playing, and like you have seen him many times (although not recently in fairness). I'm a fan of Simpson as well, but get the feeling he's slipped under the collective radar a bit as he never seems to get mentioned in these kind of straw polls. Fantastically good acoustic player. She Slips Away

I realise that it's favourite guitarists rather than best guitarists, but I'm still quite surprised at those who haven't had a mention yet. Electric: What about Guthrie Govan? Or Allan Holdsworth? Or Robin Trower? Or Jan Akkerman? Or Steve Vai? Or Duanne Allman? Or Paul Kossoff? Or Paul Gilbert? Or Eric Clapton fer crissakes? Not to mention... Acoustic: Well, there's Adrian Legge; and Martin Simpson; or what about John Renbourne? Richard Thompson? Newton Faulkner? Dylan's acoustic work isn't generally my cuppa tea, but he must be on somebody's list, surely?... Jazz: Martin Taylor? Joe Pass? Barney Kessell? Jim Hall?...

Now that's just silly.

Well a right-handed wave is better than nothing I suppose. I guess we'll adapt like we always do.

Too many to name; it depends very much what mood I'm in. Would love to listen to any of the above at different times (apart from the ones I've not knowingly heard of course... ). All I would say on the subject is that I'm old enough to remember the earthquake that was Jimi Hendrix (I was 15 in 1968).

So what else is new?

That'll be worth a few bob.

Live long and prosper, Guitarchat.