At What Price Does It Become About Looks, Rarity, etc?

I've got more money than sense, and I'm SKINT again! Where does that leave me? Oh well at least I've got a gorgeous can't-put-it-down Tele for consolation....

IF I had the money, I'd go straight out and buy a Martin - expensive guitars, but they're expensive for a reason, the reason being they're the holy grail of acoustics. Who WOULDN'T want a Martin! But having said that - for an amateur guitarist/songwriter like me, yes, a Martin's a great guitar - but is a 10k (£ OR Dollars) Martin going to make me sound 10X better than a 1K Martin? Er - no. The end product - what comes OUT of the Martin, or the guitar of your choice - is going to be better, or worse, depending on how well you play. Is consistently average better than sporadically great? No, the magic's in your fingers, your heart, your soul - what you get out of a guitar depends on how much you put in. And at the end of the day, a 10K guitar played by a mediocre guitarist (me, for example) will not sound as good as a 1K guitar played by a good guitarist (dhodge, for example.)

Law of diminishing returns ring a bell here?

:D :D :D

Vic

I just read the first line and thought you were about to say something really sweet about Marilyn! :D

SNIP

LOL!!!!

Now that's priceless!

Hi Chris! :D
Always great to hear from/talk to you.

I hear what you're sayin'.

And there are as many variables with different people as there are with different guitars.

Like I said, I'm the sentimental type.
I STILL have my first Strat.
And still love it.

Lot's of people couldn't care less for such nonsense.

I like broke in/worn out guitars.
Some like shinny new ones.

I like mine stock...
some like to mod them.

I worked to buy my Strat at 18.
If I GIVE it to my son when he gets old enough,
he probably wont appreciate it.

And, well....
You know how you told Musica 23 to just start writing and stop worrying so much about all the little details of writing....
It's kinda like that with jumping in and making a higher end guitar purchase.

As you may already know, my dad played guitar at that time and had a Fender Stratocaster.
Now, I pretty much always like what my dad likes....
Except that I was 18 at the time, if you're getting my drift.

I was a certified GIBSON man! 8)
And I wanted Humbuckers to boot! :twisted:
Anything except a Stratocaster :P

I walked into GC and the salesmen were all standin' by some podium by the door.
They didn't give me much more than a glance.
When I hovered around a bit, they asked me what I wanted.

A LES PAUL! I proudly exclaimed :D

Oh yeah?
How much money do you have?

$500.00

You know what I got from those guys????
They literally LAUGHED IN MY FACE!

Well, how much is a Les Paul????

More than you got kid. - A Grand.

Okay. How much for an SG???? (I wanted a Gibson w/HB's)

More laughter.

I couldn't believe that an SG could cost as much as a LP.

So I says - Well, WHAT can I get for my measly 500 bucks????

Well, you see that wall over there????
You go and pick out WHATEVER COLOR STRAT you want.
When you find it, come get me and I'll ring it up for ya.

I was reduced to getting a STRAT! :cry:

Well, Look at me now.

Mr. Fender Stratocaster.

The things that I found uncomfortable about the guitar - like the med-jumbo frets...
Were no problem after a while.

I never did get that fat LP/HB thru a Marshall tone that I so loved and admired.
What I did get was an appreciation for SC pups and a cleaner, woodier sound.
Not to mention my own tone instead of Paul Kossoff's.

I say, sometimes X=Mojo can find you... when you least expect it. :twisted:

It's not always a case of having what we want, more of wanting what we already have.

That's just my opinion - I could be wrong

Ken :wink:

I say, sometimes X=Mojo can find you... when you least expect it. :twisted:

It's not always a case of having what we want, more of wanting what we already have.

That's just my opinion - I could be wrong

Ken :wink:

Ken,

Beautiful tale about buying the Strat.

I absolutely agree about the Mojo finding you when you least expect it. It's a dream that we all have in one form or another. I guess we all just have different ways of looking. 8)

I share your love of that 60s era of American writing. Ken Kesey, Jack Kerouac, Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Ginsberg, etc. Still got many of the books too. I came across Robert M Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" on the shelves yesterday, so I might re-read that one. I was in the USA in the 60s too - hitching and working my way around the country as a wide eyed teenager learning about the world. Very happy days.

I admire the simpler style of living that you talk about, but I find it hard to always live that way. Many of us 'get it' but still can't 'be it'. We have a friend who went into a strict monastic order when he was young. After a few years he left, studied and became a Psychologist, got married and had a daughter (who is now a fine cellist currently working in Europe), bought a house in an up-market suburb and drove a Volvo, and had a couple of decades of that life. Then he got divorced, decide he was gay and had a couple of marginally successful gay relationships that didn't last, and finally in his mid fifties threw it all in and joined another monastery, where he still is. :shock:

Now, I'm a lot clearer than Mike was about how I want to live! :wink: But I'm just not a "one path" kind of guy, and I guess it's going to stay that way now. ...

Umm... what was the topic...

Oh yes, when are you paying only for looks and rarity, not quality? I guess I'd have to say there's no upper limit or figure. Because looks and rarity are qualities too. It depends on what you want. I'm pretty happy with ones that have cost me less than $1000 but I would certainly pay more if I found something that seemed to have my name on it. This week I went into three music shops, with a healthy potential budget, and no sparks flew. Nothing felt better or more desirable that my plain Epi SG400. So the quest is over for now, perhaps for good.

Cheers,

Chris

I've got more money than sense, and I'm SKINT again! Where does that leave me? Oh well at least I've got a gorgeous can't-put-it-down Tele for consolation....

IF I had the money, I'd go straight out and buy a Martin - expensive guitars, but they're expensive for a reason, the reason being they're the holy grail of acoustics. Who WOULDN'T want a Martin! But having said that - for an amateur guitarist/songwriter like me, yes, a Martin's a great guitar - but is a 10k (£ OR Dollars) Martin going to make me sound 10X better than a 1K Martin? Er - no. The end product - what comes OUT of the Martin, or the guitar of your choice - is going to be better, or worse, depending on how well you play. Is consistently average better than sporadically great? No, the magic's in your fingers, your heart, your soul - what you get out of a guitar depends on how much you put in. And at the end of the day, a 10K guitar played by a mediocre guitarist (me, for example) will not sound as good as a 1K guitar played by a good guitarist (dhodge, for example.)

Law of diminishing returns ring a bell here?

:D :D :D

Vic
you don't have to spend 10K on Martin. I have a Martin. Mine is a low/mid priced one. They me be more in the UK because it's an import, though, but you can probably find one used....

Well, £10K was just a random figure plucked out of the air. Would I like a Martin? Yes. Would a Martin make me a better guitarist? Possibly - my current acoustic HAS made me a better guitarist, because it's such a joy to play I don't want to put it down!

I've been lucky with my guitar purchases so far - the Squier Tele kind of picked me, I wanted a Fender Tele at the time but the ones I tried didn't feel - or sound - as good as the Squier. I found it odd that a £135 guitar sounded better to me than a £435 guitar.....The new Fender Tele was a different story. Plan was, keep the Squier as #1 gutar, and buy another Squier Tele - this time with P90's, as opposed to HB's - for slide. The plan went out the window when I saw the white (well, actually, it's kind of a creamy colour - the pickguard is white.) Tele - and when I tried it, through the amp I planned to buy anyway, I knew it was THE ONE. My acoustic was kind of an impulse buy - I was talking to Nick one night on MSN, he mentioned he was thinking of selling the SPT - he'd already posted about it, with pics, so I asked him if I could buy it. Deal done. I was surprised he let it go - it's a striking looking guitar, and sounds beautiful. God knows how good his other guitars are!

So basically, I've got three out of the four guitars I NEED - all I'm short is an acoustic, with cutaway, for slide. That can wait for a while. I don't need a dearer or better bass guitar - I'm happy with the one I've got, I'm not a bassist and it'll do for adding basslines to my songs. So anything else, if I had the money, would be superfluous. I haven't even got GAS pains anymore - they're gone.

Maybe if I was a fabulous guitarist with a big career, I'd think about expensive guitars - but I'm not, I'm just a humble amateur. I suppose if you've never had much, anything's better than nothing, and what I've got is good enough for me, and I'm satisfied with what I've got.

For now.....................

:D :D :D

Vic

I haven't even got GAS pains anymore - they're gone.
LOL.

Over/under of 1 month until Vic's GAS comes back. Taking bets now.

I haven't even got GAS pains anymore - they're gone.
LOL.

Over/under of 1 month until Vic's GAS comes back. Taking bets now.

I still need another acoustic, for slide, so you'll just be taking bets on how long I can hold out!!! My guess? About Feb/March next year....

:D :D :D

Vic

Ken,

I share your love of that 60s era of American writing. Ken Kesey, Jack Kerouac, Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alan Ginsberg, etc. Still got many of the books too. I came across Robert M Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" on the shelves yesterday, so I might re-read that one. I was in the USA in the 60s too - hitching and working my way around the country as a wide eyed teenager learning about the world. Very happy days.

I admire the simpler style of living that you talk about, but I find it hard to always live that way. Many of us 'get it' but still can't 'be it'.

Umm... what was the topic...

Cheers,

Chris

Don't you ever worry about running off on a tangent my friend! :D
Your off topic posts are some of the most interesting things I ever read!
And I thought I had a fairly interesting life. :roll:

I have to ask Chris; Are you a native of Australia or have you just decided to settle there????

You know, I never read Pirsig's book. :oops:
Is it a pretty good read????

As far as my simple lifestyle goes....
It's pretty much borne out of neccessity.
If you can't tell, I'm pretty much a Rebel type.
I've made sure that I've had NO debt my whole life and that I don't owe anybody anything mostly for the express purpose
of being able to tell my place of employment where to go once they start taking advantage of me. :twisted:

I also don't believe in the education system, and so have no higher education - thus the 'honest' bluecollar lifestyle.
Despite the fact that I have a 144 I.Q. (last time I checked) even though I slept through High School and never did any homework.
Mel has a 139 I.Q., and she never even went to High School.
In fact, she was a runaway at 12.

We're not genius' by any means, though were not the dullest people around either. :D

So pretty much, I work hard, make next to nothing and save what I can so I don't starve through the jobless winters up here.
I live a modest, uncomplicated life... And that's how I like it.
For what I make, I certainly can't complain.
I live in a cozy one bedroom place right on one of the most beautiful lakes around.
I'm probably one of the happier people you'll ever know. (Mostly due to my never sell out/uncomprimising lifestyle :wink: )

My cousin on the other hand is absolutely miserable - and he lives in a million dollar home with a smart and pretty wife,
and twin 5 year old daughters, and all the latest/greatest toys.
Why is he miserable????
He ALWAYS wants more.
I'm very sad for him, really.

As far as I go....
I am on the verge of getting a very good paying job.
I've paid my dues, and it's a good company (and they understand me), and I like what I'm doing.
I think it's all going to come together soon.

If you want an example of my integrity though....
There are very few jobs up here.
At the time of my divorce, I found myself begging for a job at McDonalds.
I got it.
They of course lied to me and took terrible advantage of my work ethic.
And after 2 years, finally managed to get myself fired after a huge fight with the GM.
He made darn sure that I couldn't collect unemployment (this was November mind you).
And so I had to live off my savings (a few thousand after the 2 years there).
When the weather got warmer, I got a job that didn't go well - skip to the next job...
They hired me, and after training me to drive a semi, told me that I had to drive out of a place 2 hours away.
So, after starving for years, I turned down a $50,000 a year job w/benefits, because I would have to give up custody/placement of my son.
And I would rather be poor with him, than make good money without him.

It'll all work out though :wink:

Ken

Veiw from my door:

I turned down a $50,000 a year job w/benefits, because I would have to give up custody/placement of my son.
And I would rather be poor with him, than make good money without him.

It'll all work out though :wink:

Ken

Veiw from my door:

Good choice. :) Brilliant view from your door too. Maybe I'll start saving for a lake instead of a better guitar. :wink: (I've sent you a PM about some of the other things in your post as well).
I still need another acoustic, for slide, so you'll just be taking bets on how long I can hold out!!! My guess? About Feb/March next year....

Can I have a quid or two on December? I'm sure there's an equation that I could feed into the computer, along the lines of:

M (months that Vic can hold out for) = G ( Build up of GAS ) divided by F (Forcefulness of Marilyn's resistance) with an 'unknown' - X - somewhere in the equation. Where X = Inventiveness and Persuasiveness of Vic's excuse why he needs one more. Who's running the book? :)

Cheers,

Chris

See, I was giving Vic credit for more planning than I think he's put into this. Knowing that "the old mare" looks over his shoulder at what he's reading on this board, he could've said something really sweetly complimentary about her as I momentarily thought he had, and it might reduce such resistance just a tad. But no, he was talking about a Tele...
:lol:

See, I was giving Vic credit for more planning than I think he's put into this. Knowing that "the old mare" looks over his shoulder at what he's reading on this board, he could've said something really sweetly complimentary about her as I momentarily thought he had, and it might reduce such resistance just a tad. But no, he was talking about a Tele...
:lol:

Ah, like I said, I've no plans to buy anything this side of Xmas....I'm quite happy with what I've got, for the moment. As stated in another post, and in this one, I am finding it rather difficult to put the Telecaster down until my fingers are too sore to hold a guitar! The Squier, the acoustic and the bass have hardly been touched lately! Come to think of it, neither has M......no, let's no go there, I'm in enough trouble as it is......

I really, really, REALLY have no GAS pains whatsoever at the moment.....and anyway, I've got a drum machine to learn how to program. I forgot the golden rule of buying electronic equipment when I splashed out on that....which is, "Never buy any electronic equipment whose user manual is thicker or weighs more than the equipment itself."

There are sixty-eight pages to wade through - so far I'm on page 5.....could take a while. On the other hand, I could always do what drummers do - just hit the damn pads!

:D :D :D

Vic

I forgot the golden rule of buying electronic equipment when I splashed out on that....which is, "Never buy any electronic equipment whose user manual is thicker or weighs more than the equipment itself."

There are sixty-eight pages to wade through - so far I'm on page 5.....could take a while. On the other hand, I could always do what drummers do - just hit the darn pads!

:D :D :D

Vic

I have the exact same trouble. :?

My recording device has a built in drum machine, plus a large range of programmable effects. Very handy no doubt - if I ever manage to wade through the 147 pages of the manual. Still, I guess it's efficient - that's at least three different things that I can put off learning, all at the same time. And yet another excuse for never getting around to posting any recordings. :roll:

Cheers,

Chris

Yo Vic!
What Drum Machine did you get and does it deliver Pizza? (Sorry Bish just kiddin')

Yo Vic!
What Drum Machine did you get and does it deliver Pizza? (Sorry Bish just kiddin')

Alesis SR-16 (24-bit Stereo) - cost around £60. Sounds pretty decent through my 30W Cube Bass amp on the "concert" or "Studio" settings. It's pretty versatile - there are 12 Pads which all sound pretty much like they're supposed to, but each can be configured differently.

There are 49 different bass drum sounds available, 78 snare, 19 hi-hats, 12 cymbals, 43 toms, and 34 different percussion sounds from tambourine to firecracker (what the hell is "Frog Fish?"!!!!) including 6 different cowbell sounds!

Couple of hundred different pre-programmed patterns, including fills - but it can also be programmed to play a pattern you play yourself, with a different pattern & tempo for the chorus and/or bridge....possibilities seem endless.

Or I could just hit the pads......

No pizza delivery option, but I do keep a couple of 12" pizzas in the freezer in case of emergency.....

:D :D :D

Vic