Le Ministre de l’au-delà - That helped a lot. Thanks.
**Ministre ** - you geek well sir.
I actually have to be productive, too…
Dude, this IS productive.
Oh yeah, I think this is a great, productive discussion. Pig in slop material for me…
…now, my boss on the other hand…
When discussing alternative constructions, don’t forget the Parker Fly, constructed using low density wood reinforced with a Composite shell (and the neck had a flying buttress). I’ve never played one, but they look like fun, and have the rigidity coupled with light weight.
Also, the Line 6 Variaxe modelling guitar is actually designed to be harmonically dead, the hexline pickups should only pick up the string fundamental, and the digital modelling takes care of the rest. I did want one, but have decided that once I get a new electric (in some distant future after buying a new acoustic) I’ll save up for the Roland modelling guitar system. I want to get a real guitar and add to it, not a dead guitar that only relies in the electronics.
Si
I have played a Parker Fly and was impressed - it seems to really take advantage of the acoustic properties discussed in this thread and use them to advantage. If it wasn’t ugly as sin, and have necks thinner than flat ribbon, I might’ve been interested.
And as for Variax’s, well, if you can’t say anything nice, you shouldn’t say anything at all 
. I can say this: as you indicate, they operate on totally different principles. You should NEVER expect to get the same tone as a true, mechanically-derived set of vibrations passing through a simple-circuit amp…
Si, You may want to take a look at the Fender VG guitar , which is an American Strat with a Roland pickup and on-board electronics. I played one when they first came out and liked it pretty well. I ended up buying a Taylor 710CE. I obviously really don’t know what I’m looking for when I go guitar shopping.
I certainly plan to look at one of those, but I don’t want my choice of guitar to be dictated by the manufacturer of the electronics (if that makes any sense).
Thats … quite a jump. As I say, I am in the market this year (after the bathroom and the kitchen and my wifes trip to NZ and …) for a new acoustic - my faithful Sigma Martin cutaway needs new frets, I am nursing the electronics, and the neck looks like it is warping <sigh>. It will be a long and careful search, and I intend to actually try my preferred strings on a shortlist, and check it out through my rig.
That Taylor looks … wow … but out of my league (and my budget).
Si
Hmm, I smell another Guitar Shopping thread coming on!
“Guitar Shopping - Unplugged”
Let us geeks know if and when we can help. I owned a high-end Taylor for a dozen years or so - and yeah, they are…wow.
I understand what you mean about not getting locked into a guitar choice because of the electronics. The VG was a potential good choice for me because I am already strongly acclimated to Fender Strats, so the basic guitar wasn’t being pushed on me. If the same electronic features had first appeared on a Les Paul, I would have been less inclined to consider buying one for what was intended to be my main performing electric. As it turned out, I decided to take a different path in my performing activities at around the time I was looking at the VG. The new direction made buying a high-end acoustic-electric a much better use of my money than buying another electric. That’s how I got the Taylor.
As for getting a real electric and adding Roland electronics to it, I understand that. When you get around to doing that, take a careful look at what is on the market at that time with electronics already built in. It may be worth a slight compromise on the guitar to get the whole package already integrated, depending on what is available. For me, because the VG Strat with a maple neck is already so close to what I like, I wouldn’t have been buying Roland electronics with some random guitar wrapped around them, I would have been getting pretty much my preferred guitar with the electronics.
I went through something similar when I bought my Strat Plus in 1994. I was on the verge of buying Warmouth parts to build a Strat. I went to the music store to experiment with various fret types to help me decide on what to order, and there was this Strat Plus, which had almost all of the features I was building a guitar to get. After weighing my options, I ended up buying the Strat Plus, and it has been my main electric for 14 years.
When you go acoustic shopping, take a look at Epiphone. I don’t know if a Gibson copy is on your list of possibilities, but I played an Epi EJ200-CE recently that was an amazing value for $500.
Wordman was kind enough to point out privately that I don’t know how to spell Warmoth. Take a look. They have some cool stuff.
:smack: aww, man - I was trying to keep it under the radar!
They have good stuff - I am likely to build my next parts guitar based on one of their Conversion Necks - works in a Fender-style parts guitar, but is scaled like a Gibson. I want to see how the typically Gibson shorter-scale characteristics - e.g., a slinkier feel and a bit tighter lows - sound with other Tele features. And you can get them real chunky, just like I like 'em (or, if I don’t like their profile, there is enough wood for me to re-shape it - yay.)
I didn’t want anyone undertaking a web search looking for mouths when they wanted moths.
FYI - Terry has added to the thread on the Gear Page:
-
a long discussion of “tap-tone” tuning - i.e., getting wood blanks for bodies and how to sort them out by their natural resonance.
-
a long discussion of chambering vs. semi-hollow vs. solid - chambering is when you open up a hollow chamber in what would otherwise look to be a solidbody guitar. Semi-hollow is when it has a central solid “rail” but hollow “wings” like an ES-335 - and typically has f-holes.
Fascinating stuff…and it speaks to some of the questions **Crotalus ** was asking…
I like the Fender VG - don’t get me wrong. And I play a Fat Strat ('95 Fender Squier Protone with Seymore Duncan Humbucker). So the Fender VG could be a real good fit. But if I get a Fender, I want the Fender American Deluxe model with the roller nut and Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups and all sorts of other goodness, and the VG only comes in American Standard <sigh>.
Anyhow - has anyone played a Tacoma guitar. I’ve never seen them before, but have some nice models in my price range. A guitar vendor was pushing me towards the Guild guitars as well - I’ve always been a bit wary of Guild, but the one I played was pretty nice, and the pricing is very, very competitive (asian manufacture, though). I like the looks of the Simon and Patrick guitars, too.
So many to choose, so little money :smack:
Si
I played a few Tacoma’s when they were an independent company. Who owns them now - Fender? <quick check> yep. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure they bought Guild, too <checking> yep. And they already owned Gretsch, Jackson/Charvel and a few others. A downright General Motors of music.
Anyway, the point is that I can’t comment on whether Tacoma’s construction or materials changed after the acquisition. But I can say that I was impressed with what I played. I tend to think of weird, displaced soundholes as a gimmick; I am not a fan of Ovations. But Tacoma’s played well and sounded great - chording and single-note stuff. The extreme simplicity - i.e., no binding or other non-functional appointments - appeals to me; I think of guitars as tools first, and this was a no-nonsense, useful tool.
I completely agree about getting the features you want; I love my roller nut and Lace pickups. But given Fender’s tendency to spew out variations on their models, there’s a chance that they’ll put VG technology in a guitar with your preferred features by the time you’re ready to pull the trigger. Keep an eye on their site.
WordMan’s starting of this thread brought to mind an interview with Allan Holdsworth from years ago that seems to limn many of the thoughts opined here.
The mentioned guitarist has many unique qualities but foremost for this discussion was sustain obtained only with guitar and amp, phenom witnessed during live performance with Tony Williams post Soft Machine era. This using an SG, in an era of most “lead” guitarists using Pauls and Strats with plethora of pedal boards.
You can read it here;
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:mQjuxNUfHCQJ:www.guitarplayer.com/article/allan-holdsworth/jan-00/6556+Holdsworth+SG&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=16&gl=us
BTW I would greatly appreciate anyone instructing how to make a neat link!
All through this thread, I’ve been thinking of the several years Johnny Winter played that really odd guitar. It had no headstock (the ball ends were at the nut,) the tuners were below the bridge, and there was just enough body to hold the knobs and switches.
Johnny has his own sound, as you know. I suspected for a while that his skeletal axe was a big part of it. Just recently, though, I bought Breakin’ It Up, Breakin’ It Down. It’s from the tour following Muddy Waters’s Hard Again album. There’s James Cotton on harmonica, and the guitars of Muddy, Johnny, and Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin. Johnny was playing wooden guitars, but there is no doubt of who was playing what parts.
I know the wood makes a difference. I had a semi-hollow mahogany Tele reissue, and its voice was quite different from a solid maple Tele.
I won’t get into rosewood vs. maple fretboards, because I feel nearly illiterate in a thread like this. I believe there’s a difference, though.
Thanks for listening to an old glump with blown-out hands.
-Nott
Johnny played, I think, a Thunderbird (or something very much like it; Jazzmaster?) for many years as his signature guitar.
Was the guitar you saw perhaps a Steinberger guitar?
Johnny also released an album where he played nothing but dobro on a gorgeous steel resophonic that sounded just awesome.
And, yeah, Johnny has a sound and approach to playing that’s distinctive all his own.