Bonding with a guitar

tampaxboo

this will sound weird but i play in the dark to get a fuller appreciation of how positively i connect with a guitar. it concentrates my ears more on the sound and sharpens my sensory awareness of my hands and body as they connect with it as a tactile object.
i think vision is the sense that our mind prioritises above others. if you temporarily disable that it's as if your mind has more processing power to dedicate to the other senses, and they sharpen.

it's usually then i really notice the small things that hold potential to annoy me later. the rough fret, the awkward balance, badly laid out controls, the buzzes and flat responses, etc.

for me a guitar is just an interface. obviously it has an appearance and i prefer some looks to others, but 99% of what is really important to me about a guitar is how it feels and responds to my touch as an interface.

don't knock it until you try it. play it in the dark to really know it.

RMJ

Update. 

Forced myself to play my CS strat over the last 2 days. Can't sell it.

Going to force myself to play the Les Paul this week. 

First world problems.

stratman3142

jeztone2 said:

I think the guitar finds you.

i was playing a Les Paul 15 years ago. Then I joined a 2 guitar band and needed something with more bite. So I got a Telecaster. That was my main guitar for 11 years. Then I join a more 'Classic Rock' type band and I ended up playing a PRS. So I think it's just a case of every gig requires a different approach. 

I'd agree with this. It's also true of my home recording experience, as I'm not gigging at the moment. 

I've bonded with my new Tele and that's the guitar I play pretty much all the time. But certain home recording tracks demand another guitar. For example my Rotm entry this month just had to be my Les Paul and the current composition challenge had to be my HSS Strat.

When I was gigging it was my HSS Strat and I expect that's the guitar I'd go back to, if/when I start gigging again.

JDE

tampaxboo said:

this will sound weird but i play in the dark to get a fuller appreciation of how positively i connect with a guitar. it concentrates my ears more on the sound and sharpens my sensory awareness of my hands and body as they connect with it as a tactile object.
i think vision is the sense that our mind prioritises above others. if you temporarily disable that it's as if your mind has more processing power to dedicate to the other senses, and they sharpen.

it's usually then i really notice the small things that hold potential to annoy me later. the rough fret, the awkward balance, badly laid out controls, the buzzes and flat responses, etc.

for me a guitar is just an interface. obviously it has an appearance and i prefer some looks to others, but 99% of what is really important to me about a guitar is how it feels and responds to my touch as an interface.

don't knock it until you try it. play it in the dark to really know it.

Not weird at all - I *love* playing in the dark. And i definitely play better, too. 

fandango

Alnico said:

Keep the strat because only a strat is ever a strat and when you do want one, a CS is an amazing one.
The LP Traditional is also a good alternative flavour to a Special.

Seriously that's a gorgeous trio.
I'd put my handbrake and air brakes on, lock all diffs,  padlock the UJ and leave it in gear. ......twice, then I'd weld the wheel hubs tight.

OK,  I'd add a JEM and my UV777 to it but that's just me.

Oh wait, my Telecaster. ..........

Point is they're 3 VERY good guitars.
Just because one is connecting more it doesn't devalue the others and seasons change man.

Based on what you've said I'd stay put.
They sound very nice.

@Alnico ... handbrakes... the shakes? locking diffs... riffs? Padlock... rock? Tight... like a well oiled band with years of practice?

SNAKEBITE

You do bond with guitars, or at least I do.

Makes all the difference.

ESBlonde

I don't buy many guitars but I sell even less. I have some guitars that have taken a long time to bond with and appreciate how to get the best out of them. One such was the telecaster, I couldn't get on with the maple fingerboard at first and still not over enamoured, but with an 52AVRI (second Tele) the inherent tone comes through and you learn to maximise it with your playing style. As I still have other guitars  can now swap to what I want for different styles or songs even, so persistence paid off for me.

Phil_aka_Pip

SNAKEBITE said:

You do bond with guitars, or at least I do.

I don't. I've got an aerosol can full of glue. That's what I bond with.

UnclePsychosis

Phil_aka_Pip said:

SNAKEBITE said:

You do bond with guitars, or at least I do.

I don't. I've got an aerosol can full of glue. That's what I bond with.

-plus, the glue sniffing guys have a great community spirit.

They really stick together. 

rsvmark

Depends on what you play. Currently I have a strat in standard, another strat in drop D and my Les Paul is in Eb. I am thinking about getting a back up for each.....;-)

axisus

I thought I was in love with many guitars I bought (then sold!). It turned out that they were all just affairs and I got bored with them. 

Then I built my own guitar from scratch, and that was it! True love. I'm really not into bought guitars any more. I've now built 3 guitars and I absolutely love them all. I guess this kind of makes me the incestuous mormon of the guitar fraternity.

Paul_C

I've only got one electric at the moment, which is the one I built on the Baileys course - it's got a pair of Bare Knuckles in (Mules IIRC) with ICBM's coil-cut-plus-resistors technique so I've got six usable sounds, and that's plenty for me.

As most of what I'm doing is mucking about with pedals I don't really feel the need for another one and it means I'm getting to know it a lot better than I would if I jumped from guitar to guitar.