Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

[chewpac]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

fwiw, most of my guitars are middle of the road in price and fancy-ness. i like it that way. i'd love a sick PRS, but i would be a little more hesitant to bring it to practice/gigs. i like to use (not abuse) my stuff, but things happen. i tend to find myself gravitating toward 2 of the 5 electrics that i own most often, but the others scratch their respective itches too well for me to want to get rid of them in favor of anything else. i feel less guilty about modding a mid priced axe, anyway, and I know myself pretty well. I can't leave well enough alone.

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Also, if you have a very expensive guitar, you tend to start treating it with kid gloves, even to the point of it becoming a case queen.

"Case queen", never heard that one. I like it.

[jon the art guy]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I think the idea is a sound one and one to strive for. For a "THE ONE" guitar principle to work, you'd have to narrow your field of influences a little and attempt to hone what it is those various sounds need in a guitar...then narrow down further and achieve an even tighter focus on your style. There will be a point where your skills at a particular genre become top-notch and your gear will economize itself to it's bare essentials; especially if you're gigging.

Having said that, I don't think there's a reason to think a guitar needs to be a one-off to achieve perfection in a guitar-driven music genre. MIDI excluded, a guitar already comes pretty well fitted for it's use, off the shelf. I also don't think there's a reason to spend a mint on it at all.

But...I also wouldn't want a THE ONE guitar either. They're pretty things.

[jacksontrader]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I'm a bit of a collector of mid level guitars, lol, I have about 30 of them, they are all different sounding and I like different things about each one. Priorities will answer your question, not people on a forum. Good luck.

[uOpt]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I just noticed another thing. The expensive guitars I own are all very specialized, not universal.

What is a high-end universal guitar, anyway? A mahogany, carved maple top, HSS Suhr?

[VanDerchuck]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I'm doing it. Not a major high end guitar. I'm selling my tele and my Les Paul and I think in going with my new SG. At least for the next ten years.

[jon the art guy]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

When I get coil tappers in my SG I'll see how Swiss Army Knife it becomes for me.

[DreX]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

What exactly is wrong with your mid range guitars? What's the deficiency?

I really hope it's specific problems that have to do with playability and tone, and not the fact that it's not made in America.

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I've had 9 different electric guitars in the 7.5 years I've been playing, from terrible and not so terrible Pacific Rim imports, mid-range American built, high end American production, and even a custom piece from the 70's. I've come to the conclusion that cheaper guitars are just not for me. The only Asian made guitars I've ever enjoyed were Japanese made. All of the Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, and like guitars I've owned or played had a feeling that I would describe as toy-like. They looked like real guitars, but they don't feel/play like them.

I used to think that I could have one guitar that could do it all, but it doesn't work. They become jacks of all trades but masters of none. I currently own three HSH strat-type guitars, and as much as I want them to do the Strat thing, for all of the wiring options they have they just won't do it. So I'll be converting my MIJ Fender back to a SSS (or maybe HSS) when I get my custom build later this year.

So I guess the conclusion I've come to is to just have a bunch of high end guitars. Since I don't like low and mid range guitars and one guitar doesn't do it for me, I don't see much of an option.

[voggin]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I had one electric for many years, a strat that I still have that I bought new in 1993. Now I have two more, a 339 and a Les Paul, both of which I bought used over the last 3 years or so. there have been a few "in and out" guitars in between, but I think these three are keepers.

It's hard to say, really, and there are different views of what's high end or low end. I consider a used $1500 lp standard "high end". On TGP, they'd laugh me off the island. On the Agile forum, they'd call me a corksniffer.

I still have a couple of guitars I would like to own, but the ones I have cover sufficient territory that I can be patient and find that perfect combination of great deal/great guitar that my cheap nature needs.

Phil, I'm like you, I always think I should have a tele, but I've never found the one for me (now I've f***ing jinxed myself, and tomorrow I'll walk into a shop and find the bastard).

I'd also like a jazz box some day, like a used Ibanez Joe Pass from the 80s or a George Benson. Used 175s are just stupid expensive.

Where was I going with this? Sorry, sitting here in Canada celebrating the Quebec election results. Maybe too much.

[DreX]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

I've had 9 different electric guitars in the 7.5 years I've been playing, from terrible and not so terrible Pacific Rim imports, mid-range American built, high end American production, and even a custom piece from the 70's. I've come to the conclusion that cheaper guitars are just not for me. The only Asian made guitars I've ever enjoyed were Japanese made. All of the Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, and like guitars I've owned or played had a feeling that I would describe as toy-like. They looked like real guitars, but they don't feel/play like them.

It bugs me when people say foreign made guitars aren't good enough for their needs "just because", using vague terms. I haven't seen your guitars, but I have Mexican, Korean, Japanese and Indonesian made Fenders and Epiphones, and based on my stock, I'm willing to bet that if you never touched an American made equivalent, you wouldn't perceive anything wrong with the foreign made versions.

For clarification, how much did those foreign made guitars in question cost? If they're $300, they're going to be cheap no matter where they are made. There are some cheap guitars made in Canada. They are made on this continent and are no better than guitars from Korea or wherever.

But there are differences, even if we're talking foreign made guitars in the $400 - $800 range. The frets usually overhang a little more on foreign made guitars (except the Japanese Fenders, they're usually fine), and you will constantly feel that particular flaw under your fingers. They use poly instead of nitro, and it's applied thick to make for a quicker finish job. They use a veneer instead of cap wood for for the carved tops. They're less picky about the cuts of wood they use, and of course the cheaper electronics and hardware, which are easily replaced. But the thing is that none of that should prevent you from either getting a solid tone out of the guitar, or from being able to play the guitar as well as you'd play any other.

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

As far as mid-price imports, I've owned an Agile PRS clone and a Parker import (can't remember which one at the moment, my guitarist has it right now) and my dad owned an Agile AL-3000. I set them up very nicely, but compared to my nicer guitars (USA Parker, USA/MIJ Fender, Music Man) they just straight up felt inferior. The electronics on the AL-3000 were never replaced, and the Parker came stock with Duncans, but the PRS clone sounded much better with P-rails. I could get them to sound nice, and they all played well. But why should I settle for nice and plays well when I can get incredible tone and effortless playability?

You say that if I'd never played an American equivalent of the imports, I'd never know the difference. That's a bit thick - of course I'd never know how a guitar plays compared to something I've never played.

[DreX]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

As far as mid-price imports, I've owned an Agile PRS clone and a Parker import (can't remember which one at the moment, my guitarist has it right now) and my dad owned an Agile AL-3000. I set them up very nicely, but compared to my nicer guitars (USA Parker, USA/MIJ Fender, Music Man) they just straight up felt inferior. The electronics on the AL-3000 were never replaced, and the Parker came stock with Duncans, but the PRS clone sounded much better with P-rails. I could get them to sound nice, and they all played well. But why should I settle for nice and plays well when I can get incredible tone and effortless playability?

Agile is the bottom of the ****ing barrel. You can't equate Agile with all foreign made electrics.

You say that if I'd never played an American equivalent of the imports, I'd never know the difference. That's a bit thick - of course I'd never know how a guitar plays compared to something I've never played.

That's not what I said, I said you wouldn't perceive them as having anything wrong with them. They only seem unacceptable to you because you're aware that a fancier version exists, and not because there's anything specifically wrong with the guitars themselves. But then again I'm talking Fenders and Epis, not $150 cardboard guitars.

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Agile isn't bottom of the barrel. Whenever I played a PRS SE, which get praised all over the web as some of the best imports, I thought that they were only marginally better than the Agiles I'd played.

I would say that being mediocre is definitely cause to say there is something wrong with the guitar. We can never say for sure, but I'm pretty damn confident that if I played MIM Strats, Epiphone LPs and PRS SEs for 10 years without playing anything in the higher end spectrum, I would know that better existed because those guitars impose limitations on my playing. I realize now that I have nicer guitars that a great guitar won't limit you, and I really didn't realize that until I had already bought my Music Man.

[DreX]

Re: Every been tempted to just settle for one high-end guitar?

Agile isn't bottom of the barrel. Whenever I played a PRS SE, which get praised all over the web as some of the best imports, I thought that they were only marginally better than the Agiles I'd played.

I would say that being mediocre is definitely cause to say there is something wrong with the guitar. We can never say for sure, but I'm pretty damn confident that if I played MIM Strats, Epiphone LPs and PRS SEs for 10 years without playing anything in the higher end spectrum, I would know that better existed because those guitars impose limitations on my playing. I realize now that I have nicer guitars that a great guitar won't limit you, and I really didn't realize that until I had already bought my Music Man.

I don't know much about Agile's except their price point, which is about as low as it gets, and that they paint on the binding, which is just tasteless, so to even begin to compare them to MIA guitars is absurd.

How, exactly, do MIM Strats, Epiphone LPs and PRS SEs limit your playing?