TONE QUEST: Did you get MORE or LESS picky over time?

[Securb]

You don't see piano player or sax player or violin player discussing gear. They focus on playing. How does that make you feel? I feel like a second class citizen really...lol.

Those musicians discuss gear and chase tone as much as we do. My buddy Marc plays sax professionally on Broadway. He has more horns than I do guitars. Tenors, Altos, Baritones, Clarinets, Flutes...the list goes on. His main axe is the Tenor and I know he has at least 4 that are in the $3,000 - $4,000 range. My best friend is a jazz pianist and is always chasing gear and tone. He is always looking at different phasers and choruses to use with his Fender Rhoades settings or rotary pedals for his B3 tones. He just picked up yet another keyboard amp.

 

[PFDarkside]

Those musicians discuss gear and chase tone as much as we do. My buddy Marc plays sax professionally on Broadway. He has more horns than I do guitars. Tenors, Altos, Baritones, Clarinets, Flutes...the list goes on. His main axe is the Tenor and I know he has at least 4 that are in the $3,000 - $4,000 range. My best friend is a jazz pianist and is always chasing gear and tone. He is always looking at different phasers and choruses to use with his Fender Rhoades settings or rotary pedals for his B3 tones. He just picked up yet another keyboard amp.

Guitarists are lucky that we have such cheap instruments. My brother has dated a bassoonist and a harpist, holy crap those are expensive. Like more than a small car expensive.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Those musicians discuss gear and chase tone as much as we do. My buddy Marc plays sax professionally on Broadway. He has more horns than I do guitars. Tenors, Altos, Baritones, Clarinets, Flutes...the list goes on. His main axe is the Tenor and I know he has at least 4 that are in the $3,000 - $4,000 range. My best friend is a jazz pianist and is always chasing gear and tone. He is always looking at different phasers and choruses to use with his Fender Rhoades settings or rotary pedals for his B3 tones. He just picked up yet another keyboard amp.

I doubt that they get derailed from playing and getting better at their instruments which should be the primary goal in the first place. I doubt that your bud collects horns cause he suck at it...lol. On our part of the world you can get carried away with gear collecting and tone chasing and not care about playing anymore.

Generally speaking guitar gear collectors have too much disposable income and no other financial responsibility, and in most cases they don't play music to support their income. And usually they suck at playing, let's be honest. Now who wants to throw the first punch? Lol...

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

The thing that makes them professional is that they afford the appropriate time/attention to those things and focus more time on practice and networking.

You are right. They focus on practicing and not let themselves get derailed by gear collecting/ discussion like it is an entirely different subject.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

I was wrong about gear collectors. They do excel at their instrument and they do make a living playing music. I think I owe LPB and apology. Lol...

 

[beaubrummels]

I think musicians and collectors are the same regardless of instrument.

I'll just leave this here.
http://www.sheilascorner.com/collectordave.html
https://violin-collector.com/
https://www.ccviolins.ca/

Apparently, GAS has been a thing for a l-o-n-g time
https://theviolinchannel.com/original-letter-legendary-violin-collector-auctioned-month-tarisio/

 

[GuitarStv]

I find I'm way pickier about some things now than when I started.

Like the height of pickups. For several years I was afraid to touch them. Now every time I get a new guitar or pickups there's like a two week adjustment odyssey before I'm happy with their position. Or like playing a new amp . . . I used to plug in, set all the knobs straight up, maybe tweak the bass or highs a tad and then never touch them. Now trying a new amp I've got to fool around with the controls, write down settings, and do a bunch of comparisons (both with and without a band) before I've found a sound that seems right.


So it takes a lot longer for me to get the sounds I'm happy with now, but I think that my guitar sounds better overall.

 

[Securb]

I doubt that they get derailed from playing and getting better at their instruments which should be the primary goal in the first place. I doubt that your bud collects horns cause he suck at it...lol. On our part of the world you can get carried away with gear collecting and tone chasing and not care about playing anymore.

Their world is no different than ours. They will sometimes refer to someone as a "sax owner" rather than a "sax player" it is their version of the "blues lawyer". I am not trying to argue with you I am just stating facts.

 

[Top-L]

A nods as good as a wink. Hardly every time. How many times have I seen in my notifications that you have quoted and replied to one of my posts, only to see that you have already deleted it? I would say we are about even on that count.

Its like the kids fighting in the back seat on a long car trip.

LP stop hitting your brother. OC stop baiting him.

 

[Top-L]

I was wrong about gear collectors. They do excel at their instrument and they do make a living playing music. I think I owe LPB and apology. Lol...

What is mesmerizing is that I have never heard of any of those pedals.

 

[solspirit]

Generally speaking guitar gear collectors have too much disposable income and no other financial responsibility, and in most cases they don't play music to support their income. And usually they suck at playing, let's be honest. Now who wants to throw the first punch? Lol...

I've been in a many homes where expensive instruments are art, show pieces &, investments, that all fit into your " generally speaking" category.

 

[LLL]

I've been in a many homes where expensive instruments are art, show pieces &, investments, that all fit into your " generally speaking" category.

We've got a full-sized harp, baby grand piano and various other musical instruments strewn about.

But they do get used from time to time.

 

[Securb]

I've been in a many homes where expensive instruments are art, show pieces &, investments, that all fit into your " generally speaking" category.

My pre-mentioned best friend the Jazz pianist worked as a piano tech in college. Every time he went into a high-end home they would have a Steinway, Yamaha, or Baldwin grand piano that no one knew how to play. He said most pianos are bought as "furniture" not musical instruments.

 

[beaubrummels]

My pre-mentioned best friend the Jazz pianist worked as a piano tech in college. Every time he went into a high-end home they would have a Steinway, Yamaha, or Baldwin grand piano that no one knew how to play. He said most pianos are bought as "furniture" not musical instruments.

Rich people buy the nicest instruments (for bragging rights and just to have it) then invite competent players over to play it for them. Kind of like a king ordering in a jester to entertain them.

 

[Securb]

Rich people buy the nicest instruments (for bragging rights and just to have it) then invite competent players over to play it for them. Kind of like a king ordering in a jester to entertain them.

That is my buddy's gig now. When he isn't playing with his Trio an agency books him for cocktail parties. He hits the highest income zip codes in Boston and plays on these beautiful pianos that never get touched. Most of the people that book him are local celebrities, athletes, and c-level healthcare or financial services, folks.

 

[JamesPaul]

Rich people buy the nicest instruments (for bragging rights and just to have it) then invite competent players over to play it for them. Kind of like a king ordering in a jester to entertain them.

Time to work on my keyboard skills and try landing one of these gigs.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

My pre-mentioned best friend the Jazz pianist worked as a piano tech in college. Every time he went into a high-end home they would have a Steinway, Yamaha, or Baldwin grand piano that no one knew how to play. He said most pianos are bought as "furniture" not musical instruments.

For high society homes a grand piano is still de rigueur, even though today there are families where nobody plays.
It's simply part of the landscape - in those circles a household isn't complete without one.

 

[Aceman]

I'm a little more complex than just being "picky" or "not picky"

I can sit around the house and be as tone-knob-tweaky as I want to be. I'll dick around with high end pedals and whatnot to no end. Or, I can just show up, plug in twist a few knobs and not worry about it. And, I can get practical when needed too. Playing live will do that to you (not that my live stuff is practical, but it is a mundane rig to say the least.)

And, much like LPB - I can afford pretty much whatever gear I want whenever I want it. I might get something just to get it, or not just because I don't feel like paying X amount for a chorus or whatever.

Each of us has things that are important to us. And there being no right answer in music, if it is important to you, great. If not, that's cool too. You be you.

 

[Demanic]

I realized a while back that I have yet to exhaust the permutations of all of the decent, if not "bootique" equipment that's in my music room. I just have to keep training myself to use my (albeit augmented) hearing instead of my (equally augmented) eyes.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[solspirit]

We've got a full-sized harp, baby grand piano and various other musical instruments strewn about.

But they do get used from time to time.

Hahaha .. "strewn about"