I found a magical guitar!
I was in Thoroughbred Music when it was on Hillsborough in Tampa. This was an awesome store, especially before they opened the one in Dunedin at the historic Kapok Tree location. I had an afternoon while visiting the Bay area to play pretty much every electric guitar they had, new and used.
I knew I wanted a more Strat like guitar. I had been auditioning a number of guitars for months and had been impressed by the PRS EG-1 in a Ft. Myers shop. PRS only made them 18 months...their American strat copy (neck and pick up config) but with DUAL coil tap to give full humbucking sound when desired, for a Santana like tone). And here was a hand made electric (early 90's, before PRS started making low end lines) for just $800 with the solid color paint job. I had envied a Strat with the five way switch and the EG-1 was Paul Reed Smith's implementation of it, only with low buzz in single coil mode and much, much better mechanics and intonation up the fret board. And much longer sustain. But the one I had played in Ft. Myers was just "very good" and not at all "magical." I could wait.
At Thoroughbred they also had a selection of the EG-1's too. Maybe six different ones. I picked up a solids color one or tow EG-1's and they played well, similar to what I had played on in Ft. Myers. But the third one I picked up (last because it was priced at $1400 instead of $800) was a deep purple maple pattern. The looks weren't what drew me, although it was nice. There were weird grain glitches on the back which explained why it was tinted so dark and this wood used in their low end (at that time) hand made guitar.
Then I strummed it...even before plugging in. "What??" I was totally surprised. The volume was probably twice of any other electric I had played on and even unplugged this solid body had a nice ring to it. And it felt perfect. I tried a few riffs. My fingers flew and this guitar just "sang." The neck was exactly like a Strat, but somehow "better." So easy to bend the strings. So resonant and musical. I thought it might have been tuned down. But that wasn't the case. I suddenly began to have that feeling. I hadn't even plugged it in yet. I actually looked around the shop almost unconsciously to see if anyone else noticed.
I quickly plugged it in to a small tube combo amp I'd been using. Wow! In about 5 seconds it was obvious in my hands was a "magical" guitar. I had played on $8000 PRS customs (I don't particularly care for them...neck shape....tone), dozens of Les Pauls, Strats, Ibenezes, and lots of other hand made electrics over the past year, new and used in a wide variety of shops around the southeast. But I had never, never heard or played a solid body electric guitar like this one. Just simply "magic."
I knew within 10 seconds that I could not let this one get away and that I might never in my life ever find another one like it. And, truth is, I never have. I've been to nearly every major guitar shop in the US since then and have not found a solid body electric I like as well. Some are different and I would love to ADD them, but never replace it. And this was a reasonably priced guitar.
I traded my current guitar (a Yamaha A2000 I was using just to get by for a couple years) and put down some cash and walked out with the PRS EG-1. I remind you, not any EG-1. I wouldn't have settled for the others I'd played, though they were an improvement. But this one, was magic. That was in late 1994 and I still have not found a solid body electric I like better in any shop. Some are different, but if I had to play only one the rest of my life, it would be the one I already own.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Finging that "Magical" Guitar, pt. 2
Read the post below for the context...
I missed out on that rare "magical" guitar. Things just weren't aligned financially.
But I had gone from being unaware to suddenly keenly aware that a few individual guitars (whether electric, acoustic, or classic) were simply "magic," and that even the luthier who made them could not recreate that magic on cue.
Not to say the probabilities are not higher with a great guitar maker. And they generally turn out very good guitars. But none turn out "magical" ones consistently any more than A-Rod can always hit a home run at will.
I know. Magic can run in reverse too on guitars.
The first Olson I played on was selling on consignment in a high end shop in Orlando back in the early 80's. I knew nothing of Olson except that my guitar teacher in college said they were great and I ought to go look.
I traveled across the state and played it and frankly, was unimpressed with this particular one. It was a very "hard playing" guitar, meaning that you really had to work at it just to fret the thing. And it was adjusted properly. I checked. It just felt very tight...as if the strings were under double the normal tension. The tone was pretty good, but not really anything you'd write home about. Was I alone in this evaluation of this particular early Olson? (He makes a great guitar normally...that's my point here).
The shop was only asking $800 for it! Remember, this was pre-Internet and Olson was relatively new and unknown (he started in 1977). So way down in central Florida, where this guitar had drifted, though it was handmade, it had to stand on it's own merits, and not it's name. And the shop was only asking a fraction of it's retail value, despite it's being in mint condition.
It was apparently just a day when, for whatever reasons--maybe the woods, maybe other factors--it just did NOT come together. In fact, it was a pop fly that fell just short.
I wish I could say that was my last experience where one of the worlds top luthier's produced a guitar less than stellar. Years later I learned a hard $3600 lesson. But I'll talk about that in my next post.
I missed out on that rare "magical" guitar. Things just weren't aligned financially.
But I had gone from being unaware to suddenly keenly aware that a few individual guitars (whether electric, acoustic, or classic) were simply "magic," and that even the luthier who made them could not recreate that magic on cue.
Not to say the probabilities are not higher with a great guitar maker. And they generally turn out very good guitars. But none turn out "magical" ones consistently any more than A-Rod can always hit a home run at will.
I know. Magic can run in reverse too on guitars.
The first Olson I played on was selling on consignment in a high end shop in Orlando back in the early 80's. I knew nothing of Olson except that my guitar teacher in college said they were great and I ought to go look.
I traveled across the state and played it and frankly, was unimpressed with this particular one. It was a very "hard playing" guitar, meaning that you really had to work at it just to fret the thing. And it was adjusted properly. I checked. It just felt very tight...as if the strings were under double the normal tension. The tone was pretty good, but not really anything you'd write home about. Was I alone in this evaluation of this particular early Olson? (He makes a great guitar normally...that's my point here).
The shop was only asking $800 for it! Remember, this was pre-Internet and Olson was relatively new and unknown (he started in 1977). So way down in central Florida, where this guitar had drifted, though it was handmade, it had to stand on it's own merits, and not it's name. And the shop was only asking a fraction of it's retail value, despite it's being in mint condition.
It was apparently just a day when, for whatever reasons--maybe the woods, maybe other factors--it just did NOT come together. In fact, it was a pop fly that fell just short.
I wish I could say that was my last experience where one of the worlds top luthier's produced a guitar less than stellar. Years later I learned a hard $3600 lesson. But I'll talk about that in my next post.
Finding that "Magical" Guitar
Why are a very few guitars you play almost "magical" in tone and playability--even if they are the same model as others you've played? It's not the price, the make, or the model.
Certain individual acoustic and even solid body electric guitars just "have it" while others don't.
And I'm not talking about mere "stand out" guitars. Maybe one in ten of a certain model might "stand out" as significantly better than the others for some undocumented reason. I've seen this with Taylors and Breedloves. In a large guitar shop you can always find a few "stand out" guitars. But "magical" is something you only come across very occasionally.
I'm talking about an individual guitar that for some undocumented reason has almost "magical" tone, playability, resonance, and just transports you the instant you start playing it.
It has little or even nothing to do with:
1. Price
2. Who made it
3. The model number
4. What shop you found it in
5. The reputation of the luthier (whether Olson, Del Langejans, McPherson, Paul Reed Smith, Taylor or other) or how few guitars he makes per year or how long you had to wait for yours to be custom built.
But when you sit in a shop and you suddenly play a "magical" guitar, you instantly know it. Something just seems incredibly right, musical, and it's a joy to play.
Next thing you know you've played through half your favorite repertoire, even stuff you haven't played in months or years, and it just starts flowing. Your fingers just start going where they should go even though it's been a long time since you played that riff. It hits you, "This is why I started playing guitar!" And then a thought hits you like, "I may never run across a guitar like this one again."
I'm not talking about "collectors" guitars, those people pay thousands for and never play, and some of which are very mediocre or problematic from an actual player's perspective. Please. Find another blog or just collect art.
The first "magical" guitar I ever played was a custom acoustic, concert grand (i.e., smaller than jumbo) made by Ross Teigen in Naples, FL. Ross has some excellent boxes. One afternoon years ago on my day off I went down and played pretty much everything he had in his shop, while he continued to construct a new acoustic at his bench in back. All were at least very good.
But then, I picked up this little concert grand. As soon as I strummed a chord to check it's tuning an alarm went off in my head: Sound of the sweetest, most resonant type I had ever heard from a guitar was coming not just from my lap, but from EVERYWHERE around me. Never had I heard that sort of completely beautiful sound, from the sixth to the first strings, coming out of a guitar regardless of the price tag (on some guitars I'd played north of $4000). I instantly started into my favorite acoustic songs, solos, cool riffs. The most wonderful music I had ever played on an acoustic came out. Old stuff came to mind I hadn't played in three or more years just flowed without a single mistake or stumble. After about 30 minutes I dug into some old classical stuff from college days and again, though the strings were steel and more closely packed, it all came out without a hitch. Finally I tuned to DADGAD for a piece I was working on and new improvisations just started coming out.
And about half way through the thought hit me: "I MUST somehow have this guitar, if there's any way at all." Even as I played, I was totaling up items I could sell (pre-ebay days) and what cash I had in the bank. I had pretty much determined if it were $3000 or under it was an instant buy. And I hadn't even been in the market.
Unfortunately for me, Ross seemed to also have realized that somehow, one the particular day he had grabbed the woods, or maybe shaped it's pieces, or whatever, it all came together in a way that was beyond even his own ability to consistently control. He wanted $4500 non-negotiable. And that was about 1992 prices. With a new baby, and "life" there was not way. I looked at him as if to say, "You know about this guitar, don't you?" He did. He had two other "prettier" guitars of the same basic desig---that had more man-hours in them, but that weren't "magical," and were priced significantly less. I tried, "Gosh, Ross, these two are fancier and you've got them priced less than this plain old one." Nope. Not budging or negotiating. Drat!
But I determined not to let the next "magical" guitar slip away.
Certain individual acoustic and even solid body electric guitars just "have it" while others don't.
And I'm not talking about mere "stand out" guitars. Maybe one in ten of a certain model might "stand out" as significantly better than the others for some undocumented reason. I've seen this with Taylors and Breedloves. In a large guitar shop you can always find a few "stand out" guitars. But "magical" is something you only come across very occasionally.
I'm talking about an individual guitar that for some undocumented reason has almost "magical" tone, playability, resonance, and just transports you the instant you start playing it.
It has little or even nothing to do with:
1. Price
2. Who made it
3. The model number
4. What shop you found it in
5. The reputation of the luthier (whether Olson, Del Langejans, McPherson, Paul Reed Smith, Taylor or other) or how few guitars he makes per year or how long you had to wait for yours to be custom built.
But when you sit in a shop and you suddenly play a "magical" guitar, you instantly know it. Something just seems incredibly right, musical, and it's a joy to play.
Next thing you know you've played through half your favorite repertoire, even stuff you haven't played in months or years, and it just starts flowing. Your fingers just start going where they should go even though it's been a long time since you played that riff. It hits you, "This is why I started playing guitar!" And then a thought hits you like, "I may never run across a guitar like this one again."
I'm not talking about "collectors" guitars, those people pay thousands for and never play, and some of which are very mediocre or problematic from an actual player's perspective. Please. Find another blog or just collect art.
The first "magical" guitar I ever played was a custom acoustic, concert grand (i.e., smaller than jumbo) made by Ross Teigen in Naples, FL. Ross has some excellent boxes. One afternoon years ago on my day off I went down and played pretty much everything he had in his shop, while he continued to construct a new acoustic at his bench in back. All were at least very good.
But then, I picked up this little concert grand. As soon as I strummed a chord to check it's tuning an alarm went off in my head: Sound of the sweetest, most resonant type I had ever heard from a guitar was coming not just from my lap, but from EVERYWHERE around me. Never had I heard that sort of completely beautiful sound, from the sixth to the first strings, coming out of a guitar regardless of the price tag (on some guitars I'd played north of $4000). I instantly started into my favorite acoustic songs, solos, cool riffs. The most wonderful music I had ever played on an acoustic came out. Old stuff came to mind I hadn't played in three or more years just flowed without a single mistake or stumble. After about 30 minutes I dug into some old classical stuff from college days and again, though the strings were steel and more closely packed, it all came out without a hitch. Finally I tuned to DADGAD for a piece I was working on and new improvisations just started coming out.
And about half way through the thought hit me: "I MUST somehow have this guitar, if there's any way at all." Even as I played, I was totaling up items I could sell (pre-ebay days) and what cash I had in the bank. I had pretty much determined if it were $3000 or under it was an instant buy. And I hadn't even been in the market.
Unfortunately for me, Ross seemed to also have realized that somehow, one the particular day he had grabbed the woods, or maybe shaped it's pieces, or whatever, it all came together in a way that was beyond even his own ability to consistently control. He wanted $4500 non-negotiable. And that was about 1992 prices. With a new baby, and "life" there was not way. I looked at him as if to say, "You know about this guitar, don't you?" He did. He had two other "prettier" guitars of the same basic desig---that had more man-hours in them, but that weren't "magical," and were priced significantly less. I tried, "Gosh, Ross, these two are fancier and you've got them priced less than this plain old one." Nope. Not budging or negotiating. Drat!
But I determined not to let the next "magical" guitar slip away.
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