Tonefiend Forum

OK OK OK SO I REALLY DO WANT A RESONATOR UKE, (oops) and a resonator guitar, and a dobro, a mandocello and a mando-bass. And I want them NOW!!! And of course they all need to have pickups on them that would connect up to a giant ten foot across magnetic tape based Frippertronics setup with WAH WAH pedals all over it! Yes!

Sometime in the mid 90's I played a '48 Martin acoustic. It ruined me for any affordable acoustic. If I had the money a vintage acoustic, two great tube amps one vintage one boutique, and a couple of more custom made guitars. And then some odd ball stuff like a resonator and a hollowbody, Not that those are that strange but I don't have them and don't see myself buying them.

Quote from joe on August 25, 2012, 13:57
Variation on this theme: My beloved mentor at Guitar Player, Tom Wheeler, used to refer to "Wheeler's Prayer," which ran something like, "Oh Lord, please send me back to 1960 with $10,000." 🙂

Speaking of Guitar Player — during my tenure there, I did have the opportunity to play a number of obscenely valuable and historic instruments, and yeah — there are definitely a lot of beautiful guitars out there that I wish belonged to me and all my friends! But — pardon my sacrilege here — often, these iconic instruments aren't all that. Cool, beautiful, and inspiring, to be sure, but they're rarely magical keys that'll unlock some hidden aspect of your music soul. It sounds like a platitude, but it's true; The player's head, hands, and heart are 1,000 times more important than the minutiae of the instrument. Come on — you know Jimi would sound as bitchin' as ever on a Squier!

So I'd blow the money on a music-friendly lifestyle rather than absurdly overvalued axes. 🙂

The great thing about the music-friendly lifestyle is, that if you do it right, you don't need the million bucks or elite instruments. Hopefully our hands and our hearts see us through. (At least, that's what I tell myself after years of hard gigging with little financial reward...) Still, it would be nice to be able to fill out some of the sonic holes; I find it disgraceful that I don't own a Tele, decent or otherwise. Electric twelve-string? Yeah, I'd use it at least once a year! Thankfully, most of these things can be borrowed or rented if one really needs 'em for a week or two.

Quote from Schrodingersgoldfish on August 31, 2012, 06:30

Quote from Double D on August 31, 2012, 01:52
about the music-friendly lifestyle is, that if you do it right, you don't need the million bucks or elite instruments. Hopefully our hands and our hearts see us through. (At least, that's what I tell myself after years of hard gigging with little financial reward...)

I'm glad you have the faith to make it through all these years. I know that a lot of my fellow young musicians despair to be able to play their music in the future. It's always good to see someone fighting the good fight and not giving up.

"Mess with the bull and you get the horns, 'cause people like me are the stubbornest born.
I got to make it my own way, on my own time."
- from "Make It My Own Way" by Double D

Being a taurus helps. 🙂

Any instrument that speaks your voice and is in you reach is the business. The "million dollar" thing is just a red-herring, designed to draw the conversation towards the value of what we have, and what can do with it. 😉