I know I know…I’ve got enough..BUT if I were possibly maybe going to get another guitar, what would it be?

Not too many posts ago I whittled on about Taylor guitars and their factory tour.  One of the guitars this introduced me to (and I fell in love with) was the T5.  The T5 is what you’d call a hybrid guitar.  In short these are guitars that sit somewhere between an acoustic and electric in the fact they have a mixture of pickups; usually a mixture of piezo and magnetic.  Now I love my Cort Earth Grand acoustic but one of the points I don’t like about it (and many other acoustics) is it’s size.  I just don’t get on with full on acoustic guitars…I find them too bulky.  Hybrids again seem to be in the middle here.

So far I’ve seen such models from Taylor (as above), Ibanez in the form of the Montage (thanks Dave) and I’ve also heard of a Crafter AS and Parkwood Hybrid.  I think over the coming weeks I’ll be doing a little homework!  I’d love to head off to try some but I just know I’ll end up needing another wall hanger!

Well it seems the ‘end of the road’ has been delayed a little further.  Time is a premium at the moment so I’ve been ensuring that I’ve been using it as best as I can.  That means not starting up another project…well not just yet!

Over the year I’ve loaned a number of my guitars out to friends due to limitations on time…and lets be honest you can only play one at a time.  I think if you have the opportunity to (e.g. you have alternatives), this isn’t such a bad idea.  Obviously here you need to trust the folk who’re taking your babies away.

So what went ‘away’…well my Benford Custom and Podcaster went to my friend Steve and my Cort Earth Grand disappeared off to another buddy.  These weren’t loans that lasted a week or two but 6 – 8 weeks.  So why a good idea?

Well the guitars mentioned above are the ones always got used / noodled with.  I did use my others but these were my goto guitars (well the Bendford Custom and Cort).  Whilst they were ‘away’ I started experimenting with other guitars which in turn meant I’d investigate different Amp setups on Guitar Rig.  One that I really fell in love with again is my Vester Strat Copy.  It doesn’t have the greatest setup in the world (action a little high), but I actually like that as I find it adds a bit of a challenge to my learning experience.  It seems to be logical that playing a perfectly setup guitar all the time must have a few downsides right?

Next was my Variax.  Now this has always been up there for in in terms of the guitars I’ve purchased new.  It plays fantastically….IMO I don’t think the setup could really be any better.  There’s still part of me that feels the guitar is a little gimmicky, I feel like it’s the musical equivalent of a fake CK belt you may buy on holiday, looks real, feels real but in the back of your mind you know it’s fake.  Now there’s nothing fake about this guitar but with it’s accessories it just feels…well different (by accessories I mean the power box etc).

Now…the best bit about all of this….the return of my Benford.  I’ve fallen proper in love with guitar all over again.  Now I just have one more immediate challenge.  I’ve gone back to unstructured/unplanned noodling instead of practicing.  I’m learning bits and bobs as opposed to full tracks – this is the next item to change now the new Flabby Toad studios is live.

 

Evening all!

Time flies when youve been spending lots of time in your new studio thrashing away. Yes thats it. Cat Studios has officially closed and has been replaced by Flabby Toad Studios. In other words Ive moved from a nice big room with lots of space to a much smaller one. Oh and I call it a studio…more or a play room really.

Photos to follow … well sometime in the future.

This may well be one of my last posts on MGB as Im contemplating a new more generic site which has a slightly wider focus than just me and guitars; hopefully a little more about recording and other musical interests. Well see though…as ever time is the issue.

Im going to bugger off now but will return hopefully in the morning with a few other thoughts (when Im on a pc)

Now before we start i start I feel that straight away I have to admit Ive always disliked PRS guitars. Why? Not a bloody clue. They look fantastic, I hear theyre just amazing to play but yet I cant stand them.

I think the price for these guitars has something to do with my dislike (maybe even objection) to them. Yes theres the value SE range but the USA models easily head in the multiple of thousand of our Earth pounds.

I’ve sort of had a paradigm shift (just a little one at this stage).

Like many manufacturers PRS use CNC machines to produce a constant quality of part. However, the quality control, attention to detail and labour intensive approach to finishing is just amazing.  I have to admit Im starting to understand a little better.

How do I know about this? well yet again Ive been on YouTube looking at guitar factory tours. I really recommend you do the same if youre remotely interested.

A week or so ago I compiled a brief post about Bob Taylors book; thats Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars. I read the book in just a few sittings and since putting it down I came to the realisation that I really know nothing about the construction of a guitar. I know a little about electrics but acoustics are 100% a mystery.

Ive read the odd forum post over the last 12 or so months about some factory tours being posted on YouTube so I did a search for Taylor. There they were…a bunch of videos where Bob himself walks you through the factory guitar building process in all its glory. I found it amazing. In his book Bob speaks very highly of CNC machines as they enable near identical, high quality parts to be manufactured consistently. You get to see these things doing what they do best. What I found most impressive is the number of machines and processes Bob had made or influenced himself. These vary from machines that bend the side pieces of a guitar to electrostatic finishes being applied by robots.

If you have even the slightest interest in guitars I urge you to go take a peek on YouTube. Its a most fascinating process.