Acoustics can use nylon classical strings or the more common dreadnaught steel strings for a guitar that takes the heavier strings and usually has a steel bar or truss rod in the neck. Both have their uses in music.
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Acoustics can use nylon classical strings or the more common dreadnaught steel strings for a guitar that takes the heavier strings and usually has a steel bar or truss rod in the neck. Both have their uses in music.
When buying a second hand guitar you want to check for a few things, such as are there cracks where the neck meets the body and such. Also, know that people buy guitars based on sound not price/looks. I mean price is a factor, but the sound is what makes an acoustic often. I would want to try it before I bought it.
Here's mine. It's modest but due to a bar code error I got it for $300, it should have been twice that.
I love it to death and recently started playing it more so I could put a sound to a few things I wrote.
Here's mine. It's modest but due to a bar code error I got it for $300, it should have been twice that.
I love it to death and recently started playing it more so I could put a sound to a few things I wrote.
Besides different setup look, is there a huge difference in learning how to play? I will be play electric guitar also
On any set neck guitar, it's a deal breaker when there is a crack in the joint, as opposed to just the finish where the two join which often cracks due to changes in moisture. Most of my vintage guitars have finish cracks there.
Some guitar makers, Gretsch before the '80s, used a faulty long term glue for the neck joint and many examples of those older Gretsches have major issues, but being such a collectible guitar, those old Gretsch guitars (and some other collectibles) are worth fixing with a proper, modern glue. Luckily, other makers such as Epiphone, Martin, Takamine, Ibanez, Yamaha, Alvarez, and Gibson had glues that held up over a long period of time.
Also many very old guitars, some of them very good and desirable have considerable cracks in the finish on the top of the guitar, and in most cases, this does not hurt its value. Ironically, for vintage collectible guitars, refinishing or repairing such cracked/checked finishes hurts the value even though it can make the guitar look better. Collectors sometimes like the cracks in the finish, plastic parts, as well as rust on the metal parts. It is also harder for a forger to copy and even purposely distressed guitars from actual big time makers, like the Fender relic series, still don't get it perfect.
Though the crack on the picture below looks hideous, it's beautiful in the eye of the collector. Many a great vintage guitar are ruined by having even a nice refinish done on them because after any refinish, old guitars simply don't look genuine. Check out an unaltered old electric with John Mayer. It may have dents and wear and not play like new, but even pros prefer such instruments.
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Oh, the irony. In actuality, Mayer's main guitar you have pictured is a relic'd Fender that he master-built with John Cruz and a few others; it's based on SRV's number 1, but in black. Looks and sounds amazing, but at the end of the day it's not a vintage guitar.
Really? That one looks so real, better than the distressed Fenders I see from my yearly Fender Calendar. Fender makes a cool distressed Joe Strummer Fender and it has a similar distressed look. Compared to my old '65 Tele, I can see where it's not quite the same, but it does have the basic used and distressed look.
Speaking about used looks, and paying more for purposely distressed guitars, such as the Fender Relics and the ESP Relics (I love the distressed Kirk Hammett guitar), it's funny how people spend huge money for distressed blue jeans. I saw some $200-$300 dollar pairs from the likes of True Religion and other similar brands that were purposely distressed. It doesn't quite look the same as a new pair of jeans that was actually worn for a long time and got distressed naturally. Whether it's jeans or Fender Custom Shop guitars, the wear on them is carefully replicated and "almost" looks real up close. On my old Telecaster, the finish on the back of the neck is worn off after years of playing and the dirt/mold has settled into the wood. On the Joe Strummer Tele or the Nocaster Tele Relics, you can see the sanding marks and that is the dead giveaway. Fender does their best to hide to mechanical wear, but it does not quite look the same as if many fingers had passed over the neck in a 30 or 40 year time period.
Same with blue jeans. The high end distressed ones don't look as sloppy as to look like a hack job with a razor blade, but a real distressed pair of jeans, besides the tears, also has thin spots in the denim, and the makers of fake "used" jeans still cannot get that feel. Plus the real jeans that are old are much softer than the purposely distressed jeans. A real vintage guitar has a worn in feel like a good pair of old tattered jeans. There is nothing like it, but these days, I am unwilling to pay the money it takes to buy a real '60s Fender, Gibson, or Gretsch. I should have never got rid of the '65 or '68 Tele, or the 'three '65 Gibsons I had. But back then, they were not quite vintage, but used guitars.
There was an article about it in a Euro Guitar mag; John helped build it on a visit to the Custom Shop. Most of the work was done by John Cruz with some other Masterbuilders having an input. The pickups are vintage spec and underwound, the finish is Nitro like on early Fenders. The rest of the guitar is based very strongly on the SRV #1 Tribute Strat (which was John's first real guitar).
wow, i have been looking for any left handed gibson but paul mccartney and elliot easton buy them all up!
I so want the real nitro/lead finish, not the stuff they pass off as nitro finish today. I build accurate replica boat models and I have a couple of thousand dollars of real lead based boat paint. It makes the models look more real as opposed to the non lead model paint substitutes.
Same on guitar, but only one local maker can get the original lead nitro paint. Goes on much thinner and lets the wood resonate better than a water based nitro hybrid finish, as any nitro in the US has been for more than 25 years now.
There are some poly finish techniques that can get on the guitar as thin as banned lead, vintage Fender nitro finishes. I can see where a nitro lead finish, as found on really old Martins and Gibsons, need an ultimate thinness for tone. But not so much on electrics, but it probably helps some to have a thinner solidbody finish, whether it's old lead nitro, or ultra modern (but expensive) thin poly finish.
well actually got it last friday, Musicians Friend sent me a new one Next Day Air plus a $50 credit because they sent me a scratch and dent one first and we needed it in time for my Bday/Superbowl party Sunday.
very pleased with it just need to get it setup with the intonation and all. I had already bought a Silvertone Acoustic Guitar for $50 from guitar center a couple weeks ago to start learning before I received my new Les Paul. So I just turned 21 Sunday, had my 1st beer (legally) and got my new les paul well I had some birthday money from my family so I went down to guitar center to get some Accessories ( tuner , picks, strap etc.) When I saw this little beauty. At first I just thought I'd get an acoustic to learn on and play mostly on the elctric, well I fell in love with both now! So I took back the Silvertone to GC and traded it for this Epiphone PR-150. it was $140 ( I was looking to only spend another $50 ) but I got home and saw the same guitar for $119 on Music123, well I went back and showed them the price and they credited me the difference plus %10 off another great deal. But besides all that I am really enjoying learning everything, it is hard coming from drums it very enjoyable if woulda know I woulda jumped into guitar a lot sooner .... Here is my new Acoustic which went from $140 to $112! (Oh don't mind my little black les paul on the background)
and got my new les paul well I had some birthday money from my family so I went down to guitar center to get some Accessories ( tuner , picks, strap etc.) When I saw this little beauty. At first I just thought I'd get an acoustic to learn on and play mostly on the elctric, well I fell in love with both now! So I took back the Silvertone to GC and traded it for this Epiphone PR-150. it was $140 ( I was looking to only spend another $50 ) but I got home and saw the same guitar for $119 on Music123, well I went back and showed them the price and they credited me the difference plus %10 off another great deal. But besides all that I am really enjoying learning everything, it is hard coming from drums it very enjoyable if woulda know I woulda jumped into guitar a lot sooner .... Here is my new Acoustic which went from $140 to $112! (Oh don't mind my little black les paul on the background)
Old Telecasters and a few strats, too
Here's a 1968 Fender Telecaster with factory Bigsby, 1965 Telecaster, and a 1978 Telecaster. The other guitar is a Shiro by Aria semi-hollowbody.
For strats, there's a 90's Standard, '96 American Standard, '85 Squier Standard
Here's a 1968 Fender Telecaster with factory Bigsby, 1965 Telecaster, and a 1978 Telecaster. The other guitar is a Shiro by Aria semi-hollowbody.
For strats, there's a 90's Standard, '96 American Standard, '85 Squier Standard
