The guitar thread

The guitar thread


  • Total voters
    83
25 years of playing guitar...

...and I still can't get past 45 seconds of bar chords without major hand cramping. :( + :mad:

Play bar chords until your hand cramps every day to try and build it up? I've struggled with the same thing, especially after breaking my left wrist in 2010. Only solution I found was to keep going until until I built the strength back up.
 
Has anyone here ever bought a Chinese knock-off guitar (especially an acoustic)?
 
Fuck it. I'm doin' it. I should feel terrible, and I probably will more so when I get it and it's crap, but it's an interesting experiment. My acoustic is failing and can't be economically repaired. I will someday buy the real thing, but my home's environment (humidity and temperature swings) would destroy a nice guitar, and I'd feel worse about that. :(

I'm buying a taylor knock-off. Their knock-off is all gloss, but I've asked them to make the neck satin, replace their unlicensed taylor logo with my own design, I've asked them to select very stripey rosewood for the back and sides, and make it with chrome hardware instead of gold. It'll have a different (cheaper Fishman PreSys) electronics system and bone nut and saddle. All solid spruce top, rosewood sides and back, mahogany neck. $418 all-in, roughly a 90% discount off the retail of the taylor it's modeled after. Now, I'm 100% aware that this will be NOTHING like the real Taylor. I'll be thrilled if it just plays like a $418 guitar, frankly.
 
Hmm...maybe not. I took a closer look at the photos, and the headstock design seems a bit long and thin...so thin, that it seems like the A and B strings would hit the E and E string pegs. Strange...brain says "Run away run away!"


Edit:
Hmm...even real Taylors have headstocks like that...hadn't seen that before. :think:
K24CE_headstock-front.jpg
 
Last edited:
I've enjoyed both of my cheap martins, especially my $500 00X1AE. And since only the top is wood, it is pretty resilient to harsh climates.
 
This is an experimental wild-card guitar as I have no idea what I'm really getting, but in my shopping for an acoustic, I've tried every guitar in the Bay Area, it seems, and I can't seem to find one I like for any less than $1,700 or so. :(
 
Never bought a Chinese knock-off guitar but I've been tempted.
Not to play or hear, because I can only imagine them being exactly what you'd expect for a ?150 guitar.
Just as a wall-hanger, really. Something like a Les Paul that looks very pretty but plays like shit even when it's a 3 grand real one where there's no point in buying real over fake.

There's a YouTube channel of a guy who buys a bunch and talks over their flaws;
https://www.youtube.com/user/Chinaguitarsceptic/videos

What I'd really love next is an 8-string classical guitar. I started out on classical guitar 15 years ago and love the sound, and I play an 8 string electric, so it's not a leap. Ibanez do one, but I can't find them :(
 
Last edited:
I thought about that, too...an ornamentation guitar...someday. Don't have the room in my 780sqft house to have guitars that aren't functional. :)
 
Well...having 2nd thoughts. There were some customizations I asked about that they couldn't do, which makes me think there would be others that may be able to accommodate. I've only ever watched China Guitar Sceptic's acoustic videos, but I see that he's been working with a manufacturer to build "his" model of guitar from scratch, down to the inlay design and headstock shape. I would love to do that, so I think I'm going to wait until I can find another manufacturer that can produce what I want.

It also is giving me more time to develop my logo. In a few years I want to start making my own guitars as a hobby, so I want to get it finalized before I trademark it...although...I could still trademark the name now...hmm...it still costs like $400, and I don't have an immediate need... :think:
 
I think that $400 would buy you plenty of wood blanks and tools to start luthiering yourself, though. If I had a little workshop type space I'd love to start that, but the thought of fretting a board would give me nightmares.

Instead of buying another guitar I think I'm going to pick up a few fret-working tools and have a bash at finishing off some frets on my guitars a bit better. Seems like it'd be worth learning, since a fret rocker, file and crowning tool seem to cost about the same as getting someone else to do one fret-job on one guitar for you. And I have a couple guitars I love that have just one or two high spots.
 
Found another seller than was a bit more flexible. Upgraded to an ebony FB, and the http://www.fishman.com/product/presys-blend-oem for an extra $50 total.

All in, it'll be an aesthetic knock off of a Taylor 914CE (retail around $4,500). I added a one-piece neck (most Chinese guitars have a bad joint at the headstock), satin-finished neck, all chrome hardware, and I asked them to select a very pale colored spruce top, and a very stripe-y rosewood back and sides.

I also had them NOT put a Taylor logo on it...it'll be my own design, done in (simulated?) abalone. Wish I could share the design (I really like it...hope it turns out). However, I want to use it for myself at some point, but can't trademark it until I can make a bona fide intent to using it commercially. Bah.

Should have an ETA on Monday, and the ship date is likely about a month away, + 15 days transit.

All-in, with a case, I'm in for about $565 with a decent-enough-looking case. I'm sure it'll play like crap, though (I'm very particular about fretboard radius and nut width)....but it still should be a fun experiment. Looking forward to playing with this Fishman system, too.

- - - Updated - - -

OK, well, here's a mock-up of the logo on what should be the headstock this guitar comes with, and with the hardware photoshopped to chrome. No, the name is not 'bad Ass" or "big ass" guitars. :)

Headstock2_zps2c3c1f70.jpg
 
Last edited:
We have a verbal agreement regarding the record, we are going with Sliptrick again, and we are going with the same promo deal as the last time so we will have to fork out some cash ourselves, but it's not a huge amount and the EP has already paid for itself and even returned some profit. :)
 
Stumbled on this set of videos the other day and thought some of you might find it interesting as well.

Jeff Martin is the singer and guitarist for a Canadian band called The Tea Party (He lives in Australia now, so we'll claim him as ours kthx).
I've seen him live many times, and he just makes it look so easy, when I know damn well it isn't.

Alternate tunings
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXhrRXNhoqKA57hM2E1cTQ5ed_NR26vk6
 
25 years of playing guitar...

...and I still can't get past 45 seconds of bar chords without major hand cramping. :( + :mad:

Not sure how big your hands are, but I find that playing bar chords the Hendrix way with my thumb on the bass is way more comfortable than arching my wrist down to form a traditional bar chord. Plus using the Hendrix method opens up all those cool hammer ons and pull offs since your pinky is free.
 
BTW, I've been MIA from the forum for a couple years now so I gotta tell you guys and gals about something really cool that happened to me guitar-wise.

I met this Scottish bloke from Chicago awhile back, an old hippy who lived in San Francisco in the 60's and used to run around with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, The Grateful Dead, etc. He's now a 70 year old retired electrical engineer.

He's played guitar since he was 7 or 8...basically for so long that he doesn't even remember learning. How cool is that? He knew I had a fairly cheap Les Paul asked if I'd be interested in a Fender Strat instead. Thinking that he was about to offer me one for sale, I said I probably wouldn't be in the market for one, but I appreciated the offer. I didn't tell him that I'd actually love to buy one, but my wife would kill me if I bought even another cheapo guitar at this point, let alone a Stratocaster. However, before I could even think such a thing, he replied with, "I didn't ask if you wanted to buy one, did I?"

His collection contains about 30 guitars, and he's never sold an instrument his entire life. Ever. I was not aware of this until afterwards. He also told me that one of his worst fears is that his guitars will be auctioned off when he dies, ending up in the hands of people who may not even play them.

When he offered to give me a 1956 Fender Custom Shop Strat, it completely blew my mind. I've never experienced that sort of generosity, especially not lately. I honestly thought I might wake up in a few minutes, cursing at the heavens for sending such a cruel dream to taunt me. But no. It was real.

Just to give a little more perspective: The guitar is worth 4 grand. That's more money than I personally made all of last year since I'm disabled. Not that I would ever even consider selling it, but just to give you an idea of its monetary value. But much more importantly, it has incredible soul and it represents the man's character. That's much, much more valuable to me than having $4000 in my pocket. To me, it's priceless.

He said he heard something in my playing, and he could tell that I would treasure that Strat everyday for the rest of my life. To hear someone say that, especially a guy like that, really, really means a lot. Anyway, he's really one of the coolest people on the face of this planet. I could listen to his stories for hours. Unfortunately though, I don't live near Chicago any more and I could only visit him for a day when I picked up the guitar as my wife had to be back home the very same night for work the next day (she's a busy gal).

The only thing I had to do was promise never to sell it and to pass it down as an heirloom, as he had passed it down to me. What an honor! That's almost like receiving the family sword...I'm still pinching myself.

1052698_10201349261283837_441486563_o.jpg


1065204_10201349262563869_638845107_o.jpg


1052584_10201349264763924_1396783954_o.jpg


Here's me playing a little improv blues:

 
Last edited:
That's a very nice story!
Congrats on the new guitar. :)
 
That's awesome! Good to see it went to a good home, and that you appreciate it!
 
Cool story, bro!:thumbup:

Thanks for sharing!!!
 
Top