JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Guitars and Guitarist Forum What's the next one? Is there a next one?

I wonder if there's others like me. Are you satisfied with the guitar(s) you have? Satisfied with the amp(s) you have?
Every now and then (more like every waking hour), I have thoughts of the NEXT guitar.

Not content with what I have, but want a particular tone/sound/brand that currently don't have. Here's what I'd like:
All the specs of the Fender Eric Johnson guitar, except in Surf Green.

How about you? Content?

Fender Telecaster Thinline:
the one with 2 SINGLE-COIL pickups

It still has that classic Tele bite, but the semihollow body fattens it up just enough. Plus, it's beautiful.

I am very happy with my current working guitars, that is a Collings 0002H acoustic (an awesome guitar) and my Mexican Tele. I am looking for Rio Grande Tallboy pickups for the tele. I love the sound I get with the tele, it's just that the Tallboys are so well balanced from string to string, and there is an additional presence that is stunning with the Rio Grandes.

The hollowbodies have a nice airy sound, and the sunburst is pretty classy. Good choice!

Hey Jack - I can't say I've ever heard those pickups. I hope that when you get them, you'll record some sound samples so we-ins can hear them.

In a word, no. I have never been afflicted with Guitar Acquisition Syndrome; don't know as I'm immune to it, but I've never been bothered by it.

My J-200 (which is an unnamed clone of the big Gibson) and I have been together for 35 years. It is and has been my workhorse, and goes everywhere with me, and that's not going to change. It has a no-name soundhole pickup, which is probably appropriate; like the guitar, I got the pickup because of the way it sounded.

I also have the Strat (3 years old), which was undoubtedly made somewhere other than the U.S. or I wouldn't have been able to buy it new for $300. I don't know where, because the serial number doesn't show up on any of Fender's databases that anybody's been able to find, and I'm okay with that. It has whatever pickups it came with, and they're fine. It doesn't leave the studio, because it doesn't have a case--only a gig bag.

Oh, and there's the banjo, which as y'all know got electrified this summer. It provides me the opportunity primarily to hear more banjo player jokes, of which I know way too many already.

That's more instruments than I got hands. Why would I need more?

Joe

Well I could not find the Tele Tallboys on a sampler, but there is a sampler with the Strat Tallboys. The Tallboys are essentially similar to the original Fender sound only with much more definition, clarity and balance from string to string. The Muy Grandes have more punch and will sound Stevie Ray Vaughn-ish in tone.
This link has samplers of various Rio Grande pickups, if you want to check them out. I am not sure how good the sound is on a computer unless you have good speakers attached, but you can have a listen.

http://www.riograndepickups.com/sounds.htm

Happy Birthday Tom Tracy

Hope ya get that green guitar you been wanting
Derek

Thanks for remembering my birthday, 10/4 good buddy.

A white guitar case...is that a Klein in there Tom? I've played two in my time, didn't really like either one. My dream guitar is one that I had the pleasure to play for a half hour in a music store in Ottawa, a Lowden O-10 cedar top, no cutaway. You pick it up, think the notes you want to hear, and there they are...it's like a massage, the amount of resonance this guitar has. But alas, for now, I'll stick with my Ovations and other select knock-offs.

Hi Marc,
It's not a Klein - I've neve seen any except in pictures. It's a white (Peavey version) of a Tele. I gutted and rebuilt. Now it's even more white and with a white leather strap. So I had to get a white case for it.
Ebay can be so helpful sometimes.

The Lowdens do have a nice resonance. I remember the same feeling once going into a music shop, and playing an instrument that just vibrated like the sound waves moved through your entire body. I didn't have tohe $2,000 at the time to get it. I've tried to find another acoustic just like it, but nothing compares to that memory.

I'm satisfied with my amps, but I'd really like another guitar. I don't have anything "Gibson-esque." I've been trying out various things for fun, but I can't really justify the cash right now. If I had $2000+ to blow I'd probably get either an LP Classic (the 60s neck feels great to me) or the 50th Anniversary Flying V, which is a little gaudy, but I absolutely loved the feel. There aren't any dealers nearby but I'd like to check out a couple of Reverends (the Manta Ray semihollow, the Roundhouse LP clone and the Volcano V clone). They seem pretty good for not a lot of money, but I wouldn't buy w/out getting my hands on first.

I've tried some Reverends at a trade show once. They just didn't feel right to me, but we all have different preferences. People that like them, love them. I'm just indifferent.

Years ago, I had an original '59 Gibson Les Paul, and an old Gibson SG (not sure of the year). They played great and sounded great, but the Paul was too heavy for my wimpy body to support all night, and the SG just wasn't flashy enough.

I would agree about getting your hands on first. It's always best to do a test drive. I try to do that - see how they feel/sound/look in a store, then see if I can get a better deal for the same model online. Granted, they are not the same guitar and there will be some differences, but if you can save a bundle of $$, it might be the better way to go.
I usually never find exactly what I want, so I end up making them myself.

The only guitar I've ever bought sight-unseen was my tele - I bought it online after trying out a bunch of Tele Customs and knowing that was what I wanted. This one I got super cheap because someone had stripped the finish off. Then the bridge pup died after a few months and it was badly in need of a refret, but those were fixable. On the other hand, it didn't have the two-volume, two-tone controls of a real early-70s custom, so I'm not quite sure what the guitar actually is. Perhaps a custom neck on a standard body? Despite that, it's my favorite guitar. I put a Hot Rails in the bridge and it really sings. I can't look at it like I got ripped off, because it's such a great guitar, but at this point I'm not buying many guitars so I need to know what I'm getting.

I have a Harmony from the sixties before that line turned into Penny's specials.
I like digging into the strings and have played heavy metal chords on the electric guitar to start out.
But I would like a newer guitar that sounds most like the older strat copies so I can have more sharpness in the playing.
Many of the newer guitars I have tried have the ease of play of putting my fingers through warm butter, yet I can not find the tone of that old guitar.

I started out doing alternative rock and new wave and playing synth.
Yet it was the earlier form of new wave that was more punk oriented and inventive with sounds I aspire to.
Roxy Music, Talking Heads, and a fondness for The Clash.

Now that I have a better recording setup and knowledge of it I am examining the sound more closely, including the guitar.
I am a minimalist that wants to make every sound in a song count, there has to be some guitar I overlooked.
Maybe it's more imagined on my behalf.
But the newer guitars sound kind of digitized.
And I also favor tube amps.

VDickinson - I hear ya. Sounds like whatever you actually got, and with the customizations, you made it YOUR instrument. I like the Hot Rails pickups.

Mattbanx - I think I had a Harmony once. Probably my first guitar. Not sure whatever happened to that one.

It is hard getting a "vintage tone" out of the modern instruments. I think a lot of has to do with good seasoned wood and the finish. My favorite tonally is nitrocellulose lacquer, perfect for tone, bad for the environment, so most companies shy away from it, or you end up paying a lot more for environmental reasons. I built a guitar once, and assembled it before I applied any finish. It sounded awesome - raw wood. I finished it in a metallic blue enamel, and the tone was gone! I stripped the finish off completely and got the sound back.
Probably why John Lennon stripped the finish off his Epiphone Casino.

I've got 3 electric guitars, one beautiful black Telecaster, which is my favourite to record, one Epiphone SG, which is my favourite on stage, and a Squier Strat, which was my first guitar but it needs repairing. I'm happy with my electric guitars.

However, I have a cheap electro-acoustic guitar and I'd quite like to get a better one, a Martin perhaps. Maybe one day...

I have actually recently downsized my equipment, sold off a few toys on eBay and I'm not missing any of them, so this was the right decision for me. My home studio is in my bedroom and my partner was starting to complain at the space this was all taking!

Tom Tracy:

The body of my Harmony has a rosewood finish.
It is hard to tell though if the modern guitars colors are more for display then the substance of them.
I could not tell one substance from another from looking or touching.
It's like trying to tell genuine wood from well crafted formica.
I don't know how enviromentally unfriendly my small rig would be.
I have heard that the tube amps are.
The smog from the unregulated factories in other countries can be seen on the Pacific coast of the U.S where stuff is made now nonetheless.

I was thinking of getting a guitar and adding a finish to the body.
I remember a post here about how a sticker inside a guitar can affect the sound.

A coating on a guitar would most likely affect the sound.
I have heard of it being done.
Can't remember where though.

Hi Natalie,
Thanks for sharing your input.
I love the tele's. I'm thinking of converting the one I made back to "vintage" specs. Get rid of the humbuckkers and go for the stereotypical single coil bridge biting tone that they are known for. I had a Gibson SG once (you can see a pic of it in the Song Challenge Halloween thread). Epiphone makes nice quality stuff too (I have an Epiphone in my top 5 I use right now), and I've had several Squier Strats over the years.

As far as the acoustic goes, better doesn't always mean a particular name brand. Find one that feels and sounds right to you. There are so many out there and so many differnce choices. I have a high-priced acoustic guitar, but I find I'm using a really inexpensive one even more because I like the sound, look and feel of it.

I passed the 'GAS' stage about ten years ago in my mid-forties and became a serious collector, when through a job, I began doing appraisals on guitars and amplifiers for an employer in 2001... Before that, I'd had my share of Gibsons and Fenders and was down to a couple that I thought really defined my sound and playing. After learning appraising and finding out what it was that top artists looked for in their instruments and amplifiers, what was most requested and why... I started seriously buying, collecting... and playing the instruments at a different level.

Even though I left that appraisal job in 2002, I still get calls and referrals from players, collectors, luthiers and guitar buyers and sellers who knew me then. For me, learning as much about instruments as I could turned out to be a far more valuable networking tool than just acquisition ever was and though I still get a charge out of a great find, I approach the purchase more academically.

That said... next year I gotta get a Paul Reed Smith!

Tom, being a guitar guy, (among other things)< you would love to met THE guitar tech, (Peter Brown of Collingswood, NJ) and see his work shop and talk guitars. He's only 27, but has been a master guitar tech for a few years now. Builds em too. Also wants tha perfect guitar. A real interesting, nice guy who is simply crazy over everything to do with guitars. You would also love to see some reproductions he did. Players from many states travel to his shop. He was asked to join "Rain" on their tour, to be their tech, since he did a few fret dressings and such for them while in Philly. He can't leave his shop though.

I have his number. Email me if interested. Roon would be glad to meet you there, I'm sure, as he's there often, if nothing more to hang out with Pete and watch him at work.

Wish I had some photos to put up here of some of his projects.

Happy Birthday too!

John

Hey Guys and Gals,
If your next guitar is a vintage 335 then pm me.
Rick

I want Rickenbackers and Gibsons and a Telecaster and yes also a Thinline (a Roger Rossmeissl design, the guy who designed most of the Ricks) in natural wood. I want a banjo and a new jumbo 12-string acoustic. I want a bunch of vintage keyboards like a Vox Continental and a Fender Rhodes, and I want a pedal steel guitar and a baritone saxophone and some old Moog synthesizers.

I want this guitar:

I don't think I've ever seen a Rickenbacker acoustic. Cool.

Post deleted by VDickinson

If I am permitted to dream, I'm looking to someday get an American made Strat. One with a couple of single coil pick-ups and a humbucker in the bridge position. Ebony fretboard, if I can get it, with fat frets. Tri-color sunburst with gold hardware. While we're at it, I want a Fender Twin Reverb too.

The amp may be in my future sooner as my son is aquiring my equipment by osmosis. If its there, its his...

Easy one--Gibson 335 with a nice wood-grain finish. I've been hot for one of those ever since I saw the picture of Keith Richards playing one on the back of the Get Yer Ya Ya's Out album--when I was a kid. Plus, all of my electric guitars are solid body--I'd like to try the semi-hollow body. A little pricey though.

Eric

Hey Eric - you should contact Rick (ARGO) above!!


Mark - you don't want much do you?? I too, love that Rick acoustic.

Rick - Sounds like a pretty classy Strat there. There are so many cool amps out there too - I've been eyeing the Carvin Belaire for some time. But I don't have a Fender, and I like them...

FROSTBURG huh?
I drive past you at least twice a month heading on Rte 68 (or is it 70) there. I've gotten off at the frostburg exit and eaten at the Subway just a bit north of the exit a couple times too.
You're not too far from the "rebuilding of Noah's ark, huh" thought I don't think Noah used steel girders. One of my favorite sites on the commute.

My "next one" is changing.

Though I'd love that surf green strat, I've started the process for building the next one - a semi-hollow electric harp guitar. Current design has a 6 string guitar neck, six bass strings, and a 4-string mandolin-type neck. I'll post pics as it gets closer to completion.

Tom

Yeah, it's a good thing Noah was a little quicker building his ark. They've been working on that one for at least thirty years At one point back in the eighties, one of the ministers ran off with a couple hundred thousand dollars--and the church secretary. Guess that set 'em back a while.

Yep, that's Rt. 68 running past us. Frostburg's a pretty nice town--ideal for raising kids.

Eric

Hey Eric, is that really a Shakespeare tattoo? I bet you get ALL the librarians!

Yep--I'm an English teacher, what do you expect??? Ha ha.

Marion....darling librarian

Eric

I want Tom Tracy's Surf Green Stratocaster.

HA! It doesn't exist. I'm finding from going back and forth between my instruments, that I like the feel of a tele better than the feel of a strat, but I like the sound of a strat.

So I'm thinking of making a surf green tele body, with strat neck, electronics, and vibrato. I'm also going to do the body contours like in my other homemade Tele. This should be a fun project.

I'm also still in the process of building the harp guitar.

Yep, now I want one of these too...

Hey Mark!
this isn't exactly what I wanted, but it's pretty close. I had some extra parts laying around and I wanted to try an experiment. So I made my own TeleStrat. It has a v-neck like the '57 Fender, Strat tremolo, I carved the back and arm rest in the Tele body to be more comfortable like a Strat, painted and reliced it. It also has the EMG Gilmour signature pickup set in it, and plays like a dream. I might relic it some more - it's a fun process.

Hey Tom, it is pretty like it is, don't screw it up with that relicing b.s. That was someone's scheme to sell a piece of crap on Ebay for more money, and somehow it became a fad. It will pass and all those screwed up guitars will be worth less than they would have.

Hey Jack - The story I heard was that the "relicing" concept started at Fender - they were making a custom replacement for Keith Richards' 5-string main guitar - since his was pretty beat up. They made everything to the original specs and when he got it, he complained that it looked "too new." So they did something they had never done before, and started aging it. So if this story is true, it's all Keif's fault.

As far as mine goes, the body has already been reliced a bit, if you were able to look closely (which you can't cause it's a bad photo), you'd see that this wasn't a real Telecaster body. It started as a Peavey something-or-other that was "almost" Tele shaped. The body had a series of holes that didn't line up with anything, and so I had to fill them in. The hole patches showed pretty bad, and instead of taking the time to fix it up nicely, I lived with it. After all, this was for me and not a client, so I didn't care how it looked. Also the temperature in my unheated barn in WV right now is not ideal for painting, and the lacquer coating was not the best I've done. For some reason - and I found it interesting - the clear top coating yellowed in spots. You CAN see that a bit in the photo, bottom right area where the arm rests. In other spots, the finish never cured right either (must have something to do with spraying in freezing conditions), and sections were gummy, so I scraped those areas off, exposing some of the original Peavey white and ocasionally bare wood.

The only pickguard I had available (who knows how old it was) was already cracked and shrinking a bit - notice the screw hole down near the bottom tone - it's broken off.

I have no intension of "aging" the neck or rusting the hardware. I know the guitar's not worth much of anything, and probably never will be - but I like it, and to me, that's all that matters.

Thanks for checking it out!

I have a Les Paul Studio and I love it but, it is a little "plain". One of these days I am going to get a tobacco sunburst or a gold top...It doesn't have to be the "reissue" either. Honestly the LP Studio is the FIRST guitar I have ever been really happy with. I got the LP bug real bad though honestly getting a custom is more of an ego stroke off than anything else. I know guys who swear that Paul Reed Smiths are way better but, I never see them with Tone and Volume Controls for both pickups and I really don't pursue the Carlos Santana/Alex Lifeson tone anyway.

I also have a real jones for little tube amps. I started close miking a little Fender Champion 600 with a ribbon mic and the result blows away any amp modeling software package I have ever owned. I live in a condo and I can actually turn that little amp up to 7 or 8 and get a real nice sound and have never heard a single complaint. I can't help but wonder how a Dr Z or a Lionheart would improve a sound that I am already pretty happy with.

www.reverbnation.com/mortalengines

I've invested heavily in gear in 2008, but there is still some items due for 2009. A guitar is not really on top of the 'need-to' list, but absolutely on the 'want-to'. One of the best investments for Guitar in 2008 has been the Line 6 Pod Farm software, which is great value for the money if you have a powerhouse of a computer, as it really is tough on the RAM's. But I really like the smooth sounds you can get out od it.

I really would love to upgrade my accoustic to a Gibson Hummingsbird or a Martin D-28, and have decided that I will when the first money from songwriting hits the mailbox. So it could take forever!

But I think I will invest in a good Godin guitar with a built in 13pin jack for my guitar synth. I love to play with that thing, and Godin (Canadian) makes great guitars.

This is my latest Toy. Its a Fernandes Nomad Deluxe Travel Guitar
Built in:
Amplifier,
Amp Modeling,
Digital effects,
Drum Kit,
Tuner,
Speaker.
Runs on 9 Volt Battery

Nothing better to take with you and Jam. No Longer on the market.
I got mine used on Ebay and had it sent directly from the seller
to Fernandes for a once over. Paid less than $350 including all
shipping and Repair at Fernandes, for a $600 guitar.

Nice one, Danny - a complete one man band. If you get teh Syntrax DAW for your mobile phone, you are really up and running :-)

Actually I'm looking for a travel guitar. I know of the slim Martin, but I would like one that can be dismantled/ assembled easily, so it fits within a suitcase.

Anyone know of something like this?

Magne,
Colapseable guitar: Here you go!
http://yourguitartogo.com/index.html
Also, the guitar that I have, they have a stripped down model and a bass guitar model that are still available new.
Doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it does have the
built in Amp and speaker, and can be plugged into a regular
amp as well if you like.
http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_dm...amp;_odkw=fernandes+guitar&_osacat=0

I've had my eye on this nice little Hagstrom, an HR- somethin' or other number. Sweet flame maple top, Les Paul configuration with only two knobs (who actually uses all 4??) and a slightly elongated body shape. Very nice guitar coming in at $600, but that'll be a while yet...

My "next one" has arrived. And with a baby due any time now, it will be my last for a long time. I've been trying all manner of Les Pauls for months now, and I finally found my guitar. I thought I didn't like the thicker 50s neck, and I was all ready buy a Standard Faded w/ 60s neck, but by the time I got enough money for it, the shop had sold it. So I played everything else they have and this one definitely stood out. It's a really, really nice guitar - it looks hot, feels great and sounds even better. 2008 Gibson Les Paul Traditonal:

There's just something so classy about the Les Pauls. My first electric (believe it or not) was a '59 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe. Man, I wish I still had that one - it would've been worth a lot!

Oh - congrats on the OTHER new family member on the way!

Thanks! New baby + new Lester = best month ever! I'm getting in as much playing time now as I can...