how it feels

[j5]

so it seems that there are a lot of players around here with some GAS. i'm definately one of 'em.

but... everytime i walk into a gc or a local store, i never find one that "follows me home."

there's a lot of talk on this board about finding the right one...
but for me, everything i play feels good. i don't think i've ever played a tele that's a dog.
i'm not a long time player, so i don't have much knowledge as to what a guitar is supposed to feel like.

if every tele feels right, do i base my chioce solely on sound???
or are there certain things that i am overlooking?

-j5

[spyder]

Ho...its a combination of things...if a guitar doesn't feel right, a player is probably never gonna be completely happy with it...even if its an expensive piece...sooner or later its outta here....*feel* can mean different things...but normally the neck profile and fingerboard is were the action is...if its right, a person knows it the second its fingered...if a buyer is serious, the axe is halfway out the door......my current telecaster was like that....I liked the way it looked hangin'....but the feel of the neck clinched the deal....thats probably as fast as I've ever bought a guitar....color as well as other specifics can come into play....but if that neck fits a players hand perfectly...specifics can become non- specific real fast....later, spyder

[hekawi]

a buddy from work tried to sell me his gibson sg, let me take it home to try it....felt like crap. hated the the neck, felt wide and if you can understand my meaning, kinda dry. body felt weird, hated the pointy horns. it was light weight, though. the sound was really hot, maybe too much. seemed limited in the sound range, like just for rock. took me about 5 minutes to decide thanks but no thanks.

[newbie]

i'm not sure wether it's good or bad, but i've had 3 guitars that were "the one" for me, and should have had 4. they were all three acoustics, same brand, same make/model. and they were all 3 bought sight unseen, used off of various websites including ebay. (there's something cool to me about finding a killer deal on an instrument you've never played. sorta like opening christmas presents!)

i had to sell #1, i was stupid and sold #2, and i currently own #3. i went through about 15 different acoustics to find those three (and remember the three all are the same. well actually #1 & #2 were 810's, #3 is an 810ce.)

#4 was a ice blue '68 refinned in about '75 with a bigsby that just seemed too good to be true on the internet so i passed instead of calling the guy. turns out the guy was legit, and the guitar was godzilla! the price? $800. :( :evil: :(

but anyway, to the point of my post. there's something about new instruments that just absolutely turn me off. they seem so sterile, so without character. give me one with a few bumps bruises and sctratches for starters!

for me, with electrics, sound is third, behind character and feel (those 2 actually tie for 1st). there are just so many things you can do to change the sound of a tele. i mean, you take a 52ri bridge pup and slap it in a squier and you got a pretty good sounding machine as far as i'm concerned

[Joel Terry]

Originally Posted by spyder

I liked the way it looked hangin'....but the feel of the neck clinched the deal....thats probably as fast as I've ever bought a guitar....color as well as other specifics can come into play....

Pardon what might seem to be an odd observation on my part, Spyder, but I've often wondered if a guitar's appearance (color, etc.) ever influences the most world-weary professional players when buying an instrument, and you've answered this question. I just mistakenly figured with sound and feel being paramount, looks wouldn't really even matter to most pros (a la SRV, Rory Gallagher, Willie Nelson, and other players with notably scarred and gouged guitars.)

I don't know why I thought this; I guess I tend to stereotype them all as being indifferent at best about guitar "aesthetics" and concerned only with sound and feel.

Thanks,
Joel

[spyder]

Ho...I can't speak for all the world weary pros out there....but I fiqure things other than feel factor are at issue with a new axe....even for the pros.....the difference is a pro won't hook an axe simply because it looks like it should play decently....AND thats not to say all non- pros do....a pro has been down that road...probably more than once...its one of many things that give them pro status...its ingrained from experiance...if it don't feel right....it probably never will...don't waste time on it no matter how good it looks....later, spyder

[Butch Snyder]

When I bought my Thinline, I was really interested in them but wasn't really looking for one. When I went to the dealer, I saw this one. It had been there a few weeks. It was owned by a former employee. The action was high and the strings were junk. But, I loved the color and the whole vibe it had. I saw it not for its present condition, but for its potential.

I took it home, ripped the pickups out (They were junk) and popped in a Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue model bridge pickup and an American Standard Tele neck pickup I had lying in a drawer. It'll do until I decide what neck pickup to get. I put a new set of strings on, adjusted the action and the neck, as well as the intonation. The toughest part for me was getting used to the 7.25" neck radius and the small frets.

Again, I saw it not for what it was, but for what it could be. I rarely see a guitar in a store that I didn't modify. The only one I never touched was my 2001 Les Paul Deluxe...

Cheers,

[The Snowman]

it's like woman....or men ...if it plays great, sounds awesome..but doesn't have the looks, ya will never fall truely in love...ya need the whole package....I do not have one guitar in my collection that isn't a looker to me....I have well over 130 at this point but all have to fulfill the basic needs....play great, sound great and look great...otherwise..I let the other guy get it...it's like the Dead say....one man gathers what another man spills"...or, "one man's heaven is another man's hell"...
don

[eryque]

I've known a couple of pros that bought a guitar as much for looks as of playability. Pros can be gearheads too, and I don't think it's that uncommon to find one that has two guitars almost exactly the same in all respects except color. Remember, pro musicians have an image to maintain as well, and how cool your axe looks is part of that.

But, I doubt that any serious musician would buy a pretty guitar that didn't play well or sound good.

[telefreak]

You can play hundreds of guitars that will feel and sound good, or even great. But 'The one' is that guitar you'll play one day and it will feel like it's an integral part of your body, as if it was made to measure. It's kinda like the holy grail of guitarists, lord knows I'm still lookin

[Dacious]

I look for features, then sound unplugged, then any construction issues like twisted or badly aligned necks, poor fretwork, off-the-planet intonation. I worry least about playability - provided the basics are right I can tweak until happy. I like a medium action and bigger than stock strings. Then it's down to price.

[sjfoote]

Maybe it's just me, but I always concentrate on the mechanical aspects of the guitar - how well does the neck fit into the body, how does the fretboard feel, how is the finish holding up, how sturdy is the hardware? Those kind of things are what I look for since tone is so very subjective and setup preferences are different for each player. I think a guitar that is well made mechanically will hold up well over time, and that will lead to many hours of enjoyment with your instrument of choice!!

[Lance]

I'm a guitar playing tramp.....I'll play almost any guitar! There are some goofy things I've played in the past that were real junk but were a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I'll usually sell those guitars over time to fund other purchases. Example...a horrible little silvertone 3/4 with the amp in the case. What a terrible little guitar but so much fun to play! Then there was a weird Teisco thing I had for a while with a bunch of switches (half didn't work). It sounded great....not a "one"...but great.

What I've found is that I'll realize which ones are "the one" over time. Many guitars feel nice to me when I play them....it's the ones that keep calling me from the wall that become the mainstays.

For the last few years...the "one" has been my CS NOS Nocaster. Lately my new '54 Les Paul Goldtop really seems to be a new strong contender as a "one". That doesn't mean I don't like my others....but when I reach for a guitar, 9 times outta 10, it'll be the one. I think I can say, those two guitars will probably be with me until the end.