Simplified guitar taste as the years go by?

[ZR]

When I was younger I liked guitars with all the options. I would like the LP customs, look at a Carvin catalog and price out a guitar with a bunch of super flame tops, mother of pearl inlays etc. More money better guitar I reasoned.

Now that I've entered the 60s decade this year, and even a few years back actually, I like the look of more plain top LPs, I dig the look of guitars without any fretboard inlays (like my Alvarez DY-62c, except for a diagonal line and a small fancy cut diamond dealie at the 12th fret.), I love the look of tarnished, full nickel hardware and not shiny chrome or gold, I usually end up with carved tops but there's something raw and elemental about a flat slab guitar, I hate that mother of pearl inlays along the edge of the fretboard and around the edges of the body = too much bling! I think some Schecters are that way, maybe LTD too? The Japanese did it right on my Alvarez Yairi by using 5, I believe, various shades of very thin wood binding (is that purfling?) around the body. Very understated. I've never owned a PRS but I own a USA Winger made by a retired Navy dude Brian Winger that is fairly PRSish. Although I think I might feel self conscious playing a top of the line PRS dentist/lawyer guitar. 

It's kind of ironic that when I was young and had less money I gravitated towards the more expensive guitars and now that I can afford about whatever I want I'm into simpler, cheaper guitars. Maybe I'm looking at them more as tools now, not pieces of art to show off and impress people with.

I also haven't bought a guitar in years now and have had my main tube amp (zinky Mofo) for years. Funny how the less time I spent looking for my next gear fix the more I would actually play and even practice! 

Have any of you changed directions, tastes, preferences in guitar or gear over the years? Can anyone relate?

[crunchee]

The longer I play/older I get, the more I like playing a traditional Tele.  Ash body, maple fretboard, traditional Fender Tele bridge with three brass saddles for six strings, that kinda thing. 

Been through a crapload of amps over the years and never really settled on a particular amp until a few years ago, when I got a 18-watt Marshall Model 1974 clone amp from HFC member Fractal (the Model 1974 is a supposed clone itself of the ancient Watkins/WEM Dominator amp circuit), and I haven't looked back since. 

I also finally found a Strat I like, after years of trying to like several of them with zilch success.  Alder body, maple fretboard, big-headstock Fender neck, Callaham vintage trem-style Strat bridge, and Fender '69 CS PUs.  I haven't bought a new guitar in over a year, I'm actually happy with what I have nowadays, and I don't have an urge to add to my small stash.  I do still look, but used gear pickins' and prices ain't like what they used to be.

Edited December 28, 2024 by crunchee

[diablo175]

I'm the 59 YO idiot still tilting at windmills, trying to find the guitar that will somehow magically enable me to to play the way I've always wanted to play. I'm too thick skull-ed or hopelessly dedicated to pursuing that objective. As such, I still prefer the features and performance characteristics I've been insistent upon for the last 20-some years. (42 years if you count the acquiring of my first Floyd-ed super Strat.) Still like my garish and flamboyant finishes. 😆

I have managed to make peace with hard tails/fixed bridges, short scale and less than 24 frets, along the way. Perhaps that's the extent of simplification of my tastes.

[Steve Haynie]

There are no regrets for the quilted or flame maple tops on some of my guitars.  Today, the only thought is about the tone of maple, not the look. 

Big inlays have never been a selling point to me which is good because those PRS Dragons are so expensive. 

[hamerhead]

I  prefer 'players' to anything 'collector' or with a perfect finish. I mean, I love looking at all the gorgeous flametops and quilts - that never gets old. And the late '50s/early '60s Gibsons always make me drool. But as far as owning or playing them, nope. Too afraid of causing harm to be comfortable. The first dinger in my then-new Shishkov really sealed it - my noise-makers need to be used and (slightly) abused.

Amps never changed. I've tried a bunch but Fenders have ruled the roost since the first '64 Vibrolux in '71 (I was 12, still have it). With the right pedals out front, I get whatever sound I need. Which is why the SuperChamp was so great - the pedals are already built into the front end, coupled with a killer warm Fender tube power amp section. The only way to make them better would have been to build them here. After finding out they were discontinued, I bought my spare back from a bass player buddy. LOVE these things!

The bottom is from the '80s (about 2" deeper than the original), now with an Eminence Lil Texas. The big sound from such a tiny package surprises everybody.

 

 

[VECTOR]

15 hours ago, ZR said:

When I was younger I liked guitars with all the options. I would like the LP customs, look at a Carvin catalog and price out a guitar with a bunch of super flame tops, mother of pearl inlays etc. More money better guitar I reasoned.

Now that I've entered the 60s decade this year, and even a few years back actually, I like the look of more plain top LPs, I dig the look of guitars without any fretboard inlays (like my Alvarez DY-62c, except for a diagonal line and a small fancy cut diamond dealie at the 12th fret.), I love the look of tarnished, full nickel hardware and not shiny chrome or gold, I usually end up with carved tops but there's something raw and elemental about a flat slab guitar, I hate that mother of pearl inlays along the edge of the fretboard and around the edges of the body = too much bling! I think some Schecters are that way, maybe LTD too? The Japanese did it right on my Alvarez Yairi by using 5, I believe, various shades of very thin wood binding (is that purfling?) around the body. Very understated. I've never owned a PRS but I own a USA Winger made by a retired Navy dude Brian Winger that is fairly PRSish. Although I think I might feel self conscious playing a top of the line PRS dentist/lawyer guitar. 

It's kind of ironic that when I was young and had less money I gravitated towards the more expensive guitars and now that I can afford about whatever I want I'm into simpler, cheaper guitars. Maybe I'm looking at them more as tools now, not pieces of art to show off and impress people with.

I also haven't bought a guitar in years now and have had my main tube amp (zinky Mofo) for years. Funny how the less time I spent looking for my next gear fix the more I would actually play and even practice! 

Have any of you changed directions, tastes, preferences in guitar or gear over the years? Can anyone relate?

I totally agree with the to much bling thing!

[mudshark]

I'm a Tele guy from the start, and I do love great sounding cheap guitars.

[Saul Goodman]

I like broken down shit.

[LucSulla]

I'm all over the place. My last two purchases were an H535 and a MJ Jackson Rhoads. 

In the spirit of what you're asking though, I like guitars dedicated to producing a specific sound and purchase accordingly now. I've never desired a single coil option in an LP style guitar, and I don't want a tele with a humbucker. I've never cared for split pickups much, though I love what Charvel and others have been doing with their 5-way switches in their HSS guitars. I prefer all of that wired in though rather than having push/pull knobs or mini toggles.

So while I do buy the odd fancy guitar still, I prefer things to be the purest form of what they are supposed to be, whether that is an LP-style guitar or a strat. I have the luxury of being able to afford a lot of guitars, and if I need a strat or a tele for a gig, I'll just bring one of those rather than seeking some flavor of wiring of a two HB, 24.57" scale guitar that gets kind of in the ballpark. For the most part, I don't change pickups either, with the exception of the two LPCs I have, which I wanted to sound the same, and a Les Paul trad that I had and could never get along with the 59 Classics in. 

I like guitars that do one thing well and a little different from my other guitars for the most part. If they cover more ground in factory spec, then that is a cherry on top.

 

[ZR]

^^^^^

Good points! Long ago I finally realized I was always trying to make each guitar do everything I wanted by changing pickups, capacitors, switching etc. But, by doing so basically made them all sound the same! So now I can definitely relate to wanting each guitar to be more individualistic, true to its nature! 

 

[Saul Goodman]

22 minutes ago, LucSulla said:

I'm all over the place. My last two purchases were an H535 and a MJ Jackson Rhoads. 

In the spirit of what you're asking though, I like guitars dedicated to producing a specific sound and purchase accordingly now. I've never desired a single coil option in an LP style guitar, and I don't want a tele with a humbucker. I've never cared for split pickups much, though I love what Charvel and others have been doing with their 5-way switches in their HSS guitars. I prefer all of that wired in though rather than having push/pull knobs or mini toggles.

So while I do buy the odd fancy guitar still, I prefer things to be the purest form of what they are supposed to be, whether that is an LP-style guitar or a strat. I have the luxury of being able to afford a lot of guitars, and if I need a strat or a tele for a gig, I'll just bring one of those rather than seeking some flavor of wiring of a two HB, 24.57" scale guitar that gets kind of in the ballpark. For the most part, I don't change pickups either, with the exception of the two LPCs I have, which I wanted to sound the same, and a Les Paul trad that I had and could never get along with the 59 Classics in. 

I like guitars that do one thing well and a little different from my other guitars for the most part. If they cover more ground in factory spec, then that is a cherry on top.

 

My H535 is the standard for which I judge all other guitars for playability.

[velorush]

Yes.

When I was a kid (pre-actual guitar, early 1970's), I pined longingly for this magnificent axe featured in the Sears catalog (center top of page):

With "6 synthesizer-type effects(!)"  Never mind I didn't know what that was, I had to have that axe! Just look at all those switches!

I wound up with the cheapest on the page (lower right in inset) because, "he'll never stick with it." 🤣 They did pony up for the amp though.

Flash forward to about ten years ago when I wired my Gibson up with Seymour Duncan P-Rails (Strat, P-90 and humbucker all in one pickup) and the Triple Shots switching system.

 

Here it was! I had Strat sounds, P-90 Sounds, humbucker sounds (in series and parallel)! What more could anyone want?

Didn't last very long because instead of playing a song, I was too busy fiddling with switches and second guessing my choice in tone for a particular song.

As @murkat advised me after expressing disappointment in the guitar-utopia I had created, "make it a spaceship, not mission control." Some of the best guitar advice I've ever received. I put in a set of Lollar Imperials, RS Guitarworks pots and that thing is just right.

 

ETA: was just looking over the Sears description and found a number of errors: 1. "hardwood body," nope, it's plywood, 2. "rosewood fingerboard," nope, it's that wood they used on all those cheap guitars back then, dyed black, 3. the pickups are single coils stuffed into humbucker-sized covers.

I still have it, though it's in pieces at this point. I hope to get it back together just for giggles. There are a few missing parts and I'll have to get another pickguard made as I cut the original trying to replicate EVH's guitar. 

Edited December 28, 2024 by velorush

[ZR]

Oh crap man, I'm busted! Even after all I just said above. I actually have that setup in one of my guitars, the Winger PRSish one. 

The switching is so automatic for me now that I don't even have to think about it. I can easily go to the sound I want. It's the main guitar I use for recording demos because it's so easy to adjust the sound on the fly as I'm recording something instead of getting another guitar. For real recording I'd get more picky about each individual sound but it has worked well for that purpose. 

Now, sheepishly backing away from the keyboard...

[HSB0531]

I'm finding the years of experimentation have given me the wisdom to know in my head what I need to accomplish the goal, to achieve the sound.  And it is more of what gear I choose, and not how much gear I choose.

 

[velorush]

23 minutes ago, ZR said:

Now, sheepishly backing away from the keyboard...

Not at all. I'm glad (many) others are pleased with that system. The problem was certainly not a lack of good tones.

The problem for me was too many good choices - that generated a paralysis by analysis.  

[murkat]

never like tele’s, i do enjoy my strat. i’ve always been a gibson type player (scale, build,etc.) i enjoy what i have still.

[ZR]

One guitar that I was surprised to like so much was Tobereeno's TLE he brought over one night. I think it says Jimmie Vaughan on the headstock. Anyway, tele shapes just never did anything for me but that was a great guitar!

[HSB0531]

1 hour ago, velorush said:

Not at all. I'm glad (many) others are pleased with that system. The problem was certainly not a lack of good tones.

The problem for me was too many good choices - that generated a paralysis by analysis.  

This is So true for me also.  Mid 1980's it was a Lexicon PCM-70 multi-effects and a stereo setup.  Hundreds of sounds and variations.  I was spending whole weekends just trying little tweaks and blending/combining effects.  Nothing was accomplished. I got rid of it and rediscovered the basics.  Of course I wish I didn't get rid of it now but 🤷‍♂️

[django49]

5 hours ago, Saul Goodman said:

I like broken down shit.

So does my wife, apparently.

[cmatthes]

I love some of my blinged-out guitars - my Caddy Green Monaco III and my Shishkov DC w/3 PowerTrons - are simply unreal guitars, and I'll treasure those forever.  They've been gigged, and are killer in every way.  Those, my Shishkov Ultimate and Standards, are perfect for me.  
 

That being said, two of my favorite guitars to grab and play are a single PAF "FrankenBaker" LP style, and a homemade Esquire.  It does not get any simpler than those, and they are surprisingly great.

 

 

[JohnZ]

I love going through your thoughts, ideas and opinions. For me a hole lot changed through the years. Thinking about it and all the fails I messed up myself, my lesson learned is keep the original as it it is. I love all my gear now as diverse it may be. My main model on stage is a candy red centaura with the leslee mod I barely use, my two partscaster teles, the artist and the Godin Radiator. I like the variety of sounds and the fact how my playing is driven by it. My mood decides. Recently I got me an old Stagg Les Paul. When I got I realized that it was all original made in japan and so I only cleaned it, set it up and it sounds very nice. My current project is a Gibson SG 2010 which is missing electronics and hardware. I admit that I like to work on guitars, maybe as an escape to working on my skills playing them. And outcome is quicker! What‘s the topic?

[RobB]

My blingers are a GB10 and a Washburn MG120. Electronically they are pretty simple. All my other guitars have the usual, Fender/Gibson layouts.  

I’ve always played guitars like these. I would be distracted by a BC Rich switching/preamp system or a Sustainer. TBH, more like confused. I play better by concentrating really hard on the guitar instead of multiple sound options. 

[tbonesullivan]

I've never really been one for excessive bling. Yes, I do own and have owned some really "fancy" guitars, but that's only because it was the only way they really came. Right now, for the first time in a LONG time, I have a BLACK bass in my stable. Just, black. Sure it has fancy inlays and binding on the fretboard, but the body is just black. I like the look so much I'm almost thinking of giving up on a "Fireglo" Rickenbacker 4003 and just getting a black one, so I can truly be a Geddy Lee Fanboy.

A lot of this may come from having been a carvin fan for years, and watching people sink untold amounts of money into upgraded tops and inlays, which had zero effect on the sound and playability of the guitar. This also had zero effect on RESALE, so they were essentially throwing money away, yet they did, and continue to do so. OF course, plenty of people are still shelling out lots for custom covers on Mesa amplifiers, so I guess people will always love to spend money for something special.

[velorush]

18 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

I've never really been one for excessive bling. Yes, I do own and have owned some really "fancy" guitars, but that's only because it was the only way they really came. Right now, for the first time in a LONG time, I have a BLACK bass in my stable. Just, black. Sure it has fancy inlays and binding on the fretboard, but the body is just black. I like the look so much I'm almost thinking of giving up on a "Fireglo" Rickenbacker 4003 and just getting a black one, so I can truly be a Geddy Lee Fanboy.

When I was in junior high the local mom and pop had this magnificent beast in stock:

The Ibanez (though, at the time I thought that logo was "Abanez," along with the oddly French-named Gibson model, "Lay Paul") Eagle Bass with more MOP than all the other instruments in the store combined. I still think this is one of the coolest basses I've ever seen in person.

[tbonesullivan]

6 hours ago, velorush said:

When I was in junior high the local mom and pop had this magnificent beast in stock:

The Ibanez (though, at the time I thought that logo was "Abanez," along with the oddly French-named Gibson model, "Lay Paul") Eagle Bass with more MOP than all the other instruments in the store combined. I still think this is one of the coolest basses I've ever seen in person.

I really wish Ibanez would break out the old logo more often. That style of bass is really popular now. "Vintage" is in. They make some great strat style guitars, but only a few signature models have a "noodle" style logo, and it's also not as stylized as the old 70s logo.