Riffing off the conversation about Peter Yarrow covering the headstock of his Larrivée (http://www.larriveeforum.com/smf/index.php?topic=42022.0)
I usually cover the headstocks of the guitars that I play out. These are now known as "guit-toque"s by people who have grown familiar with this peculiar behaviour. Perhaps inspired by this bastion of Canadian culture.
(http://toonz.ca/guitars/images/guittoque.jpg)(http://toonz.ca/guitars/images/bob-and-doug-mackenzie.jpg)
I do it for three reasons -
- I frequently bump the headstock of my guitars on low hanging obstructions. I stand while performing and wear my guitar fairly high. I change guitars during the sets, so there's a fair chance I'll bump the headstock into a low hanging monitor, or heaven forbid, a television, or a microphone. I'm just as happy not to have little dents and divots in my headstocks.
- It's funny to mess with guitarists who think that my ablity as a player is somehow correlated with the name on the headstock.
- I'm not into talking "guitars" when I'm out performing. It's much more interesting to relate to people as they relate to music than it is to geek out with a guitar-freak who wants to engage me with his obsession with brand names and other minutiae. These conversations are often a masque for the narcissism of small differences.*
(http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/2514-The-Narcissism-of-Small-Differences.html)
*No disrespect for anyone here. Everything in its place: This forum and guitar-centric get-togethers
are the places for guitar-centric conversations, but I don't care to have conversations about guitars when I'm out at a gig - a performer for a broader audience.
OK I understand I think.Though I've never bang my headstock on anything,though I have left a string or two long just to shock the vocalist BUT the real problem I see is you have to remove the hat everytime you want to check your tuner. :?
Hi unclrob,
Quote from: unclrob on December 20, 2012, 09:08:36 PM
OK I understand I think.Though I've never bang my headstock on anything,though I have left a string or two long just to shock the vocalist BUT the real problem I see is you have to remove the hat everytime you want to check your tuner. :?
Much though you might have expected otherwise I'm not a fan of hanging **** off the headstock (tuners, capos, tassels, coils of unclipped strings, holiday themed ornaments). I will admit to having caught undergarments that were tossed at the stage on the headstock, but that's another story. My guitar tuners are in my rig.
The guit-toque is flexible enough to turn the tuning pegs without removing it. But since the guit-toque helps to keep the temperature of the headstock stable, the guitars tend to stay in tune better anyway.
Makes me want to see that goof ball movie. Was it "Strange Brew"?
So if I put a sock on my headstock is that ok. :wink:
Quote from: unclrob on December 20, 2012, 10:38:04 PM
So if I put a sock on my headstock is that ok. :wink:
Not if your foot is still in it, Rob.
Not a problem there as I play barefoot anyway...OK when its cold I do were socks.
St, I get it. Really I do. But it occurs to me that you may be trading one distraction for another. Instead of people trying to engage you in a discussion about your Larrivee guitar or whatever other guitar you may be disguising with the headstocking, don't you now have those same people trying to engage you in a discussion about why you are putting a sock on your guitar head ? It seems like covering it up would draw more attention to it than simply leaving it uncovered. No ?
Hi Lynn,
The conversations about this are fairly short. The guit-toque doesn't show up much in a darkened venue under stage lights. It is likely barely noticeable unless someone is actually trying to make out the shape of the headstock or to read the logo thereon. I focussed the lights to make it easier to see the guit-toque in the photo.
People who are not players rarely mention it. If someone does, I just tell him/her it's to protect the guitar and the things I bump into (sorry for the grammar). It almost never goes beyond that except that there's usually a comment like, "well it's a beauty", or something about the music. And then the conversation has moved off the instrument and that suits me just fine.
If it's a player asking, I'll say "That's something that I do to keep the name on the headstock from distracting other players from the music". That usually moves the focus of the conversation away from the instrument. If pressed on the point, I'll ask, Did you enjoy the music?" and let the conversation flow from there.
Whether or not people in the audience like my gear is not important to me, but I'd like them to enjoy the music and the show. It's like my Mother said about clothes, "When you get it right people will notice the person, not the wardrobe".
It seems like a strange thing to worry about.
With the exception of trying to minimalize damage to property at the places that I play (e.g. big screen tv's above the stage), I'm not worried about anything.
(http://toonz.ca/guitars/images/alfred_e_neuman.gif) (http://bit.ly/YsF1Xz)
It's an inside joke. If you get the joke then I hope that you are laughing with me. If not then, if it helps, go ahead and laugh at me. It matters not a whit as long as there's some laughter in the air.
(http://toonz.ca/sketcher/whatmeworryJoker.png) (http://www.comicvine.com/alfred-e-neuman/29-12578/what-me-worry/108-14087/mark_fredrickson_001/105-1663620/)
:roll :roll
With. :wave
It seems to me that dressing a headstock up to KEEP from calling attention to the instrument is a bit like stripping down buck-a** naked to get warm...
Quote from: jeremy3220 on December 21, 2012, 02:04:40 AM
It seems like a strange thing to worry about.
Seems like that - but I'm gonna try it anyway. The number of times another player or 3 have descended on me after doing a set and start gushing over my guitar, or my amp, or the FX pedal - as if the player doesn't have a thing to do with the sound/song - well it just gets old old old. I tried something like that once, slapping a John Deere sticker over the headstock of my green-burst Yamaha - but that made the problem worse because all the tractor guys couldn't believe John Deere made guitars ...
I've decided guitar playing song writers are just a special and rare breed - sensitive - creative - thoughtful and with rugged good looks. Putting up with dolts is just the price we pay. :winkin: None more purdy than Uncle Rob though - I gotta admit. ;)
I would be thrilled if I was playing a gig and a fellow guitarist came up to me and wanted to chat about gear. To each his own, I guess. :cheers
So, ST, shouldn't you also disguise the fretboard markers and bridge? These things are often nearly as good as a trademark or logo to identify a guitar. Why stop at headstock?
covering the name of the guitar is jipping the builder of the credit due him for a job well done. If someone covers one of your own songs then refuses to give you the credit for it...i
ST, I know your level of playing ability and just want to say that I get what you are doing. :+1:
Hi Danny,
Quote from: dependan on December 25, 2012, 11:57:54 AM
ST, I know your level of playing ability and just want to say that I get what you are doing. :+1:
Thank you.
Hi David (dberch),
Quote from: dberch on December 24, 2012, 03:51:42 PM
So, ST, shouldn't you also disguise the fretboard markers and bridge? These things are often nearly as good as a trademark or logo to identify a guitar. Why stop at headstock?
I can cover the headstock without impairing the functionality of the instrument.
I can't recall a time when someone has identified one of my guitars by the fretboard markers or the bridge.
But I have grown weary of being identified as a "fill-in-the-brand" guy.
Hi broKen,
Quote from: broKen on December 24, 2012, 11:31:57 PM
covering the name of the guitar is jipping the builder of the credit due him for a job well done. If someone covers one of your own songs then refuses to give you the credit for it...i
I think there is a difference between physical property (e.g. a guitar) and intellectual property (e.g. a song).
In my view, the guitar builder got his due when s/he sold the guitar.
And for those builders who make their instruments to be played,... well, I am doing that.
I cannot imagine that even one of the owners of the trademarks on my guitars has suffered for the lack of an endorsement from me.
Nor do I imagine it likely that anyone has ever bought a specific brand of guitar because s/he saw me playing one.
Hi LeftyBlake,
Thank you for writing this.
Quote from: LeftyBlake on December 24, 2012, 03:28:34 PM
I would be thrilled if I was playing a gig and a fellow guitarist came up to me and wanted to chat about gear. To each his own, I guess. :cheers
It led to some uncomfortable but worthwhile introspection.
I think that the term "fellow guitarist" is what had me caught by my drawers on a branch extending from the cliff. I was dangling there poised to hurtle to the shards of ridicule. Thank you for giving me pause to consider.
Not one to be defined by my activities I squirmed at the term "guitarist". Having a "
fellow guitarist" come up to me and chat about gear sounds friendly enough. But for me, gig-banter is all about working the crowd (the business of hospitality and entertainment) not communing with insiders.
I don't have that much to say about guitars or gear at the best of times. I like what I like and I play what I like, and I haven't had to put a lot of thought into why. To me, a lot of gear talk is interogation or rationalization. That doesn't make for good gig-banter. Nor does it help me to be prepare for the next set.
The last few times I had a fellow guitarist come up to me to chat about gear I was assailed by opinions about how I could be so much better if I just....
I'll leave the list to your imagination.
Thanks for giving me pause to think about this.
Quote from: unclrob on December 20, 2012, 10:38:04 PM
So if I put a sock on my headstock is that ok. :wink:
Seeing that you don't wear them on your feet, you might as well do something with them! :laughin:
Quote from: ST on December 26, 2012, 12:55:55 PM
Not one to be defined by my activities I squirmed at the term "guitarist". Having a "fellow guitarist" come up to me and chat about gear sounds friendly enough. But for me, gig-banter is all about working the crowd (the business of hospitality and entertainment) not communing with insiders.
I agree completely, ST. Most of the gear chat I'm exposed to happens at tear-down time, AFTER the gig. Or on break. I'm OK with that. During the gig... not so much.