Nifty, little string change "trick"

[BlueBowman]

Everyone has to find their own way. For me, reading about guitars makes me excited about playing guitar. In fact, if I'm not tinkering or reading about guitars I'm probably not playing daily. I've tailored my YouTube feed so that every day I'm seeing things that keep me focused on what matters to me (nutrition, music, exercise, etc). Otherwise, I'm inclined to constantly take on new hobbies and interests. It's a serious problem for me.

I understand this very well. Staying focused on what matters most in the modern era takes mighty discipline. So much info available to us via one click.

I do respect that some have limited time to devote to guitar and that can quickly turn into reading rather than playing. I understand how the research rabbit hole can be a dangerous thing.

The research rabbit hole, if used wisely, can certainly lead to better things -- in my case, better sounding guitars. That's where the "good" online info has led me: guitars I never would've otherwise known about, and also the knowledge to get the most out of those guitars (set-up, tinkering, modding).

But it can also become an unwieldy obsession for some, "chasing tone." Where one draws the line, well, that's a personal thing. My simple opinion, IF the chasing interferes at all with your playing, stop chasing. But, again, everyone will be different.

It's important to enjoy the journey! I know have.

I couple summers ago I bought a nice Jackson electric guitar.  I've liked these particular guitars since I was a kid in the 80s and did a sort of experiment:  Get the guitar, no mods, no upgrades, no messing around with the thing -- just play it like you would have done if you'd got it for Christmas in 1986. 

A time or two I've thought: Ah, these certain tuners would be cool, or this new bridge pickup...  Nope.  Just get it out of the case, plug it in, and jam.

It has been an absolute blast depriving myself of the endless mods and tonal rabbit holes and just playing this guitar.  It's something I needed to do in order to get back to basics.  Not everyone is in the same boat, so I'm not suggesting some universal approach.  But it has done me a lot of good.

Good on ya, Silence. I know that towards the end of my electric guitar playing days, I found myself keeping the signal chain as simple as possible. One tube amp, a Klon (or alternative) sometimes, and my guitar. I think that's where I found my best tone.  Enjoy that Jackson!

[B0WIE]

I couple summers ago I bought a nice Jackson electric guitar.  I've liked these particular guitars since I was a kid in the 80s and did a sort of experiment:  Get the guitar, no mods, no upgrades, no messing around with the thing -- just play it like you would have done if you'd got it for Christmas in 1986. 

A time or two I've thought: Ah, these certain tuners would be cool, or this new bridge pickup...  Nope.  Just get it out of the case, plug it in, and jam.

It has been an absolute blast depriving myself of the endless mods and tonal rabbit holes and just playing this guitar.  It's something I needed to do in order to get back to basics.  Not everyone is in the same boat, so I'm not suggesting some universal approach.  But it has done me a lot of good.

You posted that one here, right? I believe that thread actually changed my life (well, my guitar life). About 2 years ago, there became this movement online where shred guitar became cool again. People started talking about it and reminiscing, and there's a bunch of young players online who are getting into that lost era of guitar music. When I saw the red (?) Jackson in the thread on here it made me miss playing my Ibanez so I started doing that again. Then, I bought a couple of old Jems to restore, because I used to stare a pics of those for hours when I was a kid. The big thing was, when I hurt my hands last year, electrics helped save my sanity as acoustics were too hard on my hands as I was recovering.

 I was playing electrics for the first time in 10+ years, and I started playing all the time. It's just so easy to have one on the couch all the time, one in the living room, one in the office. No worries about cases or humidity. So, I'm playing several times a day now and, because it's frequent, short sessions (the kind of thing that stimulates learning) I can play things I only dreamed of playing as a kid. It's actually kind of shocking to me that I'm starting to play sweeps and crazy things like that at 50. I don't actually listen to that kind of music anymore but it's just so fun to practice. Keeps me off the phone and gives me back the kind of brain-stimulating entertainment I had as a pre-internet kid.
 

[Silence Dogood]

You posted that one here, right? I believe that thread actually changed my life (well, my guitar life). About 2 years ago, there became this movement online where shred guitar became cool again. People started talking about it and reminiscing, and there's a bunch of young players online who are getting into that lost era of guitar music. When I saw the red (?) Jackson in the thread on here it made me miss playing my Ibanez so I started doing that again. Then, I bought a couple of old Jems to restore, because I used to stare a pics of those for hours when I was a kid. The big thing was, when I hurt my hands last year, electrics helped save my sanity as acoustics were too hard on my hands as I was recovering.

 I was playing electrics for the first time in 10+ years, and I started playing all the time. It's just so easy to have one on the couch all the time, one in the living room, one in the office. No worries about cases or humidity. So, I'm playing several times a day now and, because it's frequent, short sessions (the kind of thing that stimulates learning) I can play things I only dreamed of playing as a kid. It's actually kind of shocking to me that I'm starting to play sweeps and crazy things like that at 50. I don't actually listen to that kind of music anymore but it's just so fun to practice. Keeps me off the phone and gives me back the kind of brain-stimulating entertainment I had as a pre-internet kid.
 

Very cool!  It's fun to hear how one little thing inspires something else.  I love my Jackson and play it more than any of my other guitars during this season of life.  Like you, I'm playing stuff now that I only dreamed of when I was a boy.  Just yesterday I pulled up a song I've always loved the solo to, and a half hour later I've got it under my fingers. 

I've seen all these shred guys on YT but didn't realize there was necessarily a renaissance of the art recently.  I just figured there were still some people interested, and some doing the throwback thing (some of them were too young to have been there).  Most of the players I've ever met in person scoff at the whole genre.  Oh well, I love it and always have. 

I love Ibanez guitars too, though I don't own one.  I've always sort of wanted an RG550.  I've yet to see what all the fuss is about with the "Wizard Neck.  I love the Jackson necks so much that I can't imagine I'd like the Ibanez better, but who knows!  I need to put one in my hands someday. 

Rock on, BOWIE!

[mike in lytle]

I love my Jackson and play it more than any of my other guitars during this season of life.

Did you not also get a Gretsch?
Mike

[B0WIE]

I love Ibanez guitars too, though I don't own one.  I've always sort of wanted an RG550.  I've yet to see what all the fuss is about with the "Wizard Neck.  I love the Jackson necks so much that I can't imagine I'd like the Ibanez better, but who knows!  I need to put one in my hands someday. 

There's a flatness to the back of them that just feels like home to me. Probably because that was my first guitar. I actually learned a lot about how necks affect a guitars tone because of the changes Ibanez made over the years. They started doing with multi piece necks, then reinforced multi piece necks. That makes them stiffer and supposedly better. But, for me, it kills the resonance.

I've always liked the Jackson, and especially the Charvel necks. They feel a little more traditional to me, but still thin. It's funny, every time I pick up a Fender I think,"man, these necks are so bad", then I start playing and THAT'S the vibe. They're just perfect in their own weird way.

[Silence Dogood]

Did you not also get a Gretsch?
Mike

It's actually a Guild hollowbody.  I still have it.

[StringPicker6]

Ugh, this is resurecting my deep desire to have an electric guitar!!
I love electric guitars, but I always get overwhelmed by all the dials and knobs and amps and pedals.  Then I convince myself, it's no fun playing electric by myself, unlike acoustic. But I'm 50 also, and I was raised on 80's rock. Maybe I need to look at the used guitars...
One guitar that is simple and gorgeous to me is the German made Duesenberg Julietta. Perhaps I'm on the wrong forum to discuss this? 

[teh]

On the subject of strings, my son and I went to see Wilco in concert last week. Singer/songwriter/band member Jeff Tweedy prefers using dead strings on his guitars and rarely changes strings unless they break. If you get a chance to see Wilco or Jeff Tweedy on his solo tour, don't pass it up. Jeff is also featured on the cover of the current issues of Acoustic Guitar and The Fretboard Journal.

Sometimes visiting and perusing this forum feels like stopping at the donut shop after getting a weekly weigh in at Weight Watchers. Reading these threads has a negative impact on my willpower. It's also interesting to note that I have purchased three of my five Larrivees sight unseen without playing them first. They include a 12 string, Forum VI and 00. Two years ago this week, I visited Oxnard,CA to see the progress on my mahogany topped 00-24 that Matt Larrivee showed me during the factory tour that John had arranged for my son and me. Matt also showed me a Baker T Pro and once he explained the research, thought and effort that went into the design and development of this guitar, it came home with me. Up to that point I had never seen an electric Larrivee guitar in the wild but the Baker T Pro far exceeded my expectations. With its one piece Swamp Ash body, Quilted Maple top, one piece Maple neck and unique dual pick ups, this guitar is so fun to play.

The Larrivee family and their employees, past and present, are the real deal.

[Silence Dogood]

Ugh, this is resurecting my deep desire to have an electric guitar!!
I love electric guitars, but I always get overwhelmed by all the dials and knobs and amps and pedals.  Then I convince myself, it's no fun playing electric by myself, unlike acoustic. But I'm 50 also, and I was raised on 80's rock. Maybe I need to look at the used guitars...
One guitar that is simple and gorgeous to me is the German made Duesenberg Julietta. Perhaps I'm on the wrong forum to discuss this? 

My advice would be to just go for it. But I know what you mean about tonal options being a distraction.  I actually bought some pedals, messed with them, realized they were more of a distraction than anything else, and then got rid of them in favor of just plugging in and jamming.

I used to think playing electric by myself wouldn't be any fun, but it has turned out to be more fun than I could have realized.  For me at least, and YMMV, it has proven to be therapeutic even.  I will think of a favored solo from my youth, a riff, etc.; then I'm off to YouTube, and usually a few minutes later I'm enjoying the piece under my own fingers (and always my own interpretation -- that's the most fun of all.  Who cares about note-for-note when just jamming for fun?). 

I'll share a bit of my electric guitar journey...

You and me are about the same age (I'm 51).  I was fascinated by the guitar my whole life.  EVH and all the 80s guys were my heroes.  I got a Strat when I turned 18.  Grunge was big then.  This was way before YouTube, so it was way harder to get music education. 

Never could play fast like my heroes.  Didn't care for the grunge stuff (though I did see Nirvana just before the end).  I ended up developing a bluesy kind of style with my Strat that I was pretty good at, but that was also pretty boring for me. 

Circa 2001 or so I got bit by the acoustic and sold my Strat, amp, and all my gear and only played acoustic for a long time (got my Larrivee in 2003). I didn't think I'd ever play electric again as I had genuinely lost interest.  Kind of a shame in some ways because I had built such a cool Partscaster that was just a joy to play.   

Years passed and maybe five or six years ago I started feeling the tug of the electric again.  I bought and sold several (Strats, Teles, a LP, some weird Ibanez I scored off CL and kept for two days before flipping it).  No love connection. 

Also, for the past several years I've been in the midst of a fascinating little midlife meltdown that has gone through several phases.  "Nosce te ipsum" (know thyself) has been the prevailing theme (I did not bring the theme but it seemed to present itself to me).  The point of it all seemed to be about me getting back to the real me, the one that was always there and waiting to be rediscovered.  A great line from Chesterton comes to mind:

"Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life." ("Nursery" simply being the old Brit way of referring to childhood.)

Enter the red Jackson electric guitar into my (mid)life. 

As I was mining back into boyhood memories I recalled frequent trips to the mall in the mid 80s.  There was a guitar shop in the mall (how cool was that?).  There was always a red electric guitar in the display window.  I can see it all now in my mind's eye like it was yesterday.

So all these years later I was trying to recapture what it would have been like to get that red guitar (I don't know what kind it was).  I would have thought every part of it was the coolest thing in the world.  No thought of upgrading parts, swapping PUPs, obsessing over country of origin, etc. I would have thought it was perfect, made just for me, and enjoyed it to the full.  I determined to try and recapture the experience 40 years later and just get a guitar, take it out of the box, and enjoy it.  I did that with the red Jackson. It has been quite fun! And midlife is turning out to be more fun than boyhood even was. 

 

[Silence Dogood]

On the subject of strings, my son and I went to see Wilco in concert last week. Singer/songwriter/band member Jeff Tweedy prefers using dead strings on his guitars and rarely changes strings unless they break. If you get a chance to see Wilco or Jeff Tweedy on his solo tour, don't pass it up. Jeff is also featured on the cover of the current issues of Acoustic Guitar and The Fretboard Journal.

Sometimes visiting and perusing this forum feels like stopping at the donut shop after getting a weekly weigh in at Weight Watchers. Reading these threads has a negative impact on my willpower. It's also interesting to note that I have purchased three of my five Larrivees sight unseen without playing them first. They include a 12 string, Forum VI and 00. Two years ago this week, I visited Oxnard,CA to see the progress on my mahogany topped 00-24 that Matt Larrivee showed me during the factory tour that John had arranged for my son and me. Matt also showed me a Baker T Pro and once he explained the research, thought and effort that went into the design and development of this guitar, it came home with me. Up to that point I had never seen an electric Larrivee guitar in the wild but the Baker T Pro far exceeded my expectations. With its one piece Swamp Ash body, Quilted Maple top, one piece Maple neck and unique dual pick ups, this guitar is so fun to play.

The Larrivee family and their employees, past and present, are the real deal.

I've never seen Wilco live but have seen some footage of Jeff solo with an acoustic.  It's pretty amazing to see him put a whole arena into a trance like that by himself.  Pretty cool to know about the dead strings.  I used to know a guy who loved dead strings.  I have an old Takamine that does well with them, but strangely enough, my Larrivee will not tolerate a set of dead strings.  It won't hold tune and will fuss the whole time.  It likes new ones only!  Strange how they seem to have their own personalities!

[StringPicker6]

My advice would be to just go for it. But I know what you mean about tonal options being a distraction.  I actually bought some pedals, messed with them, realized they were more of a distraction than anything else, and then got rid of them in favor of just plugging in and jamming.

I used to think playing electric by myself wouldn't be any fun, but it has turned out to be more fun than I could have realized.  For me at least, and YMMV, it has proven to be therapeutic even.  I will think of a favored solo from my youth, a riff, etc.; then I'm off to YouTube, and usually a few minutes later I'm enjoying the piece under my own fingers (and always my own interpretation -- that's the most fun of all.  Who cares about note-for-note when just jamming for fun?). 

I'll share a bit of my electric guitar journey...

You and me are about the same age (I'm 51).  I was fascinated by the guitar my whole life.  EVH and all the 80s guys were my heroes.  I got a Strat when I turned 18.  Grunge was big then.  This was way before YouTube, so it was way harder to get music education. 

Never could play fast like my heroes.  Didn't care for the grunge stuff (though I did see Nirvana just before the end).  I ended up developing a bluesy kind of style with my Strat that I was pretty good at, but that was also pretty boring for me. 

Circa 2001 or so I got bit by the acoustic and sold my Strat, amp, and all my gear and only played acoustic for a long time (got my Larrivee in 2003). I didn't think I'd ever play electric again as I had genuinely lost interest.  Kind of a shame in some ways because I had built such a cool Partscaster that was just a joy to play.   

Years passed and maybe five or six years ago I started feeling the tug of the electric again.  I bought and sold several (Strats, Teles, a LP, some weird Ibanez I scored off CL and kept for two days before flipping it).  No love connection. 

Also, for the past several years I've been in the midst of a fascinating little midlife meltdown that has gone through several phases.  "Nosce te ipsum" (know thyself) has been the prevailing theme (I did not bring the theme but it seemed to present itself to me).  The point of it all seemed to be about me getting back to the real me, the one that was always there and waiting to be rediscovered.  A great line from Chesterton comes to mind:

"Happy is he who still loves something he loved in the nursery: He has not been broken in two by time; he is not two men, but one, and he has saved not only his soul but his life." ("Nursery" simply being the old Brit way of referring to childhood.)

Enter the red Jackson electric guitar into my (mid)life. 

As I was mining back into boyhood memories I recalled frequent trips to the mall in the mid 80s.  There was a guitar shop in the mall (how cool was that?).  There was always a red electric guitar in the display window.  I can see it all now in my mind's eye like it was yesterday.

So all these years later I was trying to recapture what it would have been like to get that red guitar (I don't know what kind it was).  I would have thought every part of it was the coolest thing in the world.  No thought of upgrading parts, swapping PUPs, obsessing over country of origin, etc. I would have thought it was perfect, made just for me, and enjoyed it to the full.  I determined to try and recapture the experience 40 years later and just get a guitar, take it out of the box, and enjoy it.  I did that with the red Jackson. It has been quite fun! And midlife is turning out to be more fun than boyhood even was. 

 

Great story! It reminds me of the time I went into a music store in my early teens and seeing an electric guitar out of clear acrylic. I think it's a famous model, being see through. Anyway, I just thought it was the coolest thing I ever saw.