TONEFUL GUITAR SELECTION

[paengkee]

parang nag sayang lang ako ng keystrokes para sa wala. haha i think i made my point clear enough to stop with the personal attacks and insecurity. i just wish people would backread instead of going the "yabang mo ser" route. such butthurt.

im one of those people who use ibanez guitars. in fact the guitar i used when i went to alex's place has long been sold. alex DOES have a "Shred" guitar in the form of a jackson chris broderick signature with bare knuckle black hawks if i remember correctly. (alex, dibs naman jan if you choose to sell it *nudge nudge* that is if im able to afford it by then haha)

ill say it again, your gear can either enhance  your sound and playing (even your ability and motivation to write and play) or be your downfall. and a lot of people choose to delude themselves with the former. trust me

"it is never enough but its okay."

[gardodothepolarbear]

i wanna touch that chris broderick sig  and go power-chord-happy with it. haha 

[skunkyfunk]

I posed this question long before... If tone is a function of money, and assuming ALL OF US would be billionaires in one day, will we all be having the same gear?  Or will some of us buy Gio Ibanezes still? Squiers? 

[nathanmanansala]

I posed this question long before... If tone is a function of money, and assuming ALL OF US would be billionaires in one day, will we all be having the same gear? 

no. there's still the matter of preference. all who like the sound of a telecaster might go for one of a handful of the top tele builders, and really, once you get past the $2k mark for a guitar, a lot of the choices are more subjective than the difference between a sub $400 guitar vs one that is $1500. at that level, halos pare-pareho nang maganda and it boils down to which one you like na talaga at that price range.

some people might prefer twin buckers, 24.75 scale, maple on mahogany. other might want a trem. and there's the non-classic designs to consider too. point is, you'd seek out the best of what you prefer. and magkakaiba pa din yun.

Or will some of us buy Gio Ibanezes still? Squiers?

are you serious or just trolling?!?! i can't tell and I usually am just trolling (but not now).

if you were a few years into guitar playing na, you've invested a lot of time and effort to learn to play na, are already past the stage where you're not sure if you really want to play guitar and have some extra money on you, would you STILL buy a Gio or Squier? you might buy one when you're starting out but you'd always be looking to upgrade once you can anyway.

[ybab_10tsepmet]

Is it not possible to downgrade?
 

[rowley75]

Is it not possible to downgrade?
 

On gear? With no budget constraint? NO! There's no place to go but up.

[Filippo]

On gear? With no budget constraint? NO! There's no place to go but up.

Not really... If I was in desperate need of cash, I would sell my conversion, buy a JG Bluesmaster and keep the rest in my pocket... YMMV

[rowley75]

Not really... If I was in desperate need of cash, I would sell my conversion, buy a JG Bluesmaster and keep the rest in my pocket... YMMV

With no budget constraint esse.

[nickson]

With no budget constraint esse.

Like in your case. 

[magtataho7]

I agree.

to me its simple. ika nga ni Bruce Lee, "add what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own..."

in other words, intelligent evaluation based not just on theory, but on experience too.

Hence there was a point in time when i'd visit people with good gears from different schools of thought. ( kasama na vintage gears.) kasi its hard to talk about something you haven't played. and it puts what you always read in the net and magazines into perspective.

part of this "search" was a few visits to Alex. He made me realize a lot of things.

of course in the end, nasa akin pa din kung saan i-to tow ang linya. I don't have deep pockets like him and have yet to finish my CPA, wala pa dito yung University debt that can buy 3 high end Gil Yaron LPs (far from the basic build price) at may sukli pa. at least, from the stuff i learn from him and many others, im able to optimize what i can currently spend for music...and will hopefully minimize my purchase mistakes in the future.

for discussions sake lang, i don't think it's a religion to him. may mga nabati nga si alex na above average guitars, pero yun nga, ilang guitar naman dinaanan nung mga may ari para mahanap yun. the point here is he is not closed on his gears. yun nga lang the truth is, from my eyes and ears lang, maganda talaga ang gear niya.

Same thing that's running through my mind. I'm growing curious about what fm55 describes as good tone.

May I pay you a visit, sir alex?

[Rmansh]

Like in your case. 

like in your case too

[rowley75]

Like in your case. 

Kung wala lang naman problema sa pera. Kaso meron e. Hahahaha!

[nickson]

like in your case too

Look who's talking. 

Kung wala lang naman problema sa pera. Kaso meron e. Hahahaha!

Sarap maging binata! 

[ybab_10tsepmet]

 
curious lang ako may may tao kayang GDS imbes na GAS ang sakit?
tamang pag di na nya nagagamit ung gamit eh...sayang to naaalikabukan lang...benta na yan!

[rowley75]

Sarap maging binata! 

Ilang taon nalang hindi na. Haha!

[jepbueno]

Ang tagal kong iniwasan ang thread na ito kasi baka mabadtrip ako. If past self ko ang magrereply dito baka magmuka kong troll kasi baka maoffend ako kay sir FM55 haha.

Pero I admit, ang gandang basahin ng mga post niya dito ha, nice read about tone and hiyaw and actually mas magiging open minded ka. Nice quote din ni Poundcake.

sir FM55, sa guitars mo, I know you have a baker, GY, but meron ka bang fender strat or tele na may hiyaw? Just asking, kasi medyo mas nahihilig ako sa artists na always using a specific tele or strat, I don't own a strat or a tele pero nakatry na rin ako ng ilan, and gusto ko ang feel nila. Not really sure sa tone nila kasi hindi ko gusto yung amp na pinagsaksakan ko.

[jepbueno]

ive tested alex's guitars and amps and compared them to an ibanez i had that had bare knuckle pickups installed. frequency wise, i thought my ibanez could cut it but the main difference is that psychological difference where a guitar actually inspires you to play better, and in result, sound better. yes, my bkp loaded ibanez sounded great but felt like a toy compared to a custom shop jackson, a suhr, the and the baker (i forgot to try the gil yaron. ugh).

as for recordings, i can conclude that it would be impossible to capture what i FELT on a recording. and i say that as someone who does recordings for a living. notes felt "stickier" on alex's guitars and almost felt like i was connected to the sound that was coming out of his amps. i literally felt like i was a way better player than i was.

we talked about how buying more expensive guitars is only a way of NARROWING the margin of error between getting a good sounding and FEELING guitar and a lemon/toy-like/plasticky guitar.

pull the "alex cant play his expensive guitars" card all you want. in the end theyre his guitars and they give him the satisfaction of actually playing them no matter what his skill level. for sure most of you can outplay him. and keep telling yourselves that you could for whatever ego-based reasons you have but ill tell you this, that speaks more about yourselves than anyone.

when i tried the baker and the suhr, i still sound like myself, but i felt like i was being my BEST self with those instruments. i felt like i was looking into a mirror that made me look good compared to a broken or dirty mirror. i was admiring the tone i could coax out of the instrument. i didnt consider the tone as part of the instrument itself because i felt like i still sounded like myself. i think im waxing poetic right now, but that only shows how indescribable it is to actually try and feel a great guitar. truly inspiring.

along the way alex asked me: which amp/guitar did you like best? you would expect me to say "ALL OF THEM" but i was surprised to found that i found my own favorites and not-so-favorites among his gear. i spent more time on the jackson chris broderick custom shop than the suhr and baker. i enjoyed my tone more on the diezel than the soldano (he told me mico/phoenix_rising preferred the soldano)

i dont think its alex's intent to invalidate all of our "tone experiences". his articulation in writing on these forums differs from how he is in real life and in our conversations, i did not feel judged at all. in the end i just gained more things to consider when choosing a guitar. and i think thats his point in making these posts. we all tend to rationalize and sometimes delude ourselves into thinking we sound good.

how many times have you been told to adjust your eq by a bandmate? we hear ourselves differently. we hear the tones of our idols filtered through recordings and listening devices. i mean, if you listen to music on ipod earphones, i dont think that would be an accurate picture of how things sound in real life. some people end up thinking that tones on ipod earphones are what things should sound like in reality and they end up tweaking their tone to be as thin and piercing as the things they use to listen to music. some people with cheap speakers with subs, tweak their tone to be overly boomy or bloated and conflict with the bass guitar. how we understand tone is based on what we consider good tone and what we use to hear good tone. alex has a good point in saying that these experts he consults with have had FIRST HAND experience with great sounding gear. there is no substitute. no soundclips, videos, youtube demos can replace that magical feeling of walking into a store, trying out as many guitars as you can and serendipitously "meeting" a great instrument.

Parang gusto ko rin masubukan!!!!

[firemodel55]

Ang tagal kong iniwasan ang thread na ito kasi baka mabadtrip ako. If past self ko ang magrereply dito baka magmuka kong troll kasi baka maoffend ako kay sir FM55 haha.

Pero I admit, ang gandang basahin ng mga post niya dito ha, nice read about tone and hiyaw and actually mas magiging open minded ka. Nice quote din ni Poundcake.

sir FM55, sa guitars mo, I know you have a baker, GY, but meron ka bang fender strat or tele na may hiyaw? Just asking, kasi medyo mas nahihilig ako sa artists na always using a specific tele or strat, I don't own a strat or a tele pero nakatry na rin ako ng ilan, and gusto ko ang feel nila. Not really sure sa tone nila kasi hindi ko gusto yung amp na pinagsaksakan ko.

Suhr Classic Strat na may hiyaw at Fender Custom Shop na Tele na may hiyaw.  We can test sa vox ac30 korg reissue, rivera tbr1sl, Bruno super 100, and komet aero 33 which are amps that I feel bring out the best in single coils.

[Kulas]

Suhr Classic Strat na may hiyaw at Fender Custom Shop na Tele na may hiyaw.  We can test sa vox ac30 korg reissue, rivera tbr1sl, Bruno super 100, and komet aero 33 which are amps that I feel bring out the best in single coils.

wala na yung hand-picked am std fender strat mo? and meron ka din gibby diba?

[firemodel55]

wala na yung hand-picked am std fender strat mo? and meron ka din gibby diba?

Still with my brother in law.  Actually its his guitar.  Ang Gibby is the SG and 335.  All with hiyaw.

[lolwat]

Alex, suppose I were to look for a 24 fret alternative to the Ibanez guitars I currently own, what would be the "hiyaw"-endowed counterpart/s? It would be nice if it were not as pointy as the Ibbys, to be honest the novelty does wear off after a while. TIA

[jeo]

wala na yung hand-picked am std fender strat mo?

that TBO is with me already bro=)

[jepbueno]

Suhr Classic Strat na may hiyaw at Fender Custom Shop na Tele na may hiyaw.  We can test sa vox ac30 korg reissue, rivera tbr1sl, Bruno super 100, and komet aero 33 which are amps that I feel bring out the best in single coils.

may classic strat pala ang suhr! thanks sa answer, sana nga may time masubukan

[firemodel55]

Alex, suppose I were to look for a 24 fret alternative to the Ibanez guitars I currently own, what would be the "hiyaw"-endowed counterpart/s? It would be nice if it were not as pointy as the Ibbys, to be honest the novelty does wear off after a while. TIA

I would gladly STILL say Suhr and Jackson USA.  But... you still have to pick thru them and I mean really pick.

[firemodel55]

that TBO is with me already bro=)

I think Kulas meant the tobacco burst American Standard.  With regards to the black American Standard, its with Jeo.