The Longer I Play, The More I Think Guitars Are The Same.

[rikko]

Different guitars bring out different things for me.

 

[lǎo​wài]

Welcome to the November 30th meeting of Hacks Anonymous, the last meeting of the month. My name is Henry. I'll be your leader for the evening.

For those who wish, could we have a moment of silence for those who still suffer shit tone and style, followed by the Serenity Prayer... God - Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

At this time, we'll go around the circle and introduce ourselves.... My name is Henry, and I am a Hack.

HI HENRY!

My name is John, and I am a hack.

 

[GitFiddle]

...but...but...you can't play the intro to "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" on a Tele...

 

[questionman]

I can safely say I have never had 2 guitars that felt, sounded or acted the same.

At one point, I had a pair of strats with close serial numbers (20 apart) and they were so different you would laugh at them being the same model.

 

[parts]

I have my own sound..but I chose my guitars to be rather unique from each other..and I play them differently as the sound/feel brings me different places..
71 LP Custom
66 ES355 Custom
65 ES175
71 Strat

I can tell easily what guitar I use on every recording..

Some with the LP are bending..screaming..
The 355 just does everything in unique ways with the Varitone from nasty to out of phase type P90 growl
The 175 is clean blues and jazz
The Strat for the that single coil shimmer..

Don't ever look at guitars..as I haven't found anything that fits in between these..

I tried many..many combinations of guitars and brands over the last 50 years..

These are my tools..

 

[Bobby Mahogany]

 

[Nicky]

I think my guitar playing sounds similar on my LP, Gretsch and Casino, but they feel VERY different.

 

[Bobby Mahogany]

 

[CwillyPlay]

Everything with active pups sounds the same

 

[tinman402]

I have a les paul with a p-90 in the neck and a tele (pine body) with a p-90 in the neck and they sound very different for p-90s... same amp same everything else.. guitar construction and materiel are the only differences..

 

[LtDave32]

The Longer I Play, The More I Think Guitars Are The Same.

That would mean that we would only need one of them.

You're going to a very, very dark place for that.

 

[Davio]

If a player has a set sound and mostly plays covers, then I would suspect that they can be happy with only one or two guitars pretty easily. Another player that creates riffs and improvises will likely prefer to have a broader choice for feel, general tone of the guitar, and tonal options afforded by the guitar.

Having been through many great guitars over the years, I do find that certain ones make me play differently. I have a walnut The Paul from 1978 that plays wonderfully, but it is dark compared to the other Les Pauls. If I want to play ABB type stuff it will not be the go-to. Maybe some Ozzie or ACDC. Over all the guitars and years, the two that I have found that covers the most sonic ground for me has been a Schector PT with two tapped buckers... and a Lucille with coils tapped and the Varitone. These two play well and have many tone options for recording or live play. Neither are as visually beautiful as a Les Paul, but they certainly are full of more sounds.

Which camp do you fall in? If you play with your volume and tone up full all the time... with the bridge pickup getting all the work, then it does not matter much what guitar you play as long as your neck feels good to you, your setup is right for you and your pickup gives you the gain and sound you are after.

And yes, you certainly may properly play Fooled around and fell in love on a telecaster, but likely not on a Fender with two single coils. I saw the Youtube of Billy Gibbons tech explaining how all the guitars (and there are very many) get the frequency signature of Pearly Gates with a G chord by applying eq to make it a match. In his words... so that if Billy swaps each song from fur to LP to tele nobody can hear the difference. Now that is wanting one sound and one sound only! More power to him.

Yeah, I like guitars.

 

[lunchie]

I can make a $3500 guitar sound like a $350 guitar.

I can make a $350 guitar sound like a $250 guitar.

Thats like a $3250 difference in tone!

 

[TheWelder]

For me it comes down to the age old adage that 'tone is in your hands.' The sound generates from your hands first, and everything that happens after (specific build/style of guitar, amps, pedals, pickups, effects) is secondary.

 

[Death Incarnate]

I make all guitars sound equally boring.

 

[lǎo​wài]

I have my own sound..but I chose my guitars to be rather unique from each other..and I play them differently as the sound/feel brings me different places..
71 LP Custom
66 ES355 Custom
65 ES175
71 Strat

I can tell easily what guitar I use on every recording..

Some with the LP are bending..screaming..
The 355 just does everything in unique ways with the Varitone from nasty to out of phase type P90 growl
The 175 is clean blues and jazz
The Strat for the that single coil shimmer..

Don't ever look at guitars..as I haven't found anything that fits in between these..

I tried many..many combinations of guitars and brands over the last 50 years..

These are my tools..

This.

I can't make a LP sound like a Tele. I suppose the OP's premise is correct when one considers I can make any guitar sound like crap, but even then, it's different shades of crap.

 

[mdubya]

Anyone else?

Yep.

I've said before that my guitars sound more alike than they sound different.

I could record my Strat, my P-90 SG, and my humbuckered Sheraton back to back, and you would be hard pressed to tell me which is which.

Now, I could go out of my way to emphasize the sound of each, for sure, but that is not the point, here.

I have proven before that LP and SG guys couldn't guess which was which. That doesn't mean they don't all sound a little bit different, though.