A Few Thoughts on Guitars

Photo by Michelle McCarron

So while I'm at it, (see post about tubes two below) a few thoughts on guitars: As you will notice (especially clear in the above photo) I do not play a brand of guitar that many folks are familiar with. (Yes, I use the word brand on purpose.)

While there are a good number of reasons for this, the primary being that I just couldn't seem to find one that was right, I have come to feel rather strongly about the matter. I should begin by saying this: in the end, the audience doesn't (and shouldn't) give a damn what kind of guitar a musician is playing. It is a tool after all, and if a musician is happy with the instrument they have, if they can communicate the sounds that they wish to communicate, then all is well. So if you are a guitarist and you are happy with your instrument, then this is all simply the musings of some other guy who plays the guitar. But...if you are unsatisfied with your instrument, or if you are a young person roaming through the vast halls of tonal possibility for the first time, perhaps some of this should be taken to heart.

So as is visible in the above photo, I play an electric guitar made by Creston Lea of Creston Electric. The one pictured above (and in the two following photos) was made for me over a year past. I am still as enamored with the instrument as I was then, if not more. The reason that I ordered a guitar from Creston is simply that I was unhappy with numerous aspects of my other guitars. I also love the idea, generally with all things, of having something made by a real person, one who I can talk on the phone and go out to lunch with. This means a lot to me.

Photo by Michelle McCarron

The truth is, that the most musical instrument companies have become giant mega-corporations and simply do not make the quality of guitar that they once did. The guitars from the fifties and sixties are not only valuable because they are old, they are valuable because they are well made (mostly). At the time those guitars were made, the big companies (I am primarily speaking of Fender and Gibson) were making so few instruments each year, that they were basically handmade and assembled. They may not have all been handmade and assembled by luthiers, but it is a far cry from today's market where machines do most of the work on them.

So big deal...they were better made.

Well, it IS a big deal. Solid body electric guitars should be easy to make, and I suppose that they are, but perhaps not so easy to make well. There are so many small factors that go into their production from the straightness of the neck to the winding of the electromagnetic pickups, that any decline in attention to detail can make a huge difference in playability and tone.

There is a holy grail of tone my friends, and it is VERY hard to find. I guess I should say that they are holy grails of tone, as it is such an individual thing. It sounds lame, but its true. If one knows much about the complexities of sound, one learns fairly quickly that these small details make all of the difference in the world.

Let me remind you though that great hands (and heart) can make a bad guitar sound wonderful. Yes, it is complicated. That said, I feel confident that I can hear more complex overtones with good guitars than with bad. I should say here too that I have owned and have played VERY good guitars made by both companies mentioned above, and I had a Rickenbacker that was just fantastic. It didn't stay in tune if I so much as moved, but.....

They do certainly make some good instruments, but the great ones are often lost in a sea of crap.

Photo by Michelle McCarron

In my opinion (having played many of them) the stock guitars made by Fender and Gibson these days are pretty damn bad. The sound is generally lackluster and the feel is just awful. The ones that come out of their respective "custom shops" are considerably better, and some of those are even great, but my god they charge an arm and a leg. The Gibson custom shop guitars generally begin around $4k and go up to $15K! Fender are considerably cheaper but still a ripoff in my opinion. Don't even mention the "relic'ed" guitars (which are made to look old) for the whole of that situation is just completely absurd, and a little bit sad if you ask me.

So what is it that would compel someone to buy a $5,000.00 guitar made by a giant, monolithic company rather than a handmade instrument by a great luthier for half the price? My best guess is history, advertising, and impatience/laziness.

Yes, these companies have been around for a very long time and have a long history, some of it beautiful. But I wonder how much of that history has to do with the fact that they were of a very small group of companies building these things back in the fifties, and so have built up a list of players that people come to associate with good guitars. It's like this: Joe Strummer played a Telecaster? Well then...fifteen year olds who love The Clash want a Telecaster. Free advertising for Fender. B.B. King plays a Gibson? Well then.....George Harrison played a Rickenbacker? .....

So my thinking goes (went) something like this: I was not happy with my guitars for a number of differing reasons. I could list them, but will refrain as that is a fairly personal thing. I went through a long (though not arduous) process of figuring out exactly what I wanted and ordered one from Creston (after reading about countless other builders). As you may recall from a post a year back. I was (and remain) immeasurably pleased, for his work is just magnificent. So I sold another guitar, and ordered a second.

Of course no one needs more than one electric guitar. You see, I am also of the opinion that limitation in art is a good thing. Yes, I love them and yes it can be a lot of fun/useful to have different sounding instruments, especially in the studio, but there are plenty of players (many of them studio guys in Nashville that no one has ever heard of) who have made a million wonderful sounds with one guitar. I won't really bother to explain why I ordered a second, but suffice it to say that it too is wonderful.

Though similar in look, it does sound quite a bit different from the first, perhaps more than one would imagine. Different wood, a different bridge, and different pickups make quite some pronounced tonal changes.

I ever become a relatively famous player someday (the clock is ticking) I can feel good that Fender won't plaster me all over their website. If I have to advertise anything by chance, at least it should be something/someone I believe in and feel proud to represent. The new Gibson "Dusk Tiger" is enough to make anyone embarrassed.

Anyway...one photo of me with my new guitar below. Pictured at a theater called The Flea in New York, with Cristyn Magnus, and Jonathan Chen. Rumor has it that this image is to appear in Time Out New York! You can see more images of my Creston #2 here.

And while I think of it...if anyone knows Todd Sickafoose, it would be great if you could recommend that I play on his next record. I've been listening to Tiny Resistors of late, and it is just fantastic.

Photo by Alex Lopez

p.s.
If you happen to be reading Creston, I apologize for the duct tape visible in every photo. Yikes! I swear I'm working on it