Guitars, what all do y'all play?

[b4uqzme]

Here's the real deal for me. Like AirRet I am an acoustic musician at heart. It's taken me 40 years to land on these two guitars. They are the ones that get heard in public.

Left: is a 1977 Guild D40CSB that I bought used about 1980. It has a Fishman passive piezo pickup. I played this guitar out when you had to glue a button transducer mic to the bridge and/or use a regular mic and equalize out all the feedback...and tone. Thank the good Lord they improved on that technology. Acoustic guitars are unique even among the same brands and models. And Guilds have a mixed reputation among the guitar snobs. This one is truly special. Priceless IMHO.

I took another twenty years of searching to find just the right Gibson. The search taught me that Gibsons can be all across the board for quality and playability. On the right is a J45R. The R stands for rosewood back and sides. I knew it was the right one as soon as I picked it up. But money was tight and I had to try to negotiate the price. I don't think the store owner noticed but I was shaking. But we got it done. It sounds amazing live or mic'd. The Fishman in the Guild is the better sounding when plugged in.

I play through a Bose L1 Compact sound system, Sennheiser mics. THAT was money well spent. Thanks for all the replies. Keep 'em coming!

[Barth]

One of my friends had a Ukulele I used to play Smoke on the Water on?
Does that count?

[DavidR]

I can't remember what they call those pickups. They market them as "P90" type, but really, they're not. True P90's have been all over the place with magnets and coils over the years. Originals from the 50's (ES, prehumbucker days) were fairly low output and bright, rather low impedance as the product goes. In the mid 60's and 70's they were used on the low end guitars for marketing reasons, and made a higher impedance to increase output, and to thicken the tone for solid bodies a bit. Some of those had up to 15k windings! Oldies were more like 4-6k windings. Now days, they're using AlNiCo 5 and 8-10k windings making for a deliberately raunchy tone. So... to say "P90" sounding is like saying "humbucker" sounding. But which humbucker? Those Duncans were made for Hamer (which shared the Ovation factory in Ct.) Then they offered 'em to the general market. In the ES-333 they're what I call my "musical" pickup, offering perhaps the best tone of any combination I ever tried. Not too thick, not overly bright but bright enough, and they respond well to tone controls. I had them in a Strat, they sucked. I had 'em in a Tele against a HB in the bridge, and that was ok. They like close spacing to the strings for a thicker tone, or further for a brighter tone, and... they love heavy strings.

I just can't remember what they call 'em. I don't think they're made any more either.

Duncan Phat Cat.

The bridge pup has since been changed to a Duncan Custom humbucker.


Dave

[CJB]

They are amazing on an ES. Phat Cats gotta remember dat.

[Bills1873]

b4uqzme, Playing in campground is great, and every now and then someone else shows up with an instrument.
One time we were driving into a very very small town in WY (less than 100 people) that had been fair size during a short gold rush. As we approached the town there was a building with a sign that said Guns, and Mechanic. Now that got our intention so we pulled in the large driveway. As we got out of the truck a guy on a creeper comes rolling out from under a truck and says hi. We told him we saw the sign and decided to stop but didn't want to interfere with his work. He said he needed a break anyway and we walked into his gun shop. Long story short, we talked with he and his wife for over an hour and just before we left he noticed my banjo earrings and asked me about them. So I said I played, he said he played, my husband said he played guitar and fiddle, the guys wife said she sang and a jam was born. He invited 3 other people over and we picked until midnight. How cool is that!!!
I'm going to figure the picture thing out, I'm just not computer savvy, nor do I own a camera, but Hubby does have a smart phone.
The only photo folder I have is one the kind you put out on coffee tables. Sad, but true.

He can take a pic of a pic, really like to see the freestyle jam! Really cool! Quite a diverse bunch of members on here, which makes it interesting.

[AIRret]

b4uqzme, Yup a camera is the next step!

I love all kinds of music (except rap….), but I fell in love with the sound of the banjo on commercials. Heck, I had my first banjo before I knew what bluegrass was.
One advantage to acoustic music is that you can play it any where without a lot of equipment.

[JohnR]

Not a guitar man myself, but it looks like they are related to pistols, buy one, then another, then one more....

Yes, it's a disease.

I can't remember what they call those pickups. They market them as "P90" type, but really, they're not. True P90's have been all over the place with magnets and coils over the years. Originals from the 50's (ES, prehumbucker days) were fairly low output and bright, rather low impedance as the product goes. In the mid 60's and 70's they were used on the low end guitars for marketing reasons, and made a higher impedance to increase output, and to thicken the tone for solid bodies a bit. Some of those had up to 15k windings! Oldies were more like 4-6k windings. Now days, they're using AlNiCo 5 and 8-10k windings making for a deliberately raunchy tone. So... to say "P90" sounding is like saying "humbucker" sounding. But which humbucker? Those Duncans were made for Hamer (which shared the Ovation factory in Ct.) Then they offered 'em to the general market. In the ES-333 they're what I call my "musical" pickup, offering perhaps the best tone of any combination I ever tried. Not too thick, not overly bright but bright enough, and they respond well to tone controls. I had them in a Strat, they sucked. I had 'em in a Tele against a HB in the bridge, and that was ok. They like close spacing to the strings for a thicker tone, or further for a brighter tone, and... they love heavy strings.

I just can't remember what they call 'em. I don't think they're made any more either.

I've never seen single coils like those before, interesting. I love the P90 sound, especially overdriven. Fat, raunchy, and bold, with a lot of character. Not like the '80s humbuckers that were just there to make a monotonous wall of noise.

[jlottmc]

Darn. It would suck if I couldn't play.

I'm a big fan of small amps. They can make some beautiful noise. I've got a 100watt twin that collects dust in the closet. Just too big and heavy and LOUD! I can make good sounds with those small amps without my ears bleeding.

It took a little while to get over that and can't really shoot a game of pool like I used to either. The billiards can be re-learned, the axe, well my hand just doesn't move like it used to. Shame too, I loved that Ibanez. Lots of fellow rivet heads seem to have trouble finding some one to play the bass.

[b4uqzme]

^^^ yeah. Drummers and bass players can always find a gig. Us guitar players are a dime a dozen.

How do get a drummer off your front porch? Pay him for the pizza.

[CJB]

I've never seen single coils like those before, interesting. I love the P90 sound, especially overdriven. Fat, raunchy, and bold, with a lot of character. Not like the '80s humbuckers that were just there to make a monotonous wall of noise.

Traditional "Fender style" single coil pickups have pole pieces that are also magnets. That's the way the Strat and Tele pickup works. When thinking of pickups, try to imagine the magnetic circuit instead of the electrical one. Its a different way of seeing things. P90 "style" pickups have steel poles, and two magnets under the coil. The magnetic circuit is much differently shaped than in a Fender style single coil. The other thing, and I got this from Bill Lawrence, is the shape of the coil matters tremendously.

Look at a Fender style or "Strat" coil, and you'll see that it is fairly tall, but not wide, and does not surpass the edges of the string "envelope" that much. On a P90, the coil is flat, low, and has a greater amount of coil space outside the string envelope. Bill said the low coil alters the Q factor (quality factor), and you can take two coils, each with the same impedance (or Henries) and the low flat one will always sound different than the skinny tall one. He also said toss out the DC resistance, its almost meaningless, unless you compare two pickups of the exact same type. The thing to consider is the impedance of the pickup, and the coil resonance. Those are the determining factors in tone, and output, not the DC resistance, which everyone uses - mostly because not everyone "knows" or can "test" in terms of impedance, since you need to generate a signal, and look at it on a scope, as opposed to just plunking the leads of a VOM onto the pickup leads.

And, P90's can be very bright and soft. If you ever have the chance to play an original ES125 or ES135, from the days before they even made humbuckers, you'll see what I mean. Ditto, the current day Lindy Fralin "P90" is a rather soft and chimey pickup, unless you ask for about two shades of overwind (which he hates to do, but will).

I'm not sure if Gibby still makes the P94 pickup, but those were actually a better representation of the hot P90 sound then the Phat Cat pickups (I remembered the name, thanks!). Much more bottom end, and a thicker midrange. More George Thorogood sounding than a Phat Cat could hope for. I think you're probably looking at both ends of the "P90 in a HB size" tone, when you compare the P94 to the Phat Cat