We've all bought gear which one way or another has surprised us either in a good or bad way. Forgetting that which has been and gone, which of your current guitars has done this to you?
Have you bought a real cheapy and its turned out to be really playable?
Have you spent a lot and its turned out to be a canoe oar?
Have you bought something just 'cos it was purty and you had cash in your wallet and even though the name is not normally associated with great gear, its blossomed into a gig-worthy monster?
Did you have to mod it to make it what its become?
Let's hear about those current geetars that have made you take a step back in surprise.
He hit a chord that rocked the spinet and disappeared into the infinite ...
I just recently fixed up an old cort acoustic, well did little fix ups like replaced string pegs/nut/bridge etc
And I have to admit Im starting to really like it. Dont whether its because Ive wanted an acoustic for sometime or just a bit of luck....
Would not cut it live but for home recording and the music I write, it is VERY usable. It won't do the trick where I need an actual proper modern bass sound either but it gives me old school lo-fi tone as though it was ripped straight from a 60's/70's record.
Yes, its a crapper, but it has a sound that I find very usable in those instances, not for everything but it's the same reason why we have different guitars for different needs.
I think my epi dot studio is pleasantly surprising to most!
Started out a $400 second hander with a good vibe and nice unamped sound but pretty average pups and parts.
Unlike the solid bodies, the epi semi-hollow bodies can get right up to Gibson standard if you choose well as they're both made from the same wood in the same way. I'm not meaning the $5000+ gibsons but it'll give your average one a good run for its money.
So, I did the works on it; SD Phat Cats, Gotoh tuners, Gotoh bridge, Gotoh Aluminium tail piece, CTS pots, orange drop cap, cloth wire, Bone Nut, frets filed to uniformity and the edges rounded off. Basically anything that can be swapped out has been.
All I ever hear from others playing it is surprise! Most likely they judged the gat by the headstock (not that I wouldn't). It's a keeper for me, not a stop gap guitar because I can't afford a "real" one
GrantB wrote:Tony, your taste is, as always, very refined. Or as HG would say, "bloody awful".
surprised how nice the SX neck turned out on the korina bodied strat, cleaned up the frets, stripped the poly off, layer or ten of tru-oil and roberts your aunties wife... feels great, nice and chunky - coupled with the korina and rio grande pickups, its all the strat I need.
So, is that low alcohol or no alcohol at all? mmmm, no alcohol, do you want to try it? Noooooooooo.
I am surprised how much I am starting to use the EMG 81 in the neck of my LP. It is really powerful and quite clear by LP standards (rich but not too muddy). It rips.
It is my only "current instrument".
Probably my '69 Thinline Tele. It's a Mexican Fender I picked up in 2007 for a more than reasonable price which had already been halfway modded to have a black pick guard in place of the pearloid one (looks mean with the suburst finish and maple fretboard) and a SD Hot Strat bridge pickup in the neck. Put an SD Lil '59 with coil-tapping in the bridge and the tones out of this thing still continue to amaze me. It's found a really fitting home in my alt-country/folk band where it has this big, smooth middy crunch tone with my combo that screams classic Plexi - none of my other guitars seem to get that sound with the same FX/amp setup and within a 3-guitar/drums/bass/keys band, it finds it's place nicely. Also of note is the unusually round neck profile, like a baseball bat, which I found odd at first (fan of the Fender C-shape) but has since become the norm.
Epi Les Paul Standard Plus Top in Blue. Bought it in early '09 for a steal new from Trademe, thought they looked cool and had always wanted one. Ended up using it not that much, found myself using it a heap midway through this year for Honeybone, it's perfect for a lot of our songs. Want to get a nice dark burst Gibby tho.
BG wrote:I don't care if you worship god or you worship goats cocks
probably my Samick LC-009, nylon string, $100 from cashies, plays well, stays in tune, sounds good for a non solid top, looks cool nice wood grain
Hurdy Gurdy.... some how... and I'm not entirely certain how mind you, an instrument that sounds like someone has shoved a nest of angry hornets into a goose with a kazoo bill and is randomly slapping the poor creature with an accordion.... Sounds amazing.
I would have to say the Modtone Pedals that Ryans sells are my best buy /surprise of the year. Its easy to get wrapped in the all the highend gear around here. These pedals do a great job on the muso's budget.
I almost got the whole set on my Pedalboard. If you get a chance check them out.
TMG 03 wrote:I would have to say the Modtone Pedals that Ryans sells are my best buy /surprise of the year. Its easy to get wrapped in the all the highend gear around here. These pedals do a great job on the muso's budget.
I almost got the whole set on my Pedalboard. If you get a chance check them out.
+1!
Hot_Grits wrote:Someone should print this thread out and hang it in an art gallery.
Got the body and neck free of my sisters boyfriend at the time, he was moving house and was gonna throw it away. Had a crappy rattlecan paint job and a sticker covering most of the fret board (go figure...)
Put it together for shits and giggles, now its my main gigging gat because a) it plays and sounds really nice and b) if i ding it i dont really care
My BC Rich Gunslinger. It's made in Korea, was 400 quid from the UK, EMG'd and OFR'd. Having tried a load of new versions of 80's shred sticks (Jacksons, Ibanez, LTD/ESPs) that I hated, I bought this off ebay without seeing or playing it. Turned out pretty good and after a decent set-up, is actually a very, very nice guitar to play.
The older I get, the more disappointed in myself I become.
Do amps count? My big surprise piece of gear was the Vox Pathfinder 15r - Chinese made 15 watt solid state, 8" speaker, retails for $249, but pretty much gigable, and certainly recordable, with a perfectly good reverb, and a much better tremolo than the one my Fender 65 DRRI had. This little thing really messed with my head in terms of what a cheap 15 watt solid state should sound like. I have a Dr Z, but I still plug into the Pathfinder at home all the time - it just sounds really good, especially with single coils.
LC-009, nylon string, $100 from cashies, plays well, stays in tune, sounds good for a non solid top, looks cool nice wood grain 
