Guitar

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Early Years

First Guitar

The Studio

The first guitar I ever really got to play was an old electric guitar that my friend, Grant, let me borrow for a while during the summer/fall of 2004. It was a black and white Fender Squire (Stratocaster-esque) guitar. It was a lot of fun to play... and later on, I learned how not to change strings on an electric guitar.

I eventually bought a small amp for that guitar because, after all, electric guitars don't really make good acoustic guitars. So I started recording a few things here and there but nothing that real or that interesting.

The first song I "recorded" (and it took about seven takes to get,) was a cover of the song called "Superglue" by a little band, that doesn't exist anymore, named Driver Eight. It really is an embarrassing recording... but it was my first major singing and playing one. Aside from whatever was written down and sung as a kid... the first self-written song that I actually tried singing (and "recording,") was called "Rosy and Dark". I'm not sure if I'll ever put that up anywhere for someone to hear it... kind of embarrassing to think about.

Guitar History

Lucy

"I got a new guitar! It was the cheapest one that I wanted to buy, and it is just like the one I have been borrowing (which I can return now,) but is newer. It's also candy apple red, and there aren't random dead spots in some of the strings, which is awesome. :) I still need to name it sometime. It reminds me of a cherry dilly bar, but that would be the lamest name ever." (Written on December 28th, 2004)

Ended up passing this cherry dilly bar on to family in later years. It's still around somewhere, ha ha.

Erwin

"So, a week or so ago, I saw an ad for some things that were being sold on a bulletin board at school. I looked at the ad, saw a guitar was being sold, and realized that I knew who who the seller is. I emailed him but he was out of the country so he referred me to a friend of his, who is actually a Japanese friend of mine, too. So I got to talk to my friend who I haven't talked to in forever, and got to buy that guitar ($60 with case.) So, here it is, a Yamaha C40 Full Size Nylon-String Classical Guitar. I really like it, and it's highly portable, so I think I can use it in Japan. I like the nylon strings, too." (Written on April 1st, 2005)

Yumi

"Here is Yumi, the new addition to the guitar family :)" (Written on October 25th, 2005)

This has been one of my favorite guitars. It was also one of the least thought-out guitar purchases I've ever made. I still remember walking into the basement of a small music and instrument store in an outdoor mall in Japan... looking around at the guitars for a little while... and then just choosing to buy this one because I liked the color and the price.

I enjoyed playing it for the whole year in Japan... and I still like to play it from time to time. It's been through a bunch of street lives and a couple of "shows"... if they could be called shows. I still wish it had more sustain to it, though. A lot of Yamaha steel-string guitars I have tried out end up sounding like Yamaha only knows how to make classical guitars... haha. I ended up using this guitar for more of a jazz sound over time... could never really use it for an even-sounding strumming sound. In the end, though, it was probably a result of the heavy gauge of strings I used on it.

Breedlove D25/SR

This Breedlove D25 is a solidly-built Korean-made acoustic guitar. I picked up this guitar after a lot of searching, review-reading, and testing... for the price, I couldn't seem to find a Martin or Taylor that had the same quality of materials being used and implemented. So far, it has mostly been used for acoustic recording because of it's build quality, intonation and included electronics. The electronics are still a bit colder sounding than the pickup system I installed for the Yairi... but the intonation and tuners are still a lot better than on the Yairi. I still wish the builders would have used a better nut and saddle material, though, because it wears down a bit over time (though this could be replaced some day.)

1995 American Standard Telecaster

This Telecaster has been fantastic from the beginning. I bought it from a guy who had to downsize his recording studio equipment (or something,) and have used it extensively for the Dream World recording project. Overall, it's a nice, warm, clean-sounding guitar. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a quiet, warm-sounding guitar.

Sonex 180 Custom

This vintage guitar seemed like a great deal when I first saw it. I bought it and took it home excited that I had found a USA-made Les Paul for a quarter of the price. But when I eventually opened up the guitar for inspection... I realized that I had purchased an Iron Man. The insides of this guitar seemed to be made of some sort of metal (although this may be the case with real Les Pauls... though I have yet to find out...) and the guitar's body turned out to be made out of a useless chipboard and sawdust mixture. Bummer.

In the end, however, it turned out to be mostly a waste of time and money. Since the vintage factor was already ruined by whoever previously owned this guitar, it ended up being a good guitar for learning the basics of guitar maintenance, at least. I kept it around for a year or two for eventual use for the Dream World project... but the way it balanced on my knee, the way it bruised my ribs (for lack of a properly contoured body,) and the guitar's unworldly weight (with iron heart) kept me from keeping it around. I finally got rid of it (at an embarrassingly priced loss,) in May of 2012.

Yairi Alvarez

The Breedlove D25 is a great guitar for recording. But for those times of playing out somewhere, I was looking for an acoustic guitar that had already seen some wear and tear. So, I was reading up on Alvarez guitars (after hearing the tonal qualities of a friend's Alvarez guitar,) when I read about these Japanese-made (and many actually handmade,) acoustic guitars by this guy named Mr. Yairi in Japan. That got me to searching around for a Yairi Alvarez acoustic guitar. Time passed, and by summer a budget-priced Yairi eventually showed up from a local guy selling his old Yairi.

Over the summer I ended up looking around for good, mountable pickup systems for acoustic guitar... and found a cool Oregon company (K&K Sound) that makes some great pickup systems. Got a passive K&K Pure Western (mini) pickup, installed it, and picked up a K&K Pure XLR Preamp to go along with the passive pickup. To my ears, at least, it sounds better than a lot of Martin built-in pickup systems that I had tried at various guitar shops... and for the price, I couldn't do much better. Unfortunately, I don't play out very often anymore... (for various reasons,) but this did get some use for a few live songs. Many thanks to my dad, as well, for the handcrafted guitar soundhole cover.

Washburn WI64DL

Quotes

(On getting Yumi,) "I think you've already been away too long. Friend, that instrument of the devil will never be a part of your family." -- Stephen

Guitar vs Piano

For what it's worth, I grew up on the piano... and I still like the piano. But the piano does have its limits (i.e. string bending.) To me, at least, the piano feels a little more impersonal. Perhaps it has to do with the size of pianos in general. It's easier to tote a guitar... and often, fairly inexpensive to buy a guitar. I still like the piano. But picking up the guitar (however slowly,) has given me a new palette with which to work; new colors with which to color.

Generally speaking, I like piano when the music is heading in more of an experimental or jazz type of direction. When I need to focus on rhythm, I like the guitar. The piano can still be used for rhythm, and the guitar can still be used for jazz... but I have my own preferences, I suppose.