Lunch Report for Thursday, November 3rd

[Lefty]

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Lunch today will actually be a late breakfast - bacon & scrambled eggs. No toast!

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Since 2004, I have acquired other guitars including a 2000 Fender Deluxe Strat,



a 2002 Epiphone "Elite" LP (Japan)



a 2007 Hagstrom Viking (Reissue) (China)



a 2010 Epiphone SG (G-400) (China)



and a 2004 Taylor 210 Acoustic.



All are very nice guitars in excellent condition

However, I find I prefer to play the G&L's most of the time. I think I'm about GAS'd out - but then, you never know... I like the new G&L Ascari - but it's not available (yet) for us lefty folks.

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What is your favorite guitar?

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My fourth G&L guitar is a Midnight Blue metallic ASAT Special. I bought this one from a G&L dealer in San Jose, CA. He was selling it for the original owner, who only kept it about 6 weeks. G&L uses the same saddle lock bridge on their LH models as on the RH model. Changing that would be an improvement on the LH model, even though that's a nit. Somehow, this guitar was apparently ordered without the usual string tree. As a result, the high E string has a tendancy to jump out of the nut occasionally. To correct the problem, I could either replace the tuners with a set of staggered Schaller locking tuners or add a string tree. In the meantime, I'm going to try replacing the high E string, cutting it longer; thus adding more turns to increase the angle of the string as it crosses the nut. If that works, I will leave it without the string tree. If not, I'll order one! I'm still getting it setup the way I want it, but it's another keeper!



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By the way, the new serial number plate does not bother me at all - I looked at it once when I got this guitar. I don't see that side of the neck when I'm playing it anyway. If my next G&L guitar comes with a plate in place of the waterslide, so be it!

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No video today! Don has the day off - LOL!

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[gitman001]

I've got some catching up to do……

Monday

I starting playing when i was in grade 3, there was a guitar teacher who came into my public school - my parents thought it would be a good idea….. Well that was 25 years ago and who would have guessed it would eventually turn into my career.

I started on a cheap strat style Kort, i think it got given away to a extended family member a number of years back.

Tuesday

The only breaks i have taken from the guitar is when we travel for family holidays ( which start next week !!!! … We will be heading down the eastern seaboard to sunny Florida ) I usually don't start missing playing until the drive home, but by then i am always wishing i was doing anything but driving.

Nice guitar….. here is my "Right" version.



Wednesday

I couple of my Godin's have gone unplayed as of late, your lunch report has inspired me to put them back in rotation. I kinda feel a bit guilty….

Thursday

I also have been mostly playing G & L's exclusively this year, probably due to the fact that i have added 3 to the collection in the past 6 months (yes i also have had a pretty bad case of GAS lately).

It doesn't help matters by coming on here and ogling everyone else's amazing guitars. Great blue metallic, and great stuff this week

Scott

[darwinohm]

I can say that I have a favorite. Some I use more than others but I love them all.

Beautiful guitars. The American deluxe is one of my favorite Fenders. The pop in trem arm, locking tuners, and Abalone dots really do it. I had a 2000 American Deluxe Jazz bass in the same color. Beautiful Asat Special. The Hagstom is a classy looking rig. I have been adjusting guitars this week and that is a good time to re-bond with some of them.-- Darwin

[willross]

Nice Dlx Strat. I'm looking at one just like it at Ed Roman's. He's tough to haggle with though...

My favorite, but played the least...




Cheers,

Will

[Lefty]

Nice Dlx Strat. I'm looking at one just like it at Ed Roman's. He's tough to haggle with though...


Cheers,

Will

Thanks Will -

The picture really doesn't do it justice. It is next to new - a few pickguard scratches, no dings

[Kit]

I like all my guitars and bass, otherwise I would not hold on to them. Here's decent photographs of a few:







Kit

[blargfromouterspace]

Lefty, that LP Elite is superb. The Japanese make some of the best guitars out there, IMO.

My favourite guitar is my Classic S. I tend to play the BB more because I love the humbucker in the neck, but the Classic S is a special guitar. It feels and plays better than the BB. In a pinch I'd keep it over the BB.

[Sean Clavin]

Beautiful guitars!

Lunch was PB&J and a beer (Miller) to wash it down.

The Left Right thing I have an understanding with, being a teacher. My father was a fighter pilot and had to learn to fly with his right hand.....they don't make a left handed version of the F-4E. Not to discourage anyone from playing left handed, but I always try to teach my NEW left handed students to play right handed if possible. Not just from a standpoint of economics, which I'm sure Lefty can attest, but also from a selection, reading and physical standpoint. The reading issue is one I encounter from time to time that left handed students have a harder time "flipping" the chord diagrams and pictures and sometimes reading TAB or scale blocks. I think that left handed players playing right handed have an advantage over us because their dexterity is in their left hand. Easier chording and note playing ability. Then there is selection and price. It's tough to find left handed guitars and when you do it's usually a bit more. Some guitars aren't even offered in left hand versions.

[willross]

I always try to teach my NEW left handed students to play right handed if possible.

Wow. I've never heard that from a teacher. Lefties are wired that way. So unless you are a neuropsychologist, I'd work with them and not against... Will

[darwinohm]

Lefty, I answered the poll wrong. I answered right handed. I am left handed but played ball and guitar right handed. There were no left handed guitars available to me when I grew up. We didn't have any left handed gloves either. My first grade teacher tried to change me to right handed writing. I was 5 years old and she was older than dirt, certainly older than 65. Retirement wasn't even in the vocabulary back then. Will has a point but if they are willing to try , there may be some advantages. Just don't use me as your example!!! Darwin

[Lefty]

Beautiful guitars!

Lunch was PB&J and a beer (Miller) to wash it down.

The Left Right thing I have an understanding with, being a teacher. My father was a fighter pilot and had to learn to fly with his right hand.....they don't make a left handed version of the F-4E. Not to discourage anyone from playing left handed, but I always try to teach my NEW left handed students to play right handed if possible. Not just from a standpoint of economics, which I'm sure Lefty can attest, but also from a selection, reading and physical standpoint. The reading issue is one I encounter from time to time that left handed students have a harder time "flipping" the chord diagrams and pictures and sometimes reading TAB or scale blocks. I think that left handed players playing right handed have an advantage over us because their dexterity is in their left hand. Easier chording and note playing ability. Then there is selection and price. It's tough to find left handed guitars and when you do it's usually a bit more. Some guitars aren't even offered in left hand versions.

Well, I 'm not a fighter pilot but.. The first time i picked up (someone else's guitar,) I probably didn't even know left-hand guitars existed, and maybe they didn't. I was maybe 10. Anyway, my first instinct was to play left-handed & I actually learned to play upside down (base string on the bottom) . Tell you what, that will drive a right handed person nuts if they are trying to follow what you are doing! and it's definitely NOT a good idea! It takes the brain a long time to forget!! Perhaps if I could have had a teacher when I first started out, I would have been encouraged to play right handed. That would have been okay as long as it didn't discourage me. I know there are other lefty's that have accomplished this, and I applaud them. Myself? I'm definitely left-handed an have only learned to do things (in our right-handed world) right handed if I have to. There is definitely an economic disadvantage to playing lefty. Many companies don't offer much in the way of LH guitars - I see lefty Gibson guitars advertised for way more money than I'm going to spend. I solved the "flipping" the chords problem by purchasing a $15 book put out by Hal Leonard called the "Picture Chord Encyclopedia for LH Guitarists."

I'm a lefty! Like Will says "hard wired."

[Sean Clavin]

Wow. I've never heard that from a teacher. Lefties are wired that way. So unless you are a neuropsychologist, I'd work with them and not against... Will

I didn't mean to suggest that I force them to play right handed, and I'm no Rocket Surgeon by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just relating what I have observed in the marketplace and found to be true in the last 25+ years I've been teaching guitar. If a left handed student comes to me and wants to learn left handed, then I teach them left handed. I just make the case and let them decide. I don't feel that I'm working against them, just trying to educate them.

[Lefty]

Lefty, I answered the poll wrong. I answered right handed. I am left handed but played ball and guitar right handed. There were no left handed guitars available to me when I grew up. We didn't have any left handed gloves either. My first grade teacher tried to change me to right handed writing. I was 5 years old and she was older than dirt, certainly older than 65. Retirement wasn't even in the vocabulary back then. Will has a point but if they are willing to try , there may be some advantages. Just don't use me as your example!!! Darwin

Yeah, I was wondering whether I should have checked the box that allows a person to change their vote - but I didn't.. I think it's great that you learned to play right handed at an early age. At this point, I would probably destroy a couple guitar tops trying to strum right handed Talking about no left-handed gloves, I tried to learn golf at the age of twelve using RH clubs!! I guess I don't need to tell you that I never learned how to play golf!!

[Lefty]

Nice Dlx Strat. I'm looking at one just like it at Ed Roman's. He's tough to haggle with though...

My favorite, but played the least...

Cheers,

Will

That's a gorgeous Les Paul, Will!! Why don't you play it??

[Michael-GnL-Michael]

Lefty, I answered the poll wrong. I answered right handed....

That's right.

Anything other than right is absolutely not right.

____________

BTW, people have developed problems using the wrong hand, like stuttering for instance.

____________

That red Strat is quite a nice guitar. What camera did you take those pictures with? It did require an adjustment to look right though:

[Ledergeist]

Favorite Guitar? -
Of what I have now, it would be whichever G&L I happen to be playing at the time.
Of what I had, probably a Rickenbacker 4001 Bass. That thing was so bada**
Of all time, not sure I can make that call, but all the electrics I play now are S-bodies. So I guess I should say early '60's Strat or a Longhorn Interceptor.

BW

[louis cyfer]

Beautiful guitars!

Lunch was PB&J and a beer (Miller) to wash it down.

The Left Right thing I have an understanding with, being a teacher. My father was a fighter pilot and had to learn to fly with his right hand.....they don't make a left handed version of the F-4E. Not to discourage anyone from playing left handed, but I always try to teach my NEW left handed students to play right handed if possible. Not just from a standpoint of economics, which I'm sure Lefty can attest, but also from a selection, reading and physical standpoint. The reading issue is one I encounter from time to time that left handed students have a harder time "flipping" the chord diagrams and pictures and sometimes reading TAB or scale blocks. I think that left handed players playing right handed have an advantage over us because their dexterity is in their left hand. Easier chording and note playing ability. Then there is selection and price. It's tough to find left handed guitars and when you do it's usually a bit more. Some guitars aren't even offered in left hand versions.

i really disagree with doing this. a new student is gonna be impressionable and listen to the teacher. convenience and economics in buying guitars is the only advantage in learning righty for a lefty. they will be a better player if learning the "right" way. the picking hands needs the more dexterity, there is a reason righties play like that. i think a lefty has a very easy time learning from a righty teacher. i know i have a very easy time learning stuff from a lefty player. just mirror. a few weeks ago i picked up a left handed guitar, turned it over and played it upside down. i was surprised how well i could play it actually. chords were not a problem, even bar chords.

[lefty_major]

Good lefty - righty discussion.

I’ve been thinking about the lefty – righty learning the last few days. Funny it comes up. I’m a lefty and learned lefty because it seemed natural. I would air-guitar lefty before I picked up a guitar. My 11 year old niece, a lefty, doesn’t play guitar. I asked her to do an “air-guitar”. She did it lefty.

I understand Sean’s point and I’ve heard it before. On one hand it makes sense to teach them righty. There are no left handed pianos. Sometimes I wish I learned righty, but only so I could try out guitars before I buy them. I have no problem watching, or reading upside down. To me it’s upside right. I’m perfectly happy as a lefty player. If I was a painter I wouldn’t put the brush in my right hand.

Do lefties that learn righty have a different style or approach that is unique? I’ve always been curious about that.

(I’m a former epee fencer. Standard practice is, is you’re a lefty, stay that way. Or course lefty gear is plentiful too…)

[Sean Clavin]

It's mostly from a dexterity standpoint. The dexterity that was needed by classical guitarists for the right hand technique was and is considerable. If anyone here has studied classical guitar seriously, you know about the "120 Daily Studies for the Right Hand" book and it is intense! To compare the need for dexterity in the right for fingerstyle or classical players to the holding of a plectrum to move up and down or sweep, as most guitarists do today, is apples and oranges. The dexterity needed in the left hand far exceeds the need for an up and down motion or even the "hybrid" picking style that country and jazz players need for their right hand. The fact that there are fewer choices as a left handed guitarist is a minor point compared to this.

Also, I have never had a student that learned right handed say "I wish I would have learned left handed, but I have had students tell me they wish they would have learned right handed. I have made left handed students that wanted to play right handed try left and they liked it better, so I'm not like the Old School Marm that whacks left handed players if they use the "wrong" hand.

[louis cyfer]

It's mostly from a dexterity standpoint. The dexterity that was needed by classical guitarists for the right hand technique was and is considerable. If anyone here has studied classical guitar seriously, you know about the "120 Daily Studies for the Right Hand" book and it is intense! To compare the need for dexterity in the right for fingerstyle or classical players to the holding of a plectrum to move up and down or sweep, as most guitarists do today, is apples and oranges. The dexterity needed in the left hand far exceeds the need for an up and down motion or even the "hybrid" picking style that country and jazz players need for their right hand. The fact that there are fewer choices as a left handed guitarist is a minor point compared to this.

Also, I have never had a student that learned right handed say "I wish I would have learned left handed, but I have had students tell me they wish they would have learned right handed. I have made left handed students that wanted to play right handed try left and they liked it better, so I'm not like the Old School Marm that whacks left handed players if they use the "wrong" hand.

getting the degree in classical guitar performance might have something to do with that. but a really good right hand picking technique on an electric is of comparable difficulty imnsho.