One thing about getting older is I don't think we lose what was important, fun and core to ourselves, but we hopefully make better decisions and use our energies more wisely. After my last band broke up in 2008 I decided I was done with lugging equipment, eating crappy food, arguing with band mates and the rest that goes with it. I was also mad and sad since collaborating with others was one of my greatest joys in life. But life goes on and perhaps one day I'll do the band thing again. Probably something along the lines of covering all the great songs and not so great ones, the obscure and the well known. Original music will always be my first bent but seeing folks smile, dance and sing along when you play something they know or perhaps didn't remember is really a wonderful thing. I still keep my hand in by doing audio mastering and just finished up project # 300, which is for a young band out of VA. 99% of these projects are for DIY'er's and it's nice to be able to breathe some life and "mids" into their tracks. That said, a good song is a good song whether recorded on a state of the art studio system or a boom box. But a bit of tweaking can help a lot. Sometimes more than a lot. The biggest change for me the past couple of years has been a return to acoustic guitar and currently I'm honing my finger style skills and digging deeply into acoustic and delta blues. In many ways it's a return to what I started with, and while I love electric guitar, there's is something very immediate, personal and intimate about playing an acoustic. Here's a shot of mine. From the top: Takamine Rosewood and Spruce 12 string, Taylor 510 (Lemon Grove) which I bought at the urging of old board member Ches, Martin OMC28V which has Juber specs, Collings 0001, Larrivee Pete Anderson, and my newly acquired Bourgeois mahogany short scale that I traded a whole bunch of pedals for. 53 to be exact.
Some tunes I've been working on but can't play anywhere near where these guys do and a couple of songs that I started out with long ago:
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And Then There Were Some
I touched on this yesterday and the replies run the gamut of why guys keep certain guitars, how they go about collecting, etc. Like Louis, I've given away a few guitars to neighbors kids who couldn't afford one, or to the local school or church group. But for the most part I was a major guitar whore. At one point I had well over 125 guitars with 100 of those being G&L's, and all but 7 being Leo-era. Sometimes I bought because the deal was just too good to pass up, sometimes just on impulse and other times with an eye to future collector value and as part of my "retirement account." I had multiples of so many models I almost lost track and when I finally did an inventory I found I had for example 17 different SC models. The tolex cases kept coming and between that and the shipping boxes, the storage space was starting to get pretty small. And this is a 15x15 unit. Values went up and I was thinking great, and then things starting dropping and bottoming out. I won't rehash all of this and I agree with Will, Tim and others that the market will come back. If not to where it was, then at least better that what it is now. A mint Cav for $625??? If you have $$$ this is a great time to buy. But for me I realized enough was enough when I could no longer open the door to my storage unit. I had already been selling off a few here and there, and some guys on the board are now the owners of some of my "castoffs" LOL, but I finally made the move and off-loaded the majority of what I had, including the non-G&L's as well.
So how did I pick what to keep? Simple, same as how I "mostly" went about buying things. While a mint condition instrument is always a nice to have and will hold the most value, I always went for the best playing and sounding ones I could find. So while I have maybe one or two "mint" guitars left, the rest are players, and there's a reason they are. They came out tops in the way I value most. Did it pain me to give up so many babies? Hell yeah, and it still does. But others will now get the joy of having some cool Leo-era G&L's and I have a few left, although I'm thinking that a couple of these might go as well one day. We'll see. At least now I can get into my storage space.
At the start and for me G&L was a way to enjoy the genius of Leo and George without paying outrageous sums for the guitars I traded away or sold cheap years ago before any of us, other than those with a crystal ball, realized the value they would have. That G&L's blow away most every vintage Fender I owned or played was not only the icing on the cake, but a realization that Leo and George really were building some of the best guitars of their lives. I also found a wonderful group of like minded "addicts" and have enjoyed every minute. I'm not as into the BBE-era G&L's as much and given my acoustic bent, no electrics interest me greatly at present. But it's fun to read about the new guitars and basses and see what guys are buying and jawing about.
Thank you to all who participated this week or just lurked, and prayers and best wishes to those or their loved ones effected by the storm. Take care and keep the dream alive.
Best always
Jon
