Have had my share of guitars that I have gig with over the years. Some, were from me being put on the spot and wound up using a guitar that was given to me to use.
Saying that, yes, it is nice to have a well set-up guitar. As soon as I pick up a guitar, I know how well it's been set up or not.
Here only one of many stories;
I wound up at this BBQ that one of many grandsons was at. Went there with my son to pick up his son. LOL!
This was a rough crowd, I wanted to leave as fast as we could. But the old man that had put on this BBQ told his son to go the 2 acoustic guitars out so that they could play some songs.
My son and I were getting ready to leave when all of a sudden my grandson says, “Hey, my grandpa can play a pretty mean guitar!”
The next thing I knew, I had this acoustic in my hands. Now the action was real bad on it. Not much of a playing guitar. But hey now I had to prove to these people I could play. I did a quick tuneup, and started to play that guitar like it had no issues at all.
The old man dropped his jaw, as well as many in the crowd. I had the feeling no one really expected me to know how to play. The old man was eager to play some music with me.
Now I need to point out until this happened the old guy and many others did not make feel welcome. But after playing some songs with the old guy, things started to change.
Told that to say this. I had to make the best out of what was given to me. There was no way I was not going to show this old man and others that I could not play. After all, my grandson had put me on the spot. I was not going to tell this old man that the guitar was junk!
He tried to get his son to play some tunes with me, but he refused. He told his dad, why would you want to embarrass me like that? (only on words I will not repeat on here)
The old guy did let me play his acoustic. Much better playing guitar. But the old guy did say to me; How come they don't sound as good for me as they do when you play them? I told him experience. I told him I started to play at the age of 9. And that I also played professionally from the age of 15 until my late teens.
With what I was given to play that day, I had to become inspired on the spot. There was no time to give that guitar a set-up. Heck, even the string were dead on it.
So, is it nice to play on a well set-up guitar? Sure! Does a well set-up guitar help to inspire you? Yep! But at some point one must be inspired by what is in you. Any guitar cannot make a sound without the person playing it. Much like a gun cannot hit the target without someone sighting it and pulling the trigger. It cannot shoot all by itself.
Right now, I am looking at one of my guitars. It is leaned up against my amp. And no matter what, I cannot get it to play or make any kind of music unless I pick it up.
But even if we have the best of the best set up guitars, they only sound as good as the player playing them.
I have to disagree a little on well set up guitar for someone starting out. You know that sparkle/glitter guitar that I am doing?
That original guitar was awful in the way it played. The action was super high, and forget intonation. But I learned how to play using that guitar. I wanted to play so bad that I made my fingers bleed. I had my DNA all over that guitar. I never stopped playing because the guitar was hard to play. I didn't even know how a well set-up guitar would even feel like until I bought my Gibson LP custom in 1971. On that day, I played a few guitars that felt so much better than what I had been playing on. I could not believe what I had been missing out on until then.
But anyway, If someone wants to play, they will learn on what ever they have at the time. I come from a place in time where my parents did not have a lot of money. They could not go out, spend hundreds of dollars on a guitar for me.
By the time 1971 rolled around, I had been playing in a show band and was making a lot of money. That is how I got my LP. From the money I was making.
Yes, it would have been nice to had something better to play. But I do not regret any of it. I got to learn at an early age to use what you have and do the best you can with what you have.
That old first electric guitar had a lot to do with the way I look at some things today. One thing is, Not to always expect to have the best of things to get you where you are going. That old guitar did (like it or not) inspire me. I never gave up playing because it was a hard guitar to play and keep in tune. I learned how to keep in tune while playing. At one time, I could tune a guitar by ear. I didn't need a tuner or someone to give the pitch to tune from. HA!
So many people are spoiled today. They wine and cry over anything and say things like they can't do this, that, or another thing because they don't have the best. I can't think of one top ranking old guitar player out there that started out with the best of the best.
I read somewhere that even SRV started out with borrowed gear. I wonder how much of that was what he wanted? Hum...
EB
