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"I need a Gretsch hollowbody guitar!"
This was about 5 years ago and I went down to GC to check out their selection of 6120's and 6122's. Meh. I really don't like Bigsby's and for the life of me I could not figure out what all of the darned switches were supposed to do. And I was not excited about how it played unplugged (always a high priority for me)...
Switching gears a bit I decided to go in a different direction: buy a PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow and put a set of TV Jones Gretsch-style pickups on it. I had already worn down the frets of one of those guitars as it had been my favorite for many years.
In 2013 those PRS SE guitars were selling new for around $525 and with the TV Jones pickups the total would be less than the $800 pricetag for the cheaper Gretsch. A great idea but after changing out the pickups I was underwhelmed by the results... a resounding Meh!
Well, at that time I could not appreciate the sound and response of the TV Jones Filtertron-style pickups so the guitar had been sitting in its gig bag ever since then.. until tonight! It took me a little while to get the bridge, truss rod and pickup heights set properly, and hot damn, it is definitely a keeper!
My playing style has changed radically over the past 5 years which was when I was finally able to switch back to regular guitar from lap steel (the ring and little finger on my fretting hand had gone numb due to ulnar nerve damage.)
It has been 4 years now since I started learning the art and science of luthiery and after doing professional quality setups on my guitars they play like a dream. Throughout the 50+ years I have been playing guitar they all had fairly high action which made playing chords a bit painful for me so I had always focused on lead guitar which can be very limiting. While the lower action has helped my left hand immensely it was during the years I played lap steel that I learned how to fingerpick so I now play mostly with my fingers and thumb which is how most of the great Chicago blues guitarists in the 50's and early 60's played (not to forget Jeff Beck today.)
Unfortunately the ring and little fingers on my picking hand have been completely numb for 11+ years due to ulnar nerve damage in my right arm so with just two fingers and a thumb I can't do Chet Atkins- or hybrid-style picking, but what the heck- I am happy with what I can do.
BTW I have always held a pick between my right thumb and middle finger because my index finger got smashed by a pickaxe when I was about 7. For some reason I decided to set the pickaxe against a tree with the heavy head up and it slid down the handle, smashing my index finger. My index finger seems okay otherwise but it does not meet my thumb at an angle appropriate for holding a pick. (Hybrid picking has you holding your pick between your thumb and index finger with the middle, ring and little finger available for fingerpicking, thus giving you the benefit of both techniques.)
In any case I now enjoy playing guitar rhythms as much as guitar leads, and quite often switch back and forth between the two more like a solo guitarist than a guitar soloist.
Steve A.
P.S. Sound sample of my "PRS SE 6122" to follow.
This was about 5 years ago and I went down to GC to check out their selection of 6120's and 6122's. Meh. I really don't like Bigsby's and for the life of me I could not figure out what all of the darned switches were supposed to do. And I was not excited about how it played unplugged (always a high priority for me)...
Switching gears a bit I decided to go in a different direction: buy a PRS SE Custom 24 Semi-Hollow and put a set of TV Jones Gretsch-style pickups on it. I had already worn down the frets of one of those guitars as it had been my favorite for many years.
In 2013 those PRS SE guitars were selling new for around $525 and with the TV Jones pickups the total would be less than the $800 pricetag for the cheaper Gretsch. A great idea but after changing out the pickups I was underwhelmed by the results... a resounding Meh!
Well, at that time I could not appreciate the sound and response of the TV Jones Filtertron-style pickups so the guitar had been sitting in its gig bag ever since then.. until tonight! It took me a little while to get the bridge, truss rod and pickup heights set properly, and hot damn, it is definitely a keeper!
My playing style has changed radically over the past 5 years which was when I was finally able to switch back to regular guitar from lap steel (the ring and little finger on my fretting hand had gone numb due to ulnar nerve damage.)
It has been 4 years now since I started learning the art and science of luthiery and after doing professional quality setups on my guitars they play like a dream. Throughout the 50+ years I have been playing guitar they all had fairly high action which made playing chords a bit painful for me so I had always focused on lead guitar which can be very limiting. While the lower action has helped my left hand immensely it was during the years I played lap steel that I learned how to fingerpick so I now play mostly with my fingers and thumb which is how most of the great Chicago blues guitarists in the 50's and early 60's played (not to forget Jeff Beck today.)
Unfortunately the ring and little fingers on my picking hand have been completely numb for 11+ years due to ulnar nerve damage in my right arm so with just two fingers and a thumb I can't do Chet Atkins- or hybrid-style picking, but what the heck- I am happy with what I can do.
BTW I have always held a pick between my right thumb and middle finger because my index finger got smashed by a pickaxe when I was about 7. For some reason I decided to set the pickaxe against a tree with the heavy head up and it slid down the handle, smashing my index finger. My index finger seems okay otherwise but it does not meet my thumb at an angle appropriate for holding a pick. (Hybrid picking has you holding your pick between your thumb and index finger with the middle, ring and little finger available for fingerpicking, thus giving you the benefit of both techniques.)
In any case I now enjoy playing guitar rhythms as much as guitar leads, and quite often switch back and forth between the two more like a solo guitarist than a guitar soloist.
Steve A.
P.S. Sound sample of my "PRS SE 6122" to follow.
I once heard Toots Thielman at a small club in Montclair, NJ - playing mostly guitar duets with a friend. The friend had a "tyrannosaurus rex" right arm outfitted with a metal claw. Monster chops, although it was hard to ignore the scratchy tone....
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