Mid life guitar crisis

[Huggy Love]

Hi Huggy B,

I feel your pain. I blew out about 7 disc's in the USMC back in 1992. Lived with it and had a great career until 2008. I underwent surgery to have 2 repaired in my lower back at L5-S1 and L4-L5. Unfortunately, my condition worsened significantly and now I have 5 bad disc's and 2 jacked discs that cause more pain than what I had before I underwent surgery. Just like you, the sh!t hit the fan and eventually got to where I could no longer work. I "retired" early and was bored. I decided to learn to play guitar to help fill my days. I have been playing for about 5 years and it is a struggle as my memory is affected by the drugs I take to manage the pain.

A lot of days, I feel like I am living "Groundhog Day." I learn a song or a technique and the next day I can't remember it. Like you, I struggle with weight and shape resulting in my buying and selling a lot of gear, which sucks. I buy a lot of gear online though from Sweetwater. I have been working with this one guy, Josh Estock. He has really helped me make smarter purchases. In fact the gear I get from Sweetwater, I almost always keep. My favorite guitar is my PRS Paul's Guitar. Its lightweight for a solid body and shaped really well for me and my maligned spine. I can play just about any style I want, but I tend to favor Country and Classic Rock. I use a Mesa Boogie Express Plus 5:50 for my amp. Its on wheels and can be moved anywhere I like. If it must go airborne, then my teen son's move it The head is pretty light and it plays very well with pedals. For me the trick to playing in my house without blasting my wife's ears is to use the 5W switch on the Mesa Boogie combined with my pedals. I generally prefer Wampler Pedals, which can get me any tone I like. I am purchasing a new guitar this year, but next year I want to add a Mesa Boogie TA-30, for better English tone. I love Mesa Boogie because they have they almost all have a switch to lower the power. Seems like everyone is jumping on board with this technology too. I guess most PRS amps have a 1/2 W switch now, but even 25W on the Archon is too high. I prefer 5-15 W.

Last year, I wanted to get a stronger Stratocaster tone and so I purchased my second Fender Strat in my life and it lasted a little less than a year. I was just really disappointed with quality and price. I sold it this January and have a PRS Brent Mason in Seafoam Green on order, with an ETA of 15 April. For the money I paid for the Strat, I could get a PRS Brent Mason, which is supposed to be a cross Tele/Strat, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Long story short, I feel your pain. Every day I awaken to nerve pain that feel like someone has injected lava in the veins of my legs. The pain is so bad, that my idea of sleep is exhaustion. I started to play, to get my mind off the pain and playing my guitar definitely does the trick. It is just a joy being able to play and my PRS Paul's guitar is to die for. Talk about a real world impact on a guy's life. Anyway, sorry for the life story. Just know you have plenty of company in pain. My prayer's are with you for a physician that can remove your pain when you are read and then for a removal and cure of your pain.

Here is my gear:

Best Luck

Beautiful axe, love the finish!!!
Yea, we're in similar boats. If you haven't yet, I would suggest giving acupuncture a try, those meds can wreak havoc on the rest of your body. I understand "whatever gets you through the day", but I've been able to survive on the chinese needles and physical therapy exercises. Don't get me wrong, there are days it gets so bad that I question not having the surgery, but my disk/pinched nerve is in my neck and if anything goes wrong the complications are major. Thanks for sharing & keep doing the music!!!