Hi, my name is Brandon and I'm a bad guitar dad. Most of us become bad guitar parents because we neglect the others as we reach for our favorite. All are treated equally in my home as I rotate through them all as evenly as possible. But something dawned upon me.....and I was horrified.
I was playing the other night (had the rare opportunity to play for about 4 hour straight....empty house....no interruptions) and rotated through all of my guitars. Purposefully used different guitars on different songs just to see what I could make them do (McCarty for Megadeth and CU24 for Weezer type thing). Nothing wanted to stay in tune. At first I blamed the weather. It is spring/summer here in Iowa and humidity levels are a changing. It's not bad enough here to kick in the AC yet so the windows are open 24/7. But after a bit of playing, I was out of tune again. Little to no trem use (my McCarty doesn't even have a trem!) Everything.....going to crap.
And then I looked at my strings. They look fine and fresh......all smiles and shine. No corrosion nor wear. They look like I replaced them yesterday.
Wait. When was the last time that I replaced a broken string? When was the last time that I replaced a set? Other than the extra packs that I keep in every guitar case, where are my bulk packs? Where are my nippers? How the hell do the winged tuners on my CU24 or CE24 work?
And then it dawned upon me......
I haven't changed the strings on my guitars for well over 2 years. Longer than that in some cases. My go to PRS is the 96 CE24. It sees 7-10 hours a week of play time at home plus a weekly band rehearsal (I play in a cover band and it's the most versatile and inexpensive guitar in my herd for that application). Two and a half years on the same strings.
When I owned other brands, I'd replace strings every two weeks.....or at least before any gig. Around that interval, I knew that one was ready to break. And break they did on those import guitars (even with a good setup). But I've never broken a string a PRS. EVER. Don't know why.....maybe the way it hangs changed my pick attack. Maybe because of how the bridge is constructed and filed. Maybe some magic dust in the glue PRS uses. But I don't break strings anymore.
None the less, I admit to being a bad guitar dad and not changing strings as I should. They look good....they feel good.....hell, they even sound good. But they just can't take the beating like they used to.
And in case you're interested, these are all D'Addario XL110s (except for the 11's on the DGT and the 9's on the SE Tremonti Custom). I don't have acidic sweat or gunky hands. I don't wipe down my guitars after playing. I don't oil my fretboards. I really don't do much to take care of my guitars......and they all look clean and minty even though they all get played every day.
Signed -
Bad Guitar Dad......
I was playing the other night (had the rare opportunity to play for about 4 hour straight....empty house....no interruptions) and rotated through all of my guitars. Purposefully used different guitars on different songs just to see what I could make them do (McCarty for Megadeth and CU24 for Weezer type thing). Nothing wanted to stay in tune. At first I blamed the weather. It is spring/summer here in Iowa and humidity levels are a changing. It's not bad enough here to kick in the AC yet so the windows are open 24/7. But after a bit of playing, I was out of tune again. Little to no trem use (my McCarty doesn't even have a trem!) Everything.....going to crap.
And then I looked at my strings. They look fine and fresh......all smiles and shine. No corrosion nor wear. They look like I replaced them yesterday.
Wait. When was the last time that I replaced a broken string? When was the last time that I replaced a set? Other than the extra packs that I keep in every guitar case, where are my bulk packs? Where are my nippers? How the hell do the winged tuners on my CU24 or CE24 work?
And then it dawned upon me......
I haven't changed the strings on my guitars for well over 2 years. Longer than that in some cases. My go to PRS is the 96 CE24. It sees 7-10 hours a week of play time at home plus a weekly band rehearsal (I play in a cover band and it's the most versatile and inexpensive guitar in my herd for that application). Two and a half years on the same strings.
When I owned other brands, I'd replace strings every two weeks.....or at least before any gig. Around that interval, I knew that one was ready to break. And break they did on those import guitars (even with a good setup). But I've never broken a string a PRS. EVER. Don't know why.....maybe the way it hangs changed my pick attack. Maybe because of how the bridge is constructed and filed. Maybe some magic dust in the glue PRS uses. But I don't break strings anymore.
None the less, I admit to being a bad guitar dad and not changing strings as I should. They look good....they feel good.....hell, they even sound good. But they just can't take the beating like they used to.
And in case you're interested, these are all D'Addario XL110s (except for the 11's on the DGT and the 9's on the SE Tremonti Custom). I don't have acidic sweat or gunky hands. I don't wipe down my guitars after playing. I don't oil my fretboards. I really don't do much to take care of my guitars......and they all look clean and minty even though they all get played every day.
Signed -
Bad Guitar Dad......
