Ever had a crushed fantasy towards a guitar?

maxtuna26

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Anyone here knows that feeling? When you've always dreamed about having that one guitar, and then when you do try it out in the shop, you realise expectations differ from reality?

I've always been a fan of SGs. I love the 2-horned look, the lighter weight, the bright and brash hard rock sound that's always associated with the SGs. It's like a more stripped-down, yet upgraded version of the Les Paul (personal opinion), more "my style". So I found a couple of really high quality SG knock-offs made by Vintage guitars in the shop. All fitted with Wilkinson parts which are good stuff, and I couldn't really find any noticeable flaw in the fit and finish. I've only been admiring it for the past month, never pulled it out from the rack and plug it in. Until 2 days ago, I finally mustered enough courage.

While seated down, I noticed the playing position was different. Since I started out on an SE Custom, the Vintage's neck, in comparison, feels like it's extended towards the headstock side, and the bridge was positioned forward a bit. I have no idea how it hangs from a strap, but playing seated down feels weird, the whole fretboard suddenly became unknown territory to me because of the "extended" neck. The neck plays like butter, the last fret can be reached without even touching the cutaway, the action is very low and the pickups are actually really good, very PAF-sounding. All thanks to the whole "forward-positioned" neck, I realised the SG is actually not my type of guitar, sadly. :dontknow:

Anyone here had experiences like that? Next guitar down my wishlist will be Epiphone Explorer/Jackson Kelly. And I'm praying real hard that the SG incident will not happen again for the Explorer-shapes. :(
 
You didn't like the SG because of the body shape sitting down, and you really expect the Explorer not to have the same problem or worse? :laugh:
 
When I was a teen I played a Ric 650D in a guitar shop after it caught my eye due to looking like nothing else hanging. I was sitting down and only played it for a few minutes, but I thought OMG I have to get one of these! At the time, I couldn't afford even a third of it's price, so it was "one day...."

About 5 years ago, I was visiting family and decided to check out that shop. I found it had shut down about a decade prior. I remembered that guitar though. So when I got home I ordered a 620 since it was only available version of the 6xx series being made. When it arrived, I was so excited to have at least a version of the guitar I fell in love with 30 years earlier. Took it to band practice and played it once. Standing up, that guitar was so neck heavy it was unbearable. Sold it at a slight loss just to purge the disappointment. That was definitely a crush for me.
 
TBH - a long time ago now - it was PRS. The first ones I tried out as a much younger man underwhelmed me. Never got on with them from a sonic standpoint.

Then a few years ago the Mira and Starla were released, and I'm a convert. For me it was the pickups... didn't really like anything they were doing with them in the 90s. Breakthroughs have since been made, clearly!
 
Kind of. I really like the sound of a Les Paul, and some of my favorite guitarists often use them, but whenever I've had a chance to play one it didn't feel quite right. For some reason it even felt kind of small, but I'm not sure why. Oddly I have a Hamer Artist, which is akin to a double cut Les Paul (but "semi-solid") and really like it.

And I'm not sure I should admit this, but I stopped in a shop a few weeks ago and tried an S2 Custom 22 thinking I'd be knocked out by it, but I wasn't. I'd still like to try a Mira, though.
 
Guitars: 305, CU24, Strats in general, tried a pals 50's LP... it just sounded like a guitar.
Amps: Marshall Jubile, Soldano SP77, Mesa Mk II c+... didn't sound exactly like Master of Puppets.
Effects: Eventide H3000... Not really the sound but using it in a guitar rig was pointless.
Keys: Memory Moog.
I was also super geeked for my first session on a SSL console and ended up hating it.. I felt cool taking a pic of a pile of faux cocaine on the producers desk portion of it though.

I have had a couple of pleasant surprises with some gear I thought I wouldn't care for as much, that's why it's always preferable to try be-fo-yo buy.
 
Got drunk one night at a party and had my way with a buddy's Stratocaster and had a really good time.
After that, I owned a number of Strats and it just wasn't the same.
I wanted to like them, but Strats and me have never gotten along very well since and I dumped all of them.
So now I have sworn off Stratocasters for ever and I ain't lookin' back.
 
Yes, but the story has a happy ending: I was crushing/GASsing hard for an SG. I must have played every SG Standard in Los Angeles county and I was really disappointed to find that there was a fatal flaw with every single one of them. If one had a great feeling neck it sounded bad, if another sounded great it had a terrible neck, and don't get me started on the QC/fit and finish issues that in one way or another plagued all of them. Well, it was during this search I discovered the Mira, a similar guitar in many ways on paper (and the style that I wanted) but a superior instrument in every possible way in reality. I was smitten and still am 5 months later.
 
Lps were my disappointment . Heavy ,sounded great but tuning and Qc issues let me down.
 
You didn't like the SG because of the body shape sitting down, and you really expect the Explorer not to have the same problem or worse? :laugh:

Ohh, come on, they're different shapes!!! :rofl: Stop spoiling my fantasies!
 
I'd wanted a Rickenbacker 381 since seeing one in a Rickenbacker catalog back in '68. Beautiful guitar, pricey (new ones are around $5K), and really hard to find. I found a used one in about 1988 or '89, the first one I'd ever seen close-up--a '72 in black. Gorgeous, needed a little work, but basically in nice shape, and I got a good deal on it because some idiot had bent the bridge mounting screws in an attempt to get it to intonate with .008" gauge strings. One new bridge later (they wouldn't sell me just the screws), and a new set of toaster-top pickups (it had Hi-Gain pickups and didn't really sound like a Ricky), I was ready to go. That darn thing never sounded right, or played right either--it had a real small fretboard radius, maybe 7"--and I had to set the action higher than I wanted to, in order to get it not to choke out on upper-register bends. I used it on the gig no more than twice, and a few years later I got rid of it. Sure was pretty, though...
 
I like my 2012 '61 Reissue SG, and it plays nice, but not as nice as any of my SEs or 408.
HUGE neck dive if you let go when you have a strap on it.
Leather straps grip a shirt better, but it is headstock and neck heavy.

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I got mine back when I got into guitars again after a 30+ year break from them, and I did not want another Les Paul.
My SG blows away my old '73 Les Paul Deluxe I had back in the day, but still all of my PRS simply feel more comfortable and play better.

I can see the difference too between dry wood like PRS uses, and the wetter wood of the Gibson.
I took my Santana out of its case last weekend for the first time since Christmas, and it was still in tune.
The SG fluctuates more and needs to be tuned more often.

I like the look of the SG though, and many of my "hero" guitarists of the day used them and still do.
Angus young for one...

Two guy's at work yesterday played my SE Santana and thought it played very well, and the price when I told them they were blown away.
 
For many years, I dreamed of owning a vintage Gibson SG. In 2005, I finally got my chance. I acquired a beautiful 1964 cherry SG. It was all original and had the original slim neck profile – Gibson changed the shape slightly in 1965. Even all of the original sauter joints were still intact. This was a marvelous, vintage instrument. Two issues: it did not play well and to be completely honest, it did not sound very good. It took me a couple of years to face these realities simply because I wanted this instrument for so long. I wanted to love it. But In the end, I just couldn't. I sold it in 2010. Sure, I could've held on to it as an investment. But I decided to sell it and buy a couple of other pieces that I could play, love, and enjoy daily. The lesson I learned during that whole experience? Just because it's old (and incredibly expensive) does not necessarily mean that it's better!
 
I had Rick fever once. Always after a 12 string to add that sound to the band.

Then I played one.

No thanks.
 
In response to my own OP here, I did play a Jackson Kelly (explorer shape) today in the shop and fortunately enough, I'm fine with the shape. The test mule was a JS32, the entry-level one. The bridge pickup was busted, there's nothing but a weak and funky sound coming from it on the high-gain channel, but it doesn't matter because I'd already presumed that they will sound mediocre at best. The most important thing here to me is the feel, and it feels good to me! No awkwardness in playing position, so that's a green light for me. Looks like my 80's rocker fantasy is still alive! :laugh:

Anyway, after trying the Kelly, I picked up a King V and plugged it in for fun. Having half of your guitar wedged between your thighs just feels ridiculous to me, but hey it's actually pretty cool! Anyone else tried a V and find it to be extremely awkward or pure awesome-ness?
 
Anyway, after trying the Kelly, I picked up a King V and plugged it in for fun. Having half of your guitar wedged between your thighs just feels ridiculous to me, but hey it's actually pretty cool! Anyone else tried a V and find it to be extremely awkward or pure awesome-ness?

V's are cool but the hard shell cases are massive and I got tired of having such physically large guitars and parted with all my V's.
 
V's are cool but the hard shell cases are massive and I got tired of having such physically large guitars and parted with all my V's.

Yep, they sure are massive compared to PRSes! I always thought V's were pretty small and nimble because of Matt Tuck. I forgot that he's actually a really tall guy. I have Asian height (171cm), which is why, strapping a V on me looks extremely ridiculous. Hell, even Strats look huge on me...
 
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