Time to get back to music, which is something I'm occasionally obligated to do to keep up appearances……

Musicians are a funny breed when it comes to instruments. We're constantly searching for that elusive tone. Most of us will seek out instruments that were manufactured during the period of the music we're playing or are influenced by.

To a certain extent, I tend to follow that philosophy. My guitar -a Martin D-28, has remained relatively unchanged since the thirties. My banjo -a Gibson Earl Scruggs Standard, is basically a modern version of Earl's old Granada also from the thirties.

In both cases, I could have bought more modern instruments that would have given me a brighter, and clearer sound, but I chose not to, because I thought that the sound of both the guitar and banjo that I ultimately purchased would 'fit' the style of music that I like to play.

I could have purchased actual vintage instruments, but I chose not to. Here's why:

For starters, The prices of instruments of that era are way beyond what I'm willing to pay. A 30's Granada in good condition -assuming one was to come onto the market- would set you back about $250,000. A D-28 of that era would be about half of that.

Any time I hear of prices like that, I envision some Monty Hall type character standing in front of a beautiful house, with either a vintage banjo, or an old guitar in his hand saying, "What's it gonna be Joe. This beautiful 1934 Gibson Granada, or this lovely four room bungalow overlooking the river?"

DUH!!!!

Surprisingly enough, there are those out there that would automatically take the guitar/banjo.

I'm not one of them

I mean, what the fuck goes through the mind of a person like that? Are they thinking, 'I own a guitar just like Hank Williams', therefore I can write songs and sing just as good as him.' Or 'with my new banjo, which is just a few serial numbers away from Earls famous Granada, I'm gonna play and sound just like him!'

Hardly. 

When I first started buying instruments, I too, fell prey to the great vintage instrument myth. It seems that if you're playing anything that is roots derivative, people will try to convince you that the older the instrument, the better the tone.

Bullshit. They made some shitty instruments back then too, you know. I've played -and I hate to admit it, owned a few………..

Of course, there ARE some spectacularly good sounding instruments from all periods of history, but are they good enough to pay the kind of dough that the current market says they're worth?

Not in my books. Get yourself a good modern instrument -even one of the 'vintage repros-' and you'll be well on your way to happy playing, and good tone land!

You're gonna get screwed anyway (I'm embarrassed to say that I paid close to $4Gs for my banjo) But you'll have a fine instrument that plays well, stays in tune, and should last you a lifetime.

The rest is up to you. YOU'RE the one who makes an instrument sound good. To a large extent, your tone comes from those ten (11 in Hound Dog Taylors case) little tone devices at the ends of your hands called fingers. Then, of course, the greatest tone device of them all is your ears and brain.

Something sounds shitty? Stop doing it.

I've seen awesome musicians do amazing things on so-called 'shitty' instruments. I've seen some shitty musicians play some god-awful sounding noise on 'vintage' or 'collectable' instruments.

I was at a gig one time, shooting the shit with a pal of mine, when this guy showed up with an old Gretsch guitar from the fifties.

He was quite proud of it, and wanted me to play it on stage during my set to show it off.

(Aside here: What is it with people and their prized posessions, that makes them want someone else to enjoy them. I mean, a certain amount of pride is o.k., I suppose, but I've actually had guys come up to me who were so proud of their hot girlfriends, that they wanted me to fuck them. "Uh………. No thanks………..)

Anyway…….. Where Was I? Oh yeah: So this guy wanted me to play his vintage Gretsch on stage, but when I picked it up, and strummed it, I immediately realized that it was a total piece of shit.

He, obviously proud of his new posession, said something like "She's a beaut, eh? AND, I got her for only $2500.! Good deal huh?

I mumbled a lie, something like 'Oh, I really couldn't play a guitar like this on stage. These hollow bodies feed back too much at the kind of volume levels I'm used to playing at.'

The other fellow who was standing there -a guitar player himself- grabbed the guitar from me, and almost immediately said something like "$2500.? I wouldn't give you twenty-five cents for it!!"

That was one of the hardest I've ever had to work to suppress a laugh in my life.

The poor bastard bought something that was old, and automatically assumed it would be awesome.

And NO, the person that owned the shitty guitar was NOT me. I've been screwed before -many times- I just don't want to talk about it right now……….

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