We start with Your needs
The first thing we usually want to know is What do you want to accomplish?
Optimizing Your Sound is the biggest issue
You have probably heard that maple necks and single coils add clarity, while rosewood and humbuckers often darken the tone- In reality, practically every choice from neck shape to pickup inductance changes the way you sound and we have the experience to manage all the variables that work together for your perfect sound.
Performance Guitars tend to be specialized
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Cover Guitars- Thin and fat sounds, clean and crunch, even acoustic tones, a great 'cover guitar' is one of the best ways to reduce the number of instruments you carry around- It's amazing how much territory you can cover and how easy the controls can be.
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Performance Ensemble- When your budget's a little bigger, and there are less concerns about the 'care and feeding' of your stage guitars, it's nice to build out a group of specialized guitars, where each carry a bit of a coordinated load- From slide to covering multiple styles, we can help you come up with complimentary tones that work well with your amps and outboard gear.
Genre Specific Guitars are often major variations on similar themes
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Any guitar can play the blues, however a 335 or a Strat or a Les Paul will open doors to entirely different timbres- Heavy strings provide more power, lighter strings enable complex left hand styles and an SG with the right pickups can out drive a Les Paul- everything with blues is negotiable.
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A Telecaster fits the bill for everything from country, blues, rock, even jazz, but the optimal neck, pickups and controls vary greatly.
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Rock- from classic to metal, the options are endless and specialization is the norm- Flat necked 7 strings can fit prog rock just as well as metal, but everything from amps to electronics is likely to be different. 'One size covers all' is possible, but it's good to emphasize the differences as well.
What style of guitar is the best place to start? It needs to feel good, control options need to be right for you and the guitar has to fit in with your gear and music styles- We learn a lot when we narrow down the right platform
The Guitar You Dream About