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View Poll Results: Practice most with your most expensive gear?

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207. You may not vote on this poll
  • Of course

    163 78.74%
  • Not quite

    11 5.31%
  • 50/50

    33 15.94%
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  1. #1

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    Hi All,

    Just wondering how many of you practice regularly with your most expensive gear? I tend to break it up at the moment so to not wear the frets so fast on my priceless, but am wondering if I should just go ahead anyway and face the re-fret at some point..

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  3. #2

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    The only guitar with fret wear that I have is the one I've had the longest... 47 years. And, the fret-wear is minor and doesn't bother me.

    I don't think of value or fret-wear when picking up a guitar, I just play what I want. So I guess it's 50/50 but not for the reasons you noted.

  4. #3

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    Play your guitar and if it gets to the point it needs new frets then get it re-fretted. This can take many years unless maybe you play exclusively one guitar 5-10 hours a day. Then of course finish will wear of the back of the neck at some point. Then get the neck sprayed over or refinished not a problem the wood needs protection. You don't need to eat lunch over the guitar or leave in the car with extremes of temperature or stolen. I suppose fingerboards can wear down and maybe spots on the body but these can be protected. A person would need to play a huge amount of years and hours to wear an ebony or rosewood fingerboard down but I suppose it is possible.

    In short play your guitar and realize the best ones are the ones you like, sound good, give inspiration, and are a point of why you began to play in the first place. I started because my father was a guitarist, arranger, and teacher but my motivation was that I wanted to play melodies I heard in my head. Either for songs that I liked or melodies that I improvised on to create a nice line. I never get tired of hearing Bach Inventions played on an great organ. I could sit all day and listen to someone play Bach Inventions in the Cathedral the are pure joy to my ear.

  5. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by deacon Mark

    In short play your guitar and realize the best ones are the ones you like, sound good, give inspiration, and are a point of why you began to play in the first place.
    Thanks, these are excellent points. I'm lacking inspiration picking up my 'practice guitars', and only play them because I'm worried about fret wear on my best/fav. I do practice 5-8 hours/day at the moment, that's why..

  6. #5

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    This is why we need so many guitars... right? To share the wear! That's what I tell my wife anyway.

    My most expensive guitar happens to be the one I like best and practice with most. (sometimes I wonder if it's some sort of placebo effect...)

    I think most would agree that the more you play one the better it gets, especially if it's an archtop. I've never worn one out, but I sure have tried.

  7. #6

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    My most expensive guitar is no longer my favorite, so I don't play it as often, but I played it daily for a long time. The frets show little, if any, wear. I don't press the strings any harder than I have to, so the frets don't tend to wear quickly.

  8. #7

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    I am a "love the one you're with" type of player, though the most played are the most recent acquisitions :-)

    My practice room has some 15 different gits (mostly semis) hanging there and I play many of them daily though some are just wall art.

    I struggle with "boredom" or attention span issues playing the same git for extended periods so in order to get at least three hours in I often switch over between 4 to 5 gits per day.

    The one exception is the D'Angelico EX-SS at my gf's house. For some reason that's one I never get tired using it and why I have my ear to the ground for a NY-SS in the U.S at a reasonable price.

  9. #8

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    Quote Originally Posted by p1p
    Thanks, these are excellent points. I'm lacking inspiration picking up my 'practice guitars', and only play them because I'm worried about fret wear on my best/fav. I do practice 5-8 hours/day at the moment, that's why..
    The guitar I play the most is my Hollenbeck and I don't spend the amount of time you do practicing but I have been playing for 45 years. Maybe for a brief time of a few years in college between teaching and playing, I a guitar in my hands each day that amount of time. You in fact are playing a lot and if done for years that can wear frets but no big issue at all. I commend you on the dedication to practice!!!!

    For what it is worth I have since 1993, played the Hollenbeck and nowhere close to needing frets but I am generally easy on guitars. I tend to wear frets in the middle of the neck the most 3-10th frets. There are fret dressings left for sure in my Hollenbeck although I have toyed with the idea of re-fretting it because I like the Jescar EVO frets and of course can do it myself. My 1949 D'angelico I have owed for around 33-34 years gets play too although not as much but I not worried. The frets on it are great plenty of dressing left I have never had to even give it a full fret dressing. I at times will do what I call a maintenance clean up. If the guitar is playing fine and no buzzing but has some slight fret wear I run emery cloth, steel wool or graded scotch pads across the frets. Then polish them off and this prevents really needing to dig into the frets and I think promotes longer fret life. I mention this because you might what to give this a try. A while ago I made a conscious effort to get the D'a out and play it more lately, because it just has the depth of sound that make me want to stay with it. In particular the guitar is so lively it resonates and I can feel the vibrations in the whole guitar as I play. It is such that the sound gets "into the soul." That is one of reason I like larger guitars because playing them you really get close to the sound. Sitting in the case it cannot do that...……


    So what is your prize guitar?

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by ccroft
    This is why we need so many guitars... right? To share the wear! That's what I tell my wife anyway.

    My most expensive guitar happens to be the one I like best and practice with most. (sometimes I wonder if it's some sort of placebo effect...)

    I think most would agree that the more you play one the better it gets, especially if it's an archtop. I've never worn one out, but I sure have tried.
    Wife: Why do you own 20 guitars?
    Husband: Because 21 was too many.

  11. #10

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    I always play the guitar that has my attention at the moment. These days it's easy. I only have two guitars and two amps and one of the guitars is tuned for special purposes only so really I only have one to use as a player.

  12. #11

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    I play what calls to me... Like a box of assorted chocolates it depends on what strikes me as yummy.

    Big

  13. #12

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    Of course. Why did I buy it if I'm not going to have the joy of playing it? When I gig, I often gig with those things for the same reason. Otherwise what's the point of having a fine archtop guitar and a nice amp?

    I have a Squire Affinity Tele, too. If all I wanted was a practical instrument, quite frankly I could play that one for the rest of my days. It plays fine, sounds fine, quite passable for jazz. I've played many gigs with it where the archtop would have been a howling beast. It's a working tool that cost 1/20th of what replacing my archtop would cost me. But my archtop is a work of art that I sometimes just enjoy sitting and looking at- which doesn't happen with the Affinity.

  14. #13

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    "Not playing/practicing on a guitar because it may wear the frets down" has never crossed my mind.

    I have, and have had, some very nice guitars; they are not "collectors' items," they are meant to be played, so I play them and perform with them. I keep a beater guitar at work, where I practice every day on my hour-long, unpaid lunch time; when I go home, I play the nice guitars -- whichever one moves me that night. For gigs, I bring a guitar that fits the show.

  15. #14

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    I tend to play the cheapest guitar I own, a $300 Yamaha tele. It's the one I leave out on a hanger, especially in winter. I guess I'd make other arrangements if I hated the guitar, but it plays well and sounds good. I don't feel particularly deprived when I play it. They're all just tools.

  16. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by deacon Mark
    The guitar I play the most is my Hollenbeck and I don't spend the amount of time you do practicing but I have been playing for 45 years. Maybe for a brief time of a few years in college between teaching and playing, I a guitar in my hands each day that amount of time. You in fact are playing a lot and if done for years that can wear frets but no big issue at all. I commend you on the dedication to practice!!!!

    For what it is worth I have since 1993, played the Hollenbeck and nowhere close to needing frets but I am generally easy on guitars. I tend to wear frets in the middle of the neck the most 3-10th frets. There are fret dressings left for sure in my Hollenbeck although I have toyed with the idea of re-fretting it because I like the Jescar EVO frets and of course can do it myself. My 1949 D'angelico I have owed for around 33-34 years gets play too although not as much but I not worried. The frets on it are great plenty of dressing left I have never had to even give it a full fret dressing. I at times will do what I call a maintenance clean up. If the guitar is playing fine and no buzzing but has some slight fret wear I run emery cloth, steel wool or graded scotch pads across the frets. Then polish them off and this prevents really needing to dig into the frets and I think promotes longer fret life. I mention this because you might what to give this a try. A while ago I made a conscious effort to get the D'a out and play it more lately, because it just has the depth of sound that make me want to stay with it. In particular the guitar is so lively it resonates and I can feel the vibrations in the whole guitar as I play. It is such that the sound gets "into the soul." That is one of reason I like larger guitars because playing them you really get close to the sound. Sitting in the case it cannot do that...……


    So what is your prize guitar?
    This is kind of it. I’ve had a few solid bodies and a semi-hollow to practice with, also because they’re quieter at night, but they just don’t call to me the same way my archtop does. I feel the archtop takes more to ‘work’ so to say, which I like because it’s more engaging and I’m rewarded with a much fuller, clearer sound. If only there was a way to practice very quietly with an archtop..

    Mine isn’t super valuable money wise, but something I cherish. It’s a ‘77 Ibanez 2471 NT (L5/Johnny Smith replica) made by Tamura.Do you PRACTICE with your most expensive gear?-4dad8e7d-f8ad-4666-a1dc-89d6b193b941-jpg

  17. #16

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    I like to cycle through my guitars for practice. I’ve only worn out frets on one instrument, but that was after many years of playing mostly that guitar. Some of my guitars are probably overdue for some fret dressing though.

  18. #17

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    I have played some guitars regularly for decades without needing to replace the frets.

    I have had frets "dressed" once or twice.

    I have had new frets put on two guitars, because at the time I was imitating a teacher's use of very big frets.

    The fret jobs were perfect and there was no indication that there were replacements in any way.

    So, needing to replace frets due to wear is simply not something I'd worry about.

    Over the years, my favorite guitar has changed, but I've always played my current favorite almost all the time.

  19. #18

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    I also had one of those Tamura Johnny Smith's, a double pickup. Loved that guitar. Good guitar you got there P1P

  20. #19

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    Most of the time, yes. If you call it expensive, that is.

  21. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
    I play what calls to me... Like a box of assorted chocolates it depends on what strikes me as yummy.

    Big
    Yeah, I play the one that calls to me on any given day. If you have more than one guitar this seems like the only sensible option.

  22. #21

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    Frets wear out, and when they do simply have them replaced. After all, guitars are made to be played.

  23. #22

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    'Most Expensive' and 'Best' are not necessarily the same thing.

  24. #23
    Mostly ‘yes’ so far.

    I guess for some reason I’ve been paranoid that I might wear the guitar out or decrease the value in that way. I’m not really planning on selling it ever though.

  25. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by p1p
    This is kind of it. I’ve had a few solid bodies and a semi-hollow to practice with, also because they’re quieter at night, but they just don’t call to me the same way my archtop does. I feel the archtop takes more to ‘work’ so to say, which I like because it’s more engaging and I’m rewarded with a much fuller, clearer sound. If only there was a way to practice very quietly with an archtop..

    Mine isn’t super valuable money wise, but something I cherish. It’s a ‘77 Ibanez 2471 NT (L5/Johnny Smith replica) made by Tamura.Do you PRACTICE with your most expensive gear?-4dad8e7d-f8ad-4666-a1dc-89d6b193b941-jpg
    Beautiful guitar p1p!

    I practice with whatever I'm playing at the time, whether it's one of my Les Pauls or my 355, etc. Some times it can be genre related as well. In terms of my amps, it depends on the sound I want.

  26. #25

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    Cheap guitars, cheap whiskey, cheap dates. Eventually you get too old to waste your time on them.


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