Playing other types of guitars after 'Selmers'

scot

I think that for most people, this is a normal but temporary condition, especially if you already played other types of music. When you start into GJ you almost by necessity have to abandon all other kinds of music for the obvious reasons. Most of us will continue with or eventually return to (to some degree anyway) the other styles we originally played. I barely picked up my other guitars for several years at the beginning but after 23 years of GJ, I am happy that I kept that Martin M38 because I play it all the time.

My 1984 Favino (not exactly a GJ guitar) is good for many styles of music, but it is not a fingerstyle guitar at all and I never use it for that. Now the old Martin, that's a perfect fingerstyle guitar. I'm a mechanic by trade and I am all about the right too for the job.

rgrice

@alton I had a '63 Tenneesean for many years and still have a '65 Double Anniversary. Love the feel and sound!
@scot wish you could make it down to catch a gig! Jerry Sims is playing with us now. We will be doing a weekly Friday or Saturday night gig here starting soon. Holler at me.

Jeff Moore

After playing cheap stuff (which I bonded with anyway) for 35 years, I scraped and bought a custom X brace flatop. It only sat there for the next 15 years, while I did Django. It has recently and suddenly become real important to me.

Frank Wekenmann

A good flattop guitar is a wonderful instrument. Unfortunately, really good flattops don't come cheap. I have had the chance to play some of the best vintage Martins, Gibsons and Larsens at a dealer nearby, and also some world-class replicas, and these guitars are generally incredible sounding, yet rather unaffordable. Maybe we are just lucky that the typical Selmer sound can be achieved by relatively inexpensive instrument, although I am aware that there are also differences between a Gitane and a vintage Selmer...

Buco

alton wrote: »

...or maybe I am just so used to a GJ guitar with a relatively wide neck that all other necks seem narrow now.

Same here, other guitars feel so cramped now. After initial "wow this is a finger stretcher" thought I've come to appreciate the extra space on these guitars.

alton

@Buco I agree. I like the width too. On the bright side, when I grab the dreaded 6/9 grip with the thumb over the neck- you all know the one that I am talking about - on anything other than a GJ guitar, it's pretty easy. It's real easy on my Gretsch.

Rest stroke isn't very easy though. I had to take the pickguard off to accommodate.

alton

@rgrice Not to get too far from Gypsy jazz, but I bet that Double Anniversary is pretty sweet! I never gave Gretsches much thought before I was given mine, but when I first plugged it in, I couldn't help but recognize the history in that sound. Now I am in love with them. They're so unique - not Gibson, not Fender. They're just Gretsches.

rgrice

@alton I don't play it much anymore but I absolutely adore it! The 6120 is the the top tho! Mine is basically a poor man's version of that! However, mine is one of a limited number of Cherry Red finishes. You're right too about sound!

bucoo

I've got a '62 Double Anniversary and I love it. I had to swap the tailpiece for a Bigsby since I use it almost exclusively for Rockabilly. Once that was done, it was as close to a 6120 as I needed. I haven't played it in a while though as I really need to focus on gypsy technique and making sure I break my bad habit of alternate picking.

rgrice

Same here @bucoo! I still have the original tailpiece tho!