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| Midge Ure Plays a Vintage So Who Am I Kidding? |
Not the best piece of guitar husbandry, I must admit, especially as The Raspberry Ripple One is off on it's travels now, leaving me light-of-'bucker. And more to the point down to one usable guitar.
This year gets weirder.
All of which set me off on a Les Paul trip again. It's something I've thought about a fair bit and yes, I know it is sad as I am only ever likely to be a 'Retired' guitar player as far as getting out of the house with one goes, but I really want a proper Les Paul.
I mean, I loved that Studio - it was perfect, it played great, sounded great has every mod done I would have done and it looked beautiful; but I'm not talking about rational thought here, I'm talking about sadboy mid-life crisis and I haven't got the roots-count for a pony tail or the balance for a Harley, so this is as good as it gets.
(I think I said I had my proper mid-lifer at 21 and have been seriously worried for the last couple of years, since I hit 42, but that isn't what I'm on about.).
So putting the sad-getted-ness out of mind, and the fact that having a grand to waste on a guitar for me to play in my living room is unlikely, what I really want is an old style Les Paul that hasn't had it's innards removed, hollowed out or filled with American air and is sort of, well, solid.
It should have a maple cap, not bothered about it being figured, plain looks better imho, but I wouldn't run away from one if that was the case. I know they look a bit tacky, but I like cherry sunburst or lemon drop or honeyburst kinda looks, and if I'm dreaming it should be bound of body and neck, have olde worlde wiring and caps and nickel bits 'n' bobs too..
As I probably describing something old or custom shop, that is never going to happen, so I'm thinking a LP Traditional is probably as close as I am likely to get in this lifetime. Which is OK, it is kinda possible if I set my mind to it over the next decade or three and forget about kids in cardboard shoes stood in puddles and everything else..
So that is my long term aim, and I fully accept it will never happen. And though I can say that and know it is true, there is this corner of my brain that will be forever named hope.
But in the short term (real world) I still fancy having something LP-like to play, so I might treat meself in the coming weeks to a Vintage or an Epi or something.
The Vintage V100 I had was lovely, and they are pretty cheap, or I have always fancied one of the 'Peter Green' Lemon Drops too. Hmmm... It has to be 'hog and maple though, none of this poplar top with a creme brulee filling and 0.3 micron-thin veneer.
But will I be happy? Probably not, but then happiness is such an overrated concept, don't you find?
And no amount of thinking that it is good-enough-for-the-likes-of-me will help anyway.
I'm not sure this degree of self-awareness is good for me.
I'm off to try and make a scratchplate out of an old Beach Boys record - wish me luck.
La la laaa
2 comments:
I have a deep suspicion of Les Paul's ever since my first traumatic experience with a Kay import around '79.
That was my first electric guitar, and I still have the mental scars: It never stayed in tune, the action was hilarious, and the pups had a very casual attitude toward working.
I know its irrational, but ever since, the sight of a Les Paul makes me feel ill.
Plus, I think they're just boring lumps of wood, hewn in a rough 'guitar shape'.
Give me a bit of quirkiness like a Jaguar or a '72 tele deluxe and I'm happy.
Basically, I'm a Fender man to the bone.
Your mid-life Les Paul thing may end in tears, trust me I've been there, stop before its too late!
remember what Ed Roman said about them?
I know where you are coming from on the shape - I feel the same way about Strats most of the time (unless you mess with them enough that you forget what they are) - if I see a Strat I just think 'Bontempi' as that was what I grew up thinking a guitar was.
Les Pauls, I don't know what it is, but I just like playing them. Can't say I particularly like how they look or feel influenced by who has played them before, but they just feel right.
Maybe I'm getting old, as the scale of a Jaguar doesn't feel as wrong as it used to either, compared to a Jazzmaster, and maybe I just need to get it out of my system. I had the Studio and hardly took it out of it's case as I was playing my JM or Gordo, so I don't know.
Can't argue with Ed Roman about the design either - it reminds me of the old swing-made-by-committee pictures that floated around..
Heh ho
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