multiple guitars

[Cyrokk]

I've spent far too much time with just one guitar.

For most of the years I've been involved in music, I've played one electric guitar: one old Fender Strat Copy.

Three years ago I got married. She has a Kramer which is very similar to my old guitar. No big deal.

Then last year I get an Epiphone. I've been playing it straight for a year now.

Here's where I slip into the twilight zone: I broke a string on the Epi the other night.. No prob, I just go get the Strat. I haven't played it in a while anyways.. But when I started playing the sound was horrible! I couldn't believe how bad it sounded. The Epi was so much smoother sounding!

Or so I thought. Because the following night I plugged the Strat in again, and it sounded A-OK.

I realize that I'm dealing with two totally different guitars. But what the hell?! The difference shouldn't be that much! Am I losing my grip on reality? If I switch guitars on a more frequent basis, will my ears compensate faster over time? Is this going to improve my listening skills?

Cy

[TexRoadkill]

Are you keeping fresh strings on the strat? You may just have the amp tweaked for the one guitar and have to adjust when you switch.

Anything that gives you exposure to different tones will help your ears.

[Clive Hugh]

cyrock, Even two of the same can sound different, I've got 2 Fender Strats and they sound quite different, one has a rosewood fret board and the other maple one piece, the maple is somewhat nicer to play due to big frets and the rosewood sounds so much better, no matter how often I compare them, so the difference between two different brand names is likely to be major, but use it to your advantage.

[64Firebird]

I think that buying a new guitar can improve your skills, or at least open you up to other styles. More so if you get a guitar that is very defferant from the one's you already have.

For example, I used to play mostly single note lines, but then I bought a simi-hollow body Epiphone and the insterment lent itself to playing a lot more double and triple stops. I didn't work at it, it just sort of came out. Suddenly, I was playing things that I'd never thought of before.

[SBax]

I also find that some days one guitar sounds better than the other. Then the next week it sounds not-so-hot again. The age of the strings have nothing to do with it. I also see this with amps but to a much lesser extent. Other than humidity levels and how much moisture gets sucked into or out the wood I have no idea why this happens either!

[jimistone]

i would say its your amp setting. I use a strat most of the time, but i have an es-335 copy that im using some now. when im using the es-335 copy and change to the strat the amp has to be re-tweaked or it won't sound as good on the strat. vice-versa when changing from the strat to the es-335.

[Roel]

A strat copy and an epiphone (gibson copy?). Offcourse they sound different.

I used to own a Ibanez Jem and a strat, and when switching between those 2, I even adapted my style of playing. They are different, they sound different, and ask for different things to play... Like switching between patches on a keyboard. Or like switching between heavy distortion and clean, it sounds different, so you need to adapt your playing style...