Scott Baxendale
Well-known member
Or the three W’s: Weed, Whites, & Wine…The 3 Ts....Tone, tone, and....tone....
Or the three W’s: Weed, Whites, & Wine…The 3 Ts....Tone, tone, and....tone....
A great guitar is defined by a great player - just like a mediocre guitar is defined by mediocre player.To me any guitar that you pick up and as soon as you play it it instantly inspires you to play something you hadn’t previously thought of and then is hard to put down is a great guitar. Price point ultimately has nothing to do with it.
Sometimes great players play crappy guitars. A great player can play wooden blocks or pots and pans with no strings and create music.A great guitar is defined by a great player - just like a mediocre guitar is defined by mediocre player.
Depending on the model the Harmony is probably a better guitar. Do you still have it? If so, send me s pic.One time I wanted just a cheap acoustic for my son. A buddy of mine was a manager at GC so I went there to see what they had. You might have known him in Denver; Jason McMillin.
Anyway, he said he had one just for me. It was a Mitchell he had placed aside that played and sounded awesome. It was a $100 guitar.
Shitty thing happened a few years later... Some douche canoe asshole who was recording in my studio swapped it for a piece of shit Harmony guitar that looked exactly the same. I didn't even notice for a couple of years after until someone picked it up and started playing it. The only reason I even remembered the name of the guitar is because I was recording a full length for a guy named Mike Mitchell when I bought the thing.
Thats True - but a Crappy guitar in a Great Players hands becomes a Great Playing Guitar - the point is you can have 20 guitars - but not be a good player - so essentially allSometimes great players play crappy guitars. A great player can play wooden blocks or pots and pans with no strings and create music.
Good guitars are not crappy guitars when played by a beginner.Thats True - but a Crappy guitar in a Great Players hands becomes a Great Playing Guitar - the point is you can have 20 guitars - but not be a good player - so essentially all
20 guitars are crappy - until you put in the hands a great player - then the guitars are great players.
I’ve picked up plenty of guitars that looked good with flawless workmanship, and had all the right stuff.Good guitars are not crappy guitars when played by a beginner.
Your point is beside the original point, and should get its own conversation. But this is a different conversation that is about the guitar itself.
Great guitars are great no matter whose hands they are in, so are crappy guitars, and so are mediocre guitars and so are good guitars. My original point was what defines a “great” guitar which makes significantly better than a good guitar no matter whose hands it is in.
Obviously, a shitty guitar in the hands of a great player will sound good to the listener, but not necessarily to the player. So will his blocks and cardboard boxes.
A great guitar in the hands of a great player will sound virtually the same to the audience as his mediocre guitar does, but this isn’t about the audience. I’m discussing the actual guitar.
A great guitar, to me, is one that once you pick it up you are immediately inspired to play something you haven’t even though of until you picked up that particular guitar and it is hard to put down.
For me an instant dealbreaker is polyester, polyurethane, UV cured urethane finishes.
Unless it’s lacquer, real nitrocellulose lacquer, not the stuff they call ‘nitro’ with plastisizers in it, or it’s an oil finish, I won’t give it a second look.
I know it might sound snobby, but how can I get the best out of an instrument that doesn’t feel good in my hands?
I’m no chemist but I know what feels right.How would you even know if there is a plasticizer in the nitro? And what type? How much is used? There are numerous ways to modify nitro to stabilize it so that it doesn't degrade. It doesn't have to make things sticky or thick. Plus there are various grades of nitrocellulose, which will determine the durability of the finish, and how flexible the film will be, what solvents need to be used.
Just specifying "100% nitro" is meaningless.
The UV cured finish in my Gerard Melancon T is every bit as nice as the finish on my half dozen nitro finished guitars. It just won't crack up if it the temp swings too much.
I’m no chemist but I know what feels right.
If you’re happy with your choices all the more power to you.
I was going to ask you what your background was, as you’d brought up lacquers before. I got the idea from previous posts that you had some kind of background into formulas. Thanks for sharing.I am a chemist (did ink coatings for over 40 years) and I can tell you that there are over 20 grades of raw nitro resin, and a half dozen that are suitable wood coating grades. My old company has a division that does packaging coatings, many of which are nitrocellulose based. It's really good for some things, but has disadvantages. It's REALLY dangerous stuff (I had to audit 3 plants using nitro after one plant had an explosion... thankfully nobody was hurt and the fire suppression system worked!) The wood grades are on the more highly nitrated side, closer to gun cotton. A good friend worked at a local coatings company and they used nitro for certain types of finishes.
Nitro has a distinct advantage over cured systems like UV or polyurethane coatings in that it is repairable. Nitro never cures, it is simply dissolved in a solvent, and after that evaporates, it's dry. But don't get the wrong solvent on you finish, as it will simply dissolve again. If you spray another coating on the old finish, the solvent will dissolve the old finish and bond perfectly well and dry. Anyone who has ever used DEET insect repellent and gotten it on their nitro finished instrument will know the feeling as your finish dissolves in their hand.
Even back in the 50s, some companies added a small amount of co-resin to help make the coating more durable. So unless you know the company that is making the lacquer, you really have no idea what is in the finish. I'm sure Scott knows the ins and outs of the various finishes pretty well.
I never made firecrackers that way. However my brother and I used calcium carbide to fire our carbide cannon (it releases acetylene gas and makes a really nice boom!)Ps. Did you know playing cards in the 50s were coated in lacquer? You could shave slivers off, stuff em into a small cardboard tube , stuff in a fuse and make a firecracker.
Let me ask you this. What are the flattening agents and how do they work? A satin finish is cool, but they don’t stay that way. On a neck, given enough time, they’ll get polished up to a gloss finish. Kind of defeats the original intention.I never made firecrackers that way. However my brother and I used calcium carbide to fire our carbide cannon (it releases acetylene gas and makes a really nice boom!)
There are several, but the one that one I suspect is most used for gloss reduction in a coating like that is fumed silica, a very VERY fine particle. A little bit goes a long way, but the stuff is a royal pain to handle. A bag the size of a leaf bag weighs only a few pounds and any breeze will blow the stuff all over the place. Plus, it's not good to breathe. Really nasty stuff to work with! But the particles are so small that they won't plug spray nozzles. A few places premake pastes that can be added without making such a mess. It's also used in epoxy coatings, and as a thickener. Very useful stuff, but as I said, nasty to work with.Let me ask you this. What are the flattening agents and how do they work? A satin finish is cool, but they don’t stay that way. On a neck, given enough time, they’ll get polished up to a gloss finish. Kind of defeats the original intention.
As a kid we had these little cars with a big head driving it and he had a cigarette in his mouth. The cigarette was made from celluloid and you would light it and drive it around while the little guy would smoke his cigarette. The smell of it burning was very distinctive and years later working with celluloid binding we found out how flammable it is and immediately knew the smell. It has camphor in it which was the distinctive odor. I’ve come to like that smell.I never made firecrackers that way. However my brother and I used calcium carbide to fire our carbide cannon (it releases acetylene gas and makes a really nice boom!)