Guitar Gear

I’ve mentioned this in the past but one of the passions in my life is wine. To me, there is nothing like the taste of a gorgeous wine; a wine that fits perfectly with the venue, the food, the atmosphere. As I was contemplating this, as I am wont to do, I began thinking of parallels between my experience of wine and my experience with gear. Amazingly enough, there are some great parallels.

Fine Wine and Fine Gear

My appreciation of wine centers specifically around fine wine; that is, wine that is meant to be appreciated for its quality, sophistication, and complexity. But like guitar gear, fine doesn’t necessarily equate to being expensive. In general, yes, you get what you pay for, but some of the finest wines I’ve ever had cost less than $25.00.

The same goes for guitar gear. Take, for instance, the very popular EHX Soul Food overdrive pedal. Built as a Klon Centaur replica, this sub-$80 pedal is my go-to overdrive. Some people say it’s nothing like the Klon, but I had never played a Klon, so I didn’t know any better when I got it. All I did know was that it was a great pedal and it has stayed on my board ever since. And the fact that I paid under $70 when I got it; well, that was vindication of my stance that you don’t have to pay a lot for great sound.

Getting Better with Age

The great thing about fine wine is that in general, and as long as you store it well, fine wine will get better with age. The tannins smooth out, the flavors balance, and overall, it gains complexity. The same goes with guitars. My 1990 Simon and Patrick PRO, now almost 30 years old, is really coming into its own. The wood has had all this time to set and dry out and acclimate to my particular area, and it sounds absolutely amazing.

Same thing with my R8 Les Paul, whom I call “Amber.” It was built in 2003, and as of late, I’ve noticed a definite change in how she sounds and how she plays and even feels. I believe it has a lot to do with the aging of the wood. I had a similar experience with how a Les Paul sounds with aged wood with my former “Ox,” which was a ’59 Replica.

Though built in 2008, it was constructed with very old wood, and an earmark of that was that it resonated incredibly – you could feel the vibrations in the body and neck. I spoke with the luthier about it and as he was the manager of instrument wood at a wood company, he hand-picked all the wood that went into the guitar. That guitar could sing! I don’t feel bad for selling it, but I do have fond memories of how it sounded.

Going back to my R8, one of the things I noticed was when I was playing her through my trusty Aracom VR22 recently. This is a combination that I’ve used for years. When I turned up the gain on the amp, I noticed some high-end frequency elements in my tone that weren’t there before.

My bandmate looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked if I was playing a new guitar. I told him that it was my same Les Paul that I’ve been playing for years, and he remarked that it sounded so much richer than he remembered. I replied that the wood must have aged to the point where I’m now experiencing its tonal beauty. 

A Visceral Experience

When I drink a truly fine wine, it’s not only my olfactory and taste senses that get activated. The experience is truly visceral in that the wine sparks memories that in turn translate to feelings that can be felt through my entire body. The same thing happens when I’m playing and I get in the zone. I feel that I become one with my guitar. Every note, every chord resonates throughout my entire body. I become hyper-aware of my surroundings and with whom I’m playing.

Wine Is Meant to Be Drunk; Gear Is Meant to Be Played

I’m not a wine collector. I usually have no more than 30 bottles of wine in my possession at any time. Right now, I’ve got 12 in my wine cooler. If I want to get some expensive wines, I’ll usually go to an auction – either online or in-person – and get the wine(s) that I like. Then eventually, I’ll drink them; usually within a month of purchase. 

I’m the same with guitars. To me, they’re meant to be played, and the reason I went from 25 guitars down to 6 is that I just don’t like things sitting and collecting dust. I did the buy-and-sell-for-a-higher-price thing for a while, but that was just laborious. I’m a player, and I don’t have time to do the research that’s necessary to be an astute gear investor. So I use all my gear. When it wears out or breaks or I retire it, I get a replacement or perhaps move onto something else.

I’m less this way about pedals. Truth be told, I tend to hoard them. 🙂 But less from a collection standpoint, but being much more pragmatic in that when I want a particular sound, I have it available. For instance, I was recently working on a song that required a delay. I thought that my Mad Professor Deep Blue Delay would work, but I just couldn’t dial in the delay sound I had in my head. I even tried my MXR Carbon Copy, but it too was an analog delay. I realized that I probably needed a digital delay. So I broke out my Vox Time Machine and voila, I set the timing and got the sound I wanted. There have been times when I put The Time Machine up for sale. I never got any offers and I’m glad I’ve held onto it. 

Just Because Everyone Else Likes It, Doesn’t Mean You Will Like It

There’s a storied and extremely expensive wine brand called Screaming Eagle. A bottle of the current, first-flight release is around $900. Second-flight bottles are less expensive at $400-$600. It’s a good wine and people rave about it. In fact, it has evolved into a cult wine of sorts. I’ve had it. It’s good. But I could get the same experience with a far less expensive wine.

Case in point: A few years ago, I went to a silent wine auction. I had been a fan of Beaulieu Vineyards Gorges Latour Private Reserve for years. On auction was a single bottle of 1981 vintage. Very few had bid on it because it was placed next to a three-year vertical of another wildly popular wine brand called Silver Oak. There were lots of bids on that. So I placed my bid on the paper, then when someone came along to bid, I just outbid them. In the end, I won the bottle for $96. You couldn’t find it for less than $500.

That wine was PERFECT in every way. Very well-balanced, and even being that old, still retained this beautiful acidity that made the wine feel “alive.” Compared to the Screaming Eagle I tasted, it simply blew it away. I have to admit that I kind of fell for the hype of “Screagle” from wine lovers and forums. I really thought when I had the opportunity to taste it, it would change my life. And the fact that though excellent, and well-deserving of its ratings, that it didn’t completely wow me, well, I just shrugged my shoulders and said, “Okay, it’s good, so what’s all the hype about?”

If you read any gear forums, after awhile you’ll begin to see patterns of people’s reactions to gear. Take the Dumble amp for instance. So many people have raved about it over the year. Boutique amp manufacturers have reversed engineered it and/or gotten a hold of circuit diagrams. I’ve played one. It definitely has a certain mojo about it, but it doesn’t do enough for me for me to even consider getting one even if I had $40k-$100k to spend on one.

So the point to all this is just because a lot of people rave about something, or there might be a lot of hype around the industry, do your best to ignore the noise, and find out for yourself.

Your Mileage May (And Probably Will) Vary

I suppose this is a bit of a corollary of the previous section, but the main point of this section is this: Only YOU will know if something works for you. For instance, most of my wine-loving friends are cabernet sauvignon drinkers. Don’t get me wrong, I love a great cab now and then. But I prefer the subtlety and nuance of a great Burgundy or Pinot Noir. 

There have been so many times people have said, “Dude! You have to try this cab from so-and-so.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come away disappointed. It’s not that the wine is bad. And if I was rating the wine, I’d probably rate the wines in line with the experts. But as I mentioned, wine is very experiential to me. And I don’t get the same kind of experience as often from a cabernet as I do with a great pinot. 

The same goes for gear. I have a budding young guitarist who plays with me in my church band. He reads my blog so he trusts my knowledge about gear. He has asked me on occasion what kind of gear he should get, and I answer the same thing: “Find the gear that appeals to YOU.”

I also realized that he was still trying to find his sound, so I’m very judicious about my gear advice. I just tell him to spend a lot of time playing amps and pedals and guitars. Eventually, he’ll find what works. He finally decided on a PRS amp – great choice. He has a collection of pedals already and has asked me about types of pedals he should have. I again just tell him to play a bunch of stuff. I can’t tell him what will work for him and him alone.

Look, I’m not saying don’t buy gear. But having spent lots of time and money buying gear, I’ve learned to trust my own ears…

It’s funny how one train of thought can lead you down pathways you didn’t know existed. To be honest, I’ve thought about this parallel between wine and gear before, but it was only now that I could put it into words. Maybe it’s because at the time I thought it, I hadn’t found my sound, and I was still very attached to the gear I was buying. Who knows? In any case, it was fun thinking about the relationship.