Guitar Gear

Let me qualify before I go on: I actually don’t care if a guitar is handmade or if the wood is carved by a machine. All I care about is that the guitar plays and sounds good. I’m not going to advocate one over the other.

The other day, I was on an online forum where there was this HUGE debate about handmade guitars vs. CNC. The handmade proponents all talked about “soul” and “mojo,” while the CNC proponents talked about consistency and speed.

The reason I call this a “dumb” debate is that many people think that a CNC is just a set-it-and-forget-it appliance. You press a button and out pops a finished guitar. It’s a tool. And make no bones about it, despite parts being cut by a computer-controlled machine with a CNC, the finish and assembly of pretty much all high-end guitars are done by hand.

Personally, as I mentioned at the top of this entry, I don’t care. If a guitar sounds good and plays good, then it is good – at least to me.

I know, I’ll probably piss some people off – especially the ones who swear by getting nothing but handmade guitars. Hey man, if that’s what does it for you, then go for it! For me at least, I’m much more utilitarian with my approach to gear. I’ve got to be able to gig with it and record with it. A guitar’s soul is how I connect with it.

It can be a cheapo guitar like my original Yamaha FG-335 or my $200 Squier Classic Vibe Tele. If I can make music with it, my thought is simply this: Lemme play it.