Conference napalm::guitar

    Richard,
    
    I'd agree with you for most cases. I used to play in a band where the
    other guitar player would practice using just guitar and amp, then come
    the gig, plug in his trusty Copycat and NOT TURN THE DAMN THING OFF ALL
    NIGHT!! This was a case when it didn't affect *his* playing, it just
    blew the songs to hell...
    
    I also agree with your problem using different scale length
    instruments. If I've been practicing a lot using a Gibson or Fender
    scale length, then go to using the other, I end up bumping into the
    frets now and again (where they're a different distance apart), or
    (when going Fender -> Gibson) fretting the notes too hard and bending
    them sharp :^(
    
    Some people take this to extremes, though, and end up setting up their
    entire rig/PA/lighting when all you really need is a practice amp...
    
    Nick

   Yeah, I had an interesting experience in this area recently:  I've been
   playing an Ibanez 5 string bass for a year or so, and a couple of months
   ago picked up a Steinberger 4 string.  Tried using the Steiny during a
   recording session and found myself fluffing _everything_.  The lack of
   headstock made me lose my place on the neck, and the lack of the 5th
   string had me searching around for open notes.  Since that time I've been
   using the Steiny more and more (it is a better guitar, after all) and now
   find it quite usable.  But switching back and forth with the 5 string is
   still a chore.

   -- Sam
   

    Ooo, this one hits home.  I bounce around between four and six string
    bass; can you say ball of confusion?  I never realized how much I used
    the mental anchor of that low E string.  The guys in the band love it
    when a start out a tune a major 4th high (or low).

    One simple thing I found was if you play standing up at your gig, you
    should play standing up when the band is practicing together. 
    

Yea, I had fun at the studio... after playing bass constantly for two years
I had a 'guitar-track-attack' at the studio and convinced the guitarist to
let me play my Paul on one track (after not picking it up for months). It was
tough squishing back into them little frets! I did okay, luckily I don't think
up complicated parts (%^o

I'm playing guitar at the DECjam at the end of the month, I don't know what
I will be using for an amp yet and probably won't until that night! One thing
for sure, it will be another quick learning experience.

But that's R&R  ;^)

Droid

    Interesting about the Steiny no headstock thang.  One of the blues jams
    I sat in at in Burlington VT, Blue Fox loaned me his Steinberger copy
    (6 string guitar).  I was lost....the absence of the headstock really
    threw me, so I kinda camped out on one basic position for my solos....
    the weird look was confusing/intimidating.  
    
    steve 

I agree with most of you about playing one guitar at home and getting the good
"don't-touch-my-59-LP" guitar just for gigs out of the bag. Even for bass player
it is hard to jump between 4-, 5- and else-string bases. But I think one should 
be able to get used to an amp he never played before (even if it is a bad one).

I think that most of us guitar players spend too much time with their equipment.
I am using a GP-8, QuadraVerb GT and Marshall JMP-1, but don't have a problem
playing live with an old Orange or Marlboro amp. Sure, delay, chorus, flanger
etc. sounds great, but at least the fingers on the strings make the music. In
most of the cases it is just you, who think it sounds bad.

ChriS

    
    
    I have to echo that Steinberger-dislocation-phenomena...  The
    portability's nice (especially with it strapped to your back when
    you're zoomin' down the 5 on the Hurricane), but unless that's your
    primary axe, you're gonna fall into the wrong positions.  Maybe I
    should've invested in that inflatable headstock option...
    
    

    Re: last few
    
    Steinbergers
    
    It's only a problem if you don't play one very often. Now that I've had
    mine for 18 months I can go back and forth with no problem between my
    various axes, fretted, fretless, long scale, short scale, headless,
    etc.  It does help discourage jammers, though 8^)  8^)
    
    Amps
    
    Just last night a guy coming over to jam called me up and wanted to bag
    it because he couldn't get ahold of his rack to bring it over; as it
    turned out he plugged into the amp I pulled out for him (an Ampeg for
    pete's sake!) and said, "Oh, this will be fine."  You figger!
    
    						Brian

    RE:    Steinbergers
    
    I'd be scared to death to pick up and play a no-headstock unit at a gig.
    I've always thought that Steinbergers et al sounded nice but for me to
    play it it's got to have something at the end of the neck, even if it
    was a pair of Mickey Mouse ears or a ping pong paddle. Anything!
    Otherwise my hand's just going to go flying off the damn neck. Well,
    ain't it?

    --Ron
    

     Re -1

     Uh thanks Ron...now ya wanna hand me the paper towels to wipe the
     coffee and donut offa my screen will ya?

     ping pong paddle headstock geez

     Neal

    My vote goes to the Mickey Mouse ears, personally...
    
    gh

    Mickey Mouse ears......I'm STILL ROOOLLLIIIIN!
    
    8^}

  I even have a set.  I'll have to try it.  Using it at the gig this Friday
  anyway.  And my partner thinks the headless look is "ugly".  But then, so
  does my wife.  Who can account for taste?

  -- Sam

    I *hate* the headless look, as well as the spear shaped 'pointy'
    look....but I'm an old fart, so it's ok, right?
    
    StratLesPaulSteve

    RE: steinberger
    
    Ugly...??? say it ain't so, Sam ...
    
    As the original owner of the afore-mentioned Steinberger,
    I have to speak up in it's defense.
    
    For those of you who think you would slide off the end of the neck..
    
    Is it a muscle-control thing you're having problems with???
    Do you normally play "on" the headstock???
    
    I never had much of a problem going back and forth between my 
    '67 Jazz and the steinberger even though they were different scale.
    
    I do know that it's been an adventure going from the headless
    Steinberger to a a 5-string Carvin. Aside from the previously 
    mentioned problems with thumb placement and hitting the wrong
    string, I found that I had to be careful not to jab the guitarists
    in the band with the sharp point on the end of the headstock.
    
    /Billy_K
    
    
                                                            

    "Careful with that thing, you could put out someone's EYE!"
    
    						- Mom
    

    All this talk about headless stuff being ugly, well, I admit that when
    I saw some pics of me with my L2 I hadda laugh, it really does look
    like a stick, but on stage I don't look at it, I *play* so who cares. 
    Besides it sounds *great*.
    
    I don't think you have to worry about your hand "flying off" the neck. 
    The problem I had at first was my brain refusing to equate the end of
    the neck with the end of the fingerboard, and grabbing notes two frets
    up from where I belonged.  Once you get over that, it's clear sailing.
    Hey, looking at the neck while you play is a bad habit anyway  8^)  8^)
    
    							Brian

    Hey Brian, since you mention that looking at your fingerboard is normal,
    how 'bout a Lionel Trains crossing gate at the 0 fret. Every time your
    hand gets down to the 2nd or 3rd fret the gate comes down and the lights
    flash. That'd be cool, eh?

    Don't get me wrong, I've liked Steinburglers ever since I saw (and
    heard) Andy West with the Dregs. Basses have longer string lengths than
    guitars anyway so headless basses aren't as...uh...strange, yeah,
    strange looking as headless guitars. (It's the guitars that scare me.:^)

    --Ron (youwannasellyourwhiteBaseman?)

    I know it was probably said in jest, but your hand won't fly off then
    end of a Steinberger.  They've built up a little hump there, kind of
    like what you'd find on a headed bass where it's starting to blend into
    the headstock, so you can feel when you're in the right place.
    
    Greg

    Gee, I just thought of a new service to offer to guitar players for BIG
    $$$$. Here's the ad I'm thinking of running in the GP classifieds:

         -----------------------------------------------------------
            Upgrade your old '50s and '60s Fenders and Gibsons

        Give that old fashioned instrument a new modern look! For one
        low price I'll saw the headstock off that '59 Strat or Les Paul.
        Send inquiries too

                        Classic Guitar Castrations
                        PO Box 812
                        Winslow, AZ 54321

              This month's special: Telecasters for 1/2 price.
                Silvertone, VOX, Burns/Baldwin always free.
         -----------------------------------------------------------

>                        Classic Guitar Castrations
>                        PO Box 812
>                        Winslow, AZ 54321
    
    that's only a 2-hour drive from me.  Maybe I'll check them out.

I know an owner of a music store/guitar repair facility that is going to plane
the top of of a couple of Les Pauls and replace it with highly figured wood
(highly figured curly maple, quilted maple, lacewood).  He says distinctive
LP's are going for big bucks and this this is one way to meet the demand.

Jim

>                        Classic Guitar Castrations
>                        PO Box 812
>                        Winslow, AZ 54321
    
     Hmmm. I was standing on a corner there and a pickup drove by......








     	Unfortunately, it was only filled with headstocks %^o

    And as an added bonus for you headless guitar owners, we can tack a
    headstock from a classic vintage guitar onto your piece of plastic for
    a lot less then you'd think.  Limited availability, call today!
    

>    And as an added bonus for you headless guitar owners, we can tack a
>    headstock from a classic vintage guitar onto your piece of plastic for
>    a lot less then you'd think.  Limited availability, call today!

I wouldn't think there'd be too much demand for headless guitar owners. Can't
sing worth a damn...

>    headless guitar owners

    Yeah, imagine having to go thru life headless! (ooh, errr).

    Most were formerly horsemen...

    ...the rest became bass players!