I brought home an Ibanez today! After months of research and several nice offers on Reverb, I decided to go to Bill’s Music, and support them. I’ve been playing my JEM a lot more, and I have been obsessing about the Pia for about year.
Jeff, Lily and I went to Bill’s after the Baltimore Pedal Show, following a very hearty lunch.
I got the see Bill’s warehouse, which was super interesting to me.
Jeff commented on the way home “You bought a real guitar!!!”
We had a long, interesting discussion about gear this weekend. We bumped into an old music colleague at the pedal show who maintains a solidly contemptuous opinion of Fender Guitars, and only plays Gibson.
Jeff, while in Bazooka Joe, only played Gibson. He had a couple of SG’s and a Les Paul. The Les Paul stayed in his apartment, however. One of the SG’s and the Les Paul were stolen, sadly. Back then, I had picked up a black Fender Mustang from Gordon Miller Music for $199. It was a stretch for me to acquire that guitar back then, and I loved it dearly. It now resides with my daughters. I also had my mediocre Kramer Focus (mentioned elsewhere).
Now, Jeff plays a $400 Fender Strat, and loves it. Our conversation finally arrived at the notion of playing whatever instrument brings you joy, and disregarding any previous contempt founded on outside opinions and illformed bias. You, dear reader, undoubtedly find this to be an obvious and correct approach, and you might wonder why I’m spending the electricity to document this thought.
A handful of guitars have threaded their way in and out of my musical experience over the past 40 years. I have developed a very high opinion of Ibanez guitars. In fact, my undergraduate thesis was concerned with the evolution of electric guitars, and I determined back then that Ibanez were leading the field in innovation and quality, particularly with the debut of the JEM.
Ironically, I didn’t actually play a JEM until 2017. It was a used one, and I bought it on the spot. It’s the midline model, and plays like a sports car would drive on an empty highway. I have become a better player for having owned it, but not in the way I thought I would. I am not a shredder – I don’t have the interest to sit and develop the precision required to play that way. While I love the occasional blistering ripper, the virtuosity that overshadows other musical ideas can seem shallow. No, I am not a shredder, but Ibanez guitars offer much more than a fast neck.
I have several, ranging from ~$250 Talman bass/ArtCore models, all the way up to the Pia. They each delight, and offer inspiration. The are also as reliable as the Honda cars I’ve owned over the years, and that means a great deal to me.
I was able to demonstrate this to Jeff. And, I have other guitars in rotation besides Ibanez, namely a Squier + Fender Bass VI, and an Epiphone Les Paul.
As a bonus, I also picked up a used Tascam 4 track, for continued retro lofi audio experimentation.
A wonderful day.