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A couple of questions for curiosity's sake

So, I was fooling around with my guitars the other day, and I noticed that I always seem to pick up one more than the other, and I wondered why. I quickly figured it out, and that kind of led to these questions:

Do you have a #1, go-to guitar? An Ol' Reliable, Ol' Faithful, etc.
Do you have any guitars that are "sacred." Not in a religious sense, but in the sense that you refuse to change it. For all its flaws, you keep it the way it is. Or maybe it's got sentimental value.

This is a picture of my two.

They are my first and second builds. The Padron is my go-to guitar. It was built with all the lessons learned from building the Arturo. I added toothpick frets and a smaller nut and bridge, and I got it right.

The Arturo was my first guitar, and is my "sacred" one, simply because it was the first. I used spent 7.62 Nagant shells for the nut and bridge because I though they would look cool. And they do. They also lift the strings almost a half-inch off the neck. Even if I had know how to play fretless, I couldn't have pulled it off. So it's slide only, and even that didn't work so well at first, because the strings don't provide much support. But I won't change anything, because it was my first, and I want to preserve it as I built it. I could change the nut and bridge, I could add a fretboard, but no. I'll leave it the way it is. As I get more practice, I get more use out of it, because I have a better idea of what I'm doing. And it sounds great. When the time comes to change the strings, I may play around with that. But no improvements.

So, I'd like to see and hear about your main axe, and your "sacred" guitars.

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on November 14, 2011 at 8:45am

1. This is my favorite guitar. Mainly because it is set up so nicely and offers a great tone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9uHBAVmTv4&feature=channel_vide...

2. I try my best not to emotionally attach to any of my possessions. All of my guitars are for sale at the right price, and would not hesitate to alter them if it would improve their playability or value.

Thanks for sharing. Thanks for asking.

Enjoy, Keni Lee

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on November 14, 2011 at 9:10pm

The beauty of building your own guitars is that everything can be designed and adjusted to suit the one player, after a lot of hard work the result becomes part of you, priceless! Something about these guitars is how they got to sound so good after 6 months "burning in", you're frightened to even change the strings in case it loses its "magic" - utter nonsense of course, but musos are a superstitious lot! (-:

My old workhorse Rum Punch is resting, my main player of late is Punch 2 and has become far too useful! ...time to venture out and make some new ones, new projects include a diddley-bow and a twin-neck, it's so easy to get stuck with one guitar! (-;

Rum Punch Punch 2 new build The Sheriff !

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on November 15, 2011 at 10:41am

I have had a bunch that came out really sweet, just the right feel and sound, but I sell most of them (no room for all of 'em) But my favorite, sentimental and just plain nice CBG is a Punch box that I built with my last dog Chloe. Can't get rid of it because its the last one she sat there and "helped" me build. And that dog had a really good ear too. If a cbg went out of tune, or my playing was a bit off she would get up and walk away.