After thinking about it for a long while, I bought myself a new guitar today. It’s a Yamaha AES 620, and it brings my collection of guitars up to four:
- BC Rich steel-string accoustic,
- Anjo nylon-string spanish,
- Fender Stratocaster and
- the new Yamaha
It’s been a long and well-thought out decision, as documented here. I was looking for something in the spirit of a Gibson Les Paul, for a lot less than the $3000 one of those costs. 😉 For a while I toyed with the idea of getting a “super strat”-type guitar, but when I would try them out in the store they always left me cold. The Yamaha felt right, and there was one at Guitars Plus for $449, which was a good deal compared to the usual price of $599. It’s my first new guitar in sixteen years, since I bought the BC Rich: Tammy bought me the Fender second-hand in 1997 (thank you, I still love playing it ❤️), and I purchased the Anjo used in 2001.
It’s really great to play! My attempt at playing part of "Shoot to Thrill" by AC/DC isn’t as craptastic as on my guitar. It’s really forgiving in it’s play. I was busy strumming away on mine and getting nowhere, then I played his and it was like night and day. I’m no Angus Young, but I could fudge it pretty well. Now I want one like it. 😀
Hee hee. I heartily agree with your assessment of it: it really is a dream to play. Not radically different from the Strat, but enough so that it encourages experimentation. I know that I’m having a blast. I’ve now got my first *entire* Van Halen song into the "recognizable" state: Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love. There still isn’t any substitute for lots of practice, but having good tools helps.
I think you’ll find that your Jay Turser guitar is much better to play now that it’s been to the technician and set up properly. My playing around on it certainly felt that way.