Why do Great Guitar Players never Polish Their Guitars?

[Platefire]

Is it just me that notices this? but it seems like it's not always the case but more often than not, outstanding guitar players guitars are laden with finger prints, dust, grime and looks like they haven't been cleaned or polished in years.
Yet mediocre players like me keep their guitars spotless and clean enough you could eat off it. I thought about this and considered their situation compared to mine and the best I could come up with is they spend a lot more time practicing and not cleaning---any insight into this phenomenon? Platefire

[Jim Coash]

On this issue I always think of "Smashing a Perfectly Good Guitar"  by John Hiatt.  My instruments are hanging on String Swings in places of honor around my home.  Each is reverently polished and re-strung much more often than they require from being played.  Often, players admire them and are reluctant to even ask about playing one.  I encourage them to pick up and play any or all of them.  I have attended many concerts over the years and often been seated in places where I had a better view of the back of the stage than of the front.  The techs in the pit worked diligently all during the show replacing strings, tuning, making small adjustments and wiping down instruments for the stars on stage.  I remember a Stevie Ray Vaughn show where he went through several guitars during "Voodoo Child".  He just held out an instrument he had reefed on hard enough to de-tune or break a string and another was in his hands instantly.  I never had that luxury.  My worst moment on stage was the time I spun around to adjust my amp and caught the head stock of my orange Framus on its edge.  The neck snapped at the nut and the six strings were swinging with the tuning pegs at my feet.  I played bass the rest of the show.  Jim

[Platefire]

  Well in the days when I was really playing a whole lot, I only had one guitar and one amp. Latter had two guitars and one amp--but even then I usually didn't carry the backup guitar with me. It's amazing to me that more didn't happen without backups. I did have a few incidents, but they were few and far in between. These were the days before electronic tuners and I usually used a pitch pipe of if we had a keyboard, tuned with that. Never no roadies for me. Most issues were broken strings and tuning. You had to try to tune in between songs and without silent tuners by ear which was annoying. From a pitch pipe to a Boss tuner pedal, clip on or even automatic tuners---what an improvement. 
  I've always have been one that kind of babied my guitars, kept them clean and polished them a lot, so its always got my attention to see a poorly cared for guitar, especially by a talented player. It really don't matter regarding performance if everything is working and it's set up right, I don't think the crud effects a thing. Platefire

[Ritchie200]

Haha! Its funny you mention that...  I DO keep my guitars clean, always have.  HOWEVER....when I was playing out several days a week I had guitars with strings on them over a year old.  Break and E string, fine, I'll throw another E on but the old ones stay.  I've always thought it was such a pain to stretch out a new set that it was not worth the time for a little more shimmer...  Some of the places we played at in the winter did not turn the heat up until people started showing up.  We would set up and do sound checks with winter coats on.  It was hell trying to keep everyone in tune through the night as the temp went up.  Outside was also a challenge with the heat and humidity.  The older the strings, the better they were.  My old strat copy that I've been to hell and back with from the mid 70's probably has strings on it from the 80's.  My RB strat are about 5 years old.  My Oscar Schmidt strat are about 15.  My dad's old Supra resonator still has Black Diamond strings on it that may be from the 50's.  I do wipe down the strings to keep the grime off but that's it.  Sorry Plate!


Jim

[Ed_Chambley]

I do not care for beat up guitars.  I have noticed some of what you are saying, but there are many who do care for them.  I saw an interview with Vince Gill talking about his guitars and his studio.  Everything he owns is spotless.  Some of his guitars look well worn but his collection of Martin Guitars is really nice.

His 69 Thinline looks brand new.

Like I said many times, I do not get the trend of buying "relic" guitars.

Playing at a Club a few years ago I kept noticing a guy staring at me and I finally realized he was looking at my 59 Tele I had been using for many years.  At a break he went up to the stage area and was looking.  Needless to say he knew the guitar was old and I assume he knew what it was.  Sort of got me to thinking maybe I need to keep it at home.  I went to work on another Tele to get the same tone and I got oh so very close.  Still not cheap, but I wouldn't get as upset if something happened to it.

[Platefire]

  Well Ed, sounds like you and I kind of think alike on guitars. I never saw the beauty in fake relic guitars. If it's naturally worn, fine--don't re-finish it, just keep it clean. I even use a Q-tips a lot to fine clean around the bridge, head/tuning keys and hard to get places--not real often but every few months. My Hwy 1 Tele has a satin finish but I polish it enough where it looks like a regular gloss finish.
  On those Black Diamond Strings, Boy that brings back memories. When I first got into string bending in the 60's there were no light gauge strings in Zwolle--my home town, only Black Diamonds at the Drug Store. The closest place to get light gauge with the UN-wrapped G was in a town 40 miles away. So what I did was use a Black Diamond A for a E, a D for a A, a G for a D, two B's for the G and B and a little E for a little E. If you played those BD's hard one night they would start to change color from bronze to silver. I occasionally drove my dads car the 40 miles when I could afford to buy several sets of the light gauge. That was the days of my Airline guitar and Silvertone 1482. The Airline guitar just like the attached picture.
  In the 70's when I started playing with a regular band I got a new Fender Jazzmaster and new Fender Bandmaster amp, then a new Les Paul Custom Black Beauty and Finally a used 65 Sunburst Strat---a fine guitar that I really bonded with. That was my main guitar until 1994 and sold it because I needed the money to put down on a new pickup truck. The Bandmaster was traded in on a 1977 on a Peavey Roadmaster 200 watts 6-12 cab/hi Freq horn---what a mistake, what a monstrosity--I lived with it because I was paying out in notes. Sold it in 1979 and got a Peavey Mace--another mistake---never bonded with it. Also bought a used Peavey Pacer SS. The Pacer was OK for a SS amp. I used the Mace and Pacer throughout the 80's. 90's sold the Mace and got a Peavey Bandit and still had the Pacer. Returened to tube amps in 1999 with a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and that's when I started getting into tube amps building and modding. The Pacer is the only piece of old original equipment remaining now converted into AB763 DR. The old Bandmaster was the finest amp of them all---and I should have held onto it. Guess I've come full circle as I started off on a 1482 and have two now. One completely stock and one heavily modded that I play on quite a bit now with a tele.
I quit my last traveling group in about 2010 and kind of joined forces with my wife on piano. Our main thing now is doing Praise and Worship at our church every Sunday. Platefire 

BTW-That 59 tele as you already know be worth a lot of bucks these days--especially if it's all original. My Bass player encouraged me to play his all original 69 tele and for a long time but I never would, finally tried it and then was hooked. In fact I played it for years and finally got to feeling guilty about it because I begin to realize how much it was worth and I felt like I was devaluing it wearing it out playing it all the time. So that's when I got my own tele and latter picked up another--now have two. I could still play the 69 if I wanted to, but just don't for reasons stated.
   

[Jim Coash]

Like you guys I have a similar story.  Plenty of guitars and amps have passed my way since the early 60s.  Most I sure wish I still had, a few I wish I had never owned.  The common thread was that money was so tight I never could afford exactly what I wanted when I was young.  As a result, every thing I did buy and use was cared for meticulously and still is.  My performing days are long gone but I live the life of rock and roll vicariously through my sons and grandsons.  I do serve as their tech and roadie whenever I can and make sure that they have quality gear at all times.  Quality CLASSIC gear.  Tube amps, Ampeg and Fender, great guitars, Gibson and Heritage with plenty of PA choices.  I tried but never could warm up to Fender guitars.  My older son has one as does my brother in law.  They just don't fit me right.  Solid state amps serve in a pinch but nothing compares with tubes for output and preamp.  I no longer have a tube amp with a tube rectifier or an amp without E/V speakers, both my personal preference, largely due to my many years in the A/V business.  Everything I own looks like new, or as close as possible, from my 1956 Gibson ES-125 which is totally original to my "newest" instruments.  They are at least 20 years old now.  Jim

[MakerDP]

I watched a video of a well-known Nashville blues session guitarist saying that a guitar does not belong in the case. It belongs out where you have no excuse but pick it up and play it as often as you can -- hang it on the wall, keep it on a stand, whatever it takes. Cases are for transporting the guitar to and from sessions and gigs. (sorry can't remember his name)

I guess if you extended that, it would mean it would get pretty dirty because if it's in your hands you are practicing your craft, not wasting your time polishing your instrument. Maybe it's that mentality that made them great to begin with.

[Platefire]

Har! I usually keep two guitars out all the time, an electric and acoustic but!!! Having 14 guitars if I kept all of them out all the time, I would be tripping over them 

Regarding what brand you play. Back when I first started Fender and Gibson were the main brands and still is today basically but there are a lot of alternate brands to chose from that are pretty decent guitars. I feel more at home on a Fender and the model, a Tele even though I've been quiet a strat man in the past. I would say a tele is my home base and drift off from there but always come back home to the tele as my all around favorite that I spend the most time with. I do like Gibson style guitars or copies but don't own any actual Gibsons brand anymore. I think the reason goes back to my early guitar history. The first good guitar I got that worked for me and I bonded with was a 1967 Fender Jazzmaster. Then Latter the Les Paul Custom was once my dream guitar and that's why I got a Les Paul Custom Black Beauty in the early 70's but I had a lot of problems with that guitar and never bonded with it--I couldn't get it to play in tune! In the late 70's I tried a Gibson LP Deluxe with the mini HB's. It was better but I still never bonded with it. Now my Les Paul is a Epiphone Studio(LP copy) with classic Alnico 5's PU and to me it plays and sounds better than either of the Gibsons LP's I once owned in the 70's. I also have an ARIA 335 Copy that I like a lot and am currently in the process of upgrading to Seymore Duncan 59 PU's. When I need a break from the tele, these are the guitars I go to plus my 97 CIJ 50's RI Strat and my Jay Turser PRS copy. Like right now with my Church Group I'm currently playing my Epi LP over my DIY Champ and just sounds awesome--great combination! So to be honest, I really don't own any so called high end guitars that are worth thousands$$$$ but I'm good with that. I treat them as if they were priceless. Platefire

[x44d80]

I really like this thread. The only guitar I can recall that I thought was dirty was the fingerboard on Eric Clapton's "Blackie".  My favorite guitar is my 100.00 dollar Peavey Milestone.  I play it, never clean it, love it and leave my immaculately clean polished Strat in it's perfect tweed case. Go figure.

[Platefire]

I saw Eric Play Blackie in Shreveport La, Hurts Memorial Coliseum. I think the dark marks are actually wear marks on the maple fretboard--probably a little crud to. Bo Diddly started off the show followed by Freddie King and then Eric. At the end they all hit the stage and jammed together. After hearing all that, I went home and practiced two weeks non stop!! 


Well I'm pitiful I guess! I picked up this $20.00 strat copy at a thrift shop. I thought---this is the guitar I will relic and put stickers all over and never clean. I call it the "Quackmaster" because it has more quack that anything I ever heard. I put an angry duck sticker on the head to represent an angry Quacker but I ended up taking it off. The ax is polished up just like my others---so I guess it's no hope for me having a grungy guitar!

[Jim Coash]

I've seen Clapton live three times.  First in Kalamazoo at the WMU Reed Field House in 1970.  The acoustics were terrible but he was great.  After about an hour a man dressed in a white suit walked up on stage and joined him.  It was Carlos Santana!  I also saw Clapton at the Palace of Auburn Hills just 10 days before Stevie Ray Vaughn died.  The two of them played four songs together including a wonderful version of Hendrix "Little Wing".  My wife and I brought out two sons to that show and our tickets were behind the stage on the edge of the balcony looking right down on everything.  I appreciated the perspective more than most.  I had a birds eye view of the guitar techs getting instruments tweaked and ready for the stage.  Clapton and Vaughn both changed several times, each having several strats in regular rotation.  Both used Fender amps that were patched into the E/V PA system.  No Gibson guitars by that time.  Eric used a Les Paul and an SG during his earlier career but switched to Fender after Cream.  The band did turn to salute us at times.  It was a very good show.  Jim

[x44d80]

I would have loved to see that show.  I like many people started playing due to the influence of Clapton and SRV. 

[Willabe]

Eric used a Les Paul and an SG during his earlier career but switched to Fender after Cream.

EC also played a Gibson 335 in Cream.


                Brad   

[HotBluePlates]

... more often than not, outstanding guitar players guitars are laden with finger prints, dust, grime and looks like they haven't been cleaned or polished in years.

I'm not an outstanding player. But I do have one electric that is never in a case, but instead is propped up against a chair in the living room 24/7. I may not play every day, but I play at least a little most days of the week, even if it's noodling a bit while watching TV.

I built that particular Tele in about 2004, and it's almost never been in the case since then. I probably cleaned it early on right after building it, but I know I haven't done more than wipe off a little dust in the last 7 years or so.

I probably ought to go give it a good, thorough cleaning. I almost feel like I'm too busying playing it to clean it. If I were performing on-stage, I might think stage lights would make the mass of fingerprints look bad, but right after you clean it you start adding more fingerprints, so... 

[Ritchie200]

Hey Plate, in your Airline Geetar pic there is an envelope of some sort next to the guitar with GHS on it.  What the heck is that?


Jim

[Platefire]

It Says "GHS Strings". That is not the actual guitar I owned. It's just one I found on the internet that was identical to it that I copied so I could show folks what my first Electric Solid body looked like. The one in the picture was for sale for about $495.00 as I recall. I wanted it but just wasn't willing to pay the price. If I could get one and hook it up to my 1482, my first original guitar rig would be re-established. Platefire

[Ritchie200]

Haha! Just kidding!  It was just to show you how often I buy strings!  Not very.  For some reason, I cant find those Black Diamonds any more....


Jim

[Platefire]

Jim

Boy have I got a song for you! This song goes out to everybody that had to play on Black Diamonds 


Guy Clark & Emmylou Harris : Black Diamond Strings

[Ritchie200]

Thank you Plate!  I did learn how to play on Black Diamonds.  My dad's Supro metal resonator - and I did have some bloody fingers!  I started plinking seriously when I was about 5 playing to a songbook called "Hootenanny Guitar".  "How much is that doggie in the window", first song I learned.  Those strings felt like bailing wire!  Definitely a callous maker!

Can you imagine a concert where Emmylou and Guy just sat around, told stories, and strummed a few tunes!  They don't make 'em like that anymore!  Wow.....

Jim

[Platefire]

Your welcome!!! I have an old guitar case I inherited from my Grandpa who played that has some old used Black Diamond strings and string containers if I haven't thrown them away---the last remaining Black Diamond residue from years gone by. Platefire

[Jim Coash]

I was the oldest of 6 children.  My Dad told me that I could play any instrument I wished, once I took at least two years of piano lessons.  The "'lessons" I received were given by the Sisters of St. Joseph at Saint Augustine grade school and the main thing I learned in my first year was how painful mistakes were.  The Sisters applied the ruler to my knuckles (and other areas) with ferocity.  When I begged to stop the lessons, Dad warned me that I had my chance so don't ask for another.  My sisters took lessons too but the nuns weren't as brutal with them.  My brother saw what happened with me and decided he did not want to take any lessons.  Then, when he was 10 and I was 12 (1962) he asked my Dad if he could take guitar lessons.  I smugly told him that because he had never taken piano, the answer would be no.  To my chagrin, Dad took us to the music store and bought him a cheap flat top and signed him up for lessons!  I began to use his guitar whenever he put it down, mimicking every thing he did, by ear.  When Dad bought him a new Gibson J-45 a year later, I begged to be allowed to keep his "student" model.  Dad was surprised when I showed him that I could play but he did let me keep it.  That was the beginning for me.  Jim 

[Platefire]

Speaking of polishing guitars, I've been using Fender Polish in a little push spray plastic bottle. Bottle says it contains White mineral oil and pine oil. It's just about out, having to tilt the bottle now to get it to spray. Any good recomendations of a polish that won't conflict with this stuff I've been putting on my axes for several years now.

How I started to play is my best friend in high school played and I started catching the bug from him. I listened to top 40 AM radio all the time and had a love for the music I was hearing. I finally requested a guitar and my Dad bought a Harmony Arch top from United Jewelers in Shreveport, La. After about a year I had a desire to go electric and ordered a set of Kent Pickups that was built into a pick guard with the controls on the pick guard. It worked good. That held me down until I bought the Airline previously pictured on this thread. If you want to see an old scanned 1964 picture of me, my old Harmony and Charlie my Picking Buddy, just click on the link. I don't remember what the brand of the solid body Charlie is playing but he bought it at the local Western Auto Store---go figure?? Platefire
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12623503@N04/1328133744/in/set-72157601870693080
and here is another picture of me playing my old harmony/Kent Pickup rig
https://www.flickr.com/photos/12623503@N04/1328133664/in/set-72157601870693080/

[Jim Coash]

After I played the cheap flat top student guitar for about a year, my dad also bought a Harmony archtop in very dark black/red sunburst.  It was a challenge to play after playing the nylon strings on the other guitar.  My sister asked to take the old guitar as her own and before long all five of us kids were playing and singing folk music, pop tunes and holiday music.  My parents loved to call the band in for an impromptu performance when they had friends in.  Dad did not want anything to do with "electric" guitars.  We had a hard time getting him to let us watch Ed Sullivan on February 9th, 1964, instead of The Walt Disney Show.  He took one look at The Beatles and told us in 6 months no one would even remember they existed.  I asked for, and received, "Meet the Beatles" on March 5th, my 14th birthday.  I still have it.  The Beatles dominate my vinyl collection with almost 100 copies of their albums.  When my brother had a D'Armond pickup installed in his Gibson J-45 I went to the music store and began making $15/week payments on an orange Framus, my first electric.  Jim

[Ritchie200]

Yeah, the Beatles......  I always wanted to be Ringo with my tinker toy drumsticks beating on an old toy marching drum and barrel tops.  My first concert was the Beatles.  It was an outdoor show in the baseball stadium.  It was raining, it was cold, and all I heard was screaming.  My opinion has not changed much over the years...! Then I heard Iron Butterfly, Cream, Hendrix, on and on and I knew my future was with the guitar.  I begged my dad for a REAL electric and he finally took me to Mel Bay Music, yes THE Mel Bay and I picked out a single pickup Audition - a REAL electric guitar!  It was red, I was sold!    Mel picked it up, did a quick lead, some chords, sighted down the neck and said, "Son, I think you picked a good one!"  Mel was a cool dude and I was always in his store until he retired way back in the 70's.  They tore the old store down about a year ago.  It's funny to read how Keith Richards learned how to play guitar using Mel Bay's book (along with several other prominent rock stars!).  He actually made a special trip to St. Louis to meet Mel.  Mel said Keith was acting like a little kid and Mel was like, you came all the way here just to meet me?!?!  Very humble, nice guy.


Jim

[Jim Coash]

I met Mel Bay when my sister and her family lived in St. Louis.  He was old but still sharp and very friendly.  When I told him I was from Kalamazoo his eyes lit up immediately.  The ancestral home of Gibson, 225 Parsons Street, he was pleased to know that I had been in the old building and owned both Gibson and Heritage instruments.  I asked him what he thought of current Gibson instruments, made in Nashville.  He told me they made some "nice furniture" and that maybe someday they would learn how to make a guitar.  He was a Heritage dealer.  Today I think they have finally learned but as of yet I have never played one that I feel really compares with the guitars made in Kalamazoo.  And the ones still made here by Heritage.  BTW, in the Kalamazoo Gazette yesterday there was a front page story about the Gibson factory chimney, the one with the name GIBSON inlaid in brick vertically on it, is being torn down.  It has been there since 1916,  I remember seeing that name on it and always being able to find the place when I got close.  They had to apply for a permit and the Kalamazoo Historical Society is trying to find a way to fix it and stop the removal.  It is still used when the guitar factory has the kiln and steamers running.  Jim

[Ritchie200]

Yeah, old Mel was a Gibson guy!  Sounds like something he would say!  Craftsmanship can not be taught in a book or a written procedure or with a machine.  I'm sure Gabriel can chime in here on THAT subject!  He didn't sell Marshall but Mel told me the reason my 50 watt small box heads did not sound like I thought they should was because of the 6550's and told me to change them out to the EL34's.  Not bad for an old guitar player that probably had no real interest in rock!


Before I could drive I used to ride my bike to that store in Kirkwood.  I lived about 3-4 miles away.  Where did your sister live?


Jim

[Jim Coash]

My sister and her family moved from Columbus, Ohio where she and her husband finished degrees at The Ohio State University (National Champions).  She left Battelle Corporation and took a position with Monsanto in St. Louis.  They bought a home southwest of the city in an upscale suburb.  My wife and I visited with our two sons in the late 80s (I think) and toured all the usual spots.  All of the Coash's were interested in music and when she told me about Mel's store we made the pilgrimage.  Mel was only with us a few more years after that but I will always remember him.  My brother studied his method but I never did learn to read music.  My teacher was a player in a local dance band in Kalamazoo.  He could see I had little interest in playing "Camptown Races" so he asked what I wanted to learn.  I started bringing in 45 RPM singles and asking him to teach me the songs.  He did.  That also gave me the skills to do the same thing myself.  When my Dad caught me playing pop songs through the Dynaco/Electro Voice system we built for the living room he decided we kids needed our own stereo.  I still have the KLH Model 11 he bought at The Sound Room.  My brother and I would lift the stylus up and place it back dozens of times so that we could figure out the chords and the lead solo on numerous songs, especially Beatle and Stones hits.  Of course there were many others.  I learned "Pictures of Matchstick Men", "Incense and Peppermints", "Light my Fire", Foxey Lady and "Fire" that way.  Jim