For Want Of A Gibson

I made a vow at the end of last year that I would prevent stagnation in my life and so far I've done a good job of it. I've changed workplaces three times in the last three months and bought myself a whopping two guitars. I also haven't been blogging about any of the anime I've watched or manga I've read. Shocking. I'll get back in the spirit of it soon, but I've just been trying to change some things lately. 

Does this mean jack in the long run? Well, maybe not. Certainly not to anyone else.

But it means a lot to me. Granted, few of the changes I've made yielded immediate positive results and they weren't really supposed to. The changes themselves were necessary. I've always been a bit off the cuff, but it's only this time I worked on a larger scale.

The most recent and most important change has to do with the second guitar I purchased Saturday.

Changing jobs seems almost secondary. Jobs, it seems to me, are a means to an end with the end always being money. For a long time I was loyal to a company (and a building) despite not getting the results I wanted for a period of over three years and eight months.

Saturday I went back to that same building and just being there gave me the sensation of eating crow. It wasn't pleasant. I was there for an "interview" I had to do on the computer and nothing more. I'll be going to a different location, thank God. It was so awkward for me to just sit there, feeling like a failure. Feeling like I was going back to a company so soon after leaving like I couldn't do anything else on my own. It was miserable.

So it was in that mindset I went to Guitar Center afterward. I just wanted some picks and strings. In January I had purchased a Jackson JS32T (my second of that model although this one didn't have a Floyd Rose trem system like my other) and I wanted to put some strings on it that were more to my taste. However, while I was there I decided on changing the brand of strings I bought to something a bit different and hopefully better and I thought "that's my positive change for the day."

But then I decided to ask the register guy about a line of credit. All big stores have them, right? So why not ask?

I'm lucky enough to have good credit despite flipping burgers for a living so I figured I'd be a sure-win for some credit.

If you've never been to a Guitar Center then let me explain that every one of them has a wall of guitars on one side or the other and the further in one direction you move the pricier they get. I never looked at the wall that had the Gibsons and Fenders because I don't believe in masochism. There's no sense in trying to play a guitar I couldn't afford in years. Even with good credit there's no way I could pay for even a mid-range Gibson. Some Gibsons cost as much as 6 G's, but others can be as low as a grand. "As low as" being the operative phrase, of course. 

However, after I was approved for a bit of credit I decided to look at "the wall" with intense scrutiny. The salesman more or less prodded me into looking around and I suppose that all I needed was just a bit of prodding.

At first he showed me a very nice Schecter model, but I didn't quite bite on that. Nothing against that brand, of course. It's just that... Well, why buy a guitar that's $700 on a payment plan when a wall of Gibsons is staring at me?

Admittedly, there wasn't much that caught my eye even as far as the Gibsons go. I suppose it is funny how things look completely desirable when they are hopelessly out of reach, but then come under intense scrutiny once they can be reached. And I suppose that's a natural mindset. Gibsons are expensive. Really expensive for a burger-flipper. So if I was going to get one of these "bargain" Gibson Les Pauls I was going to get one that was worth my while.

Salesman that he was, he pointed me toward "the one."  The Gibson Les Paul that wouldn't let me look away. I told the guy to take it down so I could play it.

I played it through a small Peavey amp that had a diverse range of sounds and tones. My current home amp is a small Acoustic brand and while the one I practiced on at Guitar Center is probably the better of the two it was still a closer way to judge than playing on a Marshall half stack.

What. A. Guitar. It's gorgeous and smells so good. That may sound funny, but the wood and finish make it smell fantastic. You can always judge a nice guitar by its smell, I think. 

It is my baby. Granted, it costs about as much as the down payment I put on my car (and it will be a while before I pay it off, too), but it's well worth it. 

To me, Gibson Les Pauls are the identity of the rock n' roll spirit. It can play some serious metal, too. You just gotta know how to find your tone. 

I am tremendously giddy to have one. It really is a dream come true for me to finally own one. I never thought I would ever get to play one. Let alone own one. 

I admit I do envy those guys that have multiple Gibsons. I hope they know how good they have it. 

But I finally got one.

After I bought the guitar I told the salesman "that I just came in today for some picks and strings."

Life is funny, isn't it?