New Pros & Cons to Consider
There are many pros and cons between different models and brands of guitar, but they normally are dependent on personal preference and taste (apart from the obvious things like being able to stay in tune etc…)
Lesser-considered pros and cons exist in the realm of pure practicality and are not determined solely on the premium of the guitar. That road less-traveled regarding what guitar “is best” for the job is a road that I now seem to be on.
My GTRS guitar (pictured right) has been my main work-horse for the last six months (nearly) as it is the most practical guitar for my regular gig (because I don’t need to bring anything more than the guitar, except my wireless, some picks and a capo (which fit in the case).
I have enough guitars to enable me to pick the best for a particular sound or style of music, but I now have another issue that goes beyond that and it’s proving to be significant.
Recently I have noticed how utterly crippling it is to my guitar playing if I don’t have a clear view of my fret markers! It’s quite concerning. I never used to worry about it, but nowadays I have to play in situations where my accuracy is much more critical! It is recently that I realised just how much I rely on “the dots”!
The dots I’m talking about mainly are the smaller ones on the side of the neck. If the stage is too dark or the lighting is in the wrong place (normally in my eyes) then I am constantly guessing where to play that next note or chord. The kind of parts I have to cover on my guitar span the whole neck, so I’m constantly jumping and sliding around from the one end to the other playing inversions and double stops that go with the chords of what the other guitar player is doing.
I’m too old to relearn how to play without looking at my hands, although I will try to look down less if I can, but I also need a workaround. I’m thinking about luminous stickers or a colour that will show up on a dimly-lit stage, but there is still the issue of a stage light that causes my guitar neck to appear as a silhouette!
As I thought about the various ways I might solve these issues I had a quick look at all of my guitars and their side fret markers to see which ones are likely to be the most problematic and I had a realisation; A premium guitar does not automatically equate to a better visibility of fret marker. Of all my guitars, it appears the most clearly visible markers under live-performance conditions are the ones on my Squier Bullet hardtail Strat. Hardly my most expensive guitar!
Currently, playing mostly in a duo at night with no amp or external guitar devices, my main work-horse guitar is my GTRS S801 “Intelligent Guitar” – one of my most expensive guitars (not that it is very expensive anyway). It’s a lovely instrument. Regardless of the built in effects and amp modelling, the guitar itself feels and plays like it costs way more than it actually does. However, the side fret markers are not very clear to me when playing live, being black on a roasted maple background, which is getting darker with age. They are also on the small side.
I pretty much need that guitar for those gigs, which means I need to fix the issue of low-visibility fret markers!
Practicality Takes Priority
I’m currently looking for something I can do to mark the dotted frets more clearly without making the guitar look ridiculous, but no matter what I can do, I must do something because the priority is to land on the right note or chord as much as possible when I am playing live!
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