Favourite Instruments

THE FAVORITE IS . . .
Favorite instrument/music here is classical piano. Like a Steinway Grand with Vladimir Horowitz at the keyboard playing Chopin. Of course, classical guitar with Segovia isn't bad either.

As far as classic guitars, Yamaha gets my vote agian.

LITTLE KNOWLEDGE OF GUITAR MAKES, EXCEPT . . .
We have little knowledge of guitar makers. However, we have a friend who is a graduate of Peabody Conservatory with a degree in classical guitar. He bought a handmade Spanish acoustic guitar for mega bucks. Probably a much, much lower-priced version of a Segovia variety/type. [/color]

Most "professional" classical guitarists own handmade instruments. I minored in guitar at the U of Wyoming many years ago, but never could afford a custom instrument. Those were the days! Tuition was just under $500.00 a term, and a room in the dorms was $1300.00 a year.

THE NAME OF THE MAN . . .
The name of the man who made the guitar mentioned above was "Velásquez" - probably a common Spanish name? We have heard the instument played several times. To us, it does have a beautiful sound. The father of the young Peabody graduate owned and played a Fender Stratocruiser (electric) - if that is all spelled correctly? We heard the father play it on many, many occasions! In our humble opinion, he was more of a "natural" musician and his renderings had a "certain something." Most enjoyable!

My favorite is the Zakk Wylde Les Paul, but it's SO expensive.

my favorite instruments are piano and drums

Oops! Fender Telecaster - NOT a Stratocaster
[quote]The father of the young Peabody graduate owned and played a Fender Stratocruiser (electric) . . . [/quote]

Oops! That was a 1953 Fender Telecaster - NOT a "Stratocruiser" we enjoyed listening to. It's still in their family along with a newer Fender Stratocaster and the Velásquez. Just checked the prices on a Google search for the "1953": Now selling for $10,000! Yikes! Yes, said guitar is in excellent condition, still used weekly for performances, and NOT for sale.

I never could get into Teles. I don't know how others play them, because I always get a corn-pone cousin boinking twang whenever I try to play them. Les Pauls have a sort of generic sound,and force one to work harder to express oneself. Strats always sound different when diferent people play them. I played a Paul Reed Smith in a pawn shop in Seattle once, and it felt wonderful, but it had no personality. The only guitar I cannot stand is Ovation. I loathe them. I have never found one that felt or sounded nice. Amplified or not they always have a sort of "jing, jing, jing" tinny sound, and the verstuckene bowl slides off one's lap!

As a present, one of my relatives bought me a Les Paul Standard "Heritage Special Edition" for high school graduation in 1985. "Honey Sunburst" Curly Maple top, mahogony body, maple neck, ebony fingerboard, mother of pearl inlays, Grover Tuners, etc.. It remains my favourite instrument! I would starve before I would part with it.

I have a Dimebag Darrell...the ultimate metal guitar...not versatile but the right tool for the right job....sold my Schecter C1 classic to get it....

Bi-Polar Bear could you tell hobitbob what metal is? He doesn't seem to want to listen to me.

Has anyone here ever gotten a good sound out of an Ovation?

My fav is the oboe so sweet and mellow.

I'd have to start with the 2 I play, the flute and the bagpipes. Love the sax, might give it a go one day.

Great Wilso then we would sit next to each other when you are on the flute.

Bagpipes?

Bagpipes. This is how it happened. Always wanted to play a musical instrument, but didn't have anyone to teach me. I had a friend of Scots descent who played the pipes and got a job in the NSW Police pipe band, so he was playing his practise chanter all the time. So I just asked him would he teach me. I bought a chanter, he gave me some books to learn from, got me started and within 6 months I'd bought his old set of pipes off him and was playing with the a local pipe band. It turned out I had a bit of a talent for the instrument. Far from being unusual, I suspect that there are probably more people can play the pipes than any other instrument on earth. In Scotland a large competition can take days, there's so many thousands of pipers. A comp our band was in at Newcastle, we covered an entire football pitch with pipers. Although they do take quite a bit of "hot air" a well set up bagpipe is not really that difficult to blow, it just takes a bit of practise to get the co-ordination right. The hardest part is learning to "blow your arm off the bag". Between breaths you're squeezing the bag with your left arm, then you've got to blow into them and maintain the right pressure to fill the bag up against the pressure (of your arm) and maintain a consistent flow through the reeds.

I'm self taught on the flute. The biggest problem with wind instruments of any kind is that you've got to keep doing it all the time, and with work and uni, I just don't have the time to keep practising both instruments.
It's possible to play the flute, and then pick up the pipes and play them, but not the other way around. The flute requires good lip control and playing the pipes reduces your ability to do that for several hours. Playing the pipes can also require a paddock several miles away from people.

That reminds me that I must dig out the practise chanter again, just keep the dexterity of my fingers up. I still pick up the flute and blow a couple of tunes occasionally, but I haven't practised on the pipes for months.

Cool, I actually do not play but love music. The bag pipes are OK and I have read that the origin was to scare opposing troop by the Scots in the many wars with England.

But then that could be an urban legend.