Eagles Donate Guitars to Charity

[sodascouts]

The Eagles are donating signed guitars to benefit charity. Hmm, what could that charity be, I wonder?

Why, it's Walden Woods! Imagine that! lol

More information on the official site.

[Mrs Henley]

If I had the money I would buy one!

Yeaah Eagles for Walden Woods!
Go Don, bring the guys together with the Woods!

[MikeA]

Let's see, they are cutting down trees to make guitars to save Walden Woods? Sorry, something a bit oxymoronic about that <LOL>

Seriously, I'd pay extra (AND HAVE PAID EXTRA) for an autographed poster, picture, album cover...whatever...

But if I was going to spend $2,500 on a guitar, I'd be looking for the best I could get for the money because I'd be buying it to PLAY. I doubt that the autographs would enhance the playability of it. Nothing wrong with a Tak....nothing at all! But realistically, a Gibson or maybe a low end Gallagher would be within that price range. Pretty serious money for an ax.

Okay, I'm ducking and running now.

[eaglesvet]

Actually, Mike, you are just the person I was looking for...after you ducked out of the New Kid in Town thread! (You should go back some time.) After seeing the concerts last week, I got to wonderin' why Glenn and Joe and everyone change to different acoustic guitars for different songs, or to different electric guitars for different songs. Am I under the false assumption that a top acoustic guitar would sound just like another top acoustic guitar in a particular song? And the same for 2 top electric guitars? Or are there some differences in either the playability for the musician or their sounds for the audience? I am seeking the wisdom of your years and your guitar expertise here!

[MikeA]

Quote cut but I'll try to answer

EV,

That is actually a very good question! Guitars both acoustic and electric do have much different playing characteristics as well as tone.

There is a world of difference in the tone of say a Taylor which is in the $3,000 range and a Gallagher in that same price range. A Taylor is "bright" where a Gallagher or maybe a Gibson is "warm".

I've noticed that Joe Walsh sometimes pulls out a monster Tacoma guitar. It's a baritone...the one in some of the backgrounds Ticky posted that has the teardrop sound hole way up in the upper forward corner. It's not a bass and it's definitely not a normal acoustic....something in between.

But, tone aside, there could be other reasons for choosing multiple acoustics in a concert. Maybe they need to get the acoustic they are playing back to the guitar tech to have it retuned after a brutal song. Or maybe they need a guitar tuned to Drop-D or some other tuning for a particular song.

Or a 12-string versus a 6-string. Or one with a active mic pickup inside the sound box verses one with a piezo pickup under the bridge. Each gives a different sound. Or one that has both an internal pickup and a bridge pickup. They may want one with no pickup at all and just have a mic close to the box to pick up the sound.

Same for the Electrics. Different pickups (single coil, Humbuckers and about a million others each with a different sound) and maybe even the same pickups but set to a height closer to the strings for a hotter pickup of the string vibrations. Maybe a guitar with the "action" set really high to use with a slide. Or even multiple guitars for use with slides that have different tunings for particular songs. Possibly they want a semi-solid instead of a solid. Solids usually have better sustain than a semi-solid or semi-hollow or even a completely hollow body for a Jazz sound.

The performer may have a preference of playing a guitar that has an arched neck but on some songs, wants a guitar with a flat neck (fretboard). He might want a guitar with a narrow neck for playing mostly chords or may have big fingers and need something with a wide neck for fast solo work.

Those are just some of the factors that lead to the really successful guitarist who can afford it, having a dozen or more guitars for any specific concert.

I was on a motorcycle rally (Bikers For Kids) over on a river bank in Missouri a few years ago. Lynyrd Skynyrd played there along with a bunch of other groups and soloist. The lead guitarist with Skynyrd must have had a half dozen guitars with him. There was another guy there playing blues with a power trio who had two axes. One was a pristine sunburst Les Paul Standard. He used it for some of the Blues he played, but when he got ready to work on slide, He picked up the most battered Fender Strat you've ever seen. Made Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Number One" look brand new! I think he'd painted it with a brush and some paint he got from Walmart! Ugly thing. But he said that he'd had that guitar since he was a kid and couldn't bear to part with it and that as a slide guitar, it worked as well as any. You could have probably stood on the strings and not made them touch the fretboard they were THAT HIGH. But that's what you want for slide work. You don't press the strings down at all. Just the contact of the slide pipe or tube over a fret produces the tone. Sounds HORRIBLE if you let pressure from the slide make the string come into contact with fret.

A performing guitarist will have usually two guitars at least for special needs unless he is a flatpicker or someone who just bangs away at chords (like me mostly!)

Here are the three that I try to keep in tune: The red one is a Fender "Frakenstrat" (actually a Prodigy), the Black is an Epiphone Sheraton II which is made from the blueprints of a Gibson ES-335, and the one laying down is my acoustic Seagull.

[Littlemelly9]

WOW LOOK AT THOSE PRICES!!!

[eaglesvet]

Thanks Mike, I got the gist of most of that, even though I don't know most of the techie talk. One question though: Are you saying that some guitars have mikes inside them? I never knew that. Is that more commonly used in a concert, or is it more common to let a stage mike pick up the sound?

[MikeA]

Thanks Mike, I got the gist of most of that, even though I don't know most of the techie talk. One question though: Are you saying that some guitars have mikes inside them? I never knew that. Is that more commonly used in a concert, or is it more common to let a stage mike pick up the sound?

Most of the guitars on stage have pickups of some sort. Unless they have been modified (and Who'd think the EAGLES would have the nerve to modify a guitar!!!) the Taks that Glenn plays, and I guess Joe and Don at times, normally have an active pickup inside. They have an equalizer on the side where the artist can adjust it for tone and volume.

You can tell if an acoustic has a pickup of some sort in it (might not be a mic though some top of the line pickups have both a mic and a piezo pickup, but it in essence works like a mic) by checking to see if there is a cord running from either a wooden strip in the soundhole or from the button where the shoulder strap connects to the end of the body. If they don't have a cord running from them to a PA system or an AMP then chances are pretty good that they are equipped with a pickup.

[MikeA]

Thanks Mike, I got the gist of most of that, even though I don't know most of the techie talk. One question though: Are you saying that some guitars have mikes inside them? I never knew that. Is that more commonly used in a concert, or is it more common to let a stage mike pick up the sound?

And, BTW....my arms got short about 30 years ago!

[eaglesvet]

Perrhaps you didn't fight it as long as I did?