I guess it’s one of those date occurrences that really set off some people’s superstitious reflexes. Me? I don’t really care.

Been an okay week, I guess. The usual annoyances are still annoyances, though some are at least winding down a bit. More to come there later, if we haven’t talked about it. If that’s the case, you’ll have to wait.

I can point to one interesting thing I did this week, though. I went over to Guitar Center yesterday after work, and this followed me home:

That, dear friends who care, is a Takamine EG523SC. It’s very pretty, and it plays very nicely.

Why, might you ask, did I buy this, when I have a rather large number of guitars already? Because.

The main reason is that my twenty-odd year old Frankenstein Fender acoustic was feeling it’s age. Don’t get me wrong; I still love the home-made electrification and fancy black finish. That guitar is, in fact, sitting about ten feet from me right now. However, it was a twenty-odd year old cheap guitar that I’ve had since high school. It served me well as my main acoustic axe for a very long time, though that doesn’t change the fact that it’s got cheap plastic tuners and is made mostly out of laminate plywood, which isn’t exactly tone wood. Remarkably consistent, but kind of flat and lacking the character of a higher-end instrument. I’ve been playing a lot over the last year or two, with people (people who have some really nice instruments) and in front of people, and the cheap high school guitar wasn’t measuring up to what I needed.

I’m not considering it a replacement; it’s different in a number of ways. The old acoustic is a traditional “dreadnaught” style. This is what they call a Jumbo – it’s bigger, rounder, and deeper, designed to emphasize bassier tones. This balances nicely with the fact that it’s made mostly out of maple and spruce, both woods that tend to sound bright, so it’s got an interesting alchemy going on.

Secondly, it’s got a nice cutaway to reach the higher frets, and it’s electrified straight from the source, with a fancy electronics package on board including EQ and preamp- in short, it’s a modern acoustic/electric guitar, which is something I was lacking. Takamine is one of the pioneers of electro-acoustic technology, and thus, it sounds really nice plugged in. Also, it’s just pretty, with the flame maple sides and back, nice blonde finish, and all those abalone inlays. I’ve never really owned an instrument with this kind of fit and finish before – it’s really a piece of art before it makes a sound.

In any case, I’d been looking at this model, playing it whenever got a chance, often over the last eight months or so, and finally decided to take the plunge, especially since Tak recently revamped their line-up, and this this particular model isn’t being made any more; so if I was going to get one, I needed to jump on that soon.

I can also proudly say that the herd has actually remained the same size overall – I finally traded in the old pink Peavey Tracer Custom I bought in high school, and have spent the last ten or fifteen years wishing I’d spent the money on a Fender American Standard Strat instead. It’s not that the Peavey “superstrat” style wasn’t a solid, well-built instrument; far from it. It just hasn’t been me for the last decade or so. Also, if I’d bought the Fender for the same $700 bucks back then, I’d have a nicely seasoned instrument now, and one, in the highly unlikely event that I would be looking to unload it, would probably have actually appreciated in value by this point. Instead, I got about enough for it in trade to cover the Tak’s hardshell case and a little extra, and was happy to take it, mostly because I probably wouldn’t have gotten more in a private sale (these 80s metal guitars really aren’t worth a lot these days), and it was just taking up space in the house – I’d barely played it in the last five years – it just wasn’t me. So, I got to replace a dead spot in the collection with something I’d actually play, and it’s Guitar Center’s problem to find the right buyer. I call it a win (although I’ll miss the idea of that old guitar – buying it back then was a big deal).

Having had it only about 24 hours, I haven’t had that much time with it, but I like the time I have spent with it. I’ll get a chance to play with others this weekend, so its public performance debut is only a little ways off. I’m looking forward to it.

So, anyway. That was the big news this week. I’m kind of happy with my new toy right now.

And on that note, here are some tunes…none of which I’ve played on this particular instrument (yet):

1. “Rocket” – Def Leppard
2. “Left of the Dial” – The Replacements
3. “I Summon You” – Spoon
4. “Little Hell” – The Badlees
5. “Where’s My Mind?” – The Pixies
6. “Another One Bites The Dust” – Queen
7. “Istanbul (Not constantinople) – TMBG
8. “Someday” – The Stroke
9. “White Wedding” – Billy Idol
10. “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” – Ralph Stanley