Okay, be warned, i'm about to go into Guitar Reviewer Mode which is a new experience for me and the chance of either tired cliches or complete gobbeldygook is quite high.
From zero to two electric guitars within a period of weeks, hadn't expected it but the urge to try something new hit suddenly and has hit hard.
Firstly, my dream guitar - the Les Paul. Well okay, the cheapest copy model I could find. The Donner DLP124.
But I struck lucky, this is a serious axe; solid, well-constructed and nicely finished. Good hardware and a rather fine set of humbucker pickups.
There is a lovely neck that combines with the small frets and flat fretboard to make this a real Rock workhorse. It invites you to play fast, kick out or do intensely cerebral Robert Fripp kind of things.
This is the guitar I wanted. It has a neutral tonal character that lends itself to the possibilities of many different styles. A bit of personalisation with new strings and knobs has made it already into something that is 'mine', feels familiar and a tool to explore sonic terrain.
But.
I then started on the road to Ambient Guitar playing. The DLP124 in my hands allowed me to crystallise the efforts I have put in for years on attempting (reasonably successfully, if I say so myself) to create this sort of music with a fretless bass.
Now I knew, what I wanted to do - this was the music I wanted to make: Fripp, Allan Holdsworth, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, David Torn. Then the unlimited powers of internet gave me a guide: Chords of Orion. A creator of ambient-style music with a prolific amount of videos including introductory lessons in how to do it right.
Step 1 - pedals. It's been a struggle but I've got the basics lined up now and am getting to terms with them. It's all about 'Tone', that is the essential, creating tone, modifying it, messing with it.
I love the natural tone of my bass and never wanted to change it. But new windows have opened, sonically, and the revelation that with an electric guitar there are limitless things you can do.
Then the realisation that different types of guitars offer different characteristics, alternative palettes with which to paint sound. A clip of Bill Vencil using a semi-acoustic told me that I needed one of those as well.
Enter the Harley Benton TE 90QM. Is it not an utterly exquisite object? Something you could just hang on a wall as a work of art!
Truly, a breathtakingly beautiful guitar, so well-made and finished that I can hardly believe how little I paid for it. It feels like an expensive, boutique model. Quite heavy as well, about the same weight as the DLP124, despite the hollow chambers in the body.
A good, solid neck with slightly rounded fretboard and thicker frets. P90 pickups. To my inexperienced eye it all looks and feels just fantastic.
Time to plug it in. Immediately I hear that this is a very different instrument with a pronounced 'own' character, in contrast to the neutrality of the solid-body DLP. The resonance from the hollow chambers provide a liveliness to the sound with the higher notes having a bell-like quality. The warmth of the pickups adds to this and I am aware that, with some practice, this could become an extremely expressive instrument. More emotional.
One day in and this guitar has blown me away. And for just €199, incredible!
So now, armed with a tough Rock Machine on one side, an instrument capable of sensitive delicacy on the other and a battery of effects pedals to boot, I'm ready to set off into the uncharted territories of Ambient music and whatever else comes my way.
