E and I just bought a new couch.
We spent just one day of shopping. We had dozens of styles to choose from, over a hundred fabrics, different kinds of legs! While we didn’t get the exact couch in my head, we wound up with one that fit our life perfectly.
Last summer I decided I wanted a blue bass.
Immediately, my choices were limited. Some basses I liked didn’t come in blue, so they were out. Even the ones in blue were the wrong shade, or had hideous pick-guards, or a pickup configuration I didn’t like. I wound up with a bass I like, but I mostly bought it because it was the only one that was the right blue within a thousand dollars of my price range.
It’s the same thing with acoustic guitars. I only like finished tops and cutaways. No Martins for me! And, if I want to stay away from bridge-pins, which I haven’t had to deal with for five years, my only choice is staying with Breedlove.
It begs the question: why? Our couch was only a fifth as much as the high end acoustics, and a hell of a lot bigger. Why can’t I get what I want in the form of a guitar?
Enter Frank Montag’s Single Cut Guitar Editor. Montag has loaded both the Gibson Les Paul (SC) and SG bodies into a Flash editor that can tweak every option. Colors, woods, pickups, cutaway and bridge style, and everything else.
When someone shared the link with me I immediately designed my perfect pink, semi-hollow, sharp cutaway Les Paul. Do you know the only pink Les Paul out there right now is a Twisted Sister Model? Seriously. Yet, here was my dream guitar on screen, exactly as I saw it in my head.
I assumed there would be a big “BUY” button at the end of the design process, followed by a dollar sign and several zeroes. I was ready to start saving!
There was no buy button. Montag’s tool is purely a dream engine.
Why? Why can’t a big-name guitar manufacturer or small luthier shop put together this tool for real? Why can’t I have my pink Les Paul and my pinless bridge Taylor, and you your polka dotted banana yellow SG or whatever it is that you want?
I suppose most guitarists care more about sound then style up until they’re rich rock stars, and then world is your SingleCut Guitar Editor.
Until then, have fun with the Flash version.