Des Frank, me, my guitars and i

 

 

I'm very fortunate to have acquired a Fender Stratocaster a few years ago ; it's a US original manufactured in early 1965 or thereabouts.  An incredible guitar, perhaps the electric guitar equivalent of a Stradivarius violin.   

 A fabulous guitar is of no use without the strings that suit your style of playing and match the configuration of the guitar.  I use light gauge strings on all my guitars, even the Strat.  Currently the Strat is strung with Ernie Ball Super Slinky 9-42 Nickel Wounds. I've been using these  for years and have had no complaints but  just for a change I've bought a set of Rotosound  UM9 Ultramag 09-42 Alloy 52 Electric Guitar Strings which are British made. They are a tad more expensive and I'm pleased to say, worth every penny.  

Back in the day when there was little choice in strings I used two 1st strings and a 2nd for strings one, two and three ; it seems irrelevant now but it worked for me at the time !

 

This is my Godin A6

A thing of beauty

When my fingers seize up and I can no longer play the guitar I will hang this guitar on the wall and look at it like a work of art. 

It's strung with GHS Brite Flats 700 Groundwound Alloy 52 Strings 9-42 Extra Light gauge, for me, just perfect for this guitar.

Ibanez AGS73FM

An underrated guitar

I have to admit that before I acquired this guitar I was hoping to buy a Gibson ES-335 but I had to settle for the Ibanez.  It took me a while to get used to it and I was beginning to regret buying it. Then I put a set of D'ADDARIO Half Rounds EHR330 Stainless Steel 8-39's X-Super Light Strings on it and it totally transformed the guitar. It's now my 'go to' guitar for practising & composing. 

Ibanez RG550

My ' boy racer' guitar

A guy about my age asked me what I was doing with an RG550 boy racer guitar. I can’t say I’d ever thought of it like that but the strings are a bit of a giveaway. I have the lightest gauge strings I could find on this guitar ;  Jim Dunlop, Billy Gibbons 7-38’s, great for bending a few notes ; any thinner and it would be like slashing my fingers with cheese wire.

Moridaira classical guitar

Model No 9511

This is my old and battered La Bella nylon stringed classical guitar purchased many years ago when I thought I could learn to play like Segovia.