Author Topic: Is John Mayer Jumping Ship? (Read 621 times)

jalevinemd · « **on:** May 31, 2015, 09:10:32 AM »

I thought he was a fairly recent and devoted Alembic player. This new PRS of his looks like it packs quite a lot of firepower.

John Mayer

David Houck · « **Reply #1 on:** May 31, 2015, 10:13:43 AM »

From what I understand, he tours with something like thirty guitars, playing a different guitar on almost every tune.

jalevinemd · « **Reply #2 on:** May 31, 2015, 10:21:36 AM »

Guess he knows what he needs and he's obviously a much more accomplished player than I ever could hope to be. But there pretty much isn't a tone I need that I can't get from my Alembic. Still working on perfecting that neck pickup PAF tone, though.

David Houck · « **Reply #3 on:** May 31, 2015, 10:38:50 AM »

Here's a video with his guitar tech from about five years ago. And my memory was off; it was forty guitars, not thirty.

I'm still working on my primary basic tone.

jalevinemd · « **Reply #4 on:** May 31, 2015, 11:40:53 AM »

I'm sorry...but who the hell needs to tour with 30 or 40 guitars?

rustyg61 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 31, 2015, 11:50:36 AM »

I just saw RUSH & Geddy changed basses on every song! Unfortunately they all sounded terrible!! Every time he hit a low note it clipped.

lbpesq · « **Reply #6 on:** May 31, 2015, 01:29:19 PM »

I've seen Jackson Browne and Steve Miller both bring along many guitars for a gig. Jackson was playing a benefit for Wavy Gravy's Camp Winnarainbow at a restaurant in Berkeley. He had about 20 acoustic guitars set up behind him the the 1.5 hour gig. Steve Miller's guitar tech gave me a tour of his guitars backstage when he played the Norton Buffalo memorial. As I recall, he had two huge guitar closets, each holding at least 10-12 guitars. And remember, when a guitar appears on stage it becomes a business expense/tax write-off.

Bill, tgo

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #7 on:** May 31, 2015, 04:19:17 PM »

Joni Mitchell stopped touring because of the hassle of touring with 20-30-40 guitars; she used a crapload of tunings & carried a guitar for each rather retune every song.
Reading/watching Premier Guitar magazine's Rig Rundown features, even for one-tuning folks, it seems to be the thing to carry a different guitar (but often of the same model) for every song - for example, Bonamassa using this '59 'burst for this song, this '59 'burst for that song, for a real change-up a '60 'burst for the other tune, etc. Having no interest in metal I disremember the player, but one guy uses 7 same-model ESPs or some such pointy nonsense, each equipped with same-model EMGs.
I can see carrying, say 1 Fender, 1 Gibson, a 12-string and so forth, but the same freakin' model? Hey, that one sounds really red - much better choice for this tune than the blue one!
Too much money. What ever happened to the good old days when rock'n'roll people stuck their extra cash up their noses or in their arms??

Peter

sonicus · « **Reply #8 on:** May 31, 2015, 04:58:08 PM »

______And then steps in Willie Nelson with that same old guitar with the hole in it, and he sounds like a million bucks every time!

( a new Alembic Acoustic Guitar could make him sound like a billion bucks perhaps )

Wolf

(Message edited by sonicus on May 31, 2015)

StephenR · « **Reply #9 on:** May 31, 2015, 05:45:11 PM »

Gotta love Willie for keeping it simple but I wonder if he even carries a backup instrument just in case?

When I saw Joni Mitchell in 1998 she was playing a Parker Fly guitar hooked to a pedalboard that would digitally re-tune the guitar for each song. The pedalboard had presets for all of her tunings. At one point she started a song and quickly stopped when she realized that she had selected the wrong preset.

I saw a picture of Mayer's new guitar the other day and thought it looked hideous. The top reminds me of fake wood wallpaper.

terryc · « **Reply #10 on:** June 01, 2015, 03:41:55 AM »

Multiple guitar ownership..just bragging or if they are old ones..an investment, I tell you if I had some old Fender/Gibsons I would sell them to fund my holidays abroad!

edwardofhuncote · « **Reply #11 on:** June 01, 2015, 06:08:50 AM »

I read on another forum where he was cutting ties with Fender...

Wow, 40 is a lot of guitars to keep up with. I'm pretty sure he also had a Turner Model One in rotation... that was a couple years ago.

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #12 on:** June 01, 2015, 08:15:45 AM »

I remembered Joni had started touring again with a faux-tune machine, But I didn't realize it was that long ago. One would almost think we were all getting old...........
I think a guitarist needs 17 instruments, and having a pile is fine - but touring with them all? Well, as a former roadie, I guess I should be in favor; anyone need to pay someone a bunch to change strings constantly?

Peter

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #13 on:** June 01, 2015, 08:15:57 AM »

I remembered Joni had started touring again with a faux-tune machine, But I didn't realize it was that long ago. One would almost think we were all getting old...........
I think a guitarist needs 17 instruments, and having a pile is fine - but touring with them all? Well, as a former roadie, I guess I should be in favor; anyone need to pay someone a bunch to change strings constantly?

Peter

StephenR · « **Reply #14 on:** June 13, 2015, 01:19:35 PM »

Just took a quick peak at the video stream on YouTube of the 1977 show Phil performed at TXR last night (Barton Hall). John Mayer, Stu Allen and Scott Metzger all on guitar. Pretty sure John is playing his new PRS it looks a lot nicer than in the close up. Need to go back later and give the show a listen. John was not listed in the original lineup for this show. Big surprise for all who attended.