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# Choosing Guitar Again
- URL: https://billmoriarty.com/choosing-guitar-again/
- Published: 2025-05-24T20:55:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-24T19:58:50.000Z
- Author: Bill Moriarty
- Tags: Blog

I started playing electric guitar when I was 12\.   
But, I haven't played in about 20 years.

I grew to have an adversarial relationship with the instrument. I wasn't getting better, I kept writing the same song in different ways, and didn't see a way out except to try another instrument.

So, I took cello lessons for a year and learned I have a terrible ear for absolute pitch.

Then 10 years later 3 things happened in sequence:

1. I took piano lessons for 1 year from a player, [Tracy](https://youtu.be/GXNiOSGCCVw?si=vG5CkRDO3Wu8wcnj&ref=billmoriarty.com), who really understands how to coax melancholy from the instrument.
2. I really enjoyed piano, but realized to get as good as I want to I would need to put in significant effort...
3. And I discovered that the human being [Victor Villadangos](https://youtu.be/Ir9qgbpJSMk?si=P5c-DKeF2bRdmN0j&ref=billmoriarty.com) exists, and that he wrote guitar arrangements of my favorite composer: Astor Piazzolla.

That rekindled my interest in the guitar.

If I was going to put significant time into an instrument to get better, I'd rather it be guitar if I could play a Villadangos arrangement of Piazzolla. Plus, the guitar has the inherent quality of being portable.

I looked for a nylon string acoustic guitar would seem fun to me, and I found an artist signature model made for a guitarist who died too young in 2022: Ben Woods. It's a thin-body instrument with a lovely built in pickup and tuner.  
I couldn't find this one with the sweet snake design, but I quite like the one I ended up with.

As I started practicing more, I wanted to also have an electric guitar to play. Although I've been around guitars for decades, I have avoided the trap of collecting guitars.

I recently sold my *only* electric guitar, a homemade Gibson SG clone, because I hadn’t played it in years, and looked for an electric guitar that's inspiring to play.  
(I definitely realize looking for an electric is a real convenient way to not actually practice.)

My first love was an old Silvertone, and its sound is what I’m looking for in my next guitar. However, I once played a show outside with that Silvertone and it went terribly out of tune. So, while I’m not specifically looking for another Silvertone, I want something with a similar sound and simplicity, but better made.

I think the most important aspect for me, tone-wise, is the neck lipstick pickup.

Joe Gore shows a guitar he put together with lipstick pickups that has [the sound I was looking for.](https://www.youtube.com/embed/62r3RlS3IO0?ref=billmoriarty.com)

I went to the stores around me, and tried the guitars that jumped out at me.

**PRS SE 24**  
This feels great, is simply laid out, has 24 frets...but is kinda boring to play. It's kind of *too* perfect. Also I don't like the look. It looks better than a strat to me, but not by much.

- Number of Frets 24
- Scale Length 25"
- Neck Wood Maple
- Neck Construction Multi-Ply
- Truss Rod PRS Double-Acting
- Neck Shape Wide Thin
- Neck Depth At The 1/2 Fret 13/16"
- Neck Width At The Nut 1 11/16"
- Neck Width At The Body 2 1/4"
- Fretboard Wood Rosewood
- Fretboard Radius 10"
- Fretboard Inlay Birds
- Headstock Logo Signature "SE"

**Squier 40th Anniversary Jazzmaster Gold Edition**  
I never wanted a fender. I don't have a strong reason why I'm not into fender, but this guitar is quite nice to play. I'd never played a jazzmaster, and this has a wonderful vibrato system.

- Neck wood: Maple
- Joint: Bolt-on
- Scale length: 25.5"
- Truss rod: Standard
- Neck finish: Gloss
- Number of frets: 21
- Nut width/material: 1.687 in. (42.8 mm) bone

**Ibanez Standard RGA42FM**  
This feels pretty great to hold. It's lightweight, and the neck is thin and feels almost flat. I have small hands, and this feels easy for me to use.

- Neck Material Maple
- Neck Shape Wizard III
- Neck Joint Bolt-on
- Radius 15.7"
- Fingerboard Material Jatoba
- Fingerboard Inlay Offset White Dots
- Number of Frets 24, Jumbo
- Scale Length 25.5"
- Nut Width 1.692"
- Nut Material Plastic

**I want something 'weird.'**  
At this point, I realized I wanted something 'weird.'  
What is weird? I want a guitar that makes *me* play differently. When I pickup most guitars, I put my hands into similar shapes, and end up playing how I always play.  
To break that trend, I'm looking for something that feels unusual to me.

The tools we use shape what we create, and I want to create music I haven't before.

**...then I found it ❤️**  
I found my weird guitar.  
It looks strange.  
It feels strange.  
It sounds great.  
It has a single coil pickup in the neck position, which means I could put it in a lipstick pickup.  
The tremolo bar is wonderful and easy to play lovely, slow undulating pitch changes.  
It is a .strandberg.  
It cost $1,400 🥲  
This was way more expensive than I expected to spend...and this was a b-stock one on reverb.com. That means for a .strandberg, it was not expensive.

![](https://cdn.synaps.media/billmoriarty/content/images/2025/08/strandberg.webp)

I also did not love the color - it is grey. 😐  
But! My kid helpfully named it Gandalf the Grey which changed my perspective on the color.   
Now I like it.

![](https://cdn.synaps.media/billmoriarty/content/images/2025/08/gandalf-1.webp)

**Gandalf image is "A Light in the Dark", by* [**Matthew Stewart*](https://www.matthew-stewart.com/?ref=billmoriarty.com)