I've been thinking about it for a while now and i think the Gibson Standard Double Cut Away + might be the one for me, and started to realize that there are alot of plus's to having 1 vol/1 tone as compared to 2 vol/2 tone, keeps it alot simpler to maneuver, and i think the body cavity where they put all the electronics in is smaller than normal (since you dont need a big fat one since its only got 2 buttons and a 3 way switch) allowing more wood...plus the AAA maple top is stunning, even better than the Gibson LP Standard (which i was also considering buying, until i realized that the Standard DC+ looks nicer and probably plays just as nice/better than the LP Standard).

I think the reason for the price difference ( over $600) is because the DC + isnt hyped up to hell like the LP Standard is (if you look at the stats on the DC+, alot of them are better than the LP Standard...24 frets...AAA Maple...etc)...

Sometimes the first one that blows you away is your guitar, if you know what i mean...The DC+ (when i saw it online) totally stunned me, and gave me motivation to keep working at mcdonalds for nearly 5 months (until i got my new Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, etc), i still work there btw...

Ok, I had a longer, less coherent thing up here, but I think it'd be better to post this song I wrote to Jerry Garcia and Santana instead.

(the board software will censor out the profanity)

big ****ing rockstar
playing onstage
you have such a nice shiny guitar
so nice and pretty and costly
you never play it too hard

music built on the backs of black men
fifty years ago
driven into the drugs and died in the gutter
for your eight thousand dollar guitar

abalone block inlays
and flamed bubinga top
your name set into the headstock
in 24 karat gold
diamond-cut diamond strips
and inlays of floating birds
make your guitar sound so much better on CD

hey mr. talented guy,
wanna try my old SG
with the dented red body
and worn-down neck?
can you be artistic without spending so much money?

can you make that thing sound good witohut you thousand dollar pedal
witohut your boxes of equipment
and your techs who have degrees?
her mr. rock star,
do you remember me?
you were like me at one time,
before your record deal
you were working your ass off
and bleeding into your instrument
now you just get it painted instead
while i use my soul to make my music red

[Edited by PonyOne on 09-23-2002 at 02:26 AM]

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yeaaaaah. Check your sources though, jerry didnt have a guitar worth more than $1000 up until like 1974 (SG's back then didnt cost nearly as much as they do now, same with LP's), after they went on 2 europe tours and were one of the top acts in the biz, and then he bought "Wolf" from irwin for $1500, and used that guitar for the next 6 years. it wasnt until 1980 that jerry actually played a "8 thousand dollar guitar", and by then he was 38 years old and had already led the dead through 15 years. These musicians did not sound good because of their guitar, they actually are/were good musicians...you make it sound like they would totally suck if they played through a cheaper guitar (Jerry played synth's through a Fender Standard Strat with a roland thingy in it in 1989 before he got Rosebud, thats a $350 guitar with the synth in it...and he made it sound great)

tell me, if you had $10,000 to spend on a guitar, would you just keep playing your beat up SG, or would you get a new, nice one? simple logic.

Oh, I make no bones about buying a nicer guitar. I'd definitely get a better one, but I'd spend more of the money on a car, food, school, and then the rest goes into a high-interest CD so that maybe someone will give me a credit card.

I know all the crap about Jerry having other guitars blah blah, check your own sources and read the last part of the song...

her mr. rock star,
do you remember me?
you were like me at one time,
before your record deal
you were working your ass off
and bleeding into your instrument
now you just get it painted instead
while i use my soul to make my music red

both he and santana used to play normal, or somewhat normal but modified instruments, the simple truth of it is that, even with all the inflation etc in finances, there was no guitar that expensive for awhile. As soon as the decade of excess hits, they go just as excessive as the neuvo rich stock investor who wipes his arse with $100 bills just cause he can.

Don't you dare get condescending with me boy, you're the one who keeps ripping off my ideas for what a good guitar is! Yeeesh.

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. Santana is alot more flashy than jerry garcia was though, i mean jerry didn't say "Make me a really nice guitar that is expensive, etc" he told doug irwin to just make a nice guitar, however doug felt it should be done, and doug put alot of pride into making a really fine instrument, jerry didnt tell him to make it superfancy.

But there is one thing about music that i think you've taught me in a way, about the simplicity on the guitar, 1 tone/1 vol makes it very simple and easy to use onstage, and i thank you for enlightening me with that.

n/p, I also turned you away from the realm of the Strat.

Santana is definitely less deserving of his note than Jerry is of his, although I think Jerry is also pretty over-blown.

All i'm saying is get whatever guitar you actually want, just don't get it because it looks neato or one of your favorite artists had one just like it, we don't need another Jerry Garcia, we need a new someone who can inspire millions. Whether that's you with an SG or LP, or some guy with a Dano or a girl with a Rickenbacker or who or what, I don't know better than anyone else. Just remember that GD started as an experiment, and an effort to do something totally new and unexplored, as did most other great bands and performers. People just got obsessed with what was, and the GD stopped thinking of what could have been. Imagine if their fans hadn't misinterpreted thier lyrics left and right, and had wanted to hear more totally, 100% new stuff than new rneditions of old stuff and had given them the encouragement to do so; think of the additional awesome 20 cd's you'd own.

ART DAMN IT, ART!!!!

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very true, and i have been writing songs all week (well, so far 2 songs, but i just started yesterday so im doin okay with that). I chose the LP DC + because it fits all my needs for both rhythm and lead, and i can't wait to get it...