Beauty in Simplicity    

    Almost ten years ago, I acquired what I still consider to be my favorite guitar, a Paul Reed Smith 513 (you may remember it from the My Favorite Things video I did for our YouTube channel many moons ago). One of the things that I love most about this guitar is its incredible degree of versatility. Its name alone is a reference to this as it features 5 single coil pickups that offer 13 different switching options. It’s the most expensive piece of equipment that I’ve purchased (at least, so far!), so I’ve always felt wary about playing gigs with it, usually opting to bring along other guitars that I’d be less worried about if they got dinged up. However, I distinctly remember the first time I played it at a live performance with my band, In The Presence Of Wolves. We launched into our first song with a rocking and heavy intro. I had the guitar set to the bridge humbucker setting for maximum aggression. Then the first verse came up. “Hmm,” I thought to myself, “this clean part should use the neck pickup with a single-coil setting!” So I flicked the two switches in their opposite directions to accommodate the tonal change. I’d use another setting for the chorus, then another for the bridge, then another again for the solo. It was so exciting having so many unique sounds at my disposal from one guitar! But I quickly ran into a problem. I was paying more attention to trying to change the sound of my guitar to what would be “ideal” for each section than the song itself and my playing suffered from it. I found myself scrambling with my guitar so that I could hopefully get to the next section on time! In other words, this was not a successful approach. 

    A lot of us guitarists tend to fall into a similar trap. When it comes to guitars, more is MORE! We want our gear to be capable of anything we can possibly think of. We like to tweak for hours to get the sound just  right. We want more pickups, more options, and, of course, more bling! Over the last few years, I’ve discovered that while it’s nice to have every sonic option under the sun in your palette, endless tweaking can also result in missing out on what’s most important… PLAYING! 

    After starting work here at Maple Street Guitars, I found myself drawn to two particular electric guitars: the Fender Telecaster and Collings 290. Despite the fact that these two guitars almost couldn’t be more different, I was attracted to them both for the same reason: Simplicity. Both guitars are essentially a slab of wood with pickups, a couple of knobs, and a neck attached. They welcome using the volume and tone controls, plus they sound great with all knobs full up. Most surprisingly, both guitars are deceptively versatile. This simplicity lends itself to adaptability. If you can play it and hear the tone in your head, these guitars will do it. I’ve since bought a Tele of my own and borrowed Lindsay’s 290 for some studio work I was doing for my band’s latest album. Each fulfilled valuable roles in the recording process and, to be quite honest, if I was stuck with just one of those guitars for the entire recording, I’d still be pretty thrilled with the end result.

    Most recently, I shot a video demoing the Eastman SB55DC/V for this very newsletter. This is Eastman’s take on the classic, single P-90 equipped double cut Les Paul Junior. While playing the guitar, I admired the limitation of only having one pickup at my disposal. The pickup was bright, so I was forced to use the tone control to tame some top end. I didn’t have a neck pickup for smoother, cleaner sounds so I had to use the volume knob to clean things up, saving the full “10” position for when I wanted the most aggressive and in-your-face tones. Rolling back the volume would remove some more top end that I could add back in by turning the tone knob back up. I was forced to be creative, not just with how I got the tones I was looking for but also with my playing. I had to attack the strings differently but the guitar would react accordingly. This led me to a sense of freedom with my playing that I hadn’t ever truly experienced. I was reminded of when my drummer eschewed his huge kit for a 3-piece set (kick, snare, floor tom). He had less things to consider hitting so he was forced to be more creative with what he had. Coincidentally, it also resulted in him hitting much harder (a real positive in hard rock/metal music) as he was more confident while playing. We all loved the results!

    This focus on simplicity is one that tends to remain consistent at Maple Street Guitars. We tend to avoid gear that has all the bells and whistles one could ask for. Most of our clientele tends to try and find a particular sound that they can access as fast as possible. This goes for guitars, amplifiers, pedals, accessories, etc. There’s no better way to achieve that then sticking with simple tools that get THAT sound! Similarly, we tend to avoid instruments with super-premium aesthetic appointments. Sure, many of these guitars will still perform well, but if there’s another guitar that is exactly the same in terms of its performance and tonal offering but at a much lower price-point, then we’d take the better value instrument every time. Though our eyes can often trick us into thinking something sounds better or different, than it does just by how it looks, we can confirm that (unfortunately) bling doesn’t sound any better.  

    While there’s certainly a place for complicated equipment (typically the studio is where these kinds of guitars and devices can truly shine), keeping things simple is usually the way to go when it comes to being productive and making the most out of your playing time. Less time spent worrying about tweaking knobs helps you stay focused on what you’re playing and maintain that ever-elusive feeling of staying “in the moment.” After all, isn’t that what we’re all looking for? I learned a lot on that first gig with the PRS. After realizing that my playing was being hindered by my guitar explorations, I picked one pickup voicing and stuck with it. I’d still switch between the neck and bridge humbucker settings but limiting my choices kept me in tune (and in time) with my band so that I could pay more attention to the music and the moment. And guess what? It turned out those 2 settings were all that I really needed to get through a gig, not all 13. And you know what else? No one in the crowd could tell the difference anyway…

-Chris Capitanio, March 2021