I seen the new trend in acoustic guitars being outfitted with onboard electronics and how many now use them at every open stage I attend. Nowadays, the sound man doesn't know what to do with a guy like me that doesn't want to plug in. I like the way my instruments sound acoustically and when I hear them otherwise it throws me off when I'm on stage.

I do have my homnemade resophonic outfitted with a pickup but it does little to reflect what the guitar actually sounds like acoustically and I've rarely used it in the last 15 years. If I have to get really loud, and that's not often, I've used both a mic and I've plugged in and blended the signal. If I had my druthers, I'd only play acoustically but I can't think of any venues locally that support those kinds of performances.

Many open mics around here refer to themselves as acoustic but the first thing that the majority of the players do when they walk up on stage is look around for the cord that they're going to plug in to their guitars. I've become the dinosaur, the antique that doesn't plug my guitars in and my sound on stage suffers because of this choice. Sound guys today generally are unaccustomed to trying to dail in an acoustic instrument because most everyone who says they play acoustically are actually playing plugged in acoustic instruments, instruments with pickups.

Greg, I understand your frustration about the confusion of the language being used but it's at least partially due to the new inbred instruments that now dominate the market, that look acoustic but are in fact fully wired, like most any other electric guitar, to be able to plug into an amplifier or PA system. I suppose the trend itself is driven by the fact that the whole idea has really been a boon to all the dealers out there. Those same dealers, that used to market electric gear to only elctric bands now have 'acoustic amps', 'acoustic pickups' etc. Acoustic amp? Isn't that an oxymoron?

The issue here really doesn't matter to the retailers or the manufacturers of the stuff they market. They've had a field day designing things to appeal to the new 'acoustic' market and have been raking in huge profits with each new toy they invent. Have you seen the price differences between electric amps for electric guitars verses those acoustic amps, supposedly made specifically for acoustic guiatrs that can be plugged in? It's insane!

They even have a guitar that looks acoustic but is incapable of playing as a normal acoustic guitar or sounding at all like an acoustic. So, the geeks have built an onboard digital emulator into the thing to allow the guitar to sound like a variety of other instruments. I bit the bullet and felt sorry for the poor clerk and tried it out. Even the acoustic guitar emulator sounded lame! I guess if acoustic guitar makers made guitars that sounded better they wouldn't need to enhance them with all those fancy electronics.

So, yes, I do share some of your frustrated head scratching at the latest trends and find myself increasingly in the minority when it comes to actually performing without the aid of a pickup. I play acoustically on the street in our local market because they don't allow amps there. There is a god.