My guitars: Lil' Red

This is Lil’ Red. 

The guitar - not the bottle cap......which is also red.

I bought Lil’ Red some time in the later part of 2007 and for a long time it was my only acoustic guitar.  This meant that it sort of had to do everything: standard tuning, Drop D, Double Drop D and DADGAD.  And it performed admirably.

Lil’ Red comes from a series of acoustic guitars that Ibanez ran for a while, called the Exotic Wood Series.  At the time I purchased Lil Red, it was one of only three such guitars in New Zealand.  Of course, nowadays there are many more around.

Lil’ Red is not what you would call a ‘premium’ guitar - I think I paid about $700 for it (including the case).  But it is a beautiful guitar.  It looks lovely and it sounds lovely.

It also just a little bit different from your average acoustic guitar. It's little bit thinner and a little bit smaller......which makes it markedly easier to play and to handle generally. The cutaway is really cool too.

I also particularly enjoy the fact that Lil’ Red does not have a high gloss finish.  I find that I far prefer the look, feel and sound of guitars that have a ‘matt’ or otherwise non-gloss finish.

Lil’ Red was my ‘standard tuning’ acoustic guitar during the recording of Shadows in the Shade.  It appears on all of the songs except My Own Drum, All I Can Bleed and The Ballad of Frosty Jack.  

Bring the Pain and The Enemy Within were both written on Lil’ Red.

Since the Shadows in the Shade sessions, I've acquired a couple more acoustic guitars and so now Lil’ Red is kept tuned to ‘Open E’......and will probably remain so for the duration.