Experience Report: Restoring My Electric Guitar, October 2025
I was able to purchase a roughly 25-year-old “Paul Reed Smith Hollowbody II” electric guitar from the year 2000. The model is quite rare and sought-after, and I’m now thoroughly enjoying it. The moment I saw it in a photo, I was already “hooked.” A beautiful instrument with an outstanding sound and that certain “something.”
A few days ago, I picked up this guitar from the “humanum” specialist lab—that’s where I’ve been taking all my guitars so far, as well as my amplifiers and, above all, my high-end hi-fi equipment, high-quality audio cables, speakers, and much more.
Everything in my home that “is touched by sound”—or is part of a signal chain—I’ve been entrusting to “Mr. Dietrich / humanum” with complete confidence for nearly a decade to have “de-informed.” What this means for sound and tone is almost impossible to put into words. Still, feel free to contact me about it anytime—but be warned, I’ll start raving about it. When I picked up my acoustic guitar nearly a decade ago, my girlfriend called out from the kitchen two rooms away, “Did you put new strings on it?” “No,” I called back—it just came back from being ‘de-informed’;
The “before and after” differences have such a fascinating and moving effect that I can’t help but take this step. By now, I’m quite familiar with its positive effects. The attack and decay, the tonal accuracy, and the overall sound become more present, clearer, more musically guided—in every way more expressive, deeper, freer, purer… and, far beyond mere emotion, it touches me once again on an entirely different level.
Time and again, I’ve experienced the best sound experiences and moments of my life through “de-informing.” The sonic liberation takes effect and feels natural to me—and “it’s permanent”—that won’t change. It works for all other instruments as well. The same goes for my recordings using the DE Disc or DE Vinyl functional waters.
Another aspect worth mentioning is that it also affects one’s own playing style—because this automatically follows the tonal character of the instrument. Musicians know this. So you definitely play differently; whether that’s “better in a different way” is open to debate—that’s not the point. But there’s something “else” at play here besides me. And I wouldn’t want to be without it. Plus, I come up with ideas I wouldn’t have thought of before, and sometimes “it almost plays itself.” Just like a path emerges as you walk. That really is a bit of “a kind of magic.”
When I unpacked the guitar at home, I didn’t put it down for two hours; without even realizing it, I was completely absorbed and happy that I’d treated myself to the guitar. By then it was already evening, and I played through my amp as quietly as possible. It was probably still a bit too loud for the neighbors at times;*) but I decided to go ahead and do it anyway.
As I write this, I’m already glancing over at the guitar case where this little gem now rests, and I can already feel it… it won’t be long before I pick it up again.
Martin Hoefle, Landshut, October 13, 2025