Quality gear... who knew?

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

So you made a controversial thread and are surprised by where it went?

I bought a well made guitar and I like it better than the ones that aren't as well made = controversial?

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I too started off with budget guitars. I bought a couple of better ones and after getting used to them, found the budget ones didn't quite cut the Dijon anymore. I still have the odd cheap part (a CV squier body and trem), but for the most part I do select wood now.

Would it really bug you to find out the term is "cut the muster"?

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Not being able to play a given fret on the neck sounds like a outright defect, or more likely, typical fret wear and tear. I wouldn't call that characteristic of all imports.

I have MIAs as well as a ton of imports, and the reality is that, with MIMs in particular, you can see evidence that less time was spend on average constructing the guitar, such as slight unevenness in finish thickness, or they made no special effort to select a flattering grain, or the body radius is uneven somewhere, but even this a random sort of issue, some of my MIMs show no signs of a rush job (at least not where it matters). The other thing is that the likelihood as to where a shortcoming will present itself is dependent upon the manufacturing processes of the particular factory where a guitar was made. I have examples of MIJs, MIMs, MIIs, and MIKs that will share certain shortcomings depending on who made them. For example, MIMs have radius and finish issues, MIJs show more variability in paint color from one guitar to the next, Korean Epis frequently feature unfinished fret work and unnecessarily thick coats of poly. The moral of the story is that every guitar is unique, for a fact, and you can make some generalizations based on the circumstances of manufacture, but the broad brushstroke domestic good/import bad is highly inaccurate. I can't even say my MIA's are all that precisely made either, but I will grant that they tend to have better looking grains on the translucent finish models, but I just picked up a MIJ walnut finish Strat with a killer Ash grain, so... they're out there.

What surprises me about guitarists saying they found the one true guitar that sounded good, and sold everything else in their closet, is that a guitarist would settle for a single sound in the first place. Nobody has a lot of guitars in search of one good sound, they have many guitars in search of many sounds. To me, the real value of imports is that it weights your overall guitar budget towards diversity in all respects, diverse woods, necks, pickups, tunings, mechanics, body types, and so on. The philosophy of having a few "high end" guitars is the opposite of that, and seems to weight towards the notion that if your guitar is not overly perfect in every detail, then it's not worth owning or playing, and it seems somewhat snobbish, to be honest.

I think you have the highest words-to-content ratio on the board.

[Red_Label]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

DreX: the guy who plays his Squier and MIM/MIJ guitars through a Marshall TSL. Perhaps "we" should talk about "ungrateful" ears instead of "ungrateful fingers" in this thread a bit.

Anyway, everyone give a big round of applause for DreX and his unquestioned loyalty to cheap guitars!

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/show...highlight=DreX

I bow to the master!

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

DreX: the guy who plays his Squier

I own zero Squiers, it so happens.

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I bought a well made guitar and I like it better than the ones that aren't as well made = controversial?

Let's recap

Fast forward to a few days ago, and this MIA Strat has really opened my eyes to how crappy all my other stuff is

Budget guitars, it was a fun ride, but it's pretty cool to be able to play every fret on the neck.

[some_dude]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Let's recap

Your recap proves his point, not yours.

You're not very good at the Internet, are you?

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I have MIAs that do not open my eyes to "how crappy" budget guitars are, I have healthy mix of domestic and imports that prove the opposite. There are many causes of dead frets, that's certainly not a quality which is inherent to budget guitars, especially not in this decade. The assertion that it could be is misleading to anyone seeking info to make a purchase decision; you can buy a budget guitar and not have to fight with the set up, you can buy a budget guitar and not have dead frets.

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I think going through cheap guitars is a right of passage. Everyone has to have that Squier or Epiphone to really appreciate a Fender or Gibson.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Cheap stuff.....good as firewood....at a second thought....maybe they should have let them trees grow, pollute less, and so on!
This place called Earth is drowning in cheap useless crap stuff....

After yet another week at work reparing and setting up stuff.......I rather save some money and buy something worth the while, rather than the endless rows of cheap not worth anyones while stuff.
They cost hours, and really are not cheap at the end of the day....
Wet wood, soft tincan metal, hopeless fret jobs, necks that warp at the slightest variation in the weather.

Yeah...so cheap!

[AlexR]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I have MIAs that do not open my eyes to "how crappy" budget guitars are, I have healthy mix of domestic and imports that prove the opposite. There are many causes of dead frets, that's certainly not a quality which is inherent to budget guitars, especially not in this decade. The assertion that it could be is misleading to anyone seeking info to make a purchase decision; you can buy a budget guitar and not have to fight with the set up, you can buy a budget guitar and not have dead frets.

And other people have different experiences. Maybe you have a really crap MIA, maybe you have really good MIM's. It matters not in the end.

Yet again we come to the fact that somehow you don't allow other people to share their experiences and opinions without you calling them wrong because it doesn't match yours.

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

And other people have different experiences. Maybe you have a really crap MIA, maybe you have really good MIM's. It matters not in the end.

OP generalized that his own small sample of apparently well warn guitars are representative of "budget guitars"

this MIA Strat has really opened my eyes to how crappy all my other stuff is...
Budget guitars, it was a fun ride, but it's pretty cool to be able to play every fret on the neck.

but you don't care about that.

Yet again we come to the fact that somehow you don't allow other people to share their experiences and opinions without you calling them wrong because it doesn't match yours.

No, the point is that my own experience disproves OP's generalization about "budget guitars". It's OP's generalization that I take issue with, not his assessment of his own guitars. If he had issues with dead frets, he still could have cured that particular problem with other budget guitars.

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

OP generalized that his own small sample of apparently well warn guitars are representative of "budget guitars"



but you don't care about that.



No, the point is that my own experience disproves OP's generalization about "budget guitars". It's OP's generalization that I take issue with, not his assessment of his own guitars. If he had issues with dead frets, he still could have cured that particular problem with other budget guitars.

Did it occur to you that the guitars I'm speaking of are those that I own or have played? At no point did I generalize anything. I suppose I should be more specific, otherwise young people all over the world may stumble across this thread and be discouraged from picking up a guitar because they can't afford to start with the exact guitar I'm referring to as good quality.

[AlexR]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Drex, you are really making an idiot of yourself here.....even by your own standards.

The OP was obviously talking about his own experiences here.....lets face it you can't talk from someone elses experience as its impossible to do. Everyone else can tell that he's saying his own guitars were the topic of the thread and that there was no generalisation.

Why is it that whenever these same topics get discussed that we have to have the same misguided rabid foam spitting rant from you??

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Cheap stuff.....good as firewood....at a second thought....maybe they should have let them trees grow, pollute less, and so on!
This place called Earth is drowning in cheap useless crap stuff....

After yet another week at work reparing and setting up stuff.......I rather save some money and buy something worth the while, rather than the endless rows of cheap not worth anyones while stuff.
They cost hours, and really are not cheap at the end of the day....
Wet wood, soft tincan metal, hopeless fret jobs, necks that warp at the slightest variation in the weather.

Yeah...so cheap!

And when you're able to afford a good guitar, that becomes the trade off. Would you rather spend $300-500 on something plus another $500 in parts or would you like to buy a guitar with everything in it already. If you enjoy modding, then I guess buying the Squier or Epiphone would be more enjoyable because you get to mod the guitar to what you want. Or if you're like me and can't afford one, do you spend the money on a good guitar anyways, knowing that it most likely won't go to crap, or do you buy a cheap guitar and replace things as you go?

I, personally, can't afford a great guitar right now. So if I buy a new instrument (which hasn't happened in two years) I set it up and then replace what I can when I can. I've replaced nuts and such in the guitars.