Quality gear... who knew?

[some_dude]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

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.

Meh.

I used to believe that a well rounded guitarist should have a Strat, Tele, Les Paul and an SG...with the option for multiples so that I could have access to different pickups. As I developed my own style it affected my taste in guitars, and through experience I learned that I have little use for certain sounds. Knowing exactly what I want and that I can achieve it with a limited number of guitars allows me to weight my overall guitar budget towards quality over quantity.

In the end neither way is superior. If you want access to a hundred different sounds you're probably not going to be able to buy a hundred top end guitars so you get what you can afford... But if you only need one or two sounds it allows you to refine those specific sounds as much as possible, and you still get what you can afford.

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

On the topic of what amount of quality can be said to be necessary versus optional for a practical and enjoyable guitar, someone once mentioned how guitarists have it good when it comes to instrument costs, noting that quality big band instruments cost thousands more than even a premium guitar, but something to bear in mind is that a guitar is ultimately a couple pieces of wood with strings stretched across it. There's not really a good reason a couple pieces of wood with strings stretched across it should be expensive in the first place, and the potential to spend more money and get improved string-across-wood performance is very limited. Everyone admits that there's a point of rapidly diminishing returns, some would pin it at $1000, others at $500, but I'd say it's far lower than even that.

[Red_Label]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

DreX... I still have some import axes and amps. But I'm tired of gear that doesn't inspire me. I've got plenty of tools (strats, LPs, steel string acoustics, nylon string acoustics, basses, mandolins, and ukeleles). Snobbery has nothing to do with it. I've been around enough to have done many things, in many ways. I know what I want and how to best get it (for me). Nuff said...

[Red_Label]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

On the topic of what amount of quality can be said to be necessary versus optional for a practical and enjoyable guitar, someone once mentioned how guitarists have it good when it comes to instrument costs, noting that quality big band instruments cost thousands more than even a premium guitar, but something to bear in mind is that a guitar is ultimately a couple pieces of wood with strings stretched across it. There's not really a good reason a couple pieces of wood with strings stretched across it should be expensive in the first place, and the potential to spend more money and get improved string-across-wood performance is very limited. Everyone admits that there's a point of rapidly diminishing returns, some would pin it at $1000, others at $500, but I'd say it's far lower than even that.

Based on your post I'm going to ASSume that you haven't spent a lot of time with higher-end gear. The pay-off is not linear generally. But there's a reason that players (not forum members just looking for forum cred) choose their high end gear when they can afford it. INSPIRATION to achieve that next level is priceless to many. Bonamassa isn't collecting '59 'bursts just for forum cred or investment purposes.

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Knowing exactly what I want and that I can achieve it with a limited number of guitars allows me to weight my overall guitar budget towards quality over quantity.

It sounds like you mostly do original works if you're aiming for your own signature sound, maybe if a person plays more for pleasure, and noodles along in whatever genre suits the moment, then there's more of a utility in variety.

[Snake Aces]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Here's an old trick that I just made up: if you find that playing a guitar with improved play-ability and craftsmanship inspires you to practice more and lights your creative fire, start out with a $100 First Act guitar, get good and used to it, then buy a MIM Fender or Epiphone and brace yourself for the surge of muse that awaits. Not only is the method cheaper than spending outrageous amounts on a domestic made solid body guitar, but the step up between the First Act and the MIM or EPi is likely to be more dramatic than switching from either to it's domestic counterpart. When the high starts to wear off, rinse and repeat. Bring the First Act back out to remind your ungrateful fingers how good they have it with their finely crafted Mexican or Korean product.

This is the worst idea I have ever heard but we've come to expect those from you.

[ehdwuld]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I used to buy guitars because they had nice colors

I prefer the way they feel in my hands, the balance

if i want a particular sound out of them then I can change pickups and twist knobs on an amp or pedal

I tend to gravitate to the more comfortable guitars

since I got the MIM, I really don't spend as much time with the Squires
but I still pull em down and play them

don't get me wrong, I still oh and ah over pretty guitars
I just don't buy them

kinda like women I suppose, there is something that draws you to them
if they are too pretty you don't wanna rough em up to much
you favorite is always the one that's game for whatever

if you have several, you can always find the one that's most appropriate
if you have a few that are fun to play, then the fun is what's appropriate

[MetalManiac]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

kinda like women I suppose, there is something that draws you to them
if they are too pretty you don't wanna rough em up to much
you favorite is always the one that's game for whatever

What? The prettier they are the more they wanna be roughed up.
At any rate, I make sure to play only 100% top notch crap- you know..the kind thats expensive enough not to be too cheap, but still too cheap to be too expensive.

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Based on your post I'm going to ASSume that you haven't spent a lot of time with higher-end gear. The pay-off is not linear generally.

Well... you know what happens when you assume. I've owned three MIMs for fifteen years, a Tele, a Standard Strat and a Deluxe Strat, I've owned a Parker Fly for eight. I don't play them any more or less than my imports. The differences between them simply aren't great enough to justify any such favoritism (save for the Parker, which is a very different sort of guitar).

But there's a reason that players (not forum members just looking for forum cred) choose their high end gear when they can afford it. INSPIRATION to achieve that next level is priceless to many. Bonamassa isn't collecting '59 'bursts just for forum cred or investment purposes.

There's not "a" reason, there are "many" reasons, some good, some not so good, to be sure. Probably the best and worst reason is endorsement deals with those companies, who rely heavily on rock stars playing premium guitars to convince guitarists that they too must have premium guitars, to make them think "there's a reason that players choose their high end gear", well there is, but that reason might well be $$$.

Other reasons can include their not needing such a variety of instruments and having a much larger, occupation related gear budget that counts towards business expenses. I mod my imports, and it's fun to do, but if you're in it for the money, paying a guitar tech so much per hour and have a lot of other concerns, the convenience of having a guitar already equipped with AlNiCo boasting pickups that's less liable to have any sort of quality control issue is appealing from a business standpoint. Most guitarists however do no staff guitar techs and they deal with guitars strictly on their leisure time.

Besides, there are occasional counter examples

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

This is the worst idea I have ever heard but we've come to expect those from you.

"we've"? I didn't know you were a spokesperson.

[Snake Aces]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

"we've"? I didn't know you were a spokesperson.

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

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

This sure got weird.

[Kac]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I totally wanted an MIA strat. you're just making me want one even more...

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

This sure got weird.

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

[voggin]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I don't see the controversy. Dude said he found it rewarding to play a nicer instrument than he was accustomed to.

Other great controversies:

"Had dinner at an expensive restaurant. Tasted really good"
"Bought some nice clothes. I looked pretty good in them."
"Drove a Ferrari today. Sum***** was fast!"