Quality gear... who knew?

[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.

 

[BTMN]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

JB Good on you finding something you like and it really speaks to you. Play it loudly and well. Here's to your next Cool guitar! :friday:

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

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

I fail to see how the person responsible for turning this thread into a "controversial thread" can place the blame on JB_From_Hell.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I, personally, can't afford a great guitar right now. So if I buy a new instrument (which hasn't happened in two years)

On that note:

We haven't been financially set for me to buy any guitars for a long time. The last guitar I bought was the aforementioned Schecter 5 years ago for $100.

I happened upon this Strat, and lucked into it for $400. Because I went awhile without buying any cheapos, I happened to have enough money to jump on a killer deal.

 

[Red_Label]

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??

Well-stated!!! :headbang:

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

And not an UIG member in sight....:lmao:

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Originally Posted by DreX Blah Bah blah blah

I think you have the highest noise-to-rubbish ratio on the board.

Fixed

 

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

You can revise history all you want, say you meant this or that all along, but "budget guitars" is a categorical label, as is "MIA" guitars, and when you say a guitar from category A changed my mind about guitars from category B, you've made a generalized statement.

OP also said:

In the past, setting up a guitar always took me quite a few tries to get right

If OP had said "these particular guitars", then he would be limiting the scope of his statement to only include the few he has on hand, but to say "setting up a guitar" directly infers that setting up any "budget guitar" was supposedly difficult for OP, and that of course all this changed once he purchase an "MIA" example. The only reason anyone chooses to see it otherwise is because they agree with OP's generalization, not because they think OP isn't making any generalizations.

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

 

[LLL]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Along the usual butthurt lines...

Ironically enough, Drex reminds me a lot of guys like Edgecrusher or Securb (which itself is ironic because they can't stand Drex). Edgecrusher read my recommendation to use an EQ to boost someone's amp and about had a tantrum over it. Securb took advice of mine to be "snobbish" and launched a coordinated attack, etc...

I don't think any of them even play guitar... or at best, noodle on the weekends.

And none of them have a clip of their playing.

(That's part of the problem with the internet; people can pretend to be something they're not.)

So, what I'm saying is we wouldn't have half the butthurt going on that we have if the people who don't really play their guitar would stop getting butthurt over the personal experiences and opinions of those who do play theirs.

This guy states he had been playing what was essentially crap for a while and he finally got something good and now he's happy. If that isn't the feel-good story of the year (so far) then I don't know what is. And there's nothing controversial about it... everyone is a "snob" or "corksniffer" to varying degrees about their own gear; it's called "caring about how you sound and your own personal preferences". It's called "having an opinion about their own preferences and gear based on their own experience". And nothing wrong with that.

Perpetually offended people need to sack up. Or at least go practice.

 

[Securb]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Along the usual butthurt lines...

Ironically enough, Drex reminds me a lot of guys like Edgecrusher or Securb (which itself is ironic because they can't stand Drex). Edgecrusher read my recommendation to use an EQ to boost someone's amp and about had a tantrum over it. Securb took advice of mine to be "snobbish" and launched a coordinated attack, etc....

You are a freaking joke. My musical resume dwarfs anything you have done with your crappy 80s cover band. I never said your advice was snobbish, I said you are a troll and by the looks of this post you still are one. I am going to cut it off here because I refuse to go back and forth with an idiot.

 

[DreX]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

I don't think any of them even play guitar... or at best, noodle on the weekends.

Don't let your imagination run away with you. I don't think anyone here would be passionate about guitars, let alone the tone they produce, if they didn't like to play them. I could tell you I play for about an hour a day, you don't have to believe me, but how people spend their free time shouldn't be your concern to begin with. Leo Fender was very involved with technical guitar details and he didn't even play guitar.

And none of them have a clip of their playing.

https://soundcloud.com/pickupdemos

Mostly simple chords, but the point wasn't to show off skillz. I have other videos and clips of actual compositions, but you must be able to appreciate why I would not want to share them here.

(That's part of the problem with the internet; people can pretend to be something they're not.)

Ultimately it doesn't matter who people are IRL. Things are either said that are of value and promote further conversation, or they aren't, it's that simple.

This guy states he had been playing what was essentially crap for a while and he finally got something good and now he's happy. If that isn't the feel-good story of the year (so far) then I don't know what is. And there's nothing controversial about it... everyone is a "snob" or "corksniffer" to varying degrees about their own gear; it's called "caring about how you sound and your own personal preferences". It's called "having an opinion about their own preferences and gear based on their own experience". And nothing wrong with that.

Perpetually offended people need to sack up. Or at least go practice.

If someone googles "budget guitar vs MIA", this thread might turn up, and it needs a dissenting opinion to suggest that you don't have to spend $1000 to avoid 'dead frets' and set up issues. I make zero apologies for that.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Thanks to everybody who had something nice or at least relevant to the topic to say.

I stopped at Guitar Center and got a tremelo arm for it. For $12, I'm sure it will be OK for a minute, but at some point I intend to get a Callaham block and arm upgrade.

 

[jake_xms3_punk]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

If it wasn't for the imports I grew up with, I wouldn't have a clue about how to set up guitars, how to select and install pickups caps and pots etc how to wrap a string around a crappy machine head for better tuning stability and so on. I would never have learnt any of these things if my first guitar was a £3000 one.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

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.

At the end of the day, for many folks, owning guitars is not about the music as the thrill of the chase. For some it's finding the super-obscure instrument or booteek treasure. For others, it's about maxing out the potential of a particular instrument. I try not to worry about what other people do with their money but after about 15 years on various guitar discussion boards I know that different people are searching for different things. Oftentimes, the search is for e-cred as much as for a great tool to perform a given task.

Whatev.

 

[LLL]

Re: Quality gear... who knew?

Thanks to everybody who had something nice or at least relevant to the topic to say.

I stopped at Guitar Center and got a tremelo arm for it. For $12, I'm sure it will be OK for a minute, but at some point I intend to get a Callaham block and arm upgrade.

Callaham stuff is the bees knees, and he's a great dude. 2 of my strats have Callaham parts.