The best guitar...

C

Chistopher

malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
...is a cheap one where you aren't quite sure of the specs and can't find any information online. Optimally one labeled "Not in working condition"
Here's why:

1 - The tonewood debate is negligible because you don't know what it's made of anyway.
2 - You can do more invasive mods without feeling bad (also discourages theft).
3 - If it speaks to you it does so because it's a good guitar, not because it has fancy appointments.
4 - You'll make compromises in the name of saving money that you never would on a expensive guitar. Example, cycling back through every last set of stock pickups you've ripped out of other guitars so you don't have to use "the good ones".
5 - If it sucks you aren't out nearly as much money.
6 - A quality DIY respray can easily diminish the cheap feel of the guitar.
7 - You can treat it poorly and it will add to the guitars mojo, not diminish it.
8 - You can give them away to earn some "cool guy" points and not feel bad.
9 - They oftentimes have body shapes that don't exist anywhere else.
10 - To reiterate, you cannot possibly hurt their resale value by any considerable amount.
 
Re: The best guitar...

BEST is never a good word when you are talking about OPINIONS.
BEST requires indisputable proof.
 
Re: The best guitar...

I share your opinion, Christopher!

I started out with oddball cheapos, then eventually migrated to Gibsons. Now I'm back to one home built, one partscaster, and my one remaining Gibson is a cheap oddball. ('70s Maurader). The ES-335 was lovely but I rarely miss it.

But I totally get the other side, fully appreciate spectacular guitars, and respect those who cherish them.
 
Re: The best guitar...

My best guitar cost as much as my car did and never requires mods or maintenance but I mean yeah enjoy yourself
 
Re: The best guitar...

I think you find the best when you aren't concerned with what other people think the best actually is. The sad part is that we are very influenced by ads, forums, comparison videos, & full-time 'influencers'. Lots of great instruments are passed over because someone else had something bad to say about them.
 
Re: The best guitar...

Mincer said:
I think you find the best when you aren't concerned with what other people think the best actually is. The sad part is that we are very influenced by ads, forums, comparison videos, & full-time 'influencers'. Lots of great instruments are passed over because someone else had something bad to say about them.
Click to expand...

Reviewers and internet forum bs plays a large part definitely. A lot of people haven’t held nor played the guitars but just repeat what they heard to sound smart, or for whatever reason.
 
Re: The best guitar...

kramer.geetar said:
Reviewers and internet forum bs plays a large part definitely. A lot of people haven’t held nor played the guitars but just repeat what they heard to sound smart, or for whatever reason.
Click to expand...

I can't tell you how much I hear forum bs (and reviewer bs) repeated back to me, word for word when discussing guitar stuff. It is like they spend more time watching videos than playing.
 
Re: The best guitar...

Best guitar is the one that scream "play me" and I cannot resist....usually 4-5 in stands and they all need regular attention....

Problem this time of year, having humidity so low is that acoustics are in cases - you can have them out for a couple of days at a time, then they start to dry out. For some reason they play the best at RH 65-70, and room is now 50. The recommended 45-55 does not work for me on any acoustic.
 
Re: The best guitar...

Mincer said:
I think you find the best when you aren't concerned with what other people think the best actually is. The sad part is that we are very influenced by ads, forums, comparison videos, & full-time 'influencers'. Lots of great instruments are passed over because someone else had something bad to say about them.
Click to expand...

Perfectly stated
 
Re: The best guitar...

I think Christopher meant it ad a pun/joke. At least that's how I took it. :)

But anyways , the amount of forum bs being parroted is really annoying. For example, my latest guitar has an Evertune. Before buying it, I did some research on the bridge. On one forum a guy did a half a page write up about how the Evertune is never in tune and never intonated because the saddles are moving, always changing the scalelength and tension. The very saddles that are designed to move so that the tension is always constant keeping each played note tuned and intonated under any circumstance. Anyways, he was so convincing that that the guys on the thread started tobagree that, uh, yeah dude, you're right, I never though about that. So I wont try that unless they make a version which manages to intonate properly"... Then again, those who fail to think for themselves are bound to be led astray...
 
Re: The best guitar...

Mincer said:
I think you find the best when you aren't concerned with what other people think the best actually is. The sad part is that we are very influenced by ads, forums, comparison videos, & full-time 'influencers'. Lots of great instruments are passed over because someone else had something bad to say about them.
Click to expand...

But that goes for sales people in stores as well.

So general rule would be to trust your own judgement and common sense.

But some purchases we do will not be up to expectations - and I call that "education money".
And there is where OP makes sense - just get cheapo something - and if not up to expectations your loss is not disaster.

Schooling is part of trusting experts - when I started grown up life at 20+ I realized that I was fed all this about "experts" and "science research" and as coming closer to 30 I realized these are just opinionated people too. They often have an opinion in fields there really is not their expert field. Especially when it comes to things related to politics. With a professor title they can claim knowing anything, and they don't.

Just gotten my first Strat I was browsing through YT a lot about setting up tremolo. And one from PremierGuitar.com, one would think they knew one or two things - I found total BS. He was stating something if wrong is bridge is lifted at back from body, and put strain on guitar and whatnot - well, that depends on if you have it setup as floating or not. So there we go.

Never trust one source alone - check out many sources - and trust your own common sense.
Same with sales people in stores, and YT stuff from stores as well - they are all about selling stuff they have batter profit margins on.

A couple of years ago I looked for acoustics a lot. And one store on YT totally bashed everything else at that price range because they did not have dove tail neck joints. That was the sales pitch for him. Not that it sounded so much better - just about the dove tail that you have to move to Martin D18 to get.

I don't think Taylor have a single model with dove tails, as I recall. Must be crap then.

Especially young people just leaving school should have the confidence to trust their own judgement and being able to navigate todays world with such a broad range of information. Not to trust any expert because of a title, they are just people.
 
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