The best guitar...

[GuitarStv]

Re: The best guitar...

If you polish a turd, it’s still a turd.

While I agree with this sentiment, the vast majority of guitars made today aren't turds. At least in my experience. Some might be better suited for a particular application, but it's rare I plug into a total piece of ****.

 

[Jacew]

Re: The best guitar...

...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.

To me the best possible guitar is slightly above that. Just because I want to know where, when and from what it's made of.

Not that it matters

 

[Chistopher]

Re: The best guitar...

https://youtu.be/3s7HknLRr5Q

Check out at the 2:30 mark how thick that MIM Strat paint job is, and the veneer overtop a 5 piece body.

If you check to point 6, I address this. Sand back the paint as much as you want (I tend to do this part by feel, usually I don't go all the way to the wood) and paint over it.

Usually I go for something a little abstract, because most people in the crowd can't tell with their eyes the quality of a guitar so I just give them a cool finish to look at and let them judge with their ears. But you wouldn't guess how much people overestimate the value of a guitar if you can put a cool paintjob on it.

 

[Mincer]

Re: The best guitar...

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.

Sure, I'd agree with that. Music store sales jobs are set up so 'anything to make the sale'. Many older, new players have fallen victim to a sales drone who lied to them about an instrument or a pedal.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: The best guitar...

While I agree with this sentiment, the vast majority of guitars made today aren't turds. At least in my experience. Some might be better suited for a particular application, but it's rare I plug into a total piece of ****.

Truth! There are still some crappy guitars out there but a lot fewer than back in the day and it doesn't seem to be based on price. I ran the wall at a local shop early this year and found a couple gems & a couple turds with no correlation to price, up to about 1k. After that they were all good.

Edit: except I just remembered there is ONE brand of high priced ($1-3k) guitsrs t⁰hat feel exactly like $250 import guitars. I am 100% positive they ARE $250 import guitars with a lot of marketing, but the dumba$$es who buy them think they are fantastic so whatever...

 

[kramer.geetar]

Re: The best guitar...

Truth! There are still some crappy guitars out there but a lot fewer than back in the day and it doesn't seem to be based on price. I ran the wall at a local shop early this year and found a couple gems & a couple turds with no correlation to price, up to about 1k. After that they were all good.

Edit: except I just remembered there is ONE brand of high priced ($1-3k) guitsrs t⁰hat feel exactly like $250 import guitars. I am 100% positive they ARE $250 import guitars with a lot of marketing, but the dumba$$es who buy them think they are fantastic so whatever...

Which brand is that?

 

[MikeS]

Re: The best guitar...

Yeah, that's not the "best" guitar for me. I was a big tinkerer about 10 years ago, but anymore I just want to plug in and play. I might be best served by a single pickup guitar and a one-channel amplifier. So to that point, I have found myself internet window shopping, watching YouTube amplifier reviews, and even pricing out some guitars that I'll never likely order from Warmoth. Some things I've had to remind myself:

• YouTube is FULL of people who manage to say very little with a lot of words. It's increasingly difficult to find guitar and amp reviews that are worth their runtime.
• The concept of "mojo" is a bunch of malarkey. If it sounds and plays good, then it sounds and plays good. It's not been blessed with some sort of magic spell that is going to turn you into a guitar god, no matter who the previous owner was.
• Age and quality are not related. Most of us understand that a polished turd is still a turd, but why then can't we recognize that an old turd is still a turd. Also, see "mojo."
• Quality usually comes with a price, but price is not always an indication of quality. Cadillac is the top-of-the-line GM brand, but underneath those fancy engine covers and supple leather interior appointments, it's just a Chevy.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: The best guitar...

To me, there is no "best." There is only best at. Criteria have to exist first. And even then, I prefer terms like "most useful" or "most suitable." Simply saying that something is "best" has little meaning to me.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: The best guitar...

Which brand is that?

I won't say! Don't want to hurt any feelings.
I wandered into a very high-end shop couple years ago. Very briefly played a PRS, a couple genuine boutique brands, and when I picked up the "Brand X" it felt miles below them even though the price range was similar, at least for that model. (Yes, I know, "that was only one guitar" etc but the difference was striking.

I have payed no attention, they may be less expensive now.

 

[kramer.geetar]

Re: The best guitar...

I won't say! Don't want to hurt any feelings.
I wandered into a very high-end shop couple years ago. Very briefly played a PRS, a couple genuine boutique brands, and when I picked up the "Brand X" it felt miles below them even though the price range was similar, at least for that model. (Yes, I know, "that was only one guitar" etc but the difference was striking.

I have payed no attention, they may be less expensive now.

Thought for a second you might say PRS which would surprise me, but you mentioned it’s another brand. In my experience when I picked up a few Gibson’s I wasn’t overly impressed with how they were put together. Fenders always seemed pretty solid to me, but then again it’s a simpler guitar and PRS have always been solid, including their SE line.