The golden age of guitar making is over people!

Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

I think people complaining about there not being traditional fingerboard woods on some of Gibson's new models is a little ridiculous. Who cares what the fingerboard is made of as long as it 1. feels good and 2. sounds good. I mean it saves money on materials and passes on that savings to you (most of the time). I'm all about more money on in my pocket just cuz it doesn't have a rosewood fingerboard!
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

I call poo. There's more great gear available today than ever before. You just need to find what's right for you.
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

My huge gripe is the imports tend to use softer, smaller fretwire than their U.S. counterparts- so when you need a premature refret it's often cost prohibitive and cheaper to get another guitar
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

Anyone regardless of where they are can build an awesome guitar if there's sufficient incentive.

We've got it better than ever in terms of variety and quality at various price points. A beginner can get a great guitar for little $$ these days. In fact, there's too much choice, so we're never happy, always in the mindset 'well, there's X, it's gotta be better than what I've got now'. Plus people often want the best guitar in the world but don't wanna pay for it. Sure, there's overpriced stuff, but you're not stuck for choice these days.

If everything bothers you so much, go to a luthier who will indulge your little OCD wet dreams.

Ever thought of just playing music?
 
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Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

Ashurbanipal said:
Anyone regardless of where they are can build an awesome guitar if there's sufficient incentive.

We've got it better than ever in terms of variety and quality at various price points. A beginner can get a great guitar for little $$ these days. In fact, there's too much choice, so we're never happy, always in the mindset 'well, there's X, it's gotta be better than what I've got now'. Plus people often want the best guitar in the world but don't wanna pay for it. Sure, there's overpriced stuff, but you're not stuck for choice these days.

If everything bothers you so much, go to a luthier who will indulge your little OCD wet dreams.

Ever thought of just playing music?
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YAdda Yadda Yadda.. nothing else on earth is comparable to a Gibson les Paul Std./Custom.
Ask the guys who have one of they'd ever settle for anything else. I know I wouldnt.
PRS, Japan, Anything..just doesnt compare to the real deal.(PRS may be a fine guitar, but it isnt a Gibson Les Paul id thats what you want ,is all.)

So quitcha jabberjawin' with irellevant observations and face facts.

I think most of us want to know the current state of the art of construcion of the Mighty Gibson Les paul Std./Custom
 
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Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

I've come to terms with the fact that MOST commonly available name brand guitars (especially sub-$1500 items from Fender and Gibson) have at least something wrong with them, MIA or import, and by "something wrong" I mean something beyond what a basic setup could cure. Things like pickup design and winding, neck shapes, body wood quality, finish application, binding application, tuners, hardware materials, etc. I mean yeah it sucks that nearly EVERY gibson bridge is made of Zamak but some Gibsons still manage to sound pretty good.

It's like cars, computers, clothes, food. Every big company is out to maximize profit. It's gonna stay that way unless we have a cultural revolution in america (toss out consumerism!) but that aint happening!

Thankfully, there are still guitars from the big companies that fit my taste and are within my price range, and I get by. Yes, I have to weed through a lot of duds to find my "gems" but when I do I'm pleased. I own 3 made in america guitars from Fender and Gibson and I like them enough and I notice the differences between the ones I have and the ones I turned down.

So... yeah. If it's not custom built there's a chance your guitar could suck ass. But through some random process there are good production guitars that make it out there, and I'm determined to find them because I'm a bedroom player and I don't need something custom built to play Stones covers for my friends and roommates.
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

MetalManiac said:
YAdda Yadda Yadda.. nothing else on earth is comparable to a Gibson les Paul Std./Custom.
Ask the guys who have one of they'd ever settle for anything else. I know I wouldnt.
PRS, Japan, Anything..just doesnt compare to the real deal.(PRS may be a fine guitar, but it isnt a Gibson Les Paul id thats what you want ,is all.)

So quitcha jabberjawin' with irellevant observations and face facts.

I think most of us want to know the current state of the art of construcion of the Mighty Gibson Les paul Std./Custom
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That's just ridiculous, Jer. Don't go all tgwif on us.

Because that's EXACTLY what you're doing.
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

formula73 said:
That's just ridiculous, Jer. Don't go all tgwif on us.

Because that's EXACTLY what you're doing.
Click to expand...

The problem with this is, TGWIF actually has the knowledge about of things, he's just a little too pushy about it sometimes. Jerry drinks too much and buys shipping containers.
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

Hmm I dont know what to say there is a simlar post running. But honestly QC is a big issue. I no longer care where something is made as long as it is made well and inspected well. I know I will most probably go to a local Luithier for my next guitar. At least I can get it hand made and get it exactly what I want
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

So far what I've seen is. Gibson is a failure at everything and Fender is scott free of mistakes.

I've seen just as many poorly routed neck pockets, shoddy fret and nut work, crooked tuners, and offset bridge placement on American Fenders as I have as all the stuff on Gibson guitars. IMO, and it literally pains me to say this because I strongly dislike Paul Smith, but PRS is the only American guitar maker of mass produced guitars that gets an A on QC.
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Do you actually work on these things for money?

I do, and I totally disagree. Not with the Fender assessment, which I totally agree with, but Gibson's QC has become very good, PRS is the biggest bunch of marketing hype I've ever seen.

Edit: I also disagree with the OP's premise. Yes there is lots of crap being made today, that was also true in decades past, perhaps moreso. When I was a kid learning to play, you could pay $200-$350 and get a plywood guitar to learn on. Now you can pay $100-$250 and get a real wood guitar, and those dollars are worth a WHOLE LOT LESS than they were when I was a kid. If you control for inflation, it is INSANE the quality you can get now for the same real money you paid for a plywood guitar 30 years ago or so. "Starter" guitars are far better, and there are some truly excellent guitars being made now, and not just by small lutheirs, that equal or exceed vintage guitar quality.

The whole premise is like saying "rock music was so much better in the '60s and '70s" ........really? You only think so because when you listen to the classic rock station, they leave out all the horrible pathetic crap that hit the airwaves back then and boil it down to the truly great stuff; that is to say, they play Led Zeppelin and not The Bay City Rollers. That doesn't mean the Bay City Rollers did not exist, or that there weren't a whole lot more like them and worse.
 
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Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

MetalManiac said:
The Golden Age was over in the late 60's to early 70's.

Things improved after the 80's, but now with the environ-mental issues, and more of a mass produced assembly line product, there are some going to be some obvious issues.
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Yes, more or less. The 60s and 70s were the Renaissance era of rock music and the big brands spent it as a small note in the portfolio of conglomerates.

Today we have boutique pedals, boutique guitars, true bypass, NOS, custom shops... and no new Hendrix, or Pink Floyed, or even Sex Pistols... maybe we should all concentrate a little more on making music instead of GASing...
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

9finger, you're the guy who ordered a $1400 Gibson LP Studio with a bridge pickup that didn't, um, pick up, right?

Suffice it to say, I disagree with your post. Your arguments are overbroad, you start off by calling anyone who might take issue an "idiot" and you offer zero evidence to back up any of your claims.

Still, if I were you, I would be upset. At Gibson. Bridge pickups should work. Obviously, Gibson has problems.

If you want an affordable, professional-quality instrument, though, try other companies. There has never been a better time to be in the market.
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

FuseG4 said:
I've come to terms with the fact that MOST commonly available name brand guitars (especially sub-$1500 items from Fender and Gibson) have at least something wrong with them, MIA or import, and by "something wrong" I mean something beyond what a basic setup could cure. Things like pickup design and winding, neck shapes, body wood quality, finish application, binding application, tuners, hardware materials, etc. I mean yeah it sucks that nearly EVERY gibson bridge is made of Zamak but some Gibsons still manage to sound pretty good.

It's like cars, computers, clothes, food. Every big company is out to maximize profit. It's gonna stay that way unless we have a cultural revolution in america (toss out consumerism!) but that aint happening!

Thankfully, there are still guitars from the big companies that fit my taste and are within my price range, and I get by. Yes, I have to weed through a lot of duds to find my "gems" but when I do I'm pleased. I own 3 made in america guitars from Fender and Gibson and I like them enough and I notice the differences between the ones I have and the ones I turned down.

So... yeah. If it's not custom built there's a chance your guitar could suck ass. But through some random process there are good production guitars that make it out there, and I'm determined to find them because I'm a bedroom player and I don't need something custom built to play Stones covers for my friends and roommates.
Click to expand...


Fuse, I hear ya, but you can overcome some of those issues (like picking out your bridge. neck shape, etc) by going semi-custom through a shop like Carvin.
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

To me, it's kind of simple. Buy guitars that you think are worth the money, and don't buy guitars that you don't think are worth the money. The only thing that really tells the manufacturers what to do is how you spend your money. The collective buying habits of users pretty much determine what the companies do.

The "golden age" to me is not about how good Fender, Gibson, or whoever else makes guitars. It's about the power that a buyer has to get exactly what he or she wants. By that definition, I think that this is a golden age for guitars. Players have more choice than ever. More information than ever, and most of it for free. More (and better) aftermarket parts than ever. You can get a guitar as good or as bad as you like. You can get good bangs for the buck and bad bangs for the buck. You can easily assemble your own "Fender" equivalent to Custom Shop quality for about 1/3 the price, because there is a healthy supply of places like Warmoth.

I don't know, man. I'd rather be a gearhead now than at any other time before. Like I said, it isn't about what Gibson and Fender are up to. It's about how much power I have to get what I want.
 
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Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

This thread makes an interesting comparison with the one running about buying online, sight unseen. On this thread, you'd perhaps believe that you'd have to be nigh on insane to trust to random selection and not lay hands on every purchase before flashing the cash, yet in the other thread, it would seem a sizeable proportion of buyers are willing to do exactly that. I do wonder if at times, there is just a hint of herd mentality to follow the basic premise of any given thread.

Right, I've just got myself in to the centre of London, so that means there must be guitar stores nearby. See you all later...




Baaaaaaaaaaaa.....
 
Re: The golden age of guitar making is over people!

FuseG4 said:
It's like cars, computers, clothes, food. Every big company is out to maximize profit. It's gonna stay that way unless we have a cultural revolution in america (toss out consumerism!) but that aint happening!
Click to expand...


+1000 This business school approach to life is whats hurting us the most.
 
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