This debate/discussion is subjective either way. The best guitar is the one you play all the time and provides a feeling of confidence....like you can do anything with it.
Boutique vs mass produced guitars
- Rescator
- Closed
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taste - yes, everything - no.
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only the guitar makes the sound not the brand
True, true...
Judging a guitar by 'brand' is like judging a persons 'soul' by how much money they have in their bank account.
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Well... A guitar is a guitar, if the payability and the tone are good for you then it doesn't matter who built it.
I have a MF $3500.00 luthier electric guitar and some mass guitars (Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Epiphone) and I like them all, each for different purpose. I "choose" them all.
I have a very expensive Boucher acoustic guitar which sounds awesome but also a mass Norman st-40 which cost me about $500.00 and sounds very good too.
For me the trick is:
1) Never buying a guitar without playing it first.
2) Being patient, trying a lot of guitars, no impulse buy.
3) Finally, to make my choice, I use my ears, not my eyes!
At the end, mass guitars will cost less if you want a lot of different flavours, and they can sound excellent if you take your time to find the good one!
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Who knows what was wrong but video #1 is not really a good example for a good inspiration and a skilled hand meeting just the right instrument at the right time. First thing he did after the title is over is go and swap the SG for a Strat.
I agree, even then you can still hear who is playing. But if he perfomed all his gigs like that, where would he be?
Around an hour of that concert is online and he plays the SG for around 30 minutes of the show.
Quoteso argument against boutique guitars is the fact that Jimi played mass produced guitars of the shelf ?
is there any more convincing argument ?
Sure, Jimi Page record what are arguably the most iconic Led Zepplin songs with stock off the wall guitars (Tele and Danelectro), Clapton played of the shelf guitars until he put together blackie from several guitars he had, Eddie Van Halen cobbled toether an axe from random guitars, John Scofield still plays an Ibanez an '81 Ibanez AS-200 (not the signature guitar Ibanez sells), SRV played an off the wall guitar (albeit it had spent a long time off the wall), Henry garza was using stock MIM strats until he hit it big and he still uses MIM guitars as bases for the guitars hs techs assemble for him. In fact, I'd argue that the vast majority of guitarists to ever make it big used stock off the wall guitars until the point they became big enough to get stuff given to them. The vast majority of musicians who make it come from humble beginnings and can't afford custom instruments. That market is really aimed more at hobbiests with money to spend, not guys traveling 200 days a year living in a van.
Again, buy whatever you want for whatever reason. But suggesting non-boutique instruments are absolutely inferior ignores many of the most iconic and sought after tones in history.
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The fact that Jimi played a right handed Strat upside makes it non standard. The bridge pickup slanting a different direction and the alternate string tension due to the upside down tuning pegs plus the tremolo bar falling down across the strings would make for a different playing instrument. How much that mattered to getting the sound he got, I'm not sure. I've always been tempted to buy a used lefty and restring it as a righty to see how it felt and played.
Back on topic, I've also been itching to try a Suhr!
Cheers,
jayson
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Wow. You edited that 5 times and still managed to insult my race. What the fuck? You know, I'll trust my hands and those of the most iconic guitarists to touch the instrument rather than an anonymous internet troll.
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i agree with Rescator ... mentioned brands are totally overpriced imho
but people like the brand, see famus guitar player who use the same guitar
I have a gibson studio which costs me 800€ ....
every 10min i have to tune the g-string,
it also has a metal plate so i can't change the potis and condensator easily (300k-Potis) just to save time and costs in production -
After maybe hundreds guitars tried off shelf, and after about dozen owned, - I find NO ANY Fender or Gibson to be in tune , and those guitars sound, look and feel very cheap and "Chinese " , apart from the logo .
This is a very 'unlucky' (beause it is discriminating) phrasing.
Just for the record, I own a Chinese made Tokai LP that feels superb, my Chinese Squier Tele Thinline Classic Player as well.
My 2 Fenix Strats are from Korea and they feel like they were especially made for me.
My MIJ Fender Telecaster is not better playing and feel wise.So, speaking about taste , my taste is that such industrial guitars don't worth more than few hundreds dollars .
I tell you what: A serious guitar doesn't have to cost more than that.
Telling something different is just snobbish.I agree about G and F tending to be a bit overpriced though. You pay more for a hyped brand.
But this has nothing to do with the country of origin. These days are long over, since the the knowledge transfer in the 70’s from the US to Japan that made it possible for Tokai and Ibanez (and others) to become big and popular. -
Wow. You edited that 5 times and still managed to insult my race. What the fuck? You know, I'll trust my hands and those of the most iconic guitarists to touch the instrument rather than an anonymous internet troll.
Rescators whole position is way too much polemic and dualistic and extreme. There is good and bad in big brand guitars and boutique guitars as well. It would be a nice thread to elaborate which is good for which purpose and such. Sadly now, once again, it ends up in the usual sectarian Sith strategy: only extremes.
But his remarc about some brands sounding "chinese" (which in this context was certainly meant very negative) is crossing a line of behaviour that a cool Forum-Moderator would not tolerate. Moderators who leave such a post uncommented for almost 12 hours are certainly not cool.
I wonder whether Rescator typed these remarcs on a (China made) Mac?
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10 years ago i went to a well known music shop in hong kong, tried lots of expensive guitars , then i saw a cheap Epiphone LP goldtop and wow it blowed me away. But as there were lots of guitars there, i thought i should come back to try some more guitars and the next day it was gone
so the next day i came in and try lots of guitars again, then i saw a dusty gibson LP studio, the sales guy said it sounds crap, the neck was too fat and it was too heavy... Lol... But i ended loving the studio. Bought it went back home, changed the strings, start giging and never did anything else to the guitar for years till last year i did 50's wiring.
I'm sure that lots of guitars can be great with a good setup and a pickup swap, but one thing i keep in mind when buying anything is that i buy it for what it is now, not for what it may become someday
and i'm sure that's how the now famous guys did back then.
I'm still looking for one of these great sounding epiphones and i keep hope someday i'll find one -
Well, I'm going to jump in here... first off, hello everyone!
Buying a guitar is a personal experience and whether the player buys something 'off the rack' or spends his last nickel on the ultimate 'boo-teek' custom... its their decision, good or bad, right or wrong. These endless threads about which is better are pointless (IMO), the only opinions that matter on this subject are your own. Its your guitar and you play it and only you know if its good for you.
Just for the record, I started playing in bands in 1966, and played Gibsons pretty much exclusively for over 40 years (from Melody Makers to Super 400s, mostly LP Customs)... not anymore, I sold off my last Gibson a couple of years ago (a '57 LP Jr). They served me well through the years
Today while I could pretty much afford whatever guitar I wanted, I am more than happy with my 2 Strats (American) and my 2 Teles (1 American Vintage, 1 Mexican). The moral of the story is... whatever works for me, might not work for you.
Play some guitars, make up your own mine!! You'll be glad you did.
P.S. I got my KPA last week... I'm in love!
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Well, I have owned and sold a bunch of nice guitars. But they will have to kill me to take away my way too expensive Tyler. Best instrument I have ever played.
