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Tim35

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Young folk these days don’t huff properly either

 

 

 

Splurted my coffee, very funny.

 

 

But Tim has gone and wiped his first post, so I suppose he wanted everyone to agree with him and go ra ra ra or was that ooh,ooh ooh monkey noises about the end of guitar.

 

Well he sure came to the wrong place if he wanted everyone to agree - Gibson Acoustic Forum ha ha where you can say it is black and all say it it white, blue, pink, green........

 

See ya Tim.

 

 

Hey, when I started guitar, I didn't know anyone else with one - searched them out over the years, I suppose, but that is not why I play - to sit around and go oi oi oi - I play guitar because I am totally hooked on the bloody thing that has taken over my life for...53 years! And if nobody wants all them geetars, I'll have 'em! [biggrin]

 

 

BluesKing777.

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That's the bottom line-young pickers are resourceful and know you can get a killer working instrument for under £1000. It's not guitar music that's dying amongst young players, it's the market for high end instruments.

 

I agree. And, rightfully so. There are some awesome reasonably priced great guitars out there now. And, not only are young people playing those, but I am starting to notice a number of "old guys", myself included, are starting to favor those too when they are at music jam's, song circles, or gigging. I have suspected for some time that Gibson actually might make most of its money on guitars from its sale of Epiphones on a mass volume...which, along with high priced/high margin Gibsons keeps the flagship Gibson brand afloat to the delight of all.

 

Plus, I don't worry about Gibson or guitars going away. It's now a global guitar market and no longer just a US and U.K. market. And, the global market is only now coming into its own.

 

Just my two cents.

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

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They'll have to pry the neck of my '31 L0 from my cold dead hands.

 

Like it or not, that day will eventually come for all of us. So I guess the real question is, what will "they" do with your '31 L0 after removing it from your cold dead hands? ;)

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Lots of good thoughts here so I will kind of hijack the thread a bit and ask you all a couple of questions.

 

Do you think the advent of the CNC machines has had a big impact on the volume of instruments flooding the market? If so has it been a positive impact or has it been a negative experience? How about the emergence of the CITIES regulations on exporting guitars across international borders? Will this alter the types of materials all guitars are being made of? Will Martin, Gibson, and Taylor have a domestic guitar made from traditional wood and a export version made from politically correct wood? Now let's see who is brave enough to predict the appearance of the first printed guitar. It's only a program away....

 

I have a Brazilian Ray Whitley and feel guilty about it. Anyone interested.

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I've toured the Martin plant and the Taylor plant. Taylor makes a big deal out of using CNC machines. They point to reproducible results as a positive for their instruments. I suspect that part is probably true. The shapes are far more identical than can be made by hand and take less time. Martin uses them just as much but still wants to pretend that everything is hand made. Personally, I don't really care whether a machine or a person cuts out the wood shapes. I think that's the least of the issues. I think the materials they choose, and the care with which things are put together (still all done by hand) make far more difference.

 

CITIES regulations are going to have a much bigger impact. Its going be more difficult to find guitars with traditional woods. Even for the domestic market, I bet the price of mahogany and rosewood guitars takes a big jump and it will encourage the use of more sustainably sourced wood. I would bet though that they find ways to certify them in a manner that can be brought across country boundaries. They will just cost more everywhere. What might be harder is for an individual traveling with a guitar with restricted woods to travel internationally.

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But Tim has gone and wiped his first post, so I suppose he wanted everyone to agree with him and go ra ra ra or was that ooh,ooh ooh monkey noises about the end of guitar.

I was wondering why the start of this thread made no sense!

 

One of the most significant factors impacting the guitar market, imho, is the sheer number of guitars on the planet. It took Martin until the mid-2000s to build their one-millionth guitar. I believe they are now already past two million.

 

Add to that a bazillion Taylor, Ibanez, Alverez, etc. guitars, and there are probably enough of these damn things out there to cover every man, woman, & child.

 

I often wonder how the large companies can keep cranking them out, but they do. So it's no surprise that a bunch of instruments will be hanging on the walls of Guitar Center - but that said, dealers keep buying them, so there's gotta be a viable market out there. At 66 years old, it just doesn't look anything like it did when I was 21.

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I was wondering why the start of this thread made no sense!

 

One of the most significant factors impacting the guitar market, imho, is the sheet number of guitars on the planet. It took Martin until the mid-2000s to build their one-millionth guitar. I believe they are now already past two million.

 

Add to that a bazillion Taylor, Ibanez, Alverez, etc. guitars, and there are probably enough of these damn things out there to cover every man, woman, & child.

 

I often wonder how the large companies can keep cranking them out, but they do. So it's no surprise that a bunch of instruments will be hanging on the walls of Guitar Center - but that said, dealers keep buying them, so there's gotta be a viable market out there. At 66 years old, it just doesn't look anything like it did when I was 21.

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, Tim has gone off and left us to argue on our own! And others have added fat to the fires to make this thread head to the deleted thread pile a bit later (today).

 

So argue....here is some more fat...

 

 

There seems to be enough guitars being made at the moment for 100 guitars each for everyone on the planet. We don't want Gibson or Martin to stop, but what would happen (theoretically, hopefully) if they did? I mean, most of the people on this forum buy used older instruments - how many here are buying the new ones? Not many! Would anyone here really notice they are gone?

 

And the CNC question... like computers and software, it is all good as long as the figures input are correct! My day job is mostly correcting endless mistakes entered in our company software...err..endlessly, by people that work here. So seeing this carelessness daily, I am not confident in that happening in endless worldwide CNC machines, doesn't matter as long as there are experienced people 'checking' the results.

 

Now I have 4 handmade guitars - 3 Lowdens old and new and a Cargill. From what I read though, the main selling point is the sound and playability from the checks made continuously while the guitar is made and the real big one is - tapping the tops and altering the bracing to suit the guitar so every guitar has a chance to shine - no duds, in theory. The big companies run on the hit and miss approach. Apart from mine, sensational, I have NOT played enough others to say what they are like.

 

 

BluesKing777.

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Aw, shucks😨 If the thread may be deleted, guess I'll get on the watch list, too. Actually, there are a couple points that I found interesting. First, would I take much notice if new instrument production came to a halt. Second, what about newer, computerized production methods. The production methods don't much concern me because I've got to where I only consider buying 'older' instruments. These days, they're sometimes classified as 'vintage', but that wasn't the case when I headed in that general direction. So if current production came down to a trickle, I doubt I'd notice until someone told me. There are plenty of 'older' guitars I'd love to own, and I expect I'll be unlikely to outlast my wish list. MANY Gibsons, the 'right' Martin, and a couple Guilds....

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Lots of good thoughts here so I will kind of hijack the thread a bit and ask you all a couple of questions.

 

Do you think the advent of the CNC machines has had a big impact on the volume of instruments flooding the market? If so has it been a positive impact or has it been a negative experience? How about the emergence of the CITIES regulations on exporting guitars across international borders? Will this alter the types of materials all guitars are being made of? Will Martin, Gibson, and Taylor have a domestic guitar made from traditional wood and a export version made from politically correct wood? Now let's see who is brave enough to predict the appearance of the first printed guitar. It's only a program away....

 

I have a Brazilian Ray Whitley and feel guilty about it. Anyone interested.

 

Now there's some things to ponder on.

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