Wouldn't it be funny if...

[ksdaddy]

Sometime in the past 56 years of me being above room temperature I heard a story of a violinist who, according to the printed program for that night's performance, was to play on a genuine Stradivari violin. He came out, handled the violin with due care, played the piece, and then promptly smashed the violin to pieces. He then announced to the shocked audience that it was a cheap copy and then produced the real Strad.

 

The above story is correct as much as my memory allows, and even if it is modified, embellished, or an outright tall tale that I am perpetuating, the message is clear. The performer is more important than the tool used. That message has been spouted by many before me and will continue forever. Nothing new. For fun, I swapped the variables around to something I could relate to. I imagined myself seated in the audience waiting for a performance of "Point Panic" (or a reasonable substitute), knowing the performer was behind that curtain with a 1960 slab board Jazzmaster, a blonde Bassman with outboard reverb unit... I am blown away by the performance... and then the performer steps out from behind the curtain with an Ibanez Gio and a Behringer amp.

 

*illusion shattered*

 

Kinda hurts.

 

We buy into the image and it is so easily torn to shreds by the truth.

 

The guitars I own because of bragging rights are quickly (not only) tarnishing but are turning into something ugly.

 

Sorry, just soul-searching and tired of reaching for something that isn't there. Also realizing the million dollar guitar is the one that is making music.

[pippy]

The experience we acquire as we age is certainly an important factor in understanding the relative importance of one's ability v's one's equipment.

 

It is nice to play (and to handle) a fine instrument, of course, but a cheap instrument - if fit for purpose - can offer just as much fun. One of the best-sounding bluesmen I've seen playing in the last few years was using nothing more exotic than an old 1980's Fender Bullet. He had modded it a fair bit; but even so...

 

I've ditched the guitars I didn't like and kept the ones that I do. Some of the remaining herd are cheap-as-chips; others less so.

One of the ones which gets the most noodle-time is a $100 Squier Tele. It plays better than any Tele I've ever tried and is far better than the '62 (double-bound) Tele Custom re-issue I had 30 years ago.

And 'Vintage'? I don't buy into the 'Vintage is Best' argument. There were good ones and bad ones back then. I've said it before but I'll say it again anyway; the very worst Strat I ever owned - and I only kept it a couple of weeks because it was so bad - was an all-original maple-neck Fiesta Red '59. What would that be worth today? Would people swoon in its mere presence because it's a '59? It was CRAP. My '64, OTOH, was the best I've owned. My MIM '60s Classic Series is probably 95% of the '64 and if I put in slightly more 'period-sounding' p'ups it would actually be a better all-round instrument because the 'board doesn't resemble the ploughed field that was to be found on the '64...

 

But the argument for the enjoyment of the pure quality of a fine guitar is very strong, too, in its own way; it's just that it's not 100% essential for the end-purpose of the instrument - which is to make music.

 

IMO.

 

Pip.

[OldCowboy]

Dark place, my friend, where I have been as well. You'll come through it, most likely, and may be better for the detour - or not. My "bragging rights" guitars get the bragging these days for their own merits in my life, not simply because they might inspire envy. They are my friends, companions, and source of comfort in a world that sometimes feels cold and indifferent.

[L5Larry]

On one of Charlie Parker's most popular live records he was playing a plastic saxophone.

[charlie brown]

On a whim, and via MF's "Stupid Deal of the Day," I bought a little Danelectro 12-string, last Summer.

It's been a LOT of FUN!! (I am taking to my Luthier, this coming weekend, to have concentric tone and

volume controls put on it, so I'll have tone and volume for the two individual pickups...not sure, why

they didn't do that, on this model, to begin with, but it will soon be rectified! )

 

I own (2) Rickenbacker 12-strings, that I've had for almost 40 years, now. The Dano won't replace them, but...it will be

used in "bar" gigs, and such, because if it gets beer spilled on it, or (God forbid) stolen, I'd be quite "cranky" but not

financially devastated, as I would be, if that happened to my Ric's. Plus, the Dano is really fun to play, and used with

a good compression/sustain pedal, sounds Awesome!

 

I also (recently) acquired a Squier Bass VI!

Also, an awesome player and sounding Bass, at a mere fraction (1/10th, or less), of the cost of a "Vintage Fender" one.

And, for my "needs," way more than adequate! It's a "Hoot" to play, and hard to put down.

 

So, I too, feel that "expensive" doesn't mean "better," or more fun, necessarily. Jimmy Page did pretty well,

and still does, with his Dano '59, for all those years.

 

CB

[merciful-evans]

I have fun using cheap (but excellent) guitars. They don't garner the interest that the Gibsons do, but the regular people dance along just the same.

[pippy]

In post #2 I mentioned the 'ploughed field' fingerboard of my old Strat.

I had cause to post a snap of it in another thread and thought I might as well stick it in here, too, to illustrate the point;

 

 

I'm not sure quite when this pic was taken but probably not long after I acquired the guitar in 1980.

That means this much wear was inflicted on the poor thing in a mere 16 years...

 

Pip.

[Retired]

I only have 5 playable guitars. While the Gibson LP Gold Top is the most expensive the 2 I play the most is an Epiphone Standard and a Squire modified Jag. But after I got rid of about 13 guitars and a very expensive amp my mother bought me for my 16th birthday these 5 will all be keepers.

[saturn]

There's an old guy who hangs in the American Legion that I belong to (I'm SAL). He's been playing country and bluegrass for years and we always talk guitars. He has this guitar he showed me pictures of that was hand made by some guy in Baltimore back in about 1947. The maker was a violin maker who also was one of few people authorized to repair Stradivarius. I think the guys name was Hossoffer or something German sounding like that. Anyway, he only made 5 guitars in his life and Dennis has one of them.

 

Recently he found a First Act act acoustic in a Good Will and paid $16 for it! He is always bringing that thing into the Legion and asking me to play it. I think he loves that thing more than the Hossoffer!

 

I'm not sure if this story has anything to do with the OP but it seemed like a good place to tell it.

[ksdaddy]

I'm not sure if this story has anything to do with the OP but it seemed like a good place to tell it.

 

It has everything to do with it.

 

Now I'm not advocating buying cheap guitars to 'prove' anything or to engage in reverse snobbery, just stating that it has been proven to me several times that lineage has nothing to do with soul. Case in point, the plywood classical made in Brazil I paid $10 for. Meanwhile a handful of 'good' classicals went away, including a LaPatrie Collection and a couple handmade models, and now the Gibson C-6 lays in it's case. This little guitar, (7/8 size?) gives everyone a warm fuzzy. It is very much the musical equivalent of a toasted cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup made with milk.

 

[merciful-evans]

In post #2 I mentioned the 'ploughed field' fingerboard of my old Strat.

I had cause to post a snap of it in another thread and thought I might as well stick it in here, too, to illustrate the point;

 

 

I'm not sure quite when this pic was taken but probably not long after I acquired the guitar in 1980.

That means this much wear was inflicted on the poor thing in a mere 16 years...

 

Pip.

 

16 Years! That might be even more wear than I can inflict. I wore out two such fingerboards in 20 years. I recently scrapped one of them (yep, took it down the tip). This is why I wont spend more than £1000 on a rosewood fretboard guitar.

[Markini]

Well I was going to into a long diatribe about my high end guitars and how they stay in their cases and I play the cheap ones of course......

 

But when ksdaddy posted the term " Reverse Snobbery" it stopped my thought processes in their track. I never thought about boomeranging

 

back at a cork sniffer. I like the term "Reverse Snobbery", just never heard it put that way before. Tit for tat, but must be used sparingly.

 

 

 

 

 

[rct]

...It is very much the musical equivalent of a toasted cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup made with milk.

 

Everybody has that. Mine is my Tele. Yours is something else, and so on.

 

rct

[ChanMan]

The gear is whatever it takes to get the sound. Having said that, most of the sound is in your fingers.

Just my experience :)

[Mojorule]

In post #2 I mentioned the 'ploughed field' fingerboard of my old Strat.

I had cause to post a snap of it in another thread and thought I might as well stick it in here, too, to illustrate the point;

 

 

I'm not sure quite when this pic was taken but probably not long after I acquired the guitar in 1980.

That means this much wear was inflicted on the poor thing in a mere 16 years...

 

Pip.

 

People pay a fortune for a scalloped fretboard like that, especially with Yngwie Malmsteen's signature. Probably even more than they pay for a worn '64. On that basis, you could double the price, Pip.