> I was not flaming you, bongolation.......simply stating that you
> have on more than one instance turned us on to good deals
> that you always seem to be less than happy with when you
> actually get the product......do you deny that?.....
Yes. Along with your statement, "keep in mind that NOTHING satisfies him...."
I have been seriously dissatisfied on a few occasions (three I think, of about a dozen-plus deals I've written about here or elsewhere), which is only reasonable. If I "always seem" to be dissatisfied with them, it's clearly a misperception on your part.
I go over new gear with a fine-tooth comb and rarely miss the slightest flaw, though some only show up later (such as the fatal neck shifting [!] on my J-45D). Pointing out defects that mean something to me but may not mean anything to "the average player" sometimes freaks "the average player" out because he doesn't want to hear about things he's missed. I attribute the not-infrequent exaggerations of my "negativity" to this. They also may confuse my complaints of things that do not suit my personal preferences (but that may suit someone else's) with my complaints of defects. I do not like fat necks, as an example, but within reasonable bounds I do not regard that as a defect. I will point it out, however. If I find finish flaws, it may not matter to me or to you if the guitar is otherwise a good player, but it bears pointing out, particularly if the instrument is one with a price tag high enough to lead to a reasonable expectation of a pristine finish and detailing.
People overlook my raves for certain bargain equipment I've landed, such as the absolutely exquisite DeArmond M-77T I acquired during the blowout, which is one of - and possibly THE - best guitar at any price I've ever had or played consistent with my personal preferences, and I've owned a couple of thousand guitars - personally or as selling stock.
Or the fantastic Gretsch "Hawaiian," an astoundingly good instrument for the money I paid for it on sale.
If it's good, it's good. If it's junk, it's junk, and I'm going to tell you about it and why.
Sometimes it's both, and I'll tell you that, too - like the SG I just got which is sloppily-produced junk, but plays and sounds fantastic.
> I certainly don't see that comment as a "substantial departure
> form the truth"....
Well, it's certainly a very large exaggeration, which amounts to the same thing.
> However, if that was "no less than the content of the rest of
> the post", please elaborate......
> Am I not entitled to like certain products?
Certainly. That's not the same thing as making the assertions you did as matters of fact, which they were clearly not.
Gibson is not, as you assert as fact, just like other makers in terms of defects. Gibson has a defect-to-price ratio that is astoundingly higher than any other manufacturer I've ever encountered, and in terms of simple defect count, is probably ahead of the race as well at any price point. I examine hundreds of guitars in some detail at local shops and I note what I find. Gibson has never gotten down production routing in their Les Paul line, as but one pretty consistent example, and there are more, less predictable, defects that turn up in nearly every guitar they produce, at any price.
> You have your world, other people have theirs, I suppose.......
See below.
> By the way, I can't seem to remember the name you used to go
> by on the FDP...
"Bongolation."
> before you were kicked off...no wait, make that plural....you
> were kicked off more than once if I recall.....
> not that being kicked off the FDP is a bad thing, mind
> you.....but you always managed to get back, didn't you?......
As it turns out, I was never kicked off the FDP. I thought I had been, but it was due to the server overload in the pre-upgrade days. Three failed logon attempts due to a jammed server in a short period would block the account and show a kicked notice. I eventually figured this out after going through some experiments. Since the upgrades there, there have been no problems like this. Virtually everyone who claims to have been "kicked off" prior to the hardware upgrades on the FDP are mistaken. According to Chris, very few people have ever really been 86ed from the board.
Sure, I've been DOBed some. Who hasn't?
> I assume you are still rabble rousing on the other (BETTER)
> Fender site as well....let's see, what name do have there......oh
> well, I'm sure it will come to me in time.......
It was (wait for it!) "Bongolation." There, that wasn't so hard.
I haven't been on that site since encountering some idiot last year who insisted that the uneven Gibson binding/purfling was a feature and not a defect and was flaming me for complaining about it on $3800 Les Pauls. Frankly, that's a level of brute, impenetrable stupidity that exhausts even my patience.
> If you have credentials to prove that you are a legitimate
> buyer/seller of fine instruments and that you actually make a
> living doing that, please accept my sincere apology.....
I haven't in many years. I was a full-time private vintage dealer in the halcion days of the '70s, before the market became so corrupted by fraud that it was no longer a place for honest people, and the profit margins were less as the "undiscovered" pieces became harder to find. There was more money to be made in other things, and it was always about the money for me. I dealt in new/used gear for a while longer before I gave it up entirely and returned to broadcasting, which I also gave up when the money wasn't right. If it's anyone's business, I'm now enjoying a very early retirement and am going back into playing as my primary activity for the first time in decades.
> Fact is, I'm just a guy who loves guitars
You know what they say, "love is blind."
That's the crux of the problem.
I don't "love" guitars. I have had intellectual and financial interests in them over the years. That's an entirely different thing. I couldn't afford to "love" guitars; I was making my living off of them selling them. I had to rate them as industrial product or investment. That's all they are to me and all they ever have been. There are guitars I own that I like very much as personal tools or as examples of production artifacts.
But, at the end of the day, they're gear. Just gear.
You want objectivity on gear, go to someone with that outlook. I guarantee that's the attitude of the producers and distributors, most of whom are hoping you as a buyer don't have the same critical faculties - and pray you "love" gear so much that they can sell you any piece of slag they can ship, purely on its mojo value. Gibson, particularly, has been dealing this way for a remarkably long time.
People who "love" guitars go into mushy raptures about purely subjective issues such as "mojo" or "tone" or "playability" that probably have no meaning to anyone but them, while remaining ignorant of the objective fact that, say, the neck's crooked, something I'd point out in the first ten seconds.
> and knows a little bit about them......
That modesty seems justified, in view of some of the things you've said.
> if that makes you bitter and twisted, oh well...
It should be noted who started the petty personal attacks.
Peace out, man - it's only gear!
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