Your Istruments.........Quality ones or..........????

[timmerman]

How much do you value playing a quality instrument?

I myself have some budget instruments along with ones I would consider as quality ones.

Really each guitar/bass has it own quality and you cannot express that in money or status or whatever. It is as simple as:"You pick up an instrument and the instrument inspires you to play, or it may leave you cold".

True it does help it you have played a lot of different instruments, so you can compare sounds, feel and vibe.

A real beginner will not necessarily notice the difference between an American Strat and a Indonesian one, but they will notice it after they may have played for about 6 months or so.....................

So what do you value yourself? What is your citerea when it comes to buying a new instrument? Is status important? Looks perhaps? ect. ect.

Eddie

 

[timmerman]

Today 5th April, ...11 years ago....Kurt Cobain "left" this planet.....

Today it is 11 years ago the man died,

Does he still count? What has he done for the image of popular music? What impact did he make on the industry? Who else is there out now who does a similar job? Can we simply forget or ignore him?

Fire away......................

Eddie

 

[timmerman]

Oooohps sorry this one is supposed to be another thread but...........

Do not know what happened, but previous post should be somewhere else eh, so .....................................

Just me being clumsy with the keyboard!!!

Eddie

 

[hixmix]

I look for a good sound, a good feel, and something I enjoy looking at. I also look for the names and models that have been around for awhile, because I plan on keeping them for the long haul. I expect them sound, play,feel and look as good, or better, twenty-thirty years, or more, from now as they do today.

 

[Echelon]

I look not only for guitars that have a good reputation today, but that had a good reputation 5 or 10 years ago as well. I'm also pretty picky about the pickups for some reason, so if I like a guitar, but not the pickups, I'll usually give it a shot and then switch out the pickups for what I like.

 

[WERNER 1]

My buddies alway dog me for my favorite guitar.......an early 80's Kramer Striker 300 St. In most peoples eyes it a middle of the road guitar, but it's got a lot of sentimental value to me, plus I've had it completely gone through.....refrett, original Floyd, Duncans, one-off pickguard, wiring....you name it. It plays great and it sounds great! Time and time again I find myself playing it rather than my Custom made Jackson Soloist or my 64' Gibson SG....go figure!

Rick

 

[tdukex]

I shop value/quality. That's why for the past 10 years I have played either a Larrivee or Webber acoustic and a Godin LG electric. The Canadians get it.

 

[Dracon]

So what do you value yourself? What is your citerea when it comes to buying a new instrument? Is status important? Looks perhaps? ect. ect.

Eddie

I have to say for me it maybe part looks, but that's not the main part.

1. How I like the sound of the instrument (not what other people rave about).
2. How it feels to me when I'm playing (Comfort).
3. Look of the instrument
4. Cost

I could care less if the instrument is made by Billy Bob or Fender.

 

[boomtap]

I find sometimes there are quality insterments fairly cheap. But most of the time you get what you pay for and if you put 2 guitars side by side 1 cheap and one that is considered top of the line, even though they both play nice the top of the line will give you cleaner suprior tone.

 

[ibanezrocks]

I can proudly say I own a quality guitar with my SG Standard, but at the same time I don't think its a huge step up from my Ibanez, and I think that the amp will make more of a difference.

 

[snipeguy]

I've got some beaters and some gems. I have had some great luck recording a cheap Made in Finland Espana. It sounds like an old small body Gibson. I got it for free. I still like my Martin D-18.

 

[mikeh]

I've got a couple of axes that are in the $1,000 range such as a Gibson SG and an American Strat (about the top price range that I'm willing to pay) and several axes that are in the $400-$500 range such as Mexi Fenders and an Epi DOT (a price that I feel I can buy reasonable quality at). I've owned a couple of axes in the $200 range (lower line Ibenex, Yamaha, etc), but eventually traded them off, simply because while I thought they were a decent value, after playing them for a while the warts started to show.

While I appreciate quality, I look at musical gear as tools to generate income. They must pay for themselves within x amount of time. Obviously, the more an axe costs, the more gigs/sessions it takes to pay for itself.

1st - I look for an instrument that plays well and feels good in my hand
2nd - I look for an instrument that appears well made, with decent electronis, etc
3rd - I look for value - am I willing to pay x amount to own that axe
4th - Lastly, I consider the appearance, if it looks nice, that's a bonus but not really a significant factor.

So - while I'm willing to pay for quality, I will only pay a working man's wage. I don't need a Farrari if a Chevy can get me the same place with only a slightly less comfortable ride (even if it's a beat up Chevy)!!

 

[Sanjanjoseph]

Today it is 11 years ago the man died,

Does he still count? What has he done for the image of popular music? What impact did he make on the industry? Who else is there out now who does a similar job? Can we simply forget or ignore him?

Fire away......................

Eddie

has it been that long??...wow

 

[kq300325]

all of my guitars except my american telecaster are budget guitars. They are great why pay hundreds of pounds just because it has a name on it like fender or Gibson etc...

I have an indie les paul copy with some seymour duncan zebra pickups and i like this as much as a gibson les paul a friend has and its was only £429. the pickuos were added later and these cost £79 each.

I also have an indie 12-string acoustic costing £229 and to me this feels as good as a fender one or a takamine.

Its all down to personal preference and style i suppose! if i try a guitar out and it inspires me to write something then i will probably get it!

 

[punkin]

I've got me the spendy ones and some of them cheap ones. Hell they all need homes...right? You can't just leave em at the store like that!

 

[Richard Monroe]

Well I guess I'm about the same as everybody else. I love great instruments, and the price is not what makes them great. My 2 best axes are a Taylor 710CE that fairly well broke the bank, and an Epiphone Les Paul Custom that some Korean built with love. I used to have an SG supreme, and I prefer that Epiphone by a large margin. There are some things that will just kill an instrument for me, especially unstable and questionable intonation. There is nothing I hate more than a guitar that's hard to tune, and won't hold that tune when you get it there. Big sticker prices, prestigious brands, and pretty wood will *not* compensate for lack of playability and lack of tone. The Epi gets no respect, but I've had to pry it out of the hands of more than one top jazzman. And the pickups in it? They came right off that SG.-Richie

 

[lpdeluxe]

I have guitars that cost me from $35 to $1800, but I don't pick one up because it's either cheap or expensive. The 3 guitars I have the longest relationship with are a Gretsch Country Gent ($425 in '82), my LP Deluxe ($750 in '97), and my Dobro ($585 -- new -- in '85). But I also have a Ventura thin archtop that sounds like nothing else, and it gets pulled out when I'm recording, and I've got a $120 bass that I just got back from long-term loan and I'm loving it again. I'm not a collector, so whatever I have has to get used or it goes.

It's the old saying: buy with your ears, not your eyes. As Mr Monroe pointed out, stability is important, as is a useable sound, but over the years I have learned to modify the ones that weren't stable (but had a sound) into something I could play, and to tweak the stable ones (that didn't quite have the sound) into killers.

 

[goldtopchas]

A quality guitar just feels right when it's in your hands(and ears!)
When I bought my LP Deluxe in 80' , I played about 6 or 7 of them at different stores before I finally found it. ($600.00 inc. tax in 1980) It just spoke to me. I'm not a total purist. It's got beefier pick-ups in it. And it's been through hell and back with me...re-fretted once, finish completly worn off the back of the neck, gold finish so badly checkered, it looks like a flametop from a distance..............but it still plays and sounds great!!!

Yes, I think it's kinda cool that my favorite guitar is an old, beat up Gibson. But if you can find this kind of love with a guitar...any guitar, your time on this planet will definitly be more enjoyable!!!

 

[timmerman]

I look for a good sound, a good feel, and something I enjoy looking at. I also look for the names and models that have been around for awhile, because I plan on keeping them for the long haul. I expect them sound, play,feel and look as good, or better, twenty-thirty years, or more, from now as they do today.

Hello Hixmix,

Makes sense to me what you are saying, instruments are like an investment, and yes we love them for what they do [making souds, being a weapon or..........a true companion so it is a bonus if they will hold their value as well.


Eddie

 

[timmerman]

I look not only for guitars that have a good reputation today, but that had a good reputation 5 or 10 years ago as well. I'm also pretty picky about the pickups for some reason, so if I like a guitar, but not the pickups, I'll usually give it a shot and then switch out the pickups for what I like.

Hello Echelon,

Yes pick-ups are important eh? This is something I did not really consider for some time. You know there are the moments when you just play an acoustic, and then you pick up an electric and think: "Heh I like the feel of this one but the sound is so so ........................

With me teaching a lot I get to play all of those cheap imitation Fenders and Gibson. Well what I see is that some imitations have good sounds, some of them sound almost as good as the real American brothers, and that is when they are being played through small amps...............so the sound is really there.

So far I have had one instrument [ a Guyatone, it is one of those cheap 60s guitars] where I have had to rewire the pickups. Now after having done that job [No no, I did not undertake this myself ] the instrument sounded so much better, more definition, clearer sound, really a nice guitar.

I will in an other post go more into detail about cheap guitar of the 60s and 70s and the cheap ones we have today, as I believe there is a difference with that issue as well.

Eddie