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Post subject: Price isn't everything
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:56 pm
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I have taken 4 different guitars with me since I started jamming again.
Partially to find a tone that works, but mostly to hear each guitar because I never get amp time at home.
First couple of jams I took my Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster.
Next couple I took my MIA Strat.
Next was my MIA Tele with the Lil' 59 pickup in the the bridge.
Last was my Squier Tele custom II with Duncan Designed P90s.
These were all used with the same amp, pedals and settings.
Out of all of these guitars, do you know which one the guys said had the best tone?
The least expensive, Tele Custom II.
Now I know its a subjective thing, but its kinda weird out of all of those, it was that one that sounded best.

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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:59 pm
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The sad fact is that most people who go and watch bands wouldn't know or care if you're using a Fender Bandmaster or if you plugged through a 1970s Sanyo stereo.

Guitar gear is mostly for the benefit of guitarists, no one else.

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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:17 pm
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GilgaFrank wrote:
The sad fact is that most people who go and watch bands wouldn't know or care if you're using a Fender Bandmaster or if you plugged through a 1970s Sanyo stereo.

Guitar gear is mostly for the benefit of guitarists, no one else.


+1


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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 11:38 pm
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Why is is sad fact?

An audience doesn't care what you sound like or use, so long as they like what you play and you don't hit any bum notes they can hear. Everything else is what the players like.


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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 12:26 am
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I don't find it surprising.

As I've said on several occasions, there's a Gem in every Rockpile !

There are some excellent Squiers out there. But there are also lots of Dogs... it's Fender's Economy Line, made to a price point lower than Fender brand guitars using lesser quality woods, hardware and electronics.

This is great because it allows so many more people to have a good guitar who can't/won't pay Fender brand prices.

Fender brand in Gen'l. starting with MIA, then MIM, MIJ, MII and MIC respectively, have a greater consistency. But you pay for that consistency and they too have their dogs.

For me, I find the premium for a Fender brand worth the quality, some don't which is OK too.

But guitars are so individual that you really can't say that all of one line is great or that all of a lesser line is do-do.

In terms of playability, tone and finish, it all comes down to the single individual instrument in the end, no matter what the headstock decal says.

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 12:58 am
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Drubbing wrote:
Why is is sad fact?

An audience doesn't care what you sound like or use, so long as they like what you play and you don't hit any bum notes they can hear. Everything else is what the players like.


Its not a sad fact. Just weird. I didn't think that would be the guitar to stand out from the rest. There is no audience. Just 4 guys, some rock n' roll, a few beers and a whole lotta fun!

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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 7:12 am
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Always my belief...the guitar isn't that important. It comes down to what the player enjoys owning. Look back to the early days of Rock and Roll and Country and Western, these guys make music that will live forever on instruments and equipment that would be considered junk today. However, we spend thousands trying to capture the sound of that old inferior equipment that had the quality control of a box of crackers. You can have a lot of fun with a $100 Danelectro or you can spend 30k on a collectable Fender that's pretty much the same thing.


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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 7:15 am
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Drubbing wrote:
Why is is sad fact?

An audience doesn't care what you sound like or use, so long as they like what you play and you don't hit any bum notes they can hear. Everything else is what the players like.

If you hit a bum note, hit it again, but louder. And two more times. Then segue into the riff again.


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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 7:46 am
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^ A true musician gentlemen :mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 9:35 pm
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I agree with you 100% Yodacaster the quality of a guitar isn't dependant on price.On the whole a $5,000 Custom Shop Strat will run rings around an Affinity Strat but it's when you get up into the moderately priced guitars where your statement holds the most water. Last year I went into my local Mom & Pop music shop and played an Epi Les Paul '60 Reissue and it dusted every Gibson Les Paul they had in the shop at that time. On my last Strat hunt I allotted myself a $3000 ceiling price for a new Strat.I must have tried out at least 10 different Strats making a conscious effort not to see the model or price on the tags after trying them all-even a beautiful Aerodyne model,I kept coming back to an Olympic White M/N one,so that's the one I chose.When I looked at the tags it was a Jimmie Vaughn Model and at around $800-$900 it was the least expensive of the lot.The Tex-Mex pickups gave her a real "L" Series Strat vibe,which is my favourite Strat era.

Years ago I used to go camping just about every weekend during the summer and for my summer holidays.I wanted to get a cheap guitar that I could just throw in the back of the van and be on my way.I went to the music store another musician buddy of mine owned and asked him if he had a cheap guitar that sounded decent.With that he said that he'd be back in a minute and high-tailed it up over the stairs and then came down with a cardboard guitar box and when he opened it the guitar was a parlor size Raven.He told me to start playing it,on the first strum my jaw dropped,that guitar had come in with a couple of dozen of the same model but he told me that that one didn't sound anything at all like the others and sounded like a really good quality parlor guitar.Anyway I took her home for the grand total of just under $75 taxes in.When ever I took that little gem anywhere other musicians would pick up right away on how incredible she sounded for an El Cheapo guitar.

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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 3:33 am
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"Price isn't everything"

+1

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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 6:26 am
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Guitars are like women; when they're more expensive, it doesn't necessarily mean they're better.
But you don't want to spend the rest of your life with a valley girl either.


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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:26 pm
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Instruments are like people. Even identical twin humans are different somehow from their doppelganger, even if only in personality or a little freckle or the ability to sing harmony like an Eventide Harmonizer while the other twin can't.

Instruments are no different. Whether it costs $100 or $5K the truth is if you play enough instruments, even of the exact same model, you'll find one that you connect with more than any other ever. It doesn't matter how much or how little it costs. What matters is that it does what you want it do better than any other. When it happens it is like finding that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. When you find it you'll know. My first "THE ONE" got away in a stupid stupid stupid trade in 1971. I got my second chance 9 years ago after blowing through about 30 instruments over 30 years and again this time it was an instant connection. I don't really WANT to play any other one. But you need backups, active pickups, different strings etc on some things so I do play others, I just don't enjoy it as much.

When you find that one instrument you are in tune with you'll know it. If you should get so lucky, don't do what I did with the first one. No matter how little or how much it is worth you should not sell it or trade it for any amount of money. You can buy or try others, but hang onto that special one. It can take a long long time to find another.


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Post subject: Re: Price isn't everything
Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:14 pm
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brotherdave wrote:
Whether it costs $100 or $5K the truth is if you play enough instruments, even of the exact same model, you'll find one that you connect with more than any other ever. It doesn't matter how much or how little it costs. What matters is that it does what you want it do better than any other.

I think part of the magic is that it makes you do better.
Much like a girl, she doesn't have to be picture perfect, be a wonderful cook, or always cheerful, but when you see the twinkle in her eye, you go an extra mile.

A few instruments have that - they make us do more than we otherwise would or could.


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