You Deserve a Nice Guitar.

[Rowan]

I own about 8 electric guitars... Surprisingly enough.. the I use on a regular basis and have gigged with the most is the cheapest of the lot.

This is what I fear. My buddy has two guitars:

1. A parts-o-caster

2. A $1500 fender strat

The parts-o-caster blows the fender out of the water. He never plays the Fender.


I have two mid level guitars that sound great and have stood the test of time, tone and gigs. But I can't help but wonder about an American PRS or a fancy tele

[Lazarus1140]

+1. Excellent!

Having listened to many players over the years, from beginners to pros, I think I can say with without fear of contradiction, that there are those that do not deserve a nice guitar. Let me assure you, there are some terrible guitar owners out there, with no musical feel whatsoever, no sense of timing or rhythm. Never had it, never will. Notes to them are like alphabet soup. They approach the strings with the hands of a blacksmith pounding out horse shoes. Total hacks, even after playing for years. The sounds they produce range from annoying to migraine-inducing. And yet some of them do have expensive guitars, solely because they can afford them, but in no way do they 'deserve' them. It's one thing to be a 'casual player', it's another to be completely unable to grasp any musical concepts.

To bring an end to the suffering they inflict upon innocent members of society, these tone-deaf, stumble-fingered individuals should set their egos aside and donate their musical equipment to less-fortunate children, who actually may learn how to play them (unlike the donars).

I understand your point and completely agree with the spirit of what you're saying. On a more practical level, though, many (not all) people deserve anything they can afford.

[Iron Horse]

You're absolutely right, sosomething. The gigging guys are really the ones that don't need expensive instruments, that is if we're talking about regular pub bands. OTOH, if you play at the local jazz club it's probably safe enough to take that Gibson ES-175 with you and the tone is more important in that situation.
Playing a nice guitar motivates you entirely differently, and you shouldn't think that you get a nice guitar when you play well but you should get one immediately in order to let it inspire your playing.

[RushOfBlood]

I understand your point and completely agree with the spirit of what you're saying. On a more practical level, though, many (not all) people deserve anything they can afford.

That's a very Texan thing to say

[Lazarus1140]

That's a very Texan thing to say

The honor of being very Texan is mine.

When I played tennis I bought the best racquet I could afford. I hoped in vain that it would help me be a better player. I was a terrible player and never really even mastered basic ground strokes. Undoubtedly, better players on adjacent courts were continuously offended by my balls.

[Jessie Sammler]

Adam, you are a wise man.

[El CHupacabra]

Not with the way I play...

[ImmortalSix]

To everyone: don't confuse "nice" and "expensive."

"Nice" is blind.

To Adam: thank you.

I returned my 1996 American Standard Strat to bone-ass-stock tonight, and it felt like a living thing.

I know a lot of my guitar mods have been cool, and some great, but gawd-damn, they )my friends at F-word) really knew how to put together a player's guitar, stock as your mom's minivan. On cloud 9 / super second honeymoon.

[JOLLY]

You're damn right I do!!

[sosomething]

Loving how so many of my peoples out there are getting it today.

Hunter is right, too - Nice doesn't have to equal Expensive.

It rarely equals cheapest-of-the-cheap - just a fact - good materials cost money - but it DOESN'T have to equal Expensive.

You could gig, record, write songs on, and proudly enjoy any numbers of guitars that sell for under a grand, AND

GET THIS YALL

You WONT have to replace the tuners, bridge, pickups, pots, switches, caps, jack, nut, and deal with a plastic finish applied via bucket.

You can't jump on Allparts and order a new finish.

Guitar Fetish doesn't sell inexpensive Chinese-made replacement finishes.

Cheap junk costs more.

Depending on your taste, you can get a real guitar for between $500 - $1500 and not look like a first-year newjack.

Get yourself a nice guitar.

[ImmortalSix]

Loving how so many of my peoples out there are getting it today.

Hunter is right, too - Nice doesn't have to equal Expensive.

It rarely equals cheapest-of-the-cheap - just a fact - good materials cost money - but it DOESN'T have to equal Expensive.

You could gig, record, write songs on, and proudly enjoy any numbers of guitars that sell for under a grand, AND

GET THIS YALL

You WONT have to replace the tuners, bridge, pickups, pots, switches, caps, jack, nut, and deal with a plastic finish applied via bucket.

You can't jump on Allparts and order a new finish.

Guitar Fetish doesn't sell inexpensive Chinese-made replacement finishes.

Cheap junk costs more.

Depending on your taste, you can get a real guitar for between $500 - $1500 and not look like a first-year newjack.

Get yourself a nice guitar.

Hell yeah, man.

[Jeff5]

I have a $1500 Hamer Monaco Elite, $350 Epi LP, $200 MiK squire strat, and a recently purchased $700 Charvel San Dimas. None of my other guitars even come close to my Hamer. The San Dimas is a lot of fun to play, and the Epi and Squire are pretty cool too. But the Hamer just feels so....right. To be honest I only bought the San Dimas because I wanted a guitar with a Floyd and they discounted it by $400. Otherwise my next guitar would have been a Jackson Soloist MAH 2H, or something of similar quality. I realize not everyone can afford a guitar like that, and that's okay. If you can't ,find the best deal possible. If you can though, my advice is to dish out the money and get the best quality guitar that you can. It's definitely worth it.

The hard part about all of this is it's very qualitative and impossible to quantify. Alot is just feel and preference. Still, I can immediately tell the difference between a well made (not necessarily expensive) guitar and one that isn't really up to snuff.

[korovamilkdud]

Somebody grab me a strat. I deserve one.

[arellanon]

You do.

I'm not talking about a custom shop whatever that costs thousands of dollars... those kinds of guitars are great and cool and worth it to a lot of people, but the world is FULL of nice guitars that are in the reasonable $700 - $1500 range (new AND used).

If you play for even just a couple of hours a week, you deserve a nice pro-quality instrument made of good wood with good hardware and good electronics.

You might think "I'm not a very good player. I'd feel silly using a nice guitar. A little last-page bargain beater is good enough for me."

You're wrong!

If you can afford to buy that bargain cheapo right now, you can also afford to hold your money and save a little for a few weeks or months and get something that you won't be embarrassed by or held back by or let down by later.

You will not regret it.

No one has ever regretted it.

You don't have to be Jimmy Page or Brad Paisley or Alex Skolnick to deserve a nice guitar. You don't have to be in a gigging band or write your own songs to deserve a nice guitar. You don't have to be making six figures either.

Young guys own nice guitars.
Guys with families own nice guitars.
Casual players own nice guitars.
You can too, and if you don't - you should!

Owning, holding, playing, heck even LOOKING at a nice guitar is a really fulfilling experience for ANY player. Don't short yourself of that just because you think you're a hack or you have a couple bills burning a hole in your pocket. It doesn't take much more to get a NICE GUITAR.

AND YOU DESERVE IT!

I totally agree and I will surely follow your advice my friend.

[super rad stuff]

two of the best guitars i've ever seen, heard, or played, i own-my mockingbird(which came with tonepros and grovers, and now has duncans btw), and my SG faded. they were only about $500 each including upgrades and cases. now if i only had a stratosumthin' with some 'buckers and a nice trem

[Gingrel]

I know I deserve one... That's why there is a guitar under construction in the Warmoth factory at this very moment with my name written all over it...

[Northwinds]

Most of you know that I only play e/2 Explorer's now, I have 3 and I see more on the horizon. I went to Guitar Center last night to check out an Explorer they have and tried some budget guitars, man, they all felt like garbage compared to my e/2's. Try as I could, I could not bond with anything I tried though with a black/white Epi Michael Schenker V they had there almost made me spend $299. It felt almost like the '67 reissue V's I have had but needed a set of pups and that Epi truss rod cover eliminated LOL. The neck felt a lot bigger though. I am still debating going and picking it up, it was one of the limited edition ones. It was stamped 1010/3000 or something like that. It was also stamped "2nd"

So, will I go back and buy it? Not likely but there is always that temptation. I have not owned an import guitar in a longtime now. Maybe I should just save the money and buy another $2k e/2 and know I will be totally happy

Time will tell, I sorta dug that V, reminded me of my original Custom Shop Gibson Schenker V back in the early 80s

[Hoss]

Loving how so many of my peoples out there are getting it today.

Hunter is right, too - Nice doesn't have to equal Expensive.

It rarely equals cheapest-of-the-cheap - just a fact - good materials cost money - but it DOESN'T have to equal Expensive.

You could gig, record, write songs on, and proudly enjoy any numbers of guitars that sell for under a grand, AND

GET THIS YALL

You WONT have to replace the tuners, bridge, pickups, pots, switches, caps, jack, nut, and deal with a plastic finish applied via bucket.

You can't jump on Allparts and order a new finish.

Guitar Fetish doesn't sell inexpensive Chinese-made replacement finishes.

Cheap junk costs more.

Depending on your taste, you can get a real guitar for between $500 - $1500 and not look like a first-year newjack.

Get yourself a nice guitar.

YEAH Baby...LET'S DO THIS THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!