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Instrument Brands: A Brief Rant

#21
tycobb73 said:
This is happening in Memphis? This dude needs to get out and explore his own town.
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I hope you mean him and not me. :hmm: There are a good amount of people playing other basses. Not too long ago I saw a cool four piece instrumental group with a great six-string player, but he was facing the wings the whole time so I couldn't get a good look at his bass. I just find Fender to be an overwhelming majority.

There are too many comments to quote one, but I would agree that it's not fair to expect a non-bassist to know bass brands. In hindsight I feel like a bit of a prat for expecting otherwise.
 
#22
What a materialistic society we live in. If it ain't Gibson or Fender it ain't a guitar???

I hang with a lot of folks like that. If it ain't made in the USA it ain't a motorcyle. Prejudging other people is what we do. I try to out do others with off brand stuff. Easier said than done.

There must be a moral to the story. I know, if people want to be wrong "let em".
 
#26
You said yourself he's a lead singer. I think you're expecting a bit much of him. You're very lucky if one is even the least bit useful, comes to rehearsals and doesn't waste everyone's time. It's completely unrealistic to expect one to actually know anything about instruments or music in general, or even possess the ability to form a complete sentence.
 
#27
PostApocalypso said:
Now I feel like a turd for owning a Jazz Bass and a Les Paul.

But at least it's a baritone Les Paul, so I'm always playing the wrong notes :p
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Lol, I have nothing against Les Pauls, I quite like them, actually. My guitarist's main instrument is one. I have guitars, too, and they're all at least loosely based on Gibson designs (Epiphone SG, SX flying V and a Quest explorer copy).

That said, there are a lot of great guitars out there that aren't Gibsons or Fenders. None of my basses are Gibsons or Fenders. One's a Ric, another's an Ibanez 4001 copy, and another's a hideously modded Peavey.
 
#28
Atticus said:
he asked me "Which kind of bass is best?" I told him it depended on the tone you wanted, the budget range you have, and many other factors, and he said "I know Gibson is best for guitar..."
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I have a dear friend who has an annoying habit of asking questions like this all the time:

"Who's the best bass player ever?"

"Who's the best drummer ever?"

"What's your favorite record?"

The idea of trying to narrow these things down to just one answer is laughable.

Ask your singer which kind of hair gel is best.
 
#34
fu22ba55 said:
I have a dear friend who has an annoying habit of asking questions like this all the time:

"Who's the best bass player ever?"

"Who's the best drummer ever?"

"What's your favorite record?"

The idea of trying to narrow these things down to just one answer is laughable.

Ask your singer which kind of hair gel is best.
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But... but... those are easy!

Stanley Clarke

Buddy Rich

OTOH, "your favorite record" is clearly subjective and depends on who you ask...
 
#35
James Judson said:
What a materialistic society we live in. If it ain't Gibson or Fender it ain't a guitar???
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I used to work for this young officer that basically shoved it my face that the Fender Strat he owned was better than my Peavey Predator, or that his Mac Top (as he called it) was better than my laptop, and so forth. Even when I politely told him I didn't care, it was in one ear and out the other. I would ask him how his axe sounded and he would blather on and on about his Fender.

Yeah, ignorance. Or status symbol. Sickening. Play what your comfortable with, ignore the dumb people, and shut their mouths with your skill.
 
#36
Basses, guitars and microphones are three good examples of devices that have different voices and different sound reproduction capabilities.

To those who know them, the differences are important.

To those who don't know anything about them, the differences are invisible.

redzebra6 said:
I used to work for this young officer that basically shoved it my face that the Fender Strat he owned was better than my Peavey Predator, or that his Mac Top (as he called it) was better than my laptop, and so forth. Even when I politely told him I didn't care, it was in one ear and out the other. I would ask him how his axe sounded and he would blather on and on about his Fender.
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There are always those who insist "mine is bigger than yours", even when it's not. Be kind to them in their determined ignorance and have as little to do with them as possible.
 
#37
Similar to this, I get annoyed with people that that absolutely insist that for a guitar to be better, if has to cost more. While money can certainly buy you a level of high quality, it is certainly not a GIVEN that it does.

All I have to say is that Fender and Gibson's marketing department have worked, they have people believing in their guitar prices.
 
#39
caeman said:
Similar to this, I get annoyed with people that absolutely insist that for a guitar to be better, if has to cost more. While money can certainly buy you a level of high quality, it is certainly not a GIVEN that it does.
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So true. I personally choose to not spend too much money on equipment as a matter of principle. I only spent $300 on my main axe, and it plays and sounds just as good as most basses that cost 4 times as much. To further illustrate that point, my guitarist plays a guitar that he bought for $30 (not a typo) at a pawn shop that he now plays exclusively after realizing that it sounds better than than his Les Paul. Price does not equal quality.
 
#40
I think I may have angered the guitar gods today. I dared to suggest that a friend strip the old burst finish off some ratty looking strat body that he is then attaching all new neck, pups, tuners, etc. He said something about 'it would ruin the value'. I called it a slab of wood with an old paint job, and questioned the use of all new materials preserving anything resembling "value".

If God is a guitar player, I am in trouble.

:)
 

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