Instrument Brands: A Brief Rant

[The Lurker]

There really weren't many and to the extent there were, they were considered "country." /yuck! Neil Young is the only one I can remember playing one and of course that wasn't a bass. By the time I'm thinking about Gretsch, Vox, Hagstrom, Hofner, etc. had all sort of faded into the past by and large. My first bass was a Framus acoustic/electric and oh how I wish I had it now. But back then, it was an embarrassment. My band sort of had an "intervention" and insisted I get a proper bass. Enter the Gibson Ripper and they were still sort of pissed I didn't get a Fender.

That's what a lot of guys from that generation have told me.... sometime around 1970, interest in anything other than Gibson and Fender just dropped like a rock. Then there was a great desert, until Hamer, the non-lawsuit Ibanezes, etc. started popping up.

 

[Raymeous]

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.

BINGO! I'm one of those Carvin geeks for this very reason. rolleyes: another one of those guys)

I started off with a old POS Squier II (anyone else old enough to remember these?), went to a Squier P-Special, then to a Ibanez 506, and finally when I got to a point in my life where I could afford to get a really nice bass, I got a nice bass, not a hyped up decal logo. I picked up a Carvin LB76 with dual MM style HB's and a quilt top. (I will post pics soon)

Don't get me wrong, I like Fender's I just have a hard time dropping $1,500 on an off the shelf bass or guitar thats really only worth maybe $800 in terms of materials, features, and build quality. Especially when for $1,500 I can get something made the way I want it.

Of course there is that side of me that misses a P-bass Special...

 

[gm2_in_co]

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.

Nah, you just haven't been taken in by the cult of collectibility yet.

 

[caeman]

I am often told that I just don't get "it".