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Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

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71–78 of 78 posts

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#71
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad loves to tell a story about a Q&A session with Norm Abram of PBS [Edit: This Old House, New Yankee Workshop] fame, which your answer reminds me of. Why does Norm own an entire drawer full of routers? Well, he used to ask himself the same question. All these companies kept giving him free tools as a promotion. Especially routers. He had dozens of them. WTF do I need all these routers for? It occurred to him tha…

Took me a bit to figure out you weren't talking about a guy with dozens of network devices.

Heh, sorry about that. Putting bits in a router? What does it mean?!

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#72
I would love to buy a new guitar. I had a PRS in the 90’s and loved it. I never should have sold it.

A lot of guitars (PRS included) are now made cheaply overseas. They’re decent, but to me they’re still not good enough. I think they’re crap.

It’s a shame the industry has fallen, but the industry did this to itself. But rest assured, guitar rock will eventually make a comeback. Music trends in waves.

Will the guitar industry be ready when it does?

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#73
at Bandhub (http://bandhub.com) we try to solve a fundamental problem most recreational musicians have... we give them a community of like-minded people who care about their music, and the tools to make music together online. Musicians who get engaged in Bandhub obtain meaningful social experiences. We believe this market needs to be disrupted in a similar way to what happened with online social gaming

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#74
post #24

As a life-long guitarist, and skeptic of capitalism, I have an anecdote: I own a few high-quality guitars. They have served me well for many a decade, and they are still in perfect condition. Why buy any more guitars? Perhaps the total number of guitars in circulation is enough? Businesses seem to think that there should be infinite growth forever, but that seems ridiculous to me. I don't think capitalism has a good…

The high end guitars are usually pretty boring, but it's really nice to have one or two. I'd rather have a decent variety, but one or two of those can by a high quality guitar. My favorite guitar is still my 60s Norma (Teisco) with gold foil pickups. Other favorites include 80s Korean Squier with new pickups, 60s Yamaha acoustic, 60s 1444 Silvertone/Danelectro bass. A lot of the new Fender/Squier guitars are really i…

Be sure you like finished fretboards before buying a new Rickenbacker. There are unfinished fretboard models--some 620's and some walnut ones--but they are the exception.

I love my 360/6, but all the other guitars you list have unfinished fretboards.

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#75
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal answer to "how many guitars do you need?" is basically one for each tuning that I use regularly. Unless it's simply changing one string from E to D, re-tuning a whole guitar is a pain in the ass and just being able to swap guitars is a lot nicer. I have one for standard tuning, one tuned like a cello, and one in open D-minor. I do admit if you're playing a bass guitar this rule isn't as applicable.

Hey, I also have one of my guitars tuned in fifth ~like a cello From low to high CGDAAe, with custom gauge strings to match the neck tension. One A is wound, the other is full... How did you tune yours exactly?

CGDAEE. I like the ringing unison of the highest E. I also have a piecemeal set of strings for tensions as well, starting with what I think is a .062 for the low C, and a .010 for the high Es.

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#76
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal answer to "how many guitars do you need?" is basically one for each tuning that I use regularly. Unless it's simply changing one string from E to D, re-tuning a whole guitar is a pain in the ass and just being able to swap guitars is a lot nicer. I have one for standard tuning, one tuned like a cello, and one in open D-minor. I do admit if you're playing a bass guitar this rule isn't as applicable.

How do you do the cello tuning? Assuming you're not using a tenor guitar, it's CGDA on the lowest four, then do you just keep going up in 5ths to EB for the last two strings or do something else?

I go for double high E strings. CGDAEE. The ringing unison is pleasurable to me and my hands are large enough to finger minor and major thirds easily.

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#77
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal answer to "how many guitars do you need?" is basically one for each tuning that I use regularly. Unless it's simply changing one string from E to D, re-tuning a whole guitar is a pain in the ass and just being able to swap guitars is a lot nicer. I have one for standard tuning, one tuned like a cello, and one in open D-minor. I do admit if you're playing a bass guitar this rule isn't as applicable.

My dad loves to tell a story about a Q&A session with Norm Abram of PBS [Edit: This Old House, New Yankee Workshop] fame, which your answer reminds me of. Why does Norm own an entire drawer full of routers? Well, he used to ask himself the same question. All these companies kept giving him free tools as a promotion. Especially routers. He had dozens of them. WTF do I need all these routers for? It occurred to him tha…

He must have a huge shop to just have dozens of routers lying around.

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#78
Maybe guitar makers are not innovating? Other stringed instruments have basically remained the same for centuries, but electric guitars were born out of modifications to standard guitars. Hendrix was a guitar hacker. Most of the electric guitars on the market today are no different than those sold 30 years ago. There are a few new ideas (midi accessories, built in effects, the Moog guitar, more than 6 strings, Steinberger's, cryogenically treated strings, better tremolo's, guitar synths) but few people are into hacking guitars any more. Your mom and dad may play electric guitar, it isn't radical or rebellious. And few are trying to invent new styles of playing either. So the sound and use of guitars has remained fairly static for a long time (except for Fred Frith!). Perhaps this explains the recent interest in Eurorack synthesizers? A return to creating fundamentally new sounds by tinkering with the basic elements of sound.

It's kind of like the smartphone market, the manufacturers have tried all the easy improvements (bigger screens, faster CPU's, better GPU's, thin bodies) but haven't tried the more difficult things (unusual sensors, regional peer-2-peer communication, serious FDA approved medical sensing/apps, light based communication, UWB links into IoT networks, etc.) Though AI chips may result in some significant new ideas. Maybe deep learning AI chips for guitars would rev the market? You teach your guitar some notes/chords and then it can generate different arrangements/timings/bends for you that actually sound interesting? Maybe not since deep learning can only mimic what it learns.

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