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A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

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Re: A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

#31

Post by Supernaut »

atoav wrote: post #14

As a guitar player (20+ years) and a audio engineer/electrical engineer/dsp programmer one thing that really keeps baffling me about the field of guitar playing is how much myths about what affects the sound in which way exists. With people trying to get the sounds of their stars by buying products that were made in the 60s and somehow assuming the wild quality fluctuations and effects of the recording chain during t…

> you can get extremely good (studio quality) sounds with a 200 Euro guitar and a 250 Euro amplifier

Yes, exactly. Does a guitar that costs €1200 sound and (equally importantly) feel even better? Yes, in my opinion - but with modern instruments, diminishing returns do set in quite quickly.

I noted this comment from the guy in the article: "All the guitars they made after [1964] were junk.” Utter nonsense. I can't stand that kind of boomer gatekeeping.

Re: A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

#32

Post by ckemere »

The Met is a serious place. Apparently they developed a laser-based accelerated aging system so that they could measure (and subsequently monitor) how the finishes on these guitars change due to exposure. Also crazy environmental control in the context of millions of people visiting, with the goal of having the instruments preserved for posterity.

The curators are an unusual mix of artist, scientist and engineer. They all have PhDs, and apparently there’s a concept of tenure.

Re: A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

#33

Post by dboreham »

atoav wrote: post #14

As a guitar player (20+ years) and a audio engineer/electrical engineer/dsp programmer one thing that really keeps baffling me about the field of guitar playing is how much myths about what affects the sound in which way exists. With people trying to get the sounds of their stars by buying products that were made in the 60s and somehow assuming the wild quality fluctuations and effects of the recording chain during t…

Similar history and similar peeve here. It's much the same as many other fields though -- the people who think loudspeaker cable is directional, and so on.

There is some hope -- if you look for interviews with Billy Gibbons' "tech" guy he talks about how they ran his favorite guitar (Pearly Gates) through a SA while playing an open G cord. Then for every other guitar he plays live they program an EQ spectrum to bring it to the same spectrum as that baseline guitar. So they all sound the same (because it's only EQ that differs between pickups not 1960s magic smoke).

Re: A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

#34

Post by criddell »

Supernaut wrote: post #31
atoav wrote: post #14

As a guitar player (20+ years) and a audio engineer/electrical engineer/dsp programmer one thing that really keeps baffling me about the field of guitar playing is how much myths about what affects the sound in which way exists. With people trying to get the sounds of their stars by buying products that were made in the 60s and somehow assuming the wild quality fluctuations and effects of the recording chain during t…

> you can get extremely good (studio quality) sounds with a 200 Euro guitar and a 250 Euro amplifier Yes, exactly. Does a guitar that costs €1200 sound and (equally importantly) feel even better? Yes, in my opinion - but with modern instruments, diminishing returns do set in quite quickly. I noted this comment from the guy in the article: "All the guitars they made after [1964] were junk.” Utter nonsense. I can't sta…

Justin Sandercoe (Justin Guitar on YouTube) did a series[1] where he bought the cheapest electric guitar on Amazon (£60 I think) and then had a guitar tech friend of his do a complete setup. Many times through the series both Justin and the tech remarked at how good the £60 guitar is.

The problem with buying an inexpensive guitar is mostly psychological. Do you really want to pay for a $200 setup on a $100 guitar? People don't and so they end up learning on a guitar that could be so much better for a small investment.

Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine fame is well known for doing amazing things with budget tools[2].

[1]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0SHE_xooyU

[2]:https://www.instagram.com/p/CN3h__xjFTJ/

Re: A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

#35

Post by TomMasz »

As a guitar player, it's nice to see at least some of these guitars get played. I'm old enough to remember when old Les Pauls, Strats, and archtops were cheap. Had I known then what they would eventually have been worth, I would have begged my parents for the money to buy a couple of them. Oh, well.

Re: A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

#38

Post by lenerdenator »

TomMasz wrote: post #35

As a guitar player, it's nice to see at least some of these guitars get played. I'm old enough to remember when old Les Pauls, Strats, and archtops were cheap. Had I known then what they would eventually have been worth, I would have begged my parents for the money to buy a couple of them. Oh, well.

I'm going long on offsets.

Re: A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

#39

Post by jhpacker »

Supernaut wrote: post #31
atoav wrote: post #14

As a guitar player (20+ years) and a audio engineer/electrical engineer/dsp programmer one thing that really keeps baffling me about the field of guitar playing is how much myths about what affects the sound in which way exists. With people trying to get the sounds of their stars by buying products that were made in the 60s and somehow assuming the wild quality fluctuations and effects of the recording chain during t…

> you can get extremely good (studio quality) sounds with a 200 Euro guitar and a 250 Euro amplifier Yes, exactly. Does a guitar that costs €1200 sound and (equally importantly) feel even better? Yes, in my opinion - but with modern instruments, diminishing returns do set in quite quickly. I noted this comment from the guy in the article: "All the guitars they made after [1964] were junk.” Utter nonsense. I can't sta…

I agree with your take. I've definitely owned and played some excellent sub-$1000 guitars, but at the lower price points things it can be frustrating to deal with things like low-quality tuners, improperly shielded components, etc. I'd say 90% is about pickups, strings, and frets. Most of the 60s guitars I've played were not great tbh.

Re: A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met

#40

Post by cpursley »

criddell wrote: post #34
Supernaut wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you can get extremely good (studio quality) sounds with a 200 Euro guitar and a 250 Euro amplifier Yes, exactly. Does a guitar that costs €1200 sound and (equally importantly) feel even better? Yes, in my opinion - but with modern instruments, diminishing returns do set in quite quickly. I noted this comment from the guy in the article: "All the guitars they made after [1964] were junk.” Utter nonsense. I can't sta…

Justin Sandercoe (Justin Guitar on YouTube) did a series[1] where he bought the cheapest electric guitar on Amazon (£60 I think) and then had a guitar tech friend of his do a complete setup. Many times through the series both Justin and the tech remarked at how good the £60 guitar is. The problem with buying an inexpensive guitar is mostly psychological. Do you really want to pay for a $200 setup on a $100 guitar? Pe…

Toms amps were anything but budget. Electric guitar tone is 75% a good tube amp with rest being pickups and intonation.
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