Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

vintageguitarprice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 78 posts

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#61

Post by chiefalchemist »

internetman55 wrote: post #51
chiefalchemist wrote: post #32

Music tastes run in cycles. If vinyl can make a comeback so might guitars. That said, anecdotally, kids today don't do adversity; they want instant gratification. Learning to play guitar takes time, lots of it. In the current climate a comeback seems pretty unlikely.

Kind of disagree. Kids are still learning the piano, violin, etc. In my view learning how to play pop songs on your guitar is sort of an instant gratification approach to music. These days a lot of folks just use rapping or electronic production in that niche.

Yes. Agree. Some are. But certainly the "is there an app for that?" generation has to be effected by that mindset.

Or maybe I just need new friends? Maybe their kids will be different? :)

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#62

Post by bherms »

synthmeat wrote: post #45
exabrial wrote: post #27

Did you know you can buy a $350 "Gibson Les Paul" that says "made in the USA" on AliExpress? The guitar in question is CNC cut and then hand assembled. I may speak from experience when I say the item is very high quality and is a pretty danged good guitar. The point here being that it's an industry what are the American players have not modernized their manufacturing process... We live in an amazing age where you can…

Link? [1] gives me no results for that price range and search keywords. [1] https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?minPrice=300&maxPrice=4...

Didn't see any marketing themselves as Gibsons, but here's a "Gretsch" White Falcon in that range: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-selling-white-Gretsch-fa...

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#63

Post by albutr »

There's a surprising amount of cork-sniffing that goes on in the guitar world, and I think that plays a role in slowing down the decline of the guitar market.

Just try searching for advice on what guitar to buy, and you'll be inundated with people claiming that tiny little differences (e.g. rosewood vs maple fretboards or lacquer vs poly finishes on an electric) have huge effects on the overall sounds, which is clearly not true. The idea that there's always something better to buy drives some people to keep purchasing. I'm sure there's some degree of this with other instruments, but guitar seems to be particularly bad.

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#64

Post by kunimu »

microcolonel wrote: post #60
iamcasen wrote: post #10

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…

> and skeptic of capitalism Well, I'll bet you bought at least one of those guitars, didn't you? Welcome to the capital market. If guitar makers can't sell guitars, and do something else instead, then that's no less capitalistic.

It is entirely possible to be a skeptic of capitalism, its application and its effects while engaging in a market in which capitalists provide goods and services. It is also possible to do so and sell your own labour-power (which is what workers do). To say that one's skepticism or criticism is invalid because of participation is equivalent to saying that the feudal serf may not complain about his position: after all, his pick and clothes were provided by his lord. He ought to be grateful!

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#65

Post by alexanderstears »

tobr wrote: post #59
alexanderstears wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think capitalism has a good answer to this problem. Let me put on my capitalist apologist hat. It used to be the case that people bought light bulbs regularly. When I grew up, my parents had a cache of incandescent light bulbs - then they started buying fluorescent lights and we replaced bulbs much less often. Now, they're starting to buy LED lights and I don' think an LED has ever 'burned out' on them. The…

Aren't incandescent light bulbs pretty much the poster child of the problems with capitalism's expectations of infinite growth? It is possible to create incandescent light bulbs with extremely long life time, but it doesn't make much economic sense, so no one does.

Choose your own adventure on whether this is a good or bad thing.

I'd defend the light industry as an example of creative destruction, candles and lanterns gave way to incandescent, florescent, and L.E.D.

I have no doubt that someone nerfed their incandescent bulbs to make more money, but that probably made it easier for people to buy alternatives so good riddence.

It's akin to oil - the oil producers had their day in the sun when it was $100 barrel but because it was $100/barrel, people started to talk about how to use less oil or extract hydrocarbons more cheaply.

Now we have electric cars and fracking. Sure, capitalism is the reason OPEC got greedy, but capitalism is the reason we explored alternatives.

If it's an ideology, capitalism is best practiced as 'understanding the questions' than 'knowing the answers'. The questions capitalists should ask are 1) how do I add value? 2) How do I capture enough value to invest in adding more value?

If they think the answer to their questions is "make enough money that it doesn't matter" they're going to walk the same road to hell that Enron, Worldcom, and Saudi Arabia find themselves on.

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#66

Post by pygy_ »

albutr wrote: post #56
wishinghand wrote: post #17

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?

Not GP, but I also have a guitar tuned in fifths.

A high `B` string wouldn't last 10 minutes... I've seen schemes that have a G there, I went for two CGDAAE, which is not too hard a change from the usual guitar tuning (though I ultimately dedicated a guitar to that tuning, as did the GP).

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#67

Post by [deleted] »

albutr wrote: post #63

There's a surprising amount of cork-sniffing that goes on in the guitar world, and I think that plays a role in slowing down the decline of the guitar market. Just try searching for advice on what guitar to buy, and you'll be inundated with people claiming that tiny little differences (e.g. rosewood vs maple fretboards or lacquer vs poly finishes on an electric) have huge effects on the overall sounds, which is clear…

[deleted]

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#68

Post by civilian »

npgatech wrote: post #22
erichmond wrote: post #6

Electronic samples are the new guitars.

That is ridiculous. Electronic music production is a completely separate market.

To some extent, everything competes in markets. I could spend $500 on a guitar, or on a clunky car. Which one should I get? Well, it kind of depends on my needs.

Both Electronic music production and guitars exist in the "music production and playing" market. It makes sense that they'd compete.

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#69

Post by bherms »

cr0sh wrote: post #54
bherms wrote: post #16

As a lifetime guitar player and owner of way too many, I think what I've seen (and keep in mind this is only anecdotal) is that boutique guitar makers are making a big comeback while traditional mass producers are seeing less interest. If I'm going to spend $2500-7500 on a top of the line guitar (that is often an art piece as well) I'd rather work with a craft builder and get something unique to my specs versus a mas…

I can't speak to Gibson, but I know that if you have enough money, you can certainly get Fender to work with you on a custom spec guitar.

Yeah all of the builders have custom shops, but usually when I see "custom shop" come from big companies like Gibson, it's basically "modified les paul" with cooler wood and different pickups.

Re: Is The Guitar Market Really Dying?

#70

Post by bherms »

cr0sh wrote: post #58
bherms wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly... I think my generation specifically (Gen Y) is 1) starting to come into having disposable income (hitting our 30's mostly), 2) skeptical of traditional marketing, big corporations (to some extent), etc, 3) learning to value craftsmen/women and quality goods over brand names. It's an interesting shift to watch.

I know you can't trust me because I'm just another stranger on the internet, but I worked for Fender briefly in their marketing department a few years back (as a web developer). I can unequivocally say that they still care about valuing craftsmanship of their products. It may not be to the level of an individual craftsperson constructing a one-off instrument, but it is there. At least, that's what I perceived while I…

I definitely believe you. Both Gibson and Fender are awesome companies and do make great instruments with amazing quality control. They're as American as apple pie as well... I have zero hate for either brand, but personally for my money, if I'm spending big, I'd go for something really unique.. For example, I'd really love a Jersey Girl or a Robert de la Garza:

http://jerseygirlhg.com/composition/branches/spot/images/02....

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2b245d_55366c7247ed436480...

Those will set you back roughly $6000 each though :(

http://jerseygirlhg.com/composition

Post reply on HN