i owned a shovel, sorry charvel 3dr back in the day..reverse headstock super strat thing...i also had a black sparkle finish Peavey Vandenburg..now that was a flouncy guitar....decent rock axe though to be fair..some of the 80's jap stuff was pretty good for the rock market, Ibanez RG5 series, ESP's and such like..also Kramers and jacksons from the period can be had for decent money..when 80's hair metal comes back i think prices for these almost vintage guitars will rise.
So you're the guy that bought a Vendenberg I always remeber the one gathering dust in the music shop near me. An acquired taste for sure. Then again JEMs were just as gimicky but sold by the shedload. I bloody bought one anyway. The orignal RG 550 series was a great guitar if you like that kind of shred axe (which I did at the time). Had a Kramer but never got on with it, always felt the necks and bridges were set too far away from the body on those. Always wanted a Jackson Soloist but could never afford one. Got a soft spot for all those hair metal superstrats from my yoof.
Hearing a million notes a second on a heavily distorted metal guitar isn't my thing, no matter how talented they are.
ive never heard the name Kerry king inspire a response with the word talented in it.. the trouble is with a lot of these superstrats (and believe me, ive owned my fair share) is that they are like most things japanese....soulless and boring, but get the job done very efficiently....but still soulless and boring...for me, even though ive loved some of the guitars from my past, i never connected with them as much as i have with certain strats...personally, i hate new guitars..too sterile, and irrespective of brand, finding an outstanding guitar is very difficult...i used to teach in a music shop for years and saw the wheel reinvented as nauseum, and also saw the shite that was delivered every Monday...Out of 50 Fenders (real Fenders) and Gibsons, only one or two were reasonable, and about 1 in 200 were outstanding..the inconsistency was incredible..a Les Paul came in once with a nail, yes, a nail embedded in the neck heel!! (bearing in mind, LP's are delivered to the shops inside a case which is inside an international shipping carton...utter shite. the Ibanez guitars were usually spot on, requiring setups only for personal preference..they all felt exactly the same, which is the rub..there were no outstanding ones...they were very much a tool to get the job done, nothing more....unless you want to pay more for a glitzy Hollywood paint job (which was never an Ibanez strong suit), or celebrity endorsed pickups that were indistinguishable from stock V1's etc (which were made by DiMarzio anyway)... Push the trem bar down on an Ibanez and see the headstock flex!! everyone ive ever seen has at least one paint crack at the neck heel due to movement....but, they never go out of tune when properly set up... As for 'signature' guitars...yuk...im not a follower or clone, and there is nothing sadder than seeing a guy at the local pub in a tribute band playing a white Ibanez Jem..it says everything about the guy, and to me at least, seems wannabee... I remember I was with Shaun Baxter once (world renowned player) playing an students Ibanez through a shitty practice amp...he was unbelievable as usual...after a minute he handed it back to the guy, looking bored, and said disparagingly, 'it plays itself doesnt it?', then he did the same stuff on his strat and it sounded amazing....no need for all the gimmicky electronics and floyd rose trem...doing away with all those distractions makes one work on....notes.
Well, for me a guitar is just a tool for getting the job done, you want it to facilitate your playing and you want it to sound a certain way. But sometimes I want a guitar to struggle with and give some resistance back too. It just depends on the mood, the artistic outcome, blah di blah. Guitars are the means not the end is my point. As for quality, it's like anything else that's mass produced. There are good ones out there amongst the dross, you just have to find them - but I don't beleive in mistique. I'd say MusicMan are some of the best production guitars of recent times. Very consistent, high-quality, play great and have a vibe about them. Always wanted a Suhr but people do say they are a bit bland. I bought a Rasmus as I said, but it was faulty and the 'fixed' one came back worse. These guitars are Plecked, but I wasn't that impressed with the fretwork. My big bugbear is the a massive amoiunt of BS talked about gear especially 'vintage' guitars. 80's Japanese guitars did seem to have a higher hit rate at one point IMO but there's plenty of dross too. The jap STR1 Les Pauls are a good example. Great, solid workhorse guitars for not much money (I bought two 2nd hand for what I sold my MusicMan for) and they are the first Les Pauls I can actually play comfortably. I looked at some new Gibson's at a shop recently and they were utter crap. Shocking. A real 70s LP I owned was also a dog. I don't like bling but the early PRS CE I had was very, very good. Wish I never sold it. As for signatures - yeah, I did that once when I was younger, never again. Effects and whammy bars etc don't really matter if you have them or not. Overused they are are a bore. But so is a lot of 'tasteful' playing I hear on YT from dull old guys with ££££ vintage whatevercasters. I'd rather watch phill X.
yeah, the trouble with a lot of boutique guitars is that they are almost pieces of furniture...ive never really got on with Suhrs personally. a guitar IS an instrument, rather like a tradesman will have his favourite saw, but unlike them, a musician is creating art. Therefore, it is an even more intimate relationship..literally an extension of your hands...more like a chisel in the hands of a wood carver.. There is certainly a lot of BS talked about vintage guitars..in fact, guitar gear in general..that said though, true vintage guitars that have aged and been played and played have a wonderful feel and sound to them...the pickups are warmer (aging of the magnets) and most were virtually hand made, rather like old Ducatis...because of all the above, many are real dogs, and also a large number are fakes...However, a good vintage guitar is like the best of the very best on offer today.. Ive played many vintage guitars over the years and owned a couple (its my intention to buy another one in the next few years), and have to say that they are very special...ive also played others that have warped or corkscrewed necks, or sound wonderful through an amp but dont cut it for recording.. Forgetting the hype, the best guitars ive ever played have been either vintage strats (pre CBS, then up to about 1969) or certain Custom Shop guitars (pre 2000 imho)..these pieces are all very individual and have different personalities..they are also an excellent investment for the right instrument. I purchased a Vince Cunnetto made strat a couple of years for £2k and was offered £4k by rare and vintage on the news kings road last month...thats not a bad return! Is it worth it? No...there are guitars that are almost as good for a lot, lot less money, but they dont feel as special...the law of diminishing returns and all that.. At the high end, the guitars dont necessarily get 'better', but they do become more and more individual and thats what youre paying for..its also what youre paying for in a vintage guitar...and, as most vintage guitars (im thinking Fender and Gibson here) were made by semi skilled labour some of them are very, hmmm average, but others are simply sublime...thats why they command such high prices (investors and collectors not withstanding)... No two pre CBS have exactly the same neck or body contours as they were all hand finished..hardly any machinery was used in the factory when Fender was on Pomona Street...just basic cutting tools, thats why one may feel unsuitable to you and the neck is perfect...the contouring on these early guitars was very pronounced, something they ignored as they became mass produced (look at 70s/80s strats compared to 50s/60s... i think the 70s was a particular low point for Fender and Gibson..ive literally never played a good one..i know that at Fender, they werent fussy about the woods they purchased either..so many weigh like boat anchors..horrible...a lot of the early (50s and 60s) guitars have highly figured necks and they are all one piece bodies with ultra thin nitro finishes...others have been painted over at the factory for custom colour orders (fiesta red over sunburst being the most common)..cheap, cheap, cheap....but these are highly prized by collectors as they are an endorsement of authenticity. The early custom shop guitars went back to using the very best woods available...check out any Cunetto strat or early Custom SHop guitar, and almost all have very highly figured birds eye or flame necks and are almost entirely hand made, right down to hand wound pickups (now known as 'scatter wound) and one of the trademarks of the vintage guitar sound vs modern machine wound pickups... Im boring myself now, so i'll sign off....i need to get to Platform 4 because i need to collect some more train numbers to complete my set. My favorite guitars are the ones that fight back a bit and require concentration..ironically, my fave guitars are also the least forgiving
