GAS buying with your eyes = buying art not an instrument

maltingsaudio

With reference to this thread, http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/2174142/#Comment_2174142 and totally without prejudice, it struck me that so often the buying of a guitar is taken on looks, spec or snake oil from a picture and description on the inter web, that the purchase would fall into the buying a piece of art as opposed to buying an instrument bracket.

I for one would buy a Didonato tommorow, finances permitting, because I think they look fantastic and therefor expect them to play like butter and sound amazing. I have no experience of wether they are as good as a Marlin or Custom shop strat. 

gringopig

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Winny_Pooh

Just look at wives and cars, we buy with our eyes most of the time. Men are foolish

stonevibe

If it looks shit you wouldn't want to strum it.

Same with guitars.

Maynehead

Well, it’s gonna be strapped infront of your body so you’re gonna buy something you like the look of right?

I mean if you’re shopping for clothes you don’t just grab anything off the shelves as long as it’s sewn together properly, just like you’re not going to buy any guitar as long as it plays well.

For me it’s got to both look good and play well (then I usually look at the price and utter an expletive).

dindude

I’d play an ugly guitar if it sounded amazing. I wouldn’t play an amazing looking guitar if it sounded shit. 

thegummy

Some people's guitar buying may stray in to the art territory but I don't think caring about the aesthetics necessarily puts it there.

With most things we buy, or at least a lot, we enjoy using things that we think look nice. Sometimes some people might be being fooled but it's also normal to want a guitar that looks nice without believing it affects anything to do with how it performs.

It might be silly for someone to just buy the guitar they think looks the nicest in the shop (or might not be if they're not fussy about other aspects) but once someone has decided on a guitar that suits the sound they want and that they like the feel of - there's almost always at least several options for looks.

I think that if anyone genuinely didn't care at all about how something looked and only how it performed then it would be a very small minority of people. To me, asking why someone would care how a guitar looks is like asking why someone would put a poster up on a wall when it won't affect how well the wall keeps the weather out and the heat in or why someone would put a GnR sticker on their maths folder when it won't affect how well it keeps their homework together.

I think anyone questioning caring about the way a guitar looks could look at their own life and surely find some examples of things they've done purely to enjoy something looking nicer. If there really are people who only wear the most plain clothes, only have plain white walls and no artwork etc. up and don't get any joy from aesthetics in life I'd feel very sad for them.

thegummy

gringopig said:

I had a chat with someone from a guitar shop once and it was pretty clear that people buy a guitar not because of how it sounds but as some magic talisman to transform them.
I always get irked when someone picks up a Jaguar and instantly turns the reverb up and starts palm muting some surf pish as if that's all those guitars can do.

I think PRS guitars are prone to be bought purely on looks and the fact that Epiphone sell guitars with paper thin attractive veneers of nice flamed maple says a lot about what sells.

You can play any type of music on any guitar but so often, stereotypes are fallen back on. A good guitar is a good guitar attractive finish or not and I'm as guilty as most of forgetting that.

This is a pet peeve of mine when it enters the world of online guitar demos. Often the demonstrators will go for cliches.

I'm sure I remember seeing a video that was something like comparing the sound of a Tele and a Strat (or something like that, I have a feeling I might even have posted on here at the time ranting about it lol) and on the Tele example they go straight to country chickin pickin then on the Strat they play some SRV on the neck or some Nile Rodgers stuff.

It's not then comparing what the actual difference the guitars themselves have, it's just showing the styles they're typically used for.

Grumpyrocker

They are just bits of wire and wood. You can make them all sound pretty much the same with a bit of tinkering. Might as well pick the one you find the prettiest. 

Sassafras

Looks are bottom of the list of priorities when I buy a guitar or any instrument, come to that.

Maynehead

Sassafras said:

Looks are bottom of the list of priorities when I buy a guitar or any instrument, come to that.

I hear Dean Razerbacks are one of the best sounding and most comfortable guitars ever made!

rlw

My thoughts on this, based on my original thread, are that I have a budget to buy a new guitar, not used.
I can buy an LP Studio which will look very conventional and sound OK or I can buy a Tokai which will look very different, maybe be better made and maybe sound better too.
If they sound the same and are of equal quality, what other factors are there to take into account other than looks?
Whatever I buy, it’s only job is to be reliable and make me happy.

stickyfiddle

I don't own a single guitar that I don't think looks brilliant. I also don't make buying decisions based solely on looks. It's a big enough market that you can usually get both. 

p90fool

I buy guitars online the same way I'd buy an electric drill online, by spec, price and reputation.

It doesn't make either of them art just because you didn't try it out first. 

octatonic

Provided a guitar isn't purposefully ugly I genuinely don't care how it looks.
I buy guitars because of how they play, or how I think I can make them play with a decent setup.

I care about neck profile and feel, fret size/radius, guitar weight/balance for the most part.
After that it is pickup configuration, whether it has a trem or not (and which trem), is it hollow or solid and then wood choices.
Very last in this is 'how it looks'.
Consequently I have quite a few guitars in colours I wouldn't ordinarily go for, or unusual designs (headless/ergo) and mostly hang on to them. 
I can only think of one guitar I sold in there last 5 years.

I only ever really bought a guitar based on looks, which was a Gibson ES-295.
It looked incredible and everyone commented on it- but it was difficult to play and onstage feedback was a continual nightmare.
Never again.

Flanging_Fred

I have a guitar incoming (hopefully today!) that I’ve bought mainly on looks. It might turn out to be a total dog but it’s an itch I needed to scratch.  Fingers crossed it will be as good as I hope it can be as it’s going to need some work done to it.

.  I’ll do a NGD when it arrives.

Sassafras

Maynehead said:

Sassafras said:

Looks are bottom of the list of priorities when I buy a guitar or any instrument, come to that.

I hear Dean Razerbacks are one of the best sounding and most comfortable guitars ever made!

That's true. I've got 3 of them I use for my Shadows tribute band. 

tone1

I tend to sound the same whatever guitar I play, so I like something with a bit of vibe in the way it looks...,Nothing too shiny and new looking, not too expensive (wasted on me), easy to play with a fretboard that’s not too wide. 

Arjailer

stickyfiddle said:

I don't own a single guitar that I don't think looks brilliant. I also don't make buying decisions based solely on looks. It's a big enough market that you can usually get both. 

^ This

Can't imagine buying a guitar that I didn't like the look of - so much ugly old-fashioned stuff out there that I wouldn't be seen dead with. But I've also never bought a guitar that I hadn't played first.

midlifecrisis

il admit to being shallow enough to only buy guitars i like the look off. it may be a fantastic player but i more likely wont get to have a go on it if i dont like the look of it.  having said that, if i buy something and like the look of it but i dont like the sound or playability i will get rid of it quickly.

Keefy

The looks of a guitar (or bass) definitely influence whether I will pick it up and try it, but once it is in my hands, a great playing/sounding instrument has won me over despite its looks.