Where will the guitar market be in 30 years?

Musical_Mystery_Tour

JerkMoans said:

Probably on the back burner, as those of us that remain roam the shattered, irradiated streets in feral bands, searching for rats for the pot.

Yup. The zombie hordes will be attracted by the sound of tonewoods, but in a clever plot twist, this will result in a resurgence in the popularity of miming Milli Vanilli tribute bands at the Thunderdome. Meanwhile, Gibson will still be waiting in vain for that pick up patent they applied for, to be granted.

Litterick

RichAC said:

A random thought triggered by this thread:

We’re used to it, but when you think about it it’s quite remarkable that electric guitar design hasn’t really changed in 70 years or so. You can plug a brand new guitar into a decades-old amp, or vice versa, and it’ll work fine. Are there many other areas where you can buy an off-the-shelf product and interface it into a 70 year old product without any thought or problems?

That could be the guitar's weakness. Why buy a new one when an old one will work just as well? Conversely, why buy a vintage Strat when you could buy a new one for less?

The younger generations do not have the same attachment to objects as their elders. They value things less than experiences. They do not have money or space. Collecting things is a boomer hobby, likely to become a thing of the past.

Offset

Philly_Q said:

Where will the guitar market be in 30 years?  I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I won't be there to see it.

You'll only be 89 Phil - in 30 years' time you'll be considered a mere stripling.

topdog91

Litterick said:

The younger generations do not have the same attachment to objects as their elders. They value things less than experiences. They do not have money or space. Collecting things is a boomer hobby, likely to become a thing of the past.

Yebbut today's whippersnappers are tomorrow's boomers. No reason to assume that nostalgia will suddenly become a thing of the past.

trevA

. Collecting things is a boomer hobby, likely to become a thing of the past.

There seems to be something of a built in feature of human psychology that leads to "collecting" things. The boomer generation have more disposable wealth (as a group) than any other group in history so there's more boomers collecting things than other younger groups but there will be collectors of "stuff" across all generations. Guitar collections, I suspect, will become less prevalent in younger groups even when correcting the data for wealth.


https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336587786_Collecting_as_routine_human_behavior_motivations_for_identity_and_control_in_the_material_and_digital_world

Philly_Q

Offset said:

Philly_Q said:

Where will the guitar market be in 30 years?  I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I won't be there to see it.

You'll only be 89 Phil - in 30 years' time you'll be considered a mere stripling.

I know medical science is constantly progressing, but every time there's a "breakthrough in fight against cancer" headline it turns out that a course of treatment costs three trillion pounds and it's not expected to be widely available until the year 2270. 

No doubt they'll manage to keep the likes of Trump and Putin alive - even if they're reduced to brains floating in jars - but the likes of you and I will be long gone.

Philly_Q

Litterick said:

The younger generations do not have the same attachment to objects as their elders. They value things less than experiencing events and places through the lens of their phones. They do not have money or space. Collecting things is a boomer hobby, likely to become a thing of the past.

Just a slight amendment there.

topdog91

Philly_Q said:

No doubt they'll manage to keep the likes of Trump and Putin alive - even if they're reduced to brains floating in jars - but the likes of you and I will be long gone.

So just the jars then.

Offset

Philly_Q said:

No doubt they'll manage to keep the likes of Trump and Putin alive - even if they're reduced to brains floating in jars...

Provided they manage to find Trump's brain, a jar won't be required - should be comfortable swimming around in a petri dish. 

ICBM

Saw two young guitar-based bands last night… thought the choice of gear might be interesting as an indication of where the guitar market is.

Band 1 - modern rock, Muse/RATM influenced. Guitarist - Fender Boxer HH Telecaster (bright shiny red), huge pedalboard, used band 2’s Vox amp. Bassist - Ibanez Soundgear bass, Ashdown bass amp, Ampeg cab.

Band 2 - 80s anthemic pop-rock. Guitarist 1 - Epiphone Les Paul Standard, Vox AC15, probably some sort of overdrive pedal. Guitarist 2, PRS SE semi-hollow, Fender MIM (I think) Tele Custom, Marshall Origin 20 head, Marshall cab, don’t think any pedals. Bassist - Fender MIM (I think) Jazz, same bass amp.

Interestingly all three guitarists seemed to only use the bridge pickup and never touched the guitar controls. Band 2 were tighter and more polished, but band 1 were more interesting and their guitarist was fantastic. The Vox was too boxy for his sound though, he would have been better using the Marshall.

I may not have been the oldest person there, but close. If I wasn’t it was only because some of the bands’ parents were there .

Yorkie

Got an AC15 and a DSL40C and I don't think I would even try to do RATM influenced music with the AC15 having a Marshall on tap. 

57Deluxe

basic answer - absolutely flooded with second hand classics, cos our relatives will sell all our 'precious' off when we go.

MSedg

JerkMoans said:

in feral bands, searching for rats for the pot.

I’ll finally be in a band? Win!

ICBM

Yorkie said:

Got an AC15 and a DSL40C and I don't think I would even try to do RATM influenced music with the AC15 having a Marshall on tap. 

Nor me. I was a bit surprised - it made no sense from a stage layout point of view either, the Vox was on the same side as the bass amp. Maybe the Marshall owner didn’t want to lend his amp? No idea.

The things I noticed most were - band 1, bright shiny mid-market guitar, band 2, new-looking mid-market guitars, no relics. No use of the guitar controls like a lot of us old-timers think is important - and yet both bands sounded good, although band 2 could have done with a bit more sonic variety.

Both bands were largely teenagers. If this snapshot is an indication of what the guitar market will be like in thirty years time when they’re older and may be collecting guitars, I think a lot of us might find ourselves with expensive millstones.

InactiveX

ICBM said:

I was a bit surprised - it made no sense from a stage layout point of view either, the Vox was on the same side as the bass amp. Maybe the Marshall owner didn’t want to lend his amp? No idea.

https://i.postimg.cc/hv9WvqHW/marshallfight.png

CampbellH

Buy for the Experieince, Buying for any other reason is just a crap shoot.

Rob1742

It’s hard to say how the market will be in thirty years as it’s difficult to know the position of Gibson, Fender, PRS, Suhr etc at that time in the future.

I do believe though the quality of the instrument at the moment is generally of a very high standard, so if quality has dropped in thirty years time, then today’s instruments will be sought after.

Obviously not as sought after as those of the late 50’s, but I think the high quality instruments of today will remain just that, high quality instruments. 

Litterick

The future is a foreign country. They do things differently there.

Creed_Clicks

Using sustainable recyclable non wood materials hopefully 

Outatime

Things go in and out of fashion all the time, so I wouldn’t rule out entirely a strong come back of rock music and the instruments at the heart of it at some point. I just wouldn’t speculate though.