What Is The Guitar Industry’s Obsession With The Past?

Sassafras · November 2018

Progress doesn't always equate to better.
Some of the best sounding guitars I've played have been 50s and 60s designs.

Fretwired · November 2018

AlexC said:

Like a lot of you - I’m taking a wild guess here! - I spend quite a lot of time online looking at gear I can’t afford. And I’ve realised that well over half of guitars and related equipment take a huge delight in telling us that they are just like something from the 60s/70s. Or use valves. Or are a classic design. Or use pick ups that were designed in 1959. Etc, etc.
Pedals give you that ‘classic sound’ just like 1972 or the 80s.
You too can recreate the vibe and tones of 1975 with this vast array of thousands of quids worth of gear...
WTF?
Is this a marketing thing aimed at the middle aged because they’re the ones with (supposedly) a disposable income, or is it a form of laziness on the maker’s behalf?
If everything is retro then I cannot really see how guitar playing can progress. No wonder teens are saying “screw that” and finding other ways to make music.
Next up - the harpsichord revival.

Take a Strat ... great design, works well, sounds great, is affordable and is easy to maintain. Why change it?

The same could be said of violins ... perhaps the basic design of the guitar and the violin works. Yes there will be some quirky designs but there are about 6 or 7 classic electric guitar designs .. everything else is just a variation.

Most guitar bands will hanker after the tones of yesteryear unless you're a metal player. There's a real retro-vibe with many of the new bands I see so I don't think it's all about selling guitars to middle aged farts.

And more women than ever are picking up guitar (The Times) and Fender is seeing a sales boom, with girls favouring the Tele and Strat.

guitarfishbay · November 2018

They’re not an acoustic instrument... they’re part of a chain of things that makes up ‘tone’.

Most of the other gear will have been dialled in referencing classic guitars, ie what was available.

Guitar speakers are very coloured for starters - not flat at all.

I think theres probably a limit to how far you can stray from a ‘normal’ sounding guitar before it doesn’t work with the rest of the signal chain.

impmann · November 2018

ICBM said:

impmann said:

Tbh, one of the most incredible instruments I’ve ever played was a Parker Fly - so even string to string, so much sustain, great tone, superb ergonomics

You must be a totally different shape from me .

And have very different ears.

Probably. After all you like Boss Chorus and Rickenbackers... No accounting for taste. ;-)

Then again, if we all liked the same things...

AlexC · November 2018

impmann said:

ICBM said:

impmann said:

Tbh, one of the most incredible instruments I’ve ever played was a Parker Fly - so even string to string, so much sustain, great tone, superb ergonomics

You must be a totally different shape from me .

And have very different ears.

Probably.

Then again, if we all liked the same things...

...They’d sell out very quickly.

meltedbuzzbox · November 2018

ICBM said:

. A good example is the Parker Fly - on paper the feature set looked like it should be excellent. In practice, it was hideously ugly, needlessly uncomfortable, sounded awful and had some serious durability (frets) and upgradability (pickups) problems.

Have you really played one?

I like the looks which is down to opinion but the rest.
They weigh 4lb, they are perfectly balanced on a strap.
The comfort thing is only an issue if you slouch when you sit down with one.

Sound wise they are great. The most balanced output I've ever heard and none of the mid hump you usually get from a humbucker.

The fret thing isn't as common as you make it. There are loads of members on the Parker forum that are still on their original frets.

The pickups can be swapped as well. It's not as difficult as you are making out.

Most of your points are sounding like opinion being passed off as fact

Bridgehouse · November 2018

meltedbuzzbox said:

ICBM said:

. A good example is the Parker Fly - on paper the feature set looked like it should be excellent. In practice, it was hideously ugly, needlessly uncomfortable, sounded awful and had some serious durability (frets) and upgradability (pickups) problems.

Have you really played one?

I like the looks which is down to opinion but the rest.
They weigh 4lb, they are perfectly balanced on a strap.
The comfort thing is only an issue if you slouch when you sit down with one.

Sound wise they are great. The most balanced output I've ever heard and none of the mid hump you usually get from a humbucker.

The fret thing isn't as common as you make it. There are loads of members on the Parker forum that are still on their original frets.

The pickups can be swapped as well. It's not as difficult as you are making out.

Most of your points are sounding like opinion being passed off as fact

You missed the obvious retort

"A Ric 4001/3 is:

Ugly with it's odd combo of waves and curves
Needlessly uncomfortable with it's non-bevelled stick-in-your-ribs binding
Sound pretty awful
Have durability issues (on the bridge especially and that lacquered fretboard.. sheesh!)
Are a pain in the butt to upgrade the pickups"

You'll know now for next time

ICBM · November 2018

meltedbuzzbox said:

Have you really played one?

Yes, several, although only two of the original model I think.

meltedbuzzbox said:

The comfort thing is only an issue if you slouch when you sit down with one.

Not for me it wasn't. That point of the 'hook' has a nasty tendency to catch in the notch of my sternum - that might be due to my height or the particular way I hold it, but nevertheless it is *not* a good ergonomic design if it does that to anyone - it could so easily have been avoided by having a smooth curve there - like almost every other guitar.

You should see a woman try to play one...

meltedbuzzbox said:

Sound wise they are great. The most balanced output I've ever heard and none of the mid hump you usually get from a humbucker.

I really disliked the sound, and found it very middy in a bad way.

meltedbuzzbox said:

The fret thing isn't as common as you make it. There are loads of members on the Parker forum that are still on their original frets.

Probably. I'm sure there are people with original Marshall DSLs that have never failed too

.

meltedbuzzbox said:

The pickups can be swapped as well. It's not as difficult as you are making out.

But it's more difficult than it needs to be.

meltedbuzzbox said:

Most of your points are sounding like opinion being passed off as fact.

Just like everything anybody likes or dislikes about any instrument really... apart from the headstock design, which *does* make it impossible to put on a normal hanger.

The point I was making isn't so much about one guitar design anyway - it's that a lot of it was needlessly different for the sake of it, and that doesn't make it a good innovation, it makes it a bad one. That's why so many players stick with what they know - because they don't want two steps forward and five back.

Bridgehouse said:

You missed the obvious retort

"A Ric 4001/3 is:

Ugly with it's odd combo of waves and curves
Needlessly uncomfortable with it's non-bevelled stick-in-your-ribs binding
Sound pretty awful
Have durability issues (on the bridge especially and that lacquered fretboard.. sheesh!)
Are a pain in the butt to upgrade the pickups"

You'll know now for next time

All true of course

.

Bridgehouse · November 2018

@ICBM - it took every bit of self control I have in me not to reply to each of your points above with a *cough* Ric 4001 *cough* answer..

I hope you appreciate the gargantuan level of self control

Sassafras · November 2018

If it ain't broke, don't fix it - is my philosophy.

Wolfetone · November 2018

I don't think that it's the industry being lazy. They just go where the money is.

NelsonP · November 2018

I don't get the point of this thread. There have been some massive changes over the years.

For example:

Past

Image: https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--5SRstu1q--/a_exif,c_limit,e_unsharp_mask:80,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_south,h_620,q_90,w_620/v1494418575/wyyjmsy4yawaszz5pje4.jpg

Present

Image: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTpZNg86snvRPSKWxNY3mPaPrQSrm8vasJKEq_v1JtKjrfj1SGo5g

Bridgehouse · November 2018

NelsonP said:

I don't get the point of this thread. There have been some massive changes over the years.

For example:

Past

Present

That’s this thread done then.

Bridgehouse · November 2018

@ICBM - on an on-topic, but also slightly off-topic note - I wondered if you’d seen Kip Wingers Spector Bass:

Somthing raaaaaather familiar about that shape.. but yet also rather different too

As it happens - I really quite like it...

ICBM · November 2018

Bridgehouse said:

@ICBM - on an on-topic, but also slightly off-topic note - I wondered if you’d seen Kip Wingers Spector Bass:

Somthing raaaaaather familiar about that shape.. but yet also rather different too

The body shape is dead-on I think. Is that a recent thing? I can't imagine a certain litigious company will be very happy about it!

guitarfishbay · November 2018

Are those EMGs with a reverse P? I actually kind of like it.

Bridgehouse · November 2018

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

@ICBM - on an on-topic, but also slightly off-topic note - I wondered if you’d seen Kip Wingers Spector Bass:

Somthing raaaaaather familiar about that shape.. but yet also rather different too

The body shape is dead-on I think. Is that a recent thing? I can't imagine a certain litigious company will be very happy about it!

Apparently it was a one-off and it is indeed a dead on copy of the body shape (including the patented surf-wave thing).

Interestingly though it wasn’t made by Spector in the US but by their Far East distributor/manufacturer - thus neatly avoiding any over zealous lawyer waving.. I doubt it would make production though, which is a shame as it’s the nicest Ric shaped bass I’ve seen to date.

Bridgehouse · November 2018

guitarfishbay said:

Are those EMGs with a reverse P? I actually kind of like it.

Spector do use EMGs a lot, but they also use Aguilars too - wouldn’t surprise me if this was a custom wound Aguilar set for a really gritty tone

NelsonP · November 2018

Here's another
Past

...and 30 years later, present:

Image: https://www.ghmusic.com.au/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/6/0/6042669.png

To be fair the differences are harder to spot on this one.

munckee · November 2018

NelsonP said:

Here's another
Past

...and 30 years later, present:

To be fair the differences are harder to spot on this one.

The new one is a lot bigger

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What Is The Guitar Industry’s Obsession With The Past?

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