Brand Hype

[YeOldRocker]

Originally Posted by Jaxon

in some ways but the fallacy there is you can adjust all you want on a super beetle and it'll never be a bmw

Yes, but that's not a particularly apt analogy. How about a Camry and a Lexus? Both high end, both comfortable, and one is about ten grand more.

Many great guitars are comfortable, with fantastic tone, and beautiful to boot. Some cost between $1K and $2K. Some cost between $4K and upwards of 10K or more. If you bought yourself one of the latter, I'm sure you'd like to believe it's worth that much more, and -- to you -- it will be. Or you'll keep telling yourself that.

[Tony Burns]

got that - I told a friend of mine just the other day
not to judge a guitar by its price but by its sound -
and my best advice is to try before you buy -
make a trip to play it , sounds like a PITA
but its a reasonable thing to do -
Play everything with strings - and dont look at the name

one of my favorite guitars cost me a couple of hundred dollars
and it came with a hard shell case -old with a few bumps
( just like me )

[Br1ck]

My buying advise, worth what you paid but has worked well for me. Have some money in the bank. Forget about it. Buy strings from a local store and play a bunch of what they have, from all brands, prices and sizes. Play some slightly out of your range. I only play used guitars, but that's my choice. You will play, over time, hundreds of very nice guitars, and maybe the large majority will be what I call just another fine guitar. One day, it's impossible to say when, you'll play something that when you look up at a clock, close to an hour has gone by. You don't want to put the guitar down. It could be a very expensive new boutique brand or a thirty year old basic J 45 or D 18, or dare I say it, a brand new Eastman. You may wonder with a burst like that why you ever picked it up in the first place. You might have picked up a forties D 28 that hadn't been put back in the glass case yet, or the most repaired 39 J 35 that was left on a stand. They will be unaffordable to you, but you will know that feeling. One day you'll connect with something you can afford, sort of. Don't sleep on it.

You can take this approach once you have a guitar you can live with. Go buy a slightly used D 18 or something, a guitar you can play if my method takes five years. Just saying....

[colins]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

My buying advise, worth what you paid but has worked well for me. Have some money in the bank. Forget about it. Buy strings from a local store and play a bunch of what they have, from all brands, prices and sizes. Play some slightly out of your range. I only play used guitars, but that's my choice. You will play, over time, hundreds of very nice guitars, and maybe the large majority will be what I call just another fine guitar. One day, it's impossible to say when, you'll play something that when you look up at a clock, close to an hour has gone by. You don't want to put the guitar down. It could be a very expensive new boutique brand or a thirty year old basic J 45 or D 18, or dare I say it, a brand new Eastman. You may wonder with a burst like that why you ever picked it up in the first place. You might have picked up a forties D 28 that hadn't been put back in the glass case yet, or the most repaired 39 J 35 that was left on a stand. They will be unaffordable to you, but you will know that feeling. One day you'll connect with something you can afford, sort of. Don't sleep on it.

You can take this approach once you have a guitar you can live with. Go buy a slightly used D 18 or something, a guitar you can play if my method takes five years. Just saying....

It is a great feeling, sitting in a good shop and comparing guitars. Well worth the effort. And the other great feeling is continually coming back to one guitar in particular and enjoying it more each time you pick it up. I had that experience with my first Martin, over several enjoyable hours at Maple Street Guitars in Atlanta, and again some years later in another store, where I ended up buying a fantastic used guitar by a maker I’d never even heard of.

[Tnfiddler]

Originally Posted by colins

It is a great feeling, sitting in a good shop and comparing guitars. Well worth the effort. And the other great feeling is continually coming back to one guitar in particular and enjoying it more each time you pick it up. I had that experience with my first Martin, over several enjoyable hours at Maple Street Guitars in Atlanta, and again some years later in another store, where I ended up buying a fantastic used guitar by a maker I’d never even heard of.

The Music Outlet in Sevierville and Carter’s Vintage in Nashville are 2 shops with an amazing selection of guitars to do that in.

[EZYPIKINS]

Originally Posted by YeOldRocker

Yes, but that's not a particularly apt analogy. How about a Camry and a Lexus? Both high end, both comfortable, and one is about ten grand more.

And both Toyota's

Ever drive the two?

I worked in an auto paint shop over 40 years. I have driven lots of cars.

When the Lexus came out. The advertising hype was not unlike the buzz created on anything their trying to sell you.

Weather it be cars, guitars, records, or what have you.

The first time I drove a Lexus, I thought, "That's a Toyota"

Then I checked the VIN sticker. Yep, Manufactured by Toyota Motors Japan.

Creating a buzz is how advertisers sell their product.

If people are told something is good, long enough. They will start to associate that brand name with good.

I can think of one such guitar brand that has bombarded the market with the claims of (insert brand name here)=great guitar.

Myself I grew up in the 60's and was trained by hearing the popular music to listen for certain things in acoustic tone.

Which is likely why I play what I play.

[YeOldRocker]

Originally Posted by EZYPIKINS

And both Toyota's

Ever drive the two?

I worked in an auto paint shop over 40 years. I have driven lots of cars.

When the Lexus came out. The advertising hype was not unlike the buzz created on anything their trying to sell you.

Weather it be cars, guitars, records, or what have you.

The first time I drove a Lexus, I thought, "That's a Toyota"

Then I checked the VIN sticker. Yep, Manufactured by Toyota Motors Japan.

Creating a buzz is how advertisers sell their product.

If people are told something is good, long enough. They will start to associate that brand name with good.

I can think of one such guitar brand that has bombarded the market with the claims of (insert brand name here)=great guitar.

Myself I grew up in the 60's and was trained by hearing the popular music to listen for certain things in acoustic tone.

Which is likely why I play what I play.

Yes, I'm aware they're both Toyotas. Kinda was my point; a MIM solid wood Martin is still a Martin. And, yes, I'd rather have a 28 series than a 10, but the 10s are very good guitars and many can't afford a 28 series. My OMPA4R, made in Nazareth in '15 and well setup, customized slightly with a good bone saddle, is not quite an OM21 or 28 series, either, but it's a fantastic guitar that - IMO - sounds better than many 21 series that I've played. I've played a number of Eastmans and Guilds made in China and have been duly impressed by both.

FWIW, I grew up in the sixties, too; that doesn't make either of us better trained to hear great tone, although we might prefer some tones over others.

Oh, BTW, I tried out many guitars of the same make and model before I bought the one I did. Unlike cars, make, model, and price only tell you so much, as guitars of every price range vary some to a lot. More expensive and handmade guitars do lean toward higher quality overall, but sometimes that's just not the case. Perhaps that was true of the OP original high-end guitar that was found so wanting.