a fool and his money are soon parted

I put a couple of Suhr FLs in my Pro Series 3 to replace the v60LPs that came with it, and also put the noise cancelling BPSSC system in it. It was a spendy upgrade, but I like it a LOT, esp. the BPSSC. The single coils in that guitar are now quieter than the 'bucker.

Also, I make about as much as I spend per year from music, so I don't really worry about it.
 
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It kills me what they're payin' for Melody Makers, LP jr.'s, Mustangs and Duosonics (the reissues) - all student level guitars in their day. And don't get me started on relics.
 
I just happened to play a Strat that was identical to mine except it had Kinmans in..and it sounded way better to me, more like the Strat sound "in my head"..so I had to get some..and I've never regretted it. I wasn't even that bothered by the hum on the stock pickups..but the Kinmans just sound like I want a Strat to sound :shrug:

To test that I wasn't imagining it and just enjoying the humbucker quality..I tried various stacked sets from Duncan, Dimarzio and also Fender Custom Shop '54 and '69 single coil sets...and a set of Texas Specials.

The stacks from Duncan and Dimarzio sounded horribly dull and sterile to me. The '54 and '69 sets were really good..but I genuinely prefered the punch and harmonic response of the Kinmans.
 
It kills me what they're payin' for Melody Makers, LP jr.'s, Mustangs and Duosonics (the reissues) - all student level guitars in their day. And don't get me started on relics.

i'd argue that with the exception of the CV Duo-Sonic, none of those are student guitars.
 
They were when they were introduced.

adjusted for inflation, those guitars would cost far more than they do now.

IMO, student pricing are instruments in the $150 to $350 range. anything below that is certain garbage, and above that is intermediate.
 
I'm 61. When I was 14, the local music store was a Gibson dealer. All the guitars were in glass showcases along the right-hand wall ordered by price.
If you walked in and said "I want to buy my kid a guitar." they sold you a Melody Maker.


At the Fender dealer, they'd sell you a Mustang for your kid -Jaguars and Jazzmasters were considerably more expensive than Strats.

Cheaper alternatives were Sears, Montgomery Ward, and Teisco.
 
I'm 61. When I was 14, the local music store was a Gibson dealer. All the guitars were in glass showcases along the right-hand wall ordered by price.
If you walked in and said "I want to buy my kid a guitar." they sold you a Melody Maker.


At the Fender dealer, they'd sell you a Mustang for your kid -Jaguars and Jazzmasters were considerably more expensive than Strats.

Cheaper alternatives were Sears, Montgomery Ward, and Teisco.

those guitars simply have more nostalgia now. guitarists have fetishized them and raised their value. there are also infinitely more choices out there. you want the names Fender and Gibson, and you pay for it. it's that simple.
 
If people want to drop cash on their gear I don't see why other players would be annoyed by that. You can't take it with you and if knowing you are playing a nice guitar or a guitar that your guitar hero plays makes you happy and more inclined to play it's a win/win... no skin off my back. /shrug
 
The Fender Mustang was the "Bullet Strat" of it's era. It was the cheapest POS that carried the Fender logo at the time and aside from looking really cool, was a horrible guitar. I learned this the hard way when I traded away an awesome Music Man amp for a mint '64 Mustang about 24 years ago. :mad:

It looks fantastic but plays like shit and is impossible to keep in tune. No amount of tweaking and tinkering can tame it's inability to maintain tuning either. It's just plain shitty.

On the bright side, the stock single coils in that thing flat out smoke! With an EBOW, I can get insane tone out of that lil' bastige.
 
in your neck of the woods, that means TGP forumites.

:embarrassed:

I put a couple of Suhr FLs in my Pro Series 3 to replace the v60LPs that came with it, and also put the noise cancelling BPSSC system in it. It was a spendy upgrade, but I like it a LOT, esp. the BPSSC. The single coils in that guitar are now quieter than the 'bucker.

Also, I make about as much as I spend per year from music, so I don't really worry about it.

I love the v60lps in my Suhr...they are in the guitar in the vids I posted from Saturday night. What is the difference with the FL's?
 
If people want to drop cash on their gear I don't see why other players would be annoyed by that. You can't take it with you and if knowing you are playing a nice guitar or a guitar that your guitar hero plays makes you happy and more inclined to play it's a win/win... no skin off my back. /shrug

I guess there is an air of "buying ability" that is both false and incredibly annoying to me since I'm both in the business of playing and teaching.

The reality is that you are right and it is the buyers money to do with what they wish....and like I mentioned above it is guys that who keep the companies I like in business for the most part.

I still want to puke when I read that thread, though.

The Fender Mustang was the "Bullet Strat" of it's era. It was the cheapest POS that carried the Fender logo at the time and aside from looking really cool, was a horrible guitar. I learned this the hard way when I traded away an awesome Music Man amp for a mint '64 Mustang about 24 years ago. :mad:

It looks fantastic but plays like shit and is impossible to keep in tune. No amount of tweaking and tinkering can tame it's inability to maintain tuning either. It's just plain shitty.

On the bright side, the stock single coils in that thing flat out smoke! With an EBOW, I can get insane tone out of that lil' bastige.

Actually the Fender guitar that I thought was the biggest POS when I was a kid and is still regarded that way but is actually MASSIVE sounding are the Fender Lead guitars. there is a student of mine (Ramones Blues here on the forum) who has one and while it isn't the easiest guitar to play it is a perfect blues/roots rock/rockabilly machine.
 
I just happened to play a Strat that was identical to mine except it had Kinmans in..and it sounded way better to me, more like the Strat sound "in my head"..so I had to get some..and I've never regretted it. I wasn't even that bothered by the hum on the stock pickups..but the Kinmans just sound like I want a Strat to sound :shrug:

To test that I wasn't imagining it and just enjoying the humbucker quality..I tried various stacked sets from Duncan, Dimarzio and also Fender Custom Shop '54 and '69 single coil sets...and a set of Texas Specials.

The stacks from Duncan and Dimarzio sounded horribly dull and sterile to me. The '54 and '69 sets were really good..but I genuinely prefered the punch and harmonic response of the Kinmans.

My simple view on pickup changes is that it is overrated: no pickup change can give you a paradise. But yes, some sounds better, otherwize we would never had an aftermarket business. I changed the bridge pickup in my Howard Roberts: the stock was a 490T. Not bad; with a lot of distorsion it sounded like a dream for emo-rockers. But I wanted the bridge pickup to cover almost Satriani-like fusion, so I changed it to a Dimarzio Air Norton, slightly fatter but still a open sound for fusion solos. Kinmans? Maybe I will check those out some day. It´s fun too, and not extremely expensive.

I also changed the stock Red Lace in the bridge of my HM Strat Ultra to a Dimarzio Breed. That was a great move. :)
 
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The Fender dealer in D.C. was Chuck Levin, who had a store on H Street, N.E.
This was a "Black" shopping district and takin' the bus down there (for 14 yr. old suburban whiteboys) was somewhat daring. I don't think I ever saw a Telecaster there. They were "country". The first time I remember seein' one was in Winchester, Va.
 
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