Which guitar disappointed you the most?

[Long Jon]

Boy Howdy ! Gibson are sure gettin a lot of free publicity here.


Any publicity is good publicity, right ?

[Backcountry]

Kevin Michael carbon fiber guitar. I got it for a week on the guitar road trips that MacNichol used to do.

Pulled it out of the box and played it...bleh.

Cleaned it up and put new strings on it and played it...bleh.

My Blackbird SuperOM and steel string Rider put it to shame.

I can't believe they ask $2400 for it.

[merlin666]

Originally Posted by Guitars+gems

Not to hijack the thread, but...

Wow, a lot of these disappointing guitars are being described as duds and were then sold off. I'm wondering what was said about the guitars in the for sale ads...

What do you expect? Anyway, what's a dud for one person can be a treasure for another. People have different tastes.

[Tone Monster]

I had a standard Martin 2002 D 28 that did nothing for me at all!

[Mr. Jelly]

Originally Posted by Tiga1

Product reviews have become an industry unto themselves.

It's not often (or ever) to see a product review that states the guitar is crap and way over priced. They just don't do them. If they did they wouldn't get guitars to review.

[jpd]

2009 Gibson Blues King. Did not buy it "sight unseen"! After the honeymoon wore off I found it to be limited in its tone. I owned a Gibson L-130 with the same tone woods,(Sitka-Bubinga), but found the Blues King to be far from its equal in sound.
The BK was a quality build and fit my hands very well...just didn't end up bonding with my ears.

[RussL30]

I have also noticed the standard D28 mentioned a lot. I've only played some 60s and 70s D28's and the modern HD28. I've liked most examples that I've played. Never played the modern standard (pre new 2017) D28. Are they that bad or do straight braces take a while to break in?

[tonyo]

Mine was a Taylor 416ce with tassie blackwood back and sides. It didn't have volume / projection I was looking for. I mainly play fingerstyle without nails or picks. Sold it to a friend who plays hard with a pick and it's worked out well for him. Taught me an important lesson to be fussier when I buy a guitar.

[Plai]

Originally Posted by Jambi

I believe this is literally the first specifically bad story I've heard about a Yammy FG.

No story, but I've never been enamored with the Yahama FG sound. My first steel string was a FG300: ok payability, subpar sound. Even today after several more interesting guitars in my stable, I'll retry a Yamaha and still put it down quickly. That said, I've come across a few good sounding (non-FG) Yamahas, but they just not much better than the competition, even for the price.

As for biggest disappointment, discovering my small stature doesn't work well with dreadnaughts. I've a 1971 D28 that sounds good, and I don't want to part with, but month after month of trying just makes me further realize I never really be comfortable with it.

I grateful to have an excellent OM. It just feels right.

[Pitar]

A 1-off 1973 Martin D35 I bought new. The neck warped because Martin (knowingly) used greenwood in their necks for a couple years running. Adjustable truss rods were not yet being used by Martin back then. Big story, small ending: I gave it away after a couple warranty visits to Martin and bought a better guitar (Guild F-412 with 2 adjustable truss rods).

[beninma]

I'M not even sure what guitar I'd put on the list. It was pretty disappointing that I bought the Alvarez I got rid of recently without checking the electronics over carefully. Turned out they were broken and it took a long time to get them fixed once I figured out what was going on.

I am curious how many people who say they ordered something sight unseen and then returned it over playability would have considered doing a setup instead of sending it back?

[Brick is Red]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

It's not often (or ever) to see a product review that states the guitar is crap and way over priced. They just don't do them. If they did they wouldn't get guitars to review.

There's not enough time to review everything. With this in mind, why dedicate time or space to a crappy guitar that's overpriced? Perhaps more to the point, what we're calling reviews, at least on YouTube are product demonstrations with a brief overview and a rundown of specs. The print media will identify difficiencies in tone, fit, finish, or if the price is steep for its price point.

Retail music stores are generally in a contractual relationship with the builders they carry and cannot say anything expressly negative about their instructs and brand.

When some independent YouTube channels have expressed opinions regarding a company and its products, death threats follow. Consider what went on with that Canadian repair guy that doesn't care fir Taylor guitars. Internet fanboys wanted his head on a stake.

There are many reasons why we won't get sharply critical content that honestly showcases crappy overpriced guitars for what they are.

[Skip Ellis]

Every Taylor I've ever played or owned. I've tried very hard to like them as they are very comfortable to play but I just don't care for the tone regardless of the wood type. It seems to me (and I may be wrong) that many of the newer manufacturers seem to be voicing their instruments higher than the Martin, Gibson, Mossman, etc. instruments that I grew up with. Collings is another example - they are beautifully constructed instruments but I would never buy one just because of the tone (at least the ones I've heard on recordings). Santa Cruz sounds pretty good to me but are totally out of my price range as are Martins that I've owned mostly for 50+ years. I've pretty much settled on Larrivee as being affordable and somewhere in between Taylor and Martin, tonewise.

[Goodallboy]

Every Goodall I ever bought unplayed......

[MrDB]

I've had 2 00 size guitars, one Recording King and one Gibson, and detested them both. Good thing I sold them or I would have given them away.

But hey, sound and tone is subjective, no?