Guitars that play way below their cost :)

[Nyghthawk]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

How can you make such a grand assumption from my statement? I research what I buy for a great length of time before making the purchase. The most expensive guitar I've ever bought took me over 2 years to save up the cash for. Of course credit is always an option, but I've never used it on a single guitar I've ever purchased.

Please explain.

Please excuse me if I made a false assumption. Generally when someone makes a comment about cost not being taken into consideration they have enough money available that cost doesn't factor into their decision. You made a very definitive statement. Price is a factor (house, car, guitar, etc.) for anyone with limited means.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by DHillshafer

Show me a guitar that plays below its cost and I'll show you a guitarist that needs to practice.

How would you suddenly be able to produce a guitarist that needed to practice just like that, so easily ...

[MHC]

Originally Posted by ewalling

How would you suddenly be able to produce a guitarist that needed to practice just like that, so easily ...

Probably MUCH easier than producing a guitarist that doesn't need to practice, which, as far as I can tell, doesn't exist.

[Neon Soul]

I think this is more of a case of how certain guitars perform with your own technique and style.

That being said, the Santa Cruz Model D did absolutely nothing for me, and my playing style, and was out performed in every way by the cheaper Martin HD-28.

[ewalling]

Originally Posted by MHC

Probably MUCH easier than producing a guitarist that doesn't need to practice, which, as far as I can tell, doesn't exist.

Aha! Subtle ...

[jkilgour2000]

Don't kill me, but i don't like to sound of the J-200.

[rwmct]

Originally Posted by Truckjohn

For me - it's most Gibson USA made Dreadnoughts made between about 1980 and 2011 or 2012...

They were fairly expensive and generally very heavily built. The word was the corporate business owners were quite concerned about warranty return and brand image over musicality.

Now... You may have a different opinion of these if you play with quite heavy strings with a very heavy hand - such as playing out live unamplified in noisy bars, church, or bluegrass jams. 10 or 15 years of this sort of play seems to loosen them up enough that they sound pretty decent with normal medium strings.

The second "underwhelming" performer to me was the Ovations with the thick plastic dipped soundboards. Generally made between about 1987 and when the plant closed the 1st time. The exception is the 1994 Custom Collectors Edition - which was well made with a nice thin finish and it really sounded nice and loud. The early ones were great. Loud and responsive. Ironically - the ones with really thick finishes generally sound a lot better when the finishes craze really bad... But the factory figured that out and made them a lot more flexible so they wouldn't crack.

3rd... 1970's Martin dreads for all the reasons everybody already knows.

Ah! An actual serious reply. Thanks. If it turns out there is a consensus on certain models or years being worse than earlier or later years, or poor models from good brands, that is highly useful to know, especially with the "on line" used market.

[ukejon]

I have a 40 year old Yamaha that cost $120 originally and now only plays like it is worth $78.24. So basically I'm experiencing about $41.76 worth of disappointment. A string change might reduce that to $34.89.......

Next mind-altering, intellectually befuddling AGF topic: Guitars that play above their cost but that (1) are in cases that perform below their costs, (2) reside in homes that used to be worth more than their cost but that now are worth less than their cost due to a declining real estate market, and (3) are played by guitarists whose talent is not worth much at all.

Note--I most certainly must be talking about someone other than me here......

[bjewell]

I cannot say which guitar in particular would not live up to expectations. But I can say from purchasing two if them that the 2003 run of Brazilian AJs by Gibson were not as toneful or as loud as I had hoped after bringing them home and playing them for a year. They sounded muffled to me.

Same went for a high-end limited-run version of a Gibson Original Jumbo from the same year. It was absolutely dead sounding although it was beautiful and had very delicate bracing. I really had hoped that one would have worked out.

This is not in any way to say all new Gibsons are bad, just those three guitars that I had purchased in Tokyo.

[harmonics101]

There is a very simple solution for this not to be a problem, and that is, get all your guitars for FREE,

H

[zmf]

Originally Posted by harmonics101

There is a very simple solution for this not to be a problem, and that is, get all your guitars for FREE,

H

Hmm..dunno. There are guitars that play worse than $0.

[DenverSteve]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

Play what you like and buy what you like- cost shouldn't be a factor. Period.

Originally Posted by Nyghthawk

You must have lots of discretionary cash. Many of us buy the best we can afford. Period.

I don't see any correlation to SV's comment and your connection to discretionary cash. I agree that price shouldn't matter. What should matter (as you said) is buy the best you can. So, if one's budget is $500 they should play as many guitar's in and below that price and select the one that they like the best. Likewise if one's budget is $2,000 the same practice should apply.

That's why it baffles me why some people have 6-10 $300 guitars instead of two great $1,500 guitars or 3 $1,000 guitars or even one $3,000 guitar. Quantity means nothing when quality doesn't attach.

[dwalton]

Originally Posted by Bobbie McMahon

False logic, specifically a Propositional fallacy.

Affirming a disjunct – concluding that one disjunct of a logical disjunction must be false because the other disjunct is true; A or B; A, therefore not B.
-wiki

Made my day.

[DenverSteve]

Originally Posted by Bobbie McMahon

False logic, specifically a Propositional fallacy. Affirming a disjunct – concluding that one disjunct of a logical disjunction must be false because the other disjunct is true; A or B; A, therefore not B. -wiki

Dang. You beat me to it. Affirming a disjunct, and before lunch. I guess we can close this one.

[buddyhu]

Originally Posted by ukejon

I have a 40 year old Yamaha that cost $120 originally and now only plays like it is worth $78.24. So basically I'm experiencing about $41.76 worth of disappointment. A string change might reduce that to $34.89.......

I had a 40 year old Yamaha FG180. Paid $110. It
Played "above its cost" for a couple of decades. Then I started feeling a similar disappointment as you have described. I pegged my disappointment factor at 23.729%...only played like an $83.89 guitar from about the mid-90's on. I sold it for $300 about 4 years ago.

What was the question?