Article about the death of the electric guitar

PorkPieGuy · #1 07-07-2017, 08:01 AM

Hey Mods, if this has been posted somewhere else on the forum, feel free to delete this thread.

This is a really well-written article. I found it really objective without a "get off my lawn" type of vibe.

Enjoy it if you've not read it yet:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=.83c7e5ca1ce3

muscmp · #2 07-07-2017, 03:50 PM

this was my post after the initial WP article had been around and around and....

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=474817

play music!

Picker24 · #3 01-06-2018, 01:15 AM

Interesting article in the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=.511b27e2302f

Sadly, this article isn’t opinion- the bottom has been falling out of the 6 string electric guitar market. Comments?

1neeto · #4 01-06-2018, 04:26 AM

I think this is a repost from earlier this year. Still an interesting read.

KevWind · #5 01-06-2018, 08:15 AM

As -muscmp- pointed out discussed previously in the Electric forum in June

Nothing has really changed the headline is prototypical "click bait". Take some stats that show a decline in sales and predictable adjustments , and predict doomsday demise. As prototypical the body of the article clearly does not support the headline

Apparently evn Gruhn himself the Nashville Dealer quoted in the W.Post. said he was surprised by the article.

After the article was published, Gruhn told a Nashville TV station that he was surprised by the Post’s take. New and used guitars are both available in abundance, which wasn't the case a couple of decades ago, he said.
“I would say that the guitar market is under stress from oversaturation. But by no means is the market for the guitar simply dying,” he said.

Bikewer · #6 01-06-2018, 08:23 AM

Music is cyclical. I recall the horror expressed by many guitar players during the disco era... Complaints that studio guys couldn’t get work and all that.

imwjl · #7 01-06-2018, 08:35 AM

Kind of whatever.... For one grandmother it was the mandolin. For my dad's generation it was being in a big band and he did gig with his clarinet and saxophone when I was young. What did I do in the 1970s when my grandmother's mandolin was available and I had my trumpet? I sold the trumpet for a guitar.

My only mistake was believing the hype and buying the Ovation instead of the D-18 and D-28 I looked at the same time.

Some of the growth was from hype and speculation. Guitars as props for fashion, and let's not forget that brief time BestBuy stores became music stores.

There's still a jazz band in my kids' school. Some still play guitar.

LouieAtienza · #8 01-06-2018, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bikewer

Music is cyclical. I recall the horror expressed by many guitar players during the disco era... Complaints that studio guys couldn’t get work and all that.

I believe when "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League came out in '81 and became a Billboard #1 in UK (first one I believe featuring absolutely no "real" guitar or bass), there was an uproar by the studio musicians, being the entire song was recorded with only synths.

AX17609 · #9 01-07-2018, 09:36 AM

Everybody knows the banjo is the instrument of the future.

tbeltrans · #10 01-07-2018, 03:13 PM

I am more concerned about the impact falling popularity of electric guitars will have on the Spandex market.

Tony

Tico · #11 01-07-2018, 03:15 PM

Who wants my Gibsons, Les Paul and ES-335?
I'm throwing them away because of what I read in a newspaper.

Darn it.
Yesterday they sounded so good and I really enjoyed playing them.

What was I thinking?

The Growler · #12 01-07-2018, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AX17609

Everybody knows the banjo is the instrument of the future.

I thought it was the accordion!

Should I switch?

muscmp · #13 01-07-2018, 04:00 PM

i'm going with the tuba--big and bold!

play music!

KevWind · #14 01-07-2018, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tico

Who wants my Gibsons, Les Paul and ES-335?
I'm throwing them away because of what I read in a newspaper.

Darn it.
Yesterday they sounded so good and I really enjoyed playing them.

What was I thinking?

Never fear I will volunteer to rise ocasion and take those failed instruments off your hands, and not even charge a disposal fee .... no need to clutter the landfill P. S. I can haul amps away also

Tico · #15 01-07-2018, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevWind

Never fear I will volunteer to rise ocasion and take those failed instruments off your hands, and not even charge a disposal fee .... no need to clutter the landfill P. S. I can haul amps away also

Oh, KevWind, you are so kind.
Sorry, but the only amps I have is a 2016 Fender Reverb RI 65 black face, and a Tone King Imperial Mk II.

You're so kind to the environment, how can I ever thank you?