Why aren't all wealthy musicians using custom/boutique quiars

[zmf]

Originally Posted by RalphH

It is just that really, a guitar is just a tool that does a job at that point?

That's pretty much it. Good musicians know that the equipment only gets you so far. Talent/charisma/presentation gets you the rest of the way.

[29er]

Originally Posted by beatcomber

I get the impression that many professional musicians are not gearheads.

I agree. Although I don't know any famous players, I do know a few pros who, while not famous and wealthy, they either make their living by playing live, or are retired hobby players who are very talented musicians. Almost none of them are gear heads. They know what good gear is but to them a guitar is a tool to make music.

One family example: My daughter in law is a music teacher by profession and occasionally plays bass for a well known regional singer songwriter in either his duo, trio or full electric band. When she was shopping for a new bass my son (also a guitar player and a gear geek) took her to Chicago Music Exchange and spent a day putting different instruments in her hand until she found what felt right to her (a Guild Starfire l). She could not care less about the details but my son brought her every type of electric bass they had until she found "the one" She is a talented musician who plays classical pieces on double bass, gives guitar lessons and teaches music to grade school students and she doesn't have the energy or desire to care about high end gear and I really doubt that she would even if she were wealthy. Different strokes.

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by ship of fools

Are you going to take say a Kathy Winger guitar out with you on tour when it runs say $20,000.00.

If your tour grosses $775,000,000.00 then sure, why not https://www.forbes.com/sites/markbee...h=3b128db536c2

But i guess, with a custom build guitar, it's more about the uniqueness, not the cash; you can't just make a phone call and have another identical one in your hands a day later.

[dylanheeg]

Because they are all sponsored would be my guess. Have to play xyz brand while on stage or on tv or out in public.

Also as was stated above, most touring musicians are probably not gear heads to the extent we see here on the AGF. Especially when it comes to acoustic rhythm guitars players (ie frontmen/women). Lead guitar players are a different bunch but again that’s usually an electric guitar player focused on pickups, pedals and amps - not necessarily the guitar maker.

[beninma]

Originally Posted by RalphH

If your tour grosses $775,000,000.00 then sure, why not https://www.forbes.com/sites/markbee...h=3b128db536c2

But i guess, with a custom build guitar, it's more about the uniqueness, not the cash; you can't just make a phone call and have another identical one in your hands a day later.

LOL if the tour makes that money the Ticketmaster exec buys the boutique guitar since they take most of the money and the artist gets the scraps.

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by beninma

LOL if the tour makes that money the Ticketmaster exec buys the boutique guitar since they take most of the money and the artist gets the scraps.

True, Ed himself "only" made $110 million that year. He'd only be able to afford to buy 15 Kathy Winger guitars a day. Poor guy.

Maybe he's just too busy counting his money to go guitar shopping

[jdrnd]

This is an interesting thread

[beninma]

Originally Posted by RalphH

True, Ed himself "only" made $110 million that year. He'd only be able to afford to buy 15 Kathy Winger guitars a day. Poor guy.

Maybe he's just too busy counting his money to go guitar shopping

I didn't see it was Sheeran.. if he made that much money you'd think it wouldn't be worth it to make that line of Sheeran by Lowden guitars...

If I made a $100 million I wouldn't be much interested in doing any more work the rest of my life.

I mean really though, all these companies do all their marketing to try and sell us all that our end goal if we like playing is that we have to end up "moving up" to their more and more expensive guitars.

That's great for the companies if they can convince us but no matter how much money you have there's no real requirement to buy the expensive stuff.

A lot of the expensive acoustics I've tried did very little to motivate me to buy them.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Scotso

some do...many play vintage though..particularly in bluegrass where vintage Martin is all over.

I was gonna say, Tony Rice played a Martin that's worth a cool Mil.

[H165]

wealthy musicians

ox·y·mo·ron
/ˌäksəˈmôrˌän/
Learn to pronounce
noun
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).

[Zissou Intern]

Bob Minner, Tim McGraw's guitarist, plays several Collings and other boutique and vintage guitars at home. I saw an interview with him saying that he and the band has two complete instrument and equipment stables, one on each side of the country. That way they don't have to to worry about gear getting to where it needs to be on time or damaged in transit.

[RalphH]

Originally Posted by beninma

I didn't see it was Sheeran.. if he made that much money you'd think it wouldn't be worth it to make that line of Sheeran by Lowden guitars...

I wonder if it took more effort on his part than saying "ok"? Even rich people like free money.

Originally Posted by beninma

If I made a $100 million I wouldn't be much interested in doing any more work the rest of my life.

I can 100%, absolutely, with no doubt in my mind agree with that.

Then again, my work lasts longer than 90 mins and I don't have 500 young women trying to get into my dressing room at the end of it, so maybe it's different.

[KevinH]

When I'm listening to a person or band playing I rarely think about what guitar they are playing. I might be watching how they are playing. I suspect that we AGF'ers ponder our guitar navels much more than professional musicians.

[rstaight]

I think if you are a touring rock or country musician or even if you just play the bar circuit, you are going to play nice but not real expensive instruments. You never know when some bozo can damage your instrument so you need to easily replace it.

Now,a classical concert guitarist is more likely to use that 5,000 to 20,000 dollar guitar.

[ChrisN]

For those with talent, it's likely more about making original music. For those with more modest capacities, it's likely to be more about the gear, as that's easier than trying to compensate for a (relative) lack of talent.

As one of very modest musical talent, I love the gear and know a lot about it, so I'm consistently surprised to hear guitar legends respond to questions about their gear. If they're to be believed, they have no idea of any aspect of their guitar/rig's physicality- That stuff's handled by others (and, apparently, 'twas ever thus). They don't know neck dimensions, string gauges they prefer, pickups used, amps, etc.

James Taylor's a good example. He participated in a video series about his guitars (he's probably got 12 or so) and was asked about his Olson-love origin. He said he liked the Olson because the neck was "wider" than other guitars, which was better for his fingerstyle stuff. He made the wider neck sound like magic, and we now know that his guitar was probably one of the few back then to come with a 1 3/4" neck.

But, . . . . the legends do know how to play guitar. While many legends are also also avid gearheads/collectors (eg Joe Bonamassa and John V, Clapton, Richards, etc.), I think for many of them the gear is just a tool. And, sometimes there's a factory sponsorship involved - millionaires gotta millionaire, after all.