Are all guitar reviews too positive?

[Pitar]

Not so much positive as one-dimensional. A positive review from a marketer is simply dismissed as shilling and worthless. A positive review from someone with nothing to gain from it is just an opinion.

No one reads negative reviews of any product because negativity does not sell, and it's disallowed on forums such as this one as a matter of the TOS boundaries. So, negativity is banned outright, and rightly so because it isn't constructive.

Positivity, on the other hand, knows no limits and that includes the basis for them. By that I mean the person propping up a product may not have the skills necessary (privilege) to offer a positive opinion of a product to a community of players who have already seconded that product in the context of their experiences and advanced skills-developed opinions.

All that aside, a positive review of one product paints an unspoken negative review of others sampled at the time the positive opinion was formulated. Implied negativity never occurs to anyone but it looms very large anytime a positive opinion is offered.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

Lot of wisdom here:

Eastmans are beloved on this forum, and every one I have ever played sounded dead and lifeless.

I think Taylors are thin and reedy sounding, but they sell over 100,000 guitars every year.

My favorite guitars tend to be Larrivees, but other people think they are overbuilt.

One man's this is BAD, is another's "this is Perfect".

It just goes to show how meaningless anyone’s (including mine)
opinions can be.
Generalizations are just exactly that.
The Eastman comment you made is proof. I don’t doubt your experiences in the least, but how many have you played, how long ago and which models? Most of us base our opinions on very little experience and once we have a negative or positive one, we are often predisposed to go in that direction. That’s just how we are.

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by Pitar

...
No one reads negative reviews of any product because negativity does not sell, and it's disallowed on forums such as this one as a matter of the TOS boundaries. So, negativity is banned outright, and rightly so because it isn't constructive.
...
All that aside, a positive review of one product paints an unspoken negative review of others sampled at the time the positive opinion was formulated. Implied negativity never occurs to anyone but it looms very large anytime a positive opinion is offered.

Well, now.... I read negative reviews and even search them out because I find it important to "hear the other side" - there are usually two sides to any product. If it is disallowed here, I have never heard that or known it - which is certainly possible (as I found out once before, to my surprise). It seems that any place which would outright disallow a negative review does not have legitimate reviews.

And I would not agree that a positive review of any product implies that any competitors were not as good. To do that, it would need to be worded in ways that i have rarely encountered.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by BluesKing777

They are ads!

But if I am keen on for example, a J45 Legend, don’t worry, I have watched all the ‘ads’!!!

The funny thing is that in guitar forums, we call this "research".

Tony

[Joe Beamish]

Originally Posted by Pitar

Not so much positive as one-dimensional. A positive review from a marketer is simply dismissed as shilling and worthless. A positive review from someone with nothing to gain from it is just an opinion.

No one reads negative reviews of any product because negativity does not sell, and it's disallowed on forums such as this one as a matter of the TOS boundaries. So, negativity is banned outright, and rightly so because it isn't constructive.

Positivity, on the other hand, knows no limits and that includes the basis for them. By that I mean the person propping up a product may not have the skills necessary (privilege) to offer a positive opinion of a product to a community of players who have already seconded that product in the context of their experiences and advanced skills-developed opinions.

All that aside, a positive review of one product paints an unspoken negative review of others sampled at the time the positive opinion was formulated. Implied negativity never occurs to anyone but it looms very large anytime a positive opinion is offered.

Most honest criticism is considered "negative" (bad!) these days...except perhaps for movie reviews, which often don't mind saying a story is boring, inauthentic or poorly acted.

As a consumer, I value two kinds of criticism (reviews) in particular, and this would also apply to guitar reviews:

1. Where appropriate, championing the undervalued product that most people overlook

2. Where appropriate, exposing the faults of the unquestioned popular thing

[TJE"]

Originally Posted by Joe Beamish

Most honest criticism is considered "negative" (bad!) these days...except perhaps for movie reviews, which often don't mind saying a story is boring, inauthentic or poorly acted.

As a consumer, I value two kinds of criticism (reviews) in particular, and this would also apply to guitar reviews:

1. Where appropriate, championing the undervalued product that most people overlook

2. Where appropriate, exposing the faults of the unquestioned popular thing

This. But it does not seem to be followed by professional guitar reviewers on line, maybe I have not searched hard enough.

[tadol]

Makes me think of all the ravingly great reviews I’ve read about a guitar on this site, only to read the equally eloquent for sale ad just a few months later -

[donlyn]

Are all guitar review too positive?

Yes. But maybe they should be. Outside of shoddy workmanship, to include outright duds, liking a specific guitar really comes down to individual taste. However many reviews offer subtle negatives that are obvious when reading between the lines. Something called ****ing with faint praise.

Also, new and innovative products often tend to be misunderstood, and then get reviewed with a negative aura about them.

For example, when Taylor released it's Grand Orchestra (xy8) models, Acoustic Guitar magazine didn't have much good to say about them. One thing I noticed was a claim about being too 'boomy' (or something to that effect) for the 918 spruce over rosewood. Having searched for and played many spruce over rosewood Taylor Jumboes and not finding one I liked, this piqued my curiosity. So I played an 818e spruce over rosewood at a local shop and loved it; it was kind of just what I was looking for. As such it followed me home the same day. Was it boomy? Yes a bit. But the spruce over rosewood jumboes I previously played lacked a bit of punch. The 818e was shipped with Elixir medium strings, but I re-strung it with Elixir PB HD gauge (.013 - .053), and any boominess was easily tamed. I fingerpick everything using my nails, and for me this guitar is a great fingerpicking instrument.

I guess my real point is that there is no accounting for taste. Which accounts for a lot of brand name bias.

Just my 2 cents. Thanks for reading,

Don
.