Would You Buy A Guitar You Love From A Brand You Don’t?

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by PapaC

You mean “blew you away” as in, you’d sell every other guitar to get it, or just great for the price blew you away?

How would I handle it? If you’re being honest with yourself, and us in your first paragraph, I wouldn’t buy it. I’d go play some high end guitars from brands I do love and then see if I still felt the same way.

I was genuinely shocked at how enjoyable it was to play. It felt like it was made for my hands. Tone is way less important to me because I sound like me no matter what I play.

[L20A]

There are some guitars that I don't like the looks of.
There are a lot more guitars that I love the look of.
Too many good guitars out there to settle for something that you may regret getting.

Play more guitars and pick one that you like both looks and sound wise.

[jricc]

My initial thought was no way, if I loved the guitar, I would definitely get it.

But then you brought up headstocks . There are 2 companies that I don't like their headstocks, (neither is Seagull). So that got me thinking, if it was one of those, I might not get the guitar. It would probably be a hard decision.

[Puddleglum]

Ok, I might as well come out with it. The guitar is a Dean, which is a lower-end brand. I picked up the guitar out of curiosity more than anything and couldn’t put it down. It’s pretty cheap too, but the quality impressed me. I had written them off as inferior years ago, mainly because I disliked the aesthetic so much. If not for the headstock, it would not bother me one bit to own it. And it’s not just the SHAPE of the headstock, but also that awful font they use. It makes me wonder who is in charge of those things at Dean.

No offense intended to Dean owners.

[Wade Hampton]

Personally, I don’t hate or love any brand of guitars enough to reject or buy them simply because of their brand affiliation. The aesthetics of things like their headstock and bridge designs is not a major factor for me, either. It really comes down to the individual instrument itself for me. Brand is not completely irrelevant, but close to it.


Wade Hampton Miller

[L50EF15]

Actually, as soon as you mentioned the headstock, I thought Dean or B.C. Rich. In fairness to both brands, that goes back a long way for them, to at least the 80s if I remember correctly. I’ve never owned one, but I remember them being very popular among heavy metal players; the MTV Headbangers Ball crowd. A friend of mine had one and it played pretty well, but with those guitars, the outrageous look is the selling point; “stage presence” as they used to say.

Not my thing, but you raise an interesting question: Visual appeal plays a big role for a lot of us, including genre conventions. For instance, most people who see a guitarist with a flattop expect the player to start singing. I have certainly run into that as an instrumentalist (I like singing but I know my limitations).

[RP]

Probably not....

[Corndog]

Acoustic guitars, by and large, are beautiful objects by design. There's just no excuse to make them ugly. Reject ugly if it bugs you, period.

Guitars are a bit complicated in that (for me, and many) they have to sound great, play great, look great, and be built well. With all the fine guitars out there, why would you settle for less?

The last thing that you should be thinking about when making music is how ugly the headstock (or logo) is!

And to the OP...
Blown away? Really?
I don't know that that has ever happened to me.

[TBman]

No I wouldn't buy it. Once the honeymoon phase is over I'd be stuck with the headstock.

[Pickcity]

Life’s too short and great guitars are too abundant to waste my money on an ugly thing.

[Lkristians]

Funny you should ask. I was tooling around Guitar Center yesterday and picked up an Epiphone J200, ebony burst. I'd never played one, so I sat with it and was very impressed for a $550 guitar. I'm not enamored the the looks of the thing, but would definitely take it home if I was in the market. Very impressed. The weight (heavy) was very surprising also.

[Shaneh]

Thought it was going to be a D’angelico

[Aspiring]

For me it would depend on why I don't like the brand.

I'd get over the headstock if it came down to it but personally headstocks don't seem to be part of the visuals that I focus on.

I have a few companies out in the world that I have had experience with that crossed a line and I won't ever do business with them again as they have a practice that I don't agree with. In that case I wouldn't buy it. If I don't like the brand because of their advertising or past experience with not being to my taste then I'd consider the instrument on its own merits.

[DDW]

If it is just the headstock, you could put a paper bag over it....

[slimey]

I suggest you get a piece of cardboard , shape it like the headstocks you like and stick it over the wood one.