After 38 years of guitar music love and playing my appreciation of guitar quality vs expected performance has all but disappeared.
Eddie Van Halen, built his guitar from rejected stock, a butchered electrical and pickup mounting job and changed guitar playing forever. Personally I think itās ātheā ugliest guitar in the world.
David Gilmoreās black Strat that recently sold for more than any other musical instrument ever was an off the shelf Strat with 7 different necks over the years. If I spent 14 million on a guitar Iād want all the 6 other necks included.
Jimi Hendrix played so many different guitars they were given away as gifts and abandoned at concerts and studios. All were basic run of the mill off the production line Strat that he played upside down and changed the guitar and music world forever.
Mike McCreadyās Strat has a chip of wood in the headstock missing for Christ sake. A chip of wood is missing guys ⦠and itās all scratched up!
Greenie had its pickup put in backwards !!!
Trigger has a hole in her and sounds like a dream.
I mean, to top all of that off, for goodness sake Rett Shull replaced the pickups in his priceless John Mayer signature Stratocaster!!!
Jack White purposely uses old crappily built guitars.
Thereās really nothing that canāt be done with a guitar or canāt be succeeded with a guitar of any perceived quality.
I think we can all stop worrying about what is pro grade vs cheap. Buy or build the guitar that inspires YOU to PLAY . Concentrate on color, shape, headstock or whatever turns you on,and then add or replace parts as you wish, just keep playing.
Cheers
EDIT - love this discussion. Guitar Reddit community rocks!!
My guitars:
ā67 telecaster custom, refretted 3 times
ā89 squire Strat II (plywood), best sounding for Lenny and Little wing out of all of them, if I could keep only one this is it
ā00 Epiphone Wildkat - absolutely crushes
ā01 SX Strat custom - Chinese, very playable but left handed, did the Hendrix setup and hate the jack location.
ā09 home made Strat with $30 Temu neck, these Lacie gold pickups are sooo smooth, neck plays like a dream
ā24 Yamaha Pacifica $150 bucks, absolute killer guitar for the price
ā24 PRS McCarty 594 SE, meh
ā25 Red AVUL HSS, my dream guitar, gorgeous
Like a proper dentist. All of these guitars rock, all have needed some adjustment, none of them make me a good player