A blog post about Les Pauls and other expensive guitars

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 9:00 pm

Hey all,

I'm mostly mind-blathering via blog these days, but I thought you all might like to read my thoughts about whether the Les Paul is worth the $$ you have to spend on it. http://stuffidontneed.blogspot.com/2011 ... dough.html

Hope you're all doing great!

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 11:36 pm

Cool article. And very pertinent as I just got some bad news about my main "show" acoustic that means I'll be guitar shopping soon. And I'm trying to ponder pricey guitar vs. not-so pricey.

More later.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 2:37 am

Another argument is: Life is long, live every day as if it were your last. If a certain guitar makes you happy and makes you play more, maybe you should buy it.

dgrieser · Post by **dgrieser** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 7:19 am

Life is long?

Chris_Meck · Post by **Chris_Meck** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:22 am

I'm a Fender type guy; that being said, i don't like ANYTHING they make currently outside of a few of the reissues and custom shop guitars, which are horribly overpriced.

So now I build my own to my own specs, with the pickups I like (Fralins or Lollars depending) the necks I like (big v's) the hardware I like and the body materials I like. I have a local guy paint them with thin nitrocellulose finishes. I usually end up with around $1000 in parts and the guitar will be EXACTLY what I like when it's done. Considering even a mexican tele can run you $500-600 these days I think it's worth a little extra to get it perfect.

YMMV.

Chris

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:06 pm

dgrieser wrote:Life is long?

Don't you think it's too long to spend it in a boring/useless/painful fashion? Like, if life only lasted a week it kinda wouldn't matter how you spent it, 'cause nothing would amount to much anyway, but 80 or so years is a nice amount of time to spend with a beautiful instrument. That's a lot of time to waste fucking around with bullshit.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:44 pm

In my experience there are plenty of less expensive guitars out there that play and sound fine. Once you find one that stays in tune and give it a good setup plug it into a decent amp and put it in the hands of a decent player. I think tone is in the fingers more than in a $3000 piece of wood.

Sure yes I might buy a fancy guitar if I had the money but I can get a better tone out of a $129 Daisy Rock than many lawyers and doctors and Kiefer Sutherland on a $4000 Gibson.

Sure life is too short to drive a Yugo but that doesn't mean I will get a Mercedes, a Honda does just fine.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:47 pm

Nice article, nice blog.

FWIW, I bught a "The Paul" some years ago atta guitar show for US$350. It has the sorta green-burst finish that looks like a Jr. that Jerry Rainey (Beat Farmers) plays, and that made me pick it up.

Guitar-wise, I've not put it down for about 21 years, even with the "Dirty Fingers" pups.

My other two faves would be a '85 American Tele, and a G&L F-100 II.

Butt I'm cheap, altho' it took owning about 40 guitars to settle on these.

(And I kept 25+ others ...)

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 7:36 pm

dwlb wrote:Cool article. And very pertinent as I just got some bad news about my main "show" acoustic that means I'll be guitar shopping soon. And I'm trying to ponder pricey guitar vs. not-so pricey.

More later.

I can say that the D-15 was a great choice for me. But I think I remember that they stopped makig them? Or did I dream that.

Another gigging guitar I'd consider if you want something that plays good, but is really inexpensive is the Silver Creek line. It's a MF brand, but solid woods and decent hardware. That's plus a good piezo (like the Fishman Natural 1) would give you and acoustic you wouldn't mind playing or exposing to the wiles of the gigging jungle.

sad iron · Post by **sad iron** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 7:45 pm

kslight wrote:In my experience there are plenty of less expensive guitars out there that play and sound fine. Once you find one that stays in tune and give it a good setup plug it into a decent amp and put it in the hands of a decent player. I think tone is in the fingers more than in a $3000 piece of wood.

Sure yes I might buy a fancy guitar if I had the money but I can get a better tone out of a $129 Daisy Rock than many lawyers and doctors and Kiefer Sutherland on a $4000 Gibson.

Sure life is too short to drive a Yugo but that doesn't mean I will get a Mercedes, a Honda does just fine.

I echoed these points in my blog (is it an echo if you said it first?). However, I feel like there's a lot to be said for quality materials and the player to go along with them. If you look at my guitar wall, you'll see that I've made do with a lot of lesser guitars. Much of the point of my post was to say that it's the player and not the instrument that often makes the most difference, however, a great guitar, one that suits you and fits like a glove, is something to strive for, to be earned and considered. YMMV. And I'm not a lawyer. Or a doctor. But I do think it's worthy of good players who've paid their dues to consider the best possible tools.

And as someone else said in an other response, a lot of instruments made these days are not up to the standards they should be. That's why I recommended that you don't but a premium guitar without being able to spend a lot of time with it before the purchase. A Premium guitar should not be purchased sight unseen. It's up to the player to make the discerning choices. I believe there are babies in that bathwater. Throw it out lightly.

Bill @ Irie Lab · Post by **Bill @ Irie Lab** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 12:55 pm

I worked for a while a Daddy's Music in Boston (right across from Berklee School of Music) and we had some SERIOUSLY rare, unusual and expensive instruments come through there.

My take-away was while I could appreciate the quality, if the neck was the wrong shape for me or the action on some vintage keys didn't feel right it was made for someone else. And then there'd be a stock Epiphone or Squire that felt SO right (with or without a pick-up and hardware makeover).

I suspect it's like a spouse or flavor of ice cream, what you like best is the right thing for you. (and that might be a Fender broadcaster serial # low, low, low with a price high, high, high).

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:01 pm

I was trying to buy an acoustic for my daughter and I asked the guy at the counter for a recommendation. He said the best guitar is the one you'll play the most.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:32 pm

sad iron wrote:
dwlb wrote:Cool article. And very pertinent as I just got some bad news about my main "show" acoustic that means I'll be guitar shopping soon. And I'm trying to ponder pricey guitar vs. not-so pricey.

More later.
I can say that the D-15 was a great choice for me. But I think I remember that they stopped makig them? Or did I dream that.

Another gigging guitar I'd consider if you want something that plays good, but is really inexpensive is the Silver Creek line. It's a MF brand, but solid woods and decent hardware. That's plus a good piezo (like the Fishman Natural 1) would give you and acoustic you wouldn't mind playing or exposing to the wiles of the gigging jungle.

thanks for the suggestions!

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A blog post about Les Pauls and other expensive guitars

A blog post about Les Pauls and other expensive guitars

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