Re: So many brands...


Benj wrote:
Fletch wrote:

So, yes, there is a huge difference once you cross a certain price
point...

Ahem. I think it is important to point out at this point that the words
"Huge Difference" with respect to instruments is muscian language and
unless you are talking about PRICE (where the differences truly do get
"huge") the words actually mean something like:
"It's a very small and subtle difference, but I find that niny nuance
so important to my music that I'm willing to pay a gigantic stack of
money to get it!" Note also that for the most part the nuance is
important ONLY to the player, his/her audience typically never have a
clue about these subtleties.

Please do not take my offerings out of context if you insist on quoting
me. How interesting you ignore the second half of that statement, which
covers what you just said. And I certainly did not imply the imposed
quote you inferred as my meaning -- which it does not.

Additionally, I have a superb guitar tech who has a clientele list that
reads like a who's who in the music world because he is THAT good. He
and I have had many conversations over the past twenty years about the
quality of electronics that go into guitars and basses. We have weighed
the differences and we have both come to the conclusion that the
electronic components, pickups, pots, caps, et al, are crap on most
Chinese, Japanese and Korean produced instruments, particularly the
lower end products. There are exceptions, of course. Your OLP appears
to be one of them, cool.

Yes, they "sound" decent enough and most non-musicians will not really
appreciate the differences, which I noted can be subtle AND subjective
when you get into higher end equipment.

I also noted that lower end instruments can play fabulously, but that
in many cases their sound is not quite so fabulous because of the
inferior quality of the electronics.

Maybe some people are okay with the sound of their low end instruments
-- and there is merit that such a sound may be desirable. Note, too,
that I have not changed out the electronics of my Ibanez soundgear
bass, they are still the original. They are active and Ibanez did a
good job in creating that system (from 1993). However, if it had not
sounded any good, I would have ripped the electronics out and replaced
them with better.

Conversely, I had a Japanese made P-Bass (Squier from 1987). I had to
remove all the electronics because they were so bad. The bass played
great, like a sixties P, but sounded anemic and just didn't have any
punch at all. The pots were horrible with no consistent taper at all.

A side bar: I bought a Taylor 710 after auditioning many, many guitars.
I opted for this guitar, which was less expensive than the majority of
others I played -- back in 1995 -- because it sounded better, felt
better and played easy.

The end result is that while an audience may not know the difference,
the player will. While it may not matter to an audience, if it does to
the player, then it does matter that the subtle differences are
important and worth considering in the pursuit of buying an instrument
of any kind. It is subjective, even removing subtlety as an issue, what
instrument is going to appeal to you.

Price, within your budget, should be less a concern than satisfaction
while playing. Sometimes that gives you a great deal for your money,
like Benj's OLP. That's great. But sometimes it means the Ken Smith is
going to come home with you. And there's nothing wrong with that,
either.

--Fletch

.

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