compared to a well made modern guitar?
most of us lust after the holy grail guitars (59 les pauls/50's strats/teles e.t.c)
but would you actually notice any difference/hear a big improvement for the huge outlay it would cost to buy one?
especially when you hear of them using less than precise building methods e.t.c for some of them.
i expect the answers might be along the lines of a classic sports car and the like?
even if i had that sort of money to buy a proper vintage guitar (along with the ability to do it some justice playing it),i just couldn't bring myself to buying something that expensive,when the modern equivalent will be every bit as good,if not better.
what are your views about vintage instruments?
Comments
Most of us will now acknowledge that current production guitars have pretty well caught up, and that although some old guitars have that certain "something" you're not actually forced to play them if you want classic sounds like you were in the late 70s.
At one point you couldn't have prised my pre-CBS guitars away from me at gunpoint, nowadays I don't have any and don't particularly care.
I'd have to A/B them to truly know.
Even then if it was a toss up between say a 62 Strat and a 62 RI but my hands and ears couldn't feel/hear that much difference, then I'd probably get the RI.
There really are some great re-issues around. Even the so-called mojo of the old guitar can be replicated with clever Faux Playwear (Huh? Did I just invent a new term) such as rolled edges. Coming soon to the Gibson Custom Shop - fretboards with authentic finger undulation. So if you can get 80% of the way there for 2/5th of the price (Les Paul Junior) it may be that you have just made a very sensible decision. An educated decision.
But I expect you to spend the 3k you have saved on your loved ones, or on very poor people ie Charity.
If you must buy vintage (and you don't want a Junior) - same advice as always from me: Player Grade.
Is a player grade vintage guitar an investment?
It is after the collectable market has crashed and the guitars belonging to collectors are valued as instruments......Just like your player grade vintage guitar was........ and still is :-O
About a year later I tried a '63 Strat which wiped the floor with the '65. First lesson learned; not all old guitars are amazing...
I know own neither. The CS Strats I have played were all at least as good as the '65 and the the very best ones were probably as good as the '63. The differences are really not worth worrying about.
The only vintage guitar I own now is a '64 335. It is superb and probably better than a Historic equivalent. That said, I only paid about Historic money for it. If I'd had to pay five figures for it, I would probably have concluded that the difference was insufficient to justify the price differential.....
^
This,........
Plus lots of other stuff I had better not say as it's quite opinionated and will definitely annoy someone.
I've never had the money to own anything properly vintage but I'm almost certain I couldn't tell the difference with the modern equivalent.
It's not the same as old Fenders and Gibsons but it's a similar phenomonon on a smaller scale: I am old enough to have owned early 1980s Tokai strat and LP copies that I bought new - and while they were nice enough, they were not any better than today's models and certainly not worth the premiums people seem to pay for such things.
If I were lucky enough to be able to afford vintage guitars, I'd happily buy Historic/Custom Shop stuff and spend the money on a nice soundproof studio/rehearsal complex where one could gather with friends, get pissed and make a right fucking racket without bothering the (very wealthy) neighbours.
There are plenty of great guitars being built today.
We should organise that!
There is another point to consider: When buying expensive vintage guitars, you have to accept the risk of forgeries