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“the very real possibilty that brand-new guitars will be able to outmanoeuvre classic vintage instruments.”
“continue to develop and learn and incorporate ever deepening understanding into what you make; A small guitar shop has the benefit of being able to make discoveries and quickly incorporate new ideas into the next guitar; a large manufacturer has far more difficult time responding. We are dedicated to a path of improving our guitars”
“overall we are looking at ways to integrate functionality and technology into new products; I suppose the best answer I can offer is that we are looking at combining the best elements of what is available to players today with products which can perform and last”
“since our designs on modular there is no shortage of interesting lots of interpretations of vintage gear. The great thing about the guitar as an instrument is that it can find a space in any type of music so I think the future for guitar is solid”
Is this what sets the guitar industry out from other manufacturing and product industries - that innovation and future business success and stability comes from doing the same just a bit better? Or is this a wider aspect of musical instruments in general? You don’t see many innovations in violins and trumpets as a rule (apart from the odd few made out of plastic) when you look at how they’ve changed over a few hundred years.
Maybe they have to save their thoughts for the future for big marketing activities such as NAMM etc, rather than magazine interviews?
Thoughts ?
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Comments
are we resistant because we have been conditioned to be this way ?
There's not much can be done to a six stringed instrument that hasn't already been tried.
I bought a Parker Fly Classic years ago, it was a brilliant guitar with an incredible action and so easy to play. I liked it a lot but ultimately I just preferred my older style guitars with higher action.
I'm happy for anyone to think about new ideas, but I probably won't be buying into them myself.
I agree with one comment about small workshops leading the way - The 5 way switch on a Strat was not initially released by Fender - Fender joined the club later - Ditto, flatter fingerboard radius + chunky frets
Maybe as a 'grumpy old git' I'm not looking for changes - Take the Tele - The Granddad of the electric guitar - It was obviously never designed to be played in so many styles as it can be found in today - From Country and jazz, to punk and classic rock the same old boring, traditional guitar, can deliver the goods - It is more about how you use it that counts
IMO the biggest change in the last 20/30 years is the quality of low-mid end production guitars, mainly from the far east
Maybe not in the guitar itself, but to guitar players, then recording has seen massive advances since the 2 track reel to reel - This alone has allowed bedroom players so much access to 'paint their own pictures'
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
It's a 90 year old instrument with a known tonal pallette and repertoire.
Do clarinettists constantly come under fire for simply wanting a good clarinet?
Once an instrument is established you innovate by writing innovative music, not by constantly fucking with the design of the instrument itself, that's just navel gazing of the highest order.
True technical innovation in the world of electric guitars is mainly about increasing amplifier portability, apart from that maybe we should write some songs instead of pretending we need carbon fibre guitars.
I know this is nothing to do with the OP really, but there actually isn't any issue with quoting from a commercial mag. You're covered by fair use laws that state if you're quoting for the purposes of criticism, teaching, new reporting, commentary, and parody, then you're not committing any copyright infringement.
Innovation for innovation's sake is a waste of time. I know the areas where I need innovation, and it isn't anything to do with the instruments I play. It's to do with how songs are created, how they're delivered and consumed, and how they're purchased and sold.
One of the things that's great about the traditional passive magnetic-pickup electric guitar is that the parts are easily interchangeable, extremely reliable and not subject to built-in obsolescence. Putting different technology into them which negates these things is a backward step, to me... a 50s Strat will still be usable long after the last Variax. (That's also why I dislike electro-acoustics that have anything more than a simple pickup in the guitar.)
Even so, it's slightly frustrating that so many people seem to want electric guitars that are *exactly* the same as the classic 50s and 60s designs - or a few from later periods - rather than simply using the best aspects of them. In some ways there was more sensible innovation in the late 70s and 80s, especially from the Japanese manufacturers, than there is now.
More advanced effect processing and amplification is a different ballgame entirely and that's where the biggest progress can be made. If I have a prediction to make it's that the technology of the TC Polytune and the new Boss guitar synths - where the software can work out what strings have been played from a simple mono signal connection, so it doesn't rely on a complex system with a special pickup and multicore cable - is going to become much more prevalent, because it opens up so much more sound creation and shaping but can be used with any standard guitar and playing technique.
(Does anyone have an SY-1 for sale yet? )
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The Music Man St Vincent is the only notable new guitar design made in recent years, and even that is based on 1950s ideas. The guitar will not be developed while the industry remains mired in the past
Only recently, Gibson introduced Robot Tuners on their guitars, but traditionalists didn't like them and they were withdrawn.
Many progressive thinking guitarists thought Robot Tuners were a welcome development, but I believe that it had a detrimental effect on Gibson sales. I don't think they will be reintroduced anytime soon.
If they had made the tech perfect and fast and limited it to a few models it would have had much more success. Instead it was like a forced Windows OS update that constantly causes BSOD crashes. You're gonna switch to Mac after a while...
Been uploading old tracks I recorded ages ago and hopefully some new noodles here.
https://www.facebook.com/benswanwickguitar
The idea may be valid but the implementation was not good enough. They also involved other unwelcome compromises, like a different nut and a wider neck.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I had Robotuners on my 2014 Les Paul but replaced them because they were too slow. I need to rapidly tweak the tuning in a live situation. Robo tuners were just too much faff.
I think in general guitars won’t change massively at this stage.