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Lots of conversations about "how does xyz boutique Pro brand Les Paul type or strat type or acoustic dreadnaught compare with the 1920, 1959, 1962 model?"
Mostly the new one will be better as far as I can tell. There's a few nice guitars surviving from back then, but I think Darwinian selection and wood-burners have improved the observable quality a lot.
Basically I reject the philosophy that there was some golden age of manufacturing anything, and that humans are now too stupid and unskilled to match stuff made then. Clearly the advances in every science and craft subject mean that we certainly should make everything better, given equivalent cash and resources.
From what I have learned and observed, there are loads of makers of amazing acoustics who use techniques unknown to the makers of the old guitars from way back. You don't see many in normal shops, but go to Ivor Mairants or the acoustic music co in Brighton
The best amps built today as good or better than all old ones I have owned/tried. They are a few gems from the past, but most old amps are nothing special
Also, most conversations about modellers centre on "are they as good as a real amp?"
In fact, there is nothing to stop them being better than a real amp: there is little chance that in 20 years that there will be many amps that top modellers cannot emulate much more accurately than at present, but of course they can also model amps that cannot be built.
Take it a couple of product generations, and the modellers should have evolved features that players think sound/feel attractive that have never been possible using valves
All makes me very optimistic
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just because you do, doesn't mean you should.
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I thought the ideas about old instruments improved was because the wood had learned to resonate better with regular use. Probably much less noticeable with solid body electrics that acoustics. The wood can't dry out more, it's all kiln treated or aged first, the water content just varies up and down with your local weather in your house/car/loft/cellar
this gadget is supposed to do this: http://tonerite.com/
I know someone who has one and used it on £5k+ acoustics, successfully he believes to "open the tone"
Not commonly discussed, but I have read that unlike violins, which last for 100s of years, acoustics die eventually, apparently after 30-40 years they start to sound worse rather than better. Does anyone know more about this?
oh, and when people want a copy of a 1950s guitar, I am always curious to whether they want it to sound like it sounded the year it was built (which is what I would want, and shiny new looking please), or with faded magnets, and simulated wear and tear etc.
From my perspective, if I bought a replica E type Jag, I would not want it to have a knackered paint job and simulated 250,000 mile wear on the cylinders, pistons and valves. In fact I'd want ABS and a few other modern things added on
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Many old ... particularly alnico 5 ... sound better than their modern equivalent largely because of partial degaussing of their magnets 'smoothing' the tone. Degauss a modern magnet and it will sound similar.
However I've never heard a modelling amp that sounds, but more importantly feels in it's attack envolope anything but total shit. Worse in fact than good 70s transistor amp like an HH.
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Just a few thoughts on the subject:
A lot is nostalgia, that's the only way to explain that people are getting interested in Korean guitars now, before it was Japanese, then post "golden age" USA etc, and on it will go.
I do think that a lot of effort was put into some products in the olden days, as there was an expectation that it would be bought and give a lifetimes service, not just guitars but all items. Today the bottom and middle market is disposible, the high end market (for guitars and amps) has the attention to detail that was probably more common in the mainstream back in the 50's and 60's, maybe!
And finally, modelling, for me, is the biggest disappointment in guitar development, I had one of the first gen Vox valvetronix things and it was a revelation at the time, I've owned many modelling amps since and they've just got cheaper, more flimsy, and the quality of sound hasn't really moved on. I would have expected leaps by now.
I've heard an axe fx being put through its paces, it was better, but still sounded a long way off for most things, and this is where line 6 should be by now, not some £3k exotica.
Reissuing the past is much cheaper than being inventive about new designs.
It's also massively fashionable to say in interviews that you have used this or that vintage equipment to record an album. How many times have you read a-n-other metal band talk about hiring in vintage amps or guitars for 'colour' in Guitarist etc and you listen to the album and it sounds worse than their breakthrough album that was recorded on one guitar (that probably wasn't that expensive) and one modern amp...
However I would say that the *design* of the older guitars such as 50s/60s electrics take some beating. It's just the bullshit regarding them I find impossible to stomach. And I still can't fathom this concept that all old guitars are better because they are now old. Obviously there are exceptions but late 70s Fenders are the reason the vintage market started springing up and that Tokai etc started doing so well.
Modelling - well, it gets closer all the time and some of it sounds a shed-load better than some of the cheap valve amps I've had the mispleasure of playing through - valve bee anyone? Nope, me neither.
There are some truly fabulous valve amps out there built in the last 10 years. The Artisan 15 and 30 from Blackstar are great examples of this and I *still* GAS heavily for another 30 but no cash!!
I'd say that the custom shops at fender and Gibson are turning out guitars that are at least the equal if not better than a well worn old example. People get hung up on vintage correctness in terms of wood etc but the fact remains these are exceptional guitars.
Final point in this ramble. If Hendrix had lived, do you think he'd still be playing a 1969/70 Strat into a Marshall with a fuzz face in the front end? I don't for one minute.
My amp is a recent 30 watt valve head. It can give me, in a pub environment, what a classic 60's/70's amp can't.
And there are countless accounts of the Holy Grail late 50's Les Paul's where it's conceded some of them are dogs. Commanding prices of £80k upwards.
I'd tip my hat to quality rather than age.