From Leo: Guitars have not radically changed, because they do not need to change. They still have unlocked potential for artists to express themselves. This is not uncommon in musical instruments. Violins, trumpets, flutes, the tymphany, and all sorts of wood wind instruments are essentially the same through centuries, yet continue to play fresh compositions and new arrangements to audiences all over the world.
All instruments have been through an early period of experimentation in design and then settle on the most effective/desired elements. For electric guitars and basses this period was mainly the 1950s- 60s
I was born in 1980 Led Zepplin, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Cream, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc. were over or on their way out. If those bands made things work without the digital overload, Evertune, Floyd Rose, Stainless Steele frets, Fret Wraps, etc. Maybe we all just need to practice instead of buying the newest thing that will "help" us? Keep it simple & work on your craft. I physically disabled (wheelchair & an eye patch) I have a LOT of free time while everyone is working during the week, so I play guitar. I play 4-5 hours a day & write guitar charts for my 12 year old student. I don't have or want the newest innovation in guitar land, I just want to play & figure out how to get close to the sound of these players while creating my own music on guitar.
@@jasondorsey7110 I really like that album it's my go to album for Black Sabbath. I got to see Dio fronting Black Sabbath in the early 2000s. Megadeth was opening for them.
We're not "stuck"... we're just intensely aware that we peaked some time ago and desperately want to stay in that comfortable happy place we remember, where we can sit back, stroke our beards, and tell stories that start with, "Well, back in my day..." and all strangely end with, "... up hill both ways through three feet of snow -- barefoot!"
If it’s not broke…don’t fix it. From Mark Knopfler to Jimmy Hendrix to Lindsey Buckingham, their creativity could’ve been on any guitar, but three complete different styles.
I love my jazzmaster. Feel like I'll never need another guitar besides that and a strat. You can play almost any genre on any guitar. Iron Maiden plays w/ strats. John 5 plays w/ a Tele. Opeth uses PRS. Cecil Alexander plays bebop w/ a Jackson Soloist. Admittedly, if you're into metal, you need humbuckers. It's all about what feels good and what you think looks good. The rest is marketing.
Three years ago, I went modern, in part Baxter’s fault, and purchased a Fender Acoustasonic Stratocaster. Baxter played it so well. Got a great deal at Sweetwater because the new kid on the block wasn’t selling. But she’s super hip and new. It’s got three active pickups, one piezo, one body, and one noiseless Stratocaster. All run through a digital board. Designed by Tim Shaw and Fishman. TUSQ saddle and nut. And I love her. Now … I just got a notice that the next Acoustasonic will be Finneas’ Telecaster Player. He is pretty darn talented and the hip producing and composing, guitar playing side, often seen with a Taylor 818, of sister Billie Eilish’s still skyrocking career. So, I think there are modern configurations that even a Boomer can appreciate.
One thing I think about is how every pedal and amp was designed and tested around the guitars of the time, so if something is new and different now it might now go together as well as we'd like. Also with some of these, there isn't much to be improved. I think the PRS custom 24 was kind of the last really new guitar that really took off. But the advent of CNC, cad, and other modern manufacturing techniques is what makes the real improvements to guitars, as it makes good instruments more obtainable.
Yeah as a harmonica, and keyboards player it’s wild that they’re aren’t more pedals for non guitar instruments. Imagine what pedals could do for singers, saxophones, pianos, or other instruments. I’m surprised more don’t have effects industries
People like what they are exposed to. People reward what their family rewards/favors. So the next generation liking music you exposed them to is a natural response. Even if they claimed to hate it when younger lol.
A Parker Fly is still just about the most modern guitar you will find. Every single bit about it was thought about, updated and improved. Trouble was, they were too expensive to stay in business,. The current 'most modern' guitars are Strandbergs. They have a lot of thought and cool design features in them
@TSB-pg6yo as a company/luthier business, yes, but strandberg in its modern form started in 2007 and does not rely on fender/gibson for its designs, ethos or production decisions.
@TSB-pg6yo but i didn't say the company was modern, I said that the guitars were modern. Show me a strandberg Boden from the 80s. There is little in a Boden that comes from Strat/Les Paul lineage.
Guitars have evolved. Go back to the 1600s to see how they’ve changed. All the recent great and popular music has been made with Gibsons and Fenders we all know and love from the last 50 years.
I’m 72 and I like what I like. I know new music is being made with “old style” instruments but it is based on the creativity of the musician. Just get off my lawn, kid!! 😁😁
Gibson headstocks have no issue. Fine instruments are not meant to be dropped. You don’t drop your cello, violin, drums, saxophone or any other instrument. They will break. Interesting fact.
I mean, I’ve never broken the headstock off of my Michael Kelly and I’ve dropped it a few times, now. So you’re saying that if it’s an expensive instrument it should be able to break from a slight drop? That sounds backwards to me.
@southernpanda33 If you’ve dropped ANY instrument "a few times", that's a few times too many. You probably want to invest in a better strap with a good lock. I've dropped a guitar maybe once or twice, and I've been playing for 50 years now. Even then those drops were kind of gentle and I was able to kind of catch it at the end. Never anything tumultuous like dropping it straight down onto its headstock. I mean come on man. Be careful.
I'm an older guy, so I realize my nostalgia bias is probably at work here. But I think we are stuck in the past with guitars because the music of my generation was so freakin' good compared to music today. I see a lot of players sitting around listening and learning to play music from the late 60's and 70's - 50 years later! It would be like Jimmy Page and Skydog obsessing over the hits of the day during World War I (Think: "Over there, over there..."). The enduring excellence of the "Classic Rock" era of music is a big reason guitar innovation is dead. Saying that, I realize that 70's music took a lot of inspiration from early blues music (T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday" was written in 1942. Blind Willie McTell wrote "Statesboro Blues" in '28), but nobody ever played them like Skydog. That's why a custom shop re-issue of his '59 Cherry Burst, relic'd by Tom Murphy costs more than my car.
First I have to say intonation perfection is found in the Evertune bridge.I know lots of people dont like them butin my experience they've been great! Gear in general ? The old approaches endure because they are reliable, easy to understand and most importantly, they work... but that doesn't mean my 8 string, left handed, fan fretted , Fishman loaded Abasi doesn't also have it's place. Sometimes I want to step outside, you know?
I like the comfort of the older designs cause i been playing them for decades now. That said, I do choose the more modern types more often than a traditional or a vintage due to performance reasons. Modern gear just works better more often. I still want a strat and a les paul to do the classic thing when I need it though.
I like to think that another reason Baxter doesn't play a seven string is that he doesn't want to step on the bass player's feet. Seriously, when I as a bassist am given a chance to play with someone and when I ask what they tune to the guitarist says "I'm mostly in Drop A" it makes me wonder if there's any reason for me to be there
My favorite guitar is a 2008 Les Paul Standard with '50s wiring and Fralin PAFs. But, IMO, my best sounding (with a Mesa amp), best playing, best looking guitar is a 2009 Carvin SH550 with stock S22 pickups. It is, by far, the better guitar. But, why is the LP still my favorite? Jonathan mentioned that newer pickup designs (and Carvin/Kiesel is a perfect example) sound "sterile.". I hear that a lot. I've heard those pickups described as "hi-fi." I think if you pair them with the right amp and pedals, you can get some beautiful tones.
Another thing about innovation: serious progress was made in the early 1980’s out of necessity. Fenders and Gibsons would wear out as the good ones were over 20 years old at that stage. Serious touring bands needed reliable guitars that were bulletproof, so companies like Schecter and Steinberger built higher quality guitars for these bands (The Who, Stones, Dire Straits, Eagles etc.) out of absolute necessity. The road was much tougher than these days, with longer tours and less care in regards to temperature changes and things of this nature. Serious innovation came in the form of brass parts, higher quality finishes that didn’t flake or crack, carbon fibre bodies and necks, active electrics to suppress hum, etc. we don’t have that level of necessity these days so lack of innovation is inevitable. Things like the Evertune are brilliant advancements, but the average guitar tech (or even player) knows so much more these days that they can maintain a standard Fender or Gibson much better than in the ‘80’s!
I actually think guitars are way MORE innovative than most instruments (and really a lot of things). Most things became the thing and then stopped changing. Just look at an iPhone, basically all phones are now an iPhone adjacent shape.
MIDI guitar synths are from the past, but they still sound like the future. As the big rock outside of Dynamic Earth says; "The past is the key to the future"
The guitar is a simple instrument to create specific types of sounds. Older acoustic sounds and modern electronic sounds. The boundaries set by the music set the boundaries for the instrument. Some "innovations" tend to solve problems that don't exist, are niche, or at least are tolerable without tradeoffs introduced by new technology (see Evertune).
Great Show. Guitars are tools that create specific sounds for their players based on wood, construction and hardware and technique. To create something totally new and different would mean it is no longer a guitar but something else. That is why pedals exist. Don't mess with a good thing if it's not needed.
I want to try a seven string while playing the blues because often I’m playing the high note it says a solo wish thing, and I’m playing the lower note. It says a rhythm thing and I could go no problem!
It all boils down to establishing a right to an opinion, as if that alone would validate what's in the opinion. To feel :special" requires justifying that "specialness" - which can ONLY be achieved through OPINIION. The next step is critical - the ongoing attempts to prove one's opinion trumps another's.
I can’t live in the past, I‘m sorry about that. Because when I started playing guitar there was just one Fender Strat, one Telecaster. Later there was also one Squier Strat, one Tele. Maybe one could buy a used Strat, but back then I usually thought that used guitars were worse than new guitars. Guitar players played the latest or second latest. Even Hendrix played new Strats, so he could break one, go to a guitar store and buy the same guitar again. Today there are 40 (?) different Strats and they are all new and even sound not really different.
I've been working on a new electric guitar design, from the basic idea of what Leo and Les might do if they were still around to solve problems. Thing is, they got a lot RIGHT, that people just take for granted. Respect the ones that went before because most of what you do in guitars is going to be built on top of their bedrock foundation, or you don't just disrespect grest designers. You also disrespect everyone who loved their instruments.
A sign of how conservative some of us can be is my bass player's reaction to my Fender MIJ Hybrid II Strat with its reversed Tele headstock - it freaks him out every time he sees it! 🤣😎
I prefer older styles of electronic components because I can repair them myself if I need to. If I open a guitar and see a circuit board in there, I don't know what to do. I do love Lace Sensors, but don't like active pickups, mainly because I don't want batteries in my guitar.
For me, in this modern age, it's about just leaving SOMETHING alone. Can I just have ONE THING that isn't constantly changing? Seems like every 2 weeks, I gotta learn something new that nobody in human history ever had to worry about. I just need to keep something pure and simple.
I think the big guys like Fender and Gibson are going to forever be chasing the bar they set in the 60s without ever reaching it.... but using modern technology they seem to be getting a lot closer, which invites the question "will they ever make a guitar better than the ones they used to make, if they only keep trying to recreate those guitars?". I think we're seeing guitar manufacturers develop serious tunnel vision, and the people who invented the guitars of the 60s weren't guitar makers... none of them had a guitar making background at all, so there was diversity in the workforce and domain knowledge that extended well beyond the scope of the work... but today we have a lot of people who've never had much work experience outside of guitar manufacturing which has enjoyed a terrible reputation for much of the last 50 years.... We've got technology to help eliminate variables, but what we don't have are truly skilled crafts people that bring outside knowledge to the table. The big players have become so bloated and invested so much into their current models that they've paralyzed themselves from even the possibility of innovation. Gibson isn't about to declare bankruptcy and then invest in a new model, they can only afford to stay very much inside the lines of expectation. So the reason we don't see a lot of innovation I feel is because the big players have immobilized themselves by design and created echo chambers in place of actual RnD.
Most gear buyers are not pro being creative, they want to sound like the pros so they have to have the gear that the pros used so no innovation is being demanded by the peeps,
I love those Emo guitar spin fail videos where they don’t have strap locks and the guitars go flying and they have to move their little swoopy bangs to see what happened to their guitar 😂😂😂😂
i don't care for the push pull crap i just want simple controls if i want humbucker sound i buy a guitar with humbuckers if i want a single coil sound i buy a guitar with single coils,by the way i'm 71
Guitars are one of the very few precision instruments that people pay more for when they are made to look used. If I went into B&H Camera in New York and asked for a Nikon Z9 with a pre worn finish, they would throw me out. My guitars and cameras look worn because they are. They have character unlike their no talent owner. Keep up the good work.
Paraphrasing Prince now, Dig if you will, a picture, of an Archaeologist. 5,000 years in the future, Jonathan now in the mists. The Archaeologist finds his tomb, and brushes away the dust of a guitar, that, no longer exists. Reaching carefully inside, Jonathan's sarcophagus. OHHH SHINY! says the Archaeologist. The Archaeologist has just found Jonathan's prized Stainless Steel frets, and nothing else still exists! (bridge) They probably think that Jonathan's Giant skeleton is that of a warrior and these strange shiny noble metal arcs are some kind of badges of honor won in great battles. Little do they know, just how right they are! The End.
@TSB-pg6yo Whatever dude. You obviously have no sense of humor, nor any content on your "channel". We come here to have a good time listening to the guys talking about guitars and the music business. Almost none of it is Super Serious. Laugh, smile, maybe learn something. It's great, you should try it.
Some things dont change, gibsons, glocks, internal combustion engines,. Harley davidson. Tweeks are the best we can hope for and im ok with tthat 😂.....
😂😂😂 Do I have a space car, Yes! But I don’t play a 7 string. Golly that made me laugh! I will definitely be hauling Amp and 6 string in my flying car one day! ❤
I feel like you guys missed the whole djent era, relating 7strings to numetal. As a person who started playing guitar about 15 years ago when djent was starting to bubble up that really made 7, 8's and 9 produced again. Those guys inspired by the nu metal crowd, petrucci and vai picked them back up and inspired guys like me. Short version is that scene is not most people or guitarists; so the big brands most thats what they know and the bands they listened to played. I tend to play more modern instruments, my most 'vintage' inspired guitar is a prs custom 24. I tend to shy away from the gibsons (though I have an epi explorer) because of known design flaws and fenders because I don't think single coils and a pickguard look cool. Even still most modern instruments are basically a super strats that rely on magnetic induction based pickups, capacitors, and variable resistors (potentiometers), not exactly ground breaking stuff.
I'd like to see fender create some new bridges for the squire/strats that are common to find. I'm not a whammy bar guy and I've never liked the whammy on squires or strats. If they created a new lineup with a string through, non whammy bar Bridge stock I'd probably own more than 1. Maybe they do and I'm uninformed but the typical stuff at shops they sell seem to always have that dog darn damn whammy.
The Chapman stick didn't really catch on, Stanley Jordan's approach to the guitar didn't catch on? We're all just trying to master the basics first, maybe?
I get Baxters comment about 7 string. I played acoustic for a long time because I had one, it didn't need an amp, I could play it anywhere I could carry it. Much later in life went electric sometimes. But stuff like a Floyd Rose is an alien thing to me even though I can do refrets, neck resets and lots of other stuff on acoustics. A Bigsby is my thing for wiggling. Stupid simple with no setup but also consider that a roller bridge saddle is a good addition with any trem. for stability. None new tech. I like simple, sturdy and reliable. Acoustics always fit that space. Maybe with a Gretsch Rancher with pickup and Bigsby I can have it all. YEA! What a combo....... NOT!
Same thing as everything else...movies, games,sitcoms,cartoons, series.... These ppl.in.charge now grew up on greatness, but the ppl in charge have too much to lose, so we keep getting safe remasters ,reboots,retells, reimaginings..there's only once in a while.something that breaks through
From Leo: Guitars have not radically changed, because they do not need to change. They still have unlocked potential for artists to express themselves. This is not uncommon in musical instruments. Violins, trumpets, flutes, the tymphany, and all sorts of wood wind instruments are essentially the same through centuries, yet continue to play fresh compositions and new arrangements to audiences all over the world.
All instruments have been through an early period of experimentation in design and then settle on the most effective/desired elements. For electric guitars and basses this period was mainly the 1950s- 60s
Glad Jonathan is back. I'll resume watching episodes.
It is nothing agains Sean, he seems like a cool guy, however Baxter and Jonathan's dynamics is hard to beat.
Spokewheel truss rods, carbon fiber reinforced necks, 9 piece necks, richlite fretboards, multiscale necks, Fishman pickups, schecter triple humbucker, headless guitars, multiscale tremelos. That's just standard stuff and doesn't include crazy things like ultra compact travel guitar, wild aluminum shapes with carbon fiber fretboards, onboard amp modelers, etc etc.
Still holding out for a proper (non “travel”) headless guitar with a scale length shorter than 25.5!!
I was born in 1980 Led Zepplin, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Cream, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc. were over or on their way out. If those bands made things work without the digital overload, Evertune, Floyd Rose, Stainless Steele frets, Fret Wraps, etc. Maybe we all just need to practice instead of buying the newest thing that will "help" us? Keep it simple & work on your craft. I physically disabled (wheelchair & an eye patch) I have a LOT of free time while everyone is working during the week, so I play guitar. I play 4-5 hours a day & write guitar charts for my 12 year old student. I don't have or want the newest innovation in guitar land, I just want to play & figure out how to get close to the sound of these players while creating my own music on guitar.
You’re being gay
Black Sabbath teamed up with Dio in 1980 for "Heaven & HeII"...that album is solid from beginning to end
@@jasondorsey7110 I really like that album it's my go to album for Black Sabbath. I got to see Dio fronting Black Sabbath in the early 2000s. Megadeth was opening for them.
As someone who moving away from Fenders and Gibsons to Charvels and ESPs, change is nice.
We're not "stuck"... we're just intensely aware that we peaked some time ago and desperately want to stay in that comfortable happy place we remember, where we can sit back, stroke our beards, and tell stories that start with, "Well, back in my day..." and all strangely end with, "... up hill both ways through three feet of snow -- barefoot!"
And fought of a grizzly bear with your hard cover notebook !
@TSB-pg6yo oh well
from what i understand avoidance of stainless steel frets is the extra wear it does to fret tools
I want to have a beer with Jonathan. He wasn’t pulling punches today, telling it like it is!
I think it is the search for authenticity and connection that keeps the guitar were it is.
the Stratocaster in 1954 must have felt like literal future tech, it's that good.
It still feels futuristic to me
If it’s not broke…don’t fix it. From Mark Knopfler to Jimmy Hendrix to Lindsey Buckingham, their creativity could’ve been on any guitar, but three complete different styles.
I love my jazzmaster. Feel like I'll never need another guitar besides that and a strat. You can play almost any genre on any guitar. Iron Maiden plays w/ strats. John 5 plays w/ a Tele. Opeth uses PRS. Cecil Alexander plays bebop w/ a Jackson Soloist.
Admittedly, if you're into metal, you need humbuckers.
It's all about what feels good and what you think looks good. The rest is marketing.
i spent good money on my '59 reissue 335. For me it's comfort piece, I like having it around, looking at it and touching it. lol
Three years ago, I went modern, in part Baxter’s fault, and purchased a Fender Acoustasonic Stratocaster. Baxter played it so well. Got a great deal at Sweetwater because the new kid on the block wasn’t selling. But she’s super hip and new. It’s got three active pickups, one piezo, one body, and one noiseless Stratocaster. All run through a digital board. Designed by Tim Shaw and Fishman. TUSQ saddle and nut. And I love her.
Now … I just got a notice that the next Acoustasonic will be Finneas’ Telecaster Player. He is pretty darn talented and the hip producing and composing, guitar playing side, often seen with a Taylor 818, of sister Billie Eilish’s still skyrocking career.
So, I think there are modern configurations that even a Boomer can appreciate.
One thing I think about is how every pedal and amp was designed and tested around the guitars of the time, so if something is new and different now it might now go together as well as we'd like. Also with some of these, there isn't much to be improved. I think the PRS custom 24 was kind of the last really new guitar that really took off. But the advent of CNC, cad, and other modern manufacturing techniques is what makes the real improvements to guitars, as it makes good instruments more obtainable.
Yeah as a harmonica, and keyboards player it’s wild that they’re aren’t more pedals for non guitar instruments. Imagine what pedals could do for singers, saxophones, pianos, or other instruments. I’m surprised more don’t have effects industries
My daughter who is 22 likes my era of music. Some of the music that is classic is still played today.
People like what they are exposed to. People reward what their family rewards/favors. So the next generation liking music you exposed them to is a natural response.
Even if they claimed to hate it when younger lol.
A Parker Fly is still just about the most modern guitar you will find. Every single bit about it was thought about, updated and improved. Trouble was, they were too expensive to stay in business,. The current 'most modern' guitars are Strandbergs. They have a lot of thought and cool design features in them
Do you think anyone is juzzing?
Too ugly
@TSB-pg6yo as a company/luthier business, yes, but strandberg in its modern form started in 2007 and does not rely on fender/gibson for its designs, ethos or production decisions.
@TSB-pg6yo but i didn't say the company was modern, I said that the guitars were modern. Show me a strandberg Boden from the 80s. There is little in a Boden that comes from Strat/Les Paul lineage.
If it aint broke, DONT FIX IT
The reason we don’t change guitars is we fail to define problems to fix.
I'm good with the old designs. Except for the Les Paul headstock breakage. THAT needs to be fixed.
My 1978 Standard had a volute at the headstock. Everybody hated them, but they didn't break!
Don’t drop them and they won’t break.
@@markkenific6587 Make sure you open that plastic bubble that you live in every once in a while so you can get some fresh air.
All my guitars are based on those built between 1950 and 1965 and I am very happy with it
My son is 13 and it's the same thing - he is really into 90's grunge and metal. But he has little interest in new bands.
Guitars have evolved. Go back to the 1600s to see how they’ve changed. All the recent great and popular music has been made with Gibsons and Fenders we all know and love from the last 50 years.
Gibson Les Paul custom with JCM800...my Perfect combo since 1986.
OK, that was fun - love a bit of chit-chat with a little bit of direction. Good perspectives on a universal age-old topic.
Just going with the cliches, "if it ain't broke....." and "are you happy to see me or is that an amp in your pocket?"
I’m 72 and I like what I like. I know new music is being made with “old style” instruments but it is based on the creativity of the musician. Just get off my lawn, kid!! 😁😁
Gibson headstocks have no issue. Fine instruments are not meant to be dropped. You don’t drop your cello, violin, drums, saxophone or any other instrument. They will break. Interesting fact.
This.
I mean, I’ve never broken the headstock off of my Michael Kelly and I’ve dropped it a few times, now. So you’re saying that if it’s an expensive instrument it should be able to break from a slight drop? That sounds backwards to me.
@TSB-pg6yo yes, I said that. Here ya go: intend (something) to occur or be the case.
"they mean no harm"
@TSB-pg6yo keep trying. I’m sure I’ll care one day. Your dad might come back one day, too.
@southernpanda33 If you’ve dropped ANY instrument "a few times", that's a few times too many. You probably want to invest in a better strap with a good lock. I've dropped a guitar maybe once or twice, and I've been playing for 50 years now. Even then those drops were kind of gentle and I was able to kind of catch it at the end. Never anything tumultuous like dropping it straight down onto its headstock. I mean come on man. Be careful.
I'm an older guy, so I realize my nostalgia bias is probably at work here. But I think we are stuck in the past with guitars because the music of my generation was so freakin' good compared to music today. I see a lot of players sitting around listening and learning to play music from the late 60's and 70's - 50 years later! It would be like Jimmy Page and Skydog obsessing over the hits of the day during World War I (Think: "Over there, over there..."). The enduring excellence of the "Classic Rock" era of music is a big reason guitar innovation is dead. Saying that, I realize that 70's music took a lot of inspiration from early blues music (T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday" was written in 1942. Blind Willie McTell wrote "Statesboro Blues" in '28), but nobody ever played them like Skydog. That's why a custom shop re-issue of his '59 Cherry Burst, relic'd by Tom Murphy costs more than my car.
First I have to say intonation perfection is found in the Evertune bridge.I know lots of people dont like them butin my experience they've been great! Gear in general ? The old approaches endure because they are reliable, easy to understand and most importantly, they work... but that doesn't mean my 8 string, left handed, fan fretted , Fishman loaded Abasi doesn't also have it's place. Sometimes I want to step outside, you know?
I like the comfort of the older designs cause i been playing them for decades now. That said, I do choose the more modern types more often than a traditional or a vintage due to performance reasons. Modern gear just works better more often. I still want a strat and a les paul to do the classic thing when I need it though.
We siphoned gas out of moms car to put in the dirt bike and/or snow machine. And now we like bombay sapphire martinis. Coincidence?!?!?
I like to think that another reason Baxter doesn't play a seven string is that he doesn't want to step on the bass player's feet. Seriously, when I as a bassist am given a chance to play with someone and when I ask what they tune to the guitarist says "I'm mostly in Drop A" it makes me wonder if there's any reason for me to be there
My favorite guitar is a 2008 Les Paul Standard with '50s wiring and Fralin PAFs. But, IMO, my best sounding (with a Mesa amp), best playing, best looking guitar is a 2009 Carvin SH550 with stock S22 pickups. It is, by far, the better guitar. But, why is the LP still my favorite?
Jonathan mentioned that newer pickup designs (and Carvin/Kiesel is a perfect example) sound "sterile.". I hear that a lot. I've heard those pickups described as "hi-fi." I think if you pair them with the right amp and pedals, you can get some beautiful tones.
1968 two-door Mercedes. Yes, please!
The phrase "formative years" is self-defeating. Let the "reformation" continue unabated.
I play jazz on a 7-string Ibanez universe lol.
Another thing about innovation: serious progress was made in the early 1980’s out of necessity. Fenders and Gibsons would wear out as the good ones were over 20 years old at that stage. Serious touring bands needed reliable guitars that were bulletproof, so companies like Schecter and Steinberger built higher quality guitars for these bands (The Who, Stones, Dire Straits, Eagles etc.) out of absolute necessity. The road was much tougher than these days, with longer tours and less care in regards to temperature changes and things of this nature. Serious innovation came in the form of brass parts, higher quality finishes that didn’t flake or crack, carbon fibre bodies and necks, active electrics to suppress hum, etc. we don’t have that level of necessity these days so lack of innovation is inevitable. Things like the Evertune are brilliant advancements, but the average guitar tech (or even player) knows so much more these days that they can maintain a standard Fender or Gibson much better than in the ‘80’s!
Shut up
Great channel, but why don’t you guys sell basses???
Ewww brother ewww
I actually think guitars are way MORE innovative than most instruments (and really a lot of things). Most things became the thing and then stopped changing. Just look at an iPhone, basically all phones are now an iPhone adjacent shape.
Most if not all of the innovation that can even be done is really more for build quality and convenience than for playability at this point.
STRANDBERG!!!! ❤
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, the old guitars are great and always will be
I seen dozens of comparisons between vintage fenders vs custom shops and the old ones always sound better. At least to me
MIDI guitar synths are from the past, but they still sound like the future.
As the big rock outside of Dynamic Earth says; "The past is the key to the future"
Guitar synth was never really explored. Most of the stuff used only a few sounds.
@@Scott__C the Grateful Dead used it extensively. Check out Infrared Roses for an example. There is no MIDI stuff until the fourth song.
Don’t blame me because Leo got it right in the 50’s
If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.
The guitar is a simple instrument to create specific types of sounds. Older acoustic sounds and modern electronic sounds. The boundaries set by the music set the boundaries for the instrument. Some "innovations" tend to solve problems that don't exist, are niche, or at least are tolerable without tradeoffs introduced by new technology (see Evertune).
Great Show. Guitars are tools that create specific sounds for their players based on wood, construction and hardware and technique. To create something totally new and different would mean it is no longer a guitar but something else. That is why pedals exist. Don't mess with a good thing if it's not needed.
Guitars are a fucking cheese meant for having sex with and eating the clumps after
*DUH* what the fuck
Baxter, you are one of the few people I have heard that know what a piano forte is. Thanks, my ears did a double take when you said that.😂
Retro-futurism
I own one 7 string guitar, and I use it for country chicken pickin'. And I only use the low B string for bass runs. Sounds really good.
Old vs New is never going to get old.
Jazz on a +7-string? Sure! George Van Epps comes to mind. And if you're heavy into playing walking bass lines on guitar, then a 7 would be great!
I see some new stuff, and I think “cool”
But sometimes it isn’t
Sometimes I think it’s a solution without a problem
But if you like it, cool.
I would love a left handed piano! Do they make them.
We tend to only like things after they quit making them
Hahahaha, it's funny 'cause it's True!
I have Jethro Tull stuck in my head now!
Thick as a brick “
FYI there’s a few Jazz guys that play 7 strings. Checkout John Pizzarelli
I want to try a seven string while playing the blues because often I’m playing the high note it says a solo wish thing, and I’m playing the lower note. It says a rhythm thing and I could go no problem!
Speaking of old school vs. New school... how about something in between? Let's see a Quilter review!
It all boils down to establishing a right to an opinion, as if that alone would validate what's in the opinion. To feel :special" requires justifying that "specialness" - which can ONLY be achieved through OPINIION. The next step is critical - the ongoing attempts to prove one's opinion trumps another's.
I would be quite content with everything that would be available for a guitar player in 1965.
I can’t live in the past, I‘m sorry about that. Because when I started playing guitar there was just one Fender Strat, one Telecaster. Later there was also one Squier Strat, one Tele. Maybe one could buy a used Strat, but back then I usually thought that used guitars were worse than new guitars. Guitar players played the latest or second latest. Even Hendrix played new Strats, so he could break one, go to a guitar store and buy the same guitar again. Today there are 40 (?) different Strats and they are all new and even sound not really different.
I've been working on a new electric guitar design, from the basic idea of what Leo and Les might do if they were still around to solve problems. Thing is, they got a lot RIGHT, that people just take for granted. Respect the ones that went before because most of what you do in guitars is going to be built on top of their bedrock foundation, or you don't just disrespect grest designers. You also disrespect everyone who loved their instruments.
A sign of how conservative some of us can be is my bass player's reaction to my Fender MIJ Hybrid II Strat with its reversed Tele headstock - it freaks him out every time he sees it! 🤣😎
I prefer older styles of electronic components because I can repair them myself if I need to. If I open a guitar and see a circuit board in there, I don't know what to do. I do love Lace Sensors, but don't like active pickups, mainly because I don't want batteries in my guitar.
i dont think me need to go thru that emo thing again...
For me, in this modern age, it's about just leaving SOMETHING alone. Can I just have ONE THING that isn't constantly changing? Seems like every 2 weeks, I gotta learn something new that nobody in human history ever had to worry about. I just need to keep something pure and simple.
I think the big guys like Fender and Gibson are going to forever be chasing the bar they set in the 60s without ever reaching it.... but using modern technology they seem to be getting a lot closer, which invites the question "will they ever make a guitar better than the ones they used to make, if they only keep trying to recreate those guitars?". I think we're seeing guitar manufacturers develop serious tunnel vision, and the people who invented the guitars of the 60s weren't guitar makers... none of them had a guitar making background at all, so there was diversity in the workforce and domain knowledge that extended well beyond the scope of the work... but today we have a lot of people who've never had much work experience outside of guitar manufacturing which has enjoyed a terrible reputation for much of the last 50 years.... We've got technology to help eliminate variables, but what we don't have are truly skilled crafts people that bring outside knowledge to the table. The big players have become so bloated and invested so much into their current models that they've paralyzed themselves from even the possibility of innovation. Gibson isn't about to declare bankruptcy and then invest in a new model, they can only afford to stay very much inside the lines of expectation. So the reason we don't see a lot of innovation I feel is because the big players have immobilized themselves by design and created echo chambers in place of actual RnD.
Most gear buyers are not pro being creative, they want to sound like the pros so they have to have the gear that the pros used so no innovation is being demanded by the peeps,
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I love those Emo guitar spin fail videos where they don’t have strap locks and the guitars go flying and they have to move their little swoopy bangs to see what happened to their guitar 😂😂😂😂
i don't care for the push pull crap i just want simple controls if i want humbucker sound i buy a guitar with humbuckers if i want a single coil sound i buy a guitar with single coils,by the way i'm 71
Guitars are one of the very few precision instruments that people pay more for when they are made to look used. If I went into B&H Camera in New York and asked for a Nikon Z9 with a pre worn finish, they would throw me out. My guitars and cameras look worn because they are. They have character unlike their no talent owner. Keep up the good work.
Take one look at the Parker Fly guitar - Yea, I'll stay right here with my Les Paul
2nd ugliest thing I've ever seen.
Gojira rocked Evertunes at the Olympics
I love stainless steel frets, I've got them on 5 of my guitars, and when I have a guitar refreted, it'll be with stainless steel!
I'm going to be in a box with spider legs skittering around the surface of Mars.
Paraphrasing Prince now, Dig if you will, a picture, of an Archaeologist. 5,000 years in the future, Jonathan now in the mists. The Archaeologist finds his tomb, and brushes away the dust of a guitar, that, no longer exists. Reaching carefully inside, Jonathan's sarcophagus. OHHH SHINY! says the Archaeologist. The Archaeologist has just found Jonathan's prized Stainless Steel frets, and nothing else still exists! (bridge) They probably think that Jonathan's Giant skeleton is that of a warrior and these strange shiny noble metal arcs are some kind of badges of honor won in great battles. Little do they know, just how right they are! The End.
@TSB-pg6yo Now that's just mean. lolin' 🤣
@TSB-pg6yo Whatever dude. You obviously have no sense of humor, nor any content on your "channel". We come here to have a good time listening to the guys talking about guitars and the music business. Almost none of it is Super Serious. Laugh, smile, maybe learn something. It's great, you should try it.
Why are Gibson fender and PRS still not offering stainless steel frets in any production models. Or locking tuners. Or carbon reinforcements in necks.
Sean broke the space time continuum when he went back into the past and did the nasty in the pasty with his own g-ma. That's why.
Because people. My saying is: People only want innovation if it's exactly like what came before.
Some things dont change, gibsons, glocks, internal combustion engines,. Harley davidson. Tweeks are the best we can hope for and im ok with tthat 😂.....
😂😂😂 Do I have a space car, Yes! But I don’t play a 7 string. Golly that made me laugh! I will definitely be hauling Amp and 6 string in my flying car one day! ❤
Gadgets and whistles don’t make you a better guitar player. “Innovations” don’t necessarily fix a problem that truly exists 🤷♂️
Fender and Gibson need to get onboard with the stainless steel frets. And production 7 string models.
george van epps played 7 string back in the 60's. you probably never heard it on the radio.
@TSB-pg6yo you got video?
I feel like you guys missed the whole djent era, relating 7strings to numetal. As a person who started playing guitar about 15 years ago when djent was starting to bubble up that really made 7, 8's and 9 produced again. Those guys inspired by the nu metal crowd, petrucci and vai picked them back up and inspired guys like me. Short version is that scene is not most people or guitarists; so the big brands most thats what they know and the bands they listened to played.
I tend to play more modern instruments, my most 'vintage' inspired guitar is a prs custom 24. I tend to shy away from the gibsons (though I have an epi explorer) because of known design flaws and fenders because I don't think single coils and a pickguard look cool. Even still most modern instruments are basically a super strats that rely on magnetic induction based pickups, capacitors, and variable resistors (potentiometers), not exactly ground breaking stuff.
I'd like to see fender create some new bridges for the squire/strats that are common to find. I'm not a whammy bar guy and I've never liked the whammy on squires or strats. If they created a new lineup with a string through, non whammy bar Bridge stock I'd probably own more than 1. Maybe they do and I'm uninformed but the typical stuff at shops they sell seem to always have that dog darn damn whammy.
As long as people are making actual music that isn’t AI or pitch corrected or time corrected etc etc.
Playing a Gibson is like driving a Cadillac. Playing a Fender is like driving a Stingray.
Any chance of an arm wrestling rematch between Baxter and Jonathan? 😂
why are violin players stuck in the past?
The Chapman stick didn't really catch on, Stanley Jordan's approach to the guitar didn't catch on? We're all just trying to master the basics first, maybe?
I get Baxters comment about 7 string. I played acoustic for a long time because I had one, it didn't need an amp, I could play it anywhere I could carry it. Much later in life went electric sometimes. But stuff like a Floyd Rose is an alien thing to me even though I can do refrets, neck resets and lots of other stuff on acoustics. A Bigsby is my thing for wiggling. Stupid simple with no setup but also consider that a roller bridge saddle is a good addition with any trem. for stability. None new tech.
I like simple, sturdy and reliable. Acoustics always fit that space.
Maybe with a Gretsch Rancher with pickup and Bigsby I can have it all. YEA! What a combo....... NOT!
The main problem I have with the guitar isn’t the instrument, it’s rock’n roll music.
"Yeah, but they have neck tattoos." Savage. 😂
1st year Gen-Xer here, we ARE the new "boomers"!
Same thing as everything else...movies, games,sitcoms,cartoons, series.... These ppl.in.charge now grew up on greatness, but the ppl in charge have too much to lose, so we keep getting safe remasters ,reboots,retells, reimaginings..there's only once in a while.something that breaks through