guitarists

[Farmduck]

On 14/09/2022 at 19:32, Gordon Street said:

pretty much the same with me. There seems to be a stage, a crossroads if you like where you subconsciously ask yourself how far do I want to go with this? I suspect I reached that state and settled for what I had. Although yesterday I found a new way of playing 'I'll be your baby tonight' using e shape barre chords, which I really like.  

For me, the plateau is usually followed by hearing something different and wondering how they played it, then trying to learn that. Maybe it's more about puzzle-solving than musicality but the end result is the same - you get something new that you can tie into your existing knowledge.

I would never advise anyone to follow my path in learning guitar. It was so scattered and shallow that I've ended up with bits and pieces of everything. I started with a teacher who played C&W for about 6 months then learnt the Stones album High Tide and Green Grass. Then I only had a nylon string guitar for a while and found a book of Bossa Nova sheet music so I learnt that. Then I realised I needed to learn to read music and the only thing I had at the time was George Gershwin's I Got Rhythm Variations in Db so I slogged through that. (Db is maybe the worst key for guitarists but for pianists it's just "play all the black notes.") Then I got a couple of books of jazz guitar chord melody arrangements and slowly ground my way through that. All of this was while I was gradually learning my BB King and Muddy Waters albums not-for-note by ear, along with the standard guitar favourites back then like Pious Bird of Good Omen and the first few Santana albums.

It would have been so much easier if I had just followed some structured course where new material is sequentially revealed in a logical way, building on existing knowledge.

 

[Farmduck]

I wrote this somewhere else but it's easier to copy/paste a post here than have to do all the thinking and typing to come up with something new.

 

Hofmeiner Guitars - the mystery guitars

Based in the USA and presumably made in China, judging by their prices. The odd part is that I've never seen such an invisible guitar brand. Aside from their very comprehensive website, there is no other mention of them on the internet. I can't even remember how I found them. I think I might have read an ad on some site and in the comments somebody said, "Looks like a Hofmeiner." or something like that.

hofmeiner.com/index.php

Not a single YT video. Not a single Hofmeiner for sale anywhere except their site. No reviews.
 

What are they like? No idea. They seem to have a wide range of options in each model but sometimes even these options are confusing. Have you ever seen a guitar site that auto-defaults to "left-handed?" Why does their Firebird come in 5 colours with optional vibrato except you can't get the vibrato on the surf green model? Why can you get a Filtertron on their cherry-burst LP but only as a middle p/u between 2 humbuckers?

"How can we offer so many amazing options and looks?
Well, these guitars are made for you from scratch! This usually takes around 10 days, sometimes 20 days."
 

Technically possible I guess, if they bought bulk lots of necks and bodies, especially already painted, with tuners, bridge and pots installed. Or if they were a Chinese factory already producing most of these models as knock-offs for other brands.

What's with their model-numbering system? Take a LP Goldtop as an example: if you want a white pick guard rather than cream, then that's a different model but both models still come in 5 pickup configurations.To my thinking the pickup type and configuration defines a model more than the colour of the pick guard.

No twitter or Facebook accounts.

The "About Us" section on their site is very generic. It includes "After years of searching for the perfect custom production facility we found a guitar guru who knew every pickup, headstock shape, wiring plan and guitar finish on every guitar ever made since 1950." Really? It took you years to devise a range of Gibson and Fender knockoffs with random p/u configurations?

They even offer free shipping and make no distinction between domestic and international. They even say " our international shipping is via air-frieght.(sic)"

Their physical address is also the home of Stackry - I'm a bit lost for modern corporate-speak to explain exactly what Stackry does. They give you a USA address to shop online in US -why you'd need one is beyond me. They then have a deposit/holding service where your goods can be delivered and held and when you have a big-enough order compiled they ship them to you. Given that the bulk of online consumer goods comes from China these days, wouldn't it make more sense for this type of business to be based in China?
 

So what is Hofmeiner Guitars? I'm guessing it's a Chinese Factory - maybe a few factories - using Hofmeiner as a brand and ostensible US-based guitar importer/distributor. How is this different from Epiphone? In many ways it isn't but, with a brand name that has an actual USA presence and actual USA distributorship, there are probably better consumer protections and procedures in the case of faulty products. (a cynic might say that USA "consumer protection" laws have never prevented Gibson from continuing to operate so what good are they?)

 

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Chinese guitars. I own an Ibanez AG95 I paid $A1,000 for and I think it was worth every cent. I have an Eastwood H59, more expensive and less impressive but still more overpriced than downright bad. I have an Artist Cherry 58 which puts so many other brands to shame in terms of quality and value. There are some differences that we should distinguish between:

 

• Quality of materials. This is completely within the control of the Big Brand Name that orders the guitars. If they tell the factory to churn these things out on a $50 budget then that's what you'll get. The customer can specify every component used in the process - they could even specify which brand of paint to use or the specific metal makeup of the solder.
• Quality of construction. Even with modern CAD and CNC equipment there are variations and there are elements of construction which are still dependent on human activity. In any mass-produced line, there will be variations. The customer can set the acceptable level of variation. If a range of products becomes so variable that no individual product is indicative of the range then that is the fault of the customer for not setting standards and/or imposing penalty clauses in the contract.
• Once it leaves the factory .... : The Chinese factory has no control over how the German or American or Japanese brand distributes, markets and sells the product. They might make a product which is excellent value at $300 - a good solid beginner model that stays in tune and has no finish or construction flaws. It's not their fault if a European or American shop wants $800 for that guitar and makes all kinds of performance claims about it.

 

Getting back to Hofmeiner, would I buy one? No, but that isn't a well-informed decision on my part. In fact it's precisely the lack of information which would stop me from considering one. If any aspiring Chinese manufacturer wants to get a foothold in the broader market they need to accept the standard (these days) process. They need to pay up for some YouTube guitar demo channels to play their guitars - RJ Ronquillo or Brett Kingman would be two random channels that come to mind. Send some models to Phillip McKnight or Landon Bailey - again, just random examples - who will pull the guitars part and discuss the various component parts and construction.

 

There are so many brands and models around now that, even living in Sydney, I wouldn't get the opportunity to try them out before I bought one. It isn't just obscure low-volume or new brands. If I wanted to try a Gretsch Black Falcon is there any guitar shop in Sydney that currently has one in stock? I doubt it. Even something at half that price, say, a Yamaha SA2200, a standard jazz, blues, rock type guitar that's been around for decades. Most shops in Sydney would sell it as soon as it came in so I still wouldn't get to play one.

 

YouTube videos are an essential part of guitar marketing and Hofmeiner needs to address that if they want to grow.

Edited December 12, 2022 by Farmduck

[Farmduck]

For Gibson obsessives, particularly fans of the hollow and semi-hollow Gibsons, 100+ pages about Gibsons.

WARNING: Contains endless guitar porn.

https://ia800208.us.archive.org/25/items/The_Gibson_Archtop_Bible_2015_UK/The_Gibson_Archtop_Bible_2015_UK.pdf

Edited December 19, 2022 by Farmduck

[Farmduck]

The Estate of Peter Green is selling some of his old gear. It's great for memorabilia and conversation pieces but surprisingly short on good guitars. When I say "good" I mean the well-above average models you usually find in these celebrity auctions and clean-outs. For example, he has a lot of Tanglewood models. They are based in UK so they probably gave them to him trying to arrange some endorsement but they're just another budget-level Chinese guitar. He even had an AXL, which is mainly an ebay range of Chinese guitars.

Some of the price estimates seem all over the place. They have a DeArmond Jetstar - just a 1990s Korean copy of the old Guild model - estimated at nearly twice the price of a 1935 Epiphone acoustic and an Epiphone Korina Explorer.

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29196/man-of-the-world-the-peter-green-collection/?page=4

[Futtocks]

1 hour ago, Farmduck said:

The Estate of Peter Green is selling some of his old gear. It's great for memorabilia and conversation pieces but surprisingly short on good guitars. When I say "good" I mean the well-above average models you usually find in these celebrity auctions and clean-outs. For example, he has a lot of Tanglewood models. They are based in UK so they probably gave them to him trying to arrange some endorsement but they're just another budget-level Chinese guitar. He even had an AXL, which is mainly an ebay range of Chinese guitars.

Some of the price estimates seem all over the place. They have a DeArmond Jetstar - just a 1990s Korean copy of the old Guild model - estimated at nearly twice the price of a 1935 Epiphone acoustic and an Epiphone Korina Explorer.

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29196/man-of-the-world-the-peter-green-collection/?page=4

As you said, an odd variety. Some nice Gretsch and resonator guitars, along with the odd grab-bag of other stuff. I never knew Pignose made a guitar, as well as their famous practice amp.

[Farmduck]

 

[Farmduck]

Firstly, I know "listicles" exist to drive clicks. And every internet publisher knows that angry, even abusive comments drive exposure even more, so if you do a listicle, might as well make it controversial. So along comes the Rolling Stone 250 greatest guitarists of all time list.

I know the difference between a "10 Greatest ..." list and a "My 10 Favourite ..." list but this list, which we would assume was a collaboration between the various music writers and contributors at Rolling Stone, isn't either. These lists always have a bias towards the more recent because those people are still in people's minds. They also generally have a bias towards American artists because the writers and/or voters, if it's a public poll, tend to skew American.

They also skew towards male artists because most guitarists are male - since most people who take up the guitar are male, it stands to reason that those who ascend to higher levels of playing will be more likely to be male - this is a simple variation on the RL numbers game, where Australia produces a lot of good RL players because it produces the highest total of players at the bottom of the pyramid.

This list attempts to address some of these points. Firstly we see 2 women in the top 10 - Rosetta Tharpe and Joni Mitchell. There are also a few African guitarists and one from the Bahamas.

The YT Guitarosphere has launched a few videos criticising the list, mainly for the players who didn't make the cut: Holdsworth, George Benson, Joe Pass are 3 pretty amazing omissions. Larry Carlton is on there but the only other player associated with Steely Dan who is listed is Hugh McCracken. Now Hugh did play the guitar work on Hey Nineteen but that was about his only solo on any of their albums. Meanwhile Elliott Randall, Denny Dias and Jeff Baxter didn't make the cut. Also Hugh is listed as "Hugh McCracken (Steely Dan)" when he did work on over 100 albums before his first Steely Dan session. And they weren't obscure nobody-type albums. They included James Brown, Paul McCartney and Aretha Franklin.

https://blog.truefire.com/guitar-lessons/celebrating-rolling-stones-250-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time/

Edited October 25, 2023 by Farmduck

[JonM]

Amazing how more than 95% of the greatest guitarists of all time come from America or Britain, isn't it? 

[Futtocks]

Have a listen to this - a fretless baritone guitar.

 

[Farmduck]

13 hours ago, Futtocks said:

Have a listen to this - a fretless baritone guitar.

 

That pointy but on the high side, right where it would dig into your ribs doesn't seem like such a great idea. I wondered for ages why all those metal players would tune down their standard guitars instead of just buying a baritone.

[Futtocks]

7 hours ago, Farmduck said:

That pointy but on the high side, right where it would dig into your ribs doesn't seem like such a great idea. I wondered for ages why all those metal players would tune down their standard guitars instead of just buying a baritone.

Baritones aren't mass-produced, though.

It's like how restringing a right-handed guitar used to be the only choice for most people who wanted to play left-handed. You can get LH instruments a lot easier at most price points these days.

[Padge]

On 12/09/2022 at 10:41, Farmduck said:

 

 

Here's a video I made back in 2009 for a competition on the old guitar.com site where we had 90 seconds to play something.

 

Jigsaw Puzzle Blues, brilliant B side to Fleetwood Mac's (original) Albatross.

[Farmduck]

For those among us with a couple of hundred grand burning a hole in their pockets, Christie's presents the Mark Knopfler auction.

https://www.christies.com/en/events/the-mark-knopfler-guitar-collection/what-is-on

They want £40 just for the catalogue but the few snippets they've shown surprised me a bit. There's all the stuff he used on all the big albums. I'm not very sentimental but, considering Knopfler's career trajectory, I would keep the Strat he used on Sultans of Swing. (even though it wasn't even a Strat, apparently, some well-made knock-off)

Because of my financial reality I don't know if I'd ever pay huge $$$ for celebrity premium on a guitar. My Gibson 335 was supposedly owned by Vincent Nguini who was in the Paul Simon band for about 20 years but the guitar is a 2008 model so he didn't use it on any famous Simon albums and Simon's music isn't renowned for its guitar solos. I also can't find any picture of Vincent ever playing a 335.

Hypothetically, if I was a gazillionaire, I might want the Strat Hendrix used at Woodstock but Hendrix went through a lot of guitars so clearly he didn't think any specific axe was all that special.

The 2 items in the Knopfler collection that interest me are the 60s cheapies - an EKO 700v4 and a Teisco Spectrum 5, both great examples of Italian and Japanese 60s guitar kitsch. Oddly both have the logo badges missing. If I had Knopfler's resources and guitar connections I would have sorted that out but, to me, the Eko badge is central to the whole aesthetic of those guitars.

[Futtocks]

Knopfler was interviewed about the sale a couple of days ago. When asked if this meant the end of him buying guitars and just being happy with what he's kept, his response was on the lines of "of course not, I haven't learned a thing!"

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Farmduck said:

They want £40 just for the catalogue 

This is not surprising. The catalogue itself will probably have a few essays as well as HQ photography of all items and researched provenance details etc - and will, itself, become a collectable going for several hundred a go in due course.

Edited December 6, 2023 by gingerjon

[Farmduck]

43 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Knopfler was interviewed about the sale a couple of days ago. When asked if this meant the end of him buying guitars and just being happy with what he's kept, his response was on the lines of "of course not, I haven't learned a thing!"

I can relate somewhat. When I started playing, guitars were this expensive luxury item you had to save up forever to buy. Now, even on the Pension, I could probably buy a reasonable playable new guitar every month if I wanted to. (I've actually set myself a limit and I'm on a no-guitar embargo until the end of the year. I've still got an Italia Torino I bought on Yahoo Japan auction 9 months ago and haven't even unpacked it yet. I paid $A3800 for a White Falcon in July 2022 and I haven't even plugged it in yet. It's a sickness!)

And the one I've been playing all year is an Artist 335 which are only $A300 brand new, including delivery.

[Farmduck]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

This is not surprising. The catalogue itself will probably have a few essays as well as HQ photography of all items and researched provenance details etc - and will, itself, become a collectable going for several hundred a go in due course.

Yes and surprising he wouldn't have hired a photographer to put together a coffee-table book of his collection. I've seen a couple of excerpts from the catalogue and it is, as you say, a hugely-expensive guitar accompanied by some back story.

[Futtocks]

Yikes! 

 

[Phil]

I’ve only got two basses these days, a fender jazz bass which is my go to for gigging and a peavey which is a nice mid cost back up model 

[Farmduck]

28 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Yikes! 

 

Very interesting concept but you'd have to be as good as Charles Berthoud to do anything with it. When I see all these extended-range variations on guitar/bass, I wonder why they don't just get a piano.

[Farmduck]

33 minutes ago, Phil said:

I’ve only got two basses these days, a fender jazz bass which is my go to for gigging and a peavey which is a nice mid cost back up model 

I wish I could say the same about my guitars.

[Futtocks]

35 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

Very interesting concept but you'd have to be as good as Charles Berthoud to do anything with it. When I see all these extended-range variations on guitar/bass, I wonder why they don't just get a piano.

Well, either Charles Berthoud or Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

[Farmduck]

29 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Well, either Charles Berthoud or Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

I don't know how many times I've seen that movie and only just realised that was Jesse Ventura.

[Futtocks]

12 minutes ago, Farmduck said:

I don't know how many times I've seen that movie and only just realised that was Jesse Ventura.

You didn't recognise a goddamned sexual tyrannosaurus?

[Farmduck]

Just now, Futtocks said:

You didn't recognise a goddamned sexual tyrannosaurus?

But he usually looks like this (in my mind)

I never watched wrestling.