Unpopular opinions on gear

[Mathemagician]

I actually think PRS aesthetic points diminish with every dent and scratch. Have you ever seen a relic PRS? A worn PRS that is as beautiful as a worn Gibson LP or Fender? Nope.

Because you’re thinking of pretty figured tops. Imagine a say well worn gold top, different story then imo. Most relic’d Fenders and Gibson’s I’ve seen are either black, white, or like a simple tobacco burst. Not a body that’s flamed maple silver with orange accents, and flamed maple neck.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

Im just talking shit for funsies. But absolutely agree. I have everything from Mayones to Gibsons. As long as they have a good setup then I'm fine. Richie Kotzen, Andy Wood, Yngwie, Jeff Beck, Nick Johnston, etc all have no issues shredding on Strat and Teles with those large heels and 21-22 frets. EVH only used 22 frets.

And I agree... very few guitarists shred up to 24 ever. If they do it’s usually only on the high B and E. And any good guitarist can substitute bends to reach those same notes.

If one of the most prolific shredders of all time could shred on this, then all excuses are moot. Only 22 frets and a chunky dad-rock heel. (My understanding is he recorded Perpetual Burn and Speed Metal Symphony with the white one)

My main reason for primarily using guitars with 24 frets is that I tend to base where my fretting hand goes relative to the 24th fret side marker whenever I'm playing up above the 17th fret or so. It takes me a minute to adjust my mental "fulcrum" when I play guitars with 21 or 22 frets. That said, I don't do a whole lot of shredding to begin with

As for the fret access comments, I agree with most people here who say it's overemphasized a lot. It matters to a degree, but not to the Rusty Cooley degree I'm fine with the block heel on my Tele, though I do have some issues on full-thickness Les Paul style guitars. My ESP M-1 is an absolute dream for fret access, though

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

The B.C. Rich Draco was an awesome guitar as long as you have the look for it.

 

[sirbuh]

That white Hurricane is maybe my favourite guitar ever. Does anyone know if they're actually any good? I check eBay and Reverb for them every so often but rarely find anything.

From what I can tell after digging into the JB forum posts, nothing notable hence the price.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Get a V if fret access is that much of an issue.

 

[Matt08642]

Chugging open power chords is actually one of the most useful things someone can do in a demo, IMO. Everything sounds the same when playing widdly widdly leads; big, held chords and palm-mutes are where you really hear what something sounds like.

Right, and it's cool if that's part of what someone plays, but I'm more wary of the overall lack of experience and technique a lot of "Review channel" people present which leads them to only play stuff like that. Often paired with some pre-configured software plugin/AFX Preset/Kemper profile, singing the praises of the 45th pickup they've put in the guitar since they bought it 4 months ago (then it's gone in the next video for some bogus reason like "I just didn't get along with the purpleheart strips in the neck, everyone knows purpleheart shaves a bit off the 10.7KHz range")

Basically the culture of the very gear forums I visit irritates me

Well, that and I think I dug a hole by saying "Just plays 0 0 0 0 0" since it wasn't really what I intended from the first message

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Chugging open power chords is actually one of the most useful things someone can do in a demo, IMO. Everything sounds the same when playing widdly widdly leads; big, held chords and palm-mutes are where you really hear what something sounds like.

People gave shit to Ola back in the day (and still do ) because all he'd do is chuggachugga chunk chunk and power chords. But (at the time) that was WAY better than everyone using shitty phone camera recordings trying to play either '80s lead, jazz fusion, or blues box licks on a TriAxis to show off "metal tones.

 

[Choop]

Get a V if fret access is that much of an issue.

Depends on the V. The fret access on my V is maybe the worst of all my guitars XD though the Explorer isn't great either.

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

Depends on the V. The fret access on my V is maybe the worst of all my guitars XD though the Explorer isn't great either.

What the hell kind of V do you have that fret access is a problem?

 

[Choop]

What the hell kind of V do you have that fret access is a problem?

It's a Gibson V. The fretboard sits over the body a bit deep and the back doesn't taper in like a Jackson to compensate, but at least your hand doesn't run into any horns like on the Explorer. Most V's aren't too bad, but I feel like it's a misconception that they all have godly upper fret access. Some of the older ESP Alexi V's had the same problem--I used to have the early run Alexi 600, and it got chunky toward the last few frets. Pretty sure that was changed later on those.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

People gave shit to Ola back in the day (and still do ) because all he'd do is chuggachugga chunk chunk and power chords. But (at the time) that was WAY better than everyone using shitty phone camera recordings trying to play either '80s lead, jazz fusion, or blues box licks on a TriAxis to show off "metal tones.

Reason I follow Killertonetexas Jason on Youtube, too. Gives me a better idea of how amps sound in a context that I tend to use.

 

[budda]

I actually think PRS aesthetic points diminish with every dent and scratch. Have you ever seen a relic PRS? A worn PRS that is as beautiful as a worn Gibson LP or Fender? Nope.

Yes and it's in my basement.

 

[DrakkarTyrannis]

It's a Gibson V. The fretboard sits over the body a bit deep and the back doesn't taper in like a Jackson to compensate, but at least your hand doesn't run into any horns like on the Explorer. Most V's aren't too bad, but I feel like it's a misconception that they all have godly upper fret access. Some of the older ESP Alexi V's had the same problem--I used to have the early run Alexi 600, and it got chunky toward the last few frets. Pretty sure that was changed later on those.

Welp....Play Authentic...

 

[Science_Penguin]

I actually think PRS aesthetic points diminish with every dent and scratch. Have you ever seen a relic PRS? A worn PRS that is as beautiful as a worn Gibson LP or Fender? Nope.

Come to think of it, how many guitars can you name besides Gibson and Fender that actually look good worn?

I'm struggling to think of any.

 

[budda]

Come to think of it, how many guitars can you name besides Gibson and Fender that actually look good worn?

I'm struggling to think of any.

Anything with a similar body shape.

 

[MASS DEFECT]

Come to think of it, how many guitars can you name besides Gibson and Fender that actually look good worn?

I'm struggling to think of any.

Most Superstrats except the ultra modern ones like Solars or Ibanez. Basically if they look like a classic Soloist or a Charvel hotrod, they should look great worn.

 

[Emperoff]

It's also staggering how poorly a lot of people play considering the gear they have. Not that certain gear makes you better, or you don't "deserve" better gear even if you're terrible, but it worries me seeing a "review" for a $6000 instrument talking about all these subtleties and then when they start playing it looks like they've never held a pick before, or just chug 0 0 0 0 0 0 and talk about how the burl "really tightens up the low end while keeping things dynamic"

The worrisome part is that people might associate the person owning very expensive gear with having a "more valid" perspective than someone else, when the person doing the review is still very much learning what they want/what's "good" to them

Tell me you've seen that YouTube video where a guy compares 21 high dollar guitars. 45 minutes of video with the same two riffs over and over

How many burls can you find?

 

[jco5055]

Tell me you've seen that YouTube video where a guy compares 21 high dollar guitars. 45 minutes of video with the same two riffs over and over

How many burls can you find?

Does this guy live in Chicago? Only asking because (and not to change subjects) on the Chicago craigslist a dude is selling almost $70,000 of high-end guitars, 22 in total, including Viks, Barlows, Aristides, Skervesen etc

 

[Matt08642]

Tell me you've seen that YouTube video where a guy compares 21 high dollar guitars. 45 minutes of video with the same two riffs over and over

How many burls can you find?

Never seen this before but it's not the worst of what I was thinking - Insane amount of instruments and meme guitars there though. It's like when you chop a tree down and count the rings, you can see the SSO/forum fad rings in this video

 

[Alex79]

This is what happens when everyone thinks they need to turn every hobby/interest into a hustle. We have enough YouTube and IG guitarists/gear reviewers trying to get enough views to monetize their content.

Plus their reviews have to be positive, cause otherwise they don’t get stuff sent to review anymore.
You can basically chuck 90% of the reviews on well known YouTube channels in the bin. Go through the video channels of Phillip McNight, Ola, Rabea, the guy with the beard, Pete Thorn & try to find a “negative review”. Just a coincidence? Is all the new gear so awesome? I think Eytsh Pi is the only one where I came across some negative comments (some TC Electronic pedals) , and he’s basically on Thomann’s payroll.