Etherial Guitars

[Fred the Shred]

To be honest, should they ever go "man, it's really time to up the QC and raise the prices accordingly so this stops being a shitshow" I can see hordes of dudes that would never buy one even before whining about the prices anyway, and since people seem keen on paying the Tesselating Hack, it's not like there's any motivation to do so, seeing as a) he doesn't give a fuck and b) people are giving him money anyway.

 

[Demiurge]

Maybe this is exactly what the builder is aiming for now. If you want a thoughtfully-designed, expertly built guitar, go elsewhere and expect to pay beaucoup bucks. If you want to plunk-down $2k for a sci-fi can opener that will drop jaws from 2 yards away- considering that the average person looking at it won't know or care about design flaws- there's your ticket.

 

[odibrom]

In most parts of the world 2k$ for a guitar is still a lot of money and the guitar should be expected (almost) perfect.

 

[MoonJelly]

In most parts of the world 2k$ for a guitar is still a lot of money and the guitar should be expected (almost) perfect.

Ummm, no. $2k may be a fairly low to standard price for a production guitar built in the USA. Not for a custom shop, one-off instrument, in any part of the world.

If it's a guitar with custom specs, you're looking at $3k and up, my friend.

 

[Ordacleaphobia]

Ummm, no. $2k may be a fairly low to standard price for a production guitar built in the USA. Not for a custom shop, one-off instrument, in any part of the world.

If it's a guitar with custom specs, you're looking at $3k and up, my friend.

I think you're looking at his post through SSO-goggles.
He said it's a lot of money for a guitar; not a custom guitar, or anything related to country of origin. In that aspect, he's quite correct- for $2,000 I can buy a brand new, decently specced guitar off the rack and it'll more often than not be perfect or 'close enough.'

Obviously though, that's just 'a guitar,' not a custom guitar or some stringed piece of alien xenomorph weaponry. But when you strip out all of the whacky shapes, W necks and such out of the equation, end of the day, it's still a guitar, and that's still a lot of money for a guitar. Whether it's reasonable to expect the guy to be able to deliver that entire package at that pricepoint is another discussion, but homeboy's gotta remember he's not selling art pieces. He's selling guitars.

Just sayin'. I'd pay him more than what he's asking for if he could build me an actual, functioning guitar that plays at least on the level of a quality Ibanez.

 

[cip 123]

To be quite honest, whoever runs Etherial may be nothing sort of a Genius.

They've seen in this world of Jared Dines and djent kids, that people are willing to shell out for RAD 20 string guitars that wouldn't even be properly playable if they were built by the Lord himself...and they've gone all in with concave necks, banana frets, and a life time guarantee of cuts from their edgy designs.

 

[MoonJelly]

I think you're looking at his post through SSO-goggles.
He said it's a lot of money for a guitar; not a custom guitar, or anything related to country of origin. In that aspect, he's quite correct- for $2,000 I can buy a brand new, decently specced guitar off the rack and it'll more often than not be perfect or 'close enough.'

Obviously though, that's just 'a guitar,' not a custom guitar or some stringed piece of alien xenomorph weaponry. But when you strip out all of the whacky shapes, W necks and such out of the equation, end of the day, it's still a guitar, and that's still a lot of money for a guitar. Whether it's reasonable to expect the guy to be able to deliver that entire package at that pricepoint is another discussion, but homeboy's gotta remember he's not selling art pieces. He's selling guitars.

Just sayin'. I'd pay him more than what he's asking for if he could build me an actual, functioning guitar that plays at least on the level of a quality Ibanez.

I get what you're saying and I agree...I maybe didn't state clearly enough, Etherial advertises as a custom builder with lots of extra options, the price should be higher if they're investing enough time in each instrument for the QA to be halfway decent.

But this is not an 'SSO' idea...even a Fender production strat can be $2k or more with really standard specs. They make hundreds of them a year.

$2000 may be a lot of money to a lot of people, but I don't think it's a lot of money for a quality musical instrument.

 

[diagrammatiks]

I get what you're saying and I agree...I maybe didn't state clearly enough, Etherial advertises as a custom builder with lots of extra options, the price should be higher if they're investing enough time in each instrument for the QA to be halfway decent.

But this is not an 'SSO' idea...even a Fender production strat can be $2k or more with really standard specs. They make hundreds of them a year.

$2000 may be a lot of money to a lot of people, but I don't think it's a lot of money for a quality musical instrument.

Maybe we can all agree that 2k is too much money for a piece of shit.

 

[Fred the Shred]

Given that guitars aren't instantly built, thing about pricing is basically making a profit while making sure the hourly rate paid to the building team in the process, mats and operational margin are covered (naturally, things like CNCs and reusable infrastructural needs are not going to have their recoup included in the cost of a single instrument). Most of these fly-by-night luthiers have a pricing structure that makes it so that their hourly wage is dismal, there's no operational margin in the slightest, and... what's profit again? One can't be surprised the end result is subpar, and excusing poor craftsmanship with a financial limitation that comes from none other than the company itself is disingenuous, really.

 

[@zwen]

Reminds me of this instrument:
View attachment 72996

I actually like how this one looks. But this person really didn't understand the ergonomic aspects behind the Oni fanfrets. I mean, there's multiple places you can read up on what the thought process behind those were, and it had very little to do with aesthetics.

How is the weight on these, by the way?

I don’t notice the weight too much because I’m fit, but it is a very heavy instrument compared to something like a Les Paul.

 

[Synesthesia]

I did almost go with this design, and I’m glad I didn’t. It was originally drawn up for someone else.

View attachment 72968

What is the purpose of the banjo-esque half fretted low string? I get why a banjo has it. But on a banjo the string terminates there. To have the string continue on, it becomes a drone string?... with some fretable notes? Why not just fret the rest?

 

[@zwen]

What is the purpose of the banjo-esque half fretted low string? I get why a banjo has it. But on a banjo the string terminates there. To have the string continue on, it becomes a drone string?... with some fretable notes? Why not just fret the rest?

I honestly couldn’t tell you. Zero frets serve a purpose when playing open notes, but I don’t really notice anything different when I play.

 

[Synesthesia]

I honestly couldn’t tell you. Zero frets serve a purpose when playing open notes, but I don’t really notice anything different when I play.

I dont mean a zero fret. I meant on the plan you posted (the instrument you almost went with). The lowest string has a fretboard only under half of its length. There are higher frets but then the fretboard ends. It would essentially just be a drone string below the fretted section. I know you said it was designed for someone else. I was just curious what the thought process would be behind it.

 

[@zwen]

I dont mean a zero fret. I meant on the plan you posted (the instrument you almost went with). The lowest string has a fretboard only under half of its length. There are higher frets but then the fretboard ends. It would essentially just be a drone string below the fretted section. I know you said it was designed for someone else. I was just curious what the thought process would be behind it.

My bad, dude. I honestly don’t know. It’s a 12 string guitar with a headstock that utilizes headless tuners. It hurts my eyes. At least my Azwen stays in tune lol.

 

[BlackMastodon]

That thing looks like a meme someone on here would make to make fun of Etherial. There's so much wrong with that abomination that I didn't even realize the lowest string doesn't have most of a fretboard under it until Synesthesia mentioned it.

Also, it bothers me way more than it should that they spelled the name of the company with an i instead of an e.

 

[spudmunkey]

[QUOTE="BlackMastodon, post: 5058453, member: 29158"

Also, it bothers me way more than it should that they spelled the name of the company with an i instead of an e.[/QUOTE]

(I assume) it's a Herman Melville reference.

 

[lewis]

Damn in in love with these designs.
These and class are like the main designs i find totally appealing to me these days.