Stoner-Riff
What do you think of non-wooden guitars ?
Would you ply one ?
Or better yet, would you splash out the money to buy an all-CARBON guitar ?
Or are you from the chool of thought thet only wood is good enough ?
Let's hear what the soof arrfrikans have to say . . .
NorioDS
If it sounds good and looks good, I'll play it ?
Stoner-Riff
Norio wrote
If it sounds good and looks good, I'll play it ?
But would you blow
10 Thou on it ?
Bob-Dubery
Stoner Riff wrote
Norio wrote
If it sounds good and looks good, I'll play it ?
But would you blow
10 Thou on it ?
What are you going to pay for an MIA Strat these days?
I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand at that price. I'd want to play it, feel the quality of the instrument and ask stupid questions like "does it come in blueburst?"
Bob-Dubery
Here's a demo of the Blade.
Seems like a hot-rodders' delight in some regards, though there may be problems cutting it to fit another pup.
PeteM
Anything goes - I'm too old to be a bigot. 8)
AlanRatcliffe
We had another thread on this guitar just after it came out, but damned if I can find it now...
Yeah - $799 is a breakthrough price for what it is. You can pay that for a MIM Strat, let alone a US model. It has decent pickups and guys are already modding them. We're seeing the beginning of a new era: wood exits stage left, composites enter stage right.
Composite guitars have been around since the '80s Steinbergers and recently things like the XoX Handle. The biggest drawback stopping people adopting them up until now have been the cheapness of the competition (wood) and the expense of making the composites. Older composite designs all come in well over $2K. Of course, composites are getting cheaper and wood is getting rarer and more expensive. People are getting more environmentally conscious.
Time marches on... Most of us will probably stick with the vagaries of wood for now (you stick with what you know), but our kids (or grandkids for us ole folks) will be playing the descendants of these things. They'll probably be appalled by the inconsistencies of tone and instability of our guitars and wonder how we ever "made do" without composites.
I've said it before, but I'm also pretty sure we're going to see more of this kind of thing mated with modelling technology.
[deleted]
I like them to a point...
but wood is living, breathing, organic, it's crafted into something beautiful, very often by hand, the look of woods, the grain, the touch, the whole experince is different...
All the different tonal qualities, be it that some may be inconsistent, that means that some would be exeptional too, and to say "My guitar has (Rosewood, Mahogany, Koa, Walnut, Ziricote, Blackwood, Pink Ivory, Italian Spruce, Red Cedar, etc etc etc whatever it may be)
Must surely be better than saying my guitar is made of... well... carbon fibre... :'(
It's not the same, never will be... You can't connect with it...
You get tree huggers... Not plastic lovers...
So I am happy to have my wood thanks... ?
aubs1
I believe I am pretty open-minded about new technologies, be it guitars, or my other passion.......guns....... ? Carbon-fibre, Titanium and even plastics have a place and serve a purpose in many applications, and if it does the job well, ........well.......that's cool..... 8)
Would I buy one of these guitars......I don't know, right now I don't think so, here I would concur with Brent......wood is just so much more "warm and alive"......
WantzChas
If it is better than wood in terms of sound and durability, why not? I'll always have a guitar made of wood though, call me nostalgic.
PeteM
aubs1 wrote
I believe I am pretty open-minded about new technologies, be it guitars, or my other passion.......guns....... ? Carbon-fibre, Titanium and even plastics have a place and serve a purpose in many applications, and if it does the job well, ........well.......that's cool..... 8)
Would I buy one of these guitars......I don't know, right now I don't think so, here I would concur with Brent......wood is just so much more "warm and alive"......
I'm not a bunny hugger and violate green practices every day of my life, although I am sympathetic to the cause in a guilty sort of way. But hey, I would have thought 'that wood was so much more warm and alive' when it is in a living tree. I can understand the continued use of wood in an acoustic guitar, but as soon as we went electric and modified the sound waves we moved away from the natural timbre created by wood.
Heath
I would love a composite guitar .
but i think we gonna end up been like amps the argument between solid state and valve , with composite guitars that that have electronics trying to mimic wood guitars . Its just the natural progression of technology
[deleted]
PeteM wrote
but as soon as we went electric and modified the sound waves we moved away from the natural timbre created by wood.
I have to disagree.
The wood used in electrics still plays a major part... and the differences are not even subtle!
Just take the difference between a rosewood neck and a maple neck for eg?
What are you going to have with a composite guitar?
They all the same? so if it's to bright... what you going to do to change it?
end up putting a rosewood neck on anyway?
Just seems limited to me... No choices.
But that doesn't mean I wouldn't try one.. who knows maybe I like it ?
PeteM
Brentcgp wrote
PeteM wrote
but as soon as we went electric and modified the sound waves we moved away from the natural timbre created by wood.
I have to disagree.
The wood used in electrics still plays a major part... and the differences are not even subtle!
Just take the difference between a rosewood neck and a maple neck for eg?
What are you going to have with a composite guitar?
They all the same? so if it's to bright... what you going to do to change it?
end up putting a rosewood neck on anyway?
Just seems limited to me... No choices.
But that doesn't mean I wouldn't try one.. who knows maybe like it ?
I reckon the choices will come with with further development of compounds. And different compounds will produce varying timbres. Different from wood but producing a tone that might well become highly sought after. Flutes were made of wood producing a particular timbre but was superceeded by metal because flautests preferred the tone and has now become the norm. I'm quite sure the purists of the day criticized the tone produced by the metal flute.
Sean
Agree with Pete, surely as composites become more popular, different types, densities and whatever other variable characteristics there are in the technology will be used to create different tones.
Forums of the future will probably be rife with threads like "Fender X52-CarboBright vs Gibson SXX7-PlastiSparkle" and "I'd rather vaporize my face with Octoplasm than touch an Ibanezium -TitanoShred" ?
AlanRatcliffe
+1 Pete. Yup, we're kind of stuck on wood and the tones it creates, but that doesn't mean that the next generation of players will be. The instrument is evolving. Evolve or die baby, evolve or die - or the musical equivalent (end up playing shopping centres and old folks homes ?).
Steel strung guitars were a way to make the nylon string guitars that preceded them louder, but they sounded different and eventually spawned their own playing style. Ditto with electric guitars. A composite guitar may not sound exactly like the guitars we grew up/grew as players with, but that doesn't make them any less valid as instruments. If composites become commonplace, the music may even follow and evolve into something else that suits it better (or vice versa). See the bit in red in my sig below.
Anyway, things have already changed quite a bit, compare a '40s/'50s Tele/Strat/Les Paul to a modern basswood bodied, Floyd Rosed, EMG'd Superstrat - which (arguably) better suits more modern, heavier styles of music. The two coexist side by side.
The only thing we must really watch out for is that we don't let the manufacturers trap us into the electronics upgrade cycle.
aubs1
Sean wrote
Forums of the future will probably be rife with threads like "Fender X52-CarboBright vs Gibson SXX7-PlastiSparkle" and "I'd rather vaporize my face with Octoplasm than touch an Ibanezium -TitanoShred" ?
Hahahahaha.....I like that Sean......and some manufacturer will produce the perfect Effects pedal that will "perfectly" simulate all the wood sounds you could think of......like just punch in....."Madagascar Rosewood", and you'd be safe and SOUND!!!! .......... ?....
But I'll continue to have an open mind.......like Alan says....."Evolve or Die"..... ?
Stoner-Riff
WOW . . . what a great response form you all . . . KEEP 'EM COMMING !
?
chris77
I suppose I might change my mind if I play a composite model and it blows me away, but sorry, guitars have got to be made of wood for me. It just feels right and I dont know if a masterful airbrush or spray job would evoke the same feelings that a nice natural finish does.
BMU
I am so there. That thing is gorgeous. Only 10k? Nice. (The body style is a bit on the traditional side though, don't like that too much. Need something a bit more aggressive. But then I'm sure it could grow on me.)
I love the real, non-wood Parker Fly too. A friend had one, it sounded and played fantastic. I'd still love to add that and a Steinberger to my collection.
Personally, I can't get far enough away from the boredom deathgrip that Fender/Gibson have on the industry. Also I'm convinced we'll be able to precision engineer sound qualities with composites soon enough, rather than rely on those unruly organic lifeform thingies. Like my great-gran always said, if you want it done right, do it in a lab.
