a Producer friend of mine recently said " We don't sell product any more, we sell the image of a product. The actual products quality is irrelevant "
Printable View
a Producer friend of mine recently said " We don't sell product any more, we sell the image of a product. The actual products quality is irrelevant "
A few years back there was a big difference between Gibson and it's Epiphone replica but by the sounds of things that has sadly deteriorated in recent times and making it extremely difficult to justify their ridiculously high price point.
Have to agree that what we once sneered at could now be a better proposition, as it is probably only snob value that keeps driving new sales for them.
I've just caught up on this thread and I think Dedders captured what's happening. Enthusiastic, just out off college, "Hipsters" who think they now all there is to know about everything.
At some point the brand becomes the product. Does anyone really believe that Marshall makes headphones? Is a Fender a Fender or a knock off?
Leo Fender was a genius, both in terms of innovative designs and figuring how to make them incredibly simply.
Les Paul was a genius, Paul Bigsby...and on and on. I have one of the only Fenders ever designed by Roger Rossmeisl. It's cool not because it's a Fender, and not because he deigned a bunch of Rickenbackers. It's cool because he designed s cool guitar, which should be the only thing that counts.
As long as we allow brands to tell us more than our hands and ears and even eyes we will live in a world where my '75 Precision is worth three times what my '94 G&L bass is worth, even though the G&L is better in every way.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk
The worst part of the gibbon going under, (if it does actually happen) is the loss of work for me repairing broken headstocks, re dressing frets because of that stupid pleck BS and installing new machine heads that actually keep the strings in tune... to name just a few issues I seem to be always fixing.. Oh well, looks like I might have to wait a few more years before I can buy that 69' Chevvy Impala..
There will still be a legacy of Epi's and Gibbons to fix over the coming years DB - certainly enough to keep food on the table.
From what I understand, a Plek Machine is a special CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) Machine that is used to level the frets of a guitar after they have been individually height-measured, it can supposedly level frets to a very high degree of precision, allowing optimal playability of a guitar, apparently the neck on my Gibson USA LP Studio guitar has been Pleked at the Gibson factory.
DB, and other luthiers, despise Plek because often it can cause damage to the fretboard. It is basically a robot shortcut for fret "levelling" that can't compete with a human fret "dressing". And I don't think it is cheaper to get done either.