I recently picked up a Dean Tonic F model. Two double rail pick-ups and tapped. Tonally a little leaner than a Gibson hbucker and sounds like a fender in single coil position. I really like the tone and the guitar is very playable. Solid Mahogany body, bolt-on maple neck with rosewood fboard. My theory is a good sounding guitar sounds good unplugged as well, and I played everything in the store. The best sounding one was a Charvel, used at 700 bucks. Next best the Dean and a Hamer and the Dean was prettier. ...
Yes. If a guitar doesn't sound decent unplug. It'll be a dog when plugged. Just amplifying its uglyness when it's plugged.
I am totally convinced price, where/who makes it, name/brand, age, etc., have very little, or NO direct relationship to the ACTUAL PERFORMANCE of the guitar.
30, 40 years ago. Yes. But not these days.
I built a killer Strat recently, from a cheap Asian import clone. The BEST neck I've ever played on any Start. Including true vintage, current Fender USA. Junked the original pots and switch, installed with high quality , non Fender subsitutes. Wax-potted the import pups, shielded the whole cavity. Total costs: $160!
A lot of the so-called "legendary", "world standards" were only true, several decades ago, when Fender and Gibson were more or less the only games. But what was the state of the art back then, are just mediocre at best now, some 30, 40 years later.
Listen to Mike Stern. He's a killer Tele jazz-slinger. He plays a Yamaha tele clone. Not Fender.
John Mayall also plays a chopped up Squier Bullet!
Most guitars will sound fine in the right hands with the right heart and soul behind the hands and fingers. Not the other way around.
And all the hypes on "vintage" is nothing more than a marketing scheme from the old manufacturers. So they can keep selling old stuff, and therefore, cut down on their development/tooling costs.
As far as the illusive tone is concerns. It's entirly subjective and personal. The popular in the search of the vintage tone is highly questionable. Why would everybody want to sound the same???
As long as the "tone" is deemed suitable to the music's feel and emotion, then, it'll works. You don't need a certain kind of tone, for any particular kind (the sucky 'genre' thingy.) of music. You're the musician. You decide what you want. Not somebody else's business.
No. I don't play chords, blues or bottle neck with my Teles, I play jazz lead with them. I play mostly bottle-neck with my Strats (similar to Bonnie Raitt, but different voicing asnd phasing) With the bridge pup most of the time. And my Les Paul mainly doing chords duties.
Check out both Mike Stern and Leni Stern. Both killer tele jazz players.
The Strat is one of the easiest guitar to ply well at all level. It's very versitile.
But in my opinion. Eric Clapton's reputation ended with the final chapter of Cream and his stop using Gibson guitars. EC's peak was during Cream. And the reason why he was playing so good (Cream's style) was because both Javck Bruce and Ginger Baker pressed him into playing like that. Listen to those old early Albert King, to about 1968. You can find just about all of Clapton's licks in those recordings. EC has done absolutely nothing new after Cream. Derek & the Dominos were his last effort to try to break out
from his ruck. But failed after Layla.
He has been doing nothing, but playing safe by recycling over and over again the same old tired and old, extremely dated materials.
EC was one of my top guitar hero during Cream. Only after Jimi Hendrix. Now, he's not even in my radar.
One of the new generation of blues player that I can highly recommend is a young black singer/guitar player - Deborah Coleman. Killer voice and guitar works, and, the best of all, she's not playing the same old same old tired and old materials. Check her out. She smokes just about all the stuff EC have done after Cream.
Another killer blues player is Briton Nigel Watson.
Jeff Beck is still as good, in fact, better than ever. Unlike EC.
And about those signature model guitar. Do they really worth the extra costs? Will they turn you into a better player?
It's getting too long here. Better sign off.
Ciao,
