Vintage instruments

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   (Commits heresy)

In general, a lot of "vintage" guitars, basses and keyboards are....... rubbish. 

(audience reels in disbelief) 

Apologies, it's true. Yes, there are some exceptions, old Gibsons, old Fenders, but alas, I'm not a fan of old instruments, which were generally slapped together. Modern CNC machining gives much tigher tolerances. You find some guitars with better wood in than you get today, but.... worse pickups. 

From a point of view of electronics, the old argument is that "old electronics sound better". I'm afraid not. Having built quite a fair bit of stuff using modern electronics, there's not much comparison. Old electronics were totally hideous. Carbon film resistors miles out of tolerance, leaking electrolytic capacitors, nope, thank you, no. If you look inside a Minimoog D or a Polivoks, you'll be horrified. 

So, all in all, nope, as a musician, I'm afraid I'll stick with modern instruments, thanks, with the exception of saxes, which had a lot more character in the 30's. They did have keywork which wasn't designed for human hands and intonation issues from hell, but I'm used to them. I don't feel the urge to pay premium prices for dried up, badly machined guitars and basses and keyboards made from electronic detritus. 

But opinions vary, so !!! Let's hear yours. If you say "old guitars are cool, I don't play one but wow", er. Um. Well. Yes. ;-)

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Davesax1965 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: May 23 2013 Location: UK Status: Offline Points: 2839	Topic: Vintage instruments Posted: March 05 2018 at 06:16
	(Commits heresy) In general, a lot of "vintage" guitars, basses and keyboards are....... rubbish. (audience reels in disbelief) Apologies, it's true. Yes, there are some exceptions, old Gibsons, old Fenders, but alas, I'm not a fan of old instruments, which were generally slapped together. Modern CNC machining gives much tigher tolerances. You find some guitars with better wood in than you get today, but.... worse pickups. From a point of view of electronics, the old argument is that "old electronics sound better". I'm afraid not. Having built quite a fair bit of stuff using modern electronics, there's not much comparison. Old electronics were totally hideous. Carbon film resistors miles out of tolerance, leaking electrolytic capacitors, nope, thank you, no. If you look inside a Minimoog D or a Polivoks, you'll be horrified. So, all in all, nope, as a musician, I'm afraid I'll stick with modern instruments, thanks, with the exception of saxes, which had a lot more character in the 30's. They did have keywork which wasn't designed for human hands and intonation issues from hell, but I'm used to them. I don't feel the urge to pay premium prices for dried up, badly machined guitars and basses and keyboards made from electronic detritus. But opinions vary, so !!! Let's hear yours. If you say "old guitars are cool, I don't play one but wow", er. Um. Well. Yes. ;-)