So glad SBMM is around

[cerebrix]

Ok coming back into this whole thing, having shopped around, and from when i tried to play before. I've thought about something.

I'm an import guy.

why?

Because the thought of playing a 2 thousand dollar anything gives me anxiety beyond belief. I'm afraid i'll break the damn thing, the strap will fail. something like that. I tend to dwell on the value of the instrument and worry about that rather than my playing when I pick up a USA.

So anyway, I'm really glad SBMM is around. Because the thought of buying and playing a ball family reserve makes me worry too much about my investment to play it.

Anyone else like that? Just curious.

 

[PaoloGilberto]

well while I respect SBMM, I will share my short story:
in 2009 I wanted to buy a guitar from US max 800-900$ , cause I have to pay import taxes and VAT = 27% from the total of the purchase value
well, to keep this short... I got a loan from bank and bought my first JP fully loaded 2400 $ and paid 18 months for that )
keep in mind that before this I gave up guitar playing for about 7-8 years and had before an old ibanez blazer series

since than I have now my 3rd MM guitar and bought this year SBMM guitars: JP 100 D and one JP70 just to see how they are compared to MM and hoping I can live with them and sell all my MM guitars )
they are nice especially for the price you pay in US
but man let me tell you if you 'll go the MM side you'll never look back , honestly

 

[cerebrix]

well while I respect SBMM, I will share my short story:
in 2009 I wanted to buy a guitar from US max 800-900$ , cause I have to pay import taxes and VAT = 27% from the total of the purchase value
well, to keep this short... I got a loan from bank and bought my first JP fully loaded 2400 $ and paid 18 months for that )
keep in mind that before this I gave up guitar playing for about 7-8 years and had before an old ibanez blazer series

since than I have now my 3rd MM guitar and bought this year SBMM guitars: JP 100 D and one JP70 just to see how they are compared to MM and hoping I can live with them and sell all my MM guitars )
they are nice especially for the price you pay in US
but man let me tell you if you 'll go the MM side you'll never look back , honestly

I would say thats the case, but ive had some amazing guitars in my life that gave me too much anxiety to play.

its not a quality of instrument issue. some of us cant get past the monitary investment weve already made to want to play them.

example. I had a Sugi DS at one point. These are fairly hard to come by, hand built by nick sugimoto. he runs the ibanez custom shop as his day job. on the side, he has sugi which he primarily makes guitars from an obscenely rare source of "special" tonewood he happened upon years go. honestly, ive never played anything like it aside from an MM. But i refused to take it anywhere, refused to take it off the wall. it just sat there because i was too worried about damaging it.

thats what im talking about.

some of us worry more about the financial investment we've already made, than the quality of what were playing.

 

[PaoloGilberto]

maybe off topic but...I'm a psychologist and honestly if your thoughts and emotions about these expensive guitars stop you from playing them I would suggest having your anxiety evaluated by a specialist and than have a proper evidence based intervention if that's the case.
not trying to offend you

 

[Fluxx]

I flip flop on this issue all the time.... I've owned expensive guitars, and not so expensive guitars. In fact, I've owned "I don't know how many" artists' own guitars over the years and taken small losses on some of them because I couldn't justify them sitting on a rack and me being afraid to play them, or hurt their "mojo" or whatever.

I have come full circle from that however, and am now playing EBMM again, because they're great playing and sounding guitars and I love their style. They feel the best to me and I'm just having to learn to live with a ding being on a guitar. Guitars get dings, that's the way it goes if you play them a lot.

Maybe it would help you if you bought used? Try and get a grreat price on a used instrument and maybe you won't worry so much about another ding happening in the future on a guitar that won't really depreciate in value with 1 or 2 more little nicks over the years to come? That's what I resorted to doing... It hasn't failed me yet.

 

[cerebrix]

maybe off topic but...I'm a psychologist and honestly if your thoughts and emotions about these expensive guitars stop you from playing them I would suggest having your anxiety evaluated by a specialist and than have a proper evidence based intervention if that's the case.
not trying to offend you

no offense taken.

i just grew up poor is all

so i think about the replacement cost of things a lot.

i was racing cars as a hobby for example. i went into that knowing if i broke a part, it was on me to replace it. i had sponsorships (technically still do, hi magnaflow!). so that helped a bit. but when the risks started to be more than i could plan for "just in case" before a track day. i gave it up. if i cant replace the parts i break, i shouldnt be doing it right?

im just saying, im glad SBMM's are as nice as they are. especially for the money. they're good enough for the bedroom guitarist to have a blast with and if i turn around and slam the neck into the wall or something. the lost isnt completely too painful to deal with.

 

[PaoloGilberto]

well that is 100 % sure

im just saying, im glad SBMM's are as nice as they are. especially for the money. they're good enough for the bedroom guitarist to have a blast with and if i turn around and slam the neck into the wall or something. the lost isnt completely too painful to deal with.

 

[Dr. Rock]

$2,000 is a lot for most of us. And unless you are making an income off playing guitar, a guitar is not really an investment, because unless it is some collector's piece, it depreciates in value relative to what you paid for it. But whether cheap or expensive, used or new, or only one or many, my thought on my guitars is for me to just find something I'm willing to play a lot, with or without love scars!

 

[Siddius]

$2,000 is a lot for most of us. And unless you are making an income off playing guitar, a guitar is not really an investment, because unless it is some collector's piece, it depreciates in value relative to what you paid for it. But whether cheap or expensive, used or new, or only one or many, my thought on my guitars is for me to just find something I'm willing to play a lot, with or without love scars!

Well put

 

[DrKev]

$2,000 is a lot for most of us. And unless you are making an income off playing guitar, a guitar is not really an investment

And for most people who make a living playing guitar, they have LESS money than most regular people do.

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

I grew up wicked poor and as an Irish kid from the city i remember going to GC and playing $3k guitars and saying"wow!" But now as a grown up, (still dirt poor) lol i think if you think of a guitar in terms of money and stuff like that, you lose that magic and feeling of it being what its supposed to be ( a tool for creativity) and think of it more as a collectible, which theres nothing wrong with, but lets remember they are meant to play music, and if you feel you need the best, then get the best! I cant afford any ebmm stuff right now but i have a sterling ax40d that i love and a peavey usa wolfgang that is really great too. But i think any guitars i buy in the future will be a top end usa ebmm, or another usa made brand, for me ( and most of us here ) its worth it.

 

[ksandvik]

One option is to get an EBMM slightly used and a cheap beater guitar as backup. You could do most gigs with one or two guitars, no need to have a huge arsenal. I know many fellow guitar players who just bring one guitar to gigs. I bring two as if there's a possible string break or something similar, just easier to flip guitars and fix the string during breaks.

 

[Tollywood]

I should probably consult a psychologist, too. After I spend the money on a guitar, I put that figure out of my head. The money is gone. When I sell the guitar at some point in the future, I consider myself ahead by the selling price. Even if the selling price is less than I paid. So, if I sell a guitar for $1600, and I paid $2000 for it, on the day of the sale I say, "Woo hoo, I just made $1600".

 

[Gio_Force_One]

I love my purple ax40d that I received as a gift from Mario , I actually like the necks better than the mm axis but hey that's me.

But whether it's 2000 dollar guitar or 200 dollar guitar if it doesn't have a good tone to it or playability it isn't any use to me whatsoever. I had a beautiful purple prs but played it live and it was just lacking something it was gone two days later.

My mores 2012 Pdn on the other hand besides my 77 les Paul nothing has come close to it.

 

[pentaspan]

One option is to get an EBMM slightly used and a cheap beater guitar as backup. You could do most gigs with one or two guitars, no need to have a huge arsenal. I know many fellow guitar players who just bring one guitar to gigs. I bring two as if there's a possible string break or something similar, just easier to flip guitars and fix the string during breaks.

thing with used guitars is you don't know if anyone messed with the electronics until you get it home (unless you have a great ear or can get the shop to open it up). If you buy online, you have to trust the seller...and, without a super macro lens, they usually exaggerate how good the fret condition is. etc, etc.

If you're getting it for half of retail, then an EBMM is most likely going to be an outstanding value that you don't have to worry about putting the first ding in. Much more than half retail (unless it's a discontinued color you must have), and I'd prolly just buy a new one.

Tried going the import route...not for me.

 

[edhalen]

thing with used guitars is you don't know if anyone messed with the electronics until you get it home (unless you have a great ear or can get the shop to open it up). If you buy online, you have to trust the seller...and, without a super macro lens, they usually exaggerate how good the fret condition is. etc, etc.

If you're getting it for half of retail, then an EBMM is most likely going to be an outstanding value that you don't have to worry about putting the first ding in. Much more than half retail (unless it's a discontinued color you must have), and I'd prolly just buy a new one.

Tried going the import route...not for me.

I got really lucky with my Reflex that I bought used from GC. The thing was mint - all it needed was a fretboard cleaning. I feel like I won the lotto on it as I haven't seen a deal close to it since on any MM for that matter. My point is that finding a good used EBMM is definitely doable if you look hard enough and have patience. I'm so proud of being an EBMM owner and I get to enjoy this work of art everyday - and it's just plain white!!!

And - just to add - as I didn't have the $ for an Axis at the time, a few months later I found a used beautiful black SBMM AX40D at GC for the price of a non-Dimarzio AX40 (their pricing mistake - my gain ). Another unreal deal and the second within three months. Needless to say I'm set. Doesn't mean I don't fancy marveling at the beautiful EBMM's out there to this day...

 

[SBMM]

So anyway, I'm really glad SBMM is around. Because the thought of buying and playing a ball family reserve makes me worry too much about my investment to play it.

Anyone else like that? Just curious.

Thank you very much!

We are glad to be here to provide a high quality tool for musicians of all playing levels and budgets. We have some extremely HUGE shoes to fill at our price point, and are constantly striving to exceed the expectations of what you get for your money.
It's an honor to do what we do with these timeless designs, and owe an awful lot to BP, Dudley, and the entire EBMM staff for letting us be a part of the family.
On that note, wait till you see the new 2015 models...

Stay tuned

 

[davidclayson]

Thank you very much!

We are glad to be here to provide a high quality tool for musicians of all playing levels and budgets. We have some extremely HUGE shoes to fill at our price point, and are constantly striving to exceed the expectations of what you get for your money.
It's an honor to do what we do with these timeless designs, and owe an awful lot to BP, Dudley, and the entire EBMM staff for letting us be a part of the family.
On that note, wait till you see the new 2015 models...

Stay tuned

I know sometimes in the past you have been very open and more than happy to talk about future plans, so here it goes... Are there any plans for a SBMM Armada?

Of course I'd hate to step on anyones toes by asking, so don't feel obliged to give anything away, just thought it worth a try out of curiosity and still not being quite able to reach for the real deal Armada just yet or unfortunately anytime soon...

 

[Eric O'Reilly]

I still think the ax40 should come in tribute colors.

 

[SBMM]

I know sometimes in the past you have been very open and more than happy to talk about future plans, so here it goes... Are there any plans for a SBMM Armada?

Of course I'd hate to step on anyones toes by asking, so don't feel obliged to give anything away, just thought it worth a try out of curiosity and still not being quite able to reach for the real deal Armada just yet or unfortunately anytime soon...

Nothing quite at this time as far as any 'new' body designs being added to the lineup. I'll be letting some teasers out in December. I think that they will be quite pleasing, but again, nothing along the lines of the Armada.