Vintage guitars vs. EBMM guitars

[marantz1300]

vintage ebmm

My silo is 19 this year.Not yet vintage,but old ebmm.Its the best built,easiest to play guitar I've ever played.The quality and fit of woods and parts is like custom shop.So I think it will out last a lot of newer guitars.These guitars may not go mainstream ,but they will become collectable.When they are vintage they will sound ,feel and play as well as they do now.Better then most other guitars.The collectors will still be saying that they are better then the new ones.Hindsight,rose tinted glasses,truth.Who knows?

IMG]i98/marantz1300/100_0091.jpg

[/IMG]

 

[JMB27]

vintage guitars vs. EBMM guitars?

it's like comparing apples and oranges. I like 'em both ... for different reasons.

that said, I find most of my play time is with a Super Sport or a somewhat boo-teek-ish H150 from Kalamazoo ... both have got very nice maple tops, but are built differently and do very different things .... .

will I be still playin' both in another 30 years? who knows ... but for now I am happy

cheers always, eh

Joel

 

[paranoid70]

I can't seem to wrap my head around why EBMM guitars (or even others for that matter) won't "age" well. If they are made well to start with and are well cared for, I just don't see what would happen to it that would cause it to not age well. If the manufacturer uses quality materials and craftsmanship why in the world would it not be fine in 10, 20, 30, 40 years?

 

[dannymusic]

I have a '59 junior that doesn't compare to my balls. They all fill a niche. That's my P90, I have a JP6 and an AL to compliment. I'm a very lucky man.

 

[Big Poppa]

I guess that the great thing about this thread is that we have been making guitars for over 24 years now...think about it....leo sold after 17 years of making fenders....We arent rookies and this is really a very deep compliment in that the stuff has hopefully been consistent enough to not reflect that some are 20+ years old and still chugging away. a twenty year old guitar is a vintage guitar in my book.

 

[pjc812]

Maybe he should use these special skills for global warming or something more useful.

awesome!! like predicting the weather for next week is so accurate but we know beyond a shadow of a doubt what will happen in twenty years.

 

[meenahga]

My '89 Silo has lots and lots o' gigs on it and it looks and plays just as good as it did when it was new. I love the 6 bolters!

 

[marantz1300]

89 silo

My '89 Silo has lots and lots o' gigs on it and it looks and plays just as good as it did when it was new. I love the 6 bolters!

any pics?

 

[meenahga]

My 6 bolt

any pics?

Well aged like a fine wine!

 

[meenahga]

It's trans red by the way. Sorta burgandy colored. Awesome guitar!

 

[marantz1300]

Love it . I want a hard tail.

 

[mikeller]

I think I will add my 2 cents... I have been around and playing long enough to say when I started, Leo was still at Fender and "vintage" guitars lined the racks at music stores. My first "good" guitar was a pre-CBS Tele that was sunburst with white binding around the body. We paid $295 for it with case.

Fender and Gibson made great guitars then and they made junk then - just as they do now. If those guitars you played were great, its because they were great ones, not because they were vintage. Overall, I think guitars have improved in consistency and quality over the years, not the opposite.

I have a 21+ year old American Strat that I am the originally owner of. It is a great guitar by all means. But, it hasn't had an hour spent since I bought my first EBMM in January 2007.

 

[ashman]

Are Ferrari's better than Lamborghinis?

I tend to see vintage instruments as Ferraris, and EBMMs as Lamborghinis...

Are you saying modern Ferrari's are crap???



Just kidding

Being serious for a second, isn't the basis for the vintage Fender/Gibson ageing better argument based on the fact that they have thin nitro finishes that supposedly make the guitar sound better with age, whereas most modern guitars have several coats of poly that won't wear away?

 

[whitestrat]

Are you saying modern Ferrari's are crap???

Just kidding

Being serious for a second, isn't the basis for the vintage Fender/Gibson ageing better argument based on the fact that they have thin nitro finishes that supposedly make the guitar sound better with age, whereas most modern guitars have several coats of poly that won't wear away?

Heheh... No really, but a 360, 430, 599 or even 612 won't give you the same kind of driving satisfaction from a 308. Especially after they got bought over by Fix-It-Again-Tony (FIAT). It's not better or worse, just different.

P.S. Poly coats do age. They turn yellow, though not as fast as Nitros. The white binding on my Ibanez has turned yellow from just 8 years of usage...

 

[KennethB]

The argument is that a nitro-finish allows the wood to breathe, while poly finish seals the wood.

For some really interesting/crazy reading about vintage guitars, modern guitars and how to make your modern guitar vintage I recommend The Les Paul-forum. (not really!).

There are people that make their living doing makeovers on Les Paul guitars.
Replacing fretboard, inlays and so forth....

 

[hbucker]

1. You can rarely reason with someone who is a card carrying fan of all things "vintage". They know what they know and there's no reasoning with them. Just let them "bestow" their wisdom on you an move on.

2. Vintage people rarely acknowledge that there were a lot of crappy guitars made back in the day along with the holy grail guitars. Because tolerances are closer in modern production, I would argue that the percentage of great guitars in any batch has gone up considerably now compared to then. So the odds of buying a guitar now that you'd even want to have in 50 years is higher regardless of whether or not it is someone's "holy grail".

3. I'm with BP on predicting the future. If these guys are that good I need to have them picking my investments. I couldn't lose. And how does a guitar not age well? Does that mean it gets worse? It spoils? Maybe the grandkids don't fight over it as much after I die? What?

4. (most) Guitar players seem to get bugs up their rear ends about what you MUST have if you are to have great tone. It varies from player to player but in this case, vintage spec and manufacturing is what these people hang their hats on as being essential.

Your results may vary.

 

[Thew Ebow]

i have had this conunderum for years..

at this particularly point in my life i think that the present and what you hear 'now' is what is important.. what you record.. what sounds good and what works live and consistently... i mean i like the idea of being cool.. but i would far rather close my eyes and trust my ears than be sold a guitar because it 'should be' good.. because its vintage kudos..

my £1's worth.. thats 50 cents with the exchange..

 

[CarbonTim27]

Kenneth: I have to say, A custom inlay in a JP would look pretty fantastic; Not that the simplicity of the dots or the bullets isn't cool, but I just imagine something more intricate.

 

[hbucker]

i have had this conunderum for years..

at this particularly point in my life i think that the present and what you hear 'now' is what is important.. what you record.. what sounds good and what works live and consistently... i mean i like the idea of being cool.. but i would far rather close my eyes and trust my ears than be sold a guitar because it 'should be' good.. because its vintage kudos..

my £1's worth.. thats 50 cents with the exchange..

Sorry, you've got it all wrong. It's what you might sounds like 40 years from now that matters most.

 

[Nemesys]

I have a 21+ year old American Strat that I am the originally owner of. It is a great guitar by all means. But, it hasn't had an hour spent since I bought my first EBMM in January 2007.

The first real guitar I ever got was a mid-eighties Strat, when I was fourteen or so. I bought it used, and I mowed lawns for a good two years to save enough money to get it. When I bought it, it played as well as any guitar in the store, and now that the wood has settled somewhat, it plays and sounds even better than it did. Like your Strat, by any reasonable measure, it's a great guitar. Like you, I've barely played it since I got my Silhouette. I took it out once, and I could barely play it, the neck felt so clumsy compared to the Music Man. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it now, I don't want to give it up because I worked so hard to get it, but I hate to see it sit unused in its case -- a good guitar deserves to be played. I keep thinking that I'll save it for my kids to play if I ever have any.