Does anyone else here just like... not care about vintage electric guitars?

[stevejamsecono]

Loaded question for most guitar forums, this one especially, but it's something I've been thinking about lately.

For the majority of my guitar playing life, vintage guitars have just been out of my reach for various reasons. Either the shops locally didn't have them, or they were too expensive, or whathaveyou. This has gone on for so long that, by and large, the idea of buying vintage is just something that isn't really on my radar anymore. I've mostly gotten by on new or recently used stuff.

Cut to now. I'm strangely in a position where I might have enough money lying around that I could actually get a nice old guitar if I wanted, but by this point my hands so vastly prefer modern specs on necks that I can't imagine I'd be that tempted to get one. I love me some massive frets, I like modern radiuses, and any time I pick up a guitar outside of those realms I just find them hard to play. No knock on the old wood, because it's obviously gonna be resonate and sound great, but there it is.

Anyone else like this? No knock on people who love vintage, I can't imagine mine is a majority opinion.

[panoramic]

every vintage jag or jazzy i have ever played was VASTLY better than a non vintage one
I get why people on here specifically are super into them. That being said the price point for a vintage jazzmaster is out of reach for me, i may yet own a 60's jag one day. I have owned LOTS of vintage duo sonics, mustangs, musicmasters, sgs etc. Older is usually better playing.

[Embenny]

I never "got it" until I played my '65 Mustang. It was the first vintage guitar that I could afford that was in perfectly playable condition. Everything I had previously experienced had issues that made them undesirable to me.

While it didn't make me want to suddenly throw out every new guitar I owned, I suddenly understood why so many people loved those old guitars. I now have a few 60's guitars, but I enjoy cheap guitars and modding too much to give up newer ones.

It's fine to not like old guitars. There are plenty of things newer guitars offer that you can't find on the old models. It's all a matter of taste.

Having said that, because it's the Offset Guitar Forum, it would be a little weird to not like old Fender offsets at all, because they're some of the finest electric guitars ever manufactured, but there's a difference between liking them and liking them enough that you feel they justify their current prices on the vintage market.

[mediocreplayer]

I have zero expertise, but I have no interest in old things in general. I was mainly an acoustic player for a very long period and there I can somewhat see the claim about an aged top making the guitar sound 'better'. I did notice that my new acoustics sound markedly different from the one I have been playing for ten years at that point. I don't know how much of this applies to electrics.

But generally, I don't have a vintage fetish for anything. I like mid-century furniture but I am perfectly fine buying something made today in that style instead of an original piece.

[seenoevil II]

Trust me, when the boomers die off the guitar market will collapse like the baseball card market.

Maybe anyway.

I try not to think about it. The few vintage pieces I've played are among the best guitars I've ever played. But that's perhaps down to survivor bias (only good specimen are protected through the years) or vintage guitars being so valuable that only very competent luthiers will touch them, thus they're set up well.

We were born too late to care about these guitars. They're for collectors and historians. We have to live our lives and make our music in our time. "59 Les Paul's were about 10 years old when Jimmy Page got ahold of them. 60's offsets were 20 years old when Sonic Youth and J Mascis picked them up. By this logic, get a '03 avri '62 and it's the same experience.

The 2 best guitars I've ever played were a "60 es-330 and a "62 Guild Starfire II. I could have afforded either if I wanted. But they were 60 years old. Their finish was shluffing off. If I looked at them wrong, I'd reduce their value by hundreds. I need to play guitars without worrying that I'm hurting them.

It's a shame that, in many cases, they aren't made like they used to be. It's also a shame that their value is driven up so high by speculating collectors who hoard them like dragons and keep them from the hands of players. I fear someday, they'll be like old orchestral instruments. Owned by oligarchs and loaned to the Joe Bonomassa of the world. The hype machine will try to convince us that there's no substitute for age.

But there's a reason that radius and fret size has changed over the years. That poly is used instead of nitro. Some of it is optimization of production and that's bullshit but most of it is actual innovation and improvement.

But I've drank the Kool aide. I'll always drool at vintage gear on insta. But like other things I drool at online, it's unobtainable and thus I won't let it get me down.

[min7b5]

I don't care for vintage guitars as a "thing", but certain specs of them I do like. Ie, nitro finish for wear, 7.25 radius feels good for thumb over the neck.

I like the newer necks, strat necks I've played from CS fenders I didn't like the feel of. Larger fret wire over vintage for sure.

Vintage doesn't instantly mean it'll be amazing or the best guitar you've ever played. For me, feel is the number one thing of what makes a guitar bond with you. If you can't get used to the feel, nothing else matters.

[Maggieo]

This is how I look at it- when, say, Jimi Hendrix made his records, his guitars were brand new or close to it.

We're living in a Golden Age of guitarmaking, and I'd put my Kelly or a Creston, or a Hahn, up against any vintage guitar for sound, playability, m@j@ or anything.Actually, I think my Bowery Pine Teles are better than vintage Teles.

[Larry Mal]

This is how I look at it- when, say, Jimi Hendrix made his records, his guitars were brand new or close to it.

We're living in a Golden Age of guitarmaking, and I'd put my Kelly or a Creston, or a Hahn, up against any vintage guitar for sound, playability, m@j@ or anything.Actually, I think my Bowery Pine Teles are better than vintage Teles.

Yep. I love old stuff, and I love collecting, and it's probably just a matter of time until I go nuts. I was telling my wife today that it could be worse, I could collect Nazi memorabilia or something.

Still... the guitars being made today are amazing.

[jvin248]

.

Vintage guitars can be great players because:
-only the great ones survived
-all were carefully tweaked, in fact often given the attention of Custom Shop models, by great guitar techs sometime in their 60 years of existence which contributed to them being great ones to survive.
-a myth gets built up around them because the price is so high that most players can never experience them, they only dream what a guitar at such a fantastically high price must play like. If they get a chance to play one, they feel as if the clouds are parting when they handle the guitar and so any irregularities are forgiven. Mere mortals cannot tell the Angels their guitar has warts. Everything is so very fine.

Any of the Starter Guitars, even back to the 60s with plywood bodies and rubber magnets, when given the attention of a great guitar tech, will play and sound amazing. That is the only secret. That is it. Buy a decade old First Act for $25 or a 60s Teisco Tulip or yesterday's Indonesian made Squier and take it to a competent guitar tech, and that guitar can play as easy and great as "the old ones". No magic aged resonant wood. It's the craftsmanship of the last mile that is important.

Level the frets. Do a great setup. Replace crummy pots/caps/switch/jack with durable and reliable versions. The guitar will play and sound fantastic for ever.

As you can imagine ... I just don't care about those old guitars. Sure they are cool specimens but I have no interest in owning them, no illusions about them, there is no magic to them.

.

[parry]

Short answer is, not this guy.

[soggy mittens]

I like to look at them but I don't think I've ever even considered them a realistic option. The cost is dumb and the worry of taking it to shows etc not worth the hassle. As far as sound and playability those can be achieved with non-vintage. It is weird I have a japanese jazzmaster that is 7.25 and is a bit aged but I prefer my heavily hot rodded 9.5 squier jazzmaster for feel and playability, and the sound is ten times better.

[BlueSparkle]

Short answer is, not this guy.

Me either.

[Singlebladepickup]

Only to the extent they play well, sound good, and look good. I like old stuff, but I'm not going to pay more just because it's old

[marqueemoon]

I bought mine back when they were more affordable and I had nothing more important to spend money on.

I recently sold a few I was not in love with and bought newer guitars with the proceeds. Will probably do the same with a few vintage amps soonish.

For the most part I think vintage guitars are overvalued these days.

[HNB]

I like them for looks, history and nostalgia, but I prefer to buy newer stuff that is used vs older stuff that is used. I just can't see spending that much money on a guitar new or old. I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. I would worry about devaluing it by using it and potentially damaging it in some way. I would end up leaving it in a case and I don't see the point in that with an instrument.