Article: The slow secret death of the electric guitar.

[Crimson Glory]

The convention couldn’t sound less rock-and-roll — the National Association of Music Merchants Show. But when the doors open at the Anaheim Convention Center, people stream in to scour rows of Fenders, Les Pauls and the oddball, custom-built creations such as the 5-foot-4-inch mermaid guitar crafted of 15 kinds of wood.

Standing in the center of the biggest, six-string candy store in the United States, you can almost believe all is well within the guitar world.

Except if, like George Gruhn, you know better. The 71-year-old Nashville dealer has sold guitars to Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift. Walking through NAMM with Gruhn is like shadowing Bill Belichick at the NFL Scouting Combine. There is great love for the product and great skepticism. What others might see as a boom — the seemingly endless line of dealers showcasing instruments — Gruhn sees as two trains on a collision course.

“There are more makers now than ever before in the history of the instrument, but the market is not growing,” Gruhn says in a voice that flutters between a groan and a grumble. “I’m not all doomsday, but this — this is not sustainable.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/?hpid=hp_no-name_graphic-story-a:homepage/story&utm_term=.601a144131cf

 

[Crimson Glory]

Interesting read.

Can't deny the fact that, when I walk into a music store, it's usually just men in their mid 20's(my age) and up.

You rarely see too many youngsters in shops anymore. When I was 13 there were alot of us, a couple dozen or so in my home town alone who were into guitar or bass or just playing another instrument and lots of bands with older teen or 20 year olds playing shows.

All ages shows happened every weekend, hundreds of kids from all over the atlantic part of my province.

Seems like, not only has electric guitar oriented music fallen out of fashion, but even the underground has dried up.

I see the random kid or teenager in one of my local instrument shops everynow and then, but they're outnumbered by older folk by quite a large margin.

Is this the EDM generation? Will turn tables and the like overtake the guitar as the most popular instrument in the world?

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Interesting read.

Can't deny the fact that, when I walk into a music store, it's usually just men in their mid 20's(my age) and up.

You rarely see too many youngsters in shops anymore. When I was 13 there were alot of us, a couple dozen or so in my home town alone who were into guitar or bass or just playing another instrument and lots of bands with older teen or 20 year olds playing shows.

All ages shows happened every weekend, hundreds of kids from all over the atlantic part of my province.

Seems like, not only has electric guitar oriented music fallen out of fashion, but even the underground has dried up.

I see the random kid or teenager in one of my local instrument shops everynow and then, but they're outnumbered by older folk by quite a large margin.

Is this the EDM generation? Will turn tables and the like overtake the guitar as the most popular instrument in the world?

Most of these kids are probably playing piano, wind, or classical string instruments.

It is funny because guitar centers have been springing up all around. They were not around when I was a kid. I wonder why they exploded if what you are saying is true.

 

[Shamrocker]

Most of these kids are probably playing piano, wind, or classical string instruments.

It is funny because guitar centers have been springing up all around. They were not around when I was a kid. I wonder why they exploded if what you are saying is true.

The guitar centers are there for rich mommy or daddy who think their spoiled little shit will be the next Hendrix if they buy a $3000 LesPaul Custom with a Vintage Marshall stack and lessons they will never go to.After collecting dust in the kids room for a year or so us poor musicians buy it on the local Craigslist.I've seen it a hundred times and honestly maybe 1 in 100 of those wee bastards will actually try to play it.That's fine though let them continue to sell their rigs at a discount so they can buy the latest PlayStation game,fine with me Edit....I know Hendrix played a strat but the $3000 LP is more my style

 

[P0NYBOY]

The big problem is shit product being sold as the normal while mediocre Les Pauls are being sold for huge sums of money.......while the quality les pauls are unaffordable.

Rather buy a used john sykes model greco les paul than the current gibson offerings.

 

[Crimson Glory]

The big problem is shit product being sold as the normal while mediocre Les Pauls are being sold for huge sums of money.......while the quality les pauls are unaffordable.

Rather buy a used john sykes model greco les paul than the current gibson offerings.

That's why you buy an Ibanez or a Fender Strat, .

Way more affordable guitars that still have a good amount of quality.

Back when I was 15 I managed to find an RG370DX for around 500 flat off of eBay, one of the best decisions I ever made as a player. It had and still has an Edge III, which aren't that great, but I never really used the thing because I lost the trem arm early on. As a hardtail though, it's a great guitar for the price, wonderful for learning your chops.

Standard RG's that run for about 700 have a pretty good floating trem these days, the Edge Zero II, getting one used is the best course of action.

I managed to snag a Premium RG, which go for around 2K taxes in, for 550, one of the best deals I've ever come across. Thing sounds and plays great.

 

[P0NYBOY]

I agree with the original post and it's likely that the state of the music industry pushes new "hero's" who don't play guitar..............but we do see guys like D'angelo picking up guitars deep into their careers and trying to "exceed their programming".

I feel that the same thing that drives kids coming up into listening to the same music as their peers sends them to either worship les pauls or strats and I feel those companies are letting them down by pricing higher quality guitars out of their reach.

Remember that guitars last quite a long time and the crazy market saturation of the 80s and 90s gave way to the used market having plenty of guitars to pass down that are good quality and play well if in good condition.

There's also the fact that a kid in the market for a guitar has a lot more information available than back in the 80s and 90s where all they had was some pictures and advertisements in "guitar player" and had to go to the stores to get more information.

Now they simply order over the internet.

It means less kids attending stores and conventions but the young players are still out there.



The Ibanez guitars usually shared the same production lines as the yamaha RGX guitars with similar numbers having similar features.

The super high end ones are made by fujigen in japan and the rest are divided between Korea, indonesia, and taiwan........but with the manufacturing methods and quality enforced by the japanese meaning they are fine guitars.

Some differences are that the ibanez spec. guitars often had thier own neck profiles that were different than the yamaha similar model (usually a "wizard neck") but the non-wizard neck ibanez were a lot more similar.

The RG and RGX also seem to be very similar to the design of the later Kramers and my Kramer FR404 neck-thru is very similar them.

It's a tangled mess of who made what but some amazing guitars seem to come out of these companys regardless of the factory.

That said, I really want a Greco JS65 which is one of the guitars that started the "lawsuit guitars" because Gibson got a few of them in the early to mid 80s and was shocked to find them better quality than thier own guitars.



Burny, greco, orville, tokai, and bacchus Les Pauls are likely made at the fujigen or another long time japanese factory and are top quality.

My own tastes favor niche superstrats with double locking floyd rose but i'm usually going after 80s kramers like the banana and hockeystick headstock berettas and focus MIJ guitars.........they play really well and you can put one in a closet for 5 years and it will come out still in tune............at least my focus 1000 did that.

There's a reason Sammy still plays this one...........

And why Eddie played these............

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

lol nice danelectro in there.

 

[The Diplomat]

I've noticed the decline in guitar-orientated music for over 15 years now. Kids today like pop, R&B, etc. Guitar is for "old people". Oddly enough, country (if thats what you call it these days) seems like the last genre with guitars that actually sells. Sure, there are new rock bands out there, but they don't sell records compared to pop and rap.

 

[Crimson Glory]

I've noticed the decline in guitar-orientated music for over 15 years now. Kids today like pop, R&B, etc. Guitar is for "old people". Oddly enough, country (if thats what you call it these days) seems like the last genre with guitars that actually sells. Sure, there are new rock bands out there, but they don't sell records compared to pop and rap.

It'll happen too Rap eventually too...



.

Rock/Metal will always inspire a percentage of youth.

When I was in High School I wouldn't really say Rock/Metal was that popular then either, 75% of kids listened only to the Billboard Top 100, that's how it's always been, but there was still a decent percentage of kids who lived and breathed it.

That said, one of the biggest Pop stars today is Ed Sheeran, and he plays a Martin...

They've been calling Taylor Swift "the new Eddie Van Halen" simply because she's inspiring girls to pickup the guitar. Not in the same way as Eddie, but if it puts it in their hands, that's the main thing.

 

[icemanliddell]

But has the article also taken account international popularity as well? I've read that metal in Scandinavia and arguably Indonesia remain strong.