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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Apr 9, 2020 8:45:47 GMT -5
So, a video popped up in my YouTube feed:
The guy is reviewing a plastic guitar filled with liquid. It sounds like you'd expect. To my ears, it sounds like a First Act with dead strings, MAYBE with a pickup upgrade, but not to a high quality pickup, just a generic replacement, Epiphone quality or marginally better. The dampening and lack of sustain on each note is dramatic enough that I'd be wondering if the pickups were too close to the strings or if the saddles had worn flat, but it is likely just the absorption of the fluid. The high end is so absent it sounds like the pickups have giant brass covers and baseplates (hint: that dampens tone a LOT... very dark humbuckers often have lots of highly conductive material in there... lots of copper will get used because it makes plating quicker and easier, also making the tone ridiculously dark), but a check to the website tells me that those are Duncans. It sounds like it has a bad tone circuit and a broken amp with no treble... I can't see what kind of amp is back there, but it has faux-British stylings and is likely in the style of Vox or Marshall, and with a "normal" guitar likely would have enough treble to rip your head off.
Listen to what the guy says and look at what all the guys in the comments say. They talk about how it DEBUNKS TONEWOODS! Because... they think that guitar sounded... good? I have no idea. Some mix of confirmation bias and just not listening.
Maybe it says more about social media than it does guitar reviewers in particular, I don't know. It is why over the course of my career I've just tuned most/all of this stuff out, and really only pay attention to the repair/building world, although even that gets tainted fairly often.
Alright. I feel better. Thank you for listening.
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Post by Leftee on Apr 9, 2020 9:18:53 GMT -5
“Influencers”
It’s the scourge of truth.
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Post by LTB on Apr 9, 2020 9:29:17 GMT -5
I don't go by people having a job doing reviews as I believe they are not totally honest. I think some do not want to lose their financial backing from manufacturers whose products they are reviewing. And then you have people I believe are paid to put negative reviews on competitors products. Finally the worst are on a particular product on a manufactures website where they sell their product I notice all the glowing 5 star reviews. Very suspect!
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pnutz
Halfnote
Posts: 83
Formerly Known As: "Most folks just call me Jimm."
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Post by pnutz on Apr 9, 2020 10:48:26 GMT -5
So, while not the best sounding guitar, I will argue that part of the sustain issue is poor player technique; he doesn't let anything ring at all, and has some pretty sloppy dead-note technique. It also seems very tongue-in-cheek to me. I don't think any serious guitar player would give it a second look, aside from being a novelty or "collectible". Who can say what it would sound like with a proper setup, pickups and player ... heck, I've seen guys with million-dollar equipment who suck, and guys playing cardboard and tin who can dust the floor ...
Just my $.02 ...
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herb
Wholenote
Posts: 159
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Post by herb on Apr 9, 2020 11:42:11 GMT -5
"A little sloppy there. That's fine, right?" No, it's not.
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Post by Blacksunshine on Apr 9, 2020 12:13:54 GMT -5
Sounds awful, not sure if it's the guitar, the amp, the amp settings, the player, or a combination of all of the above, but the tone is terrible.
My feeling is, the people that say wood doesn't affect tone probably are either inexperienced or they don't have a developed ear.
Does it make a HUGE difference? Meh, not sure how significant of a difference, but wood definitely makes a difference.
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Post by LTB on Apr 9, 2020 15:25:08 GMT -5
I would think the liquid inside the guitar dampens the vibrations of the strings making it sound like a “wet rag”
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Apr 9, 2020 15:54:55 GMT -5
It has gotten bad across the board; views and thumbs ups are THE most important things to most yootooberz these days. Even channels that used to be respectable (you, Veritasium! And a few others I used to like; I'm so disappointed) now resort to clickbait thumbs and flags just to get clicks. "You won't BELIEVE what happens next!" and crap like that.
I've unsubbed from quite a few channels because of this.
There are still a few channels that remain fiercely independent and receive funding only from their patron members (no sponsorships) and those are the ones I like and continue to subscribe to.
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Post by LesTele on Apr 9, 2020 18:13:45 GMT -5
Water, oil and electricity. What could possibly go wrong?
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Apr 9, 2020 18:44:32 GMT -5
I would think the liquid inside the guitar dampens the vibrations of the strings making it sound like a “wet rag” And you would be absolutely correct! But, the "tone wood is a conspiracy to sell more guitars" crowd is convinced it is all a conspiracy. (never mind that if it WAS a myth, why on earth would they latch onto something that was hard to get, expensive, requires constant, expensive skilled labor hours and travel to source, and ultimately you can't get your hands on the real holy grails, at least not consistently, anyway? You lose your selling points when you can be selling Brazilian rosewood, Honduran mahogany, Adirondack spruce, and countless others constantly. Wouldn't the conspiracy-prone companies have thought of something else to "lie" about that would, you know, save some money and have a more consistent product?) At the very VERY least, the inertia mass to which the tuners, nut, frets and bridge are all anchored will provide some unique sonic characteristics, and this is a very obvious example of that working. When people go on about how it is all strings, hardware and electronics, I ask them to please compare a Les Paul, an SG, an Explorer, and a 335. The SG has the neck pickup in a slightly different place, but other than that, the only difference among those guitars would be the wood, which apparently makes no difference. |
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Post by LesTele on Apr 9, 2020 18:58:47 GMT -5
“ the only difference among those guitars would be the wood, which apparently makes no difference.”
And this wood spends ages drying before it’s even considered for use in musical instruments or else it’s stuck in a kiln.
Yeah, added water is what’s been missing?
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Post by langford on Apr 10, 2020 21:42:02 GMT -5
Sounds awful, not sure if it's the guitar, the amp, the amp settings, the player, or a combination of all of the above, but the tone is terrible. Could also be a crappy mic... but I suspect it's just not that great a guitar. But tone isn't important in this case. Anybody who buys that guitar is doing it for the gimmick
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Post by pcalu on Apr 11, 2020 7:02:51 GMT -5
It's worse than what you think.
Gear wise... on the internet, public opinion gets funneled down through just several major forum sites.
Companies go on those forums as regular "Joe's" and either hype there own wares, or slag their competition. People on those sites are sheep, so the effect snowballs. I used my IT guy at work to look into URL addresses of a few after noticing 10yrs worth of bias by one particular person. It was an eye-opener.
Often thought about going public with the worst offender.
That was another thing about Chris and the old forum that attracted me to it. The strict policy of "if you're vender, you pay for advertisement, get caught hyping or rep'ing your wares on the down-low... banned. You always knew if someone was talking good or bad about a piece of gear that they were an average Joe.
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Post by Leftee on Apr 11, 2020 7:45:19 GMT -5
It does go on here, either. 😊
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Post by hushnel on Apr 11, 2020 9:13:25 GMT -5
I actually use forums to scan how those that use the stuff, think about it’s quality. It’s still going to be colored, but in the thread a recent purchase may be judged as great. In the same thread those that have the experience with the product will generally cover the width and scope of it’s attributes and weaknesses.
The scope of “Media” based reviews is pretty much limited. New and shiny isn’t what I want to hear. I’d rather have reviews start off with “So after. Six months, this is what I think.”
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Post by funkykikuchiyo on Apr 11, 2020 10:16:01 GMT -5
It's worse than what you think. Gear wise... on the internet, public opinion gets funneled down through just several major forum sites. Companies go on those forums as regular "Joe's" and either hype there own wares, or slag their competition. People on those sites are sheep, so the effect snowballs. I used my IT guy at work to look into URL addresses of a few after noticing 10yrs worth of bias by one particular person. I was an eye-opener. Often thought about going public with the worst offender. That was another thing about Chris and the old forum that attracted me to it. The strict policy of "if you're vender, you pay for advertisement, get caught hyping or rep'ing your wares on the down-low... banned. You always knew if someone was talking good or bad about a piece of gear that they were an average Joe. I didn't realize that people were going on the forums to push their own stuff, that part is new to me. It doesn't surprise me too much, because factories/sales teams can be HUGELY insular to the outside lutherie world... I say that having worked for two different manufacturers and having plenty of first hand accounts of other manufacturers. But, the FDP (and now Moes 2.0) is really the only "gear" board I go to. In our shop, we'll often get customers who do a bit of reading, come in with all sorts of wrong ideas, and be very hard to convince otherwise... usually we recognize it immediately "uh oh, another one reading the forums..." because it'll be some dork behind a computer regurgitating something some other dork behind a computer regurgitated and none of it will make any sense. It makes our jobs more difficult because in the customer's eyes, they see the forum people as these wise gurus, and we, the people who do this professionally, as the amateurs that the customer has to explain everything to. I'm sorry, but I've refretted more guitars than most people have ever played, I don't need someone telling me something they think they read online that was a discussion among a bunch of people who have never refretted an instrument. That's what I like about the FDP... the people who post most often are either professionals, or well versed hobbyists. I know it may make me sound like a snob, but I just don't have much patience for people trying to prove their bona fides by spamming bad information on message boards all day. |
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Apr 11, 2020 11:35:17 GMT -5
That is one of the big drawbacks of the Web: publication implies veracity. There have been more than a few 'accepted experts' revealed to be not what they'd have you believe. Do your homework, and always remember Rule #12.  |
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