pickups are funny too.
i bought a 10$/pair AliExpress pickup to replace my seymour duncan with.
it's a bobbin, some copper and some plastic. how much money can it cost?
Expensive vs Cheap guitar? What makes it better?
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- KVRAF
- 23459 posts since 12 Jul, 2003 from West Caprazumia
I assume those guitars you mention must have had terrible PUs then...
You may certainly trust your experience - that's exactly how I handle mine.
(Fwiw I practise playing mine almost always unplugged and I have a really hard time finding any correlation whatsoever between their dry sounds and what they sound like plugged in, so I am afraid I personally can't put any significant trust in your experience
)B.t.w.: one of my favourites amongst my guitars (and especially for recording) is my beloved Italia Modulo Tipo 3:
https://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guit ... o-3-567139You may wonder if the nine chunky screws (one of which also anchors the strap button to the rear of the upper horn) around the back of the Modulo's body are cosmetic or simply holding the 'fake-skin' in place, but removing them, along with the four-bolt neck, yields a surprising discovery.
Fashioned from agathis, the body actually consists of a two-piece sandwich top and a separate four-piece back. The silver piping trim is stapled, upholstery-style, to the perimeter of the back section, and the whole thing isn't glued, but instead is held together by the aforementioned screws.
On paper, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's more 'tone wouldn't' than tonewood. However, a kooky pawn-shop aesthetic is central to Italia's brand identity, and while it's more than a little scary when you take it to bits, the Modulo's bolted-together construction is really no more off-the-wall than a ply-and-hardboard Danelectro or an Ampeg Dan Armstrong fashioned from a material developed for the windscreens of fighter planes.
Those designs were good enough for Jimmy Page and Keith Richards, so if you like the way the Modulo plays and sounds, you shouldn't let the unconventional way that it's put together deter you.
And see? He even mention that axe you did and - surprise surprise - not everyone seems to think nearly as badly of them as you apparently do.
So... ty for proving my point by mentioning them
- whoever believes believes...(and when I first made that post of mine you quoted, I knew there'd be at least some believers here @KVR who'd get triggered into full denial mode by it right away
)"Preamps have literally one job: when you turn up the gain, it gets louder." Jamcat, talking about presmp-emulation plugins.
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- KVRAF
- 10582 posts since 31 Aug, 2013 from Somewhere near the Morgul Vale.
That looks cool! In a Teisco sorta way. Not a Teisco price, though. You want real vintage weirdness? Look up Teisco. These things were sold out of department store catalogs. 4 pickups, 10 switches, weird shapes, flat fretboard. Very tinny sound, lol.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
-Martin Luther King Jr.
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- KVRAF
- 23459 posts since 12 Jul, 2003 from West Caprazumia
No, there is nothing cheap about the Italias - it's all Wilkinson hardware and PUs (of the vintage-style Alnico variety). The tuner's are locking ones and the vibrato is the best I ever tried. The neck, fretboard and frets feel wonderful and the whole handling is great. It's just the look (and the inner construction, as mentioned in the article) that is a bit out there.. and as also mentioned in the article it delivers plenty of standard strat tone in great quality plus more.
keep in mind that Italias are all designed by Trev Wilkinson.
keep in mind that Italias are all designed by Trev Wilkinson.
"Preamps have literally one job: when you turn up the gain, it gets louder." Jamcat, talking about presmp-emulation plugins.
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- Rad Grandad
- 38044 posts since 6 Sep, 2003 from Downeast Maine
look at that would yah 
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.
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- KVRAF
- 10582 posts since 31 Aug, 2013 from Somewhere near the Morgul Vale.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
-Martin Luther King Jr.
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- KVRer
- 3 posts since 19 Aug, 2021
Generally its setup, tonewoods (nicer woods may be more expensive), cooler inlays and paints, and details that make them hella expensive.
nicer pickups and bone nuts probably raise the price a bit but generally, when you're paying over 1500, I'd say youre doing it for the extra detail work. A $500 guitar usually plays pretty nice these days.
nicer pickups and bone nuts probably raise the price a bit but generally, when you're paying over 1500, I'd say youre doing it for the extra detail work. A $500 guitar usually plays pretty nice these days.
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- KVRAF
- 10582 posts since 31 Aug, 2013 from Somewhere near the Morgul Vale.
Don't forget nitro finishes. My latest, a Stanford Crossroads Thinline 35 has nitrocellulose lacquer, which requires multple applications, more time and money.
Dings and smudges easily, though, but very light and responsive. Very good PAF style pups, MiC, but not cheap. Same guitar made in the US or Germany would cost a lot more than what I paid. Got it in April, love it, worth every cent.
Dings and smudges easily, though, but very light and responsive. Very good PAF style pups, MiC, but not cheap. Same guitar made in the US or Germany would cost a lot more than what I paid. Got it in April, love it, worth every cent.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
-Martin Luther King Jr.
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ZargonTheMagnificent ZargonTheMagnificent https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=413984 - KVRist
- 109 posts since 17 Feb, 2018
Cost is just a fairly abitraty number that humans put against a thing. For one thing it totally hinges on where it's made.
Pick up guitar, play it. Does it sound good/appropriate? Does it feel good. If yes, it's a good guitar, if not, it isn't.
Can be a £50 guitar, can be a £5000 guitar.
Unless you're a bedroom blues lawyer, in which case only a £15,000 Les Paul will do, obviously.
I swear the meat of the electric guitar market is males who never do anything with their guitars, and just endlessly obsess about them instead. Same for 'boutique' effects pedals; PLAY A SONG ALREADY!!!
Pick up guitar, play it. Does it sound good/appropriate? Does it feel good. If yes, it's a good guitar, if not, it isn't.
Can be a £50 guitar, can be a £5000 guitar.
Unless you're a bedroom blues lawyer, in which case only a £15,000 Les Paul will do, obviously.
I swear the meat of the electric guitar market is males who never do anything with their guitars, and just endlessly obsess about them instead. Same for 'boutique' effects pedals; PLAY A SONG ALREADY!!!
Last edited by ZargonTheMagnificent on Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:13 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ZargonTheMagnificent ZargonTheMagnificent https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=413984
- KVRist
- 109 posts since 17 Feb, 2018
double
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- KVRAF
- 10582 posts since 31 Aug, 2013 from Somewhere near the Morgul Vale.
Not that simple. I went into the local shop when I moved here. I'd try a guitar out for 15-30 minutes, give it a quick lookover, and buy it if I liked it. It would only be after I got it home that I'd begin to find faults with it, like the tuners, intonation, a bad fret here or there, a wonky pup switch. Since I bought in person, I had no money back option, and could only exchange for another. Rinse, and repeat. Finding one that did suit me invariably meant an uptick in price. This happened at least 5 times at that shop until they completely pissed me off one day, after which I'd just order guitars from Thomann or Musicstore.de.ZargonTheMagnificent wrote: ↑Fri Aug 20, 2021 6:11 am Cost is just a fairly abitraty number that humans put against a thing. For one thing it totally hinges on where it's made.
Pick up guitar, play it. Does it sound good/appropriate? Does it feel good. If yes, it's a good guitar, if not, it isn't.
Can be a £50 guitar, can be a £5000 guitar.
Unless you're a bedroom blues lawyer, in which case only a £15,000 Les Paul will do, obviously.
I swear the meat of the electric guitar market is males who never do anything with their guitars, and just endlessly obsess about them instead. Same for 'boutique' effects pedals; PLAY A SONG ALREADY!!!
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
-Martin Luther King Jr.
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- Rad Grandad
- 38044 posts since 6 Sep, 2003 from Downeast Maine
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.
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- addled muppet weed
- 105790 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
this looks like it might be "music with rocks" am i right?
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- Rad Grandad
- 38044 posts since 6 Sep, 2003 from Downeast Maine
nah...being cheeky...dan armstrong lucite
The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound, purpose‐larger‐than‐the‐self kind of understanding.
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- addled muppet weed
- 105790 posts since 26 Jan, 2003 from through the looking glass
doesnt the lucite guitar prove that, expensive doesnt necessarily mean good
(im not really commenting on them, never played one, but id happily buy the lego guitar if they wanted to sell it, well, depending on price, im not a total muppet)
