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SRV.....playing a Squier.


Dr. Scottie C

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1) It says "Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bernard Allison" and the guitar says "Bernard" on it. It night not be his, but it's a good demonstration of just how profoundly people overrate the role the instrument has on the tone. It's a comically incorrect, incredibly popular mass delusion. It sounded just like him but as sure as the sun rises, the 'believers' will be along to insist they can hear a huge difference... but not willing to bet on that with controls in place.

2) People who own instruments as tools to make music usually judge them as tools, not as magic talismans (which is the realm of internet forum clerics and 'collectors'). Sometimes, the $4 hammer from Harbor Freight really is just as good as the $19.99 one at Sears. Sometimes, its better.

 

You also have to consider his era, when American guitarmaking was at its nadir and the Japanese were making immensely better stuff than we were; right before the point when Fender finally realized that the Japanese could make a better Fender than Fender could so they outsourced the entire line, without realizing the enormous superstition attached to 'nation of origin' and its marketing influence.

He was someone who judged guitars on a totally practical level, which explains his appreciation for Tokai. Save for serious, working musicians, most people within light years of having a similarly practical outlook on instruments. They view them as  talismans, fetish objects and trophies first, instrumetns second. Consider how many people buy guitars not because of what feels best to them, but because of what 'others will think of them' for owning or not owning certain brands, models, etc.

 

 

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Gitter wrote:

 

 

1) It says "Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bernard Allison" and the guitar says "Bernard" on it. It night not be his, but it's a good demonstration of just how profoundly people overrate the role the instrument has on the tone. It's a comically incorrect, incredibly popular mass delusion. It sounded just like him but as sure as the sun rises, the 'believers' will be along to insist they can hear a huge difference... but not willing to bet on that with controls in place.

 

2) People who own instruments as tools to make music usually judge them as tools, not as magic talismans (which is the realm of internet forum clerics and 'collectors'). Sometimes, the $4 hammer from Harbor Freight really is just as good as the $19.99 one at Sears. Sometimes, its better.

 

 

 

You also have to consider his era, when American guitarmaking was at its nadir and the Japanese were making immensely better stuff than we were; right before the point when Fender finally realized that the Japanese could make a better Fender than Fender could so they outsourced the entire line, without realizing the enormous superstition attached to 'nation of origin' and its marketing influence.

 

He was someone who judged guitars on a totally practical level, which explains his appreciation for Tokai. Save for serious, working musicians, most people within light years of having a similarly practical outlook on instruments. They view them as  talismans, fetish objects and trophies first, instrumetns second. Consider how many people buy guitars not because of what feels best to them, but because of what 'others will think of them' for owning or not owning certain brands, models, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

So things to note.....

1) I can tell this is a Squier SQ.... I have a friend who has a Squier SQ from this same era, and a 2007 Eric Johnson USA signature..... he prefers the Squier..... so this is not to be thought of as like a modern day Affinity he is playing. It may say Squier, but he is actually playing a really great guitar.

2) He is likely playing through a Dumble prototype amp which he was experimenting with at the end of 86/early 87.... so this may be a $500 guitar...through a $15,000.00 amp.

3) The comments on the Youtube video have some idiots saying "Dood, the sound quality on your smart fone sucks assh0les... get an upgrade." ...... Yeah, lots of Smartphones in use in 1986.

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@bucksstudent

 

I would say you're mostly right. Some things don't stick, but the only way to get airplay is to pay.

 

A friend of mine is in a band that is trying to break into the business. They have airplay in a couple cities, only because their investors could hook them up there. And you have to pay to go on tour - I didn't know that. All these small-time bands touring are paying for more than gas, food, and lodging.

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kayd_mon wrote:

 

@bucksstudent

 

 

 

I would say you're mostly right. Some things don't stick, but the only way to get airplay is to pay.

 

 

 

A friend of mine is in a band that is trying to break into the business. They have airplay in a couple cities, only because their investors could hook them up there. And you have to pay to go on tour - I didn't know that. All these small-time bands touring are paying for more than gas, food, and lodging.

 

Mmm hmm. That reminds me of reading about R.E.M. really putting themselves out there by touring all over the country before they even put out their first album. Peter Buck ate nothing but cheese sandwiches, and actually slept with women just to use their showers.

Some yuppie at the Rickenbacker Resource forum suggested that Peter Buck survived on those sandwiches so he would have money to buy more guitars. Yeah, hardly.

A friend of mine really wanted to have a popular band... but he wanted regular food and clean clothes more. It takes a lot of sacrifice, including your gear, to even scratch the surface. People say that Justin Beiber "worked" to acheive his fame. So he put videos on Youtube? That's not really working for anything. I think the Backstreet Boys were still in highschool when Jabba the Hutt approached them, not unlike a child molestor, and made them famous. What did they really have to do to get that fame? Look pretty. The record labels pay for the fame.

I imagine that's what sells, though. I don't know anyone who pirates Justin Beiber, or admits to it.

 

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I'm pretty sure the Backstreet Boys all auditioned for the manufactured group, like answering a casting call. Either that, or it was the Spice Girls. I don't remember!

 

I have talked with bands who never really made it big that would talk about how touring is grueling. They would opt out of tours, even with a record company, because they wouldn't be properly fed and/or they wouldn't have access to things lile clean hotel rooms and showers.

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The Spice Girls auditioned. I know because I have the unauthorized biography VHS from the nineties, and it has footage of their auditions...

 

I was in Kindergarten when they were really popular here, though. I still have that tape and Spice World... It was like Britney Spears; I never thought much of the music at that age, but I totally wanted to marry her when I grew up. Of course, when I was 13, I wanted to marry Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil. Not much changed even when I had better taste in music, I guess.

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@sammyreynolds01

 

And there's also the fact iTunes caters to people who only listening to a song or two from an artist, making albums almost a waste of time for some artists. At least in the old days, there was a chance people would give the rest of the album a try. Now people don't even bother to download the rest of the album. Well, many people anyway.

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