Idunno

Your simple observations of sales and visual information do not address the underlying cause/effect aspect of the fate of the guitar, nor has any to-date discussion I've read. This would be the demographics of the instrument, who they are, their ages, their music eras, their maturing as a group or groups, their collective buying power, when it will recede, etc, etc.

Pretty thin sounding, IMO, in the higher register and for the body depth the bass presence is also lacking. Then again, the player's attack and the piece may not be what the guitar responds to best. I'd be able to better gauge it playing something along the lines of Little Martha. Otherwise, it's a tad over the top aesthetically. Lose the PG and I'd be okay with it.

Well, if I was a betting man I'd have to let the odds set the opening wager. Intent not being in question; results have set the bar to-date. The good people then versus the good people now, being on a par for intent and commitment, communicated near identical messages prefacing the past transitions they ended up grappling with after the fact. I would think at this juncture that thinking is no longer needed because a proven application is well in hand. I implemented a known performance and feature-full application based upon the (hyperbole) advice of a company only to find out right before launch that I was getting only a fraction of the power and features previously shilled, for a mere 1/4-Mil. I ended up with a decent application but nowhere near the power that same money was supposed to buy. And, it was and still is loaded with errors that were misinterpretted at the flow-charting R&D stage that got bundled into that I have to pay to correct. My fault, I should have been involved at every stage of the programming. Has HC been involved throughout or just hanging its hat on promises? I wish you (us) luck.

Congratulations. I think you'll do fine in the position and further your influence with the spirit that's carried you this far. Music, or artistic flux, is a natural ear-shaping influence in a turnstile from and to every point of the compass. I know I've taken and given back in my time with the art form's best interests in mind and spirit. I've always wished it could be more but I'm good with just the association and contribution of my limited development. I can't imagine anyone intimately close to music feeling much different. Charitably speaking, cast off instruments and gear are good symbols of unity when gifted away to their greater appreciation. I've done it several times, including lessons, with fleeting sighs of accomplishment that really do accrue. Again, congratulations on the new job.

And, if memory serves, McClean also suggested that Holly was Holy - "And, the three men I admire mostThe father, son and the holy ghostThey took the last train for the coastThe day the music died." Furthermore, knowing now that McClean's jester is none other than Bob Dylan, has he condemned the man for his music? I have a problem with that part of the song and, though I didn't then and still don't typically delve into musical personalities, McClean solicits an opinion to that end. To me, McClean seems to be dismissing the panorama of music in Holly's periphery and, most importantly, dismissing music going forward from "The day the music died." as being cloaked beneath Holly's shadow. Was McClean's (described) "indescribable photograph of America" his perspective when Holly died and, if so, what of the decade+ of music between Holly's death and McClean's American Pie release? I think Even McClean can't deny that Holly was but a distant memory paling in greatness to the British Invasion that succeeded 50's rock and launched Boomer Music. I do get it that he was painting a picture of a musician's place holder in time, as he did with Vincent for the sake of another art form and its artist, so the kitchen pass is assumed, his song's solicited assumptions notwithstanding. American Pie, though, was a cause/effect form of writing and the Holly story supported the form of writing with great verbal visualizing. We could see his imagery. I'm a fan of Don McClean. I think of American Pie and his other thoughtful lyrics as word art, on their respective simple and engaging melodies, reminiscent of the troubadour one can easily conjure up when listening to him. As far a music living or dying, McClean's irony in American Pie would almost ask us to dismiss his own music in the shadow of Holly, but we know now he's illustrating Holly and his music as a building block even he took advantage of.

I can buy into that. But, I have to put it in the context of writing only. In the way back when I was learning cover licks, songs and progressing through the stages of learning on the coattails of published artists, I found a deep satisfaction for each small step. The overall of it culminated in achieving a plateau of the familiar and then moving on to the next, unfamiliar steps. It was then when I realized my influences were umbilicals and it was harder to break them than it was to make them. For me, the frustration of feeling like a minion to my early musical influences put me on a hiatus from playing. Life's coincidental challenges demanded more of my time so off I went away from music. Twenty-nine years later... I returned to music with renewed inspiration and a desire to pick up where I left off - writing. This is my time and it has its share of Frisson Experiences that I do not think (for me) I'd have known had I remained a cover player.

Well, if credit is to be proffered for the Pete Seeger song Turn, Turn, Turn, we might make note that he appropriated the lyrics from Ecclesiastes 3:1, word for word, adding only the title, which is sung throughout, and the final couple words. I believe he was very clear about crediting the poem to that chapter's 1st 8 lines. The Byrds lofted many songs from humble beginnings, through their artful renderings and Roger McGuinn's ear, to what are now archives that will, hopefully, be paid forward. My own two sons, in their early 20's, have no interest in today's pop music and keep their libraries circa early 1970s. This preference was in no way my influence, as I do not own any music or the means for playing it, and wholly the result of their own musical curiosities. My point is what has been left behind will be lost if not kept young I picked the month of January, 2019, to resurrect this thread's intent and spirit it into the new year. Change, creativity, ambition and the diligent composure to involve them in music I think are the spirited attributes of youth, and youthful thinking from those of us who remain young at heart. It doesn't always reward the work at the heart of the muse but I do believe it's always good work. My time is past and that's where my ear remains. That's part of the resistance to change and I realize that. But, the essence of creativity has been shanghaied by the technologies that have intercepted the hands of young music makers and redirected them away from musical instruments, in the traditional sense, sullying the art form's validity. You can't have it both ways. The industry of music money-making is as much at fault in the diming out of the art form. Nurturing the artist has been replaced by economies of scale in a vacuum of dime-store studio effects and hired labor renderings, and little infrastructure remaining to devote to developing artistic skills and talents. The notion of pop (popular) music has been replaced with (insidiously) forced music, by the industry's marketing will and the world of the PC tainted at large, to the extent that it's become politically incorrect for a person to vocalize a specific musical preference at the expense of all others. Diversity's place in the musical audience's ear is on notice in a significant way. Technology, social implication and profiteering have come together to show us that, for the moment at least, the traditional artistry beneath music-making has been sidelined without any measure of remaining worth to an audience. We'll see what happens.

All due respect, Plato is dead, his writings are therefore no more than writings to be referenced should some minority interest, or scholastic mandate, put eyes on it. Morality and ethos is a duty innate in all men without a reference to the past. If we all look over our shoulders we can contrive a balance between good and evil that qualifies it as a useful guide for the here and now. That means, of course, we must apply the evil to strike such a contrivance. But, oddly enough, past lessons have proved no more useful than as examples of how to better apply evil. Enought of that. Look forward with all senses developing a weighted good and allow that to define who we are rather than some figment of the past. To mettle the future by offering some poorly forwarded sampling of the past has not been useful beyond curious imagery of men and their contrivances of who they thought they were. Past tense, like the lady said, leave the 60's in the 60's.

Okay. I have no use for one but for those who do it's good to know there are fans out there raving them on, or just raving, whichever applies. Nothing like a good rave.

It's a good article. Taking for granted what you can do, being your own worst critic and diminishing its worth to the audible isolation of 4 walls, the tendency is to remain isolated. While I have received compliments I tend to overtly show appreciation and then silently dismiss them as the kind gestures one gives to be nice. Rethinking it, I know I could assemble a lesson plan that could be simple enough to provide the clarity and mechanics of playing an entry level person could easily negotiate. Do I care enough to? I have a small M&P I visit to get strings and spend a couple minutes looking at their inventory of low-end guitars. Sometimes I might take something down and give it a quick run-through but most times I won't. And, there was usually one or more people who are obviously new to the instrument, showing the same enthusiasm I had when I was a rank beginner at the same age, placing chords and playing like noobs. I'd think to myself that one day, if they are ambitious, they will continue to learn and grow as musicians. I never did I think that I might play a role in that and I still don't. Self made and taught, I tend to broad brush that method as the best way to go. One thing is certain, if you want it bad enough and are willing to put forth the effort, you will achieve that goal and it doesn't include waiting around for someone to throw a few pearls of wisdom at you on some schedule convenient to all but you. The only genuine teacher is the one inside the student's desire to learn.

As I recall politics was a hot musical topic in lyrics when I was coming up from Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger through Neil Young and beyond so I can't say music and politics are strange bedfellows. Music is the voice of the people. I think Bruce Cockburn's song "If I had A Rocket Launcher" is an extreme sampling of politically driven musical angst. You can't isolate music from society and hold it up as a shining example of a utopian harmonizer that inarguably soothes the savage breast. It can't do that. And, despite our best efforts politics will always breach the ramparts of music's strongest defenses and taint the artisans within. I could plead for music to have that power over people but, reality being what it is, I tend to put my faith in people for who they are to avoid unwanted surprises. So, in the micro sense, I resolve some of my own life's disharmony with music and keep it free of social discord.

Good story and an uplifting one. She has an articulated and welcome rawness in her vocal style that remains throughout her range. Very nice.

A lifetime of playing guitar behind me I can say that the Gibson acoustic product line never got my ear, but I did hate to see it teeter on the brink of insolvency. I'm encouraged by this bit of news and will keep an eye on their progress.

Inclined to agree (or I would not be here) about the universality of music. The theme of Making Better Music is something that's always been the underpinnings of my personal journey with and for music making. Though I may not be able to define or describe the notion of it, I will say it's a feeling that has never let me down. It has instilled in me a broader sense of the arts and the reward of being able to shape my own sound. I can't imagine who I'd be if not for the exposure I've enjoyed to music. Making better music, to me, means to constantly seek ways to satisfy my musical curiosity, wherever it leads me, with no expectations other than the journey itself.

Elton John was and remains one of the icons of music for me. Thanks for sharing the video.

The music business is, since I've been at arm's length with it, all business and little music. The time actually spent with music became so diminished in the overall requisite thought devoted to the alphabet soup of the business that the core became subordinated to the shell. I had to weigh my who to my what, in terms of the artistry versus business acumen, and decided to retain the who part. That meant bowing out completely. To me the obligation to make music enslaved the artistry to the extent of actually leaving a sour taste in my mouth for playing guitar. It became a guilty thought to play for recreation. Now I enjoy it and seek nothing more from it than that. I will consent to an occasional gig but it's exceedingly rare now that I don't gaze upon an audience as an ugly obligation.

Not a fan of the genre at all. I listened through the video selections in the article and if that's the show that went down at the CMA then the genre in hurting not only for identity. There was a time when it had roots and I respected it for that. The blues still sports its own, as does many other genres, but our country genre as decidedly and consciously forsaken its own by allowing the silent invasion of watered down talent that does not respect it. I mean that. Poor writing is simply poor writing, no matter how you stage it, and because it's a fragile genre, these invaders have had an easy time splintering it for their own purposes. Country is dead.

Yours is a vintage thought spread to the cities and diaspora since the birth of music. Like with Harley Davidson, no one wants much to do with what their fathers and grandfathers enjoyed, hence their joy is generation-specific and HD is losing its appeal. There's an inexplicable negativity associated with yesterday's generation that keeps it there, generation over generation, and music is a very good one to sample. I do not listen to Jack Parr, Sinatra, Crosby, Dino, Torme, or any of my pop's favorites. Do You? Moreover, do you consider it your duty as a musician to collect the past and pay it forward? I don't. It isn't because I'm a crotchety old geezer, it's because I did not connect with that music, including big bands (especially big bands). Now, '65-'75 was my time with zero interest in new stuff after that. For me, that's when the music died. Am I expected to shoulder the years I enjoyed music and pay it forward? Does that sound like an honest claim anyone would swear to make, or attempt, for the sake of fond memory? How do I do that? How do I suppose I'm going to keep my musical likes relevant? Ideas? Yes, I can and do make with the period troubadour act on an acoustic guitar but that brings me closer to the smell of death in the air fr that music. Don McLean is telling it like it is, which touches the deeply held romantic nostalgia people need to keep in special places for special times. You can't pay that forward. Like Grace Slick remarked, let the 60's die.

It isn't attractive for anyone but the people who get a kick out of entertaining. The monetary versus egocentric returns are weighted towards the latter. While there's a certain rugged individualist in the mix that few might have the courage to embrace, there's also, with strict regard to the family of an entertainer, the purely selfish angle. No retirement plan, no employer group medical provider advantages, no guarantee of income, no sense of financial security for Mom and kids while you're out on the road, you'd have to assemble the honesty from deep down and admit that it's pretty much self-importance as the driving force to wander as a minstrel. That, to me, is not even close to the selflessness the family needs in a partner, father and household contributor to ensure he or she can compromise their ego to better arrange the family's security now and in the future. So, for the purpose of correcting the gist of this article, I would pose the real question to be "Don't you think you're being a little selfish to risk the security and well-being of your family to satisfy your ego?"

Yamaha guitars Might be helpful, might not. I didn't peruse it.

I only associate it with the polka and have to say I'm attracted to it. There's an authentic German eatery near me and on music nights I'm there.

This. Classy, tasteful, poignant, benign, entertaining, charming, disarming and no one but Sean Bean can pull it off. It took 11 years to perfect but this is the meme-for-the-theme extraordinaire. Well done, well done. Perks me up having read that Terry Jones has dementia (for real this time).

Last pic - rather innovative. As long as the wingnut doesn't rotate the height will be constant. Two nuts tightened against each other to ensure zero height drift could replace that top wingnut. Just a suggestion. Looking good.

Neil, these are also called draw knives, IIRC, so maybe search by that name as well.