WKSmith
Power User
I would consider buying that mug and flipping it!
Easy $1K for your trouble
I would consider buying that mug and flipping it!
I did consider it actually but the local used market has been very dry and slow. Things aren't moving as much and what you have people are offering you a nickel and/or beaver pelts.
While I do love my USA Select, I don't think the cost difference is justified given only the sound/playability... I bought mine used in like new condition for about $1100 off new price.
wholeheartedly agree with all that. The MIM are an insanely good value. I actually like the finish on mine better. The USA select is just satin white....and the fret work is better quality. I had my fret ends dressed as they were a bit sharp and I have the chlorine burst which is nicer IMO
This. I have four Austin-branded Chinese Les Paul copies. I bought each one used for less than $200. And all four are better guitars than 90% of the real Les Pauls that come through the shop where I work.
Would totally agree with you about the Gibson line. To me they are way overpriced and rely on their iconic image instead of marketing. There are really decent lower priced clones on the market that are really almost as good or better. But of course it does not say Gibson on the headstock so resale is not the greatest.I was out and about yesterday and popped into a couple of guitar shops in Newcastle (UK). My first thought at looking at new Gibson guitars was "WTF, HOW MUCH????!"
Is it me, or have prices gone crazy? The last time I visited one of the stores the top end Murphy Lab guitars were about an eye watering £5-6K price range. Now you need almost £9K for one. The more basic LP Stds seem to be near the £3K price.
When I was young, guitars were something that almost every home had, mostly cheap ones, some had nice ones if they were better off or lucky. My friends and I could save up a bit of money and buy ourselves cheap-ish used Les Paul's or Strats. But one way or another we all had the guitars we wanted and dreamed of. Incidentally, my 1st Gibson was a "Gibson The Paul", because I could not afford a Deluxe,Std or Custom. I then moved onto an ebony Custom. But they were good prices that most folk could afford if they put their mind to it. Obtainable. I don't consider myself to be rich, I would say I am more average, but there is no way on Earth that I could or would want to spend £8000+ on a guitar.
On the plus side though, the shop had a nice new Soldana half stack (30watt amp) which was about the £4K price area. I smiled to myself thinking that I have some Soldano's in my Fractal.That I can play with my old cheap Les Pauls.
Is it an age thing as I remember buying an AC30 for about £30 when I was young and then £50-100 for "old" Marshalls. As did my friends.
But the point I think I am making is that if I was a 16-17 year old now, dreaming of owning a Les Paul like my guitar hero it just would not happen.
Is guitar playing now a rich person's sport? Answers on a postcard, please.
It is the same in the UK.
)
In Germany you can see documentations about USA in TV with people living on the street in San Francisco and people living in their car because they can not pay the flat anymore or have not enough money to buy a new wasching machine. But also documentations about the super rich US people buying all they want. The situation is the same in Germany and UK, I think. But it's harder in UK and US because you get more or less no help. We also have more and more rich and poor people and high inflation.It is the same in the UK.
I was having a conversation yesterday with a friend where were talking about motorcycle things from YT videos. "How is it that everybody in America seems to be so rich and well off", he said as we watched something to do with the Sturgis motorcycle event. "Everybody seems to be riding custom big dollar bikes...." He then talked about a motorcycling couple who seemed to work in motorcycle dealers with the husband doing the repairs and the wife at the parts counter. Employees, not business owners. "How do they have new BMW bikes along with new Harleys and a new $60,000 truck... the wages must be fantastic over there". He perceives the US to be very well-off and rich.
I sometimes think the same about here, the Fractal community. You are not going to spend big bucks on a guitar toy if you are at rock bottom financially. It seems common for a lot of the good folk here to have an Axe FX3's, an FM9's along with a spare FM3 when at this point in time I can only dream of owning one top-end model. I can (luckily) manage if the price is right to possibly get myself a s/h unit which if things turn against me financially I can sell on. But with your comment about being barely able to be able to afford food and gas, I totally get it. Diesel fuel here is at about £1.60 a liter (5 liters to a gallon) ($9.75 a gallon) and they say inflation is at 9% yet I see food doubling in price for some items. I won't see any new Gibson in my house ever again.
It is no wonder that I can play the blues better now than I could 3-4 years ago. (But being British, I still try to keep a stiff upper lip, old chap...old bean...
I don’t need help. What I need is to be left alone. The endless nickel and diming with this tax structure is exhausting. They take a new BMW from me every year then have the balls to ask me what I did with the rest of my money at the end of the year. I paid various other taxes like 5 grand in tolls, property tax, sales taxes, fuel tax driving gasoline up to 4 bucks a gallon. You name it we have a tax for it and seemingly it all goes to benefit someone else. The latest money grab will be a 20+ dollar congestion pricing toll for anyone unfortunate enough to drive into NYC. It will literally cost you nearly 50 dollars in tolls to get to broadway and that’s before you park for another 40. I make enough money. But no amount is enough when these vultures are taking ALL of it and without getting political, using my own money against me.
I can’t speak for anyone else but my new toys come from busting my ass 80 hour workweeks. Many people are unwilling to work hard or work long hours and resolve to getting by on whatever it is they make. I’ve never been that way and I’m not saying my way is the right way. I have a bunch of nice gear but I drive a 6 year old car and don’t have a boat, either. I’m just middle class. Seems you have to work 2 full time jobs to stay comfortable these days. But yea, anyone who wants a 60k dollar bike, I say simply go get it. Put in extra hours, save/invest and buy the bike. The ‘how’ is the easy part. Work for it. The work is the hard part.It is the same in the UK.
I was having a conversation yesterday with a friend where were talking about motorcycle things from YT videos. "How is it that everybody in America seems to be so rich and well off", he said as we watched something to do with the Sturgis motorcycle event. "Everybody seems to be riding custom big dollar bikes...." He then talked about a motorcycling couple who seemed to work in motorcycle dealers with the husband doing the repairs and the wife at the parts counter. Employees, not business owners. "How do they have new BMW bikes along with new Harleys and a new $60,000 truck... the wages must be fantastic over there". He perceives the US to be very well-off and rich.
I sometimes think the same about here, the Fractal community. You are not going to spend big bucks on a guitar toy if you are at rock bottom financially. It seems common for a lot of the good folk here to have an Axe FX3's, an FM9's along with a spare FM3 when at this point in time I can only dream of owning one top-end model. I can (luckily) manage if the price is right to possibly get myself a s/h unit which if things turn against me financially I can sell on. But with your comment about being barely able to be able to afford food and gas, I totally get it. Diesel fuel here is at about £1.60 a liter (5 liters to a gallon) ($9.75 a gallon) and they say inflation is at 9% yet I see food doubling in price for some items. I won't see any new Gibson in my house ever again.
It is no wonder that I can play the blues better now than I could 3-4 years ago. (But being British, I still try to keep a stiff upper lip, old chap...old bean...
It is the same in the UK.
I was having a conversation yesterday with a friend where were talking about motorcycle things from YT videos. "How is it that everybody in America seems to be so rich and well off", he said as we watched something to do with the Sturgis motorcycle event. "Everybody seems to be riding custom big dollar bikes...." He then talked about a motorcycling couple who seemed to work in motorcycle dealers with the husband doing the repairs and the wife at the parts counter. Employees, not business owners. "How do they have new BMW bikes along with new Harleys and a new $60,000 truck... the wages must be fantastic over there". He perceives the US to be very well-off and rich.
I sometimes think the same about here, the Fractal community. You are not going to spend big bucks on a guitar toy if you are at rock bottom financially. It seems common for a lot of the good folk here to have an Axe FX3's, an FM9's along with a spare FM3 when at this point in time I can only dream of owning one top-end model. I can (luckily) manage if the price is right to possibly get myself a s/h unit which if things turn against me financially I can sell on. But with your comment about being barely able to be able to afford food and gas, I totally get it. Diesel fuel here is at about £1.60 a liter (5 liters to a gallon) ($9.75 a gallon) and they say inflation is at 9% yet I see food doubling in price for some items. I won't see any new Gibson in my house ever again.
It is no wonder that I can play the blues better now than I could 3-4 years ago. (But being British, I still try to keep a stiff upper lip, old chap...old bean...
Interesting, and indeed something I've seen a lot of. I also see the opposite, particularly around these parts: peeps cultivating an image of more meagre means than is reality. Regardless, it's nothing new - just amplified with SM - most of us only really know a handful of people in our lives, and only a few ever really know us. The rest is various levels of BS posing inherent in the types of cars we drive, clothes we wear, ..., guitars we play.
