Quote:
Originally Posted by rangercaster
actually, there were some gems among the crap ... but modern import budget guitars are light years ahead ... many famous 20th Century guitarist started on a Sears guitar ... it was available, and the price was right ...
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The problem is most folks tend to associate Kays, Stellas and others with the low end import stuff that started flooding the market in the mid-to late '60s - guitars with tuners that kept slipping and an action so high you could place your hand between the strings and the board. I read somewhere that during the 1960s the Japanese could build a whole guitar for what it cost an American company to buy wood for the top.
But the earlier guitars, particularly those made in the late 1920s and 1930s, despite being sold on the cheap though mail order houses, were sometimes way ahead of their time in terms of design. They were cheap (often built with birch) and sounded pretty good. No, they did not sound as good as a Martin Herringbone D-28 but then again, Martins did not have the reputation of being able to hold up to life on the road which the Stellas and others did. A big consideration for an itinerant blues or folk musican.
Some of these guitars now command some serious dollars. The big box Oscar Schmidt-made Stella 12 stings from the 1930s are so sought after that they are bringing in the neighborhood of $20K.