StephenDeBoard
TDPRI Member
Think of this as an open letter to guitar manufacturers. Hopefully someone will listen. Major guitar manufacturers suffer from Dead Guitar Syndrome.
Every once in a while I like to cruise into my local Guitar Center, Sam Ash or other music store to check out the new arrivals and used guitars. I’m always curious how the new electric guitars compare to what I already own. After another trip to Guitar Center over the weekend I feel I have to speak up. I’ve noticed a trend since about 2014 or so that put me off from buying a new guitar in this current era. Why does every guitar I try out to play feel like the potential resonance of the instrument is suffocated under thick, unnecessary plastic coating? It used to just happen on entry level guitars but now I’m finding this same treatment on every level. I picked up a Fender Player Series Telecaster hoping it would rival my very modest partscaster Telecaster I built over the 2020 lockdown. This flagship Fender guitar should destroy my homemade creation but it sadly it does not. The Fender is a lost cause before it can even get in the game. I pluck the low E string and it sounds like a dull thud. It feels like a dud to play. It is actually set up well and I know the wood and electronics are great. Still, if I experience no joy while playing a guitar, why would I want to buy it? Why would I even want to be a guitar player? Isn’t the joy you get from playing guitar the reason to play guitar in the first place? I bet this experience is subconsciously responsible for many new players giving up too early.
This DGS (Dead Guitar Syndrome) happened with every guitar I played from Fender, Gretsch, Epiphone, Ibanez, LTD and even Guitar Center’s Mitchell brand. I couldn’t get to the Gibsons since they were too high for me to reach without assistance but from my experience Gibson does not suffocate their guitars. However, Gibson owned Epiphone does with the Epiphone Worn series being an exception. In this environmentally conscious time we are living in, shouldn’t major guitar manufacturers want to use less plastic rather than more plastic? Doesn’t it also cost less to add less finish to a guitar? I want just enough coating to protect the wood. I have a suspicion that much of the love poured out on vintage guitars from the 1950s and 1960s is because these guitars were built with the optimum balance of finish and resonance.
With the technology available today guitar manufacturers should be churning out the best guitars ever made in history. This is not what I’m finding. My two favorite and best playing factory guitars were both built in 2011 and both have just enough finish to create a balance of full resonance while the wood is also being fully protected. One is a Gretsch DSV Duo Jet finished with nitrocellulose and the other is an Epiphone Casino 50th Anniversary model finished with polyurethane. My best Strat is a custom creation from a friend of mine and is based on a 1963 with a relic’d thin nitrocellulose finish. It’s such a good Strat that one of my friends borrowed it for about 3 years to use on various recordings until he bought his own Fender Custom Shop with, you guessed it, a similar thin nitro finish. I’ve realized through all of my experience that the old debate of nitro vs poly finish isn’t nearly as important as getting the balance of thickness vs resonance right on a guitar, acoustic or electric. I really believe that more people would play and continue to play guitar if the guitars they played spoke to them and actually felt and responded like vibrant musical instruments. I really believe that guitar sales would also continue to increase as a result. Everything in life is about balance.
Every once in a while I like to cruise into my local Guitar Center, Sam Ash or other music store to check out the new arrivals and used guitars. I’m always curious how the new electric guitars compare to what I already own. After another trip to Guitar Center over the weekend I feel I have to speak up. I’ve noticed a trend since about 2014 or so that put me off from buying a new guitar in this current era. Why does every guitar I try out to play feel like the potential resonance of the instrument is suffocated under thick, unnecessary plastic coating? It used to just happen on entry level guitars but now I’m finding this same treatment on every level. I picked up a Fender Player Series Telecaster hoping it would rival my very modest partscaster Telecaster I built over the 2020 lockdown. This flagship Fender guitar should destroy my homemade creation but it sadly it does not. The Fender is a lost cause before it can even get in the game. I pluck the low E string and it sounds like a dull thud. It feels like a dud to play. It is actually set up well and I know the wood and electronics are great. Still, if I experience no joy while playing a guitar, why would I want to buy it? Why would I even want to be a guitar player? Isn’t the joy you get from playing guitar the reason to play guitar in the first place? I bet this experience is subconsciously responsible for many new players giving up too early.
This DGS (Dead Guitar Syndrome) happened with every guitar I played from Fender, Gretsch, Epiphone, Ibanez, LTD and even Guitar Center’s Mitchell brand. I couldn’t get to the Gibsons since they were too high for me to reach without assistance but from my experience Gibson does not suffocate their guitars. However, Gibson owned Epiphone does with the Epiphone Worn series being an exception. In this environmentally conscious time we are living in, shouldn’t major guitar manufacturers want to use less plastic rather than more plastic? Doesn’t it also cost less to add less finish to a guitar? I want just enough coating to protect the wood. I have a suspicion that much of the love poured out on vintage guitars from the 1950s and 1960s is because these guitars were built with the optimum balance of finish and resonance.
With the technology available today guitar manufacturers should be churning out the best guitars ever made in history. This is not what I’m finding. My two favorite and best playing factory guitars were both built in 2011 and both have just enough finish to create a balance of full resonance while the wood is also being fully protected. One is a Gretsch DSV Duo Jet finished with nitrocellulose and the other is an Epiphone Casino 50th Anniversary model finished with polyurethane. My best Strat is a custom creation from a friend of mine and is based on a 1963 with a relic’d thin nitrocellulose finish. It’s such a good Strat that one of my friends borrowed it for about 3 years to use on various recordings until he bought his own Fender Custom Shop with, you guessed it, a similar thin nitro finish. I’ve realized through all of my experience that the old debate of nitro vs poly finish isn’t nearly as important as getting the balance of thickness vs resonance right on a guitar, acoustic or electric. I really believe that more people would play and continue to play guitar if the guitars they played spoke to them and actually felt and responded like vibrant musical instruments. I really believe that guitar sales would also continue to increase as a result. Everything in life is about balance.
Last edited:
