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There have been a few good discussions on a recent thread about fret wire. A couple of statements veered off topic slightly and I started thinking about improvements to guitars and guitar gear in my lifetime. I was born in the early 1970’s and loved the guitar by age three but didn’t start playing till 1985.
I think one of the best continually developing improvements in the guitar world has been with tuners. A reliable, accurate ,and professional tuner used to be the ultra expensive and large unit strobe tuners, to rack mount, to floor pedal, to clip on. From a $1000usd or more to $40-$60usd. Gotta love that.
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06-26-2024 03:34 PM
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Digital signal processing.
Last edited by dconeill; 06-26-2024 at 05:00 PM.
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No direct opinions about guitars, but relevant gear wise I'd say recording equipment, in particular the portable stuff in just about every aspect. When I started to get serious in the early 90s small quality recorders existed but they cost a small fortune. Then the Mini disc walkmans were introduced, which offered a viable alternative to the pro DAT-based equipment at a much more accessible price point.
Nowadays I have a Zoom H2n which probably cost me a smaller sum than my 1st MiniDisc walkman (non corrected for inflation), runs for hours on 2 rechargeable AAA cells and onto cheap medium and offers no less than 3 stereo modes with a much better quality.
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Lightweight, gig capable amps that sound great (Henriksen and Quilter come to mind). These engineering marvels have shown up right on time for my 66 year old body.
The cost of these amps is more than offset by my Chiropractic savings.
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In no particular order:
1. ME series pedalboard. I've used the 50, 70, 80 and 90. I prefer the ME-70. I am dependent on it for my sound.
2. Hand held recorders. My first was an Iriver the size of my thumb. With an external mic it made surprisingly high quality live recordings. Now I use a Yamaha Pocketrak, also great.
3. Lightweight amps. I use the DV Mark Little Jazz. 15lbs. Sounds good.
4. Probably not new, but new to me. Foldable cart with canvas sides. Will carry hundreds of pounds (per the ad). Rolls great.
5. Easy availability of info, lessons and recordings.
6. EDIT. Don't know how I left this one out. Home recording. For the price of an interface (around $100) and Reaper ($60) you can turn your computer into a recording studio. That's simply amazing.Last edited by rpjazzguitar; 06-27-2024 at 12:57 PM.
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The web. The abundance of information and opinions that were once restricted to professionals or slow, haphazard or rigged in coming through print media. Forums like ours. Living in periphery is no longer a handicap. Caveat emptor still applies.
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Yea.. the web. Started learning jazz in retirement and have been able to make pretty good progress even without guitar teachers being available.
Second would go to digital signal processing. Amp models, speaker IR's, effects, EQ.. et al. Cheap and crazy good.
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I agree that light, capable, great-sounding amps are probably the biggest improvement I've seen. They're easy to carry, use minimal energy, and relatively cheap. When I was young, tubes were the only game in town, and tubes require lots of iron and electricity in order to function. Modern Class D amps are better in every way.
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From a social perpective, the huge decline in the real prices of gear, making quality instruments and electronics available to the masses. I know this may spark off yet another debate about cheap Asian labor etc., but mind you, until Covid or so, nobody was against Chinese goods for geopolitical reasons.
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I wouldn't say nobody, but it was less focused. Even now, without cheap goods from China and the rest of Asia, the western world would be a far less wealthy place. Better or worse, I don't know, but certainly different.
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This one may be odd, but from 2010 onward, I'd say "YouTube Backing Tracks"
I have my mixing board setup so I can play with YouTube backing tracks. I never get board, there are so many and constantly changing.
I can mix the YouTube feed to play through headphones or PA speakers or Monitor Speakers with a mic'd amp, or through rack-mount amp simulator.
I'd say 80% of my playing is this way. The rest split between Classical and recording.
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Off the top of my head
- Lightweight amps - makes playing around town so much easier.
- Clip on polyphonic tuner
- Wireless dongles (AMAZING for education and pretty nice for just playing around the house. The freedom from cables is more of a big deal than you might think)
- decent recorded sound quality on iPhone
Now probably Moises. I just need to think of things to do with it. The limit is more my imagination and time than the technology.
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I started playing around with recording in the 1980s with a 4 track cassette tape unit, the Aria R504. I don't remember how much it cost, but in todays dollars adjusted for inflation I'm sure it was pretty expensive.
Now, given you already have a computer, you can spend $100 for an audio interface, and $65 for Reaper DAW software, and you have what is arguably better than a commercial recording studio back in the 70s or 80s.
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Low Impedance Pickups!!
DG
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There have been lots but the quality of low priced guitars and the availability of high quality low cost home recording probably top my list.
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IF you have the good, you have to acknowledge the BAD. As in, be careful of what you want, we might get it.
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The biggest improvement in gear over my lifetime would be the profit margins of the gear makers exporting all production to nations who welcome sweat shops and corner cutting on part and build quality. Guitar gear has mostly devolved in quality since the 60's.
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Is there even a development of new gear happening or is it just simulating the old?
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I still use an ME8 from 1996.
Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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After reading your post, I took a look at some of the older models. Originally Posted by garybaldy
The ME25 looks interesting. It has a volume pedal and the effects I use. Since I mostly use just two sounds, the controls are adequate. And, it's smaller! I wonder if it actually sounds worse than the later models for reverb, delay and harmonizer on zero.
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At exactly the same age, I gotta echo that 100%. THE game changer. From a Twin, then to Music Man, then to Pearce, then to (together) Quilter, Henriksen, and Genzler. Don't look back. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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As with others: amps, tuners and home recording.
Just realized the question is about biggest improvement. For me right now it's the amps. Soon it will be home recording, which I'm just re-visiting for the first time since Tascam PortaStudio in early 80's. It's a massive and total game change.
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It was finding an amp that produces the sound that I hear in my head. One that I love and speaks to me. Fender Acoustasonic Junior it T'is. For me anyway.
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All I can say is the gear has gotten way better and the music and how it’s heard by the public has changed for the worse!
People are now okay with live Karaoke vs a real band. And clubs are happy not to pay bands and oblige the cheaper alternative.
Also hobbyists have invaded what used to be a professional work space. Records, Nightclubs, Jingles, Church Gigs, etc.
Im really glad to be at the end of my pro music career,Lol!
Do t even get me started how shite all music has evolved to! And for me Jazz is the absolute Worst of all of it! Sounds like a bunch of music school kids without any real SOUL!
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Biggest improvements for me:
1. Light weight amps. You can gig with a 3.5 kilo amp that fits in a backpack and have a good sound. That's unbelievable.
2. Home recording. I started around 1987 with tapes, four tracks, mixing boards, then sound cards, home and semi pro studios.. Today you can do a pro sounding recording with a decent laptop and a sound card.
3. Web. All the info and music available.. All the concerts you can watch (I live in a country where not much is happening musically). The fact that you can study with people from all over the world!
In guitars I'd say the locking tuners, changing strings in a minute! But in quality I prefer older guitars, basically cause of the wood. In tube amps I think the quality is worse today in everything.
Of course much of what technology has provided is a double edged sword. It has made music a free commodity basically, and I think that in the decades to come AI will further depreciate human art and artists livelihoods.
Most of my playing time is still spent playing unplugged at home with just a guitar at hand.. And I think the essence of music is human communication, so the less tech involved the better.
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