Comment by nyeah
6 days ago
I appreciate this perspective. To oversimplify, you're challenging total beginners to self-teach guitar repair at a level beyond what normal guitar shops offer. Your attitude toward playing seems like my attitude toward my profession, which I'm actually good at.
But here's my perspective on guitar. I'm closer to a perpetual beginner than to a good player. I partly blame the Marauder, because the chords just never sound sweet. It's a bummer, not a joy, to play it.
I have access to YouTube and I've tried to fix my Marauder. Two shops have tried, although one guy admitted he was working from YouTube. (I'm certain it's fixable. It's two pieces of wood with a bridge and a nut on them. The neck is straight enough to be very playable.) But I have a job and a family and I'm not luthier material. I finally gave up and bought an old Fender for too much money. $800 or something. I play it regularly. It stays in tune. I feel good when I play it.
I confess I have some brand-name vulnerability to Fender. "Classic" whatever whatever. Some child inside me doesn't want an Ibanez, he wants a Tele. I'm the kind of guy who would buy that yellowy "antique white" color if it didn't always seem to cost a bit extra. So yes probably I could get a better guitar for the same money if I knew the less famous brands.
Plus anyway the metalheads (or somebody) have run up the prices on Ibanez guitars.
Developing repair skills beyond those offered by most guitar shops is not a high bar considering most shops don't offer repair and just have a "tech" whose training stops at intonation and truss rod adjustment, the stuff required for basic setup. Personally, I think every guitarist should learn setup even if they plan on paying someone to do it, it is not difficult or time consuming to learn and if you can tune a guitar you can do a setup. I did not challenge anyone and to suggest I did is a misrepresentation, not an oversimplification.
>Your attitude toward playing seems like my attitude toward my profession, which I'm actually good at.
It is the attitude required to get good .