Does anyone know the value of Stringphonic guitars?

dennis

cbandla wrote: »

how would you describe the difference between the modern sound and the authentic sound?

Cbandla

Those are just terms that I made up for myself.. Who knows, someone might hear things another way. It's hard to describe even with youtube clips, because there's something in the way a guitar projects and sounds when you hear it in front of you.

The word "authentic" is probably not the best one, but traditional and old. To my ears, when you have a guitar like that, when you play rhythm, it's very bassy and dry but with a beautiful "roomy" reverb. My current homestay student Kyle has a guitar like that made by Vit Cach.

For me, a modern guitar may be more balanced and a bit more reverby. Again these are just my descriptions for whatever they're worth, and ultimately, both styles are fine for playing anything. Furthermore, to me, it's not two styles but two extremes, and instruments can be found within a sepctrum of these two styles. For instance, my personal guitar fits somewhere in the middle.

At any rate, if you have the possibility of trying the guitar, definitely do it. I always recommend to try before spending more than 800$. Negotiate if you can too.

I have a friend who made a video in which he said that he really liked a particular guitar that a luthier made. That luthier then sold 10 guitars. That really upset my friend because when he made that video he specifically said he liked the particular guitar he tried (and he tried many), it was not an endorsement of the luthier, but people hear what they want to hear, and the hype kicked in. Congrats to the luthier, but it was totally not my friend's intention. Furthermore the person who owned that particular guitar picked that specific guitar out of 3 or 4 of the exact same models.

dennis

oh and i can't comment on the pliage issue other than to say what I said above:

to me , i wouldn't describe the advanced model as being better sounding than the basic model. It was every so slightly different, but both were fine, and for that reason, if i were spending money, i'd probably choose the basic model as it is significantly cheaper. If I were to spend serious money, I'd wait until I played the guitar of my dreams

Bones

Chris, yes it's true that it probably doesn't make a huge difference to a novice player but for myself I like a guitar with great playability and that produces a nice, dry, loud tone easily. It just makes it a lot more fun to play even though I'm not a pro. Put another way, I think everyone deserves and should play at least a decent instrument regardless of level. If it is easier to play and more enjoyable then one is encouraged to play more if time/family permits. Conversely, if one has a bad instrument it just isn't motivating to sit down with it.

ChrisMartin

Bones wrote: »

Chris, yes it's true that it probably doesn't make a huge difference to a novice player but for myself I like a guitar with great playability and that produces a nice, dry, loud tone easily. It just makes it a lot more fun to play even though I'm not a pro. Put another way, I think everyone deserves and should play at least a decent instrument regardless of level. If it is easier to play and more enjoyable then one is encouraged to play more if time/family permits. Conversely, if one has a bad instrument it just isn't motivating to sit down with it.

Agreed totally.
But 'playability' will vary according to the player, not because of the name on the headstock.
So yes, definitely get the best guitar you can for yourself; that is not necessarily the one that is someone else's best choice.

stuology

I hear good things about Stringphonic from people whose opinion I respect. 1700 is a fair price depending on what country you are in and whether you are importing. I’ve never played a bad Japanese guitar - my Jap Strat is better than most high end US Strats and every one of the old Ibanez Macs I’ve played has stood up well, which is more than I can say for Selmers!

My 2-pennies on luthier guitars is that they vary a lot, if you cant try before you buy then go for a luthier as local as possible, having a good relationship with a luthier is really important for ongoing maintenance.

terrassier

dennis wrote: »

cbandla wrote: »

how would you describe the difference between the modern sound and the authentic sound?

Cbandla

I have a friend who made a video in which he said that he really liked a particular guitar that a luthier made. That luthier then sold 10 guitars. That really upset my friend because when he made that video he specifically said he liked the particular guitar he tried (and he tried many), it was not an endorsement of the luthier, but people hear what they want to hear, and the hype kicked in. Congrats to the luthier, but it was totally not my friend's intention. Furthermore the person who owned that particular guitar picked that specific guitar out of 3 or 4 of the exact same models.

To be fair Dennis I think that luthier if I am on the right lines has a track record of producing consistent results so although its a generalisation it does have some merit ?

Scoredog

A bit off topic but getting a better guitar can help to a certain degree. In the Idiomatiques our other guitar player George had a Cigano for sometime which was fine, but I sold him my MD-50 and got a Dupont VRB and when we play rhythm together, either recording or live you can feel and hear the difference. Both guitars are quite dry and complimentary to each other. When he had the Cigano and I played whatever, it worked fine and we locked but the sonic difference now is quite noticeable at least to us. My guess few others though would notice the difference but it has an effect on our experience.