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Comment by maccard | Hacker News Reader

> However, I do think there is a case to be made for falling into the trap of being more interested in the gear than the thing you're meant to do with the gear.

Have you ever met a guitarist[0], or a golfer? I play guitar, and as a teenager I spent _years_ playing a cheap encore guitar plugged into a no-name 15w amp imaginable with a zoom 505 [1]. I practiced for hours upon and hours and sounded awful. Now as an adult, I get to spend some money on the hobby and sound like what I thought I sounded like aged 15!

[0] - https://www.guitarworld.com/features/gear-acquisition-syndro... [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGKrBrCw-aQ (not me, but representative)

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I played for years, on a cheap, short-scale, Univox bass, and getting a used Rick[0] (don’t judge the hair. It was in style, back then) made a huge difference.

I no longer play, but did get get pretty good. In that case, the tool made the difference (and a buttload of daily practice. I felt I needed to earn the right to play that thing).

But I think everyone knows some rich bastard, that has a handmade bespoke axe, and is absolutely terrible.

[0] https://cmarshall.com/MulletMan.jpg (I still have that guitar, and the neck is still true.)

I agree 100%. Getting a Gibson was also a game changer for me. Today there is cheaper stuff that is also good quality (but you gotta dig), but back in the day you needed the kind of gear used by pro musicians to actually go the extra mile.

And it's a good observation about bespoke guitars: I feel like the problem is people trying to go beyond that, with the illusion that "even more expensive" will be even better. Then they start buying things that are hella expensive but don't give much more (due to diminishing returns, or sometimes they actually suck, like bad handmade instruments), or doing things like collecting 20, 30, 40 overdrive pedals just to find the "perfect one".

> Today there is cheaper stuff that is also good quality (but you gotta dig)

I think I disagree here - You don't have to dig for cheap and quality anymore. An entry level squier from the last 15 years is sufficient quality for a beginner IMO, and one step up (classic vibe) is firmly into the "instrument for life" territory these days. You only need to upgrade for preference/feel.

I have the luxury of regularly getting to play a Gibon SG from the 70's which has been well maintained. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful instrument in it's own way, but my 2007 MiM strat is a _far_ superior instrument.

To me the biggest change has been to amplifiers. Mid range practice amps now sound passible. Digital modelling is pretty good, and helps keep the volume down. That wasn't true before, most practice amps made guitars sound horrible. I always recommend people spend more on the amp than the guitar. I have a motley collection of cheap guitars and they all sound preety good into my Fender Twin... my Classic Vibe strat (as another commenter said) sounds perfect, as does my homemade Tele with homemade pickups.

Digital Modelling is a game changer. I've got a Helix Stomp XL, and it's replaced every pedal and amp in my house for guitar & bass, _and_ it's smaller than a pedalboard.

Even the Pod Go (which I had before this) is completely usable up to a level where you can absolutely afford to replace it with a helix.

I have an HX Stomp as well, but I'm doing most of my practice lately with a Tonex One, which I got for €150 brand new, and sounds amazing. It's incredible how far we come.

Yes, I agree with that. You don't have to look too far.

By "dig" I mean you can't go to a store and get a random $100 instrument, you gotta figure out that Squier is good.

Hair looks great!

It also reminds me of how a lot of the most coveted guitars, pedals, amps weren't selected by the guitarists who made iconic because they had some sort of secret sauce in them, but literally because they were the cheapest/most convenient thing available at the time.

Also, I love the sound of a good crunchy 15w practise amp. I think one day those old zoom pedals and the Line 6 bean will be highly coveted!

It was like that with Jazzmasters and Big Muffs. And even Les Pauls in the 60s and 80s. They were just cheap and widely available used and out of fashion, but then someone started using it again and the prices just exploded.

The Mascis effect

Old Zoom pedals are currently coveted as a good, cheap way to shoegaze...

I think this can be generalized to any hobby. When you sorta know you can't really aspire to the art for your own normal limitations, expanding gear knowledge becomes part of the enjoyment, as a sort of surrogate. Nothing wrong with that, though, as it really keeps the economy of some niche gear producers going for the benefit of everyone! :D

I'm pretty sure that was the GPs point. He just exampled two specific hobbies to illustrate his point.

That's exactly my point, I just used my own two hobbies as an example.

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