Honest Guitar Reviews? Where did they go? 

The second people started seeing RU-vid as a way to make a living in and of itself was the death of any honest reviews.

Philip McKnight, Dylan Talks Tone, Puisheen, and The Guitaristas all give in-depth and pretty balanced guitar reviews. They don’t love everything. 🙂

As a RU-vidr that used to be approached often by guitar companies for demos/reviews, those review opportunities dried up quickly when I would inform companies they couldn't "purchase" a good review from me. As much as growing my channel, getting free gear and making money is nice, IMO it's not worth compromising honesty to do it, and if you have even a minor negative to say about a product you can bet your buns they aren't gonna contact you again.

I like "The Guitaristas" channel. He buys stuff with his own money and does long / rambling reviews and comparisons. Perhaps an acquired taste.

Derek nailed it when he commented on guitars (or other gear) being overpriced. Kudos to Phil McKnight for comparing prices with comparable products of competing manufacturers. A good example is the wave of reviews this week of the new PRS models. Great guitars, for sure; but worth $2500? No way in hell. If you read the comments under all those reviews, it’s an eye opener how many of them say, “I’ll wait for the SE version.”

The market is different now.When I was young a guitar was an investment in not just money but your identity as a guitar player and style of music you play. You were only going to have one guitar and it had to suit you perfectly. Now days with the rise in quality and affordability you can have multiple guitars. I own more guitars now than I ever thought I would own.

To Derrick’s comment about “it should cost this much…. “. I like the way Phillip McKnight reviews the features (it does this and not that), then show listings for comparable guitars and the range of prices.

To be fair - Baxter talks about people giving good reviews to a bad guitar but he refused to say the name of the brand. So - he doesn't want to get into trouble with the brand (my guess) which is the same reason many of those youtubers give good reviews to guitars that don't deserve it.

wait... you're telling me all those reviews of the new PRS guitar that came out on the minute at the exact same time on launch day, might not have been completely honest? I'm shocked!

I haven’t seen any big manufacturer new guitars that have fundamental flaws in the design or electronics. The issues are all in QC and every company is having issues with that right now. That is why buying from local shops that inspect their inventory is important.

Most don’t even know what a good amp or guitar sounds like. A custom shop fender is not worth $4000, neither is a Gibson USA. Also funny how crap woods are marketed as the latest greatest wood when in fact the best woods are becoming unobtainium. Pedals a whole different scam.

That's why I watch phil McKnight know your gear. He does the best reviews hands down. No one does a more complete review than phillip McKnight

Nice to see Jonathan back

Welcome back Jonathan, you two together are funny. Do long videos like an informal podcast where you chat casually about music etc. I'd enjoy anecdotes that begin with: "In my day...". Do it..

This is such a good channel, keep up the good work boys.

I agree that there are no bad reviews any more and it's not because stuff has gotten better - it's because manufacturers are bribing the crap out of influencers and they are afraid to destroy the gravy train. Over time, I have watched wanna be influencers in the music space become full blown salesmen - demonstrators of product. Modern day RU-vid is the only place I know of where you can be watching a 20 minute product placement commercial (like any musical gear you want to see a demo of), interrupted four or five times by more commercials about Mint Mobile, or get rich quick schemes, or whatever the thought police deem 'your thing A.I. says you like'. RU-vid is the medium that marketers dreamed of in the 50's - a medium devoid of content - only product placement commercials, where you don't have to pay anyone for content - because there isn't any. I started watching when it was new. The more time goes on, the more useless RU-vid is becoming. It's turning into a never ending commercial break.

The price of the new Myles Kennedy PRS is an insult to guitar buyers. But it received near universal praise from the influencer community. That was a shock. It's a $2,900 guitar with no remarkable features. Bias from influences is sadly expected today.

YT is nothing but ads, product placements in videos and hidden sponsorships in reviews, box openings, and lessons. Very little is objective anymore.

I read customer reviews on the retailers websites like GC, compare the write ups and take it all with a grain of salt. I believe they are legit reviews because I’ve often seen what some of them, both good and bad, point out after I’ve purchased. You guys, Austin/Trogly, Phil McKnight, Dane from Zimms, Dylan who talks tone, Brad the Git&Politic-ologist and a few others have gained my confidence.

Even relatively cheap acoustic guitars are made with a lot of CNC machines - and expert guitar makers. I was expecting a bad experience with a $75 Glary 6-string bass - and it sounded great and was flawless. Guitar manufacturers do not want their guitars returned.

Philip McKnight is the only review channel I trust at all.

That is why we Buy almost everything on our channel

Old Geezer Player here, love you guys. You don't sell the hype. I like your approach to the industry.

Glad to see Baxter’s elder son back 👍

Oh man, I loved Sledgehammer!! Here's another issue I have with guitar reviewers on the Tube. These guys are so good and have great gear, they can make any guitar sound good! You have to filter out the amazing playing and try to focus on the specs and hopefully they'll tell you about the necks size and feel. And hopefully they'll point out the downside and flaws.

Honest reviews is why Phil McNight rarely gets guitars sent to him.

That PRS T style thing is fugly and way too expensive…there’s an honest review. 😉👍

Jonathan is back!

You showed up in my morning feed! Yay! I missed having my coffee with you guys. Cheers from St. Louis!

Benn Jordan (The Flashbulb) did a great video on how shady, and often illegal, the whole gear review world is now. A wall of Amazon guitars in the background is a good sign you can't trust a channel.

Challenge accepted! Honest reviews might be a good idea to start something new! I love the banter, you guys rock.

Most are buried under what are demos rather than reviews. Andertons make great demo videos but they are not a review. A company looking to sell you something isn't going to point out the flaws. An example would be their demos of the 2015 Gibson range with the robot tuners; they knew they were shit but had to try and shift them and talk positively about all the advantages of the new system.

It's sad what's happened to RU-vid. The majority of gear channels have become nothing more then corporate sponsored infomercials. RU-vid used to be an incredible place for honest information. That idea no longer exists.

Puisheens review on the American vintage 60s jazzmaster 2 was classic. Best line was “if you think this was bad. F$@#% buckle up!” It was nice to see someone be truthful on QC issues. On flip side he loved the squire anniversary jazzmaster

I just found your guys channel and I’m only about an hour away. Next time I’m down in the so pines area I’ll check out the shop. Really cool channel

I'll tell ya where they went....off of youtube. Companies aren't going to send you guys free gear to get a shitty review in return. I haven't seen a gear review in YEARS where the reviewer trashed the product...and let me tell ya, there's A LOT of shitty gear out there. All they say is, "For the money....this thing is pretty good." I stopped watching the reviews because they're all good.

As a viewer of the channel, I think I have a small voice in saying…more Jonathon please.

I'm here to say you are 100% correct. I bought a department store guitar for $75.. approximately . In 79.. maybe 77? ... Long time ago. But it was garbage. Trying to learn to play on a electric guitar neck that wasn't even as comfortable as a cheap acoustic classical is today.... If I could have gotten a Harley Benton back then. It would have been heaven

The same issues were there with guitar magazines as well Some reviews are done with borrowed instruments or ones the reviewer bought themselves Those could still be off in some way, maybe not the same issues though.

That attitude actually seems to be changing. Thankfully! It's refreshing to see some guitar channels not vying for free gear from guitar makers, and actually have a fair and accurate review, both good and bad. Rather than the standard "This is the greatest guitar ever". (Until next video). That got old fast. I can't trust any guitar review channel who constantly sound like shills for guitar companies. However there are a handful of channels that give honest reviews and those are the ONLY ones I'll bother with.

Honesty is such a lonely word. Cheers Casino!

The geezer that played Max Headroom was also the father of the next door neighbours in Honey i shrunk the kids and lots of other projects🤘

I've been watching a lot of Audio System reviews, lately, and only found one reviewer that bad mouthed a product. He gave his reasons and was extremely honest about it. He is my "go-to" guy now.

You guys and a fun presenter Colin at the Guitaristas You Tube channel.

Guess you really don't know what you got till it's gone. Thank goodness Jonathan's back.

It’s been said many times already,but Phil McKnight is truly an honest reviewer.

What's generally lacking among guitar reviews online and user posts in forums is balance and nuance. I've seen far too many "it's great" or "it sucks" reviews/demos. I suppose those kind of extreme stances appeal to a lot of folks. Whereas, a detailed, nuanced breakdown of the pros and cons has much less "click appeal." My biggest beef is when folks make a false equivalency between a budget piece of gear and a premium one. For example, claiming that MIM is as good as a USA model. I've played and worked on guitars for three decades; I know those claims are untrue. Some players, however, may not know and be fooled. Another bit of nonsense I've seen on the Internet is expecting guitars to be "setup" out of the box. Again having worked on guitars for years, I can tell everyone that this expectation is misplaced. Guitars play best with a setup. This step should be encouraged. Instead we have fools who "unbox", don't like the feel, and rant online that X brand sucks.

I believe many of the YT reviewers simply lack the knowledge to do a competent review. I have rarely received a sub 400$ bolt on neck guitar that didn't require me to remove the neck and set a proper neck angle. But I rarely see a reviewer mention this. Maybe they just wrongly lower the bridge saddles and allow those hex screws to stick way above the saddle. But that is so wrong and so dangerous. I also have never seen these reviewers measure the string height at the nut and inform their viewers that those nut slots are way, way too high. Mind you every Gibson and Martin at my GC have the same way too high nut height too but proper string height at the nut is a critical requirement. Mind you I also realize that only about 5% of all guitars purchased are gonna wind up in the hands of someone who can actually play. So maybe all this is mute. If most guitar buyers rode a bike like they play guitar, they'd wreck and kill themselves in the bike store parking lot.

Try the guitaristas ! Pretty honest guy

Guitar Player, Guitar World, Guitar Sucker mags of the 70's never gave a bad review. Silvertone Rules !!!

Most guitars from Fender, Epiphone, Gibson, Ibanez, Martin etc are going to be good. It's rare they ship a dud. Excellent point about the value.

I’d like to see breakdown videos on new stuff, show us the wiring, any flaws in finish etc. particularly with squire and MIM and stuff.

There is honesty out there but you have to look for it. Find a reviewer you like and can trust. I like the way Rhett does his. He doesn't sell reviews or take cash for positive reviews. If he gets gear sent to him to review and he likes it; it gets posted, but no promises. His preferences get explained. Over hundreds of videos with him and his friends, I find it very educational.

Guitar ratings (Good vs Great)A good guitar makes you smile when you see it. A great guitar makes you pick it up and play it when you walk by. Watching video reviews on new guitars now is much better than searching through the Sears catalog in the 60-70’s.

Welcome back Jonathan!

Good morning Baxter and Johnathan, I do like U-Tube. I enjoy your show and a few others. So when I get excited about some type of gear, I'll search for reviews on U- Tube. Ofcourse there giving a sound sample, it usually goes thru a mic, then thru your phone. It's very hard to tell if it's good or not. It seems to me 95% of everything reviewed is the latest greatest thing to hit the market. I guess I want it to be what they claim it is. What do you know, about 95% of it isn't what I signed up for. Yeah, you can take a poor petal and maybe there's one setting that is ok. So needless to say I have a closet full of gear I may never use. I don't return things, I keep it hoping one day I'll need it, but I won't. It's my own fault. I will never go and get something that some random U-Tuber says in there review an that it's awesome anymore. I like casino and if they say it's good, it probably is. But I feel you guys are honest. Other channels not so much. I know it's business. But from now on if I want something I will drive the 30 miles and go to Sam Ash to hear it in person. I'm sure I could have saved that money and would have had enough to get a Murphy lab, custom Fender, or a sweet core library P.R.S. lol Yes I'm a consumer dumb ass. As always thanks for the humor and great show. Have a great day, be safe.

Maybe we should put more emphasis on working on a guitar then buying them, I’ve modded every guitar I’ve ever owned, either to make them play to my standard or sound like I want them to, most people can’t even adjust a truss rod, let alone replace the nut or the pickups, I’ve made cheap guitars play and sound great and expensive ones sound better, the point being expensive doesn’t always mean better, it’s a lot cheaper to buy a set of great pickups then a new guitar, frets can be leveled or replaced, and working on them can be as fun as playing them when you figure out what you’re doing. And if all you’re worried about is resale value go into real estate and leave guitars to musicians

I’m from an era where you got what you got with the money you had, and what was available at the little instrument store near you. That was your sound, so you had to make up for it by playing well. They literally had two pedals for sale, and you had no idea what they did before you got home. Then that was your sound.

I’m here and I do honest guitar/gear reviews! I have done a few sponsored videos myself and have always been honest. Mater of fact, It’s in my contract that I send to them that I reserve the right to be honest and say what I want, good or bad, about the product and if they have an issue with that, we can not work together. That clause has never gotten me turned down from a review because the companies I have worked with seriously make good stuff.

Seems guitars for the most part have gotten better due to the fierce competition in the market. On the other hand, amps in particular can be a hit or miss scenario even with the big manufacturers. The QC going out the door is nowhere near as good as it should be especially with the Fender American made amps. Just saying I had to return a 68 Custom Deluxe Amp that was so noisy with no volume it wasn't usable.

Epiphone and Squier have gotten better in quality, noticeably during the last five years. I’m 70 and have an admitted bias to the classic US brands. I have many original classics. However I bought a Squier bass vi and three Epiphones, a Casino coupe, a Coronet and Crestwood and they’re marvelous no issues.

Affiliate links have ruined honest reviews!! RU-vidrs have admitted if they don’t like a product, they just don’t review it. They know you are only going to click the affiliate link and buy the product if they give a glowing review. Reviewers are basically just salespeople now.

If the reviewer doesn't sell guitars and buys the review guitar with his/her own money, you'll get an honest review. Glenn on SpectreSoundStudios buys and reviews guitars and other gear/software. He's ripped on Gibson for a V with shoddy paint and Harley Benton etc. for crappy QC.

The worst thing that would happen to a beginning guitarist buying in entry level Guitar market... Is a loose output jack. Or faulty pot. Or crappy tuner. But also. Parts are so easily available in today's market. Back in the 70's. ? Not many. No Amazon. No Stuart MacDonald.. no GFS or allparts . 17 yr old me could have fixed up my crappy first guitar if there were a Huge aftermarket thing ten. I grew up on Staten Island. And DiMarzio didn't even become known until the 80's

This is one reason I keep coming back to your channel and @theguitaristas from the uK. He buys his own stuff and can be pretty hilarious with his honesty

Guitarists and bass fishermen are in the same boat. Anything that they assume will give them an edge will sell and for way more than they're worth. Fish haven't gotten smarter and the sounds a lot are searching for were all done on off the rack guitars and amps.

What happened was CNC machines. Guitars really are better built today.

LOL .... Honest reviews are the reason we don't get anything for free. If they are bad.... they are bad.

It's hard to mess up a guitar with CNC being totally ubiquitous around the world. The only real differences are in paint finish and the quality of the fretwork. The parts are standardized and 100% reproducible every time you make them. The $200 guitars today are better made and more consistent than the $1000 guitars from the 1980s that were handmade.

My favorite tech reviewer use to review digital cameras all the time and he stopped doing reviews for the most part because he said that once he gave a not so favorable review of one camera from a huge manufacturer and they stopped sending him items to review. He said all the cameras companies were the same so he said he refused to play the game so he just stopped reviewing anything that he didn’t purchase personally. I guess it would be the same for most companies.

Since popularization of CNC machines, there is really no excuse to pay premium for handmade / custom made guitars. You can argue, but I've worked years in manufacturing environment in different industries and one I've seen over and over again, cheaper mass production is generally always better than what a small manufacturer could do. Whether it's mayonnaise, car parts, or... a guitar. That's why it's more and more difficult to get a bad guitar. Bad set up of course, but build quality wise, no. Maybe that's why there are only positive guitar reviews these days. I am not talking $50 Amazon guitars now.

I remember Sledge Hammer and Max Headroom. I'm old.

For awhile I felt there were a lot of no-name import brands being given glowing reviews. The guys and gals would comment on how surprised they were that a guitar that affordable could be that good. (Look at that shiny finish!) Yet it would look so cheap to me, even across the screen, like the most affordable beginner model from a big name far east quality. They would do the unboxing and get all excited for the accessories, yet it would just be a cheap skinny guitar cable, a super thin nylon strap with thin leather ends, maybe a rinky dink tuner, a pot metal tremolo arm all coming out of the single pocket of a roughly guitar shaped nylon sack "gig bag" . It felt so tawdry! Haha.. I see those cheap tuners you guys, who are you kidding!

I think they don’t like the new PRS Tele 😂😂

I hear the guitar 1st. Most of the reviews don't discuss what I need to play a guitar. So then go to the local store and see if what I heard is real. If so, get one. The other thing is if I already have that sound, then maybe I don't need it.

Phillip McKnight is the man.

After 50+ years of guitar building, it's reasonable to assume that the standard has increased. I don't understand why guitars are supposed to be better if they are older.

Recently bought a danaelectro .. cheap guitar I know .. the first five minutes I hated it … three days later I can’t put it down … I love the thing

Used to get them in Guitar Player magazine all the time.... Since the death of print and it's ALL online now - the companies have bought all the reviewers.

For a while, PRS Silver Sky's were being reviewed on every channel. :)

Whenever the topic of "honest reviewers" comes up, I think a lot of folks forget that even the most successful, most popular RU-vid influencer isn't necessarily going to have the administrative and legal framework required to adequately deal with marketing teams that are trained and paid very well to manipulate them in particular. Likewise. RU-vidrs are not going to have any real in-house "oversight" to make sure they are meeting some kind of "journalistic/professional standard" (for lack of a better term). In a lot of ways, RU-vid influencers are the best possible scenario for a company's marketing teams since they are so incredibly vulnerable to manipulation and won't often even notice it is happening. The other side of that problem is the audience. Some of us are trying to treat RU-vid like a replacement for network television or even older enthusiast level publications (magazines and the like) without keeping in mind that RU-vidrs have no real professional obligation to provide accurate or even thoughtful information. We gravitate towards RU-vidrs that make us feel good about our own feelings and opinions and then act surprised when RU-vidrs learn that telling us what we want to hear in the way we want to hear it makes them successful and just fall into that habit. Trusting a RU-vidr is not unlike trusting a opinion from some random person you meet in public. Sometimes it might be insightful/thoughtful and a bunch of times it is just going to be some worthless "hot take". To make matters worse, there is a real incentive for RU-vidrs to adopt a sort of "pundit" style approach where their content is largely just a bunch of nonsensical "mythbusting" and half-baked but emotionally strong "hot takes" about popular products/brands. For every one RU-vidr that offers a somewhat thoughtful take, you get a bunch of RU-vidrs that are trying to follow in the footsteps of clowns like Scott Grove or Will Gelvin who tell their audience that they "are just telling it like it is" as if that means anything.

... BTW, don’t believe the negative hype about The Flash. I’ve already seen it twice, second time in IMAX. It’s a really good and fun movie. Definitely see it on the big screen.

Most guitar oriented channels will not speak their true opinion for fear of losing sponsors, and that ain’t helpful to players at all.

Your riffing at about 6:20 or so about everything in a business category being owned by by one conglomerate is so right on. Monopolies and trusts are our primary problem in this country.

Reviews should answer the question: "Who is best served by buying this product instead of the competition?" The 3th or 4th place product could be the best choice for a particular person's needs.

Alright, Baxter and Jonathan back together again!

"The Internet of Things", bots are everywhere, and a bunch of the guitarists buying from Amazon are n00bs. "Bro, it's totally an SG standard, even though I've never even held a good Epiphone!" New prices are insane. Radial Switchbone - a triple channel swither with gizmos - is about what my Jet City 50 + gain channel mods comes to.

I remember Max Headroom, Great show guys. You could say something about getting in on that first production run. After that, they raise price and lower quality.

A good/professional “reviewer” should just review the guitar, period! No “I don’t like this” or “they should have done that”!! Oh, Max Headroom…👍🏽👍🏽

Happened today with Boss ME90 👍

Common sense 101. No dealers that sell guitars are going to give an honest guitar review period. Sweetwater/Andersons will NEVER talk issues.....just ITS THE BEST!

Elmo Karjalainen is a great reviewer. Integrity I think. He's now doing demos to make some scratch but he doesnt give an opinion on the paid placements. He still does reviews of products he buys. Calls it how he sees it

Baxter I had a Subaru. Honest review -Subarus have a design fault with their seals. They get head gasket issues after about 80k miles. Costs 1000s to fix. Keeps our local mechanic busy with 2-3per week.

The TV station was Sinclair broadcasting. It was a statement about disinformation their owner shared and put out across their stations and it was above the board. Working in local TV I can say the corporate ownership plays almost nothing into what’s on the air unless there’s some chunk they need to fill and they pull a story from another station. Producers and managers Healy are trying to fill the air so they pulll whatever fits time wise.

Seems like the best places for honest information about gear now are the old guitar forums. Even subreddits and Facebook groups are full of fanboys who take negative reviews as a personal affront… It’s somehow worse than the “everything is great, always” attitude on RU-vid.

I’m gonna chime in here. So I build guitars as a hobby maybe one day as a career but I’m not there yet. I have had one real review and the guitar way far from perfect. But still playable. You know never send the 3rd guitar you built out for a review. Flip side Mike at tonetuga has one that came out pretty spot on that he loves. So I ask people for honest feedback so I can better my product. Jonathan has one of my guitars. We have discussed good and bad. Actually he stated it sounds better now than it did last year. Dry time is the major factor in that. With out honest reviews the person building the guitar can’t make the guitar better. I hand build each guitar start to finish. My wood is air dried and mostly locally sourced. I build out of a 10x10 shed with no AC or heat. So I’m gonna have some variables working against me. I’m still figuring it all out. But I stress this a lot without honest feed back I will never know what people want. So Baxter and Jonathan feel free to do some feed back on that LG model floating around out there.

"Max Headroom is the original AI." I think a certain HAL-9000 computer would like a word.

Max Headroom predates Sledge Hammer by a few years actually. I was watching that show on Showtime before it was airing on ABC. But, I think I recall it originally being shot in Canada. Then when it was aired on ABC, it moved down here to LA. I wished I would have worked on it - though my best friend did (on an unaired episode).

Great vid guys. Happy Friday

Other fields have this same problem. Lots of reviewers are in it for free stuff or want to grow via clickbait: Everything is "THE GREATEST?" or the "THE WORST?"