Weird Trend With Where Guitars Are Made / Hobbyist make it hard for professionals to afford guitars? 

Hobbyists are the backbone of the guitar industry. If it was just professionals the guitar industry would be the size of the violin industry.

Yes thank you all for your support.

Re: customer service, PRS amazed me when I dialed the tech support number and actually got a tech on the phone. And the tech provided a few suggestions and emailed a schematic for how to tame the piezo on my new SE Hollowbody II. He also followed up by email. It felt like I was a valued customer in a mom & pop shop.

As far as customer service, I can't imagine any company more impressive than Martin. I have a '73 Martin D-35 purchased new in 1973 so as the original owner I had the lifetime warranty. About 10 years ago it finally needed a neck reset as well as some binding work in the waist and the pickguard needed replaced as it had shrunk as was typical of the Martins manufactured during that period. I contacted Martin, explained the issues and of course was asked if I was the original owner with the receipt. Of course I did not have the receipt. No problem. They asked for the serial number and if I remembered where I bought it. Fortunately I remembered and within a few minutes they traced the guitar to that location in Pittsburgh and honored the warranty. The icing on the cake was when they said they were sending me a hard copy receipt pre-dated to 1973 in the event I ever needed additional warranty work done in the future. I seriously doubt I would have received the same consideration from Fender, Gibson, PRS or any other manufacturer today. BTW Phil, I really appreciate the information you provide on your channel!!

I like these videos. This guy is pretty damn sane, when it comes to the business of guitars. He knows a lot about the ins and outs of everything guitar. Integrity means a lot...

Wonderful to have a mother like yours.

I bought a Zither bass stand for my Jackson Randy Rhodes V. It's a little longer so I called up Zither and they steered me in the right direction and it works great! Good people and great service!

Gibson Customer Support is absolutely horrible. I was gifted (at the time in 2020) a brand new 60th anniversary Gibson LP Std Custom v3 VOS. and it came with a Gibson Lifton Historic 5-Latch Brown/Pink Fabric Lined Hardshell Case (retail cost for the case alone is $499.99). Inside the case there is no cradle for the neck so they used a wedge of uncovered foam to stabilize the headstock, yet I saw the other cases covered with the headstock wedges covered in matching pink material. So, I called Gibson Customer Support. I first asked for the covered wedge since I felt it was omitted by neglect, and was outright refused by the customer service representative. I then offered to pay for the wedge and was told they have no SKU for such a item. So, I am out of luck. There was only one customer service representative on duty (I know because I tried calling back and got the same rude person and so I asked for his supervisor. I was told no supervisor, no matching covered pink wedge, and pretty much stop bothering me. Gibson charges such a premium and they just don't seem to make things right for their customers. No more Gibson's for me

I bought a Heritage H-150 used at GC. They didn’t know why the hardware was tarnished, but they let me have it for 200 less than what they had it priced at. I was disappointed that they didn’t have a Heritage case with it, but it had come in with a Gibson Les Paul case. I called Heritage to ask about the “tarnish” and they told me my guitar which was in perfect shape otherwise was a special run for Sweetwater, with the artisan aged treatment and SD Antiquities, so while not custom shop, it was a more premium guitar. Woohoo! I asked if they sold cases, and he said not really, but they had a case that they used for moving guitars which they considered shopworn. 100 bucks, including tax with free shipping. Was here in three days. Wonderful interaction, start to finish. That is customer service.

What you said about Musicman and PRS really resonated with me Phil, I feel exactly the same about both brands. I really like their build quality and the ethos of both companies and keep on trying their guitars but can’t find a model that is a ‘keeper’. I owned a Musicman Luke for years, which was a great sounding guitar but the neck and overall size of the guitar just felt too small. I’ve never found a PRS neck I like either.

Love the walk for it model, cheers to you and your family’s health and happiness! Thank you for another amazing hangout, these are the best and so appreciated

Worthwhile show yet again, Phil! Was that viewer asking about an '80s-style "newer build", or an actual '80s "vintage" Shredder? There are a number of newer "upmarket" MIM Charvels, Indonesian LTDs, MIK Jacksons, or even MIJ Volas that would fill the bill. If "vintage", there are a few "MIJ by ESP" brands (Edwards + Kramer to name two) and MIJ Charvels and Fernandes' that are in the ballpark; but patience is required to find a "lo-mileage, unmodded" original.

That entire Sunset and Hollywood Blvd area is now being heavily developed. Tons of money pouring into construction, commercial buildings, hotels, stores, fashion. They're buying out all the old iconic stores and tearing them down. It's no longer the place you remember with music clubs, music stores, guitar and amp stores... drug dealers and strip clubs. About the only guitar things left are Guitar Center, GIT/MI, Whiskey A Go Go, Viper Room, Roxy, Catalina, Sunset Sound Studios and not on the strip - Troubadour, Baked Potato, Molly Malones and The Mint.

I'm sorry I missed the podcast last night. I was out of town. Here's my weekly donation to the channel. Thanks, buddy.

The issue with elusive manufacture specifications (discussed at 39:00) is mostly due to supply chain issues. It's much easier to make running changes to a multi-component product when you haven't pinned yourself down to specific woods, pots, wires pickups, etc.

RE: Hand discomfort. The neck comfort thing is very subjective, but I've found in general that a thicker neck causes less strain because you don't have to squeeze your hand as much. That's proven true for me. However, the most comfortable neck I own is on my Strandberg and it is not thick by any means ... so, the design of the neck means a lot.

As for Sweetwater and deals.. last two times I was they gave me a deal without even asking for it. Last purchase was maybe a month ago on a SE silversky. They gave me $50 off the price of the guitar. I didnt ask for it, and they didnt even bring it up. I did appreciate it when looking at the receipt later.

Before shopping necks, first dial in the strap length. I always practice standing up because we rehearse standing up and gig standing up. Having the guitar at the right height (ergonomically, maybe not by cool factor), makes a major impact I bought a Strandberg with the endure neck chasing less pain, but got better results with strap length changes. With that being said, my EVH Wolfgang neck is my favorite.

I don't really play guitar but I love listening to you . I'm learning a lot. In my retirement I'm setting up to become a luthier as a hobby . Art projects? Yea ...

I can’t keep my eyes off of that orange Parker on the wall; Why? I don’t know.

I play through two different Rivera amps.... both are older...and I love 'em both so much! I have a signed & numbered pre-production Suprema 55 watt 1X12 (closed back Vintage 30 speaker in a Combo!) with EL 34's and a Quiana 50 watt 4X10 with 6L6GC's ...What amazing amps!

54:00 For a pedal tuner, I use the TC Polytune 3 with true buffer and love it (strobe +/-0.02 cents and chromatic +/-0.5 cents). For a clip on I use the Korg Custom Shop Series Sledgehammer Clip-on Strobe +/- 0.1 cents stabiliity Tuner (SH-CS100) or Sledge hammerer Custom Shop (+/- 0.1 cents).

re: can you split the pups on a (stock) PRS Hollowbody II SE? - I made a slight error in my live comment: there ARE two output jacks on this awesome guitar (I have the blue one...) side-by-side. one is a "mixed" mag (ie humbucker) + piezo - there are separate volume knobs for piezo volume and mag volume, so you can dial in piezo alone or mags alone if desired. The other output jack is labelled "mag" and routes output from the humbuckers to this jack only (omitting the piezo) and making the "mixed" output piezo-only - thus you can split the output from the pups if desired (not coil-splitting, more like stereo wiring). An additional benefit is the "mags only" output does not require a live 9-volt battery (unlike the piezo) so you can still play even if the battery dies, and you can leave it plugged in without draining the battery... Thanks for (another!) great show!!!

I love prs I love the sound and the feel my ce 24 semi hollow is one of my favorites

To the person who asked about HX Stomp vs Tonex: I’ve had both and they are very different products that sit in a different categories. The Tonex is a profiler player at heart - either use their preloaded profiles, download new ones, and/or make your own. That’s the product in a nutshell. It does not have the loads and loads of excellent effects that that HX Stomp has. The Stomp is a modeler, not a profiler, so you have to determine whether or not you like the sounds of the modeling or not. Once I started to use the HX Stomp into the effects return of my amp and turned off the cabinet modeling, I immediately fell in love with the Stomp after having it for a year and thinking it was “okay” while exclusively using it with IRs through studio monitors. You could argue that profiles are closer to the real amp tones than modeling, but I think if you dial the modeling amps in a bit, you get real great tones, which to me is more important that “which is closer.” I had the Tonex and worked with it A LOT. I’ve moved it on, though. For me, the Stomp was just way more versatile. Case in point: if all you ever did with a Stomp is use it as a dual reverb and delay solution, you have a ton of options in both categories to likely get you comfortable getting rid of any reverb and delay pedals you own (yes, even the high-end boutique pedals). In the end, it’s all personal preference. Good luck on the journey! Cheers.

OZ Cream Polish (Patented) created by a guy in Syracuse, NY Tom Hossmer repairman for Syr Orchestra. Super Polish! Also, Meguires ... which is the polish Fender Uses.

Always enjoy your videos! Been playing almost 50 years, currently own 15 guitars and 2 basses. I keep them all out on racks and stands and cycle through all of them all about once a week. The "vintage" guitars I still have I have owned over 40 years and they have all seen a lot of gigs. I don't consider myself a collector, and some of my instruments aren't that expensive. I teach and still gig sometimes. My wife thinks I have too many, but I enjoy the variety.

Epiphone changed the necks 2 years ago. Some models are more round now where they were flat on the back of the neck backs before.

Yes it will hold a V.

33:09 I have an interesting insight. Ibanez almost never mentions if they put treble bleeds on their guitars (Except when they call it "High Pass Filter on the high end Satch and Steve Vai signatures), but from my experience owning a bunch of them they throw it in as a surprise, but it's 50/50 as to if you'll get it or not. I've seen it in both newer Premiums for around the 1000-1500 range and even vintage golden era Japanese ones from the early 90s. My AZ Premium has it but my Axion Label 7 string doesn't, my 93' RG450 has it but my 90' 440S didn't come with one. In regards to woods and stuff, I actually like to actively take the bluepill. As an anti tonewood guy I mostly like to not give a fuck about a guitar's wood and I also haven't felt any difference between different species of the same wood, however my placebo and OCD turns me off from woods with unfamiliar names or cheap associations. I'd rather the company lie to me annd tell me the guitar is made of Mahogany vs Nato, Nyatoh, Meranti or Okoume. Ibanez is actually too transparent in that

Sam Ash just announced the closure of half of their stores, including the flagship NYC store and Long Island. Major retrenchment.

Back in the 50s ya bought a refrigerator and it would last you a lifetime. My dad when I was a kid had a beer frig in the garage that was from the lat 40s early 50s and it lasted until he didn't have a need fir anymore and he gave it away still working, so we're taking multiple decades. Stuff was built to last!

I'm a metalworker by trade, and we use magnetic stainless steel every day. It is a thing. It is just cheaper quality grade of stainless. It will be very hard to tell the difference in frets.

THE Steve Brown Sound guitar LOOKS LIKE THE IBANEZ COLOUR (SOUR APPLE GREEN) FROM THE LATE 90'S OF WHICH I HAVE THE RG570.

GREAT INFO on country of origin and SPECS…very illuminating…it really is at the point of FRAUD from a lot of Chinese made guitars. I mean they still could be decent instruments but it is still wrong to portray product as something they are NOT. THANKS

I'm not a professional, I own several vintage guitars. I play everyday and have for years. I agree with everything you said. The professionals that REALLY want a vintage guitar will find a way to get one, but it takes time and hard work.

The question about the radius brought me to this: i play guitar for long time, just for a hobby. And I struggled with some songs I'd like to be able to play, but problably never will manage to do so. The last years however I came to some (silly?) realizations. On the one hand a friend of mine quit playing guitar after one or two years of trying (on a real Fender strat). He has too big hands. On the other hand I met a former professional player with small hands that needs a narrow nutwidth, preferably 42 mm. Recently we discussed the difficulty finding a nylon stringed guitar in that area (and I remembered that coincidentally you bought that Godin a week before and indeed that one had a narrow nut (but is not suited for a narrow bud-get😉)). Looking around I also encountered Daisy Guitars, that were made for smaller hands you encounter in girls. The issue of the first friend made me buy a 48mm guitar, and I started measuring what nutwidth my already owned guitars had. Something I never had considered seriously. I found am acoustic of mine that I bought on sale during the pandemic, but ended up unused had 45mm. For comparison's sake I started using it and , surprise, I found I could play those hard parts more easily. That piece suddenly became within reach. I'm rather tall and my hands are accordingly sized, I benefit from 45mm, thought 48 is too wide for me. I also found my anatomy benefits from rounder necks for playing chords. I have guitars with flat radiuses but also 9.5. For rhythm guitar I better use that, and I'd like to try a 7.25. In short, I think nutwidth and radius might be overlooked aspects in buying a guitar that suits you, and offers the playability that matches you handsize or -shape. For some or even many (aspiring or developing) players it may be the difference between succeeding to play the music they desire to play and failing and giving up. And I think this may hold for woman and girls in a larger degree. Nudwidth might be a decisive aspect in buying a guitar. It is an aspect I rarely meet in guitar videos, it's all about looks and sound, feel being just a subjective experience. I think a video about choosing a guitar (and their availability) for people on the borders certainly outside the average bandwidth might be interesting, maybe even called for. Or even a series or channel 'Inclusive guitar' 😉

you guys with your cleaning kits are over complicating this. all you need to do is, wash your hands before you play. then, every time you change strings, use a couple of wonder wipes. wipe it on, wipe it off, done. among my collection, i have a 41 yr old guitar that looks brand new. it looks that good because it never gets dirty.

100 % Fender customer service is definitely the best. Had two occasions with dealing with Fender are far the best. Also, it is easier for the dealer to swap out a guitar that becomes faulty.

If you hold a known item of stainless steel up to your frets, you will be able see the difference, immediately. Nickel frets have a yellowish color, and stainless is more like white chrome.

You can identify different metals using electric conductivity. The eddy current method can do it, but pricy equipment required. User experience is also required.

New guitar day! Got my G&L Doheny Tribute on Saturday. Arrived in great shape, nearly in tune. Big discount for B stock from their website. No guitars at the moment, but still basses available.

I appreciate Phil's candor. I don't trust most reviews because the reviewer seems afraid to insult a company giving them free stuff. Maybe I don't blame them, but I also factor that in when everything they test is great.

Another way to test a fret material is the rub the guitar string against hit for a big minute and see if it’s digging in the fret or digging in the string

Another point to the 'Hobbyists buy up the vintage gear...' argument is the fact that you don't _need_ an original half-decade old Les Paul to write and perform music; new guitars (and used ones that are not collectors items) are most of the time more than capable of pretty much everything these old guitars can do~

About the Chinese brands. I have had a bad luck with Jet guitar (it had all of its inlays fall IN the fretboard). Fortunately I could fix it (and make it mother of pearl instead of some cheap pearloid). But when I wrote them about the issue, they got back to me and mentioned that this is the first time they received the complaint about it. I don't know if this Chinese brand is connected to some manufacturer, but it seems that they are more serious about getting themselves on the market of cheap guitars that are well-made. If you have interest in them, I think you'll be able to find them too. I'll not throw any links just in case.

In regards to hardness testing the frets to gain info about their performance as I have seen some suggesting, I think this is a good idea. It wont necessarily tell you the type of metal used, but it will tell you if the fret is actually hard and if it will last any longer than a nickel fret. Any HRC file set could be used with a few guitars you trust the fret material of as a baseline for comparison.

As a welder we work with 308,312,316,Stainless,the next range is in the 400series which is getting into surgical uses,as well as knives,lots of chromium in the mix,as the range gets higher things get harder,brittler,not easy to finish,say with a grinder,or fret files,but SS frets rule,if they were 316,I,d say good forever,but too hard for a plek machine I,d say

Love the respect shown to your mother. Must have been a fantastic lady. 💙

Nice collection! I see at least 3 brands I recognize - A Gibson 339, a Godin Classical (MIDI?), and a Paul Reed Smith.

The Sam Ash near me in Cincinnati, Ohio is also closing. Now my only option is Guitar Center. In other words, my only option is Sweetwater now.

I work at GC in Arizona. I have never had a customer mention Sam Ash. Incredibly some customers have never heard of them.

I have owed a black cat cub for about 10 years now. I bought a lynx 3 months ago, and the first 2 hours right out of the box, it overheated. Maybe I am just unlucky. Unfortunately, I couldn't return it due to not living in the U.S. it's a pretty steep price tag to ship overseas for something that big. Luckily, I know someone who fixes amps and many other electronics. He was able to fix it by installing a fan that kept the heat off the pcb board where it was overheating. It's been working as intended ever since. Great amp I love it.

PRS: I have owned my 1987 PRS since the early 90’s. I have 2 of them. I cannot find a newer one that feels as good. I have trying dozens. Try an old PRS. The only thing to get used to is the 5 way selector switch.

Radius the bridge but it's usual for the thicker strings to have slightly more clearance from the fretboard to allow for the larger vibrations... such a slight amount though....

I wonder if the ad revenue not changing is because people drop off if the it;s too ad heavy. I know I do. It's how I tell if I clicked on a video because I'm bored or if I;m interested in the content. if I'm bored and I get ads I usually close the tab/app. I don't care enough about the content to sit through what ever youtube is shilling.

Tonex sounds more like legacy amps, responds closer, but has just basic reverb HX Stomp, has almost any effecta nd drive pedals you might want.

Panama Amps is the first thing that came to my mind, as well.

What you said about cheap guitars not matching published specs is true of a lot more than just the guitar industry. I'd imagine some manager under pressure telling people to use such and such part to save money and maintain the price point & profits. It seems like business these days has figured out they don't have to do a lot of things we used to take for granted, in order to maximize profits. So many IT workers being laid off means they believe they'll be even more profitable by axing people who would update their systems because who cares anyway? Also, companies want to push workers down a few notches since the pandemic, to make them a little more desperate to keep their jobs. So if a guitar company, e.g., Waterloo, advertises solid back and sides but you get laminate, they still made their money and that's tough luck for you. ps-One guy who actually does use your sock test sometimes is Colin of Guitaristas. He does deep dives every show, a lot like yours really. He credits you too.

Great podcast! I like to put your friday show on and putter around the shop.

Phill good episode kept the energy going

The biggest reason specs are being obscured is supply chain a sourcing options and not necessarily due to cost more so availability due to other manufacturers buying out supply. Example brand A buys all the cts pots available for their next production run making brand B source another option. Brand A corners the market on American hard maple so brand B has to source Canadian maple. This happens with everything and the musical instrument industry has it very good vs say auto makers or industrial manufacturers especially anything with an IC or “Chip” this is why people can get tv’s but others can’t get a module for their car. Virtually every manufacturer across every industry is intentionally doing this.

I appreciate brick and mortar stores because there are guitars I've lusted after online, only to get a hold of one in person and discover I didn't actually like it for whatever reason. I was in my local Sam Ash a week ago, they had some nice guitars on display but far fewer than they used to, so there just wasn't a whole lot to look at. Meanwhile, the local GC had more than I typically see, including a lot of used, which is great.

If your subs don’t want the ads, there’s a very easy way to fix that… pay for RU-vid premium. No ads whatsoever.

Uke player here, I have a bunch of 35mm nut instruments and one 38mm solid Koa made in USA. As much as in love the sound of the Koa nine times out of ten I reach for a Chinese spruce top with a slimmer neck

"... that got me ... got me right in the ribs." Watching your finger gesture as you considered how to complete that thought, "ribs" is not where I thought you were going. Probably I'm disclosing some kind of character flaw. 😂

If you have a 10 to 14 inch compound radius you'll radius the bridge to the flatter radius ..but slightly flatter still. So 14+" radius will work... a 10" radius would be very odd at the upper frets where the 14" radius is. (i.e. unplayable most likely.

Hi Phillip. At 1:50:52, What I meant was are the humbuckers in the PRS SE Hollowbody Piezo SE splittable or do they have only 2 conductor. And is it easy to work in that plastic compartment where the battery goes. I'll watch to see if you got this. I usually watch your show every Saturday morning. Thank you!

Glad people are helping Zither- cool company. Of course they didnt invent the concept of the stand- but they did make it popular.

I get that with acoustic brands for guitar polish I have used Martin polish for years, and found it works well and is competitively priced Although a little lasts me a long time

Good video on the Guitar Quackery channel this week about weird intonation caused by string faults.

As a left handed guitarist i have trouble finding any affordable model in any colour besides black or sunburst lol

The difference in quality of stainless steel is down to the ratio of chromium and carbon added to iron. The range of quality is wide... and it can still be called stainless. This is a good topic. I hope you figure out how to quantify the quality of the SS. I have no clue... other than a hardness test. But that would take some sort of pretty expensive scientific instrument to resolve the differences between SS of differing ratios.

Suhr guitars and Ernie Ball have outstanding customer service.

Having imported Chinese PC motherboards back in the day, the small guys place an order and what shows up is anybody's guess. Bigger brands can afford to send people to the factory and hold their feet to the fire. It's a fact they have little to no professional integrity of their own.

Love the background

Have you looked into doing a Rockwell hardness test? Idk, it might be overkill for frets. There are also hardness tester file sets, maybe that would be more ideal to use. Anyway, looking forward to see what you decide to do to test the frets.

Those first Glarry's were good.

? Phil, if you compared the electrical resistance between known ss frets and nickel frets the same length, wouldn't the nickel give less resistance? Just a thought...might be nuts..lol

Just like photography, motorsports, and audio engineering, if hobbyists didn't exist, professionals could never afford the cost of the equipment as the market size would be way too small.

My guitar tech told me what a lot of his pro customers do is to buy affordable, middle-of-the-road guitars, and then invest a lot in tricking them out with the best hardware, PUs etc. and getting them set up and fine tuned to their specific preferences. That way, they end up with a killer instrument for a price that marks the lower end of "expensive" guitars. Made sense to me.

That's fantastic Phil, good luck to Zither...

It’s not “hobbyists” versus “professionals” - just like almost everything, it’s wealthy people vs the rest of us.

Just use the latest ad blocker and you won't have ads ever

What about Charvel MIJ? Around $1500.

String through telecaster that are really top mount when they arrive is quite irritating .

Opening disclaimer, 😊😂😅😂😂😅!

Sam Ash in California has been dying for a while. They shutdown basically all of their la are stores prior and the Hollywood store was getting run down for a while. They hurt themselves

Dude looking for the 80’s shred guitar, ltd ‘87 series is pretty much right in your wheelhouse

Best customer support: Suhr.

Thanks for all you do!

ok, I'm in Anchorage but how can I enter for the free guitar giveaway. Seems nothing ever gets up here with lotteries for anything. That said, I love your shows and dive ins and all your much appreciated knowledge. Just a big thank you for all your effort to help keep us informed.

Fender in UK and Europe has the worst customer service I ever experienced ...

Drumsticks and KY gel gives me cause for concern... 😮

you should intonate from a playing position as well.

Great show Phil...

Carry out a Vickers/Rockwell/Brinel hardness test. Any college with an engineering department will probably do it for free (As a student learning program).

No Phil, Consumer versus Prosumer, Consumers are your base everyday Buyers that typically can afford a guitar for under $1500 and they are your "Hobbyists" you have your baseline musicians that gig at lower levels. Then you have Collectors and Professional Musicians, Honestly the Collectors ruin the market, the moment people are more caught up in what it would be worth or its monetary value, they are not players or Hobbyists, they are investors and its like people too afraid of modifying a guitar because it would hurt the value , at the end of the day they wonder why they all sound the same.

Hi Phil. Great common sense advice regarding guitars and life!

paying for youtube prem kills the adds