Name: Vintage Guitars Aren’t Better Than Modern Guitars: Here’s Why | SharpenMyAxe
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Vintage Guitars Aren’t Better Than Modern Guitars: Here’s Why | SharpenMyAxe

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Skip to contentSomething that I’ve heard about vintage guitars over the years is that they sound better because the wood used at the time was higher quality and has had decades to age, but is this true? I had a vintage Gibson handed down to me recently so we can end this debate once and for all.Even if the wood on vintage guitars is higher quality and has had time to age, a guitar’s sound mainly comes from the electronics, not the wood. For this reason, vintage guitars don’t sound any better than modern guitars do unless they are unplugged.So is there any reason to cough up a ton of money for an older instrument if they don’t sound any better? Well, let’s do some sound comparisons and talk about this in greater detail so that you can decide for yourself.So, I was recently handed down a Vintage Gibson ES-330 TDC from a distant relative and I have to say, the guitar definitely gives off a different feeling than a modern guitar. Maybe that’s just because I’ve never owned a hollow electric guitar but still, it plays and sounds very good.So where did this whole myth of vintage guitars being better even come from if they really aren’t? Well, it’s hard to say for sure but from what I’ve seen, I think it has to do a lot with the whole “Old is Gold” saying.It’s not actually any better, people just like to think that it is because it came from the good ole days of music. Combine that with the fact that vintage guitars can easily be over 60 years old and it’s pretty easy to see why someone would want this type of guitar to be better than what we have today.Now, I’m not going to say that vintage guitars are bad by any means, as a matter of fact, I have to say that I really love mine and think that they sound great but I wouldn’t go as far to say that they are the king of all guitars.So, now I’ll let you hear the difference for yourself. Below I have 6 audio clips, one is a modern Stratocaster, one is a modern Les Paul, and one is the Vintage ES-330. Each guitar will have one clip with a clean tone and one clip with distortion turned on. Go ahead and give them a listen.Clean Tone:Distorted Tone:This Strat was actually the first guitar that I ever owned and to this day, it’s my favorite guitar for playing clean tones on. Distortion also sounds good on the bridge pickup, but that’s because the bridge pickup is a double-coil whereas the middle and neck pickups are single-coil.If you don’t know the difference between different types of pickups and want to learn more, I have a whole article that compares some of the most popular choices that you can read by clicking the link below.Clean Tone:Distorted Tone:I’ve only had this guitar for a couple of weeks now and what’s new to me about this guitar are the P90 pickups. I’ve never owned a guitar with P90 pickups before but if we are being completely honest, I’m not really the biggest fan of them.To me, they just sound mediocre and don’t truly shine like I feel like they should. Not to say that they sound bad because they definitely don’t, I just personally don’t like the sound of P90s as much.Clean Tone:Distorted Tone:For me, the distorted tone sounds best on the Les Paul and I think that’s simply because it uses Humbucking pickups.Obviously, this is a matter of opinion and not fact but for me personally, I enjoy clean tones on the Stratocaster and distorted tones on the Les Paul. The Vintage ES-330 just seems like the ultimate middle-ground between the two for me which is just something that I’m not really too big of a fan of.Just for one more example, since this is a hollow-body guitar, you can actually play it unplugged which is what I did in this next audio clip. For this clip, I am recording with a Blue Yeti microphone.I actually think that this is when this guitar sounds best and I will say that this is normally how I prefer playing it. The wood may make more of a difference in this clip compared to when it’s plugged in because this time, the sound actually is coming from the wood, not the electronics.This is the one instance where I think that a vintage guitar actually does sound better than a modern guitar. Once it’s plugged in, however, there really isn’t much of a difference.Overall, I would say that vintage guitars are absolutely in no way worth what most of them cost. They simply aren’t any better than modern guitars. As a matter of fact, take a look at this paper I have which shows how much this guitar was bought for back in 1967.According to the section I highlighted, this exact guitar was bought for $391.00.Now, can you guess how much it goes for today? You’ll probably be surprised to hear that some of these exact same guitars in good condition have sold for over $5000.This to me really shows that the price of an instrument doesn’t determine how it plays or sounds. If I were to buy this same guitar today, I probably wouldn’t pay any more than $500 for it. In my opinion, it just doesn’t play or sound like anything near what $5000 is worth.There are only two instances where I would consider buying a vintage guitar worth it.The first instance is if you are a collector. These old vintage guitars aren’t getting any more common nowadays so you could look at vintage guitars as an investment. Or if you’re just into collecting, vintage guitars are definitely something rare.The other instance is if you just have millions of dollars laying around and you have nothing to spend it on.If you don’t fall into either of these categories then you are going to be able to get a much better guitar for a fraction of the price of some of the vintage models.There is a real point that people have and that’s the fact the vintage parts are different than what we have today. If you’re a fan of vintage pickups for example that were only available 50 years ago, you might think it’s still worth it to get a vintage guitar.I’m still going to say that buying a whole vintage instrument is a waste of money for most people, however, you can actually buy vintage parts for just about anything if that is something that you might be interested in.Yes, they are going to be quite a bit more expensive than modern parts, however, spending 300 dollars on vintage pickups is a lot better than spending over $3000 on a whole guitar.If you are interested in learning more about buying vintage parts, you can click here.If you really want your guitar to sound vintage, just buy vintage pickups or other vintage parts, you can easily find them floating all around the internet.So in conclusion, don’t buy a vintage guitar unless you are a collector. I pinkie promise you that they aren’t worth the price that a lot of them sit at. Honestly, if we are being completely honest, I think that the modern guitars sound better than most of the vintage ones.Think about it this way, technology keeps improving and although guitars have been made the same way for a long time, I think that they are actually getting better as time goes on.Sure, they might sound a little different but if you even can notice a difference, it’s not worth paying thousands of dollars for.Just as one final thought, there actually is a really cheap and easy thing that you can use to make your guitar sound much better than it probably does right now.There’s this stuff called Ghs Fast Fret that I’ve been using for years now and it’s essentially a string lubricant that brightens the tone of your guitar and lubricates the string to make the guitar play better.This stuff is pretty cheap and as far as I’m aware, it lasts forever so if you’re interested in checking it out, you can click here to see the current price or you can click on the image below.Other than that, I hope I helped answer any questions you had!One of the most helpful skills any guitarist can have is the ability to tune their instruments quickly and easily on the go. While using a tuner is one way of getting your guitar in tune, learning to...Continue ReadingIf you've ever had to hold a guitar for a long time, you'll know that it can start to feel really heavy after a little while and that it can put a lot of strain on your neck. While all guitars are...Continue ReadingHi there! My name is Alex Richards and I have been playing the guitar and bass for 7 years. Ever since I first picked up a guitar and gradually made my way to bass, I've been absolutely hooked on every aspect of both of them. My goal with this website is to share my passion for music and to make the learning process easier for you by sharing what I've learned up until now.This site is owned and operated by ACR Blogs LLC. SharpenMyAxe.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. 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Skip to contentSomething that I’ve heard about vintage guitars over the years is that they sound better because the wood used at the time was higher quality and has had decades to age, but is this true? I had a vintage Gibson handed down to me recently so we can end this debate once and for all.Even if the wood on vintage guitars is higher quality and has had time to age, a guitar’s sound mainly comes from the electronics, not the wood. For this reason, vintage guitars don’t sound any better than modern guitars do unless they are unplugged.So is there any reason to cough up a ton of money...

Vintage Guitars Aren’t Better Than Modern Guitars: Here’s Why | SharpenMyAxe

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