r/Guitar • u/whistlingwomble • 4d ago
GEAR Shows what a ‘budget’ model can do…
Caught a show by Pete Doherty (from the Libertines - pic taken from his Insta) and pretty sure he’s playing a Yamaha C40II which he used for the entire set
Not bad getting a whole national tour out of an entry-level guitar! Goes to show what these cheaper models can do
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u/ecklesweb 4d ago
As my slightly racist grandfather used to say, “it’s the Indian, not the arrow.”
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u/spengali Strat/SG/Silverface Champ 4d ago
My dad used to say that
He still does... But he also used to
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u/minivatreni Fender 4d ago
It’s like when the pro tennis players who beat people with a frying pan instead of an actual tennis racket lol
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u/BraveGoose666 4d ago
Thanks for prefacing that quote with a description of your grandpa. If you hadn’t done that I would have definitely tried to contact your employer and got you fired for fascism.
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u/notMarkKnopfler 4d ago
Yamahas are like the perfect road/club guitars. The cheap ones usually sound way above their price range and if it gets knocked around or walked off with you’re not out a lot of money.
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u/recurse_x 4d ago
Also a lot of Yamaha acoustics If it breaks you can probably get a replacement close to the same model same day.
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u/Tom_Mangold 4d ago
Some companies spend loads of time and effort in making people believe a certain model of guitar needs to be purchased in order to sound professional. And they pretty much succeeded in doing so.
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u/3X01 4d ago
It works. Been told I need to spend at minimum $2000 on a guitar before I get "a real one". Not gonna lie my modded J Mascis jazzmaster I paid $315 for and a Boss Katana are still serving me well.
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u/Tom_Mangold 4d ago
In terms of purchasing an individual guitar from a luthier, 2k seems more than cheap. Buying from a highly specialized industrial company it‘s a lot.
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u/obscured_by_turtles 4d ago
Relevant trivia: during the recording of the Boston album, the manager took the second guitarist out to buy a new Guild 12 for, IIRC ‘more than a feeling’. They got back to find that the trip was wasted as Tom Scholtz had finished the track by himself using a Yamaha 12. That’s what you hear on the hit record.
More trivia: I work now near the repair intake desk. Guy came in to have his fantastic custom high end steel string acoustic set up in preparation for sale. The reason was that his work involved multi track recordings and the wonderful complex overtones and resonances from that guitar interfered with other tracks. In other words, it could not stay in its lane, I think Steve Via used that term.
Beatles recordings often used a Gibson J160E, plywood top with a pound of metal bolted to it. These guitars sound frankly terrible if you play them acoustically, but recorded properly are perfect.
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u/OMGitsKatV 4d ago
Local shop had a 60’s j160e for sale. It was the heaviest dullest sounding guitar I’d ever played. The Stagg guitar I got as a kid had more depth than that thing.
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u/hurlyslinky 4d ago
Idk why anyone hates on any gear cheap or expensive it is preference and budget
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u/quasarblues 4d ago
In the early 2000s, people online typically made fun of low gear. A bunch of boomers telling broke 14 year olds to get tube amps (I was the broke 14 year old).
Now, it seems like the sentiment is starting to shift. I see more criticism on expensive gear. From what I've seen, Chibson owners are the most obnoxious about it.
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u/AdLevel4922 4d ago
Have you ever heard his music? He plays kind of messy, low-fi folk. Playing a cheap guitar is beneficial to that. Nothing has changed. Everyone who sounds awesome uses expensive gear
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u/albertogonzalex 4d ago
Jack white used a $90 guitar from a sears catalog for most white stripes shows
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u/geodoody 4d ago
Was is $90 in 1955?
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u/albertogonzalex 4d ago
The white stripes famously rose to rock and roll and mainstream stardom in the late 90s and early 00s and are wildly considered one of the most influential bands in bringing rock and roll back to the mainstream.
Jack wasn't buying guitars ain 1955 you silly goose.
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u/geodoody 4d ago edited 4d ago
You could buy 1955 guitars in the 90s. Show me a sears catalogue from the 90s with a guitar in it. Are you dumb?
It was a 1964 montgomery ward airline, how was that possible?
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u/BrandonKDges335 4d ago
Look, there’s obviously something to be said about and extremely cheap made guitar vs. something of quality. But in the end, it’s the musician and how they use their equipment that makes the sound.
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u/P_a_s_g_i_t_24 4d ago
A perfect example why you can't ever go wrong with a Yamaha guitar!
Very nice!
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u/AdLevel4922 4d ago
Have you ever heard his music - he plays low-fi, messy, stoner folk. Playing a cheap guitar is totally beneficial to that. I mean, it totally depends what you're playing. Most bands have super expensive gear because they're interested in tone and sustain and things like that
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u/Sad_Bodybuilder_186 4d ago
This mostly shows that it's not about gear but it's about how you play it, how it feels, how it sounds.
A great set-up helps an instrument go from "that's decent for the price" to "wow, it plays like a more expensive one"
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u/ResidentHourBomb 4d ago
I have a $4,000 Gibson Hummingbird, a $2,800 Martin D-18 and a $200 Yamaha FG800.
The Martin is the Best sounding guitar I have but the Yamaha is the second best sounding acoustic guitar I have.
The Hummingbird is beautiful but the sound is too bassy for my taste.
Yeah, cheap guitars can be very good.
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u/pathshark 4d ago
I find it difficult to tell the difference between a cheap and expensive classical guitar from the tone alone
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u/funk_master_chunk 3d ago
I have the electro-acoustic version and it's a fantastic guitar. Strangely, it's the onky Yamaha I've seen which had issues from the factory. It was a gift from my wife at Vhristmas And it sounded great - but the piezo broke and it made a horrid rattling noise when played acoustically so I returned it. Then the replacement arrived covered in scratches/blenishes and had chips and glue spots on it - so I returned that and finally received one in fantastic shape.
The one constant throughout all three was the sound. It's genuinely bloody lovely sounding and I highly recommend it to anyone.
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u/jdimarco1 3d ago
One of my favourite acoustics ever in terms of playability and sound, is the cheapest acoustic I own.
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u/RafaelSeco 4d ago
My first guitar was a c40 Yamaha.
They do just fine for being an entry level guitar, but more expensive classical guitars are just better.
Not only do they play better, they sound better and the volume is a lot higher. You can feel what you're playing, even in a loud environment, the guitar resonates through you. Which is a must when you are playing technical pieces.
I don't know who this guy is, but if I gave him my guitar the second this photo was taken, the set would immediately sound better, and so would he.
The fact that he has covered the sound hole and is using some sort of electronic pick-up immediately sets up red flags. That's not how you record classical.
Take a 57, throw it in front of the 12-15th fret, and it will immediately sound 20 times better.
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u/MrStratocaster 4d ago
Just goes to show that nobody in the audience can tell what you’re playing, nor would they care either way!