Are boutique pedals over?

[Coda]

What could be introduced into the market that would make it so that consumers weren't considered conservative?

No clue. But I can provide examples of the conservative nature in action: the Les Paul, the Jazzmaster, Fuzz, solid-state amps (the good ones from the early 70’s), most of the Ted McCarthy designs…

I think that musicians, as artists, work within a comfort zone. While they made crave new tools, they want them to be close enough to that comfort zone. As a musician ages, and their world expands, so does their comfort zone, and a pedal that flopped 20 years ago now becomes this incredible new thing…

The Robot guitar is another great example…

Guitarists through time: This guitar plays great, I just wished it would stay in tune all the time…
Gibson: Here is a guitar that will literally never go out of tune…
Guitarists: It’s too new…

 

[Harry Klippton]

There seem to be plenty of people playing "updated" guitars (think strandberg etc- headless, multi scale, whatever) I just don't know anybody in that demographic

 

[szukalski]

Why can’t I play Randy Rhodes solos on my Jazzmaster?

Probably the same reason I can't do it on an Ibanez shred machine..

If you can shred and bend with a 7.25" radius, I'm very impressed.

There are plenty that do, but it tends to be compound past the 12th fret. I enjoy 7.25" a-lot, but getting beyond 1.5 steps above the 12th fret is.. challenging.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I am partial to Reverend guitars and Novo. Those are relatively original shapes.
I also like the recent G&L Espada although I haven’t played one yet. They look cool though!

Every single G&L I've ever played (admittedly less than about 10-15 guitars) has been fantastic. I've actually owned 2 g&ls and I liked them a lot

until I wanted to sell them and I could barely give them away. I'm actually interested in getting another ASAT with the jumbo magnetic field Pickups but will need to keep this one. I don't want to deal with that level of depreciation again.

 

[benny_profane]

There are plenty that do, but it tends to be compound past the 12th fret. I enjoy 7.25" a-lot, but getting beyond 1.5 steps above the 12th fret is.. challenging.

Exactly.

 

[jimilee]

I'm coming to realize that while the Les Paul is the guitar I imagine myself playing in my head, a Stratocaster is the guitar I hear.

I've always wanted to be the cool Les Paul slinging rock machine but I've found lately that a Strat is more comfortable and sounds better in more situations.

I go through phases. I have too many of both, stuck on my Les Pauls right now. I have several better but, I tend to gravitate to my The Paul Walnut Norlin era.

 

[analogdevice]

Guitarists through time: This guitar plays great, I just wished it would stay in tune all the time…
Gibson: Here is a guitar that will literally never go out of tune…
Guitarists: It’s too new…

I worked in a high volume guitar repair shop when these came out. There were many problems with these tuners breaking strings, not tuning correctly, randomly engaging while playing, and whatever else you could imagine going wrong. It was a cool idea but it didn't work.

 

[Coda]

I worked in a high volume guitar repair shop when these came out. There were many problems with these tuners breaking strings, not tuning correctly, randomly engaging while playing, and whatever else you could imagine going wrong. It was a cool idea but it didn't work.

I don’t think people would have given Gibson the chance to fix it. The decision was made. And then Gibson bulldozed all them Firebird X’s…

 

[Passinwind]

There seem to be plenty of people playing "updated" guitars (think strandberg etc- headless, multi scale, whatever) I just don't know anybody in that demographic

I was "working" right across from Tosin Abasi's booth at NAMM 2020. It was crazy busy nearly all the time. And it was eerily quiet over there, they rarely fired up their amps at all. Unlike the constant stereo bass slapfest going on in "our" booth pretty much every minute of every day.

 

[Coda]

I'm coming to realize that while the Les Paul is the guitar I imagine myself playing in my head, a Stratocaster is the guitar I hear.

I've always wanted to be the cool Les Paul slinging rock machine but I've found lately that a Strat is more comfortable and sounds better in more situations.

I go through phases. I have too many of both, stuck on my Les Pauls right now. I have several better but, I tend to gravitate to my The Paul Walnut Norlin era.

I also go through phases. I got a JM two almost two years ago, and I didn’t really start to bond with it until this Summer. My LP (the last phase) has sat on the stand untouched…

I have been very interested in Strats as of late. I do not have one, but feel called to it. In the past, however, I’ve never really got on well with strat…the body never really ‘fit’ correctly. Of course, that was the , this is now. We change, as do our tastes in instruments…

Sometimes, though, I enter a phase for something I don’t have…which is how my Tele became an Esquire…

I LOVE the Norlin walnut stuff. I plan on building an SG soon, and plan on staining it a dark walnut color…

 

[JTEX]

[...] Guitar players are old fashioned/conservative. They like “the old stuff,” and don’t trust anything new […]

Exactly. I built a Rockman X100-inspired circuit. It's deliberately not an exact clone, as I saw room for improvement. I'd say it's better than the original in several ways, including, crucially, sound and feel. In the time it took me to sell two (I actually traded them straight for actual X100s), I probably sold 100 "Alembic-inspired, but not an exact clone", bass preamps. Because bassists are just a lot more open to trying new, or modified stuff. Needless to say, I have no more incentive to build guitar stuff other than for my own consumption.

 

[finebyfine]

Pedals have always been a lifestyle brand. The first pedal I bought was a boss pedal because it looked cooler to me than the DOD or Behringer clone sitting next to it for half the price. The brands we think of as boutique were able to find a way to do the same thing, whether it was a claim to authenticity, rarer components, the value of it being hand made, etc, etc. Bigger brands saw those as lost customers. Combine that with an increased saturation of boutique brands and builders and it's not unreasonable to say boutique pedals are over but it's really just the concept of boutique pedals not the products themselves, because after all, no one wants to say their tube screamer variant just has one or two values different as @benny_profane said above:

Ultimately, the issue with pedals, guitars, and amps is that there is an information disconnect. Most consumers are rather low-information and are mostly educated by ad copy and anecdotal appraisals. I think that's why this group finds many market trends to be baffling. The novelty of a clipping switch seems to be waning, but that is still a major selling point for many 'boutique' pedals. For us, it's an extremely low-effort modification; for many consumers, it represents 'customization.

 

[jimilee]

I'm starting to think a hardtail Strat with a rosewood board is my soulmate.

I would love a hardtail strat. They're hard to find, or not as easily found as the other.

 

[jimilee]

I also go through phases. I got a JM two almost two years ago, and I didn’t really start to bond with it until this Summer. My LP (the last phase) has sat on the stand untouched…

I have been very interested in Strats as of late. I do not have one, but feel called to it. In the past, however, I’ve never really got on well with strat…the body never really ‘fit’ correctly. Of course, that was the , this is now. We change, as do our tastes in instruments…

Sometimes, though, I enter a phase for something I don’t have…which is how my Tele became an Esquire…

I LOVE the Norlin walnut stuff. I plan on building an SG soon, and plan on staining it a dark walnut color…

Yep did that, my Tele is an esquire with a custom wound pickup, sitting in the case. Then I turned to humbucker strats, got several of those, and an American Pro Elite Deluxe, or whatever...sitting in the case. Then it was a V and an Explorer, they look cool sitting in the case too. It's a never-ending hole.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I'm starting to think a hardtail Strat with a rosewood board is my soulmate.

Hardtail strats are very cool.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I’m eyeing a body on reverb right now.

Nice. Alder or Ash and finished or unfinished?

 

[Coda]

I'm starting to think a hardtail Strat with a rosewood board is my soulmate.

I don’t know about soulmate, but I feel drawn to a maple fretboard (I’ve never really played one), sunburst, with a black guard and the like. I like the vibe of the ‘77, but prefer the late 60’s pickups…

 

[SillyOctpuss]

It’s an Alder Robert Cray Strat body in Vintage Sunburst.

Stratosphere is selling it and it’s a bit pricey ($519) so I’m still looking.

I bought a lot of stuff from the stratosphere back between 2005-2012 but since then the £ vs $ has gotten to the point where they look super expensive. I'd be cheaper buying an allparts body and having it sprayed in nitro than spending that kind of cash.

 

[szukalski]

I just want a strat v-neck with rosewood board (without EJ binding).

 

[HamishR]

I went to a local store which was having a sale today and had a ton of Fender guitars. Tried a few Strats but it seems to me that the necks aren't as well shaped as they might have been in the past. None of them felt particularly comfy or refined. The '50s and '60s Originals series felt almost clubby with very little finesse. Probably the least appealing on any reissue style Strat I've played. I picked up a lot of Strats - they had almost the entire range - and not one felt light. They all felt heavier than I would want and have had in the past. The "Professional" series felt the best I guess, but not nice enough to make me want to buy one. But there were a few hardtails!

Probably the nicest Fender I've played recently was a '60s Tele Thinline in natural ash. It felt very good indeed - much like many old Strats and Teles I have played. Fender are making some decent guitars right now but I feel it's a bit of a flat spot in their history. The stores are full of Fender and nothing I really want to buy. They are also making themselves unpopular with the retailers because they are starting to sell direct online at a discount here too - Not the best way to endear yourself to a store which has just filled itself with your product. It's all very strange.