THE PRICE IS RIGHT

What’s the problem with expensive guitars, asks Dave Burrluck – you get what you pay for, after all…

This year, like any before, we’ve played some astonishing guitars, amps and bits of kit. I’m no fan of the elitism that surrounds some lofty brands, but I am a big fan of quality, usually born out of experience. But quality costs, right? In my experience, yes.

“You guys were great,” said a punter after a lively Sunday afternoon gig with my (amplified) acoustic trio. “You sounded so much better than the lot we had in last weekend.” It sparked a conversation with my bassist about quality of sound. See, he plays an ageing Wal bass bought secondhand back in the 80s. When he recently went to have it overhauled after many years of playing it he was staggered to learn the price of a new one (not to mention the cost of the necessary repairs to his old one!).

My Yamaha NCX2000 is a youngster in comparison to that Wal bass, but in the past decade it’s notched up some 350-plus gigs. Aside from string changing and very occasional battery replacement, plus a little TLC after I dropped it, maintenance costs have been zero. The jack socket developed a bit of a crackle recently, which was easily fixed with a squirt of Servisol. It’s an absolute road-hog and (I’m touching wood as I write) has never let me down. But checking the current retail price, it’s a trouser-dampening £4,634 – at launch it was closer to £3k. But per-gig it’s cost just over 10 quid: a couple of London-priced beers. With a typical gig being a 90-minute two-setter (22 songs), that works out about 50p a song.

Another personal staple is my LR Baggs Venue DI, hardly cheap at around £300. But it’s the brains of my minimal acoustic pedalboard with tuner, EQ, feedback-busting notch filter and phase switch, plus various outputs. Earlier this year I met LR Baggs for the first time at the Winter NAMM Show. I’m not sure what impression I made as I shook his hand and wouldn’t let go while uttering “thanks, thank you, you’ve saved my butt on so many gigs thanks to your Venue DI”. I got rather moist in the eye department…

So, the ‘value’ of what many would consider expensive gear is put into context by me and my bassist simply by the number of gigs and songs we’ve used our instruments and outboard gear on over the collective decades. Not only have these instruments paid for themselves but we’ve had the pleasure of playing quality on all those dates.

My ‘spare’ nylon-string electro is a Yamaha NCX900FM (£890) that I

Eb use in tuning for a couple of songs per gig. Aside from its (laminated) maple back and sides and rosewood fingerboard, it looks the same as the NCX2000R – sonically, however, it’s worlds apart. I could use the much more affordable NCX1200R (£1,417), which certainly looks the same with laminated back and sides and uses the same pickup/preamp system. Does it feel or sound the same? Not to me.

We quite often think our audience won’t hear a difference, but clearly they do. I don’t think that’s just down to sonic quality, either. If you, the musician, are happy and your instrument is doing what it should then you’re going to play better, aren’t you?

It’s not the only way to look at value and just because something seems expensive doesn’t mean it’s going to be better. But in today’s hugely competitive market, more than ever, you get what you pay for. Quality of materials, parts and let’s not forget experience and craft usually costs.

“If you, the musician, are happy and your instrument is doing what it should then you’re going to play better, aren’t you?”

“My Yamaha NCX2000 has notched up some 350-plus gigs in the past decade. And aside from a little TLC, maintenance costs have been zero”