readers’ letters
Having just reached the three score and ten milestone (years not guitars), I thought what changes over that time have had the most effect on the guitar market. I concluded that when corporate America wanted a piece of the guitar market, that is Fender going to CBS in 1965 and Gibson to Norlin in 1969, a series of disastrous quality issues and bad model decisions created two far-reaching consequences.
First, it was instrumental in leading to what we now call the vintage guitar market with players and then collectors seeking out the older instruments while rejecting the output of the time. This led to soaring prices, leaving the older guitars well out of reach of the average buyer. Both companies reacted slowly to this situation, but eventually started to mine their own back catalogues remorselessly, producing endless year-specific reissues and aged instruments aimed at those who lust after vintage guitars but cannot afford them.
The second effect was that it allowed Far East manufacturers to get a foot in the door with cheap ‘lawsuit’ copies. Neither they or the American models were very good but at least the copies were very cheap. The Japanese makers especially, were quick to subtly alter their designs and produce excellent instruments.
How would the guitar market have developed if these corporate takeovers not occurred? Was the unintended consequence in fact a good thing? I realise it’s impossible to know how things would have evolved in a parallel universe but it’s fun to speculate. Discuss! Graham Osborne, via email An interesting ‘what if’, Graham. We suspect that guitar makers sold up to bigger companies when sharply increasing international demand outstripped the capacity of their traditional hand-built factories. Though family companies such as Martin did not sell out to corporations, they also experienced a few wilderness years before finding their best form again, so we suspect that exploding demand might have posed serious challenges to them, too. In that sense, the rise of the ‘lawsuit’ copy guitars, made to a high standard with lower operating costs in Japan, was perhaps inevitable.