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america can no longer distinguish between solid wood and laminate


So, there's a scofield jsm100 up on ebay. seller says it has a solid wood top. i write to seller, ahem, you describe your guitar as a 335 type (laminate top) and your listing (jsm 100) as a solid maple top and bottom, but ahem, your guitar has a laminate top. seller responds saying his boss at the store where he teaches guitar says it's solid so it's solid. Here's the problem, young americans don't know the diff from a solid piece of carved wood and plywood. I am depressed. has it come to this??? come on kid, really?, you don't know... and, i'm not a solid wood fanatic, i like laminate. laminate is amazing. works great in semi hollows, but geez kid,

 

this on the same day as a beautiful h530 w/ Bigsby comes up on ebay and the seller intends to ship it in bubble wrap and a gig bag. like that is sufficient protection. common sense says a hard case inside a box might do it but bubble wrap and peanuts to protect a hollow body guitar with a Bigsby on it???

 

i need a drink.

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Spectrum13

Posted

When I was a teenager all I knew about guitars came from a catalog, guys at a music store or someone I knew. Today with the vast amount of knowledge available, a guy like you has the ability to know these things via the web. Some "kids" might have the talent to play and teach without the curiosity to examine the tools used. It becomes a larger problem in professions like, mortage brokers, stock brokers, insurance sales, auto repair, real estate whatever when we trust others to know what they SHOULD know to protect us from a costly mistake or purchase decision.

 

There have always been idiots or crooks placed in positions to hurt others. And so it goes.

nicknickhall

Posted

When I was a teenager all I knew about guitars came from a catalog, guys at a music store or someone I knew. Today with the vast amount of knowledge available, a guy like you has the ability to know these things via the web. Some "kids" might have the talent to play and teach without the curiosity to examine the tools used. It becomes a larger problem in professions like, mortage brokers, stock brokers, insurance sales, auto repair, real estate whatever when we trust others to know what they SHOULD know to protect us from a costly mistake or purchase decision. There have always been idiots or crooks placed in positions to hurt others. And so it goes.

well put Spectrum 13. And I made full use of the web while i was checking what i think i know, that is semi hollows use laminate to check feedback at high volumes. The guitars that are solid carved (archtops) pieces of wood charge a premium for it. i fault the kids boss at the store for blowing smoke up the kid's wazoo to sell him a guitar he didn't need or even understand. I sent the kid a citation from a book article about guitar construction that uses the scofield model specifically. Then the kid rejected my information in favor of his local prejudice, that's a little disturbing, but not unusual, as you point out. still, in this world everyone's entitled to an opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts.

I was interested to see what the seller's level of knowledge was vis a vis his tools so i could gauge the value of his description. i got my answer. The first two lines of the article description talk about the solid wood, and they remain unedited today. I've got two hundred plus transactions on the bay and i'm always cross checking my facts to know i'm not misrepresenting anything. If I placed that article for sale, described that way, i'd be ignorant and dishonest. And so it goes.

nicknickhall

Posted

When I was a teenager all I knew about guitars came from a catalog, guys at a music store or someone I knew. Today with the vast amount of knowledge available, a guy like you has the ability to know these things via the web. Some "kids" might have the talent to play and teach without the curiosity to examine the tools used. It becomes a larger problem in professions like, mortage brokers, stock brokers, insurance sales, auto repair, real estate whatever when we trust others to know what they SHOULD know to protect us from a costly mistake or purchase decision. There have always been idiots or crooks placed in positions to hurt others. And so it goes.

And your point about the other professions is very true and i'm old enough to know it from personal experience. The other day i was meditating on the fact that everybody cheats all the time, trying to rationalize all this rule bending. My work has me on the road for lots of 200 mile days on the freeway so on those days; what percentage of folks are speeding (myself included when i think it's safe to do so), texting on phones, driving distracted. I've even seen a definition of homo sapiens as "the lying ape". I am certainly not a holier than thou type. So, maybe, it's when we talk to each other that we should be able to agree on our truth as a common ground for action. I have a friend from college who scored big as a hedge fund mgr. He's always had an arrogant side, and now his knowledge of the dishonesty used as tools in the financial industry has hardened and accentuated that part of his personality. I always admired his success. it was high stakes he played and he paid a price in stress. But now he's become self-righteous when he deflects any criticism of his casino buddies. He considers them the "hard eyed realists." Which makes me just a sucker. And it makes him a prosperous crook. Yikes.

cod65

Posted

PT Barnum said it: 'there's a sucker born every minute'. Otherwise why would there be such a thing as 'particle board' with a plastic printed wood grain? .

 

 

I have no problem with laminates, BTW. They are stronger, more economical.

nicknickhall

Posted

PT Barnum said it: 'there's a sucker born every minute'. Otherwise why would there be such a thing as 'particle board' with a plastic printed wood grain? . I have no problem with laminates, BTW. They are stronger, more economical.

Send in the clowns! Ladies and Gentlemen, please direct your attention to the center ring, and don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain. PT Barnum and my ol' neighbor Izzy who was a car salesman and liked to say, "there's an ass for every seat"

the jayce

Posted

Like my grandma told me 20 years ago, a person doesnt really know much about anything especially life untill thier close to 40. I'm now there and realize exactly what she meant. These youngsters may seem dumb but they just have alot of learning to do yet. We where all there once too thinking we knew it all but as you get older you realize life is one big never ending lesson.

Yes the kid is foolish for taking someones word without doing his research but he just simply hasnt been burnt enough times to realize that when someone tells you somthing you have to take it with a grain of salt and then do your own fact finding.

nicknickhall

Posted

Like my grandma told me 20 years ago, a person doesnt really know much about anything especially life untill thier close to 40. I'm now there and realize exactly what she meant. These youngsters may seem dumb but they just have alot of learning to do yet. We where all there once too thinking we knew it all but as you get older you realize life is one big never ending lesson. Yes the kid is foolish for taking someones word without doing his research but he just simply hasnt been burnt enough times to realize that when someone tells you somthing you have to take it with a grain of salt and then do your own fact finding.

As I push 60 here and have learned a lot of hard lessons, they're changing all the questions anyway. It's funny though, in spite of all the technological progress, and I've worked in high tech for 15 years, progress is just an illusion. The 4g wireless network i help to build still can't deliver a telephone call at the same quality that we had 50 years ago on landlines...and as fast as my computers are now, they're just as buggy and prone to needing reboots.

 

Move ever onward anyway!

RhoadsScholar

Posted

A friend once told me.

 

"Listen To Everything"

"Believe Nothing"

"Test Everything"

 

Words to live by.

Dick Seacup

Posted

A friend once told me. "Listen To Everything""Believe Nothing""Test Everything" Words to live by.

 

I've always told my boys, "Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see."

Craigs12

Posted

Laminated wood is what Gibson now uses on the 1959 Les Paul re-issue's fretboard.....leave it to Gibson to cheapen a $5,000+ Retail guitar!!!!

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