Musicians using cheaper instruments than you'd expect

My friend is a top musician in Macau. During Macau’s super big memorial event( eg on day of macau returning to the communist), she would be invited to perform on the ceremony. She’s a pianist, composer of neo-classical musics, scholar and professor. She has a few CD records in the market.

When my family visited her in Paris, we were very shocked that she’s playing with a super cheap mini electronic piano. My son ,who also plays piano, asked directly why a super cheap mini electronic piano was used everyday. My friend explained that it’s for fun and just don’t need to use expensive things all the time. The musician also says that playing is for just own-entertainment.

Clearly, the cheap mini-electronic piano doesn’t sound good to us but we can see her enjoy playing!

 

Tim Farriss's Tokai Talbo Blazing FIre

 

Just because the name on the headstock is the same doesn't mean they are similar guitars. Real Dean guitars are expensive. Type "Dean USA" into eBay. They are all 4 figure guitars.

 

The head stock is off. My guitar dealer friend has told me Mick is playing a common knock-off sold to American GIs.

Keith would complain that Mick hit the strings way too hard.

 

Yamaha Guitar and Paul Simon...

 

cheap guitars? if they are set up right they can be amazing!

 

There's a well-regarded electronic musician named u-Ziq (Greek letter mu) who created a few amazing albums using nothing but a 4-track, a DX7, a cheap drum machine and a Radio Shack effects unit, sequenced with an Atari ST.

Pretty much this whole album:
Bluff Limbo, by µ-Ziq

 

Ian also played a cheap student flute, a Selmer Gold Seal, for the early Tull material. And stuck with mostly student models at least till the 80s, sometimes bringing up to a dozen cheap flutes on tour in various stages of disrepair as he kept breaking bits off with his high energy showmanship. More here: Ian Anderson's Flutes - Jethro Tull

 

Noel Gallagher dug Epiphones...




Still does...

 

Also, the cheap mini-electronic piano can be used with headphones and not bother everyone who is trying to sleep, does not need regular tuning and can produce a wide range of piano sounds.

 

The great & brilliant St. Vincent/Annie Clark has her own Ernie Ball Music Man signature model now- a gorgeous guitar, designed in detail by her & done so to provide maximum versatility .... so she's able to rely heavily on that model noe- albeit an array of them in various colors/flavors...

In years past though she's played a dizzying amount of different guitars... and that includes some weird cheapies... probably most famously known for a couple of years where she favored Harmony Bobkats...

Below is a link to 32 different electrics & acoustics with plenty of bizzarro more esoteric freek axes (Guild, Harmony, Hagstrom, Silvertone, Kay, Metropolitan, Vox, Ernie Ball & Eastwood) peppered in among the usual Fender, Gibson, Rickenbackers (no Gretsches oddly enough)

St. Vincent's Equipboard

 

It doesn’t look like a knock-off. Has all the right appointments for a Jaguar of that era

 

Prince's Telecaster wasn't a Fender, it was really a Hohner Madcat...

LEGENDARY GUITARS: Prince's MadCat Hohner Telecaster

 

Patches? He need no stinking patches.

 

Heh. But seriously, the DX7 was a tremendously powerful synth with one of the world's worst editing interfaces.

And admit it. You need Patches!

 

That’s true. That’s really insightful!

Those regular tuning is very troublesome and extremely expensive in Paris!

I almost forgot to get my piano tuned, for a few years!

 

Thank you.

The truth is that, other than Classical, concert hall filling Jazz and a handful of Pop and Rock artists everyone plays sampled pianos. I helped moved Leon Russell's piano after his last concert at Knuckleheads Saloon - and it was a shell with a sampler inside of it that I could pick up and tuck under one arm. It's always in tune, requires no microphones (and no possibility of feedback or picking up other instruments) and can sound like any piano needed.

Just try finding an hour of absolute silence in a busy music venue for piano tuning, between setting up the sound, stage and lighting and the sound check.

 

Beatles also

 

Teisco SD-40
Japanese guitar

 

Here a $700 knockoff of his original cheap Teisco
Eastwood Guitars SD-40 Hound Dog - Redburst - Hound Dog Taylor, Kawai / Teisco -inspired NEW

 

Partscasters made from quality parts are a good middle ground.

 

I saw Jill Sobule play just last week. She's still using the same travel guitar... and it still sounds very good!

 

Nancy!

 

When I saw her play with John Doe at Knuckleheads Saloon, she made a point to thank all those slightly confused Katy Perry fans who accidentally bought her I Kissed A Girl instead.

 

Yeah. I agree. But I am never going to be as good as a master builder. I don't like the over priced customs they make where they stick a famous persons name on it and build to some guitar used in rock and roll history, but i do like some of the custom shops they make that are actually made by great craftsmen trying to build the best instrument they know how. Some of the custom shops I have tried play really amazing. there is a whole other craft to it that is bigger than the parts and wood used. if i were a professional and successful musician I would totally justify spending $5 to $10K on a custom shop as its my main bread and butter from where I make my living from.