Musicians using cheaper instruments than you'd expect

He had about three strings left on it when I saw him play at the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in the 70s.

 

I forgot to mention his other side-kick: "Must Remove Crappy Vibrato Tailpiece Immediately To Make Instrument Tune-able".

 

Skunk Baxter paid $20 for his Burns Bison

 

If the neck plate reads "Steel-Reinforced Neck", pretty sure it's from the Matsumoku factory.

 

I am familiar with several Hogarth era Marillion albums. I quite liked Afraid of Sunlight in particular. I have nothing against their music, and I do agree influences are much broader than just Floyd/Genesis/etc, but at the same their approach to the guitar is, to me, not as interesting and individual as the work of e.g. Fripp, Gilmour, or Howe.

 

By default no doubt, and being poor, the great Ritchie Valens
with his Harmony.

 

I can't recall specifics, but I've also read that he plays some pretty ****ty guitars on purpose. He definitely gets some great sound out of 'em!

 

What I've come to realize over many years, it's 'assumed' cheap guitars are terrible and 'YOU' must
pay top dollar for a great instrument. Utter garbage!
Cheap instruments can be great and fantastic.
Obvious by some of the 'stars' that use and happy to use them in this thread.

 

Laura Lee from khraungbin plays a SX vintage series bass. Which is a cheap version of the old fender jazz bass from the late 60's?

 

Know anything about their pick-ups? I like them better than the factory originals on my '64 Fender Jag.

 

Excellent video! Thanks for sharing. I wish the Allman's would release an archival release from Jack's time with the band. I never got to hear him with them. I would love to see him play live sometime.

 

I don’t know if this is a coincidence or even relevant, but back in the 70’s a good friend of mines father played the flute with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. I can remember him walking into the room with us listening to Jethro Tull and him saying, “you guys do realize that he is not very good”. We just shrugged our shoulders, thinking we were just teenagers, what do we know.

 

That guy was such a good player, he could use anything and sound good.

 

I see that Squier guitars and basses are already mentioned in the thread.
I will add that Peter Hammill plays a Squier Telecaster. A few years ago I convinced a friend of mine who plays the guitar to join me at a VdGG show and he kept saying for days that he couldn't believe a musician with a 40+ years long career would use a Squier!

 

Very well said.

 

Those Yamahas are far from cheap!

 

they are no Martin or Gibson (Vintage)...always thought of Yamaha as a lower end guitar...my early guitar was a Yamaha...it sucked....years ago.

 

Yamaha makes a wide range of grades of instruments, from cheap beginners models to expensive professional ones. So do Gibson and Martin. I don't think it's fair to equate your el cheapo POS with their best models, especially without even trying them.

 

O' I agree...absolutely positively...just because I had a bad experience doesn't mean they all suck...I'm sure there are beauties out there as matter of fact I played a Yamaha 12 string that was unbelievable! she sang incredibly...I left the store and by the time I can back to buy it she was gone...should have bought it on the spot...I have yet to find a 12 string as beautiful...I still think about it...Sorry if I came across heavy handed...

 

I don't know why people think Grafton altos were cheap. They weren't and still aren't. True, they didn't cost as much as a pro Selmer, but they cost more than, for example, the Buescher brass models.

I'm just as curious about how indie type players started off on expensive instruments. Nick McCabe from The Verve had a Gibson ES-335 and a '60s Stratocaster from the time of their very first single. I have no idea how he could afford them.

 

He may have also with it, relying on one of the larger photos inside the "Living In The Past" double LP set.

 

No problem - I just wanted to Yamaha to get some respect. Their pianos are highly regarded; I have a Yamaha SG-2000 electric that's first-class; I had a Yamaha student-level classical that was really good for what it was and lasted me many years, and I've briefly played a couple of their mid-level steel string acoustics that seemed real nice. I think think Yamaha is so diverse that people might think of them more for, like, motorcycles and stuff than fine guitars, but they do well at those, too.

 

Cool, I own an a Yamaha Electone-AR-80 Organ.

 

Expensive guitars are for collectors.

 

He may have also toured with it...