Black Friday Hokum

By the time you see this, Black Friday will be over, although I expect the “deals” will continue under some banner through the holiday season. Let’s call it for what it is shall we? An inducement to spend money that you may not have on gear that will not make you a better player.

Listen, I’m probably more guilty than most, having gone overboard on stuff over the many years. The reality is that I have discovered that what I thought I wanted, or that I thought would make a difference, didn’t.

Sure, I got another guitar. Or a new amp, that sounds only slightly different than the other amps. Or I bought some pedals, that are the basically the same as the other pedals, and that no one in an audience would care or hear any difference. While I may not be Josh Scott or Mick or Dan, I have lots of pedals, mounted on boards, that get used irregularly. I also have pedals that sit in boxes and drawers. Sure, some will appreciate to some extent in value over time, others will just disappear into the black hole of stuff that no one actually wants.

The net of this is that I will have spent money on stuff that made no difference at all, when instead I could have put that money into lessons, or just into more playing time and less worrying about the new hottie, which by next week will have been superseded by the newer hottie.

These so called deals are not deals. They are a legitimate business tactic to reduce inventory on hand. Whether that is PRS offering discounts on SE instruments that are sitting in warehouses or hanging unsold on hooks in dealers, the idea is get rid of inventory and raise funds to build more inventory and to get dealers to buy more inventory. I’m not picking on PRS, they are at least honest about their promotion, unlike many others. If you find something that you really need|want, then good for you, but ask yourself what would be the long term impact if you did not get it? How does your reducing Fender’s excess inventory change your playing? Certainly a well built instrument should have superb playability and great components, but let’s agree not to lie to ourselves.

If I can buy a Sire S7 with stainless steel frets, better build quality and better sounding pickups for one third the cost of a Fender Stratocaster, that plays great in my hands, sounds great through my amp, what did I get for the extra two grand other than a logo with a loaded cost of 12 cents? Sure you can tell yourself that instruments made in the good ol USA are better quality, but you would be lying to yourself. I have found China built Epiphones that were better in every way than a multi-thousand dollar Gibson and no one in an audience or listening to a recording would have any idea, nor care in the least. I can say the same thing for a China built Squier in comparison with a US built Telecaster. There is no magic in any circuit, wood is wood, poly is poly and the sticker means nothing. Hell a headless EART from Amazon is a terrific playing and sounding guitar and you can get one for around $600. Plus if it matters, it looks way cooler than yet another Strat or LP.

Pick up or read online any music publication. They only exist due to advertising dollars. Despite the fine efforts of some of the writers, they are basically ads that you pay for, that are designed to make you believe that what you have is inadequate and with all possible respect, that is utter horseshit. The playing of an instrument happens in you, not in the gear. All the gear in the world will not make you a great player, if you do not invest the time in yourself to improve. Crap sounds the same through a Marshall stack as through some plastic thing from Donner. Crap is always crap. Some of the greatest music in history was created on instruments and with gear that most would thumb noses at today. The gear did not matter, the musicianship did and today the only thing that matters is you.

So instead of spending money on kit, why not invest in yourself. And hey, if you already spent the money and are starting to feel buyer’s remorse, today is a great day to return things and get your money back to put into something that actually serves YOU and not some other entity.

Thanks as always for reading. Please subscribe to the articles and the podcast. Please post comments or send in questions, I read and respond to all. I wish you much success and until next time, bid you peace.