Customers bring me all kinds of guitars for setups and repairs. I see everything from 3/4 size beginner guitars to Gibson and Fender Custom Shop models. A few times people have brought in unfinished projects that need completing. I see a lot!
What usually happens is this. The customer walks in with their guitar, puts in on the bench and before the case is opened they will apologise. “I’m sorry, it’s just a ….” and then proceed to minimise their ability and make excuses for the fact that their guitar cost under two grand.
My typical reply is “It’s ok, it’s yours, and it’s what you use to make music”. And that is all that counts.
I get it. With ads everywhere trying to sell you new models, and new models coming out every 7.5 seconds, it can be quite daunting. Everyone wants to sounds as good as possible and wants to play the best gear they can afford, but not everyone has a huge budget to keep up with the trends, or at least upgrade every month to something bigger/better/shinier.
Let’s blame the manufacturers for wanting us to feel inadequate. But we (guitarists) do it to ourselves too. We like shiny things, and we like to own more shiny things. Without throwing in some pop-psych to explain why, we also know with a modicum of self awareness that it’s all unnecessary. We know that we need to just get on with it and practise!
When a customer feels bad about the low cost of their gear, I’m reminded of Mike Rutherford and his Squier Bullets.
In 2020, the guitarist for Genesis found himself stuck in Cape Town due to lockdown restrictions, but had travelled without an electric guitar. He visited a local guitar shop and picked up a couple of Squier Bullet stratocasters for around £100 each, just to have something to play. One of them, a sonic grey colour imported into Cape Town from Indonesia, turned out to be his favourite. After some minor upgrades to help tuning stability (new machine heads, fret levelling and some nut work) and the cheapest guitar in Rutherford’s collection became a permanent fixture in his touring rig!
“I just love it,” Rutherford said of the budget Strat. “It’s got a life to it. It’s a little bit lighter than some and it’s got a slightly smaller neck which helps my aging fingers.”
So next time you’re dropping your guitar off for a setup, repair, refinish or upgrade, remember that not everyone needs to play guitars that cost a couple of month’s wages.
If it’s your guitar, it’s yours. It’s what you do with it that counts.
CREDITS
Photo of Mike Rutherford, Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns
Black left handed no name guitar – not a customers guitar!