RANT ---why?

[pamosmusic]

What exactly is a "Blues lawyer"? Somehow, I am pretty sure that 98% of guitar collectors do not have a license to practice law which makes your statement patently absurd in any case.

It’s a joke. There’s a man of a certain age who has worked in a lucrative field for much of his life who has decided that he’s going to get back into music and he is widely seen as propping up the vintage and high end guitar markets. Could be rock doctor or jazz financial analyst or something too. Blues lawyer just has a nice ring to it.

Is it literally true?

No.

But having worked for a high end guitar maker for some time, I can also tell you it’s a common joke for pretty good reason.

[kris]

Not for everyone. I'm going down to 2 guitars, the one I play and a backup. I own 3 right now, which is too many to use.

I only want to play one guitar.But unfortunately it does not meet all my requirements.That's why I have 7 guitars.
6 guitars too many.

[nyc chaz]

What exactly is a "Blues lawyer"? Somehow, I am pretty sure that 98% of guitar collectors do not have a license to practice law which makes your statement patently absurd in any case.

You see this blues lawyer thing all the time on the Gear Page referring to anyone with money who can afford expensive guitars but are assumed to be mediocre players or just collectors.It always makes me laugh when people seem to feel they have a right to tell other people how to spend their money.

[pamosmusic]

You see this blues lawyer thing all the time on the Gear Page referring to anyone with money who can afford expensive guitars but are assumed to be mediocre players or just collectors.It always makes me laugh when people seem to feel they have a right to tell other people how to spend their money.

We are — for what it’s worth — on a thread where someone (admittedly perhaps not a lawyer, but someone who doesn’t seem to post their own playing terribly often) is being kind of weirdly judgmental about people posting their playing on The Wrong Guitar. So perhaps worth remembering that there’s also quite a bit of snobbery about equipment running the other way, or judgment about decisions a musician has made that make them unable to afford the boutique equipment or whatever.

I would much prefer a world where there was no snobbery about this sort of thing, but given we live in the world we do, I don’t particularly care which direction the snobbery tends to run on which part of The Guitar Internet.

[AllanAllen]

Good job Peter. You got all the blues lawyers upset.

[pamosmusic]

Good job Peter. You got all the blues lawyers upset.

Who? Me?

[bediles]

I'm just speaking from experience. Most working musicians I know semi connected to jazz have a few gamers and they're usually highly functional multi use instruments ( a Tele that does everything kind of thing). Not bringing priceless irreplaceable instruments to gigs. But hey, there are also folks I know in the pop/ country/recording that are very particular about gear and have a bunch of guitars/amps, but they're not 15K archtops that's for sure.

[mr. beaumont]

I only want to play one guitar.But unfortunately it does not meet all my requirements.That's why I have 7 guitars.
6 guitars too many.

Every guitar has a different sound. I don't paint using only one color...

[Stringswinger]

Every guitar has a different sound. I don't paint using only one color...

I'll buy that.

[garybaldy]

I'm with Allan - why don't you whip out your archtop and post a few videos to address this horrific imbalance that irks you so?

The OP only has a flat top.

[Litterick]

It's an instrument, not an investment.

[Cunamara]

I should have written Flat top instead of acoustic. I'm a great fan of Gabor Szabo and he was not using an archtop. But, on this forum, many posts are on flat tops ??

S

You're not looking at enough posts. I see more players using archtops on this forum than flattops for videos and recordings. But I'm happy to see either and don't really care what kind of paintbrush the artist uses, it's the painting I am interested in.

John McLaughlin recorded "In A Silent Way" with Miles on a flattop (Gibson Dove, IIRC) FWIW. Kenny Burrell often used one. Joe Pass's first professional instrument was a Martin flattop. If you consider a classical guitar to be a flattop, we are overrun!

[kris]

Every guitar has a different sound. I don't paint using only one color...

Or maybe it's better to play different colors on one guitar...?
I know it's very difficult.I'm just thinking.
Scof plays mainly the Ibanez AS-200.And it's probably over 40 years.

[pawlowski6132]

I'm puzzled as to why, on a jazz guitar forum , so many, post renditions on acoustic guitars..It's non sequitur! The nicest jazz guitar tones on this Forum have been achieved on standard style jazz guitars .i.e Electric guitars , Charlie Christian, the father of jazz guitar played on an Electric!
End of rant!

S

What the hell are you talking about? Standard guitar where did you get that from?

[Christian Miller]

We are — for what it’s worth — on a thread where someone (admittedly perhaps not a lawyer, but someone who doesn’t seem to post their own playing terribly often) is being kind of weirdly judgmental about people posting their playing on The Wrong Guitar. So perhaps worth remembering that there’s also quite a bit of snobbery about equipment running the other way, or judgment about decisions a musician has made that make them unable to afford the boutique equipment or whatever.

I would much prefer a world where there was no snobbery about this sort of thing, but given we live in the world we do, I don’t particularly care which direction the snobbery tends to run on which part of The Guitar Internet.

Tactfully put lol


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[Christian Miller]

OTOH while pros might play pricey guitars they also may not. Depends on a few things.


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[GuyBoden]

Most of us forum members are hobby Jazz guitarists, that make (or have made) a living in a non-musical career. IMHO, we are the people buying the vast majority of the expensive archtops guitars.

[gvurrdon]

It’s a joke. There’s a man of a certain age who has worked in a lucrative field for much of his life who has decided that he’s going to get back into music and he is widely seen as propping up the vintage and high end guitar markets. Could be rock doctor or jazz financial analyst or something too. Blues lawyer just has a nice ring to it.

I'm a "jazz scientist" myself, but I don't think that's quite as lucrative, so I've been buying Epiphone instead of Gibson, G&L Tribute, Gretsch Streamliner, etc.
Personally, I never really got into acoustic guitars, much preferring electrics. Hearing

(not jazz, but a nice electric tone) was a revelation and got me, eventually, to jazz.
Of course, musical taste is entirely subjective and one person's enjoyment (or not) of a particular instrument or genre is no loss to anyone else. One thing which is a little bothersome, though, is if I visit the local folk/acoustic night. This sort of thing does happen from time to time:

- Are you going to sing or play?
- Sorry, I can't sing and I didn't bring an instrument.
- What do you play?
- Double bass, but it's a bit big for this low ceiling and I can't think of anything suitable to play on it.
- You should take up the guitar.
- I can play the guitar a little, but I only own electric ones.
- What!? Electric guitars are horrible! They're always too loud. Acoustics sound so much better, you should just play those.

[AllanAllen]

They aren't wrong, electric guitars are always too loud.

[gvurrdon]

They aren't wrong, electric guitars are always too loud.

Strange; I do get asked to turn up quite often.

[pamosmusic]

They aren't wrong, electric guitars are always too loud.

Had a neighbor who was a big bluegrass guy and he used to say "What's the difference between a vacuum and a guitar? Who cares -- they're both loud and suck when you plug them in"

[Tal_175]

In threads like this, it's hard to tell if people are actually offended by the rant or it's just that the subject matter is a really good platform for shooting the shit.

[RLetson]

Blues lawyers. See also "dentist bikers." (A local music store owner who's also passionate about motorcycles does an amusing rant about upper-middle-class weekend Harley riders.)

[AllanAllen]

Blues lawyers. See also "dentist bikers." (A local music store owner who's also passionate about motorcycles does an amusing rant about upper-middle-class weekend Harley riders.)

Can the working classes even afford a Harley anymore? This one seems outdated.

[John A.]

I guess I should have been a little clearer and more specific : on this forum there's a lack of archtop playing posts.

S

Not that I've taken a careful census, but I don't think this is true. There are tons of posts by members playing archtops (I've done dozens myself). Maybe the threads you have been paying attention to have more acoustic guitars, but my overall sense is that it's mostly archtops, semis, and teles, with flattop acoustics perhaps the least commonly posted guitar.

But even if it were true, so what? It strikes me as silly to launch a rant about the guitars other people choose to play (says the guy who brought a strat to a jazz session yesterday).