Being somewhat of a semi pro musician I can tell you that the music isnt in the instrument anyway. I can adjust to make a Chinese plastisol dipped acoustic sound just as good as any other. Only instrument afficianado's can tell the difference with their eyes closed and better than 60% of them are merely wannabee musicians.
Whatever instrument it is, its a tool. What it looks like hanging on the wall makes no difference. A quality instrument will hold up under the constant and strict regimin of playing that a musician must maintain.
Initial quality is as deceiving in instruments as it is in auto's. Its how it holds up over time and use that counts and there is where the Chinese instruments fail. Just look in the pit of touring musicians to see this. Carbon Fibre instruments are everywhere now. Ive had one for a couple years now and there is no beating it in all aspects. ALL aspects. Roger Daltry would'v have a hard time with a CA. Made is the US by the way.
Its really apples and oranges. Pro's buy quality. When the local starving musician starts climbing, they put away the chinese "whatever" and get a quality instrument.
..
Like you, I'm "semi-pro" and agree with most of your post. However, I have also discovered that sometimes there is very little, if any, quality difference. Usually it is in the tuners or pickups, but those are a cheap swap out.
Meanwhile, I've done a lot of gigging with that bass in my avatar and it even fell out of a guitar stand onto an uncovered concrete floor. The headstock hit pretty hard. That was almost three years ago and other than a very small ding in the back of the body, you'd never know anything happened.
The bass cost me $139 and the Fender equivalent is roughly $2,400. I can buy a lot of tuning pegs for the difference. I've also played with quite a few guys that have had nothing but headaches with a Gibson, Gretch and Fender instruments. Problem is, there is really not that much going on in a solid body guitar/bass. The electronic technology is ancient and anybody good at woodworking can cut a body and neck. If the time is spent in the design of the instrument and the manufacturing process, one can make a quality instrument.
But the part of your post that I most strongly agree with is your comment that the instrument is a tool.
And as a performer, I know that it is not all about the sound I produce. If it was, the venue could just hire a dj. It is about stage presence, showmanship, etc. What you wear matters. The look of your instrument matters. That is why, in the concert scene in The Blues Brothers, during Minnie the moocher. the bass is white, but when the "dream sequence" is over, it is tobacco sunburst. It projects an image.
Sometimes I choose my instrument for a look. My six string is high gloss silver. My blue fretless uses black strings. Sometimes I pull out the acoustic/electric for the look alone. People comment on the looks of basses I use. They notice. Because of low cost instruments, I can have six or seven different basses with four, five or six strings that have a jazz, country or rock look/sound, and then pick the particular axe for the particular song I am playing when on stage. I usually only bring a maximum of three to a gig though.
If I bought name brand basses, I would have, maybe, two.
But about the tool thing again, one thing BAD about the chinese stuff is that it is not "legendary" stuff. Fact is, when you are playing something "expensive" you, the musician, notice it and enjoy playing more. That also matters.
So when I make it big, I'll go to name brands.
Slightly related - I've seen some really good bass players playing Cort and other "no name" basses, but I've been to quite a few blues jams and the number of guys with more money than talent playing exotic guitars and basses is legion.
They end up being expensive by the time they make it here. My gripe was with the scammers trying to pass off the fakes as real. I also agree to a point that the American made guitars are too pricey these days...I bought the 76 LPC in my avatar back in 80 for $400Cdn. Now that model comes from the custom shop for about 10x that much and I'd rather have the old one thanks very much. It's good to be an aging packrat!
