Electric Guitar Trends

It is pretty clear that electric guitar manufacturers have failed win over the female market.  By some estimates, only 3% of guitar buyers are women.  A recent education study in the UK revealed that school aged girls seldom choose guitar as their musical instrument.
Sure the manufacturers have tried to woo the ladies.  Gibson had their Goddess and Vixen models, Fender had [...]

I play in a couple of bands, and one of them is just starting up.  Last night, we auditioned a singer/guitarist, named Don.  He answered our Musolist.com ad for a vocalist, and presented himself as a backup singer/rhythm guitarist.
It turned out that Don is a nice guy who can sing well, and plays guitar very well. 
And Don, like [...]

Well, I have held back for a while before unloading on this topic, namely the marketing practice called Brand Resurrection.  This is the practice of using the name of an old, out of business company for a new product.  The new product may have little to do with the original product, but it can cost a lot less to [...]

According to legend, when Leo Fender was refining the Fender Stratocaster prototype, he decided that the Fender Stratocaster had better have 3 pickups, to be more competitive.
It’s no secret that nobody uses the bridge pickup on a Stratocaster.  Maybe the middle pickup and bridge pickup combined, but not the bridge pickup alone.  The bridge pickup on a Strat seems [...]

Here are the top selling electric guitar pickups, for Week 21, 2009
 
1.  EMG EMG-ZW Zakk Wylde 81/85 Humbucker Set
2.  Seymour Duncan Hot Rodded Humbucker Set
3.  EMG EMG-81 Humbucker
4.  Seymour Duncan Blackouts Active Humbucker Set
5.  Gibson ‘57 Classic Humbucker
6.  Gibson ‘57 Classic Plus Humbucker
7.  Seymour Duncan SHR-1 Hot Rail Stacked Single Coil
8.  Fender Hot Noiseless [...]

Budget Electric Guitars
Budget guitars are electric guitars in the $300 - $500 price range.

1.   Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plain Top
2.   Epiphone Limited Edition Riviera Custom P93
3.   Epiphone Limited Edition 1966 G-400
4.   Epiphone Les Paul 1956 Goldtop
5.   Epiphone Tom DeLonge Signature ES-333
6.   Epiphone G-400 SG
7.   Epiphone Dot
8.   Ibanez RG5EX1
9.   Ibanez RG3EXFM1
10. Epiphone Les Paul Studio
 
Mid-Range Electric [...]

I remember learning guitar licks from vinyl records.  You had to drop the stylus on the right groove, play along with the lick, then pickup the stylus again, drop it onto the right groove, and get into position to play.  A tiring, tedious procedure. 
Now, LP’s (long playing records) played at 33 1/3 rpm.  Most turntables still supported the short lived 16 rpm record format.  [...]

I am not sure who made the first reissue guitar. Maybe it was those 1966 Gibson Flying V’s, which were made somewhat like the 1958 models. Of course way back then there were fewer models to reissue.
Today, making reissues of electric guitars is good marketing.  Firstly, not every guitar manufacturer can reissue a vintage electric guitar.  The companies that were making [...]

The traditional Gibson guitars have a three-position pickup switch, two volume controls, and two tone controls.
I am seeing a trend towards having fewer controls on the guitar.  Several Gibson, PRS, and ESP models have only one volume and one tone control, and I don’t like it.
The traditional Gibson setup allows the player to have different volume [...]

What is the trend in electric guitar prices?  Apparently, the trend is downward.
I see a Gibson Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior can be had for $1,399.00 from several web sites.  I ordered one from a leading website two years ago and paid $1,616.00. March 2006 to be more exact.
Web sites are always promoting price drops, but today’s specials are for [...]