For many, vintage electric guitars will always hold a near-mythical level of appeal. For others, aged guitars – and their often inflated prices – aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
American guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, who has lent his talents to the likes of Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, and James Brown across a busy career, falls distinctly in the latter camp. After recently coming across a humble $140 Squier Telecaster during a trip to Guitar Center, he found that it left its vintage – and far pricier – counterpart in the dust.
“I bought a Squier Telecaster that has a Jazzmaster pickup installed for rhythm. It's a great guitar,” he says in the new issue of Guitarist.
“I played it and really loved it, so I told the guy at Guitar Center, ‘Pull down that '58 Telecaster you have up there,' which cost about a bazillion dollars, and I spent about an hour setting up the Squier.
“They had a guitar repair guy there,” he continues, “and I asked if I could use his tools and set up the guitar myself. Very quickly, I compared the two, and the $140 Squier Telecaster, to me, sounded better, so I bought it.”
Of course, the vintage versus new debate will rage on. David Gilmour has previously claimed that vintage guitars sound better because they’ve had longer to settle into themselves. However, he also said he couldn’t tell the difference between his $4 million Black Strat and its 2008 reissue in a blindfold test.
Joe Satriani, meanwhile, says he was never impressed by the vintage, and supposedly extra-special, guitars he played.
Even Joe Bonamassa, who loves vintage gear so much his home doubles up as a museum, admits that, when shopping for the right guitar, an instrument’s heritage, price, or the name on its headstock shouldn’t influence decision-making. The jury is very much out.
Elsewhere in his Guitarist interview, Baxter outlined his guitar-buying philosophy, echoing the sentiments that a guitar should be chosen based on how it feels, rather than what it says on the headstock.
He says, “The first thing I would say for sure is that, if you can, ignore everything and just play it. And if it plays great, then it is great. Whether it’s a Squier as opposed to, like, an expensive Fender special, custom – whatever.
“This is not to say that you shouldn’t buy quality instruments, that’s not the point. The point is that whatever guitar feels good to you is the right guitar. Don’t buy it for any other reason.”
To read the rest of Baxter’s interview, head to Magazines Direct to order a copy of Guitarist.
In related news, Baxter has revealed how a snowstorm led to him becoming James Brown's last-minute sideman, and recalled the time he traded guitars with Jimi Hendrix.
