Baby Boomers Coming Rocking Out of the Woodwork

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

It's my belief that there are thousands of Baby Boomer musicians out there who always wanted to be entertainers but never gave up their day jobs.

Now they're all coming up for retirement. I can envision an upsurge of gereatric rock and rollers who for the first time in their lives don't have to work 40 hrs. a week, and can devote more time to music.

Jim Sliff · From: Lawndale California, USA

Old news. It's been going on for 5 years-plus on the guitar forums. the correct term is "Geezers". 90% are blues/rock guitar players who had bands in high school, or had friends with bands in high school, or wish they were cool enough to hang out with bands in high school...and they make up a rather large part of the vintage/boutique instrument market.

It drives those of us who've been actually playing in front of humans all those years a little nuts. They buy a Telecaster book and are instantly experts....and they drive up the cost of EVEYTHING. Any vintage piece that has a minimal "cool" factor gets the decimal point moved by geezers bidding things up....that's why things like effects pedals from Way Huge and Lovetone among others have seen prices go through the roof.

Interestingly, I found out when I came to this forum that the crowd was mostly older or around the same age as me, not younger. Steel just doesn't have the mass appeal of 6-string guitar, and there aren't kids playing steels at blistering volume in Guitar Center all day. However, the older crowd is also firmly established, and often set in their ways, so it's almost a reverse of the guitar forums -there, the older guys started showing up and turning things upside down - here it's the "younger" (but not by much) guys flipping things over.

Anyway, it really does affect the market. Fender execs have targeted many of the "signature" and custom shop models directly at the boomer set - who have the money to buy them, as opposed to the kids who scrape together enough dough for a prized made-in-Mexico Strat and a Princeton 650.

Dave Ristrim · From: Whites Creek, TN

You are SO right Jim. Have you seen the list prices on Gibson guitars going up over the last few years? Wow!

Randy Reeves · From: LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA

Alan. are you a mind reader?
that is exactly my plan.
Im 55 yrs old.

Paul Wade · From: mundelein,ill

guess what iam doing tha at 59. playing in a country band playing what i like to play my
p.s.g life is good.....

p w

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Gibson is pricing itself out of the market. The days when Gibson and Fender were the only good guitars available ae over. You can now get guitars every bit as good at a fraction of the price. The only thing these new Asian imports don't have is the name on the headstock.

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Warning: I have a Telecaster and I'm not afraid to use it.
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My web site

Terry Edwards · From: Florida... livin' on spongecake...

Yeah, but I wonder what is going to happen to the economics in our local community music businesses.

Supply and Demand.

Lots of muscians and bands might work for lower pay or maybe even free!

Hope I'm wrong.

Terry

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

Well, at least the threshold for antiquity is moving up a few years. I remember very well when reaching age 30 would just about end your career in music.

On my 30th birthday I was really down because I thought my music days were over, so I stopped on the way work to buy a pain killer to take with me to the club.

When the liquor store clerk "carded me" before selling me a bottle, it really made my day. If I had not already had a wife, I would have proposed to her for her sensitivity.

.....and many, many years later, when I celebrated my 70th birthday on-stage with a country music show, I realized how meaningless the age thing really is. Those who fail to hire, and those who fail to perform, because of an arbitrary age, are all losers of all of that available experience.

If there is a point to this it is to "keep on keeping on" until there is a physical reason to stop.

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www.genejones.com

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Take a look at the pics I posted in the "I gotta get one of these" thread. This guitar sells for around $400.

There's no way you're going to get anything of that quality for that price from Gibson. You czn get a guitar thats as good, but you'll have to pay a lot more.

Gibson and Fender take notice- the game has changed.

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Warning: I have a Telecaster and I'm not afraid to use it.
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My web site

Rick Garrett · From: Tyler, Texas

Hey Alan me too man.

That's my exact plan of life. I just turned fifty years old. Being this tired and this old, I can afford just enough nice gear to hopefully someday get onstage and make a total horses ^&* of myself thereby implementing the second part of plan which is to agrevate the real "geezers" who have been in the trench's for years and can't afford a knockoff Gibson. Further, I wrote all of that as one continuous run-on sentence to stir up the gramatically (sp) correct folks on the forum. Spelling errors galore I'm sure. Ah well, I'm going to go play my PRS McCarty now.

Rick

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

I do this for a living, so I have my front-line instruments (two Emmons LG-111s, various Martins, and my G&L Asat Classic with a Glaser B-bender). These are the instruments that work best for me.

Having said that, I'm still a real enthusiast, and I'm not immune from the excitement that would infect me as a teenager when I saw all those beautiful American guitars when they first became available in Britain in about 1960.

Back then I couldn't afford all the ones I wanted (I had the Jet Firebird instead of the 6120) but I did break the bank and buy a new Gibson Super 400. To this day, though, I still mourn the fact that I didn't get a cherry-red Gibson ES-355 (that was a dazzling guitar!), and I'll have one somehow before I'm done. I also want an L-5, and a Martin 000-21.

I'm sorry - logic just doesn't come into it. There have been plenty of bad Gibsons and Martins, but those names are loaded with nostalgia for me, and the the good ones are terrific.

No knock-off from the far side of the world is going to do it for me, because the American makers wrote the book on steel-string guitars. They're icons to me. Just a name on a headstock? Maybe, but the pleasure I get from them is immeasurable.

RR

[This message was edited by Roger Rettig on 09 October 2006 at 11:36 AM.]

Alan Brookes · From: Brummy living in Southern California

I'm not talking about incompetent musicians, or people taking up music in their dotage, I'm talking about competent musicians who have been playing 40 to 50 years as amateurs, and now can afford to come out in public.

Earl Scruggs once said that the rise in popularity of folk music would certainly separate the wheat from the chaff: the chaff would get into the hit parade.

There's a lot of luck involved in becoming popular. For everyone who makes it there are fifty that don't or don't bother to try. Now that all the greats are dying off, there's a big space left for musicians who were there all the time, but too humble to push themselves forward.

Terry Edwards · From: Florida... livin' on spongecake...

Well, I'm 53 and have been playing guitars, bass, mandolin since I was 16 (discovered steel by accident at 40). I've written several hit songs that have not been released yet. I''ve been holdin' out until I retire. Then I'm gonna make my move.

Anybody want an autograph in advance?

Terry

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Quit using the term "Baby Boomer".

I'm not a baby, or a boomer (whatever that means).

Man, I just hate that categorical term.

The term really rings with snideness, and almost, "good riddance".

Well, Buckos, I'm 59 and will be 60 on January 24, 2007. And I plan on being around for quite a while after this next birthday.

"Baby Boomers" - Give me a break.

Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

What really gets me is the not just the price of Gibson guitars, but also old amps, like 1970s Marshall heads and stuff like that. I'm sure it's the 40 to 60 something guitarists on nostalgia trips who keep the prices high.

Back in the early 1980s, several of these guitarists either gave up music and tried to sell off their Pauls and Marshalls or abandoned them in favour of Strats and Roland JCs to get the 'new wave' sound that was popular back then.

In the early 80s, the 1970s Marshalls and Pauls were selling for less than their original value - now they're worth a fortune.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Did that during the 90s - I was a lot younger than "retirement age", though. I was burned out on my research/teaching, and needed a break. I figured - why not do it while I'm still young enough to enjoy it, and also be able to keep up with the younger players. Played 6 nights a week, and also ran a vintage guitar store.

But part of the problem is having a sympatico audience to play to. I like playing with and for younger people, but there were times when I wanted to play with and for people who really "got it" when I talked about the styles I like most - old jazz, country, blues, rockabilly, and so on. I figure places like Florida and Arizona will be good places for this, since they have so many large retirement communities.

I do get annoyed with the "geezer wankers" who have driven the price of cool vintage guitars through the roof in the last few years. I really despise it when people who are essentially non-players but have lots of $$$ horde this stuff. But we've had this discussion before, and they're not gonna stop until it's no longer profitable to "invest" in these pieces. Hope that happens soon.

Dave Van Allen · From: Souderton, PA , US , Earth

Ron Page · From: Penn Yan, NY USA

I'm fine with the term “Baby Boomer” because it’s descriptive of the generation, unlike “Gen X” and the others that give you no clue as to what time frame we’re talking about. The only thing I can recall about “Gen Xers” is that they’re mostly children of Boomers.

At 50, I’m a Boomer too.

The value of an investment is often not directly reflected in the price. The market determines price, whereas value is something else. BTW: I wouldn't want to own an investment that wasn't being bid up.

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HagFan

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

with all due respect, the game for Gibson is NOT on the playing field with the new young players. It is not in the $400 market...

The game for them is for a much more mature audience, the 401K crowd if you will.

The $400 crowd basically has little or no money, the 401K crowd has all the money.

You can still buy a Honda and a Toyota and get to the store..

But I sure see a lot of C5 and C6 Corvettes out there strolling the streets....lately I've seen quite a few Z06 C6 Corvettes...

Lots of Beemers out there too...

Gibson is playing just fine in the Korean markets with the Epiphones,of which I have two and am considering yet a third.

The lower end Korean/Chinese markets are serving a purpose, but they are not the only game in town and never will be.

You can bring a Tele clone to a gig, and play great and sound great..but at the end of the day (gig)..

It's still what it is..
A Tele clone...

Barry Blackwood · Posted 11 Oct 2006 7:06 am

I guess I'm not enough of a romantic - I'll take the clone, thank you, and keep the difference in the bank! Same goes for you (overpriced) amp manufacturers ....

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Tony, I thimk you are seriousy underestimating the quality if the imports.

I have somewhere between 25 and 30 guitars (I've lost count) including Fender, Gretsch MusicMan, Schecter, Ibamez, Washburn (interestingy, at the moment I don't have a Gibson)

Ten my guitars are these new inexpenmsive Asian imports. Seven Ravenwests, three Aslin Danes. All my guitars hang on racks or sit on stands in my music room so I can grab each one at a moments notice, and when I'm recording I freely switch back and forth between them all, depending on what sound I want.

I cannot tell the difference in quality between the big brand names and the imports. They are all different, but they are all pretty much the same level of quality.

The first Korean guitar I ever got was an Aslin Dane "Jumbo Jazz" this looks a little like a 335, but it has a larger lower bout and the center block only extends half way to the rear of the guitar. I guess you'd have to call it a semi-semi-hollow body. I picked they guitar up at the NAMM show. I was not looking for another guitar at the time, but when I played it, it blew me away, and the guy at the booth made me an offer so good I couldn't turn it down. He practically gave it to me.

This guitar plays and sounds as good, if not better, than any real 335 I've ever seen or heard or played. I called up all my friends to tell them about it, and they all scoffed- till they tried it our for themselves.

I have a freind who is a really fine jazz pianist, and he started a jazz band with some of his other friends. His guitarist had been raised on Hendrix, and only had a strat, when he discovered Wes and Joe Pass and the rest, and was in the process of saving up for a 175 when the band decided they wanted to do some recording. I offered to let the guy use my Gretsch on th sessions, but when he came over he asked if he could please use the Aslin Dane instead. That's how good it is.

He now has an Aslin Dane 175 clone, and couldn't be happier.

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

Mike, my friend , it's not about the quality which I certainly do understand, remember I said I already have two Korean Guitars which I really love.

it's about market sgements.

There are an X amount of people who have MONEY and will buy Gibsons..just like they buy Beemer's and Cadillac Escalades.

Gibson I am thinking pretty much does not care what you or I think of the quality of these Korean born guitars. They care about the market segment that ONLY WANTS GIBSON on the headstock.

This is true in almost every segment of retail purchase.

Here is an example..

I may well agree with all of you on your Telecaster clones and how good they are, but when I gig I am playing on my FENDER. It's not about the quality or the value...for me personally it's about the name FENDER.

Like I said, Gibson knows exactly what they are doing..

is it smart ? Who knows,not my call but I do know it has nothing to do with Korean quality...which I am certain they already know about..( Epiphone )

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 11 October 2006 at 10:32 AM.]

Terry Edwards · From: Florida... livin' on spongecake...

HHmmmm....picture Earl Scruggs playing a Goldtone!!

I have a Martin D-21.
A Gibson RB-100.
A Fender Strat (USA)
and a Ford Mustang.

I'm a sucker for Americana.

Terry

(uhh...pay no attention to those Chinese shoes!)

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

yes exactly, they are paying for the name on the headstock.

but please do not loose site, they are fine guitars as well. To assume they are NOT would not be appropriate.

Gibson still makes a remarkable Instrument.

My EPI LP Standard weighs about 5 pounds less than a Gibson LP...somethings missing

t

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 11 October 2006 at 01:41 PM.]

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