"Must Haves" That Are Now Relegated to History

[Offshore Angler]

For all you old timers like me that have been playing guitar for more than half a century - or even newbs, I've been thinking about all the "next big things" that fell into the dust bin of history. You know, the things that internet flame battles were fought over by aficionados and detractors.

I'll start with a couple:

1)The Buzz Feiten tuning system and compensated nut. Man, I can remember being told that you can't sound good without it.

2) The Bad Monkey pedal. Yawn, it was an overdrive.

What others can you think of?

Chuck

[OldStrummer]

Tuners. The Gibson G-Force tuners that was a small computerized system integrated into the headstock that made it possible to switch tunings at the press of a button, and meant to keep the strings in tune at all times. Nice idea, but the added weight plus Gibson's notorious neck dive kind of put an end to them.

Gibson also played with the Steinberger tuners. Gearless, so there was no key to turn, and a 40:1 ratio, these purport to keep a guitar in fine tune forever.

Both of these tuning systems work. They've just never caught on. I know, because I have the G-Force on a Les Paul and the Steinberger tuners on an SG.

[Tele-Bob]

Blackface Deluxe Reverb - I have owned both black and silver. I much prefer the sound of the Silver Face.

Fender Champ, which I affectionately refer to as Chump. I bought a used one. What a piece of crap squawk-box amp. Recorded well, but basically useless for anything else.

King of Tone pedal. Great pedal. Never used it for solo boost. I used it as a 3 stage rhythm gain effect and it was terrific. Sold it because I just don't need it anymore and after 20 years of ownership sold it for twice what I paid for it new!

Rickenbacker 360. I wanted one ever since I saw it for the first time. Coolest looking guitar on the market at time. 20 years later I bought one and found to be totally unplayable. Skinny neck, way too many knobs, horrible bridge, and micro frets that would require a complete excavation process to release them from the 37 coats of lacquer that covered them. Sold it immediately.

The list goes on! Way too many to mention...

[S. Cane]

Amps and pedals.

There's simply no need for carrying any weight anymore when you have IR/amp simulador/fx Boxes and plugins like the newest ones.

Old school music gear is basically for collectors/aficionados now.

My upcoming single was recorded with perfect Fender Bassman tone, delay, Reverb and Fuzz, and ALL I took to the studio was a guitar and my hands.

Add a set of headphones if you're going live.