"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.

[blackonblack]

I really can?t thing of any trend/fad got to have things that I got.
So Im flipping the Q. Recent things I find value in.

Cheap and often not thought of. Headstock tuners. Great for us acoustic players. Why couldn?t we have created this in the 70s/80s?

Modern modeling gear. What a blessing to have multiple good sounding rigs in a single box.

DAW software. Gone are the days of saving for months for studio time that provided at times iffy results. You can easily exceed those at home now.

Lower price point instruments. It used to be mainly you had either low end largely crap, or high end good stuff. Now things have changed. While a CV Fender will never be a collector?s item, it is a totally giggable item.

The internet. This is a double edged sword. If you can swift through the crap.
Get a last minute song on the set list that you don?t know the lead to. No more running down to get the record or calling into the radio station a request so you can tape it: then spend time learning it by ear. You can fairly quickly find a video that at least gives you direction if not the whole thing tabbed out

Another for and against the internet. Online merchants. It?s allowed the propergation of mega stores with no heart, it has also allowed not only large stores but also mom and pops with a heart to get their product and services in front of people.

I do need to call out the internet has really harmed the recording artist. Streaming music sucked the life out of that with their margins.

Almost forgot. Improved FOH systems and IEMs. Gone largely are the days of volume wars and crappy monitor mixes. Even if you use a live amp, ISO it, mic it to FOH. Let the big gear do the lifting for you. IEMs. Your own monitor mix, exactly the way you want it. Nuff said (mic drop).

[OldStrummer]

Cheap and often not thought of. Headstock tuners. Great for us acoustic players. Why couldn?t we have created this in the 70s/80s?

I hate headstock tuners. I use 'em when necessary, but the visual of seeing someone on stage with a headstock cluttered with tuners and capos I find off-putting. I kind of like the built-in tuners that some builders include with their pickup system. My Ibanez has a super tuner: Push power button, pluck a string. The tuner identifies the string and indicates if it's flat or sharp, or spot on.

I also like the D'Addario soundhole tuner. It won't fit every acoustic, but slip it into the soundhole and onto the lip. Power on and then a glance down into the soundhole and see the string tuning.