Since I've been playing guitar there's really been one phrase that you hear so often... "Vintage is better." Now I have a 1968 Stratocaster in my family so I have a good reference point for a vintage guitar. But that being said, why do people so often prefer vintage? I think that it has to do mainly with the feel.
On vintage guitars almost always you’ll see rounding on the edge of the fretboard (where the guitarist actually plays with their left hand if they’re a righty. Some come in different woods and some people say they have different sounds). This causes it to have a smoother and more comfortable feel. The second reason people prefer vintage is sound. As guitars age and as people play them the magnets in the guitars pickups (what makes the sound) become less strong. This causes them to have less pull on the string which makes a “warmer” sounding instrument. Now unlike a lot of older guitarists I fall into the category of people who don’t prefer vintage.
For me the vintage guitars actually limit my ability to play. As I said before in my family there is a fifty one year old guitar. And as much as I like the sound you have to fight the guitar in order to play it. It’s extremely hard to reach the upper frets and the electronics inside of it cause a serious hum when you plug it in. Whereas on my 2017 Ibanez JS2480 it has amazing upper fret access and the electronics are genuinely perfect for what I play.
I feel as though the vintage guitar thing is like the vintage car thing - the feel is definitely completely different, and it is all down to what you are used to and what you prefer. The manufacturing process has changed over the years. Frankly, you're better off preferring the newer guitars, because they are more reasonable and more easily accessible!
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