“It’s just the market going, ‘Oh, but I want a Strat or a Les Paul’”: Phillip McKnight explains why innovative guitar designs often fail
While there’s certainly innovation in guitar building, time-honoured designs like the Stratocaster and Les Paul still rule the roost. So much so that Fender and Gibson – the two largest guitar companies in the world – have gone to great – often legal – lengths to ensure they hold onto their market share.
Launched in 1954 and 1952, respectively, the Stratocaster and Les Paul are the two most iconic guitars in history, picked time and time again by many of the world’s top guitar players. And as most of us get into guitar after being inspired by our heroes, is it any wonder that we often start by reaching for a Strat or an LP – or a guitar which closely resembles these designs?
READ MORE: Fender CEO responds to cease-and-desist backlash, says company is “not suing anybody”
So while it could be argued that the guitar world is just crying out for some real innovation, is the fact we keep going back to Strat- and Les Paul-style guitars a symptom of market demand, as opposed to a lack of innovation on the part of guitar builders?
In a new conversation on Guitar Center’s Inside the Noise podcast, YouTuber, gear demoer and guitar repair expert Phillip McKnight shares his opinion as to why guitar designs that push the boundaries too far often fail to catch steam.
“I have a collection of innovative guitars that died,” he explains. “I have Parker Flys, I have an Ibanez Maxxas – the first guitar Ibanez ever designed as a true guitar, not a copy. Which was a colossal failure for Ibanez. It’s a hollowbody, it’s amazing. It has a great neck. It did everything great, but unfortunately, when they released it, everybody just wanted RGs.”
He goes on: “I like these guitars, because you get to see where somebody’s said, ‘I’m gonna fix this.’ It’s never the guitar’s fault [that they become commercial failures]. It’s just the market going, ‘Oh, but I just want a Strat [or] a Les Paul.”
McKnight is chatting with Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto, who is currently spearheading the company’s initiative to design its own guitar brand from the ground up.
Guitar Center landed itself in hot water when it announced the project, after it called upon its customer base to submit ideas, and some objected to how this would involve sacrificing their rights for limited compensation.
Dalporto later explained why Guitar Center was determined to make a guitar that was “meaningfully better and differentiated”, saying: “The world doesn’t need another Tele or Strat clone – it just doesn’t”.
Now, in the latest Inside the Noise episode, the CEO calls the market “super traditionalist”, and elaborates: “The question remains, ‘How far can you push innovation and still resonate?’ And I think that’s what we’re trying to push ourselves.”
Catch all the latest Inside the Noise podcast episodes at Guitar Center’s YouTube channel. Stay up to date with Phillip McKnight via his .
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
