Shifting Gear

FROM AVANT-GARDE ELECTRICS TO AFFORDABLE ACOUSTICS, MINI AMPS TO MIGHTY APPS, COATED STRINGS TO BRILLIANT BRACINGS AND BEYOND, GUITAR WORLD REVISITS A DECADE OF UNBRIDLED INNOVATION.

- Chris Gill and Paul Riario

DURING MOST PREVIOUS decades, significant shifts took place in the guitar manufacturing industry that both defined an era and established new directions for the future. For example, the Thirties are remembered as a “Golden Era” for acoustic guitars (particularly Martins and Gibsons) as well as for the introduction of the first electric guitars. The Fifties are known for the commercial birth of the solidbody electric, and the Seventies are known for the decline of major players like Fender and Gibson and the rise of Japanese imports like Ibanez and Takamine. The Eighties are remembered for the dominance of Super Strats and hot-rodded high-gain amps, while the Nineties saw a retro-inspired resurgence of quirky Sixties designs like Jazzmasters and imported “pawn shop prizes” along with the rise of boutique guitars, amps and pedals.

However, the last decade’s biggest gear trend may be that there were no dominant overall trends, but rather numerous smaller ones. This is most likely a reflection of the popular music industry’s movement away from guitar-based music. Although the guitar may not play as prominent of a role in pop music as it did in the past, any dedicated music fan or reader of this magazine can attest that there’s a hell of a lot of great guitar music out there. It’s just splintered into numerous different factions — metal, blues, indie, progressive, classic rock and so on — that all have large and robust followings. This, in turn, has inspired companies to concentrate more on what they do best and find their own individual niche, instead of trying to chase the next big thing in an effort to keep up.