I know it will never happen, but I'd like to see manufacturers start selling empty instruments.
The new trend, it seems, is to make the best cheap instrument and gear (I suppose, since no one has money). I've never had a cheap instrument I didn't gut out, at some point.
I'm sure I'm the only one who actually wants this, however, and this would never be marketable.
+0.5
I'd happily buy guitars with no pickups in. Need everything else to get strings on to be able to check the quality/character of the acoustic sound of the guitar.
LTD are by far the worst for it in my experience; they will make danmed sure the guitar has a nice paintjob, often a marketable Name Player connection (if not a sig, a stripped down relative of one, or the same basic design and people connect the dots themselves) and usually EMGs (I like EMGs a lot, no problem there)...meanwhile the woods and construction are more often than not complete garbage (again, in my experience, but its of dozens of the bar-stewards, of which only a handfull have been acceptable instruments, fewer still genuinely good)
Ibanez are among the best; the pickups are cr@p and the hardware is usually good (if sometimes not; edge III for example) but I see a much greater proportion on them that are well made from good woods, and so have the basis laid for a good guitar. People often complain about the pickups, but I couldnt care less, and like it in fact: I've never even left in the pickups that came in the guitar when I got customs and chose the bloody things in the first place.
