mething I can't always tell whether it was real or a sim unless there's some tell tale part. Where you can't fool me is when the guitar is in my hands and I'm in front of the loudspeaker. There's a sympathetic relationship/interaction between an amp and guitar that cannot be emulated with current technology.
Carbon fiber guitars, profiling amps, and 20 string djent masters are just a few things that should keep you up at night, or maybe inspire you.
www.ultimate-guitar.com
From the article:
Guitar prices are rising on average while the number of guitars being sold is shrinking, making for an interesting market landscape. Online retailers and second-hand sites like Reverb are quickly taking up a large market share and affordable guitars are suddenly skyrocketing in quality. Times are a changin, whether you like it or not.
Manufacturing has gone through some serious leaps and bounds in the computer age, especially where CNC machining is concerned. When we went on the PRS factory tour, we stood there and watched the CNC machine make a guitar body from a piece of wood that had been fed in. No one touched a thing - the tool head automatically swapped out the cutters it needed for various parts, and everything else was programmed. It doesn't matter where in the world that machine is sitting, it's going to be able to do the same thing regardless, so "workmanship" is kind of a moot point - that's part of the reason the prices are going down.
I think another reason is the fact that it's easier to find, purchase and sell quality used gear.
I also think that video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band: World Tour, caused a surge in real instrument sales back in the early to mid 2000s, but it's a trend that couldn't be sustained, and part of that I believe is due to the stagnation and unoriginality of the popular music industry - it's no longer instrument based, so kids coming up aren't getting involved with instruments they way they used to.
I know my son still has his arsenal of guitars, amps, and analog effects, and I don't see that changing for him any time soon - he has no interest in anything digital, but I think part of that, and the reason he likes boutique instruments, amps and effects, is because he partly fosters his personal individuality through his gear. I'm very proud of that kid - I know more blues-style guitarists than I can shake a stick at, and they all sound more similar than different - they're all throwing out the same ideas and licks based around standard or drop-D tuning. He's all over the map with his tuning and his writing - he doesn't sound like anyone else, and that's hard to come by these days. It may never become marketable or profitable for him, but at least he's not unoriginal.