Why are Guitar Players So Conservative?

[fretbuzzard]

Yet rock n roll celebrates itself as rebellious. 50s & 60s rockers rejected stale post-WW2 orthodoxy in a lot of ways, but left us with a legacy of a limited number of ways to express yourself in choice of a guitar. Nobody views the other instruments you cite as appealing to cutting edge, heterodox musicians. Their appeal is that they are conservative. (In fact it'd be rebellious if somebody revived the symphony as means to explore new boundaries in popular music. Imagine if Lady GaGa announced that from now on, she'd only record and perform with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.)

The irony being that some of the most innovative guitar building of the past 50 years has been incorporated into classical guitars. There is something wonderful about hearing Tarrega played on an instrument with carbon fiber reinforced lattice bracing or a sandwich top. Features that, if Martin were to fully embrace them, would make a sizable portion of forum guitarists blanch.

 

[Synchro]

Why try to improve on perfection? I don’t think there is anything more modern than a black guard Telecaster.

But seriously, you could propose a robotic guitar that automatically twists you rtuners to keep the guitar in tune. That would certainly be successful and find its way onto every guitar.

Better is the enemy of best. As any invention is developed, it becomes more difficult to make meaningful improvements. Even simple things, such as a shovel, can be improved upon. but the improvements are incremental once the basic art is established.

I would opine that the original Telecaster is a significant benchmark in the development of the electric guitar. The 2021 Deluxe Thinline Tele in the next room has some incremental improvements over a black guard Tele, but conceptually, it’s pretty close to the Telecasters made over 70 years ago. There are a lot of design since then, but the Tele still stands as a benchmark, and is as viable today, as it was when it was first created.

 

[MadKaw]

Better is the enemy of best. As any invention is developed, it becomes more difficult to make meaningful improvements. Even simple things, such as a shovel, can be improved upon. but the improvements are incremental once the basic art is established.

I would opine that the original Telecaster is a significant benchmark in the development of the electric guitar. The 2021 Deluxe Thinline Tele in the next room has some incremental improvements over a black guard Tele, but conceptually, it’s pretty close to the Telecasters made over 70 years ago. There are a lot of design since then, but the Tele still stands as a benchmark, and is as viable today, as it was when it was first created.

That is akin to a circular definition... "the Tele is a great guitar therefore a great guitar is a Tele."
It is more a lack of creativity and originality in the guitar community.
Les Paul was always tinkering with strange guitars. He loved being in the shop. And he didn't quit when Gibson started making his eponymous guitar.
Look at some the the marvelously weird instruments Steve Vai has built and the marvelously weird sounds he makes.

It's not hard to see that there are very few people like Les Paul or Steve Vai,