30 Jul 2026

July 2026 – CRAVE Vintage Guitars (CVG) in AI Graffiti Style

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: Fiction, History, Introduction, Observations, Opinion | 0

Prelude

SHESH, ALOHA, HEY, YO, HI, ZUP AND TIA FOR DROPPING IN PPL! Da home crew iz takin’ a wholly (holy?) diffo ‘proach to dis month’s dope OG piece. Like it or not, iz gonna be a bitchin’ wild ride and somethin’ purdy diffo from all prev CRAVE Guitars’ blogs. Brace yo’selves dudes ‘n’ dudettes; hang in there for sometin’ a bit rad an’ frawesome, broskis. Yo MC is off to grab I some high‑octane caffeine and I’s gonna hand over to my am bro’s in peepdom to tek yaz somewhere far out thar fo a fresh apocryphal, audacious, arty adventure y dos. So… chill the frack out, kick yo’selves back, get blazed, slam on a late 20^th Century sick soundtrack of yo life an’ revel in a chaotic carnival of cool caligraffiti fun ‘n’ frolics. Coolio. I PRMS, it’s not a CWOT. Iz gonna B majorly ill ‘n’ TTLLY INSN fo sure. Just don’ take it 2 SRSLY. BTW, en passant, AI B toy ‘n’ whack; 2 fake 4 words. Time to beat, bomb ‘n’ burn; headin’ out streetwise homies. Stay tight stylee writers. L8rs sk8rs – roll smooth ‘n’ shred. Ciao 4 now a‑dubs. NJY, RSPCT & TTYL, TC (The CRAVEman).

“The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules but by people following the rules. It’s people who follow orders that drop bombs and massacre villages” – Banksy (1973‑)

This Month at CRAVE Guitars…

Back to English! In an attempt to mix things up a bit and take another, albeit different, far‑fetched flight of fancy. I was thinking that the CRAVE Guitars logo has been around for a long time now (over 10 years!), recently updated with the addition of the American flag (nothing to do with the semiquincentennial btw). The design of the formal logo is one thing, however, the ‘big idea’ behind CRAVE Guitars brand image is not confined to a single signature symbol, it can appear in many, many ways as part of a much broader approach to interfacing with the big bad biosphere out there.

Back in my article, ‘April 2024 – Artificial Intelligence takes on Vintage Guitars: Part II’, I asked AI to design a logo for CRAVE Vintage Guitars. The results were, to my eye, appalling and totally unusable but it was an interesting approach to test the emerging publically‑available technology. I keep an eye on AI and its development with interest. It’s still not past the toddler stage of equivalent growth yet.

“Should graffiti be judged on the same level as modern art? Of course not: It’s way more important than that” – Banksy (1973‑)

So, I thought, how would AI deal with interpreting and emulating popular street art culture? Not in the sense of the CRAVE logo but AI’s interpretation of CRAVE Guitars’ image from a street art perspective. This month’s outing is part narrative and part heavy on pictorial representations. The original intention was to give y’all a mid‑year summer holiday break from factual information‑heavy articles. I may have failed. However, I think this diatribe makes for an appealing prose and visual diversion but then again, I am biased. One good thing about this month’s missive is that no prior knowledge or expertise is required to get something from it.

AI has been used extensively for most of the numerous images in this article. In many instances, the images were so‑so at best and many had to be ‘enhanced’ by CRAVE Guitars using graphics software (Paint.net, as mentioned previously) in order for them to be even remotely passable. NB. AI cannot spell for toffee! It doesn’t even know what toffee tastes like. No AI was used for researching or writing the chronicle, as usual. This month’s quotes of wisdom are all about graffiti and street art.

Herein lies a veritable feast of AI imagery for the visually‑oriented readers out there, for one month only. Not a lot for list‑o‑philes this month. Your time will come again (very shortly!).

“Writing graffiti is about the most honest way you can be an artist. It takes no money to do it, you don’t need an education to understand it, and there’s no admission fee” – Banksy (1973‑)

The Rationale for the Article

In a momentary flight of fantastical make‑believe, my mediocre mind meandered and I wondered what might happen if the following fantastic five criteria were met. What if CRAVE Guitars:

Had any artistic skill whatsoever
Became world famous
Was somehow considered by all generations to be cool
Was worthy of being elevated to popular cult status, and
Became the subject of popular street art

Yeah, OK, so I know it’s a long stretch and realistically it ain’t gonna happen but one can dream. So… I decided that I would write an article about graffiti/street art in its various forms and illustrate it with AI images based on the CRAVE Guitars brand. I had to use AI because I have little in the way of practical artistic skills and nothing in the way of acquired anti‑social audacity to create authentic street graffiti. Yup. I’m copping out. So sue me. Graffiti? I cannot do it but I can appreciate it.

On this occasion, I am not using this article as a critique of AI, although it could so easily have turned out that way. Rather I am utilizing AI to create some images to represent something that I could not possibly produce in other way. It is for entertainment and fun only. Please do not take it too seriously (other than, perhaps, the researched ‘Origins and Spread of Graffiti’ below). I have chosen some fun locations onto which The CRAVEman graffiti artist has left his ‘mark’. Whether you think he’s any good at graffiti art doesn’t really matter either. I’m not trying to be culturally accurate and AI has no clue as to what ‘culture’ or ‘accuracy’ are anyway.

Apologies to authentic practitioners of graffiti and street art – I mean no disrespect. Up front; the examples in this article are FAKE images and are not intended to pass as genuine in any way. I’m sure many real graffiti artists will be apoplectic over such artifice. My point is not to present authentic graffiti, it is to present CRAVE Guitars in a different and hopefully entertaining way. I have tried very hard not to use ‘lazy’ AI (lazy eye, geddit?). It is safe to say, I went overboard with this one. Note: The lettering ‘CVG’ in a number of the graffiti images is just the acronym for ‘CRAVE Vintage Guitars’. It works OK as a graffiti ‘tag’.

Right… Before getting to the real pictorial meat of the article, it is worth a short exploration of what graffiti is all about.

“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing” – Banksy (1973‑)

The Origins, History and Spread of Graffiti

To start with, the simple contemporary definition of graffiti can be summed up as, ‘drawing or writing applied to a wall or other surface, usually without the owner’s permission and where it is in plain public view’.

Graffiti, as a means of visual communication, has been around in one form or another since the emergence of humanity. That is a long, long time, folks. Ancient civilisations have long used basic materials, tools and skills to create lasting images that can still be seen today, even if tangible evidence of their culture has long since disappeared. Examples of ancient graffiti include:

Pictographs – Designs painted onto rock surfaces using natural pigments. Early pictographs can be seen at the Maltravieso cave in Spain, dated to at least 64,000 years old
Petroglyphs – Designs formed on stone surfaces by chipping, carving, or scraping. Early petroglyphs can be seen at Murujuga in Western Australia, dated up to 50,000 years old
Geoglyphs – Gigantic designs formed on the Earth’s surface using stones, gravel or earth. Early geoglyphs can be seen at Nazca, Ica, Pisco, Chincha, Palpa and Acarí valleys in southern Peru (a.k.a. the Nazca Lines) dated up to 2,500 years old

Tattoos – People throughout history (well, at least for the last 5,000+ years) have applied graffiti art not only to solid surfaces but also to human skin, known commonly as a tattoo or, colloquially, ‘ink’. The earliest evidence of tattoos can be found on a mummified man called Ötzi (‘The Iceman’, who lived c.3350‑3105BCE), discovered high in the Italian‑Austrian Ötzal Alps in 1991. Ancient Egyptian female mummies from around the same era also display tattoos. Tattoos are, a practice that continues today and will undoubtedly endure well into mankind’s future. Fundamentally, a tattoo is a form of body modification made by applying inks or dyes into the underlying dermis layer of the skin to create an indelible design. I’m not going to expand further on the world of tattoos here.

In comparison, the oldest written graffiti from Greece dates to a mere c.2,500 years old. The etymology of the word ‘graffiti’ goes back to ancient Greece with ‘graphein’, meaning ‘to write’. Over time ‘graffiato’, meaning ‘scratched’, was adopted by the Italians. The modern use of the word ‘graffiti’ first appeared in 1851, used by archaeologist Francesco Maria Avellino to describe inscriptions and murals found in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy, having been preserved by the eruption of the volcano, Vesuvius in 79CE. The image below (real, not AI) is from Pompeii.

Pompeii Graffiti Mural (Courtesy Alex Revilla)

Since the mid‑19^th Century, the word graffiti has been used increasingly to describe the use of graphics displayed in public places, becoming a general catch‑all word in modern vernacular. Graffiti can be used as both plural and singular, although graffito can also be used in the singular.

“A wall is a very big weapon. It’s one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with” – Banksy (1973‑)

Murals have been a part of architecture for centuries particularly in the Byzantine (330‑1453), Renaissance (1300‑1527) and Baroque (1600‑1750) periods in Europe. Not all graffiti was decorative. It was not uncommon in medieval times for religious or fortified buildings to have convicts’ names scratched into walls. Napoleonic prisoners of war (c.1803‑1815), in particular, left indelible marks on buildings and prison walls across Europe. More recently, it was also common to find communication symbols applied to American rail cars by both train workers and hobos since the late 19^th Century. Another form of relatively recent graffiti art was the creation of murals as urban public art and has its community roots dating back to the American Great Depression (1929‑1939).

“People say graffiti is ugly, irresponsible and childish… but that’s only if it’s done properly” – Banksy (1973‑)

Contemporary graffiti, as we recognise it now, really came into its own from the early 1960s and into the 1970s particularly in the larger urban expanses of east and west coast American cities. In the 1960s a new form of illegal graffiti known as ‘tagging’ appeared using cans of indelible spray paint for speed of ‘writing’. Tags use repeated symbols as a public statement of the writer’s presence and identity, as well as to mark a crew’s or a gang’s territory in urban neighbourhoods. The process of competitive tagging is a writer’s pursuit of recognition and quest for reputation known as ‘getting up’. The antisocial behaviour of defacing of public and private property rapidly became a blight on many urban communities.

The cultural impact and spread of graffiti as a means of expression went hand in hand with the increasing popularity of urban rap/hip hop music, MC‑ing, breakbeats and breakdancing (b‑boys), the rise of skateboard parks, and basketball courts, especially in the United States. The boroughs of New York City, especially (but not only) The Bronx, fashioned the zeitgeist for a lot of diverse and interdependent urban underground scenes, particularly for disenfranchised youths in deprived areas. For many law abiding residents, graffiti became a scourge of local communities and a gauge of insidious levels of gangland activity, violent crime and random vandalism.

In the late 20^th Century, extensive graffiti on buildings, subway cars, buses, bridges, underpasses and billboards in New York City came to define the city’s landscape aesthetic. Bombing the Big Apple became de rigueur. The image below (real, not AI) was taken in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York City.

New York City Graffiti Wall (Courtesy Mikhail Andrsn)

In the 21^st Century, graffiti has spread to all parts of the globe with many discrete sub‑styles becoming characteristic of where they came from. Much to the chagrin of many graffiti artists, their works have become regarded as an everyday part of modern life, mainstream and acceptable as a recognised public art form. Some individuals’ art pieces began appearing in galleries and museums. Gentrification of neighbourhoods has gradually made graffiti street art more acceptable to some communities. To many serious graffiti artists, rules – either written or unwritten – are still there to be broken. Such is the way of the adaptive subcultures. Graffiti has also increasingly become a suburban and rural artefact and not solely associated with inner city landscapes.

“Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place” – Banksy (1973‑)

Creative graffiti art has, in more recent times, been elevated in status, become celebrated as art, and graffiti artists have become famous for their innovative creations. Such promotional activity has led to the exploitation and commercialisation of graffiti compositions. Public opinion about graffiti and street art varies considerably. Many see it as a criminal act, defacing communities while others see it as an essential reflection of individual expression and neighbourhood identity. Either way, graffiti tends to elicit an intense and divisive emotional reaction which is, perhaps, what was intended in the first place.

One of the world’s most infamous and notorious but popular street artists is the anonymous British graffiti artist popularly known as Banksy, known for his culturally conscious, politically satirical and anti‑war stencil art since c.1990. Banksy has also been known to venture into other art forms such as sculpture, as exhibited in his home city of Bristol, England. Examples of Banksy’s street art appear in galleries and museums and his designs have been widely published in coffee table book format (ironically). New Banksy street art is usually a newsworthy event and has become so valuable that, sadly, when a genuine street art piece appears, criminals go to great lengths to steal the graffiti for illegal personal gain, denying the public opportunity to appreciate his art in situ as the artist intended. Banksy also has a lot of interesting social insight, as can be picked up from his quotes throughout this article.

The Angel Bust by Banksy At Bristol Museum & Art Gallery

In March 2026, according to a Reuters news agency investigation, Banksy’s identity has finally been revealed to be Bristolian resident Robert Gunningham, born in 1973, who later changed his name to David Jones around 2008. Banksy, through his legal representative, has rejected the revelation and asserted that his anonymity prevents privacy violations and protects his freedom of expression when raising sensitive and potentially inflammatory political, religious or social injustice issues through his artworks. All I would say is don’t believe everything you read… including here.

Music videos making use of graffiti and given rotation on MTV in the 1990s were transmitted directly into people’s living room televisions. Large multinational corporations such as IBM and Sony jumped on the bandwagon and used advertising campaigns based on graffiti styles in the 2000s. Something that didn’t go down well with authentic graffiti artists, despite showcasing what they did in a popular format. For many graffiti writers, vanity does not play a part in graffiti culture; it is the piece, not the artist that matters. To others, it is an opportunity for aspiring celebrity while, for others, daring notoriety.

Some peculiar forms of graffiti have also risen in popularity in the 21^st Century, such as ‘yarn bombing’, which first appeared in 2005. Yarn bombing is a type of graffiti or street art using colourful displays of knitted or crocheted wool, particularly to decorate local street furniture.

As a result, there has been significant debate as to whether such work is innovative art or abhorrent and deliberate vandalism. Some cities introduced mural programs, sometimes called ‘free walls’ to provide opportunities for young adults to express their street art creativity legally and safely. There are a number of famous legitimate spaces dedicated to graffiti walls in NYC aimed at curbing illegal graffiti and providing an outlet for youth creativity. Such sites include Houston Bowery Art Wall, First Street Green Art Park, Underhill Walls and Nelson Avenue Graffiti Art Wall.

I have had a passing interest in street art for many years, including locations such as London, Brighton and Bristol in the UK. The following impressive graffiti mural images were taken by the author in Bristol in 2024 (real, not AI).

Much local government and private funding has been used over decades to prevent or clean up unsightly graffiti on public property, with varying degrees of success. In Britain, The UK Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 and the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 are key pieces of legislation that address graffiti and vandalism. Legally, the definition of Graffiti in the UK is the, ‘act of writing, drawing, or marking on property without the owner’s consent with the intent to damage or deface it. This includes both public and private property’. Graffiti vandalism is deemed to be criminal damage and includes anything from simple tags to decorative murals.

However, UK laws place the responsibility for prevention or removal of graffiti on property owners affected by unsightly graffiti. Graffiti is, to some extent, arguably not illegal in the UK. However, it is an offense to write or paint graffiti on public property without permission if it is deemed to be ‘offensive, menacing, abusive or insulting’ and/or obstructs the rights of any other person or business. I don’t know about you but, to me, there are some very grey areas open to interpretation there!

“SAMO^© as an end to mindwash religion, nowhere politics, and bogus philosophy” – Jean-Michel Basquiat & Al Diaz

Graffiti has, over the years, morphed from its rebellious, destructive counterculture roots and has partially entered into the artistic mainstream, becoming a global phenomenon in the process. An exhibition held at the Brooklyn Museum in NYC in 2006 displayed the city’s graffiti as a legitimate art form. Authentic graffiti artists frequently reject such popularisation, democratisation and commercialisation of their work.

Underground graffiti artists continue to buck the trend of acceptance, popularity of, and profiteering from, graffiti and describe it as selling out their roots. They see their work as anti‑establishment and a grounded protest against transformation of urban neighbourhoods and public spaces. Such dissenters still prefer to regard graffiti as a belligerent, thrill‑seeking activity aimed at the undermining of mainstream societal norms and cultural values.

Gosh! That is more than enough perfectly pedantic preamble for now. Time to move on and to look at the various ‘genres’ of graffiti, as of 2026.

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable” – Banksy (1973‑)

Basic Types of Graffiti

Graffiti in the 21^st Century has come of age and artistic differences have led to attempts to categorise of a number of distinctive styles, thereby providing an element of structure to an art form that has largely rejected any form of mainstream organisation or classification. As the spread and evolution of graffiti has become increasingly diverse, many of the styles have diverged, fused, mutated and overlapped over time. Below is a rundown on twenty of the most common graffiti styles, each with a basic AI image (AI is not really very good at interpreting graffiti street art style – blame the technology please, not the author) giving a pictorial introduction of the style, including:

Tags – Tags are regarded as the simplest and most basic form of graffiti, predominantly comprising a stylised signature or pseudonym to identify the ‘writer’. Tags are sometimes called ‘handstyle’. Tags are often used as illegal personal symbols, gang emblems and territorial markers. Tags are liberally applied to just about any surface by using spray paint or marker pens. Tags are intended to be done quickly in a single colour. Tags are the most common (and detested) form of graffiti vandalism. Tag graffiti became commonplace in Philadelphia and New York in the 1960s and has since spread globally. Most graffiti artists start off with tags and some then move on to develop more advanced skills while others abandon the practice.

Throw Ups – Throw ups, also called ‘flops’ or ‘old school’, are usually large and characterised by lettering that uses round edged letters, as if inflated, also known as ‘bubble’ or ‘simple’ graffiti. ‘Silver’ graffiti is similar using silver paint with a black outline. Text often comprises outlines with contrasting coloured fills and with little negative space. They are considered to be relatively basic with simple lettering, intended to be done quite quickly and to be highly visible. ‘Throwies’ range somewhere between progressive tags and more complex forms. ‘Two letter throw ups’ are simpler, bridging the gap between tags and throw ups. Throw ups developed in New York City Metro train yards in the 1970s.

Hollows – Hollows are basically similar in style to throw ups but comprise only an outline with no infill. They are designed to be simple, efficient and quick, generally only in a single monochrome colour. However, hollows can be deceptively difficult to create without visible mistakes.

Straights – Straights use large, bold lettering with a more typographic form and done with attitude and simplicity. Graffiti straights are sharper and more clearly defined than hollows or throw ups and generally comprise only one or two colours. They are intended to be easily and quickly readable, and tend to be highly legible from a distance.

Pieces – A graffiti piece is short for ‘masterpiece’ and originates from New York City subway cars in the 1980s. Pieces focus on lettering and tend to be large, detailed and complex, multi‑coloured and using effects such as fills, backgrounds and outlines. 3D effects such as shadows and highlights are used to accentuate the text.

Blockbuster – Blockbuster graffiti is characterised by oversized large, straight ‘blocky’ edged letters painted with only two or three contrasting colours for a bold, standout effect. In addition to spray paint, brushed or roller paint can be used to speed up the process. The aim of the blockbuster style is all about in‑your‑face visual impact.

Stencils – Stencil graffiti is a form of street art produced by using a template with shapes cut out of it then using (usually) black spray paint applied to the underlying surface through the cut outs. Probably the most famous purveyor of stencil graffiti art is the British graffiti artist, Banksy. Stencil graffiti is often used to convey political ideas and activism, cultural insight and/or social commentary through imagery rather than text.

Wildstyle – Wildstyle graffiti lettering, also called ‘burners’, often comprise large, highly complex, extremely stylised and often colourful abstract designs. Distorted, interlocking letters with arrows, serifs, spikes, flares, sharp edges and other intricate elements tend to make the text intentionally hard to decipher. Wildstyle’s inherent illegibility is part of its visual attraction. Wildstyle is considered to be one of the more advanced forms of graffiti, painted by experienced artists. Wildstyle graffiti designs take time to plan, prepare and apply. Wildstyle originated in New York City in the mid‑1970s and 1980s on subway cars and city walls. A simpler form of wildstyle is known as semi‑wildstyle.

Murals – Murals take graffiti to a street art level and represent an advanced form that incorporates characters, objects and colourful 3D imagery to complement lettering. Sometimes murals are abstract or surreal while others often strive for realism. Murals are often commissioned, painted with permission and, as a result, are more widely accepted in communities. Murals can be used to transform urban landscapes into free public art galleries. Murals often take considerable planning and a long time to create. Murals are considered to transcend traditional graffiti conventions and are sometimes likened to fine art and find favour with the pretentious art gallery crowd.

Calligraphy – Calligraffiti, as it is also known, combines traditional calligraphy lettering with modern graffiti styling (NB. calligraphy – from the Greek for ‘beautiful writing’ – originated in the Chinese Shang and Han dynasties c.206 BC‑220AD). Calligraphy graffiti requires a degree of skill that fuses styles and crosses orthodox artistic genres. Calligraffiti is difficult to master and is therefore less common than other popular forms. Other styles go beyond calligraphic styles and include glyphs, cryptograms, codes and historic symbols.

Roll Ups – Roll ups are normally massive pieces created using a bucket of emulsion paint applied with paint rollers to speed up the process. Rollers on poles are used to create bold, blocky graffiti in hard to reach, high up places without needing to use a ladder. Very inaccessible sites are often called ‘heaven spots’, which can prove to be high risk and very dangerous, created by daredevil graffiti artists wishing to go above and beyond the norm for their art.

Stickers – Sticker bombing, with larger types also called ‘posters’ or ‘paste‑ups’, is a common and popular type of graffiti. They are produced by graffiti artists who create designs on paper and then, as the name implies, stick them up in public places, making the style quick and highly portable. Stickers are often provocative, socially conscious or politically satirical. Stickers tend to be easier to remove than painted graffiti.

3D – 3D graffiti attempts to go beyond the 2D surface on which it is created. 3D emerged as a distinctive graffiti form in the 1990s. 3D results in dramatic artistic effects, using highly coloured 3D perspective to create optical illusions or trompe‑l’oeil (NB. A French literal translation meaning to ‘deceive the eye’). Perspective, angles and vanishing points are used to accentuate text and create images with convincing impressions of depth.

Cartoon – Cartoon‑style graffiti, as its name suggests, uses cartoonish characters with or without accompanying text, sometimes integrating both. Some can be based on familiar animation or comic book characters, while others can be original characters created in a cartoon style, depending on the imagination and ambition of the artist.

Splash – Splash graffiti is a relatively uncommon style of urban street art incorporating intentional random, free‑flowing paint with liberal decorative elements like drips, streaks and splatters to emphasise the dynamic and chaotic nature of text or abstract imagery. The intention is to demonstrate the artist’s unpredictable spontaneity, emotional creativity and vivacious freedom of expression.

Wheatpaste – Wheatpaste is a simple method for producing graffiti/street art, similar to ‘stickers’ graffiti but often larger. Posters are stuck to surfaces using a flour and water paste, hence the name. While it probably has its origins in ancient Egypt, it became popular as a means of urban street expression and rebellion in the late 1960s and 1970s. This type of graffiti has been particularly associated with the British counterculture punk rock scene of the late 1970s. Punk artists include, Jamie Reid, Lydia Lunch and Alan Vega. A well‑known and much‑ridiculed expression from the UK during the 1970s and 1980s used to be, ‘bill stickers will be prosecuted’. In a similar vein, the American equivalent was, ‘no bill posters’. To-date, Mr William Stickers hasn’t been apprehended for vandalism. (no need to LOL!)

Anti-Style – Anti‑style, as the name suggests, is a type of graffiti that ignores traditional ‘rules’ and conventions used by other graffiti artists. It is also known as ‘hipster’, ‘ill style’ or ‘ignorant’ graffiti. Anti‑style graffiti writers suggest that their alternative results are intentional, rather than just poorly done. Anti‑style graffiti artists reject the concept of a graffiti ‘rule book’. Going against the grain makes it harder for anti‑style artists to gain recognition in the wider graffiti community.

Anime – Anime reflects a mixture of other graffiti styles, including ‘cartoon’ but focuses mainly on Japanese manga/anime‑style characters. Anime is becoming increasingly popular as a counter culture movement in the 21^st Century, so this form is relatively recent. It can also be very aesthetically pleasing in the right situation. Anime graffiti art requires a significant amount of expertise to do well.

Etch – Etch graffiti is a particular type of graffiti regarded as illegal vandalism because it uses an acid to imprint tags on glass, metal or stone permanently, making examples both costly and difficult to remove. Destructive etch styles have become common on train windows and vacant shop windows, sometimes by scratching the surface, rather than etching it (evoking the etymology of the word graffiti meaning, ‘to scratch’). Etch graffiti tends to be crude, ugly and universally unpopular. It isn’t clever, it is thuggery.

Light – Last but not least… Light graffiti, as the name states, involves the use of light (obvs.!) rather than paint. The 21^st Century has seen an explosion in LED graffiti with projected still or moving images projected onto buildings and other public spaces as a form of technological graffiti. Light graffiti has the advantage of being non‑destructive, portable and easily replicated. Sometimes it is used by event organisers for positive decoration and sometimes by protesters unable to deface certain sites.

In addition to the hardcore American and British graffiti archetypes, there are many national and regional styles worldwide that build on the styles above and make them unique to their geographical location. The many variations are not covered here; for anyone wanting further information, there are plenty of online resources on the Hinterwebby thingummy.

Many graffiti artists have become well known (at least in pseudonyms) outside graffiti artist circles, including (in alphabetic, rather than style order): Al Diaz, Banksy, Bates, Ben Frost, Blade, Blek le Rat, Bones, C215, CBS Crew, CES, Chaka, Charlie, Comet, Cornbread, Daim, David Choe, Daze, Dondi Duro, Eddie Colla, Edgar Mueller, Eggs, Eine, Espo, Faile, Faith47, Fume, Futura 2000, Gane, Ghost, Grave, Hex, Hert, Horfe, Iz the Wiz, JA, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Katsu, Kerse, Ket, Kurt Wenner, Lady Pink, Lost Hills, Mear One, Mode 2, MTA Crew, Nekst, Nick Walker, OG Abel, Oiler, Pyramid Oracle, Phase 2, Retna, Revok, Rime, Saber, Samo, Scaf, Serch, Shepard Fairey (Obey Giant), Sight, Slick, Smear, Space, Swoon, Taps & Moses, Tempt One, Tracey 168, Triston Eaton, Twist, Vhils, White, and Zorro.

Pinpointing quite where the boundary between authentic illegal graffiti vandalism ends and commissioned legal street art begins is a tricky one when investigated in the complicated subjective modern-day paradigm. Imagine a continuum with crude tags at one end and accomplished 3D and mural art done with consent at the other end. The aforementioned boundary will be a fluid point swishing around somewhere in between, determined as much by the consumer as by the artist. Graffiti is a subject for open‑ended debate that is unlikely to reach a mutually agreed, let alone unanimous, resolution. Discuss…

“Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars and generally is the voice of people who aren’t listened to” – Banksy (1973‑)

Films and Documentaries about Graffiti

There have been quite a few feature films about graffiti artists and graffiti culture including, ‘Wild Style’ (1982), ‘Style Wars’ (1983), ‘Beat Street’ (1984), ‘Kings & Toys’ (1997), ‘Bomb the System’ (2002), ‘Quality of Life’ (2004), ‘The Graffiti Artist’ (2004), ‘Against the Wall’ (2004), ‘Rash’ (2005) and ‘Piece by Piece’ (2005). The film, ‘Wild Style’ is probably the most well‑known of the pack.

In addition, there have been several documentary films about graffiti including, ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’ (2010), ‘Stations of the Elevated’ (1981), ‘Downtown 81’ (2000), ‘Jisoe’ (2004), ‘Infamy’ (2005), ‘Wholetrain’ (2006), ‘Bomb It’ (2007), ‘Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe’ (2008), ‘Graffiti Wars’ (2011), ‘Graffiti Fine Art’ (2011), ‘Banksy Does New York’ (2014) and ‘Saving Banksy’ (2017).

There are plenty of other films based within inner city environs shaped by graffiti, hip‑hop and street dance culture all going hand‑in‑hand, including, ‘The Warriors’ (1979), ‘Subway’ (1985), ‘Colors’ (1988), ‘Kids’ (1995) and ‘Dark Days’ (2001). Needless to say that this shortlist is only the tip of the illustrated iceberg.

The lines between a feature film, a docu‑film and a documentary are blurred when exploring an underground subculture like that of graffiti writers and artists. These films bring the static imagery into sharp relief and the attitudes underlying the motivations of those who risk their freedom making a point. The films showcase the art, hip‑hop music, DJs, urban dance with the focus as much on the people as on their creations.

“Your mind is working at its best when you’re being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation at high speed with total clarity” – Banksy (1973‑)

Music about Graffiti

Unsurprisingly, given that music closely reflects social culture over time, graffiti and music were integral to the lives of ‘boys in the ‘hood’. Graffiti writing seemingly became inseparable from rap/hip‑hop for a while, despite evolving discreetly, converging and diverging over time. Graffiti‑laden neighbourhoods became sources of inspiration for music artists wanting to be associated with ‘the streets’ rather than the recording studios for whom they made money. The two mediums, while contemporaneous were not mutually exclusive. Other music genres were also used to reference graffiti culture, including punk rock, electronica, indie rock and pop. Some examples testifying to the enduring nature of graffiti include (in date order):

Black Flag – Spray Paint the Walls (1981)
Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five – Beat Street (1984)
Lordz of Brooklyn – Tales from the Rails (1992)
Souls of Mischief – 93 ‘Til Infinity (1993)
Loop Troop – Spray Can Stories (1996)
Task Force – New Mic Order (1999)
Tommy Tee – Aerosoul (2003)
Mayhem Lauren – Got the Fever (2010)
ALL(H)OURS – Graffiti (2025)
Joywave – Graffiti Planet (2025)

I refuse to include Ed Sheeran’s ‘Overpass Graffiti’ (2021) in the list! Such a creative travesty indicates the desperation of the uncool mainstream to appear cool by associating with (if not appropriating) street culture. Sheesh!

“I am humbled by the destructive and creative nature in us all. This is what keeps me painting” – Faith47 (1979‑)

CRAVE Guitars’ Graffiti Gallery

Finally… Got there. The focus of this article is basically, what would happen if a reasonably adept but not necessarily great street graffiti artist was to be let loose to apply graffiti interpretations of CRAVE Guitars, CRAVE Vintage Guitars or just CVG wherever he/she wanted in whatever style he/she wanted to use at the time? This isn’t illegal because it is 100% make believe, so no real harm done, other than perhaps to one’s visual cortex (NB. the region of the human brain located in the occipital lobe responsible for processing visual information from the eyes via the optic nerves).

What follows is a small selection of 50‑odd examples of CRAVE Vintage guitars in various graffiti styles, produced by AI. I had to produce several hundreds of images in order to showcase these few which I think were the most ‘acceptable’ of the bunch. As a bit of a challenge, see if you can match the graffiti style in the images with the descriptions above. I’m not going to spoon feed you on this one – make up your own minds. Like the genuine work of graffiti artists, CRAVE Guitars intends the subject matter to evoke some form of reaction – good or bad. No iconoclasm here. No famous monuments were harmed in the making of this article.

Just an easy one to start with. I took the CRAVE Guitars logo used all over the web site and social media and asked AI to recreate it graffiti‑style. These are what it came up with…

“Graffiti is beautiful; like a brick in the face of a cop” – attributed to Hunter S. Thompson (1937‑2005)

An interesting start. OK then. I’m going to disappear for a while and make myself scarce. I’ll leave you to peruse some of the locations in which CRAVE Guitars graffiti may be found. The 54 images are ordered alphabetically by whereabouts. I hope you enjoy the spectacle and I’ll see you later on…

Earlier in the article, I also referred to geoglyphs, tattoos and ‘yarn bombing’ as an adjunct to, rather than core element of, graffiti, so here are a three CRAVE Guitars examples just to illustrate what I mean.

CRAVE Logo Tattoo

Finally, what might a totally fictional retail outlet for CRAVE Guitars might look like if the toned‑down signage was entrusted to a graffiti artist. I think I’d probably stick to the existing CRAVE logo thanks.

WOW! CRAVE Guitars sure gets out and about doesn’t it? A global phenomenon? Now wouldn’t that be nice. Good to know that fans, followers and acolytes are spreading the word and advertising the brand on my behalf. The examples are certainly not traditional forms of brand marketing but, heh, why not? All that promotional exposure and zero damage or harm done to anything or anyone in the slightest. The results may not be authentic but some of the images are, I reckon, quite fun. They may not necessarily be realistic but they are aesthetically intriguing nevertheless.

“I don’t think about art when I’m working. I try to think about life” – Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960‑1988)

Final Thoughts on ‘CRAVE Guitars AI Graffiti Style Gallery’

This month, I’ve largely let the images do the talking for a change, so I don’t have an awful lot to add. What I will say is that it took me a considerable amount of time and effort to get this far. Sometimes fun, sometimes laborious, sometimes satisfying and sometimes frustrating. Worth all the effort? On reflection, I think it hangs together reasonably well. No vintage guitars in sight this time, though; apologies for that.

I must re‑stress that I am not an artist and there is no way that I could have produced this month’s images from scratch using my extremely limited graphics skills. My role was in using my imagination to contrive the prompts used to generate the AI images in the first place. That role then extended to manually ‘improving’ what AI produced initially. Without AI, there wouldn’t be this article. Whether genuine street artists see any merit in the output, I probably doubt. I am, though, indebted to them for providing me with sufficient inspiration to give it a go and to put it out there in the public domain under my own brand. A bit of courteous and responsible ownership there.

While I am stressing points, I want to reiterate that this month’s article was intended purely as a bit of amusement. No educational content is presumed. I am not so conceited as to describe it as ‘cool’; that is for others to judge. At times, I had quite a lot of fun doing it. However, correcting AI’s basic mistakes was at times very exasperating. Furthermore, the outputs are entirely digital and virtual; I didn’t damage or deface anyone’s property in doing so and no-one has to deal with the consequences of my actions. I do not condone vandalism but I do understand and respect the social and cultural roots behind the practice and protest of street art. By its nature, graffiti is anti‑institution and the cultural critiques conveyed by this distinct form of expression are very real and shouldn’t be dismissed, simply because it was produced in an underground (i.e. not mainstream), anti‑social, amateur way.

“I don’t know if street art ever really works indoors. If you domesticate an animal, it goes from being wild and free to sterile, fat and sleepy. So maybe the art should stay outside” – Banksy (1973‑)

Perhaps most importantly, what do you think? Whether you like it or not, whether it is something to be appreciated, abhorred or abolished, whether it is worthy art or criminal vandalism, is subjective and will vary from person to person. One thing is assured, graffiti in its many diverse forms ain’t goin’ anywhere anytime soon. Public spaces will continue to reflect the community in all its forms, good and bad. Graffiti will continue to be used as a form of human communication as it has done for millennia already. Whether based in grass roots urban isolation, deprivation and social rejection or pompous art gallery‑worthy exploitation of a subversive movement that was intended to challenge where it ended up is for further deliberation. Discuss…

I pondered the thought about ‘what is the dealio with graffiti?’ I quickly came to the conclusion that, for me at least, graffiti shouldn’t mean anything, it doesn’t need to justify its place, it doesn’t need to seek external validation. It just… is.

A quick thank you to the providers of two stock images and two fonts that were used to support this article. Everything else is my own work.

In terms of AI capability, the technology has moved on considerably since I covered the topic in depth from March to May 2024. No real surprise there. Some of the imagery, to me, is actually quite stimulating within the context of the subject matter (in which I am no expert, remember). AI still has a long way to go and the artificial ‘artistry’ on show here, I believe, demonstrates the point admirably. The simple fact that many of the images had to be finessed by my own real hand (taking a lot longer than the original digital image took to create) emphasises the remark that AI is very much still a work‑in‑progress process as of July 2026.

Just a final thought on AI… I neither embrace nor fear AI. I use it as pragmatically as a creative tool – a means to an end, not an end in itself. I don’t believe that AI will be as good or as bad as many people predict. Like all emerging technologies, one cannot fight against it and hope to achieve much traction. Think about the pronounced evils of industrialisation, the motor car, television, rock & roll music, the Internet, etc. Never mind the Luddites (NB. Named after Ned Ludd who destroyed machinery in 1779 and became an eponym for organised protests against automated factory machines from 1811 to 1816) facing off against the unstoppable progress of the industrial revolution. Like previous paradigm changes in human evolution, it will reach an equilibrium that we may not be comfortable with but will learn to adopt one way or another in the medium‑long‑term. Get used to it folks, AI is here to stay. Don’t get left behind. Let’s just hope that Skynet doesn’t get a look in though.

“Public space is supposed to be for the public, not just for commercial messages” – Shepard Fairey (1970‑)

The CRAVEman at Work and Play

Before we go any further, I find it unbelievable that it was only July last year (2025) that The CRAVEman was introduced to the world. Since that auspicious inauguration, he has kinda become a regular visitor to CRAVE Guitars’ articles. Apologies to anyone who may not appreciate his particular presence over the last 12 months.

I guess that it was inevitable that el jefe, The CRAVEman would want to inveigle himself into some graffiti action. So, here is the Stone Age Rock God, ‘TC’ for short, providing us all with a bit of his very own prehistoric cave wall art presented in his very own distinctive graffiti style.

Back to the modern day and The CRAVEman has been immortalised as the subject of his own ‘piece’ of mural street art. Here he is, painted spectacularly on a modern end‑of‑terrace house wall. How cool is that?

Finally, having established that The CRAVEman has been casually commemorated throughout human history, here he is depicted as a contemporary cartoon character in street graffiti art style. Warning! Having now introduced you to ‘Cartoon CRAVEman’, you may just see more of him in the future (or should that be the past?). Maybe.

“I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot” – Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960‑1988)

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’

Well, we are talking graffiti, so this month’s selection was relatively easy to come up with. You might think that it should be a slice of classic east coast rap/hip‑hop but that could be construed as a bit too narrow. So I’ve gone with a slice of classic hard rock it is. The album cover is an ideal counterpoint to the CRAVE Guitars’ graffiti banner on a NYC brownstone tenement building above. This month’s accolade therefore goes to…

Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (1975): Physical Graffiti was Led Zeppelin’s 6^th studio album, released in 1975 on Swan Song Records and distributed by Atlantic Records. The double album comprised 15 tracks covering 84 minutes. The original vinyl release featured an innovative die‑cut‑out sleeve, designed by Peter Corriston, based on actual tenement block buildings at 96 & 98 St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan’s East Village, NYC (NB. A cool place to visit if you can, as I have). The album’s release was supported by a sell‑out series of five concerts held at London, England’s Earl’s Court venue. The song material is diverse and multi‑genre, demonstrating the band’s pinnacle of musical creativity. Classic tracks such as, ‘Houses of the Holy’, ‘Trampled Under Foot’ and the colossal, ‘Kashmir’ made certain the album was a critical and commercial success. The band had evolved considerably over previous albums, nominally called, ‘Led Zeppelin I‑IV’ (1969‑1971 and ‘Houses of the Holy’ (1973).

As a teenager, ‘Physical Graffiti’ was the first Led Zeppelin album I bought. Sadly, I no longer have the vinyl double LP with its iconic cut‑out sleeve artwork. I was, though, lucky enough to get tickets and attend one of the Earl’s Court shows in May 1975, which remains a highlight in my gigging experience, even today. The concert series was filmed and is available as, ‘Led Zeppelin – Live At Earl’s Court 1975’. Good old days indeed.

Yeah, I could have gone for the soundtrack to the great coming‑of‑age film, ‘American Graffiti’ (1973). Great music for a compilation by various artists, called, ‘41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti’. The film’s title is, however, a bit of a misnomer (NB. It was originally called, ‘Another Quiet Night in Modesto’). The eventual title is apparently a metaphor for ‘scratching the surface’ of the characters’ attempts to express their individualism, experiences and emotions before parting ways forever. Whatever dude, I’m sticking with Led Zeppelin on this occasion.

BELIEVE IN MUSIC!

“Street art’s biggest crime is that it’s more interesting than the advertising it replaces” – Shepard Fairey (1970‑)

Tailpiece

Well, that’s it for another month. I hope you enjoyed something just a bit different from the normal output from CRAVE Guitars. You never know, you might have learned something along the way. I did. I try to keep things fresh and I think this month’s missive fits that particular bill quite well.

‘Nuff said. Whatever you think about the practice of graffiti and street art, I hope you appreciated viewing this article as much as I did in creating it.

FWIW, DFTBA ‘n’ DLTBGYD amigos y amigas! KWIM? FNLLY, No dissin’ yo MC ‘n’ PLS RSPCT OPP! Hang loose ‘n’ shaka, baby. Lateskies. I’m ghost.

“Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint” – Banksy (1973‑)

Truth, peace, love, and guitar music be with you always. The CRAVEman (TC), signing off for now. Until next time…

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Quote of the Month’: “You must make peace with yourself before you can make lasting and genuine peace with others”

Like it? Why not share it?

30 Nov 2024

November 2024 – A Virtual Decade of CRAVE Guitars

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: Event, History, Introduction, News, Observations, Opinion | 0

Prelude

BONJOUR, BOUNTIFUL BRETHREN. It is good to have you here with me this late November 2024. As previously mentioned, I am hoping to concentrate on writing, ‘The Distortion Diaries’ (see last article) by creating a bit of time and space, which has meant changing my approach to monthly articles for a (hopefully) short period. So this is another (hopefully) short article, essentially as a placeholder until things get back to ‘normal’ (hopefully). One has to remain hopeful. So far, it hasn’t gone to plan, so I must endeavour harder, for longer than intended. This article is mercifully short (for me) as a result.

This month, though, we have a Tin Anniversary to commemorate. NB. Tin is a silver‑coloured metal and chemical element belonging to the carbon family, with the symbol Sn (from the Latin, stannum) and atomic number 50. A 10^th anniversary is designated ‘tin’ because the metal represents durability, strength, flexibility and resistance to corrosion and wear. So, there you go. Tin for Ten it is.

So, exactly what is it that is 10 years (3,653 days) old? CRAVE Guitars online presence, that’s what. Before November 2014, CRAVE (Cool & Rare American Vintage Electric) Guitars had already been a formal, non‑profit entity for seven years (since the late summer of 2007). During those early seven years, it couldn’t easily be shared with anyone. All that changed a decade ago when CRAVE Guitars rapidly became visible to anyone who wanted to find out about it.

“Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event” – Oscar Wilde (1854‑1900)

Happy 10^th Online Anniversary CRAVE Guitars

It seems a timely moment for celebration. Yup, in November 2014, the web site and the multiple social media channels (some used more than others) have been rattling around in cyberspace (NB. A word coined in the novel, ‘Neuromancer’ (1984) by author William Gibson) for a decade now. And so it was, that the very first short blog article, titled perhaps unsurprisingly, ‘Welcome to CRAVE Guitars’ was posted on 30 November 2014.

Over the years, the web site has expanded and improved, although it hasn’t reached the potential that it undoubtedly has. There is also potential that I would still like it to achieve, all other things being considered. No rush.

Social media grew significantly until ‘The Hiatus’. It used to take up a great deal of every day but this has had to be scaled back considerably over recent years. It’s still there but not in the volume of posts that used to appear. Another step taken to mark the anniversary is that, in addition to the likes of X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., CRAVE Guitars is now also on Bluesky Social at:
@crave‑guitars.bsky.social.

Over the years, the number of CRAVE Vintage Guitars on the website has steadily increased (to 65 so far). Since the original launch of the website, the other parts of the site, CRAVE Basses (just 4 of them so far), CRAVE Amps (just 5 so far) and CRAVE Effects (68 so far) have also been added for a veritable vibe of vintage variety.

There have been approximately 85 blog articles (a.k.a. ‘Musings’) over the 10‑year period, covering all sorts of topics. The early ones were just a few sentences long and the content has consistently grown in length and complexity over the last decade. The shortest article? ‘Hiatus’ (September 2020) at just 5 lines. The longest? The 14-part ‘Story of Modern Music in 1,500+ Facts’ (between March 2019 and May 2020). My favourite? Probably, ‘Dub Reggae Revelation’ (August 2023). My least favourite? Apart from the embarrassing first ‘Welcome to CRAVE Guitars’ (November 2014), the nadir was probably the melancholic aforementioned, ‘Hiatus’.

One thing that I don’t really understand is why visitors to the website have fallen off a cliff this year, after almost a decade of year‑on‑year increasing numbers. The only thing I can think of is that there has been nothing in the way of new vintage guitar gear recently. In addition, recent articles haven’t been focused on vintage guitars per se as much as they have been in the past – there is only so much one can wax lyrical (NB. a phrase from, ‘Jean-Christophe in Paris’ (1911) by Romain Rolland) about these wonderful artefacts.

“It’s always good to remember where you come from and celebrate it. To remember where you come from is part of where you’re going” – Anthony Burgess (1917‑1993)

A moment of reflection

Has it all been worth it? Big question and one to which I really don’t have an answer. As a not‑for‑profit, non‑commercial entity, CRAVE Guitars exists but it doesn’t actually DO anything. So why bother? Who the heck knows? I don’t. Does it have any value? Well, the vintage guitars definitely do and will only increase in value over the long‑term. Are they worth a lot? Not really, that isn’t the point. I go for unlikely, alternative vintage gear, the sort that serious collectors are likely to overlook. The ‘collection’ as a whole isn’t worth a great deal compared to a highly‑regarded classic like a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, a 1952 Fender Telecaster or a 1962 Fender Stratocaster. Perhaps if I sold every bit of vintage gear I’ve got, I could get one really ‘good’ vintage guitar. However, that wouldn’t satisfy my cravings (sic!) for vintage guitar diversity. Such is life. We all make economic decisions and we all abide by the consequences. Is the CRAVE Guitars brand worth anything in isolation. Sadly, no.

“Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words” – Plautus (Roman playwright, c254‑184BCE)

Would I be prepared to sell off CRAVE Guitars? Well, I guess everyone has their price, although I have no intention of selling my baby at this time. Having said that, what will happen to CRAVE Guitars when I inevitably hit the mortal exit button? My son will inherit the enterprise in total but, as he has little interest in the venture, it will probably be wound up and sold off wholesale, possibly at auction. Shame.

What would make the biggest difference to both CRAVE Guitars and its online presence over the next ten years? Well, finally getting around to converting the dark, damp cellar of the house into a dry, warm home for the ‘collection’ would be incredible. The technical complexity, practicality, feasibility and cost are all prohibitive, so it ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. Sadly. That’s why the ‘collection’ has largely stalled since Covid, due to finite funds, space and time as well as other competing priorities.

“I’m not going to be caught around here for any fool celebration. To hell with birthdays!” – Norman Rockwell (1894‑1978)

Final thoughts on a virtual tinny decade

I couldn’t let the personal landmark go without some form of recognition but, equally, I don’t want to over‑stress the importance of the fact.

For info, the first ever web site was published on 6 August 1991 by British physicist sir Tim Berners‑Lee (1955‑), a.k.a. TimBL, based at CERN in Switzerland. Now, CRAVE Guitars is like just one grain of sand in a desert. The number of web sites has grown exponentially since 2000. In 2014, when CRAVE Guitars first appeared on the hinterwebby thingummy, there were less than 1 billion web sites globally. According to Statista, there are now over 1.9 billion web sites globally. Approximately 4 million new websites are created annually (as of 2024). No wonder it is so hard to get noticed and so easy to get overlooked these days. The enormity of that broader context makes CRAVE Guitars an infinitesimally insignificant online entity. Sigh.

What do I hope for the future of CRAVE Guitars? Nothing, actually – my ambitions are, out of necessity, very modest and humble. If, in some infinitesimally insignificant, way I have changed the world for the better and/or I have left an infinitesimally insignificant indentation on this isolated lonely world of ours that will be remembered positively in time, then I will be infinitesimally but significantly content.

Will there still be a CRAVE Guitars in another 10 years’ time? Who knows? If I have anything to do with it, yes there will, but who knows what fate and destiny hold in store for us all. I trust that there will be more vintage gear to enjoy over the next decade. So… ceteris paribus, here’s to the next 10 years or so.

“A good time to celebrate is any time you can” – Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, 1904‑1991)

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’

This month’s selection kinda fits with the reminiscent nature of the above and needs some preliminary exposition. I tried to think of a studio album that meant a lot to me at the time and which has influenced my own guitar playing. The year was 1976 and the UK saw a rare baking, long hot summer. I took an extended solo road trip and attended my first three open air music festivals (Knebworth, Reading and Hyde Park) during that summer. I was a teenager at the time and it was also memorable for many reasons, some that I don’t think I should divulge here.

I occasionally reminisce selectively (of course) about that life‑affirming blissful ‘Summer of ‘76’ through appropriately rose‑tinted lenses. Coincidentally, it was also the year that I found out about the mysteries of girls of the opposite sex. After that crucial but brief coming‑of‑age journey (think of the evocative films, ‘American Graffiti’ (1972), ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ (1982), ‘Stand By Me’ (1986) and ‘Dazed and Confused’ (1993)), before life became an unavoidable and unbearable progression of obligation, heavy burden of responsibility and other requisite restraints. I have never been able to shatter the shackles of adulthood and recapture that youthful sense of vitality, vigour, liberty and élan. What album on Earth could possibly live up to all that? For me, it was…

Steve Hillage – L (1976). ‘L’ was the sophomore solo studio album by Steve Hillage, who came to the fore as guitarist with the psychedelic/progressive rock band, Gong. The LP, produced by Todd Rundgren in New York, was released in September 1976 on the Virgin record label. It comprises just 6 tracks covering 44 minutes. While other Steve Hillage albums may be closer to his Canterbury Scene roots, ‘L’ was elevated into something greater in my mind, probably because of the combination of time and place in my heady, youthful experiences. I recognise that it won’t be to everyone’s taste but that is not the point. For me it exhibited both earthbound joyful exuberance and infinite cosmological splendour. I guess you had to be there to understand.

The first time I saw Steve Hillage live was at the above mentioned Hyde Park free festival on 18 September 1976, attended by over 150,000 people. Queen headlined that particular event. Todd Rundgren’s Utopia and Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at Knebworth on 21 August that same year, with The Rolling Stones headlining. Reading Festival between 27‑29 August saw Gong, 801 and Colosseum II amongst others. Since then, I have seen Steve Hillage and Gong live at Brighton and, as System 7 at the Glastonbury Festival. The most recent Steve Hillage concert I went to was in 2022, so he has held a place in my music appreciation for nearly 50 years! Yikes! While I don’t have ‘guitar heroes’, Steve Hillage was influential for me and I still believe that he is a much underrated songwriter, musician and guitarist.

“A lot of good love can happen in ten years” – Jim Carrey (1962‑)

Tailpiece

Well… that’s basically it for another month. Short and (maybe) sweet. There is rarely an opportunity to celebrate something positive and this month was an occasion to do just that. Without me bringing it up it, it would surely have passed into history completely unnoticed. So, Happy 10^th Birthday to CRAVE Guitars’ presence on the ‘information superhighway’ (NB. A term coined by American Senator Al Gore Jr in 1978). Do you remember when the Internet was called the ‘World Wide Web’ (a term coined by Sir Tim Berners Lee in 1989)?

As a final moment of contemplation, what were you doing 10 years ago today? What momentous moments have you experienced over the last 10 years? Spend just a moment to contemplate the positives. Endure the bad and celebrate the good.

Truth, peace, love, and guitar music be with you always. Until next time…

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Quote of the Month’: “Dystopia is as guaranteed as utopia is unobtainable”

Like it? Why not share it?

30 Oct 2018

October 2018 – A Potted History of the Guitar Part VIII

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: History, Introduction, Observations | 0

Welcome to what is, for now at least, the final part in this series of articles on the history of the world’s most popular musical instrument.

If you wish to recap on any or all of the previous seven posts before starting with this one, the whole ‘Potted History of the Guitar’ series, can be accessed here (each part opens in a new browser tab):

Part I – The ancient world up to the early Renaissance
Part II – The Renaissance up to the end of the 19^th Century
Part III – The late 19^th Century up to the 1930s
Part IV – The 1920s and 1930s
Part V – 1930s up to the 1950s
Part VI – 1950s and 1960s
Part VII – 1960s to date
Part VIII – The current day and into the future. Read on below…

Having pretty much reached the present day, all that remains is to summarise where we are now and to take a somewhat flippant and imaginative look ahead. The ‘current day’ is a tricky subject, as ‘now’ is at best ephemeral. The future, on the other hand, can only ever be guesswork, even if it can be informed by the past. Perhaps the best way to predict the future is to help to create it, so that means that what happens to the next chapter of the guitar is in our hands. Can we be trusted to behave as responsible guardians of the guitar’s destiny? As Mahatma Gandhi (1869‑1948) said, “The future depends on what we do in the present”. This suggests that what will happen is not predetermined and individually or collectively, we can take action to shape the future.

There are not many images again supporting this article so, apologies to those who like pictures to speak a thousand words. Anyway, without further ado, on with the last part of the chronicle…

The guitar has come a very long way in the last 3,500 years or a road slightly less travelled in the preceding 350 years depending on whose version of the facts you want to believe. The story has finally reached that pivotal moment that lies between the past, which is, on the whole, pretty well documented and the future, which of course isn’t. There is much to be played for and the stakes are certainly high.

It is hopefully of little surprise that the future of the acoustic and electric guitar, as well as all its derivatives and distant relations, is probably well‑assured, at least for the foreseeable future. Whether it survives in the (very) long term or not, the world’s favourite musical instrument is undeniably going to be a hard act to follow, let alone surpass.

As with many industrial and technological revolutions, predictions have proved variable in terms of accuracy. As time passes, change tends to accelerate in both pace and scope. While progress may be inexorable, there is an unseen ‘force’ that tends to counteract unbridled advances and which acts as a bit of a restraint. That set of reins is the very human tendency to hold onto what is familiar while resisting change until it is either inescapable or desirable. This natural ‘drag’ effect has laid waste to many grand ideas and great inventions. Numerous well‑marketed ‘next big things’ have fallen at the hurdle of persuading the general public to take up something new or unfamiliar, especially if one’s respected peers haven’t bitten the bullet of early adoption either. Mankind’s flawed history is littered with countless failed marvels. This phenomenon isn’t, I hasten to add, just a trait of idiosyncratic musicians; it appears to be a fundamental characteristic of the human condition.

Anyway, as usual, I digress. It is time to get back to the point which is basically that whatever you read from here on has absolutely no basis whatsoever in fact and is highly likely to be extremely wrong! My consolation is that few people will regard it as portent or look back to judge its accuracy in a century’s time. There is nothing genuinely prescient here in the vein of Da Vinci or Nostradamus. Apologies if you were hoping for more in the way of a profound visionary insight. Unfortunately, my stock of that ran out last week.

General indicators of change

It is fair to suggest that popular music is often representative of, and in turn is dependent on, broader social, cultural and political movements, and guitars follow in their footsteps. Whether we like it or not, music is integral to our everyday lives, so it is not surprising that it is also inherently powerfully evocative. As a result, it can dramatically affect the way we identify with past events.

One of the key factors that drove guitar evolution has been the trends in popular music, so perhaps musical trends may provide a much generalised hint at parallel guitar developments. Let’s start by considering the (very simplistic) genre movements and the types of instrument used over the last century. Starting with the post‑classical era, there was jazz (Gibson archtops) and blues (National & Dobro resonators) in the 1930s and 1940s, country and rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s (Gretsch & Gibson hollowbodies), pop and rock in the 1960s (Fenders and Rickenbackers), progressive and heavy metal (Gibson solid bodies) and then punk (pawn shop guitars) and hair metal (pointy super Strats) in the 1970s. Then we get to the guitar doldrums of electronica, new age and rap in the 1980s, followed by revitalised guitar music of alternative, grunge in the 1990s, and indie (retro guitars) nu‑metal (PRS) and dance in the 2000s, etc. I struggle to think of a musical genre that so far defines the 2010s or perhaps many distinctive guitars to go with them. So there is some kind of link going on here. Google has attempted to map the progression of musical genres from 1950 to the current day (take from it what you will).

The type of guitars de jour used by famous musicians, including artist associations, during these epochs often reflected the style of contemporary music they played and these have largely been well covered in previous parts of the story. Just think of Chet Atkins with his Gretsch 6120, Buddy Holly with his Fiesta Red Fender Stratocaster, The Beatles with their Rickenbacker 300s, or Jimmy Page with his Gibson Les Paul Standard and EDS-1275 double neck. The various interconnections are manifold and too many to mention here, and many have been captured in photographs to become iconic in the annals of rock history.

Cinema and television music regularly use key songs to catapult us back in space and time without the need for narrative exposition to describe what’s happening. Just think about classic movies such as American Graffiti, Stand By Me, Almost Famous, Saturday Night Fever, The Breakfast Club or 8 Mile among many, many others. Those random examples don’t include the numerous biopics (e.g. Sid & Nancy, Walk The Line, The Doors) and musicals (e.g. West Side Story, Grease) or original scores (e.g. Paris Texas) that use familiar, memorable and/or popular music to transport us to another ‘reality’. Then there are the one‑offs like the mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. TV programmes also picked up the strategy for domestic viewing since the 1960s and often featured manufactured artists such as The Monkees or The Archies. The lists of relevant examples are endless. Music is used to draw the viewer into the director’s vision of a certain bygone era. Many of the sound tracks of our lives rely heavily on evocative (guitar) music to manipulate us emotionally and, more importantly, intentionally.

The way that environmental factors affect local communities may spark a genre direction that is then promulgated more widely. For example, one could point to the rise of electric blues in Chicago, soul in Detroit, Mersey beat in Liverpool, punk in New York and London, rap in Los Angeles/Philadelphia, or grunge in Seattle, etc. What we cannot predict is what or where any future musical revolutions (if any) may emerge, from where, and what step‑change responses guitar builders may then make.

As with many other aspects of our 21^st Century lives, the nature of music, how it is made, distributed and accessed suggests that anything genuinely ‘new’ will find it much harder to stand out from the mainstream. What is already there will continue in some form and anything new will simply be added to it, often at the margins of existing genres, hence the proliferation of sub‑genres, e.g. thrash or nu-metal in rock; house and techno in dance; raga and dancehall in reggae; dubstep and grime in urban music, etc. One only has to compare and contrast the mind boggling varieties of heavy metal music and then consider how they continuously diverge, converge and cross‑fertilise in order to keep it fresh and vibrant.

While some technological change may be more predictable, social change and the music that characterises it is certainly more unpredictable. When one looks at something as specific and tangible as the guitar, it becomes increasingly risky to anticipate with any certainty what change may occur over an extended period of time, say the next century or so.

One view is that we are powerless and don’t need to think about it, as what will be, will be. Another is that we wait passively and be subject to what transpires with little or no influence over it. A third way may be not to accept the status quo and take positive action to stimulate change, which can happen in oddly random ways. Being of an opinionated sort, I tend to fall into the latter camp. Apologies, that probably actually doesn’t help much!

Perhaps the biggest challenge to the guitar’s supremacy is likely to lie in the digital revolution that really started to make an impression in the 1970s and 1980s. Part of the reason for the guitar’s seemingly unassailable success has been that it is a hugely expressive and flexible instrument, which actually makes its nuances extremely difficult to replicate in a world constructed entirely of binary 0s and 1s. We shall see whether digital advances can fully overcome the difficulties in recreating the subtleties provided by a very analogue instrument in the hands of discriminating (and generally quite conservative) musicians.

The evidence so far suggests that digital is making ever increasing inroads into the analogue guitar’s dominance and the discernible gap between analogue and digital output is decreasing all the time. How long will it be before even the most ardent luddites finally admit that they can’t really tell the difference (despite what they may say outwardly)? However, it isn’t just the sound of guitars that appeals to guitarists; it is also the feel and the look of them that matters, as well as how they allow musicians to communicate with each other in unspoken ways.

New generations of guitarists, however, may be looking for something very different from their predecessors. What form will ‘the shape of things to come’ take? Will it be all hyper‑modernistic and crammed with tech and flashing lights and built from materials we cannot yet imagine, or will it be the same old bits of tree wood crafted into the familiar shapes of Telecasters, Stratocasters, Precisions, Les Pauls, ES‑335s and SGs that we covet today? Only time will tell how things pan out and it will be for future authors to use the convenient assistance of hindsight to determine and document what path the history of the guitar takes from here on.

Looking and learning from the past, one might simply extrapolate forward. Future guitarists may well be like their ancestors and pragmatically seek to mix the best of the past with the best of what’s to come, regardless of whether it is analogue or digital. My personal prediction is a typically ambiguous ‘sit on the fence’ one, in that guitars will probably become increasingly hybrid if they are to keep ahead of other comparable instruments. Let’s face it, there are not really any threats` to the guitar’s dominant popularity at the time of writing and it has always been a continuously evolving instrument, so it would be of little surprise if this were to continue. While the 1980’s temporary trend for synth and electronica attempted to eradicate guitar music in the minds of popular listeners, the guitar has proved very resilient and difficult to displace.

Since the 1970s, the guitar has been used to trigger digital electronics. However, while both signal tracking and polyphony still present problems, these barriers are gradually being overcome. There have been several attempts to introduce effective guitar synths over the years but they have really been analogue or digital filters activated by either an ordinary guitar pickup or by discrete signals from a hexaphonic pickup. Hex pickups, which output a separate signal for each string, were often added to an existing guitar and used to transform it into a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) controller while still able to be used as an ordinary guitar. MIDI was a standard specification published in August 1983 by Japanese electronics giant Roland and American synthesizer company Sequential Circuits, and is commonly used to control electronic audio equipment. While attempting to revolutionise guitar music, Roland’s excursions into guitar synths since the 1980s have still relied on a standard guitar as its starting point.

Other Japanese companies specialising in electronics have also experimented with MIDI control of external synthesis engines, for instance guitars from Casio (DG20) and Yamaha (EZ-EG). It seems incredible to think that these early electronic instruments are now being considered as ‘vintage’. Today, there are now plenty of guitars on the market with MIDI capability built in. Technology has moved on and the fundamental concepts of a digital source are now ripe for being reinvestigation and improvement.

Other pioneering companies such as Line 6, now owned by another Japanese giant Yamaha, introduced their ground breaking digital modelling preamp (the Pod) and digital modelling guitar (the Variax) to indicate the direction in which development might go. Line 6’s philosophy inspired and influenced subsequent successful products such as the Kemper Profiler and the Fractal Audio Systems Axe-FX. Computer control of complex parameters, presets, firmware and downloads are commonplace for amps and effects in the 2010s and we can certainly expect this trend not only to become de facto but also to become a requirement in the near future, so a laptop at live gigs is already almost a necessity to keep your rig running smoothly – not a comfort zone for many analogue technophobe musos.

Guitar making cannot stand still and neither should it. Even the companies with a century or more of history, such as Gibson, Gretsch and Martin, have to keep moving forward or risk being overtaken. However, the tightrope of appealing to customers who appreciate the heritage is also key to the future success of long‑established manufacturers. Newer, smaller companies, though, are not constrained by the time capsule factor.

It is probably safe to say that the future is likely to be a practical symbiosis of both the familiar to satisfy the conservative traditionalists and the whizzy new gizmos to appeal to the technologically savvy experimentalists and neophytes… just as it always has been if fact. Even Gibson has been toying with the addition of digital features into its guitars, including the Les Paul HD.6X Pro and the Firebird X models. Intriguingly, Fender and other major brands have yet to declare their hands. It will be the fine balance between the opposing forces that will enable lasting incremental change, via ‘chimera’ guitars, rather than a number of fundamental radical shifts. That eventuality could prove a bit boring though, don’t you think? However, sadly, it also seems to mirror the way that modern popular music is going as well?

Leaps of unadulterated conjecture:

This next section is pure fantasy and should not be relied on as authentic in any way. It came from an idea that it can sometimes be fun to imagine what things might be like in some near or distant future. One hopes, though, that what follows doesn’t come to represent some form of self‑fulfilling prophecy.

It may be that the guitar itself could become superseded by something completely different from what musicians (rather than video game players) use today. Could it be possible that something along the lines of the PlayStation ‘Guitar Hero’ controller may someday make inroads into real instruments to create real music? I would anticipate that the majority of guitarists would sincerely hope not.

There are already some very modernistic looking instruments out there, such as the HTG Hyper Touch and the Misa Kitara (note the use of the Greek name kitara from Part I of this long story). Are these all‑electronic ‘guitars’ the sorts of instruments that will replace our beloved classic designs and become de rigeur in the near future? Alternatively, perhaps the electric guitar could somehow morph into some form of fully digital instrument via the route of hybridisation. As a logical conclusion, is the ‘Digital Guitar’ with analogue playability a holy grail and, if so, for whom? Here are some current digital guitar innovations from the 2010s…

So… suspend your disbelief for a few minutes and take a tentative look ahead to the scary world of AIs, AAs, AVs and AM (spoiler alert – these acronyms may seem familiar but in this context, they don’t mean what you think they mean today). You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. Read on…

10 years’ hence (c.2028):

Analogue vs digital – Digital technologies will be used increasingly to enhance the analogue signal chain rather than usurp it completely. We have already seen many examples of this appearing in effects and amps, so there isn’t really any clever insight in mentioning it. Digital control of analogue signals is already becoming commonplace especially in delay and modulation effects where digital manipulation gives much more precise control over what happens in the analogue domain.

It remains unpopular to sample the original signal through an analogue to digital converter (ADC), mess around with it and then put it back through a digital to analogue converter (DAC) to turn it back into a signal for further processing. Many purists say that the act of conversion using today’s chips taints the original signal. It will be a while longer before we make that bold step of a fully digital signal chain from fingers to ears but it is getting ever closer. It will happen but possibly not by 2028, mainly because of the difficulty in engineering effective fully digital instruments and loudspeakers.

Research will continue to develop a truly digital guitar ‘pickup’ that could compare to current electromagnetic pickups and provide the first step to more complex processing in the future. Digital modelling using DSP (Digital Signal Processing) chips will continue to improve and will become almost indistinguishable from analogue electronics in effects, amps and digital audio workstations (DAWs). There will be a hardcore fan base that remains wedded to the old school stuff for many, many years to come. The guitar itself is highly unlikely to become fully digital in the next 10 years, if only because there are far too many dogmatic people invested in preserving the status quo. Auto‑Tune for the guitar anyone?

Guitar Making – In the near future, it is highly unlikely that wood will be superseded by any other material as the primary input for the majority of guitars. Wood has proved over millennia to be a very flexible, durable renewable material. Let’s face it, it can also look wonderful. One major advantage of wood is that it contributes towards the organic tone and touch of an individual musical instrument. Many alternative materials have been used in the construction of guitars since at least the 1920s, including plastics, metals, carbon fibre and a wide variety of composites. To‑date, though, wood has prevailed in terms of structural integrity allied to inherent musicality. What will change, though, is the shift away from the use of endangered exotic hardwood species such as rosewood, ebony and even mahogany to more sustainable species. For instance Pau Ferro (Libidibia Ferrea, a.k.a Bolivian rosewood) is rapidly replacing the CITES‑restricted rosewood (varieties of the genus Dalbergia) as a popular fingerboard material. Quite how fussy musicians will accept unfamiliar wood substitutes, will be determined in due course. What is clear is that guitarists really have no choice but to go with the ecologically acceptable flow in the long‑term.

Like their classical musical counterparts, the guitar itself (whether acoustic or electric) will remain very much a natural instrument for a good few years yet. The guitar will still be supremely popular and will be making great music all over the world. Guitars will be made by a broad range of entities from one man band local custom luthiers up to multinational mass manufacturers. Competition, particularly from China, will be a threat to many established western companies until their economic bubble bursts, which it eventually will at some point.

Recorded music – The vast majority of recorded guitar music will be produced on digital equipment with a few retro studios still using analogue equipment including valve preamps and tape machines. The relative accessibility of convenient digital recording equipment will continue to provide openings for all sorts of artists from the home musician to the professional mega bands using famous dedicated studio facilities such as the famous Abbey Road Studio in London. Recorded music will be increasingly distributed and accessed online, although legacy formats will maintain a solid niche popularity.

Live music – Live music will continue to grow in popularity to become the cornerstone for many successful artists, provided that they do not price themselves out of live appearances and that over‑zealous regulations don’t stop large live events from taking place. PA and monitoring systems will continue to improve significantly and sound pressure levels at venues will be severely restricted, removing some of the visceral excitement of the live music experience.

30 years’ hence (c.2048):

Analogue vs digital – Digital will be the primary domain in which music will be made, recorded, distributed and accessed. The guitar will remain analogue, although it is likely that the entire chain from the pickup onwards will be predominantly digital. However, as with current classical instruments and music, there will still be an important place for traditional analogue guitars. Amps and effects are likely to be almost totally digital. Successors to the analogue electromagnetic pickup and the loudspeaker will be introduced to a point that digital sound will be common if not universal. ‘Old fashioned’ guitars will remain very popular and will experience regular revivals and rejuvenations, even if the overall battle will be won by the digital technologies of the 2040s. New digital connectors will proliferate, as the currently ubiquitous USB port will long since have been superseded, and the jack pug/socket will be purely of vintage interest.

Guitar making – Most of the large manufacturers will be producing some sort of digital instrument as the norm, even if the vital interaction between fingers and strings will remain as it is now. All guitar tone woods will be derived from sustainable sources by strict regulation and use of rare species tightly controlled (outside the unavoidable black market). The use of alternative materials will be in full swing, reducing the reliance on today’s natural materials. New guitars will be built to be recyclable. Automated manufacturing will be the norm and the demand for traditionally made guitars will be catered for by numerous specialist guitar builders. Pure wooden analogue guitars will be vintage only and regarded with the same respect as classical instruments are now. Guitar development will be relegated to refinements around the margins, rather than core revolutions. Hybrid instruments will be fighting a rear‑guard action, with digital beginning to win the final battle. Competition to the guitar will continue but will not succeed… yet.

Recorded music – Digital will almost totally dominate recorded music production, distribution and access. Diehard analogue fans will be regarded as geeks and nerds. Vinyl albums will, however still persevere… just.

Live music – Like recorded music, live music will be, apart from the musicians themselves, almost universally digital. ‘Loud’ live music will be a thing of the distant past. Music venues will begin to disappear as discrete locations, with personalised performance content delivered direct to the individual.

50 years’ hence (c.2068):

Analogue vs digital – Analogue guitar music will be like classical music is today, a popular, niche and a largely historic pastime. All other aspects will be digital.

Guitar making – Standardisation and construction will be largely prescribed. Hybridisation will just about have peaked and on its way out. The majority of guitar production will move towards making AIs (Artificial Instruments). The focus will be on the technical facets of music making, rather than subjective, emotive ones. Guitars as we know them now will be of heritage interest.

Recorded music – Music will be manufactured in the digital domain with just a few maverick analogue‑obsessed musicians beavering away in the minority. The vast majority of contemporary recorded music will be created electronically, with few outmoded musical instruments as we know them now being used. Many artists will be AAs (Artificial Artists), rather than by artistically inclined human beings – the latter will concentrate on performing historic pieces from the golden heyday of guitar music.

Live music – There will no longer be a need to travel to a discrete venue where music is performed in person to a collective audience. ‘Live’ music will be created in computers, customised to an individual’s tastes and accessed in the home, in a domain known as an AV (Artificial Venue) giving the sight, sound and feel of a venue.

100+ years’ hence (c.2120):

Analogue vs digital – Analogue guitar music will be an historic vocation and largely a lifestyle pastime. All other aspects of ‘modern’ music will be entirely digital. Some authentic old‑style music will be recreated on historic instruments for research purposes, rather than as entertainment.

Guitar making – Even the last few old‑school luthiers will be migrating to alternative materials, automation and digital electronics. Hybrid instruments will be seen as a thing of the past. AIs will be commonplace and there won’t be a need for human musicians to learn the art or skills needed to make any type of contemporary music.

Recorded music – Popular music will be artificially created without the need for accomplished musicians. Music will be constantly morphing on a second‑by‑second basis, known as AM (Artificial Music).

Live music – Performance capture will be produced electronically and experienced direct by the listener’s visual and audio receptors, bypassing the unreliable eyes and ears altogether. Finally, the digital signal path from computerised source to the recipient’s brain will be complete and will require no human intervention whatsoever.

Alternative Reality

Or… in some alternative, perhaps more desirable dimension, the unwritten future could well be pretty much as it is today, with new generations doing just what we do now, rocking to good old electric guitar music. To many guitarists, the tactile and synergetic relationship between musician and his/her guitar in full flow with other musicians is unbreakable and simply cannot be usurped by some dystopian digital future scape.

One trusts that there will always be a place for creative artisans and a desire or the musically minded to enjoy the fruits of their vision for the guitar of the future. It is encouraging that many well‑known guitar makers are actually stepping back in time in order to move forward. This isn’t the paradox that it may first seem. Savvy guitar builders are investigating in great depth what made great guitars great in the first place and identifying what musicians actually want from their instruments today. Much of this current R&D is leading to a number of findings that indicate that what was important 100 and 200 years ago (and probably longer) is still important today but with modern consistency and reliability.

Perhaps the past masters did get it largely right in the first place and that is why their products, new or vintage, are still desirable artefacts today. While traditional manufacturers like C.F. Martin use modern production methods for some parts of the building process, they are also still using tools and equipment employed by successive cohorts of luthiers, as well as relying on many of the basic techniques and skills refined and passed down from one generation to the next. Most of the top flight guitar builders also work very hard to ensure long-term supplies of precious tone woods to make into future guitars. This focus on the best‑of‑the‑best perhaps suggests that guitars may well remain, for the large part, relatively familiar in 10, 30, 50 and 100 years from now but with improvements to the detail. Perhaps it takes that bold flight of fancy to realise that we already have what we and future generations of musicians actually need. Owning inspiring guitars inspires guitar playing and results in inspiring guitar music.

There really is no point in speculating any further ahead. The likelihood is that, even with advances in medical technology, most if not all of us reading this in 2018 will not be around to see anything beyond c.2020. The guitar is dead, long live the guitar. The passage of father time will inform just how accurate these flights of fantasy (or descents into nightmare) really are. Clearly, the further one looks into the future, the less precise any predictions become. Welcome to tomorrow’s very scary ‘brave new world’.

I, for one, am certainly not laying any bets. I’d like to think that there is something about our very personal instruments that will endure for many decades, if not centuries. If we lose that quintessential ‘something special’ about making guitars that make guitarists that make music, it will all have been for nothing. Watch this space.

Conclusion

So, that’s it. The long‑running and on‑going story of the guitar has finally reached a logical stopping off point, at least for now… However, it not the end of the story by any means. Somewhat disappointingly, the denouement to ‘A Potted History of the Guitar’ series seems to be a bit more of a whimper than some almighty bang. After so much history and so much personal investment in researching it, it seems a bit of a let‑down to leave the guitar’s evolution ‘hanging’ without some sort of definitive resolution to the script and with the various loose ends neatly tied up. Nevertheless, remember that this is not a fictional piece and let us not forget that this is definitely not the epilogue.

‘They’ say that a picture speaks a thousand words. So, to sum up the 3,500‑year, 8‑part journey in a single image that tells the story of the guitar from its origins to the possible near future, here is a fitting 27‑picture montage that possibly speaks approximately 50,000 words. Basically, I could have saved 9 months of my life and just posted this one composite picture. That, I guess, is one of the benefits of hindsight. I hope that you’ve enjoyed the expedition with me and that, like me, you have learned a little something about the guitar along the way. You wanted a potted history of the guitar? Well, how about…

From this point in time onwards is the start of the future and, whatever happens next. It will be fascinating to experience the on‑going next instalment of the long story and to observe with trepidation and excitement what is to unfold. Let us try to make it a bright and positive outcome for everyone who loves The Guitar and Great Guitar Music. Thank you for reading. Enjoy the future, whatever it holds for us guitar aficionados.

End of Part VIII and the end of this series

Now… I need a break from the relentless rigmarole of the research and write routine, which has, for the best part of a year (or more), been on top of everything else. As mentioned previously, at some point, I might adapt the eight separate ‘Guitar History’ parts into a more coherent and accessible feature set on the CRAVE Guitars’ web site.

Very shortly, I will try and start to prepare for 2019’s (hopefully slightly less) epic partner piece to this year’s gargantuan opener. For the rest of this year, it is back to opinionated hum‑drum ‘normality’ with stand‑alone observations of a more topical and transient nature.

One thing I have noticed is that I haven’t been playing enough guitar in recent months, hardly any at all in fact, which is deplorable. So perhaps now that this particular endeavour is over for now, it’s time to practice what I preach, pick up a lovely vintage guitar and plink away for a bit of cathartic enjoyment. At least, in doing so within the context of the past, I now have an enhanced appreciation of the history that led to it coming into my hands and why it is so important to conserve the heritage for that future. Until next time…

CRAVE Guitars ‘Quote of the Month’: “Let’s be honest, the future is all we really have and it is the only thing we can do anything about”

← Return to ‘Musings’ page

Like it? Why not share it?

American Graffiti

Prelude

This Month at CRAVE Guitars…

The Rationale for the Article

The Origins, History and Spread of Graffiti

Basic Types of Graffiti

Films and Documentaries about Graffiti

Music about Graffiti

CRAVE Guitars’ Graffiti Gallery

Final Thoughts on ‘CRAVE Guitars AI Graffiti Style Gallery’

The CRAVEman at Work and Play

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’

Tailpiece

Prelude

Happy 10th Online Anniversary CRAVE Guitars

A moment of reflection

Final thoughts on a virtual tinny decade

CRAVE Guitars’ ‘Album of the Month’

Tailpiece

Happy 10^th Online Anniversary CRAVE Guitars