7 Reasons Why New Guitars Are Better Than Vintage

CTGull , I started reading the aryicle thinking it was about acoustic guitars, but it ends up talking about electric guitars. Maybe I just don't have the right appreciation, but a discussion about the tone of vintage guitars should not even mention electric guitars. The tone of an electric guitar is made by the amplification & processing of the signal each time it is played, in my opinion, The guitar itself being at least tertiary. Of course the setup & playability contributes to the players ability, but not to the tone.
I happen to agree with the premise of the article when applied correctly, to acoustic guitars. There are many iconic guitars from the past, and all rightfully considered as such. But great guitars are being made today. Of course to become a legendary guitar, the right great guitar has to find its way to the hands of the fight player. For example, in my own biased perspective my relatively new Taylor 418e has the right qualities to become a legendary guitar, but as fate would have it, it has not made its way into the hands of the right player for that legendary status to ever be realized.
The subject of your linked article should make a great discussion, but not in the way the author treated it...... I suppose there are ideas out there that the same processes by which an acoustic guitar tonewood matures also is applicable to electric guitars - but I'm not buying it. That bait is cut a little too big......

There is another aspect of which is better, new vs. Vintage, that I also think about. I think this got clearer for me earlier this year, on the day I bought my 418e. I went into the shop not knowing what the outcome would be, and ended up playing a 1950s Martin D35 for a while. It sounded great, and played great. It was a guitar that many would have chosen, and the price was competetive. I go in that shop fairly routinely, and it wasnt there all that long. It also had a lot of character, as in some distance down the road Willie Nelson's guitar has travelled. It hadn't gone nearly as far as Trigger, but was well on they way. I chose the new guitar - price wasn't the reason.
There is a path that any guitar takes over time, and while taking ownership of a guitar with established character I'm sure is wonderful, I lean toward experiencing the journey from the beginnng. I'd never rule out buying a vintage guitar, far from it. The is is just one of the thoughts I've had on the subject.....

I agree with what others have said, with this addition: of course new electric guitars are often superior to vintage ones -- because of the electronics involved:  better pickup technology, better amplifiers, better tone-shaping, etc.  Once you're past getting the action set correctly for you, the 'build' of the guitar or the woods chosen hardly matters, whereas that's critical in an acoustic guitar.

Vintage acoustic guitars have one advantage over new acoustic guitars, in that they've had time for the woods to open up, but I would argue that construction techniques have also improved over time, as well as a stronger consistency in manufacturing. I wouldn't choose a vintage acoustic over a new one because it's vintage, only if it actually sounded better to my ear (and was more affordable).

My two cents, anyway.

I agree with the general consensus here.  In my experience, the electric guitarist with the best pedal board and amp combo usually wins.  lol.  The guitars themselves always seemed to have very little to do with the contest.

Acoustics, different story.  Just recently I had a guy I jammed with just going on and on about his expensive Larivee.  We plugged in and played, him through a very sweet stacked pedal board, and me with just my guitar and my Radial PZ-DI.  It was later said to me, to avoid hurting the guy's feelings or offending him, that my Taylor sounded just as good as his Larivee.  Keeping in mind that he had at least 5 pedals helping him out, (Reverb, delay, EQ, compression and one other pedal that even after having it explained to me, I still don't quite know what it did. LOL ) and I had none.

So ya, with acoustics, there's lot's going within the guitar itself that makes an absolute diff; with electrics, imho, not so much, or not "as" much at the very least.

That was the same thing I was thinking amp and pedals makes more difference in tone, and electronics in the guitar is more influential than wood, etc.