The Spiffy tag was arm wrestling with the Asinine tag, but Spiffy won, because the guitar looked cool.
These things are going to be collectors items.

...An electric guitar that plays seamlessly through the car's audio system care of First Act, the up-and-coming guitar maker that has provided axes to Aerosmith, Franz Ferdinand, Maroon 5, and others.

Not that they acually used them. You can buy a First Act guitar at Wal*mart for $50, for Christ's sake.

Still doesn't make up for the fact that the guitar comes with a piece of shiat VW....

I just thought the guitar would become collectable.
Quality has never been an absoutely necessary criteria.

Silvertone (sears)used to make guitars out of fiberboard, which is probably the worst thing you could ever make a guitar out of, but now they're collectors items.

Heh - I still have the Trek bike that came with my old VW.

How about a set of drums for the kids in the back seat?

So if you lease the car, at the end of the lease if you return it do you have to return the guitar too?

If they foreclose on the car for lack of payment, will the repo guys try for the instrument as well?

If you pull a Marty McFly on the car speakers, will they be covered under warranty?

Why?

Just asking, how many people Play a guitar?

maRox: Just asking, how many people Play a guitar?


Only the cool people, so they have really missed their demographic here. To fitt with the VW driver, they should have included a bass.

That's a bit daft.

Anyone here play a First Act guitar? Are they much good?

"the up-and-coming guitar maker that has provided axes to Aerosmith, Franz Ferdinand, Maroon 5, and others."

hah you mean the same first act that puts out those p.o.s. guitars at the wal mart?

yeaaaaah "up-and-coming".

Had me until it said First Act. cRAP! I wouldn't take a First Act guitar for free. Oddly, I've owned high dollar Jackons and Ibanezes(Ibanez', Ibaneziz?) and I always go back to my $150 Taiwanese Peavey Tracer with an EMG 81. It's simply too easy to tune it down to A.

Gibson SG, Taylor 414CE.

\also, I don't want to say "traffic jam" but....
\\"traffic jam"

FriarReb98 rides the manaconda.

VW's are awesome

I play, and a much more exciting development a few years ago was using Cat-5 as a cord, for people who still use cords.

But in all reality this should have gotten the Asinine tag, if it was even mentioned at all.

I've always felt cars should come with a set of drums. Especially when "In the Air Tonight" comes on the radio.

Hipsterlicious... it should come with an IPOD too... Steve Madden shoes or birkenstocks, aviator sunglasses... yea.

John Mayer, Slash, and Christopher Guest (a.k.a. Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap) will appear in upcoming ads for the partnership.

Does it go to 11?

Oldness: crashing your car because you're on a cell phone.
Newness: crashing your car because you're playing `Smoke on the water'.

I bought a new '07 4 door gti August 28th, I cry a little inside.

Love my MKV GTI. I really think it is the best car for the money. Don't care about the guitar though, I've always been a Saxophone type of guy.

FriarReb98
Still doesn't make up for the fact that the guitar comes with a piece of shiat VW....

The made-in-Germany 'dubs are just fine. It's the made-in-Mexico and -Brazil ones that bite the big green one.

First Act guitars are ... adequate for a beginner. The stupid thing is that, to get that $50 guitar to work right (stay in tune, intonate), you gotta spend another $50 on getting it set up. That same $100 at a pawn shop can get you a real guitar.

Best guitar I ever owned was a Charvel single pickup. I replaced the stock pickup with a DiMarzio X2N, which really made it scream. You could pull a wailing artificial harmonic just by looking at it funny. No Floyd Rose on it, and I had the bridge cranked down to lie flat against the body. I used GHS .010's. That combination gave it the best fat crunchy sound I have ever heard.

The neck was the envy of all my guitar playing acquintances. Everyone loved that guitar. I ended up selling it. I should have kept it.

The guy who bought it from me routed it out, put in a Floyd Rose, and used .008's or .009's. Totally destroyed the sound, it always sounded thin after that. Bastard.

WiderShadeOfPail

First Act guitars are ... adequate for a beginner. The stupid thing is that, to get that $50 guitar to work right (stay in tune, intonate), you gotta spend another $50 on getting it set up. That same $100 at a pawn shop can get you a real guitar.

Sometimes, it is good for a beginner to learn how to do things. My absolute first guitar was an El Cheapo, and I learned how to set it up properly from some friends. I probably wouldn't have learned as much as quickly with a quality guitar.

Plus, at that point I wasn't sure how much I was going to stick with it, so I wanted to limit the amount of money I spent. When I was sure, I bought a decent BC Rich. Then I found that Charvel and never looked back.

zez

John Mayer, Slash, and Christopher Guest (a.k.a. Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap) will appear in upcoming ads for the partnership.

Does it go to 11?

I saw the Slash ad last night.

INeedAName
You are correct sir!

/Because the hurt doesn't show
//but the pain still grows
///Some stranger to you and me
////RA-TA RA-TA RA-TA TA-TA TA TA!
//the slashies are sooo drummy

First Act = ISO's

/Instrument-shaped objects
//A blight on the musical instrument industry
///Buy reputable brands at a real music store and spend money wisely

Gaboo: Only the cool people, so they have really missed their demographic here. To fitt with the VW driver, they should have included a bass.

I would've guessed a dulcimer.

NutSack

I bought a new '07 4 door gti August 28th, I cry a little inside.

Buying a VW at anytime is a reason to cry, since it means you're an ignoramus.

Too bad the electrical system won't last.
Enjoy your new VW acoustic guitar.

meedley meedley meedley meedley meedley meedley MEEEEEEEE!

I can see the commercial now. Two guys driving down the street, just having a conversation. Then from out of nowhere WHAM, a truck blow into the side of them.

Then cut to the next scene, where they're standing outside the crumpled vehicle, jamming on their guitars while waiting for a tow truck.

Smell that, people? It's the sweet scent of marketing gold.

I've actually been pretty impressed with the quality of the Chinese-made First Act guitars. Those political prisoners make excellent luthiers, it turns out.

Me, I'm still playing my Les Paul. There is no substitute for perfection, ya know.

You know what would be awesome? If freaking magazines and newspapers didnt take the PR directly from the manufacturer/service provider and put it up, unadulterated. Even MENTIONING First Act Farking Guitars in a music article kills any credibility.

Airstream > Volkswagen


/own the guitar, not the trailer.
//at least it's a Gibson (well, Gibson Epi anyways)

Nice to see the collective ignorance of the people in this thread.

Yes, First Act sells inexpensive, Chinese-made guitars through WalMart and other big-box retailers, but they also have a full line of custom and limited edition guitars created at their custom shop in Boston. They have created custom axes for numerous artists in bands like Franz Ferdinand, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. These guys are good and make great instruments.

You can read a lot more on their website: www.firstact.com (pops).

Or you can just stay in your "WalMart/ISO" world and have no clue about the real world out there.

LOL FIRST ACT LOL OMFG LOL. Actually that guitar is darn sexy. wtf?

jackandblue
Yes, First Act sells inexpensive, Chinese-made guitars through WalMart and other big-box retailers, but they also have a full line of custom and limited edition guitars created at their custom shop in Boston. They have created custom axes for numerous artists in bands like Franz Ferdinand, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and more. These guys are good and make great instruments.

And which guitars do you think they are giving away FREE with new VWs? The custom, hand-made ones, or the Chinese sweatshop ones?

TommyymmoT
Really? Because I just so happen to have a silvertone right here.

jackandblue

Or you can just stay in your "WalMart/ISO" world and have no clue about the real world out there.

Or you can recognize the real damage that First Act and ISO brands like it have done to budding school musicians who buy a Wal-Mart horn that is completely out of tune with itself, gives them a terrible disadvantage right out of the gate when they need a decently dependable instrument the most, breaks down within weeks and is made so cheaply with pot metal keys and valves and shoddy millwork that no instrument technician will repair it.

I'm a clarinetist in my community chamber orchestra. The cheap Chinese clarinets I've played, without exception, have uneven intonation in each register and a weird tactile feel that screams crummy workmanship. Meanwhile eBay is lousy with good ol' dependable Bundy and Vito and Yamaha clarinets that cost less, can be repaired by any technician, and won't steer you wrong when you're just starting out. Other instrument players I know report similarities between their established horn maker and First Act and like brands. And the many band directors I know (including a nephew of mine) tell me every year they're flooded with kids who show up with these things and are overwhelmed with trying to manage the inherent problems these instruments have with intonation and balance and tone.

And you know what really gets me? With all of Wal-Mart's power and influence to make deals, why'd they pick First Act to distribute instead of hooking up with reputable (and, I might add, American) manufacturers like Conn-Selmer? They could get prices near First Act levels AND sell a decent product. Everybody would win. Heck, maybe they tried, but I don't understand why such a deal couldn't be worked out.

Glad to hear First Act has a decent custom guitar line. Do those artists actually play them or do they just endorse them? Can't speak for guitarists, but I do know that Stanley Drucker (longtime principal clarinetist with the NY Philharmonic) once endorsed Leblanc clarinets but has always actually played Buffet instruments.

ccguy:

First, a quick disclaimer: Although I do not work for them (cue the "I work for" cliche), I talk regularly with a First Act employee. Take that as you will, either that I am biased or that I have extensive knowledge of the company.

I understand completely what you're saying and I felt the same way a few years ago. I'm a former band director who worked in the school music business for 11 years, and I and our local band directors and repair techs justifiably despised the Chinese instruments. They were total pieces of crap that only impeded the progress of students and musicians around the country.

But within the last 3 years or so, First Act has made a concerted and successful effort to improve the quality of their band instruments and their customer service department. They hired a head warranty technician from a prominent US retailer, improved the quality control in their Chinese factories, redesigned their cases to better protect the instruments, designed and included some great user guides in every instrument, and much more. The First Act instruments that you remember from 4-5 years ago are not the same as the instruments today.

They have also established a network of authorized warranty technicians around the country (I think they're well over 200 now), which was also a problem in the past.

Now I'm not saying that there aren't crap Chinese instruments out there, I'm just saying that First Act has made a serious effort to rise above that low standard and manufacture a quality, affordable instrument that will help kids get involved in music that otherwise couldn't afford to do so.

One side note: While visiting the manufacturing facility in China that was making the First Act trumpet, my friend noticed that a Conn-Selmer trumpet was being manufactured at the next assembly line over. So the line between First Act and the "American" manufacturers is a little blurrier than we think.

As I said, I understand and respect your opinion, and would have agreed with you a few years ago. But my opinion has changed towards First Act, and I think they deserve another look from the musicians out there.

Points taken. You obviously know more about the inner workings of First Act than I do. Still, just as you may have a bias in favor of the company, I have one against them that'll take a lot of work to overcome.

In addition to my local chamber orchestra, I play in several other community groups (total music geek am I, the consequences of never taking up golf or fishing and turning to the clarinet as my hobby). My most vivid encounter with the ISO line goes as such: my city has a particular music store that caters to a lot of people on the poorer side of town -- they sell good stuff alongside a wide selection of ISO's. One group I played in was a patriotic ensemble associated with a local VFW post and made up mostly of veterans (I'm not, but they needed a decent clarinet player so they called me). One day a sweet old man showed up to rehearsal. He'd been dreaming of playing the clarinet all his life and finally scraped enough money together to get a horn and take it up. Of course, his axe was a CSO of some bizarre make bought from said music store. I tried out the horn and, oh man, did it suck. I gave him some embouchure pointers, showed him a few basic fingerings, and then left rehearsal that night knowing the poor guy was dead before he even hit the beach. That just made me mad. The guy saved money for Lord knows how long, and this is what he got in return for it.

These makers aren't interested at all in helping you realize your dream of playing an instrument. When you buy one, you'll eventually have two choices -- either you get good enough at it that you're forced to upgrade to an instrument that can keep up with you for a reasonable stretch of time, or you're so discouraged that you quit altogether and are stuck with an instrument that has zero resale value.

I'll trust your word that First Act is making an effort to improve, but as long as other reputable choices are available at a reasonable cost, I won't be recommending them.

Giving a kid a shiatty instrument to learn to play is like putting them on the track team with flip flops.