Quote :

"It's the guitar equivalent of learning to drive on a manual. Sort of."

or batting with a donut.

10/20/2007 12:52:38 PM

Well, I learned to drive in an automatic, and I never played baseball, but I guess I'll stick with the acoustic for now, since I can't decide what I want to buy anyway.

10/20/2007 1:04:49 PM

Um... don't waste time/fustration learning to play on acoustic if you don't plan on playing acoustic.

Acoustics are harder to play, but its still different to play an electric even after you've learned on acoustic. If you just want to learn how to play electric get an electric.

10/22/2007 1:56:42 PM

Quote :

"What about Korean Telecasters?"

Whoever said they were fine was right. Even with American Strats/Teles, there are often problems with the frets/necks. I wont' say that its prevelant, but its enough to make you wonder if the extra $$ is worth the "Made in the U.S.A." print on the headstock.



LEARNING TO PLAY:
the benefits of playing acoustic:
first and foremost, you can play it by yourself and it doesn't sound weak or as if its missing something. you're not always going to be able to play with a band, but you might want to play for someone/open mic or something like that. Being able to play as well as having an acoustic will be beneficial for these things.

playing acoustic, particularly by yourself, will make you more creative at song presentation. you'll have to rework song composition to account for lack of full arrangement.

playing acoustic is in some ways harder, however, they are fundamentally the same. knowing a song on the acoustic means that you will be able to play it on the electric, and probably be able to do it better.

Drawbacks of an acoustic:
You can't turn it down, only play it softer. if you have a particularly loud acoustic, you may find your neighbors/roomates getting tired of you.

They're also expensive to have as a second guitar. If you were to start a band tomorrow, and could only afford 1 guitar, i'd advise getting an electric 1st. I would still say that an acoustic should be your second guitar and after that.. you can build your arsenal of electric axes, or whatever heavy metal/hard rockers call them nowadays.

ON ELECTRICS:
As mentioned, you will find that it doesn't sound 'complete' to play a stand alone electric most of the time. there are exceptions (for example, jeff buckley's live at sin-e was played with a telecaster and no backing band), however, not many.

Also, you'll be making 2 purchases up front instead of 1. electrics require an amp, and if you get a shitty one, you'll be rewarded with shitty sound and probably end up not wanting to play it. a 1000 guitar through a 50 dollar amp will always sound worse than a 200 dollar guitar in 600 dollar amp. spend your money wisely. good musicians will sweat your amp as much or more than they will your guitar.


Good first guitars:
I've owned a Taylor acoustic for many years now, and because of expense, i don't recommend you get one until you're sure you'll stick with it. However, there are good alternatives.

Takanemie? is that how you spell it? they make fine guitars, even if they're impossible to spell. to solve this problem, call your friends to tell them what you just bought instead of typing to them.
For a good acoustic, i wouldn't spend less than 400 bucks. you'll get what you pay for.

as electrics go, great first guitars are often fenders, in either the strat or tele form. Telecasters have a thin sound, are squarer in shape (not quite as comfortable on your strumming arm) and have general better use in either country or garage rock/soul applications.

Strats have a hotter/fatter sound and are used more generically, but there is good reason for this. the right amp is key to have a great sounding strat.

as far as amps go, fender will probably get the nod from me. A blues deluxe with one 12 inch speaker will sound awesome, but is a little pricey. you can probably find one new for around 600, while used models will sell for less. I think that its a good idea to get used amps, if you can hear them/try them out first, just because the cosmetics will never make one amp better than another. i'll take most any beat up Vox AC-30 over any brand new peavy amp.



Summary:
Don't rule out acoustics
Good 1st/2nd guitars:
Takaneime Acoustics(Sp?)
Fender Mexican/japanese Strat (fat/hot sound)
Fender mexican/jap telecaster (thin sound)
Epiphone Les Paul (metal and hard rock as well as 50s, but nobody plays that)
Epiphone Casino/Dot (for beatlesy kind of music)

Great Amps:
Vox AC-30 (expensive, but well worth it ~ $1000)
Fender Blues Deluxe (~$600)
Orange Amps (also expensive)

For clearer sounds i would avoid peavey, even though the price is right.

as far as acoustics go, if you don't see the value, don't start playing. you'll either not contribute any thing worthwile to the musical catelouge, or you'll find that you go for periods of not playing your electric that are long enough to eventually let it start collecting dust in the corner.

10/22/2007 3:29:32 PM

I concur with pretty much all of that.

Another good option for budget acoustics that are worth the money is Seagull. They're handmade in Canada, and they have a number of models that are modestly appointed to keep the cost down, but still sound wonderful.

The one thing I would suggest when looking for an electric is, if possible, to take along someone who knows guitars when you go shopping. I have played a number of Korean Epiphones and Teles that are great guitars, but there are some stinkers in the bunch, too. There are also cost-cutting measures that exist in all budget electrics that you'll have to consider...Epiphones almost universally need their tuning heads replaced if you're going to be doing any heavy duty playing, and their pickups are pretty soulless.

I must say at this point that in certain form- and function-factors, there are better values than Korean guitars. For a number of years, Gibson made a Melody Maker at their Nashville factory that was essentially a Les Paul Junior (one volume and one tone control on an American P-90, the greatest electric guitar pickup of all time), and you can still find them for less than $300 brand new without a case.

Also, if you're looking at any of the Epiphone archtops (Dot/Sheraton/Casino), you'll probably have your eye drawn by the Ibanez archtops in the same price range. I'd say to avoid these like the plague, because while they're not bad guitars, they're not any better or cheaper than a comparable Epiphone and they have the unfortunate design flaw of being rock 'n' roll archtops with an inexplicable jazz-style wooden bridge, which is just hell on intonation and quick string changes.

10/22/2007 4:22:46 PM

I can say pretty unequivocally that I won't have $600 to drop on an amp anytime soon.

Anybody have opinions on the Orange Crush series?

10/22/2007 4:50:59 PM

you dont need to be dropping 600 bucks on any amp (especially a combo - well unless its a nice fender or orange) if youre just starting. i agree with what they are saying quite a bit, but i think he was just throwing numbers out there.

[Edited on October 22, 2007 at 4:52 PM. Reason : ]

10/22/2007 4:51:51 PM

^^^^awesome post. So what decent amp should I get if I am going for a Mexi strat / tele ?? Ideally not more than 150 bucks.

[Edited on October 22, 2007 at 5:22 PM. Reason : .]

10/22/2007 5:22:04 PM

someone else may be able to better guide as to what makes a good low end amp these days. I had a fender princeton chorus (about 400 bucks when i bought it) and though it sounds good, its lacking in quality... plastic parts , ect.

gererally fender makes a pretty good amp, but i think the best advice is to go listen to as many amps as possible and try different guitars on each one. though nearly indestructable and cheap, peavey isn't high on my list. like the ibanez, you'll be tempted, but i think they sound flat and aren't very responsive, but maybe thats me.

it would be awesome for you to find a tube fender amp at a guitar store somewhere. tube amps deliver the most warmth and are generally capable of delivering more sound with less power. for example, my princeton chorus is a transistor amp, 125 watts. 45 watts of tube amp will destroy it in the volume category.

has anyone played crate amps in a while? last i tried one, i liked it, but its been forever since i've used one.

my personal set up:
Guitars:
Epiphone Supernova (metallic blue)
Parker Nitefly (sunburst)
Taylor CE-10 Dreadnaught
69 Fender Telecaster Reissue
half of a 2006 White Telecaster. I bought it on ebay, it has no neck, but i'm going to order a custom strat neck from warmoth.
Custom Fender Stratocaster (20+ years old, custom warmoth neck, vintage noiseless pickups, white-vintage creme at this point, with white pickgaurd)

Amps:
Vox AC-30 (2x12)
Fender Princeton Chorus (2x10)
Mesa Boogie 4x12 cabinet (FOR SALE)


I agree about the Ibanez guitars. They're attractive enough on the shelf, but my experience is that they make some solid instruments as well as some real crap, and there's no way to distinguish other than going over it with a fine tooth comb. same goes for washburn.


Does anyone own a schecter guitar? they're big in the modern rock circles, sharp looks, mid level price, but i don't have any experience with them.

10/22/2007 5:57:33 PM

yea Ibanez is real weird. They have some specific models/series that are just phenomenal (JEMs, high end Ss, JS, high end RGs, etc) ESPECIALLY if you get Japan made ones-some of the finest quality ive ever seen in mass produced guitars.

But over the past few years when a lot of them have been made in Korea for lower labor costs etc. its real hit or miss on some RGs and Ss etc that have generally had good craftmanship over the years.

They also make some good straight Jazz guitars.

Ibanez is my favorite brand because for what I mainly do they make my favorite guitars, but Ibanez's low end models are generally really bad imho.

[Edited on October 22, 2007 at 6:08 PM. Reason : ]

10/22/2007 6:08:20 PM

I need a good single coil pickup. i decided im going to hookup the middle pickup in my guitar anyways even tho i wont use it that much. But I might as well put something interesting in there and who knows I might like it.

I already have my favorite metal pickups in the neck and bridge position. so maybe something with a totally different sound just to add diversity to the guitar.

maybe something jazzy, or really great for clean or just slightly distorted playing would be ideal.

thanks!

[Edited on October 23, 2007 at 11:23 AM. Reason : ]

10/23/2007 11:10:28 AM

Seymour Duncan Hotrails.



http://www.kyowashokai.co.jp/caparison-eng/e-discon/05dellinger-ca.html
okay i'm completely biased to caparison's and amott's sound.

I've got Caparison's pickups in my Neck/Bridge and a Hotrails in the mid.
1 Neck Humbucker
2 Neck Single
3 Neck Split Mid
4 Mid
5 Bridge Humbucker

[Edited on October 23, 2007 at 12:32 PM. Reason : ]

10/23/2007 12:27:48 PM

IBANEZ


As for ibanez, as long as you get one with an OriginalEdge/EdgePro/LoPro bridge it should be fine assuming you replace the pickups. Those bridges cost around $240 so factor that into the price if you aren't sure. Edge3's LoTRS are shitty bridges that don't float properly, and if you're getting a guitar without a floating trem then honestly i wouldn't go ibanez unless you're getting one of their semi hollow guitars.

I would avoid getting a JEM they are incredibly overpriced. They're no different than Ibanez Prestiges with 4 scalloped frets and wood removed from the body.

10/23/2007 1:21:55 PM

yea ive never even had a middle pickup in one of my metal guitars. Trying to decide what I would use it for, and what kind of sounds I could get out of it.

I might seriously look into that duncan.

[Edited on October 23, 2007 at 2:08 PM. Reason : ]

10/23/2007 1:47:30 PM

ah too late to edit. only problem being i dont know what kind of clean sound id be getting with two zw emgs and the hot rails.

10/23/2007 2:36:04 PM

I don't know how you feel about opening up the rout a little, but I'd put a P-90 in there. I know I'm a P-90 honk and all, but they really are amazing pickups. They'll snarl like nobody's business when overdriven (think "Won't Get Fooled Again," even though the studio version of that is a Gretsch), but they'll also jangle or pop nicely for rhythm playing, and they clean up wonderfully even with a ton of drive if you roll the volume back to 4-5. I'm also a big fan of a P-90 with the volume and tone both rolled back to 7...it's a completely different sound than the pickup run full blast, but it's just as rich and the pick dynamics stay intact.

10/23/2007 3:50:16 PM

^^ oh right... SD are passive. So you might not get as much voicing out of it compared to your other pickups. I'm not a huge fan of mid pickups which is why i had mine wired the way it is. I can't speak on EMG, but i like the way the Caparison's Neck Humbucker sounds split even though again theres a difference in voicing levels.

I also only really use the neck and bridge full in clean. It shouldn't be hard to find someone playing Hotrails or a guitar in a guitarshop with hotrails, its one of their most popular single coil pickups.

10/23/2007 4:25:56 PM

^^ thanks ill have to check it out.

^right. my other ibanez i use for this band just has H-H and I generally use the bridge position for most of the stuff with the neck position for some leads and arpeggios up high on the neck. (the mix selection is kind of muddy for some reason on that specific guitar). So honestly I havent messed with different pickups that often and when to utilize the different pickups on my own guitar -its one area of gear and setup I am not very knowledgeable on.

10/23/2007 4:54:18 PM

my 91 RG550 is the ONLY ibanez i've ever played that i was satisfied with the pickups compared to its price, value and age and i still replaced them.

[Edited on October 23, 2007 at 5:23 PM. Reason : forgot 3 words.]

10/23/2007 5:22:52 PM

anyone interested in buying a fender jazz bass (4 string)

10/25/2007 7:24:18 PM

So I'm a relatively new acoustic player having some problems, if you guys could throw any tips my way I'd appreciate it. A friend gave me her acoustic because she was never playing it and I was interested in learning how to play. It's a lower-end Ibanez (PC-5 to be exact) model from a few years ago. It's barely used and in great shape, no bowing or bending or anything like that. So I slapped some new strings on the thing and tuned it. The problem is it seems like I have to press overly hard on the strings to not get any buzzing so it's difficult to get chords to ring out smoothly. It doesn't seem like the action is all that high, but then again I haven't had any real means for comparison. Is this just something that will go away as I practice and my fingers get stronger or do I need to do something to adjust the action?

10/25/2007 9:47:42 PM

honestly its probably a combination of both. take some pics from the perspective of the fret board (preferably 12th -21st+ fret) to let us see how high the action is.

Got my new guitar back from being worked on. I took tons of high res pictures with a friend's camera, but since I dont want to bore you on here (since im sure no one really cares haha) I just resized a handful of them down to post anyways:





I love the way the wood finish + the clearcoat react differently to different lights and at different angles to kind of change the color of the guitar. Its not as thin as an oil stained S series but oh well ill get one of those farther down the road. Its a SUPER thin guitar...the side picture is deceiving because it curves out over the middle of the guitar and is thinner on the edges. And the neck sits amazing on the body - with just the binding above the top of the body for the most part.


[Edited on October 29, 2007 at 6:25 PM. Reason : ]

10/29/2007 6:24:23 PM

Quote :

"The one thing I would suggest when looking for an electric is, if possible, to take along someone who knows guitars when you go shopping."

A+ advice

i've done this for friends (regarding bass guitars)
salesmen will try to rape you if they dont think you know what you're doing

10/29/2007 6:36:26 PM

^very true

10/29/2007 6:36:56 PM

anyone been to indoor storm?

10/29/2007 10:07:45 PM

I played a MIM Joe Strummer Tele the other day, and it's one of the best-sounding new Teles I've heard in years. The pickups are bright and responsive and and neck is a dream. Too bad I'm not spending $900 on a Mexican Tele.

11/12/2007 10:19:27 AM

my new toy....Plays great anybody had any experience w/ epiphones?

this thing is a beauty

11/30/2007 12:41:26 AM

^my roomate has an epiphone. I know nothing about it, but hes had it for well over a year now, and it sounds pretty much amazing.

11/30/2007 1:27:16 AM

I don't know if those are real Grovers or lookalikes, but if they're not the real deal you'll probably want to replace them eventually. Epiphones are great guitars for the money, but their weak points are the tuning heads and the electronics (specifically muddy/microphonic pickups). Still, most of them play great and pickups/tuners are easy to replace.

11/30/2007 4:28:18 AM

29.
Frets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV8wXoj_RKE


not a caparison sadly.

12/6/2007 3:00:59 AM

haha, i didn't know he put p-94s in there. I would like to play one of these.

bah, it clipped the picture. go here
http://epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=274&CollectionID=1

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 6:19 AM. Reason : .]

12/6/2007 6:18:59 AM

Humbuckers are for losers.

There's a company called GFS that makes Danelectro lipstick tubes that will fit in the bridge slot of a Tele...I'm grabbing one of those next.

12/6/2007 9:09:20 AM

hey
watch what you say about humbuckers

12/6/2007 6:33:39 PM

<3

12/6/2007 6:39:04 PM

I'm about to cry.

i missed
http://tinyurl.com/2flp86


replace the pickups and that thing would RAPE.

[Edited on December 14, 2007 at 10:57 PM. Reason : replace]

12/14/2007 10:56:43 PM

Whatever. A fretless guitar is like an ovenless woman.

AMIRITE?!?!?!

12/15/2007 12:10:35 AM

want

http://www.gibson.com/robotguitar/

12/15/2007 2:55:57 PM

anybody know about installing humbuckers? I got a new set for a christmas gift, and I wanted to try and put em in myself. just wondering how hard it will be; or if I should just take it to a shop.

12/26/2007 11:26:51 PM

There's no reason not to try...even if you fuck up, you can just clip a bit of wire off and take it to a shop. If you've never done any soldering or electronics work, though, it might be worth the frustration to just take it to a shop. Getting all the connections right (and stable) on the pots and switches can be a bitch.

12/27/2007 12:39:41 AM

my new toy, gibson CS-336, bought at a boutique in atlanta, had it all set up nicely. I'll be an ass and post some actual pictures when i get a chance.

12/27/2007 1:22:26 PM

me and my dad just built an amazing tele. we bought the body and neck of ebay and all the pickups and wires at this local store. it sounds amazing. it was pretty easy to build too.

12/28/2007 12:17:07 AM

^^ I am jealous of your guitar even though I am a bass guy. I have been wanting to beef up my arsenal with a decent electric guitar since I have a crappy Squire that I got from a friend for $50. The guitar sounds so bad that not even my friends Marshall AVT half stack can make it sound good (and I am even packing a Roland JC-120). I have been leaning towards something that isn't Fender related since I already own a J-bass and acoustic/electric. My spending limit is $750 and I was wondering about either an Ibanez or PRS any ideas?

12/28/2007 4:37:35 AM

ephiphone makes some good guitars, and ibanez you can do for 750, but if you want a PRS for that kind of money, better start looking in the used section on ebay, those things can get pricey.

[Edited on December 28, 2007 at 11:04 AM. Reason : oh and thanks]

12/28/2007 11:04:21 AM

My Gibson Les Paul, awesome '60 Marshall 18watt clone i built, Fender Jbass clone from rondomusic, and Gibson acoustic have all sat untouched for almost 2 years now.

isnt that weird? I used to play all the damn time. played in a band for 2-3 years in college. messed w/ recording and producing, and poof. its gone. *shrug*

12/28/2007 5:23:50 PM

The Boss plays a Telecaster. Therefore, I play a Telecaster.

12/29/2007 12:10:08 PM

Quote :

"if you want a PRS for that kind of money, better start looking in the used section on ebay, those things can get pricey."

Depends. The PRS "SE" series runs more like $500-$600 new.

They're not quite the same quality as a traditional PRS, of course.

12/29/2007 12:28:08 PM

I know I all too often use this thread to pimp my own shit, but this is now for sale:



'97 Epiphone Sorrento w/ hard case, PM for details

12/29/2007 3:20:39 PM

^nice

Quote :

"my new toy, gibson CS-336, bought at a boutique in atlanta, had it all set up nicely. I'll be an ass and post some actual pictures when i get a chance."

i like the color.

12/30/2007 2:00:11 AM

My moms got me a Fuzz Factory for Christmas.

12/30/2007 9:50:08 AM

^ Niiiiiiiice. What number is it? I'm just curious as to how many he's made since I got mine way back when.

12/30/2007 1:23:07 PM