need advice on purchase (blues, jazz, metal, albums, American)

joyboyo53 · 07-06-2007, 08:38 AM

i will have somewhere in the range of $1k to spend and i want to make a solid choice. right now i have like $300-$350 ibanez electric and yamaha acoustic. i dont really care for either of them. i recently went to the store and was suprised at how much better i sounded on a nicer guitar... it was so much easier to play. im open to getting either acoustic or electric, although i think i am leaning towards electric. since i usually only play by myself and dont goto the guitar shop often i really dont know that much about what guitar gives what sound and what is ****ty and what is good. some advice please.

2 things i know i dont want is the generic STRAT or a death metal guitar.

boo boo · 07-06-2007, 10:26 AM

SGs are real quality but affordable guitars for those who want a good heavy sound, they can go as cheap as $200 at Guitar Center, thats not a deal I would pass up.

Epiphone make the best guitars for cheap, I don't know about you, but I love archtops, which are perfect if you want more of a Blues/Jazz sound and Guitar Center have some fine archtops as well, Gibson and Epiphone make the finest archtops, though Gibsons are incredibly expensive, so for something cheap I would go with an Epiphone Dot, or an ES-175, my personal favorite guitar model.

right-track · 07-06-2007, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgd85

i recently went to the store and was suprised at how much better i sounded on a nicer guitar... it was so much easier to play...

... since i usually only play by myself and dont goto the guitar shop often i really dont know that much about what guitar gives what sound and what is ****ty and what is good. some advice please.

Solid advice.
Go to the guitar shop more often and test play as many guitars as you want within your price range.

Only this way will you find a guitar that suits you and the sound you are looking for. Take into consideration the width of the neck and how it suits your hand size. One of the reasons you may have sounded better was probably because the guitar you tried was better suited to you.
Don't be put of by Yamaha, their higher price generic electric guitars are every bit as good as the big name originals ie; Fender/Gibson and at a fraction of the cost.

If you find an expensive guitar that is out of your price range and feels so much better than any other...wait and save up the extra money to buy it.

If it's a Fender or a Gibson it will retain a good price and will be easier to sell on should you ever want to in the future.

joyboyo53 · 07-06-2007, 02:44 PM

im left-handed so its hard to try alot of the instruments.. thats why i was wondering which guitars are known for which sounds.

boo boo · 07-06-2007, 03:16 PM

Left handed archtops at guitar center, I'm telling ya.

Archtops > Solid bodies.

Sodacake · 07-07-2007, 03:43 AM

Don't you mean Semi-Hollow > Solid Bodies?

Archtops can be solid-bodied too, Boo Boo. And what are you talking about? Epiphone by FAR don't make the best cheap guitars.

JGD, Search on Ebay for Edwards guitars. They make Les Paul's just as good as Gibson do but the production quality is probably better and the LP's are way cheaper plus you'll get supercharged Seymour Duncan pickups in the guitar.

anticipation · 07-07-2007, 01:29 PM

Washburn or Martin make the best acoustic guitars today, though in the past companies such as Kay made better ones. For a lefty, a good semi-acoustic guitar is the '59 Danelectro, which only run for about $350

boo boo · 07-07-2007, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sodacake

Don't you mean Semi-Hollow > Solid Bodies?

Archtops can be solid-bodied too, Boo Boo. And what are you talking about? Epiphone by FAR don't make the best cheap guitars.

Most of them are hollow bodies or semo-hollows, and in terminolgy "archtop" generally refers to the ones that are hollow or semi-hollow, those are the ones with the best tones anyway. I could care less about a solid body archtop.

Epiphones are not as quality as Gibsons, but they are the closest thing to them in authenticy, obviously because Epiphone itself is owned by Gibson.

As for Edwards guitars, I didn't have cheap imports in mind, because they are nearly impossible to find. And I have absolutely no trust in eBay.

Overall though, Right Track has the best advice, see if you have a local Guitar Center and just see what they got.

Because if you take Brians advice over everyone elses I will have to kill you.

Sodacake · 07-07-2007, 04:22 PM

What the hell is wrong with my advice? Epiphone make terrible low end instruments. I wasted my money on my guitar. And Edwards are hardly cheap imports in the traditional sense. They're Japanese made guitars owned by ESP. Mid-High end Japanese guitars are almost if not just as good as American made guitars. God you're a moron.

Also, I never told him to BUY a guitar on Ebay. I just told him to check them out because Edwards' site is in Japanese and there are a lot of Edwards guitars on Ebay Stores so he can look at them.

boo boo · 07-07-2007, 04:50 PM

Epiphones terrible low end instruments my ass. My brother owns an Epiphone Explorer, and it's one of the finest solid bodies I have ever played. And their ES guitars are top of the line. I have had the pleasure of playing some of them as well.

If its made in Japan and its cheap, its a cheap import. ESP guitars aren't very good either. They make mediocre Fender/Gibson knockoffs for crappy metal bands. And jgd85 said thats not what he wanted.

Also, aren't you a Joe Pass fan? The Epiphone Emperor is his signature model.

Me. 1
You. 0

07-06-2007, 08:38 AM	#1 (permalink)
joyboyo53 down the rabbit hole Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: the mountain called monkey Posts: 764	need advice on purchase i will have somewhere in the range of $1k to spend and i want to make a solid choice. right now i have like $300-$350 ibanez electric and yamaha acoustic. i dont really care for either of them. i recently went to the store and was suprised at how much better i sounded on a nicer guitar... it was so much easier to play. im open to getting either acoustic or electric, although i think i am leaning towards electric. since i usually only play by myself and dont goto the guitar shop often i really dont know that much about what guitar gives what sound and what is ****ty and what is good. some advice please. 2 things i know i dont want is the generic STRAT or a death metal guitar.

07-06-2007, 02:44 PM	#4 (permalink)
joyboyo53 down the rabbit hole Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: the mountain called monkey Posts: 764	im left-handed so its hard to try alot of the instruments.. thats why i was wondering which guitars are known for which sounds.

07-07-2007, 03:43 AM	#6 (permalink)
Sodacake Music Addict Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 344	Don't you mean Semi-Hollow > Solid Bodies? Archtops can be solid-bodied too, Boo Boo. And what are you talking about? Epiphone by FAR don't make the best cheap guitars. JGD, Search on Ebay for Edwards guitars. They make Les Paul's just as good as Gibson do but the production quality is probably better and the LP's are way cheaper plus you'll get supercharged Seymour Duncan pickups in the guitar.

07-07-2007, 01:29 PM	#7 (permalink)
anticipation Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 3,565	Washburn or Martin make the best acoustic guitars today, though in the past companies such as Kay made better ones. For a lefty, a good semi-acoustic guitar is the '59 Danelectro, which only run for about $350

07-07-2007, 04:22 PM	#9 (permalink)
Sodacake Music Addict Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 344	What the hell is wrong with my advice? Epiphone make terrible low end instruments. I wasted my money on my guitar. And Edwards are hardly cheap imports in the traditional sense. They're Japanese made guitars owned by ESP. Mid-High end Japanese guitars are almost if not just as good as American made guitars. God you're a moron. Also, I never told him to BUY a guitar on Ebay. I just told him to check them out because Edwards' site is in Japanese and there are a lot of Edwards guitars on Ebay Stores so he can look at them.