Looking for electric guitar advice
 

I'm looking to upgrade my guitar, but I'm not even sure where to start. I'm new to this game, so when somebody starts throwing out different pickup names and the like- I get lost.

I currently have a Jackson electric, which was purchased 6 years ago solely because it was 50% off and I was told it was a nice entry guitar for beginners. I've played sporadically over that time, never really giving my ax the attention it deserved. I'd classify myself as entering into the world of intermediate guitar.

Anyway, I'm ready to spend some more time at this, and I'm ready for an upgrade. What do I like to play? I mostly enjoy classic rock, and modern blues rock - see: The Black Keys. What kinds of guitars suit these styles? What primary difference in sound am I going to hear from a hollow-body vs. solid?

My price range is under $1000. The cheaper the better, but I won't sacrifice quality just for the sake of cost.

I've been recommended:

-Gibson Dot (for bluesy stuff - $665 listed)
-Les Paul Standard ($832 listed)

I've also looked at these guys online: Gibson G-400, Ibanez AR300, Gibson ES-175, Fender Telecaster.... but, like I said, I don't know the difference and how each would apply to my style.

So, to cut this short.... please let me know your thoughts on any of the above guitars, and also any others you might recommend based off what I've said above. I'd really appreciate the insight and guidance. I'll use the information to go to a local guitar shop, pick up some models, and give them a try-- but I need a jumping off point. Thanks!

http://www.musicbanter.com/talk-inst...on-guitar.html

That should tell you enough to warn you away from Gibson (and fender to an extent)

THe primary difference in sound from hollow bodies to solid is that hollow bodies have a woolier lower end that isn't as defined. On the other hand, they generally have good clean tones and they have a nice percussive attack that suits some styles fantastically well.

From an 'all arounder' perspective, you'll want to go for a solid body. They're more ubiquitous and can generally do just about everything.

As for which guitar to go for, it sounds to me like Mr Dave may have more info for you than I do for now. Partially because right now I'm too tired to type up everything I know that might pertain to your choices, and partially because he works a lot more within your kind of style than I do. I can certainly add to his advice, but my approach to guitar has always been very shredding oriented.Partially because of my playing, partially because those instruments tend to be fantastically versatile overall.

Thanks for the information. I do not care whether or not my guitar is name brand, so it's good to know about Gibson. I also don't want to drop $1000 for a fukin' beater. I may steer clear if there are good alternatives. I've heard a lot of praise for the Les Paul, though; it seems like there is a big split, like a love it or hate it type of feeling. Somebody also just threw out Paul Reed Smith guitars, and looking at their site I love the models I see- very clean... but again, don't know the technical information.

Look forward to hearing from Senor Dave, and any other insight you have to offer.

Well if you play blues rock like you mentioned then a semi-hollow body would be perfect. THere tone is typically much warmer than that of say a Les Paul. Not only that but they sound great for pretty much any other style. The only downside is that usually there much heavier and if your playing a gig that will really bother you.

In the end though you have to decide, in that sound isnt EVERYTHING. You have to like how it looks ( I find the hollows are much more appealing), feels, plays and the most overlooked problem being the weight.

The dot is a great guitar, although there are many alternatives. And it I were you and I was going for a solid body Id stick with a Telecaster Custom or even a Signature Strat if your budget will allow it. Both great blues guitars, yet sound fantastic with some overdrive.

i've been rocking a mexican strat for over a decade now and it was fantastic for getting old school hendrix style tone and action back in the day. hell you might even be able to score a little marshall combo amp to round out the package just under your budget.

quite frankly i wouldn't bother with gibson at your price point. you might be able to find a few models for under a grand but it will likely be a limited selection with some sort of 'minor' defect. i'd look at higher end epiphones instead.

the epiphone dot guitars seem to have been gaining a lot of popularity lately. not really sure what the deal is with them, they're like a budget version of the gibson es-335. i would DEFINITELY try one out for your style.

epiphone also has a les paul model that would fit in your price range nicely that looks just as good as the real thing.

PRS guitars are really nice but the only one i've ever tried is my cousin's custom-22. let's put it this way, when he offered to sell it to me at the 'family price' of 2 grand last year i was seriously considering it until my job got outsourced to india. if their lower end models are made with the same quality and care as his, then you're laughing if you find one that sounds right to your ears.

ibanez has some nice hollowbodies too, haven't tried them but i really like the look of the artcore series. i'll let GB fill in the details on these.

and if those don't float your boat and you want something that looks pretty freaking unique take a look at eastwood guitars. Welcome to Eastwood® Guitars.com

one other thing to keep in mind is that hollow bodies have a reputation for causing the bad kind of feedback (as in the painful squealing kind) when pushed too far. you run into any issues like this rezz?

i like any bc rich

http://www.otherwhirled.com/wp-conte.../10/troll3.jpg

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Now playing on Winamp: Nobuo Uematsu - Celes
via FoxyTunes

I just buy Ibanez, but I don't play the same style as you, so I wouldn't recommend it.... Because honestly, apart from my acoustic, I couldn't imagine Blues anything coming out of an Ibanez.
My dad has a Mexican Strat. He's modded it a lot in the many years he's had it, but I do notice a sound to the Strat that lends itself more to Bluesy type stuff. The tone sounds at home in that area.

You might want to at least try out some Fender Strats in your local shop to see if you like the feel. Try them against any other guitars you have in mind. Let your ears and your hands do the deciding.

As far as pickups, you probably don't need actives, so just keep your sights in the passive department. (aka, no batteries in your pickups) Honestly, I can't recall ever seeing a Strat with active pickups anyway.
Seymore Duncan is usually pretty standard. If you get into EMG territory, you'll start paying.


Anyway, I hope I've helped a bit.
I'm not mainly an electric guitar player. Mostly acoustic. But I've thrown my dime in the pot so do with it what you will.

Good luck.
J.

actually most higher end strats (especially signature series) have active pickups, usually lace sensors. i like the stock factory pickups though, they sound rawer and lend themselves towards bluesy styles better.

Good Info, Dave.
As I said, I'm not an electric tar personality much. I learn something every day.

David Gilmour actually uses a set of EMG single coils too. They're excellent blues pickups. I don't like their humbuckers much though.

As for the ibanez stuff...they actually make some EXCELLENT classic rock guitars. Its just that, as you and I both know very well apparently, they carved out a niche for themselves as a rock and metal player and have stayed in that vein for the bulk of their lines. They're very versatile instruments even in that range, but the semi-hollows they make are fantastic.

This one for example, I would love to own, although the cocobolo topped version they were producing last year looked better to me. Ibanez :: Hollow Guitars :: AJD91

Its an EXCELLENT compromise between classic sensibility and modern advancement. Classic tonal structure and fixed bridge, classic style pickups etc. But in a better shape with a quick tune tailpiece, etc.

Great GREAT info guys! Appreciate it. Sounds like the Strat or Telecaster may be good fits, and they are definitely on my short list to try out now. I prefer a raw/gritty sound so I'll probably stick with the standard pickups.

Another question- Epiphone is a subsidiary of Gibson, have you guys found that customers have the same quality issues with Epiphone as they do with Gibson? They have some interesting guitars I'd like to try out, but much more affordable. I just stumbled upon the Epiphone BB King Lucille - which is a fukin' beautiful looking piece of work - and it's listed under $700. Are these just cheaper Gibsons, or do they have their own standard of quality?

Anyway, looks like the next step is to just try some of these out and see which one woos me. Strat, Tele, possibly Dot, PRS (if there are any in the price range), and now Lucilleeee.

Don't count out that ibanez I linked to. You may find that the more modern neck shapes fit you better than the oldschool thick necks. I certainly haven't looked back since I went to a thinner neck.

Oh, my bad... didn't even realize this thread had gone to a second page, so I didn't see your post. I'll definitely look into that as well.

yeah the ibanez artcore and artist series look quite nice

I can vouch for those Wizard II necks. Super fast, but that appeals to my style of playing. Not sure about the blues realm.

The Ibanez Artcore series are excellent guitars in any price range. I prefer the Artcore series, I've found, are much nicer to play than their guitars geared more towards the heavier rock style.

Yeah, but you think you own a £2000 MIK Jem, even though the only MIK Jems were the 555s, which sold for much less. I DID ask you in another thread for some details pertaining to that guitar because if I'm honest I think you're very mistaken about what you actually have.

Unfortunately I haven't had any reply to that post, so I'm slightly sceptical about your opinion on ibanez.

I've been too lazy to reply, actually. The Serial Number is C02060876 and on the back of the neck, just above the serial number, it says "JEM 7V WH".

Good luck with the guitar hunt.

There is a fundamental difference between single coil and humbucker pickups regards the tone they produce. If you go on wiki and read up on them, it`ll explain why...

This youtube video is pretty good for basic advice too...
YouTube - Strat Vs. Les Paul-style PRS

If you are still bamboozled by al this, i`d go into a good music shop (with a solemn pact with the devil that you will NOT buy anything on impulse) and try some axes that are within your budget.

Don`t forget the Amp you use makes a massive difference to the overall tone you get too! I`d recommend getting a terrific Clean channel valve Amp and then using good effects units to add distortion (if thats your thing).... the possibilities are endless, and whilst its confusing, its all part of the fun too. Enjoy the HUNT!

A simple google search for that serial number reveals a jemsite and ibanezcollectors thread discussing its status as a known fake serial, used on large numbers of fake chinese Ibanez guitars.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showpo...16&postcount=8
Ibanez Collectors World

Seems my assumptions were correct. You don't have a Japanese or even Korean guitar, its chinese and the reason it isn't playing like a £2k guitar is because its more like a £100/200 one.

Good thing I didn't buy it then, isn't it? And my opinion on the Ibanez solid body electric series isn't based solely on this guitar. I have played many of them (RG Series, SA/S Series, etc) but I just prefer the Artcore series for some reason.

preference is fine, i know the metal guitars aren't for everyone. I've never bagged on Dave for loving his fenders or anything like that, its just you tend to actively discourage people based on your own and you do so by stating your opinion as if its an incontrovertible fact rather than accepting the preferences of other players as valid.

If you had reasonable evidence then that would be fine, but as we've just seen, you were in fact mistaken on the one piece of hard evidence you presented, seeing as the thing you used initially and most prominently (And quite bitterly in fact) to back your opinion of ibanez as a company wasn't ibanez in the slightest.

You were also mistaken on a number of other bits of information I corrected previously, such as the USA custom shop. I'm aware I'm the resident Ibanez freak, and I'm aware I have a dislike of gibson to match (Although backed up by considerable evidence), but I'm more than willing to accept a better guitar for someone is a better guitar, such as in the case of daves love for fenders and matons which I would never play myself. i'm just trying to broaden the scope of this guys search because I know that a lot of traditional guitar companys offer the tone but not the ergonomics, and ibanez have tended to offer both to me.

Now can we check this and leave it at the door? You have almost a latent hostility towards ibanez purely because you aren't enamoured with their guitars, and by proxy towards me for defneding them as a company who are very good at offering specific things to specific people.

I don't come to this forum to engage in arguments about personal preference with someone less informed on the subject at hand than myself, and who is clearly pushing an agenda all their own rather than actually trying to help. We've derailed this thread long enough purely for the sake of me clearing the air of a few pieces of misinformation.

I wasn't trying to start any kind argument with you. I admit i was wrong about my particular "Ibanez" and obviously they have fooled other people so it's not incredibly surprising that I was. All I said was that I liked the Ibanez Artcore series more than the solid body series. You're the one who turned this into something between you and I. Not me.

He just got one bad one so he posted against Gibson due to bitterness

Most Gibsons are very nice and well-made. My band's guitarist has one as well as a distant relative.

However, I recommend testing out an Epiphone Les Paul before you spend a ton of money.

You can get one for around 400-500 dollars and then spend a little extra for some humbuckers or whatever pickups you want.

That's my two cents

How very presumptuous of you, who has 2 posts, and joined this month. I assume you know everything about me now, based on one negative comment towards Gibson?

However, you're wrong. I've never owned a Gibson. Know why? Because I've played enough of them to determine that their quality control is WAY below the Pricing. That includes my uncles, a friend who owned 2, and over a decade of hanging around in guitar shops trying whatever took my fancy.

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Now playing on Winamp: Porcupine Tree - Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
via FoxyTunes

Oh great, another uppity forum boy who judges people based on post count.

Don't condescend to me just because this is my first time on THIS particular music forum.

Yes, they're a bit overpriced, but my point still remains valid. If they weren't well-made, they wouldn't have any business, would they?

No, I'm judging you based on the fact you've been here a very short length of time, and haven't engaged in the community long enough to have any clue who I am or why I think what I think. Despite this you still felt yourself more than well enough informed to make assumptions on why I hold the opinion I just stated.

As for 'a bit overpriced', I mentioned I've played more than a few Gibsons. The Les Paul Studios my friend owned (Price near to a thousand pounds on GAK) were absolutely destroyed on all levels by not only my S2170FW (£799) but also in terms of playability and features, were beaten out by an RGT42DXFM (£439) another friend had recently purchased. It was also handily beaten by the Epiphone Zakk Wylde Signature a friend named Tim was very fond of playing at the time. (£599)

Thats not 'a little overpriced', thats just price gouging. The ONLY reason they can get away with it is because they're Gibson, and they have a reputation so HUGELY undeserved, that even non-guitarists are aware of them as a company, and as such they sell a huge amount of guitars to people who will either never play, or will never assume anything better is out there, and so will be happy with the medicre performance of their Gibsons, because they never see any need to upgrade to anything except another Gibson model.

And lets not even BEGIN to consider their more 'upmarket' guitars, like the GOTM series or the multitude of £4000+ models whose differences are largely cosmetic over the lower end models.


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Now playing on Winamp: Sal - Final Fantasy 10 Guardian's Sending OC ReMix
via FoxyTunes

actually if a new brand came out and started trying to sell electric guitars at gibson's prices with their current quality control they'd be laughed off the walls. not just by shredders either (i can't comment on their acoustics). gibson is surviving by name at the moment and i won't be surprised to see them ending up like fender after saturating the market with too much product and having to drop the prices on their name line.

the last time i checked out entry level gibsons they were nasty looking. if they can't get something as basic as the paint job right then i'm not confident in their ability to get anything more complicated right. doesn't change the fact that a '74 les paul is still BY FAR the most amazing guitar i've ever tried.

like you said, epiphones are just as nice and with an upgrade can sound just as good as a classic. except you can take home two or three for the price of a gibson.

either way, love them, hate them, play them, ignore them, it makes no real difference, a musician's sound has always and will always come from their heart.

And what Dave said.

Next time, focus on the actual argument as opposed to protecting your ego

Parts of post in bold are directly contradicting my earlier advice, based on your assumptions, which as i pointed out, were wrong.

I was therefore replying to THAT part of your post, which directly contradicted my own and therefore formed the second of the 2 different viewpoints necessary to have an 'argument'.

The second half addressed nothing of what I had said earlier, as it was a different company, therefore an argument on that point would have been impossible.

Since we have now established that the only argument possible, is in fact NOT the one you are claiming we have just had, I'm forced to conclude you're a ****ing idiot who just doesn't want to admit another opinion may well have some basis in fact despite its opposition to your OWN viewpoint.


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Now playing on Winamp: Nina Simone - Seems I'm Never Tried Lovin' You
via FoxyTunes

lol ur funny

this thread bores me now :wavey:

Trollllllllllllllllllllll

I recently picked THIS up after wanting a more modernized American strat. I got it new for $1200 (with the case) which is a bit out of your price range... but, if you're looking for a diverse guitar that is of high quality and not too expensive, it's worth checking out. The combo humbucker/single coil is sweet as it lends to more diversity in sound and you can hit the S1 switch and have all pickups activated at the same time for a pretty thick sound. The LSR roller nut is also a nice feature as you never have to worry about filing it down and it helps keep the guitar better in tune.

Overall it plays beautifully, no regrets.

so what happened to the Agile? wasn't is supposed to be 10 times the guitar for 1/10th the price? :p:


(btw that's one hella swanky Strat)

HA!!! I know... I always wanted a high quality American Strat that didn't put me into debt. The Agile still has possibilities down the line... but for now, I'm gonna play this guy for a while.

Originally I was going to go with the usual Deluxe Strat or maybe a signature artist strat but the guy at the store popped this into my hands and said he hates strats... but he loves this guitar. So I played it in rotation with all the other choices and I kept going back to that one as the one that sounded and felt better to me. The price has jumped since but I bet you can still find it for $1200 or maybe less someplace.

Oh, I forgot to mention.. as far as strats go (for anybody who cares) I believe this is the only one out there with a mahogany body.

buy a ukulele

I don't know how I feel about the idea of a strat with a mahogany body. When you pick up a strat, you expect it to sound a certain way. How does the sound differ from a regular strat?

I personally don't get anal about the wood a guitar is made from, I just mentioned that because some people (as yourself) care. It sounds great... I would think the mahogany body adds something (positive) to the sound... but again, I guess it depends on how you feel about mahogany body guitars. As far as it not having the classic strat sound... that was actually the idea when I went with this guitar. Compared to all the other "classic" strats in the store, this one felt more unique and sounded better (to me). It still has some characteristics of the classic strat but with a modernized make over, which I found appealing.