The Instrument Recommendation thread

[mr dave]

Originally Posted by RezZ

God bless Pawn Shops. I just saw my local one selling a mim Tele for 230 bucks.

yeah i had to pass on one of these a few years ago too. then again they were (and could get away with) asking the retail price since they've been off the market for years. Epiphone Nighthawk, they wanted $400.

[Stone Birds]

ok i need a REALLY cheap portable synth that i can just plug into my laptop and play, and i mean truly portable like less than 10 pounds portable.

[Dr_Rez]

Originally Posted by mr dave

yeah i had to pass on one of these a few years ago too. then again they were (and could get away with) asking the retail price since they've been off the market for years. Epiphone Nighthawk, they wanted $400.

Those are super cool guitars. I still cant imagine paying 400 at a pawn shop for it tho. I wonder if they sold it.

[crash_override]

I've never been a fan of pawn shops. They tend to be hustlers on both ends of the sale. I'd rather buy something from somewhere that I know what I'm getting for my money.

[Dr_Rez]

Originally Posted by crash_override

I've never been a fan of pawn shops. They tend to be hustlers on both ends of the sale. I'd rather buy something from somewhere that I know what I'm getting for my money.

While thats true, sometimes the pawn shop lets things go for less than they should because they dont know the rarity. I have seen a lot of out of production guitars and such for super cheap. Granted thats probably 1/10 times, the other 9 you get hustled.

[mr dave]

Originally Posted by Stone Birds

ok i need a REALLY cheap portable synth that i can just plug into my laptop and play, and i mean truly portable like less than 10 pounds portable.

do you just mean to use it for controlling some virtual synth software on your laptop? in that case a MIDI controller should work fine and you can get small 2 octave deals.

M-AUDIO - Oxygen 25 - 25-Key USB MIDI Controller

just under 4 pounds and just shy of $200.

@CO - you're definitely right in being wary of pawn shops. it's definitely a buyer beware market, but they're not all bad, especially if you find one that pride's itself on being family friendly, though at that point they usually don't call themselves 'pawn shops' anymore. i've been lucky that my pawn shop of choice is one of those family places, there are some legitimately sketchy spots in this town too. the catch-22 in this situation is that the nicer spots usually have non-crackhead staff that are actually somewhat knowledgeable about the products they deal with so the odds of super deals are non-existent, but fair prices abound.

@Rezz - i haven't been to the store in a while but i doubt it's still there i should try to pop in this weekend just to see what's in stock. actually i get 3 pays this month and therefore really REALLY should not hahaha

[Stone Birds]

Originally Posted by mr dave

do you just mean to use it for controlling some virtual synth software on your laptop? in that case a MIDI controller should work fine and you can get small 2 octave deals.

M-AUDIO - Oxygen 25 - 25-Key USB MIDI Controller

just under 4 pounds and just shy of $200.

@CO - you're definitely right in being wary of pawn shops. it's definitely a buyer beware market, but they're not all bad, especially if you find one that pride's itself on being family friendly, though at that point they usually don't call themselves 'pawn shops' anymore. i've been lucky that my pawn shop of choice is one of those family places, there are some legitimately sketchy spots in this town too. the catch-22 in this situation is that the nicer spots usually have non-crackhead staff that are actually somewhat knowledgeable about the products they deal with so the odds of super deals are non-existent, but fair prices abound.

@Rezz - i haven't been to the store in a while but i doubt it's still there i should try to pop in this weekend just to see what's in stock. actually i get 3 pays this month and therefore really REALLY should not hahaha

yep basically that's the type of thing i need to get, problem is "money" i'm definately going to have to save up for this, but hopefully i'll get a portable at some point

[Indigo_bill]

Any thoughts on PRS acoustics?

[thomasracer56]

Originally Posted by Stone Birds

i'm thinking about getting a trumpet not really looking for something of super-holy quality just something cheap and easy to play

I got: Bach 7C, works well enough, previously used 1 year, though it has a kinda small mouthpiece. a good trumpet model could be jupiter, a friend of mine's brother got a jupiter, and it's not too bad. mouthpiece was bigger, but the tone was a lot better. both trumpets are student models. i remember mine was $625, but i'm not sure about other.

[B0TCH]

Hello, I am new to this forum, in case you haven't looked at my post count, and I am going out today or soon, in the hopes of getting a new guitar. By new, I mean my first guitar, and by guitar, I mean cheap acoustic thing to learn on. Unfortunately I am seriously underfunded and have little more than $120. Even more unfortunate, $75 of that is for Best Buy. This doesn't bother me, since Best Buy stocks acoustic instruments, but I still have NO idea where to start. My question, could you rate this guitar as good or bad for a TOTAL newbie? If anything is negative about it, what should I get instead? I know, I have limited resources, but I really just want something to start with.

IDEALLY, I want something that I can play OLD Jimmy Eat World songs on, which are closer to punk (but a lot of them would sound good acoustic and slower I think). Anything from Smashing Pumpkins, Armor for Sleep, or even Nirvana would be awesome . I don't want "optimal" sound or anything, like I said, I just want to have SOMETHING that can play those songs, but I know very little about guitars and don't know how selective they are.

If you managed to read ALL that (or not), here are the specs:

Maestro by Gibson - 6-String Full-Size Acoustic Guitar
Full-size body
Black-finished spruce top with mahogany back and sides for full, deep bass and midrange tones
Steel strings for bright tone and easy playability
Rosewood fingerboard for solid feel and easy playing
Die-cast tuning machines for stability and accurate tuning
Guitar strap, picks, extra strings and DVD included

Not concerned about the DVD, I plan on using youtube and internet tutorials a lot anyways (and of course this site!) but I guess it could help. Sound good?

THANKS A MILLION GUYS !