A good starting Guitar (electric) - Page 3

DJ Fusion · 4th June 2008, 3:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabbytech

i still think Les Paul is the answer as it IS the most versatile imo. .

Like I asked last time you said this, can you at least explain to us this time why you think 2 buckers with a 3-way selector, a fixed bridge and a stumpy neck IS the most versatile configuration? In exactly what way is this setup more versatile than a H/S/H with 5-way selector and a trem?

crabbytech · 4th June 2008, 4:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spootmonkey

As a Les Paul player I couldn't disagree more.

well thats nice for you, but please explain. ;-P

the way i see it, les pauls are more like playing an acoustic guitar than a strat is, to me that fat C shape is ideal as it spreads distance between strings. Les Paul is good for metal, good for blues, good for jazz. not great for anything.

so why is it not the best all round guitar for a beginner, aside from weight, which to me is a poor reason.

spootmonkey · 4th June 2008, 4:27 PM

An RG is even less versatile, purely because you look like a moron playing anything but DragonForce on it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabbytech

well thats nice for you, but please explain.

For an awful lot of musical styles single coils just work better.

ChrisH · 4th June 2008, 4:29 PM

To be honest, a tremelo is NOT very useful as a beginner, because until you get used to using it you just simply detune the strings. Its a pain in the ass, and there was never a song when I was learning that required "tremelo" (wrong wording, leo's fault). Dives are jsut a pain in the ass.

Steer well clear of anything floyd rose, or the varients. If you must have "tremelo" get a string through style. (like the strats or a bigsby (which you couldnt afford anyway, because they dont put bigsby's on cheap guitars))

The BEST sounding gutiar I have ever played, but also the stupidest looking is my ESP LTD F-50. It was pretty expensive at the time (paid 700 or so in 2002?) Can get them for about 500 now. I overpaid, meh. But seriously, look at the EC-50. Its not a bad guitar if you want a better-than-an epiphone 'les paul' styled guitar. Guitarists get stuck into brand names, because somehow brand names mean good sounds and quality.

I think I am a brand name bitch, but in a way the opposite to the normal brand name bitch.

I say steer clear of:
Ashton acoustics and electrics, enticing price, crap everythign else (besides intrinsic electronic tuners in their acoustics)
OLP (poorly ported from music man, and its not clear whether you want a music man either)
The cheap corts (they are simply appauling)
Aria (any company that makes essentially only $300 guitars and 1 $1000 you shoudl be wary of)
BC Rich, cheap ass metal guitars, buy an ESP with the money instead.
Behringer, they make great cheap pedals, wonderful rack mounts and other jazz, but man their guitars are something tragic.

ChrisH · 4th June 2008, 4:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spootmonkey

An RG is even less versatile, purely because you look like a moron playing anything but DragonForce on it.
For an awful lot of musical styles single coils just work better.

Someone may rebut that arguement saying that the best single coil ever was originally placed in a LP (P90)

spootmonkey · 4th June 2008, 4:31 PM

In an LP you mean. And sure, a P90 LP is a great guitar, but from my experience they're just too huge a slab of mahogany to get a great clean chime out of. For a versatile learner guitar I think it's pretty bloody hard to go past a HSS Strat of some description.

ChrisH · 4th June 2008, 4:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spootmonkey

In an LP you mean. And sure, a P90 LP is a great guitar, but from my experience they're just too huge a slab of mahogany to get a great clean chime out of. For a versatile learner guitar I think it's pretty bloody hard to go past a HSS Strat of some description.

Hehe, yea man i meant LP. I agree, I am all for a good strat. I also have an SG, and its pretty good as well.

spootmonkey · 4th June 2008, 4:37 PM

I'm thinking a P90 SG would sound just about perfect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabbytech

that fat C shape is ideal as it spreads distance between strings.

I was under the impression Fender strings are spaced farther apart regardless of fretboard shape. I'm not sure what neck profile has to do with spacing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabbytech

Les Paul is good for metal, good for blues, good for jazz. not great for anything.

LPs are perfect for high-gain rock, but you'll never get the twang or chime for country/funk/etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabbytech

aside from weight, which to me is a poor reason.

For me weight is a pretty good reason.

One thing that Gibson-style guitars do have going for them is the slightly shorter scale length which can be good for folks with smaller hands, or learners struggling with reaches.

crabbytech · 4th June 2008, 4:51 PM

thats what im saying. the LP is good for many things but not great at anything in particular, out of the box, and i am refering to cheaper models.

yes its heavier than a strat. but i personally think strats have a lifeless tone (unless you chuck a high gain pick up in it).

i concede the fat strat would be as good.

ChrisH · 4th June 2008, 9:49 PM

spoot,

I have put a GFS Dream90 in my SG, with the original humbucker in the bridge. It is jsut about perfect.

Its a custom epiphone SG, imo, flawless.

spootmonkey · 4th June 2008, 9:50 PM

Mean90 in my LP bridge.

Willybomb · 4th June 2008, 11:38 PM

Quote:

OLP (poorly ported from music man, and its not clear whether you want a music man either)

Ohhh, nah. The basses are top stuff, and the EVH copies are nicely put together too. For the price you just don't expect that they're going to be equal to the $3k+ Musicman originals but against everything else in the $500 bracket they're up there and hold their own under $1k. New pickups if you think it might help and you're away. I've done a metric arseload of 3-4 hour gigs with my OLP bass and it's held together fine (although I did break the low E on it one night).

Quote:

The cheap corts (they are simply appauling)

Cort have lifted their game in the last 5 years or so. When I started out playing you wouldn't touch them with your uncle's dick but now if there was one I liked the look of I'd consider it... maybe.

Quote:

I was under the impression Fender strings are spaced farther apart regardless of fretboard shape.

The bridge saddles are closer together on the LP bridge.

If this guys after "versatile", I'd steer him towards a HSS strat with coil tap (optional), although if he can't play yet it's all a moot point - just get some songs going. The humbucker will cover the rock side of things and the singles will cover funk and clean sounds.

The OP hasn't posted again... hope it's not a troll thread!!

Willybomb's suggest pov brands: Casino, J+D Luthier, Yamaha, Squire. Keep away from Epiphone - overpriced and hit/miss quality at the price imo.

crabbytech · 5th June 2008, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willybomb

The OP hasn't posted again... hope it's not a troll thread!!

Willybomb's suggest pov brands: Casino, J+D Luthier, Yamaha, Squire. Keep away from Epiphone - overpriced and hit/miss quality at the price imo.

yeah i think its a troll.

i personally find the samick greg bennett guitars (malibu like the cheapy i use for travel) to be better quality than squire and yamaha. but yeah yamaha are amazing value for money. you can pick one up off ebay for $120 odd. i saw a squire go with a 15w marshall amp and boss metal pedal for $170

$250 odd gets you a hss strat style alder body and a much cooler looking headstock. the single coils on mine are no good though. but played a new one and it sounded heaps better. the neck and trem i find to be much better than the others for same price. also you wont get an alder body for any cheaper.

i dislike strat bridges though, the vintage trem bridge is just too hard to mute in comparison to a fixed or floyd rose bridge.

BLAZEUP420 · 6th June 2008, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crabbytech

i dislike strat bridges though, the vintage trem bridge is just too hard to mute in comparison to a fixed or floyd rose bridge.

Ah yes, palm muting. One of the hardest techniques on guitar. Rumour has it you need special guitars to perform this feat of pure technical skill.

crabbytech · 6th June 2008, 7:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLAZEUP420

Ah yes, palm muting. One of the hardest techniques on guitar. Rumour has it you need special guitars to perform this feat of pure technical skill.

i sense a stroke of witty sarcasm NOT !

it is a lot easier on a wider thicker bridge IMO. i find it a lot easier on a single cut LP or similar than I do on the strat blades.

i think palm muting is not technically difficult at all, its just on a strat imo its a lot harder.

4th June 2008, 4:31 PM	#36
spootmonkey Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: DPR Brunswick Posts: 7,732	In an LP you mean. And sure, a P90 LP is a great guitar, but from my experience they're just too huge a slab of mahogany to get a great clean chime out of. For a versatile learner guitar I think it's pretty bloody hard to go past a HSS Strat of some description. __________________ "[T]here’s a way things are, it coincides with what I was brought up to believe, and the extraordinary coincidence of such is never reflected upon[.]" Last edited by spootmonkey; 4th June 2008 at 4:34 PM.

4th June 2008, 9:50 PM	#41
spootmonkey Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: DPR Brunswick Posts: 7,732	Mean90 in my LP bridge. __________________ "[T]here’s a way things are, it coincides with what I was brought up to believe, and the extraordinary coincidence of such is never reflected upon[.]"

4th June 2008, 4:29 PM	#34
ChrisH Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3,154	To be honest, a tremelo is NOT very useful as a beginner, because until you get used to using it you just simply detune the strings. Its a pain in the ass, and there was never a song when I was learning that required "tremelo" (wrong wording, leo's fault). Dives are jsut a pain in the ass. Steer well clear of anything floyd rose, or the varients. If you must have "tremelo" get a string through style. (like the strats or a bigsby (which you couldnt afford anyway, because they dont put bigsby's on cheap guitars)) The BEST sounding gutiar I have ever played, but also the stupidest looking is my ESP LTD F-50. It was pretty expensive at the time (paid 700 or so in 2002?) Can get them for about 500 now. I overpaid, meh. But seriously, look at the EC-50. Its not a bad guitar if you want a better-than-an epiphone 'les paul' styled guitar. Guitarists get stuck into brand names, because somehow brand names mean good sounds and quality. I think I am a brand name bitch, but in a way the opposite to the normal brand name bitch. I say steer clear of: Ashton acoustics and electrics, enticing price, crap everythign else (besides intrinsic electronic tuners in their acoustics) OLP (poorly ported from music man, and its not clear whether you want a music man either) The cheap corts (they are simply appauling) Aria (any company that makes essentially only $300 guitars and 1 $1000 you shoudl be wary of) BC Rich, cheap ass metal guitars, buy an ESP with the money instead. Behringer, they make great cheap pedals, wonderful rack mounts and other jazz, but man their guitars are something tragic.

4th June 2008, 4:51 PM	#39
crabbytech Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,137	thats what im saying. the LP is good for many things but not great at anything in particular, out of the box, and i am refering to cheaper models. yes its heavier than a strat. but i personally think strats have a lifeless tone (unless you chuck a high gain pick up in it). i concede the fat strat would be as good.

4th June 2008, 9:49 PM	#40
ChrisH Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 3,154	spoot, I have put a GFS Dream90 in my SG, with the original humbucker in the bridge. It is jsut about perfect. Its a custom epiphone SG, imo, flawless.