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 Post subject: Electric Guitar Buying Advice
PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:52 pm 
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"Weddings, Parties, Anything…"
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Haven't posted in a long time, but was looking for some opinions on buying a guitar. I've played guitar a long time, but never seriously and never as more than a hobby. I just have an acoustic, and lately I've been wishing I had an electric as well. I don't want just a cheap starter guitar, but I don't want to spend thousands and thousands either. I like all kinds of music, but would like something that can sound a little meaner if needed for punk and metal stuff.

I went to Guitar Center and it was a little overwhelming, but the ones that felt best to me were a Gibson SG, a slightly cheaper version of a Les Paul, and a used Paul Reed Smith. The problem is the SG they had was the slightly more expensive one:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gibson/2016-SG-Standard-T-Electric-Guitar.gc

not the slightly cheaper one that I'd probably buy:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gibson/2017-SG-Faded-T-Electric-Guitar.gc

This is the Les Paul:

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gibson/2016-Les-Paul-Studio-Faded-Series-T-Electric-Guitar.gc

The used PRS was beat to shit and there's no guarantee it'll be there when I actually want it. This seems like it would be closest, but a bit on the higher end of what I wanted to spend (like the SG Standard T):

http://www.guitarcenter.com/PRS/S2-Standard-24-Ivoroid-Dots-Inlays-J27505.gc

Any opinions? I know it's just a matter of taste and these are fairly different guitars. The Les Paul isn't as heavy as the higher end Les Pauls they had, which I kind of liked, though the SG was even lighter than that. All of these felt pretty easy to play. Am I better off just going for the pricier SG that I really liked and skimping on the amp for now?


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 Post subject: Re: Electric Guitar Buying Advice
PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:19 am 
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Big in Australia
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Play 'em. See which one feels best and sounds best to you.
The wand chooses the wizard.

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I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.


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 Post subject: Re: Electric Guitar Buying Advice
PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2016 8:23 pm 
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frostingspoon
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My thoughts, since you asked....

1. "Solid Body Electrics Are Just A Vehicle For Good Pickups." The pickups will be 90% of the tone you get. I've heard a splintered 2x4 with a neck bolted on sound fucking "whoa..." good, because it had a good humbucker literally duct taped into it (and a genius playing it, but you're on your own there). Thus, the smart money is on a less-sexy but very solidly built guitar that's easy to bolt better things into and onto as your budget and taste allows. Mexican Fenders sorta own this territory, and some have humbuckers if you're dead-set on them. The Mexi HSS strat is about $600 new, and a $105 Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker in the back of it would sound better than that SG, in my humble opinion. Better sweetness, better clarity, and none of that "neck heavy" imbalance baked into the SG design. Mexi Fenders are made solidly, the paint is great, and you have so many good options.

2. "Do Not Skimp On An Amp." No. Nossir. Do not do it. Go small if you have to, but you get a good fucking amp, son. When you're ready to discuss those options, holla. But a great guitar into a solid state or (godfuckingforbid) "modeling" piece of shit will sound like a piece of shit. You're so, so much better off getting a good, clean, loud tube amp and putting a proper disto pedal out front of it than you are chasing Monster Tone in the box.

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 Post subject: Re: Electric Guitar Buying Advice
PostPosted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 10:41 am 
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Thanks.


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 Post subject: Re: Electric Guitar Buying Advice
PostPosted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 2:55 pm 
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Big in Australia
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Cap'n Squirrgle Wrote:
2. "Do Not Skimp On An Amp." No. Nossir. Do not do it. Go small if you have to, but you get a good fucking amp, son. When you're ready to discuss those options, holla. But a great guitar into a solid state or (godfuckingforbid) "modeling" piece of shit will sound like a piece of shit. You're so, so much better off getting a good, clean, loud tube amp and putting a proper disto pedal out front of it than you are chasing Monster Tone in the box.

Great advice!

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Paul Caporino of M.O.T.O. Wrote:
I've recently noticed that all the unfortunate events in the lives of blues singers all seem to rhyme... I think all these tragedies could be avoided with a good rhyming dictionary.


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 Post subject: Re: Electric Guitar Buying Advice
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 2:53 pm 
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frostingspoon
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I spent decades trying to buy amps that already had great distortion baked into them. So big, so heavy, and mostly so damned expensive. And the cleans were never as good as the dirt. I regret chasing things that way. Shoulda coulda woulda... but a Deluxe Reverb or hell even a big Twin would've been so much better, really.

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[quote="Bloor"]He's either done too much and should stay out of the economy, done too little because unemployment isn't 0%, is a dumb ingrate who wasn't ready for the job or a brilliant mastermind who has taken over all aspects of our lives and is transforming us into a Stalinist style penal economy where Christian Whites are fed into meat grinders. Very confusing[/quote]


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 Post subject: Re: Electric Guitar Buying Advice
PostPosted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 5:59 pm 
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Go Platinum
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I'm a big fan of PRS. Look at the SE One, it's very popular. Also the Zach Myer/Meyer(?sp). Also, they recently revamped the SE line, so look at one of the ones that they put the 85/15 "S" pickups in. (I don't have any of these, but I have several of the Custom 24 and the 24/7, both from the SE line, and I have several core models with the 85/15 pickups in, on which the 85/15 "S" is based, and am very curious to hear these.)

http://prsguitars.com/blog/post/meet_the_2017_se_lineup

I'm also a big fan of the Holcomb SE -- it's got 90% of the core Holcomb for 1/4 of the price. (I have this one.)

http://www.prsguitars.com/index.php/blo ... ure_model1

http://www.prsguitars.com/index.php/blo ... rs_se_line

Ibanez and Yamaha have some great guitars in the <US$1K range -- I just got a George Benson singlecut archtop for US$900, and I think my 7-string archtop was less than US$1K, too.

For amps -- I really wish I bought an AC30 first (I play mostly clean), I probably wouldn't still have "GAS".

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 Post subject: Re: Electric Guitar Buying Advice
PostPosted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 2:13 am 
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Go Platinum
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Holler at me dude, I just spent a good chunk of time working in instrument retail and I can tell if you're getting a good deal.

DO NOT SHOP AT GUITAR CENTER

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