Which guitar?

[yellowsnow]

So i've narrowed my choices down to a few guitars. If you have experience with them, can you give me a quick review on things like, sustain, type of music playable, the tremelo bar, etc... anything that would make me wanna buy a certain guitar.

my price range is around $400-$500, and these guitars 'feel' the best when i'm holding 'em

used fender stratocaster, mexican made
ibanez RG350
ibanez RG321

Will probably buy my axe in a few days, so any help would be appreciated :)

[rage2]

I have a lot of experiences with strats. Sustain on the strat isn't as good as a Les Paul, but there are a few tweaks that I do to make my strat better.

First off, make sure the neck bolts are on tight! They do loosen slightly over time, and it kills sustain.

For the trem, every single stock strat I've owned, regardless if it's American, American Deluxe, Mexican, Korean... every one goes out of tune when you use the trem. I did, however, figure out a fix. I explained it a bit in this blog post:

http://rage2.westsideblogs.com/2007/03/01/new-toy-fender-60th-anniversary-strat/

B16EM1 can tell you all about the ibanez's.

[finboy]

I would go for a MIM strat personally, my mim cyclone is pretty comfortable, same features as a strat basically with a different pickup set up

[finboy]

Originally posted by rage2
I have a lot of experiences with strats. Sustain on the strat isn't as good as a Les Paul, but there are a few tweaks that I do to make my strat better.

First off, make sure the neck bolts are on tight! They do loosen slightly over time, and it kills sustain.

For the trem, every single stock strat I've owned, regardless if it's American, American Deluxe, Mexican, Korean... every one goes out of tune when you use the trem. I did, however, figure out a fix. I explained it a bit in this blog post:

http://rage2.westsideblogs.com/2007/03/01/new-toy-fender-60th-anniversary-strat/

B16EM1 can tell you all about the ibanez's.

also look into roller bridges, they have ball bearings and fender used them from the factory on a few models (strat plus, and tele plus with trem), and roller string tree's. i'm going to try this on my cyclone to see how well it works

[msommers]

Originally posted by yellowsnow
So i've narrowed my choices down to a few guitars. If you have experience with them, can you give me a quick review on things like, sustain, type of music playable, the tremelo bar, etc... anything that would make me wanna buy a certain guitar.

my price range is around $400-$500, and these guitars 'feel' the best when i'm holding 'em

used fender stratocaster, mexican made
ibanez RG350
ibanez RG321

Will probably buy my axe in a few days, so any help would be appreciated :)

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, would those be Ibanzes be new guitars or used?

New you're more than likely to get less problems. But with cheaper guitars, comes cheaper wood and the variable densities in the neck can be a real pain in the ass.

Like my squire for instance. On certain frets I'd get buzzing, after a couple repairs shops telling me nothing is wrong with it and giving it back I gave up and accepting it was cheap. On an amp it's barely noticeable, rings our fun. So if you're jamming, it's really undetectable. But when I was playing at home by myself, it drove me to the point of buying a new guitar within two weeks.

Run your hand down every fret on every string with and without an amp before you buy it. Check how straight the neck is, it should have a very, very minor bow to it. Also, put your fingers on 1 & 13th fret, check on the 7/8th that the string is raised. Raising the action helps this but the rod may need to be adjusted. Easier to do at the shop while your there.

What rage2 has mentioned about the tremolo is spot on, and after while I just avoided it, despite how friggin sweet it is. My squire did it all the time and I just gave up on it...Fender...Squire...coincidence?!

I'm not too familiar with Ibanez at all so I can't comment. Sustain on the strat won't be too bad, depends what your expectations are. Just don't go play a Gibson and then a strat. You're wallet will hate you;)

[rage2]

Originally posted by finboy
also look into roller bridges, they have ball bearings and fender used them from the factory on a few models (strat plus, and tele plus with trem), and roller string tree's. i'm going to try this on my cyclone to see how well it works
I've never tried roller bridges... but I have tried a variety of different saddle and nut combinations before I settled with the graphtech ones. They are PERFECT, returns to perfect tune everytime. On my new 60th ann. strat, I've used the trem so hard trying to do retarded dive bombs with B16EM1 (who's using floyd rose trem) my whammy bar bent outta shape lol. Still returns in tune everytime tho!


Originally posted by msommers
What rage2 has mentioned about the tremolo is spot on, and after while I just avoided it, despite how friggin sweet it is. My squire did it all the time and I just gave up on it...Fender...Squire...coincidence?!
Over the years, I've avoided using the trem (except for very very light trem to get a 1/2 step vibrato) because of back in tune problems. I use my trem as much as I can now, because it's bulletproof. Next jam session, you can try and get it out of tune. Bring a spare whammy bar, because with the 5 springs on the back, it'll bend 'em haha. This goes for both my squier and my fender.

[Lex350]

I had a squire strat and like what has been mentioned it never stayed in tune with the floating bring. My current strat with the Floyd Rose set is much better.

If you can, take a buddy that knows something about guitars with you to look at them.

[rage2]

Yea, the only problem with the floyd rose bridges is that it takes getting used to. It's tough (for me anyways) to go back and forth between different bridges and still able to hit harmonics and palm mutes properly.

Plus I HATE setting up a FR bridge. Fuck it makes a 5 minute restring a 45 minute exercise.

I played around with Floyd Rose bridges a while back when I had problems keeping my strat trems in tune...

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/89133/fender-strat-and-their-crappy-out-of-tune-tremolos-help/

Glad a found a good solution finally! haha

[finboy]

Originally posted by msommers


At the risk of sounding like an idiot, would those be Ibanzes be new guitars or used?

New you're more than likely to get less problems. But with cheaper guitars, comes cheaper wood and the variable densities in the neck can be a real pain in the ass.

Like my squire for instance. On certain frets I'd get buzzing, after a couple repairs shops telling me nothing is wrong with it and giving it back I gave up and accepting it was cheap. On an amp it's barely noticeable, rings our fun. So if you're jamming, it's really undetectable. But when I was playing at home by myself, it drove me to the point of buying a new guitar within two weeks.

Run your hand down every fret on every string with and without an amp before you buy it. Check how straight the neck is, it should have a very, very minor bow to it. Also, put your fingers on 1 & 13th fret, check on the 7/8th that the string is raised. Raising the action helps this but the rod may need to be adjusted. Easier to do at the shop while your there.

What rage2 has mentioned about the tremolo is spot on, and after while I just avoided it, despite how friggin sweet it is. My squire did it all the time and I just gave up on it...Fender...Squire...coincidence?!

I'm not too familiar with Ibanez at all so I can't comment. Sustain on the strat won't be too bad, depends what your expectations are. Just don't go play a Gibson and then a strat. You're wallet will hate you;)

The problem with a lot of buzzing frets is glue loosening off, i've had it happen on a lot of guitars, and its part of the problem living in calgary. fixing the frets will run around 300 at a luthier, which involves waxing the board, then glueing/c-clamping the frets back in so they don't pull out again. I've done this on a couple guitars, it isn't cheap but it works great :thumbsup:

[finboy]

Originally posted by rage2
Yea, the only problem with the floyd rose bridges is that it takes getting used to. It's tough (for me anyways) to go back and forth between different bridges and still able to hit harmonics and palm mutes properly.

Plus I HATE setting up a FR bridge. Fuck it makes a 5 minute restring a 45 minute exercise.

I played around with Floyd Rose bridges a while back when I had problems keeping my strat trems in tune...

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/89133/fender-strat-and-their-crappy-out-of-tune-tremolos-help/

Glad a found a good solution finally! haha

i've also heard that its harder to do do a bend on one string and hit a regular note on another with a floyd, but never tried to do it on one myself.

[CLiVE]

Originally posted by rage2


For the trem, every single stock strat I've owned, regardless if it's American, American Deluxe, Mexican, Korean... every one goes out of tune when you use the trem. I did, however, figure out a fix. I explained it a bit in this blog post:

I've never had a major problem with this on my American Strat Deluxe HSS. :dunno:

[msommers]

Originally posted by finboy


The problem with a lot of buzzing frets is glue loosening off, i've had it happen on a lot of guitars, and its part of the problem living in calgary. fixing the frets will run around 300 at a luthier, which involves waxing the board, then glueing/c-clamping the frets back in so they don't pull out again. I've done this on a couple guitars, it isn't cheap but it works great :thumbsup:

I fuckin knew it! Something was up. We figured the board may need to be shaved or even a few frets. But in the end 300 dollars to fix a 100 guitar isn't worth it. Plus I don't even have it anymore:devil:

[finboy]

Originally posted by msommers


I fuckin knew it! Something was up. We figured the board may need to be shaved or even a few frets. But in the end 300 dollars to fix a 100 guitar isn't worth it. Plus I don't even have it anymore:devil:

i put about $500 of work/parts into a $150 squier, its still an entry level pos but it plays and sounds nice :D

[rage2]

Originally posted by finboy
i put about $500 of work/parts into a $150 squier, its still an entry level pos but it plays and sounds nice :D
haha I'm at about $800 for mine. It's my personal frankenstein lol.

[msommers]

Originally posted by finboy


i put about $500 of work/parts into a $150 squier, its still an entry level pos but it plays and sounds nice :D



Originally posted by rage2

haha I'm at about $800 for mine. It's my personal frankenstein lol.

Both of you are fuckin crazy bastards!!:D But as long as it sounds good, then whatever I guess right. What's your guy's parts list consist of?

[kerry]

As far as locking trem's go they are a pain in the ass for a beginner. I'd personally avoid
those if you're just learning. I like the RG series guitars but that's mainly because I'm definitely
an Ibanez whore. I love their gear... 100%.

To what finboy said, I've never had issues bending one string on a guitar with a floating trem
and keeping another one sustained. You just have to get used to bending both strings a llittle
so they both are in tune. Takes practice, but I've been using a floyd rose for about... oh say
5 years now. I definitely stand by how they stay in tune, my biggest quam with Floyd Rose
guitars are how long it takes to change tuning. When I played shows I had to make sure I had
at least one more guitar with me just in case of string popping or songs with alternate tunings.

My 2c.

[finboy]

Originally posted by msommers





Both of you are fuckin crazy bastards!!:D But as long as it sounds good, then whatever I guess right. What's your guy's parts list consist of?

squier "fat" telecaster
-all fret's re-glued, nut re-cut to make sure the strings move nice and smooth
-neck shimmed
-gibson p-90 in the neck, esquire pickguard custom cut to house it
-seymour duncan hot rail in the bridge, coil tapped to series/parallel wiring with a push/pull tone pot
-momentary tap kill switch between the volume and tone knob (like johnny greenwood from radiohead)

i'm still thinking of adding another tone knob, moving to a gibson 3-way switch (mine is the original, and its fucked) and i broke the tip of the kill switch off so its taped on until i get a new one, i already have 3 guitars at the luthier getting worked on so i'm in no rush to get it fixed, i still have 2 other working guitars and another project that needs a lot of parts :rofl:

[three.eighteen.]

Originally posted by finboy


i put about $500 of work/parts into a $150 squier, its still an entry level pos but it plays and sounds nice :D



Originally posted by rage2

haha I'm at about $800 for mine. It's my personal frankenstein lol.

what the hell is wrong with you guys?

:rofl:

[rage2]

Well for me it was over a span of 10 years, so it doesn't seem as bad. It helped me a lot in learning what changes does what to the guitar, and of course I can setup any guitar as good as a pro now.

[finboy]

my squier plays beautifully, and sounds great, seems ideal for me :rofl:

[Mckenzie]

I'd personally go for an Ibanez as strats and teles are true players guitars- this means you really have to play them right to get them to sound good. They are very honest and if you sound like crap then you will know. The suttle nuances in pick technique, strumming technique and left hand technique are amplified more through the single coil pickups and can leave a person frustrated as to why they dont sound good.

On the other hand, they are good to train with to make your playing tighter.

The ibanez guitars are made very well and they are typically faster playing than any fender will ever be...they were made for shredding up and down the neck. The pickups have a lot of bite but will also thicken the sound up nicely on the bottom end. Depending on what your style of playing is and what your gear setup is, this is a tough question to answer as these guitars are no where near comparable in terms of their market/playing style.

[yellowsnow]

well i bought a guitar a couple days ago :D ended up spending a tad bit more than i wanted to!

B16 was helpin me test out a few guitars, he ripped up on a ibanez sa, schecter omen, ltd, and a couple prs models. out of them all, i loved the way the prs sounded. damn what a sweet clean sound. 'course b16 did some crazy ass riff, and that was pretty awesome.

so i'm now a proud owner of a limited edition PRS Custom SE in black cherry with a trem bridge :drool:

http://www.prsguitars.com/secustom/img/front.jpg
^ that, cept the body is in black cherry

will post some real pics later tonight :D

[b_t]

Hmm sounds like you were at either Axe Music or Mothers :D
The customs are niiiice.. I want one of those, but I've put a total purchasing freeze on my guitar gear because I buy way too much shit.

[yellowsnow]

yeah i was at axe with B16. I tried hagglin on the price, but the sales guy wouldn't budge at all. so i went to long & mcquade to check out their price, and found out they were selling it for $70 cheaper :confused:

browsed thru long & mcquade's stock, and found the one i liked, and bought it there

although the sales guy there aren't very knowledgable. there's this one old guy there who was really rude. i asked if they had a prs santana se, and he points to the custom se. i said, 'no there is another model called the santana se', and he replies, 'yeah it's this one'. i kept saying, no that's not it, and he for some reason kept trying to convince me it was. :rolleyes:

so i told him to f off in a nice way, and talked to a diff sales guy, who tried to tell me guitar's with trem bridges are more expensive, hence the difference in price...

i loved the look on their faces when i told them both, No... i looked online, and you are completely wrong. but their price was the best, so i bought my guitar there despite the shitty service. they don't work on commission for a reason lol

[msommers]

Paul Reed Smith! How much did that one set you back????

[yellowsnow]

i got the one made in korea, only set me back around $600 :) was only planning on spending $400.. but oh well

[msommers]

OOooohhh well that's not bad. I've never even heard of them that cheap to be honest, so when you said went a little over budget, I thought you bought like a 1700+ guitar:rofl:

Very nice axe nonetheless. Did you pick up an amp while you were there as well?

P.S. Going into a guitar store is always hard to remember what your budget is...man it's literally like a kid in a candy..."Oh my God soooo many choices":drool: :D

[finboy]

Originally posted by msommers
OOooohhh well that's not bad. I've never even heard of them that cheap to be honest, so when you said went a little over budget, I thought you bought like a 1700+ guitar:rofl:

Very nice axe nonetheless. Did you pick up an amp while you were there as well?

P.S. Going into a guitar store is always hard to remember what your budget is...man it's literally like a kid in a candy..."Oh my God soooo many choices":drool: :D

the SE line is like epiphone is to gibson, great guitars, i'm waiting for the prs se "one" to come to canada, its like a cross between an sg jr. and les paul jr. :drool:

[yellowsnow]

nah didn't buy an amp yet. gonna try and find a used amp to offset some of the extra costs of the guitar :)

i was thinking of the vox ad50vt. my buddy has one, and i really liked the sound. or maybe a used tube amp

[b_t]

Originally posted by msommers


P.S. Going into a guitar store is always hard to remember what your budget is...man it's literally like a kid in a candy..."Oh my God soooo many choices":drool: :D

ahaah well said... once upon a time I went into guitarworks to get a set of strings, and I walked out with a Jackson Soloist... I don't go to Long and McQuade anymore because they have so much stuff, statistical probability says that I will have to buy at least one guitar there right on the spot :D I like my odds better at the small places.

I didn't even know L&M had PRS, but I guess they have everything else so its not that big of a stretch. Their service does suck though, and that place is always waaay too busy and even more so then most stores, you are limited in how much you can turn up their amps to try them out.

[three.eighteen.]

Originally posted by b_t


you are limited in how much you can turn up their amps to try them out.

they have a little noise room in the corner of the bass section, there's usually at least 2 4x12 cabs and a shitload of badass heads in there, any time i've looked for equipment i needed to hear they let me crank up in there

[Mckenzie]

Nice pick!

I have me a couple of those :D

As for an amp, if you want a smokin tube amp, go back to long and mcquade and buy a Traynor. Dont worry about the digital modelling and all that crap...its too confusing and takes away from your playing as you fiddle with it constantly. You are better off playing through something honest and simple....this will leave more time for you to learn and practice rather than fool around with gear. This amp can be found for under $500 and sounds fantastic clean and dirty.

Enjoy the PRS...you will no doubt one day be suckered into an american Mccarty or custom 24 like me...and they are worth every penny.

[finboy]

Originally posted by Mckenzie
Nice pick!

I have me a couple of those :D

As for an amp, if you want a smokin tube amp, go back to long and mcquade and buy a traynor. Dont worry about the digital modelling and all that crap...its too confusing and takes away from your playing as you fiddle with it all the time. This amp can be found for under $500 and sounds fantastic clean and dirty.

Enjoy the PRS...you will no doubt one day be suckered into an american Mccarty or custom 24 like me...and they are worth every penny.

gear whooooore ;)

[yellowsnow]

which traynor amp model do you think is good? i'll probably be playing in auditorium with around 200 people in the future... and my buddy has a voxad50vt.

[Mckenzie]

I've never played anything louder than 50w at the back alley/coyotes/the whiskey. My last show at the whiskey was with a 45w Rivera and the amp was at about 80% volume.

So...I would say anything less than 40w you would probably want to stay away from.

And dont forget that depending on the style of the amp, wattage may mean nothing: 20w class A = 40-50w class a/b = 100w solid state/digital. Those values are probably not even close to accurate but dont get confused by wattage.

I would say if they have a 12" traynor with over 40w, you are good to go.

[b_t]

40 or 50 watt is all you really need. If you need more then that, the odds are good you are going to get mic'd and run through a PA anyway.

People with 85 watt Mark IVs or 100 watt Rectifiers are crazy... you don't need that kind of power :nut: