Guitar recommendations?

[yellowsnow]

i'm in the market for a new guitar. My $100 acoustic is starting to sound like shit, so i need something better It's a piece of shit. My friend and I left our guitars at our church for a week, and someone broke into the church and stole pretty much everything, EXCEPT my crappy acoustic... Stole my friends fender telecaster , and even some USB cables.... but my acoustic was left unharmed

i don't understand thieves lol

Anyway, does anyone recommend a good electric/acoustic guitar? I'm only really good at chording right now, but I am trying to learn more licks. I'm not really into heavy metal music, except for a few songs.

So far I was looking at a fender stratocaster/telecaster, or an epiphone les paul... people keep telling me to buy an american fender or gibson, but I'm pretty indifferent. Japanese guitars sound just as good to me. I actually had a gibson SG a year ago, but sold it cuz I never played it much.. plus I didn't really like the sound. I'm looking for a more clear tone?

my budget is under $800 for just the guitar.

help a beginner out

[b_t]

What you need is a Jackson RX10D

http://www.jacksonguitars.com/produc...1400528_xl.jpg

If you get the most expensive Epiphone Les Paul you can afford you will have a pretty nice guitar on your hands. You could also look around used and maybe get a Gibson Les Paul Studio for that much if you look on eBay and that.

[finboy]

what kind of music do you like? that will help with the decision.

if you want something that you can play unplugged, and plugged in, the epiphone dot and ibanez artcore series are nice, they are semi-acoustic and are both a great start point.

for $800 you can get a really nice guitar buy if you might want to consider spending less on the guitar and more on a decent amp.

a crappy guitar into a good amp can sound decent, anything into a crappy amp will sound like crap.

also check out ebay for...

squier '51
squier deluxe series
epiphone les paul
edwards les paul (niiiice guitars)
fender telecasters/stratocasters

agile/sx also make pretty nice guitars for the price as well.

hope that helps

[racin_jayson]

check out Schecter guitars, they are excellent

[BigBearWest]

I am very new to playing the guitar but i am slowly learning.

Do you an amp if not does the 800 include a purchase of it? Also if you didn't like how a SG sounded you may want to stay away from guitar that have hum bucker's.

[yellowsnow]

i play in a christian band, not the most exciting music to play. but in my spare time i like to learn how to play more guns n roses, lenny kravitz, type music.

yea sorry i can't get more specific. I already have a decent amp, but will probably sell that for something better later.. but it should be good enough for now.

[Lex350]

narrow it down to two brands and then go play as many samples of these guitars to find a nice one. Just because the lable says its good doesn't mean it is.

[finboy]

if it was a gibson sg, i'm suprised you didn't like the sound considering the music you want to play, could it have been the amp?

for clear sounds, you might want to look into single coil pickups. the telecaster and stratocaster have these (depending on the model) but you might also want to look into a guitar equiped with p-90's. they are basically really big single coils, their sound is somewhere between regular single coils and humbuckers, and they do great clean tones.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Agile-Electric-G...QQcmdZViewItem

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/Les-Paul-Standar...QQcmdZViewItem

might be a good start, but i will warn you that les pauls are NOT light (8-10 pounds), but that les paul is a REALLY good deal right now as those pickups are worth a pretty penny (actual GIBSON p94's (humbucker sized p90's))

[msommers]

Acoustic
I've had my 800 dollar Yamaha acoustic for awhile now and I love it. Everyone that has played it loves the sound too. Keeping a little humidifier in there helps a lot I find and they are cheap. Long and Mcwade seemed to have a nice selection, so does guitar works on 16th ave.

Things to consider:

Wide neck or normal
Nylon or steel
Electric acoustic or normal
Price

Go place any acoustic, despite the price. From what I found, I like the sound of some of the cheaper ones more than the expensive ones. Get the one that sounds good to you, not someone else!

Electric
When I had my old Mesa amp, I had an Epiphone Les Paul, and later bought a gibson. The built and sound is different between the two, Gibson usually a lot heavier. If you're on a budget and play hard rock, I'd say go with the Epiphone, it's a solid guitar. Since I sold my Gibson awhile back, I've bought an Epiphone again and a little practice amp. Along with a Bose Metal Zone pedal. It sounds pretty damn good through my shit amp. It's no substitute for a tube amp but it's damn close, I must say.

If you're not about crunchy, hard rock tones, go with the Fender Telecaster. Dialing the amp is half the battle but the different between a fender and a Gibson on the same amp is way different.

If you're looking for both, I like most Ibanez guitars.

If you can find a used Marshall combo amp, take it. A fender and a marshall amp sound really good to me. A Mesa triple rec. and a Gibson is killer!

Hope that helps! If you need any more help let me know

[rage2]

Originally posted by BigBearWest
Also if you didn't like how a SG sounded you may want to stay away from guitar that have hum bucker's.

Not true. I have a SG 61 Reissue here that I've been toying around with, and it sounds uniquely different than a Les Paul or a Strat. Basically...

The Les Paul has a really warm tone. Whatever pickup you use, it'll have a lot more bass response than SG's or Strats. When playing clean, it's not as "thin" sounding as a SG or Strat. Sustain on Les Pauls are nuts. My black LP sustains twice as long as any guitar I own.

The SG is a lot thinner than the Les Paul, and is a lot lighter. Because of this, less sustain, and thinner sound. It sounds like a strat with pickup set to bridge + middle. Very unique sound.

Strats sound super thin. If you wanna play it clean, it'll sound very bright and you can tell the high notes sound much better than the low notes. With distortion, it has a hard attack sound to it, unlike the SG or LP, which masks agressive picking quite a bit.

yellowsnow wants something that has a more clear tone, I'm going to guess that a Strat would be the best fit cuz you want a brighter sounding guitar. I have a mexican strat, korean strat and an american strat, it's all going to sound the same if you have the same pickups and gear.

I'd suggest getting a cheaper Squier Strat to learn on, don't be like me and waste $ on gear before you get good haha. A mexican made squire strat can be had for around $250 brand new. You can upgrade it later on to improve on it. My first guitar was a Korean made squier strat for $150. Since then I've upgraded the pickups, the nut, the saddles the tuners and it plays and sounds almost as good as my 60th anniversary strat. Sustain isn't as good, but that's because it was built with cheap wood. A good player and work around that no problems.

[msommers]

Originally posted by rage2
I'd suggest getting a cheaper Squier Strat to learn on, don't be like me and waste $ on gear before you get good haha. A mexican made squire strat can be had for around $250 brand new. You can upgrade it later on to improve on it. My first guitar was a Korean made squier strat for $150. Since then I've upgraded the pickups, the nut, the saddles the tuners and it plays and sounds almost as good as my 60th anniversary strat.

This is actually a really good idea. Squire sells a guitar/amp combo package (my first guitar) for about $250 I think and it works well, especially if you're not interested in distortion (it sucks ass).

Just remember your gear doesn't mean shit but it's more for bragging rights. I remember my first guitar teacher was helping me out with this one song right at the beginning. I said "something doesn't sound right, am I doing something wrong or what"
He picks up my guitar, shreds the shit out of this Squire guitar and my jaw dropped. Right then and there, having the most expensive guitar didn't mean anything.

If you can differentiate tones, it means you've progressed and I would say get what you think sounds best, especially if you plan on keeping it for awhile. But if you're just starting out, get a guitar and learn to love it.

[rage2]

Originally posted by yellowsnow
i play in a christian band, not the most exciting music to play. but in my spare time i like to learn how to play more guns n roses, lenny kravitz, type music.

yea sorry i can't get more specific. I already have a decent amp, but will probably sell that for something better later.. but it should be good enough for now.

Damn, posted before I saw this. OK if you wanna play GnR...

Epiphone Les Paul Standard. Upgrade the pickups to Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups and you'll have the exact tone as Slash.

You're not going to get a really bright tone with this tho... it'll sound a bit darker/richer than the SG you played. It'll sound like Slash's tone tho... ask anyone that was at my Jam Sessions last year when I played some sweet child o' mine on that badboy haha.

Oh ya one final thought. Never sell guitars. I'd be pissed if I lost my black strat which was my first guitar. I still play that beast daily! The only guitar I sold was my american strat that I got as a wedding gift. Didn't play it much, and got divorced so ya that guitar HAD to go!

[finboy]

Originally posted by rage2

Not true. I have a SG 61 Reissue here that I've been toying around with, and it sounds uniquely different than a Les Paul or a Strat. Basically...

The Les Paul has a really warm tone. Whatever pickup you use, it'll have a lot more bass response than SG's or Strats. When playing clean, it's not as "thin" sounding as a SG or Strat. Sustain on Les Pauls are nuts. My black LP sustains twice as long as any guitar I own.

The SG is a lot thinner than the Les Paul, and is a lot lighter. Because of this, less sustain, and thinner sound. It sounds like a strat with pickup set to bridge + middle. Very unique sound.

Strats sound super thin. If you wanna play it clean, it'll sound very bright and you can tell the high notes sound much better than the low notes. With distortion, it has a hard attack sound to it, unlike the SG or LP, which masks agressive picking quite a bit.

yellowsnow wants something that has a more clear tone, I'm going to guess that a Strat would be the best fit cuz you want a brighter sounding guitar. I have a mexican strat, korean strat and an american strat, it's all going to sound the same if you have the same pickups and gear.

I'd suggest getting a cheaper Squier Strat to learn on, don't be like me and waste $ on gear before you get good haha. A mexican made squire strat can be had for around $250 brand new. You can upgrade it later on to improve on it. My first guitar was a Korean made squier strat for $150. Since then I've upgraded the pickups, the nut, the saddles the tuners and it plays and sounds almost as good as my 60th anniversary strat. Sustain isn't as good, but that's because it was built with cheap wood. A good player and work around that no problems.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Squier-De...QQcmdZViewItem

cheap, and not made of basswood

[BigMass]

first off go to a place like Long and Mcquade and try out different guitars. For example, Fender USA are awesome guitars but i hate how the feel. It's something you wont know until you pick one up and try it.

[BigBearWest]

I just bought a fat strat pak from L&M came out to 318 tax in. Wicked little setup to start learning

[finboy]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Squier-Ma...QQcmdZViewItem

there is one of those at l&m, had a decent set up, was under $400 and played pretty well unplugged.

[b_t]

Those strat packs are sweet, I started out with one of those too and I still have it. I am putting it back together with a set up of Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz humbuckers though, because I wanted an unassuming looking guitar that is actually a face melting metal machine.

And believe what rage2 says about his super upgraded Korean Strat, that thing plays reaaaal nice for a strat (I am more a Jackson kind of guy). His Les Pauls are also sick. All three, or four of them There is nothing else quite like a good LP sound.

[three.eighteen.]

buy a mexican strat, not as expensive as an american one, plays about as nice, very clean tone

[yellowsnow]

awesome guys, this is a lot of info to absorb i'll be going to guitarworks and try out some of these models.

any recommendations on amps? wattage? brand?

thanks again!

[msommers]

How big your church? How many other instruments are playing with you?