Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

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poppydoodlesdad
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Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by poppydoodlesdad »

So I've been learning guitar for about a year and I'm just about at the averagely bad stage. I have a pretty good acoustic guitar but I'm starting to think I'd like to get myself an electric.

It's really only going to be used for playing at home, I can't see myself gigging any time soon! So it won't be getting any kind of a thrashing. Having said that I want something that will last reasonably both in real terms and as my playing improves. Also, and more importantly, I want something that will hold tune reasonably.

Budget would be £300 tops (plus amp etc), but preferably some way under that if I get the above for less. I have some ideas but would be interested to hear what any of the guitarists out there think.
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Re: Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by MGH »

Easy thing to say is get yourself down your local friendly guitar shop and have a play around :D

In watch lingo, you could no doubt pick up a Fender Strat homage (Squire), or an Epiphone made Gibson Homage for reasonable money. Depends on what your personal tastes are.

Amp wise, it depends on what your home situation is. Even low powered solid state amps can sound very loud in a small room, so maybe look at an amp with a headphone socket if you don't want to drive anyone else in the house mad! You can pick up a decent practice modelling amp, that has built in digital effects (distortion/delay/reverb etc) so you can play around with different sounds, for about £100.

Budget £20 for a strap and a lead, and you're all set to rock out the back bedroom!!

Good luck. I've been playing guitar for 20 odd Years, and I'm still crap :D

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Re: Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by poppydoodlesdad »

Thanks, I deliberately left it a bit vague to see what responses I might get. I pretty much like the Les Paul style and I've tried the Epiphone Les paul standard which I quite liked but need to get down and try some others.

the thing I'm having a bit of trouble with is what will be different between say the Eiphone Standard and the Special which is about two-thirds the price of the Standard. The watch analogy might be a Japanese auto versus a comparable Swiss. I'd have no problems with the Japanese version as I know roughly what the differences are and what the effect on the watch will be. Does the same rule of thumb hold true with guitars? I don't mind a certain lack of "refinement", as long as it stays together and isn't a b!tch to keep in tune (that's might biggest worry). Trying them out for feel and tonal quality is no problem and as soon as I can get up to Denmark Street I'll be having a go at everything in sight!

Good to know that all that practice will eventually pay off! :D
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Re: Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by MGH »

I've got an Epiphone Sheraton II. It's a bit more than your budget brand new, but it's gorgeous. It has the same grover tuning pegs that are used on Gibsons. However, there are of course differences in the makeup compared to Gibson guitars. The electronics on Epiphones are notoriously a bit more fragile than Gibson, and the pickups are not the same standard. But I've not had any problems with mine, and I gig with it.

The guitarist in my band is currently playing an Epiphone Les Paul while he saves up for a Gibson. It's a solid piece and I don't think you'd have any problems with something like that, especially for home playing!
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Re: Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by chrisjohnson »

I have epiphone les Paul's and they are well worth looking at. The older ones I think are better made. The serial numbers start with the year of manufacture so look for a 99 to 02. The last one cost me about £250 on eBay I will post a picture tomorrow if you like.


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Re: Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by poppydoodlesdad »

chrisjohnson wrote: The last one cost me about £250 on eBay I will post a picture tomorrow if you like.
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Re: Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by gwells »

a totally random thought as far as "amp" goes. are you going to be plugging it in and making loud noises for everyone or just for yourself?

i'm a very mediocre guitar player (can't justify nearly the money i've spent on all the gear), but often when i play at home i just plug into an iRig hooked up to my ipad running amplitude. irig takes the guitar line in and i listen through headphones. i can play an MP3 on it and play along with it or i can just jam.

if you're buying an amp for home, solid state amps usually have headphone jacks on them to play on and a lot of the newer ones have 1/8" inputs for you to plug your MP3 player into if you want to play along, which lets you do what i mentioned above with irig/amplitude.

picking a guitar is such a personal thing, it's a combination of what feels good and what you think sounds good (and, to an extent, what looks good). my electrics are a mid 90s baby blue american telecaster and a 78 ibanez artist (a hollow bodied gibson 335 clone). i've never found another guitar that feels as comfortable (to me) than that tele. the neck shape fits my hand and it just feels right when i play it. sadly it doesn't always sound right, but that's all on me, not on the guitar.

my advice would be to go play some guitars and see what feels good to you. when you find a few that you like the way they feel and sound, then ask for some advice from people about which ones are better quality (or better investments, as in, you won't get tired of that). and remember to play it through the amp you'll use if possible, that affects the tone you'll get. some combinations just have an entirely recognizable sound (like a les paul through a marshall stack or a PRS through a mesa boogie). switch those up and the tone will change.
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Re: Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by Gradie »

My only advice is don't get anything with a trem. My first guitar had a floyd rose but all it did was make changing strings take forever and affect the tuning stability. It honestly put me off playing for years.

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Re: Calling all guitar heroes, advice needed....

Post by eggtronics »

From personal experience, I currently have a Vox AD30VT, which received brilliant reviews. I got it on eBay for only about £60. And regards a guitar, I highly recommend anything made by Cort. They are exceptional guitars for the price. They used to make guitars for a lot of the other more expensive brands before going out with their own label.
If you want something a bit more rocky, such as an Ibanez homage, this is a great guitar for £180 (my bro in law has one):
http://www.djmmusic.com/p-11822-cort-x- ... allic.aspx
But if you're interest in having a classic looking guitar (ie Strat homage) then this wins lots of awards for being a good budget guitar at only £140:
http://www.hobgoblin.com/local/products ... ic-Guitar/

If you want to spend a little bit more, I also highly recommend Jim Reed guitars. Quite hard to find, but boy are they good quality and specs for the money. I have a stunning Les Paul style one and it's just beautiful.
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