what makes a guitar most suitable for studio use?

G

greenbaysucks

New member
so i know that most of the people that run studios are also musicians (obvious), and many are guitarists, so this question should come easy. what would you most look for when buying a guitar for your studio? stability in tuning? biggest range of tones? pretty colors :)?
 
Depends on what kind of studio you're talking about. The best studios I have been in have a great Strat, Tele, Les Paul, Rick, SG, and jumbo acoustic so that all of the classic sounds of rock are covered. Also, it's pretty common for those type of studios to have a Marshall half stack, a Fender combo, and a Vox AC-30. If it was one single guitar I had to have to cover the bases, it would probably be a PRS McCarty. That's the only guitar I have played that can do a Les Paul and a Strat both fairly close.

H2H
 
I agree with H2H..In my small studio I have a Les Paul,Les paul Jr,Strat,Ibanez 335 type,6 and a 12 string acoustic,Lap steel,Nylon string..I need a Coral Sitar or similar..these will make you money as people try to figure out how to use these "cool" guitars the clock is ticking :)..also percussion toys are moneymakers!But if you are starting out,start with different guits like a lap steel or a very nice acoustic most folks don't have one of those..also inexpensive combo amps like,say a Peavey Classic 20' and 30's for starting out..not much cash and easy on the ears volume wise and different than a Marshall or a Boogie...Good luck..So the short answer is try to fill a need in what your clientel is lacking..And I also have all the guitars maintained by a local shop so they are always in "ready to record" shape
 
if you want one guitar that can take on multiple sounds, i dont think anything beats a parker fly at the moment. massive ammounts of controls, magnetic and piezo electric pickups in the bridge, being able to run each pickup set to seperate amps or run mono and switch between them like pickups.

you can get a lot of sounds out of them without too much hassle :)
 
Tuning is paramount. If it has a problem now, it won't go away without tuning gear adjustments. Cheaper guitars have slippage problems and sometimes this can only be remedied by more expensive gear replacements. However, sometimes the strings may just need to be stretched a bit. On the lower priced guitars, pull on the strings if things are going out of tune, if this does not help, move along. You may have an archers bow for a neck, not a good thing.

Tone would be my next choice. Playability can generally be had through taking the time to set up the guitar correctly. Most guitar players don't readjust string and pickup height when changing string gauges, a must for proper tone and playability. The neck has a lot to do with it too. If it sounds great but has a neck that doesn't match my hand size, I would probably back off on the purchase.

The following are some of the more versatile equipment pieces for studio work I have done through the years.

Rhythm Guitar:
Nashville Telecaster, very versatile.
Gibson ES 335 - think the rhythm sound of the Doobie Brothers

Amps:
Dual 10 inch guitar cab - good for midrange tone and keeps the guitar out of the bass zone. Your engineer will love you for this.
Single 12 inch guitar cab - This adds body to a thin sounding guitar i.e. tele, strat (Tends to walk on the bass a little but good for country popping leads)
Marshall stacks of course - For the beast in all of us.

Lead guitar
Les Paul, Strat, PRS or some other variation. These just sing and are the reasons why they are used time and time again.

Guitars not to consider: SG unless you are looking for the Angus sound. Not extremely versatile.

Gretch, unless you buy at the high end, tuning issues I have found.
Rickenbacker - Tuning hell, but it does have a nice niche tone.

I think the Ibanez are great low cost solutions. I am amazed sometimes by their playability. However, their pickups are rather bland sounding and I would replace most of the pickups I have heard with DiMarzios or Seymour Duncans and you would have a great studio axe.

My 2 cents.
 
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Since I got my Line 6 Variax I rarely use the other guitars. Allmost any sounds I need (not nylon), no hum or noise. It's kind of sad.

It's my Blade that gets an occasional exercise just because it feels so perfect....
 
I have to agree with Middleman, Ibanez is a great low cost solution, they are remarkably playable and if you pop in Duncan pickups they sound as great as they feel. Thats what I did and it works for me any way.
 
The main thing I was alluding to in my post was that it depends on what your studio does. If it's for personal use then a variax or an Ibanez could do what you want, that mostly depends on you. But if you are charging clients and are looking to build up a reputation as a versatile studio, then that's more what I was talking about.

Most guitar players have their own axes they dig the most, and the only kind of guitars that would make them interested in a particular studio are the standout classics and vintage models. Kind of like a studio that has a Dumble or a certian AC-30 that's just perfect (and you probably aren't going to spring for on your own), and you choose to use it for their equipment as one of your selection criteria, kind of like renting gear plus studio time. No offense to anyone, but when I pay for studio time, I'm not looking at what the studios low cost solutions are. Studios are in such heavy competition now that it's a client's market and rates are very even across the board, way more so than years past.

All this is coming from the point of view of a person who pays decent money to record in a studio, not from a studio owner.

Make sense?

H2H
 
The guitar isn't as important as the player...


...but when I have a choice I go with killer tone. You can't add it with EQ.
 
Interesting. You ask what guitar you need in a studio, and everybody launches into solid body electrics. No acoustics, hollow bodies, semihollowbodies, 12 strings, classicals. Wow, that is so limiting. What makes a guitar good for recording? Intonation, tone, and playability. Often the jumbo body acoustics that work so well on stage are a little bass heavy in a studio, causing boom. Smaller body acoustics are often good for recording, and a really good pickup system can help, because some scenarios need a direct line out.
For acoustics, I like Taylor, Martin, older Gibsons, Froggy Bottom, Breedlove, Huss and Dalton.
For electrics, you need a good hollow body, a good semihollowbody, and at least 2 solidbodies to get the single coil and humbucker sounds. For hollowbodies, it's hard to beat Gibson ES175 and ES125. Good older ones are very pricey. For semihollowbodies, I like Gibson ES335, Epiphone Casino, and Guild Starfire deluxe. For solid bodies, a Les Paul and a Strat work for most lead guitarists. Rhythm guitarists will often prefer a Telecaster or SG. PRS and Parker Fly make good compromises between the Gibson and Fender sound.
For classicals, there are 2 major types. Real classicals, which have high action, great tone, and no fret markers, and Flamenco guitars, with lower action and fret markers. People who usually play steel strings but need nylon strings for a song or two will usually prefer flamenco guitars. Real classisists will hate them.
Those are *types* of guitars. What makes one of those guitars rock in the studio is a straight neck with perfect intonation and no buzzes. Tuners, pickups, saddles, can be replaced, but it's hard to fix a guitar with a sucky neck.
I get pretty much everything I want to get done with a seriously tricked out Epiphone Les Paul Custom, an Epiphone Casino, an American Telecaster, a Taylor 710CE, and an Epiphone Selena Signature flamenco guitar.-Richie
 
Middleman said:
I think the Ibanez are great low cost solutions. I am amazed sometimes by their playability. However, their pickups are rather bland sounding and I would replace most of the pickups I have heard with DiMarzios or Seymour Duncans and you would have a great studio axe.
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a-fucking-men. i had two ibanez USA customs over the years. one had been trashed and i had to put dimarzios in it to get it to sound nice, the other was a MINT usa custom that came with dimarzios and also sounded great. the stock pickups usually leave a lot to be desired.

ibanezes are also tempermental to set up at times and can require a lot of attention to keep them in tip top shape.

and did i mention that i needed to have the last 4-6 frets milled on both of them because they curved slightly upward? ibanez mass produces everything and it shows.
 
All the guitar gear for the studio

get a nice sounding punchy les paul
clean sounding telecaster

vox ac 30
marshall jcm800


you will never need anything else
 
ah but what about tremello??? if i was running a studio i would hope to have a strat if that was the only one....pretty flexible and would take the knocks.
 
Hey Beltrom...

As a fellow Levinson Blade owner I second your comments. I just keep going back to it because it feels right. It punches well above its weight, so to speak!
 
zazz- there are SGs, Les Pauls, Telecasters, ES135s, nearly anything you can think of with trems on them. If thats important to you, just seek those models out. :) The coolest Tele I have ever played had a Bigsby.

H2H
 
Frequency said:
get a nice sounding punchy les paul
clean sounding telecaster

vox ac 30
marshall jcm800


you will never need anything else
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god forbid you would want ro lay an acoustic track :rolleyes:
 
I see a lot of studios that advertise having a bunch of guitars ,but most of the players I know(self included)would want to record with thier own axe.
I would be more impressed with a studio that had a nice amp selection if
I were shopping for a place to lay tracks.But I wouldnt be opposed to a nice
guitar selection.
If you want to attract bidness with your guitar collection,then you need to start with some classics.Seasoned players wont be knocking your door off
of the hinges for a Variaxe or an
 
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