How good a guitar do I need?

Heavy Metal

New member
Hi All

I am going to record music using an electric guitar. My current guitar is all chanky so I need to buy a new one.

I will likely never play it on stage or even play it through an amp - I'm just going to record it through an interface.

Given that, will the quality of the guitar make a big difference to the recording? I was thinking about buying a relatively expensive one to get a pleasing powerful and also warm sound but can I just use my computer to create the good sound?

Any advice gratefully received

Cheers

Heavy Metal :thumbs up:
 
One word: Guitarfetish.com

Guitars do not have to be expensive to be good.

(Okay, maybe that's more than one word)
 
The distillation of hundreds of forum posts and the advice of my guitarist son (he is bloody good!) tells me...

No, does not need to be expensive. Things to look for are,
Low(ish) action although your playing style might need the guitar to 'fight' you a bit (son says)
As perfect an intonation across the fretboard as you can find. (again, stye and genre, if you spend a lot of time past the 12th fret THAT needs to be in tune!)

Pickups: Need to be decent quality and only you can choose between single coils or humbuckers.

Get it set up! Even a top line expensive guitar can benefit from the ministrations of a good luthier. Things like fret dress, bridge setup, maybe a nut cut/replacement.

Now, do NOT desert HR but over at soundonsound.com there is a top luthier called Andy who has all the SP.

Now...Guitar amplifiers!????

Dave.
 
The distillation of hundreds of forum posts and the advice of my guitarist son (he is bloody good!) tells me...

No, does not need to be expensive. Things to look for are,
Low(ish) action although your playing style might need the guitar to 'fight' you a bit (son says)
As perfect an intonation across the fretboard as you can find. (again, stye and genre, if you spend a lot of time past the 12th fret THAT needs to be in tune!)

Pickups: Need to be decent quality and only you can choose between single coils or humbuckers.

Get it set up! Even a top line expensive guitar can benefit from the ministrations of a good luthier. Things like fret dress, bridge setup, maybe a nut cut/replacement.

Now, do NOT desert HR but over at soundonsound.com there is a top luthier called Andy who has all the SP.

Now...Guitar amplifiers!????

Dave.

Thanks Dave
Will take your advice and get it set up
Cheers :guitar:
 
No, the guitar doesn't have to be expensive. All it has to be is expressive in the way you want it to be. That may mean $1000 or it may mean $70.
My current guitar is all chanky so I need to buy a new one
What is 'chanky' ? What is it about your current guitar that you don't like ?
 
Just FYI. Beware 'iconic' guitars? My son has a Rickenbacker (330? looks like Lennons but isn't quite)

Yes, it gives 'That Sound' but that is really about all it CAN do and has really wimpy pups.

Dave.
 
No, the guitar doesn't have to be expensive. All it has to be is expressive in the way you want it to be. That may mean $1000 or it may mean $70.
What is 'chanky' ? What is it about your current guitar that you don't like ?

Thanks. I mean its a bit bust up. One of the dials has gone into the body. The ring that held it in place has gone. It's visible shaking about just below the hole. Another dial is loose
 
Thanks. I mean its a bit bust up. One of the dials has gone into the body. The ring that held it in place has gone. It's visible shaking about just below the hole. Another dial is loose

I'd recommend you take a few lessons with someone to learn more about guitar. 'Dials' - these are the volume and tone potentiometers. From your description, you have a semi-hollow guitar. Fish the control back into the proper hole (needle nose pliers), get a replacement nut and tighten down and use a couple of drops of superglue or loctite so it doesn't loosen again.
 
Echoing others, a proper setup helps it play and will mean it will be easier to play and tune (e.g., no catch points on nut/bridge, tuning keys adjusted, lubricated if appropriate). Of course, good tuning keys/gears are necessary, but most guitars these days are pretty decent, and same with pickups. You can spend a lot on them, but many of the standard ones on entry guitars are fine. Until recently I used an Epiphone LP Special II, a very basic, bolt-neck entry guitar, kind of a Telecaster with humbuckers, and with a good setup it was one of the nicest and most fun guitars I've played. Sounded just fine. (I've had Teles, Strats, a Gibson Epiphone Riviera (335 type) and a Les Paul along the way.)
 
Gear 4 music do some basic cheap good guitars. When I say 'good' I mean they're functional, they work. I got a 12 string for less than £90 and I like what it does, even if it's not a Rickenbacker !
 
i'm one to think that guitars don't matter as long as you can find a good guitar sound with the amp that you have. alot of music is made with cheap guitars, it's just how you set up your sound.

but if i can recommend, my first electric guitar is a godin sdxt. i still have it and use it to this day. it has really good pickups and wasnt too expensive. really worth the money
 
I've got two or three quite nice virtual guitar Kontakt samples and while they sound great, they're like painting by numbers - they are great for some things, but blunt instruments for others.
 
a second vote for guitarfetish.com, I have 1 guitar fetish bass, and I have put their pickups in a few others, for less than 500 you can't really get much better than their stuff imho. Rondo music is another good one, both guitarfetish and rondo music make clones of more famous guitars ie gibson, fender etc. and from what I can tell both use the same tone woods for their guitars, I prefer the guitar fetish pickups however, they are fantastic. Just my 2 cents
 
Can you post a pic of your current guitar w/ closeups of the problems?

Agile, Firefly, Epiphone, Squier and Harley Benton are all good budget guitars. Look up Epiphone Special 2s, I bought one to tinker with a few months ago ($250 shipped) and was really surprised how nice it was. It's not going to displace my Gibson or Hamer as #1, but it's great bang for your buck. Cheap guitars have come a LONG way in the past 20 years. I'd stay away from anything with a tremolo bridge (i.e. whammy bar), because you'll run into tuning stability issues on low end guitars.
 
I have 2 partscasters mostly made with GuitarFetish parts. I know some people really dislike GFS for some reason, but I love them. You just have to keep your expectations in line. The necks and bodies I've bought are great. Some of their hardware is a little flimsy, but you're not buying a $2000 PRS! The ones I've built for $200-$300 in parts are as nice as most new guitars in that price range, and for me I love customizing guitars anyway so it's great to be able to make every decision about what the guitar will be like.

I haven't bought any of their instruments (i.e. already assembled), but some of those Slick guitars look really cool.

Some of their pickups are killer too, although from what I've read it's a bit hit and miss. The mean 90s are fantastic, the VEH neck is good, the Strat Alnico 2s are good, and so is the Jimi strat pickup. With a quick google search you can figure out which ones to avoid.

Also, keep in mind all their descriptions are over the top. You'd think every product is the best in the history of the world based on their website. Hah!
 
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