guitar quality question..

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CDT-sHaG

CDT-sHaG

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i'm mainly a bass player and acoustic guitar player. i'm getting back into recording and want to get an electric for some parts..

i'm not wanting to spend over $300-$400..and their are a lot of choices in that range..

i've tried out everything from ibanez's, yamaha's. alvarez's (their tele copy is nice)..(gibson's..fender's and such are mostly out of my price range)..

my dilemma is this: i play fairly hard. intricate but hard...i'll pound the crap out of an instrument...so i've always enjoyed bass and acoustic for this reason....funk..SRV-type acoustic slamming....my ibanez sdgr and my yamaha fg335 have served me well...

but when i look at electric's..they seem so fragile(the tuning pegs..bridges..pickup installation..knobs..)..i was trying out an ibanez for example..and after bending and pounding the thing for 2 minutes it wouldn't stay in tune and i felt like i was gonna break the thing lol...plus the necks are so thin..and the action is laying on the fretboard ..it makes me feel as if the guitar is dictating how i am to play it instead of the other way 'round...that make sense?

i'm not a big guy at all i just learned to play on an acoustic that had the action about 1/8" off the fretboard (i've since lowered it a bit lol)....i'm not jammin' with anyone right now..but the last few guitar players i played with didn't like me to touch their axes lol...except this one dood with an old les paul that weighed 200lbs lol..

heavy gage strings would help i think..but i dunno about the quality on these cheaper guitars..

FYI..i tried some of the gax and grx series ibanez's...

well anyway..what i liked about the alvarez is that it had a fatter, u-shaped neck that i liked (closer to an acoustic thickness..) plus a solid boby....but it wouldn't stay in tune very well (the tuners maybe?)..plus i'd like a git with a humbuck' at the bridge and 1-2 single's.....that's why i tried the ibanez's....

oh well..any ideas? anyone relate to this? should i suck it up and look at the newer fenders and such for a tougher guitar....or is their something i can do to one of these cheaper gits (ie new tuners and such)?

i'm going shopping tomorrow at a few stores about 45minutes away....be nice to have some knowledge going in about what to look for...

thanks.
 
Try the Epiphone Les Paul Standard in your price range.Mahogony body and neck,alder top, rosewood board.Yeah,it weighs a ton,but that's where that 12 second sustain comes from.
There are Les Pauls and Strats, and then there are all the copies of Les Pauls and Strats.Epis are made overseas,but the QC and setup work are done in the USA.

Tom

p.s. Yes,I have an Epi,an LP Custom and my brother has an Epi Joe Pass archtop,both good value for the bucks.
 
Cheap guitars = cheap materials & cheap labor

That's where they cut corners, things like tuners and other hardware. You might consider finding a used and abused guitar with quality materials, or upgrading the tuners on a cheapie you get.

Queue
 
kool..i've played epiphones b4..i always liked them (nice sized necks..)...the stores ive been in lately didnt have any..(their fender/ibanez small shops)...........i do like the idea of a 1-hb, 2-SC pickup setup though..oh well....it may be saturday b4 i can shop so maybe some more suggestions will come flooding in lol...jk..

thanks a lot guys for the responses...
:)
 
Mr. Hicks is correct again...many of the epiphones are well worth the $...in the hands of the right luthier they will play and sound remarkably well...I've never owned one, but, I've played a few.
 
Buy a quality guitar used to save some dough and put a set of heavy gauge strings on it and raise the action some and your in buisness.
 
A word of warning. Don't order an epi; make sure you play it first. Some of them are really shit and some of them make the grade and are actually worth it, trust me on this.

I'd deffinatley consider buying a used guitar if you know what your looking at.
 
yeah..i couldn't ever imagine ordering a guitar online without really knowing how it played...

i don't know where to find used guitars..i mean the pawn shops around here get in one nice guitar a year lol.....
 
Got a "college town" nearby? I couldn't find any used guitars near me. Finally I asked the right person who pointed me to College Park, MD (Home of University of Maryland, 20 miles away from me) where there's a place called "Atomic Music" that had literally HUNDREDS of used guitars and basses, not to mention a great setup and atmosphere, lots of little rooms and nooks where you could plug in and really evaluate things. They had everything imaginable from noname POS guitars with "custom" <-(read DIY spraypaint and such) finishes to big $$$$ vintage stuff.

Queue
 
yeah..i live near wake forest......the only used guitar shops are either a couple of custom shops (over priced) or pawn shops..the idiots in the pawn shops dont even string half of the guitars there (i assume either they don't care or are doing it to hide defects...warped necks and such...)we have quite a few pawns around..ill check 'em out..thanks..
 
Tom Hicks, anyone, epiphone

Whats the "word" on the Black Dot guitars? I've had hear people swear by them. saying they are unusually made well. How about the Casino? I've heard the same for that too.....
 
When we were kids my brother had a 58 Epi Casino,a VERY nice guitar made right about the time Gibson took them over,similar to an ES120T.Sorry,I never heard of the black dots.Was that the neck inlay on a specific model?

Tom
 
black dots

...are knock-offs of the ES-335. ...yes, I believe the "black dot" refers to the simple neck inlay, no binding either. They are about $400 if remember correctly. I would love to bring home that semi-sound for my recordings.
 
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