guitar question

M

mattadams

New member
does anyone have any experience with ROUGE guitars. Since i'm 14 and on a really low budget I'm thinking about getting Rx 250 version, just want to know if they are any good? If they suck or if you know of any guitars that are better for around $300 please tell me.

thanx for the help

[This message has been edited by mattadams (edited 07-13-1999).]

[This message has been edited by mattadams (edited 07-15-1999).]
 
I think you mean Rogue. Listen, please, to some advice. I got stuck with something very similar to this a few years ago when I had been away from music and wanted to get back into it...it wasn't till just a few years ago that I realized that for about the same price I coulda had a Strat!! And guess what, 2 years ago, I bought a perfectly wonderful Strat on super sale at Sam Ash (while I was traveling cross-country, in fact, and they shipped it for only $10) for just a shade over $300. Please...when I was 14 I bought a beautiful red and black guitar, unfortunately I could only play it for 10 minutes at a time because of the pain. It's not worth it. Look around a bit longer, do without a Nintendo game, and save until you can get a really good guitar...doesn't have to cost $900 but there's a difference between good ones and sh*t ones. Don't buy a Squier, either, and never never buy a guitar by mail because they're all different. You have to play it and it has to feel right and it has to make you smile. In a year or two you won't miss the extra money but if you have a crappy guitar you'll regret it every minute.

P.S. I just remembered...I've also heard that those Yamahas are terrific, just never saw one in a music store.


[This message has been edited by Dragon (edited 07-13-1999).]
 
I like the danelectros. They play well. They sound decent with some tweaking and look really neat. They are in your price range. Check em out. Go on ebay too. Eveything is on there. www.ebay.com later
 
For around that price range, you could get an Ibanez. That's really the only guitar I would reccomend, but Dragon is right, save up a little and buy something better. I'm only 19, and I bought a Gibson SG Special for $500, and it sounds and plays great. There is a huge jump in quality once you go over about $400. Try to find something used!! It'll knock half the price off. Check out this site for excellent used gear:: www.ugbm.com
 
Something I've learned to like what Dragon said. Never buy something because it is cheap. This goes with anything. Always save up your money and buy something with good quality and especially, a good RESALE value.
-thomas
 
Lots of good advice here, but let me add my two cent’s worth. Here’s the key word, set-up,….whatever you buy get the dam thing set-up right from the start. Would you drive your car with the seating position that was set-up for someone else…..NO…..so why make the learning process harder than it has to be ? A good set-up on a guitar can make it play and feel four times its price ( however this does not apply to the sound ).
As for which guitar you should buy, the advice about saving and getting the best you can is right on the nail, but to put things in perspective. I have a Gibson Les Paul, a Fender and a Yamaha Pacifica 112 and hand on heart I play the Yamaha more than the other two put together, it’s a great guitar and its set-up is dead right. If your wallet will stretch to it, I would take a close look at the Yamaha Pacifica 812W. This is a knockout guitar, and has had five star reviews in all the right mags.
Not sure on the price of the 812W, here in the UK you can get one new for about $600, so in the US it will probably be a lot cheaper, and if you can get one second hand you got a guitar for life that comes in near the budget you spoke about before.
Whatever you choose, have fun !
Good luck, Alan :)
 
I agree with everyone about the Yamaha guitars...I got a Pacifica a few years back for $199, and it's a great guitar!! It has a humbucker at the bridge position, and two single coils everywhere else....it sounds just beautiful through a nice tube amp, or even a tube emulating amp like my peavey Rage 158...the action is super fast and its a real solid guitar in general...
 
I purchased my first electric last Christmas, and I was pretty sure that with the money I wanted to spend, I wouldn't find anything good. I went to a music shop with an excellent reputation, and I was shocked at some of the prices! I ended up walking away with a Fender Standard Strat (Mex.) with hardware found only on the Americans, and a cool dark purple colour that apparently is new for '99. What did it cost me? The equivalent of $220 American. PLUS it was a lefty, which usually costs $40 more. The moral is: keep looking!!! This guitar is great!
 
Thank tou every one for yor help. i am probably going to get a fender, yamaha, or a epiphone. it still might be a while until i can get one (in the $300 price range) so if you have any more suggestions please tell me


thanx
 
As you can tell by my name I'm a fender type of guy. I have a mustang and love fender guitars.I think a fender mexican strat would be a good choice for you. They are well made and have the support of fender behind them.
 
I think the Yamaha Pacifica, Fender Strats and Gibsons/Epiphones are all good guitars. People prefer certain guitars because it suits their style and taste. Just go out there and do some serious shopping and get a guitar which characterize you! Its rewarding. For me I got a Pacifica 112 because it characterize me .. cheap but good quality

:-)

... sorry for my old fashion smiley .. hey Dragon, if you are around .. how do you get those new yellow smiley on screen .. they are cute...
 
That's right, hongteck, you've been away for awhile...well, you just type these characters like this: :) whoops!

You already know the answer, though...read the FAQ! In this case, not the 4-track FAQ but the one on the top right of the BBS pages...
 
yeah Dragon, too busy to come regularly.
but whatever it is, you can count on me to drop by and make myself feel belong every now and then ...

.. and hey guys, we forgot to mention the telecaster. Its a legendary great guitar ! Its excellent for blues and country and if its not hot-for-rock enough for you just put a humbucker in the bridge and off you go to stardom.

p/s and thanks Dragon for the tip .. here goes .. :) :) :) !
 
I, too, am a guitar fiend and like everyone else, have my own opinions... I will echo the sentiment found here:

Don't buy a CHEAP guitar because it's CHEAP!... try to find a GOOD guitar that is affordable!

I've got only one strat in my collection and it was a good deal (not as good a deal as the ones stated here, but that's beside the point!) The rest of my collections is mostly Gibson with a few (collectable) strays thrown in for good measure.

The secret is not in a brand name or not in a body style... the secret is all in how does she play? My strat plays differently from my LesPauls, and my 335 plays differently from my Flying V and my Firebird plays differently from my SG... my advice: Waltz on down to your local music store and play them all until you find the one that feels like it was made for your hands! Then, if you can afford it: BUY IT!... if you can't afford it: Go get a paper route and make some more money until you can! The music store will put it on lay-away for you until you can score the cash. In the mean time, every night will be filled with dreams of anticipation!

As a foot note, I began my musical journey over 35 years ago with a Danelectro (supplied to me by Sears, where America shopped even then) and it was a DREAM!... I agree with a preceding statement that they are COOL and they are GOOD!... Mine was exactly like the one on the cover of a M.Etheridge album cover... I wish I still had it! (I do have the gutz... just not the axe itself). Those lipstick pickups are wonderful. I modified it by soldering a capacitor across the pot terminals with a switch for some warm jazzy sounds too.

Good luck...

Cordially,
the guitar half of "RockNGunz"
 
Ditto all the good advice about "Don't buy a guitar because it's cheap." Don't buy a Rogue.

Well, easy for me to say. Okay - You've got $200 or so? Go to a big store and play a Yamaha Pacifica 112... they have an excellent rep for good sound and consistent construction.

Gotta go home with one now? If not the Yamaha 112... then the Danelectro U2's are perfectly serious guitars, for $220. I have one, and I play it as much as my expensive guitars. Do not mail order these, however... quality control and set-up are widely variable... find one you like.

Or keep saving to buy either a Mexi-Strat (or Mexi-Tele!) or a decent Epiphone. I've owned or played all of the above, and they're worth the money, in the $350-400 range.

Just please, not a Rogue. You'll thank us later.

K-wey
 
So far a lot of people have given you some great choices on guitars. More than once I've seen both Mexi-Strat and Yamaha Pacifica suggested.

I've owned both of these guitars. I started with the Mexican-made Fender Stratocaster, my first electric guitar. It was money well spent, and if it's Fender you're looking to get, you will not regret it. However, I found a few issues with it, from the quality of the saddles and tuners, to the fret finishing and even the paint job. I loved the guitar, but I put in replacement saddles, changed the bridge pickup, and did my own paint job on it before I was really happy.

I lost it somewhere along the way, and when I went to replace it, I was still no better off financially, so I had to get a guitar in the same price range. After much shopping around, I realized that there was better out there for the same price. Again, don't get me wrong, the Strat was great... it had good sound and excellent playability, especially for the price. But ultimately, it didn't quite stack up to the Pacifica series of guitars. The variety of options, the excellent craftsmanship, the quality components... all at the same cost (or less) of the Mexican-made Strat.

So there you have it.. my rather verbose advice. If it comes down to a choice between those two, I found the Pacifica (don't even know the model name off-hand, but I can get it for you if you want) a marked improvement. If you just can't resist the Fender name and authentic Fender look (and who can??!!) the strat will still do you fine.
 
Hi Matt,

Seems like this thread may continue on forever, so here's my 2 cents:

As a former music store guy who sold all of the above types of guitars, I can definitely recommend the Yamaha Pacifica series as the finest guitar for the money, no contest. Very good quality control, never had a bad one in the store, played very well right out of the carton.

The real interesting part for me was that guys would come in and buy a similarly priced (but lesser quality) non US Strat because it had Fender written on it, and it is a given that it's easier to sell a Fender guitar than a Yamaha.

It seems to me that there are three ways for you to go:

1) If you know what you're looking at, cruise the pawn shops in your area and wait for a good used non US strat/tele to show up. What you're looking for is one that is well made i.e. good frets and fret installation, good bridge, etc. Plan on replacing the pickups with Seymour Duncans or Lindy Fralins or (if you must!) DiMarzios, and the tuners with Schallers (or Gotoh's). What you will end up with is a semicustomized Fender ..., which will always be worth less than what you've got in it.

2) Same pawn shop scenario, but you might get lucky one day and run into a US made Strat/Tele for $300-400. It doesn't matter if it looks like it's been run over by a burning tank, as long as it plays good and sounds good. (Repeat the caveat here - if you know what you're looking at!)

3) Check your local classifieds and wait for a used Pacifica to show up. There's a reason that they don't show up very often, so be patient.

If you'd like more info, please email me with specific questions, and I'll try to help you by mail.

foo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top