Help me buy a guitar $1000

ReInventor

ReInventor

New member
I've been playing guitar for nearly 16 years now. I play a wide variety of music and the guitars I have are sub-professional, in need of major surgery (okay, just some fret crowning/replacing and possibly a pickup replacement for one).

I'm considering selling everything and getting one really fantastic guitar that is everything I've always wanted. Having a hard time finding guitars that meet my criteria - most notably a 25.5" scale neck with only 22 frets. Anyway, here's a list...none of which are negotiable.

Also, this needs to be a pro guitar. No cheap Chinese hardware, glue hog bodies, or shoddy finishes. For a grand, I think this is a reasonable request.

Basswood body - either a smooth superstrat shape or something less traditional - nothing pointy or sharp - classy, elegant, comfortable.

Maple neck/Rosewood fretboard thin and fast

25.5" scale length

22 jumbo frets

Tilted headstock (4x2 would be awesome, but I'm not that stubborn)

Fixed bridge

Dual humbuckers - medium/high output - modern, complex sound - not super hot (If the price came down to accommodate a swap I would consider)

No pickguard

Three way toggle switch

Push/pull coil tap (okay, so this one is optional, as I can install it with ease...but it's what I want).

Modern classy looks - no bat inlays or gothic cross truss rod covers (actually, no truss rod cover would be good too).
 
I looked at Carvin not long ago. I'm a little wary of buying a guitar I haven't played. The Bolt Plus is probably what I would get. Can you get that with a three way and a coil tap rather than the 5 way switch?

How are the pickups that come with that model?
 
Why only 22 frets?

Just wondering.

How about going to Warmoth and building yourself? I know you just said you're wary of buying a guitar you've never played, but you are limiting yourself with your requirements to a pretty small pool of commercially available guitars.
 
With 22 frets, the neck pickup sits right beneath the harmonic node that would be the 24th fret. That makes the biggest difference with open strings or 12th fret notes, but also any other notes that would have the 24th fret as a secondary harmonic. With the pickup closer to the middle of the string, albeit by a small amount, you get a thicker, rounder sound. A small difference maybe, but noticeable, and I don't use those two frets anyway...might as well go for the tone.

Noticed no basswood option at Carvin.
 
Do what I did a few weeks ago. Just go to guitar center and play every guitar in your price range. Then once you've found a few you like, compare them to some guitars that are maybe $300 - $1000 more. The obvious choice would be the one that can easily compete with the guitars that cost way more than your budget. Don't worry so much about your standards because they can change real quick if you stay open minded.

I ended up with a Gibson Les Paul with a satin ebony finish. One of the cheaper models, due to the fact that I didn't pay for a $500 paint job. I bought the guitar because playing it was effortless and it sounded so rich and full that it just couldn't be passed up. Lucky for me an all black simple design is what I prefer for looks. I would rather have a dark and evil looking guitar instead of a pretty sunburst.

Keep in mind looks had nothing to do with it, but it worked out great for me.

I sold all my guitars in trade for something high end. It was totally worth it and I wish I would have done this 10 years ago. I wasted a lot of time and money playing with crappy mid ranged guitars from every brand and always feeling like I was missing something.

I play that guitar like crazy and it's almost like a fight every day just to squeeze in more time with my guitar. It's almost a magical experience when I'm warming up my fingers by playing major scales over jazz instrumentals. The I'll do some pentatonic soloing over some blues jam tracks, maybe some rock jam tracks as well.

Then when I do get lost going off on my own stuff the hours go so fast it's almost sad when I have to stop playing unless it's because my fingers are sore and I'm getting a blister...

Here's mine:
http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Les-Paul-Studio-Mahogany.aspx
 
ReInventor said:
With 22 frets, the neck pickup sits right beneath the harmonic node that would be the 24th fret. That makes the biggest difference with open strings or 12th fret notes, but also any other notes that would have the 24th fret as a secondary harmonic. With the pickup closer to the middle of the string, albeit by a small amount, you get a thicker, rounder sound. A small difference maybe, but noticeable, and I don't use those two frets anyway...might as well go for the tone.
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Fair enough (never been a neck pickup fan myself though).

How about an Ibanez?
 
Is there an Ibanez that meets my criteria? I really do like Ibanez guitars, but most of their 22 fret fixed bridge guitars are also the shorter 24.75" scale.

For what it's worth, both of my electrics are Ibanez, an RG320 and an AX125.
 
ReInventor said:
With 22 frets, the neck pickup sits right beneath the harmonic node that would be the 24th fret. That makes the biggest difference with open strings or 12th fret notes, but also any other notes that would have the 24th fret as a secondary harmonic. With the pickup closer to the middle of the string, albeit by a small amount, you get a thicker, rounder sound. A small difference maybe, but noticeable, and I don't use those two frets anyway...might as well go for the tone.

Noticed no basswood option at Carvin.
Click to expand...

:laughings:
 
Thanks to everyone who is actually being helpful, rather than showing their obvious superiority by using mocking emoticons.
 
Don't know if you like the idea of an old guitar, but there's some nice Ibanez Roadstar II's that have 25.5 scale length. Steve Lukather model in particular.. I know it's got a trem (but you don't want it to float anyway cos of the design). Ebony fretboard and birdseye maple on basswood. I have a couple of roadstars but the radius is a bit small for my liking... I'd hate to sell them though, they are cool guitars.

(edit: sorry they have tiny frets too, that's fixable and might need doing after 20-30 years anyhow).
 
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muttley600 said:
Right, so you going to explain about that pickup placement, harmonic, node thing or let it go..:laughings:
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I think he was just saying he likes the neck pickup further away from the bridge one because it gets more of the string vibration...which I can see up to a point (the higher you play the less accurate the idea becomes). The harmonic node thing I am leaving alone.
 
muttley600 said:
Right, so you going to explain about that pickup placement, harmonic, node thing or let it go..:laughings:
Click to expand...

Quoted from wikipedia "When a guitar string is plucked, the string vibrates most prominently at its fundamental frequency, but at the same time also vibrates at all integer multiples of that frequency. The vibration along the entire length of the string is known as the fundamental, while vibrations occurring between points along the string (known as nodes) are referred to as overtones. The fundamental and overtones, when sounded together, are perceived by the listener as a single tone, though the relative prominence of the frequencies varies among instruments, and contribute to its timbre."

Thus, if the pickup is placed under a point along the string which creates overtones, it will hear more of them than if placed otherwise. I realize that this only works perfectly when playing notes that have overtones at this exact point, but all the open strings, the 12th fret notes, plus any other note that has partials at what would have been the 24th fret, will create stronger additional harmonic content at that point.

PLUS, putting the pickup closer to the 12th fret increases the amount of vibration the pickup "sees," lending a louder, warmer sound (this is why your neck pickup sounds warmer than your bridge pickup in the first place...) Pushing it further from the bridge just increases the same effect.

This really isn't rocket science, nor is it any less valid than saying nitrocellulose sounds better than polyurethane.
 
slowmotion said:
I think he was just saying he likes the neck pickup further away from the bridge one because it gets more of the string vibration...which I can see up to a point (the higher you play the less accurate the idea becomes). The harmonic node thing I am leaving alone.
Click to expand...

Hah, what he was saying was, "I have a modest amount of money but demand to have the maximum amount of choice without compromise. On top of that I have some some wacky half brained and ill informed idea about the way strings vibrate and will apply those to my demands by posting a pile of bollox whilst accusing other of "obvious superiority" because they choose to post an emoticon instead of ripping the shit out of me which is what my posts so far deserve."

I will continue with.....

:rolleyes:


;)
 
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