guitar buying help

[hockey_player_11 0]

Hey guys

I started playing guitar in the summer on an old acoustic I found in my house, but I think its time for a new guitar. I don't really know what to buy, or what to look for when buying an electric guitar. My budget is $1000CDN MAX for a guitar and amp. I was thinking maybe an Epihone or a strat/fat strat. Am I looking at the right kind of stuff?

[Squirrel 0]

i have an Epiphone Les Paul Strd and i love it http://epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=44&CollectionID=6? ts good for all playing levels and a good price for someone not looking to ''pay'' for a gibson. i got mine for $700 CDN tax included which would leave you about $300 CDN for an amp. btw i got a peavey blazer. i havent tried out too many amps so maybe someone else can help?

[jay 1]

Not sure what they cost Canadian but I would HIGHLY recommend going with a Line 6 Spider II 1x12" combo. It's the most versatile amp for the $$ (around $299 US) and the Line 6 modeling amps actually sound pretty good... especially for practicing with headphones or at lower volumes in a bedroom. As for guitars, you really can't go wrong with a strat type as a first electric guitar. The Les Paul style might look a little cooler but you'll get the most versatility from a strat and I would say that's paramount for a beginner. I would probably look at the Standard Fat Strat since it has a humbucking pick-up and the price of $399 US should be withing your range.

[EBondo 233]

I got a Fender Affinity Stratocaster Special, I got it yesterday for Christmas, and I already love it, the sound of it is amazing, all my friends who have played it love it, and I couldn't be happier with it, and it only cost the very very very very low price of 149.99 USD, but it is an amazing guitar for the price it is

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

Go to a small shop, not a pawn shop, but not a retail chain store. Those guys know their stuff and will sell you what you should get, no BS.

[hockey_player_11 0]

Go to a small shop, not a pawn shop, but not a retail chain store. Those guys know their stuff and will sell you what you should get, no BS.

I don't think there are any chain stores around here, unless you count Long+McQuade. I was thinking about going to Steves or Long+McQuade. I don't really want to go to any of the smaller shops because they tend to have really expensive stuff.

[Chadd 916]

As Jay said the Line 6 stuff is good for the money and will work well since you aren't gigging with it. As for the guitar, make sure it's a solid wood body as you can always swap out the pickups later. I always preferred humbuckers over single coil pickups, but that's just me. I like a fatter tone than a lot of people.

[5-Alive 0]

If I were you i would buy an Acoustic/Electric, like an Ovation Celebrity. In my opinion the Les Paul is a very good guitar but its heavy, and not the most fun thing to play, i like Acoustic because of the sound so if your into like heavy metal and want a electric thats your choice i was just giving you my two cents ( with the acoustic/electric you could buy a pedal that has different sounds to make it sound electric and when you get bored with that play it acoustically again) just a thought. As for Amps best out there is anything Marshall...

[napsy 1]

I don't know what kind of shops are in your area, but if you already know how to play guitar then the best thing you can do is try out a bunch of different guitars, even ones that are the same model. Most guitars of a certain model will probably sound alike; you want to find one that has that special "something." I've played some really nice cheapo Fenders and Epiphones and I've also played some real dogs. Then again, I've played some expensive guitars that were dogs, too.

I'd go with a Strat or an Epiphone Les Paul - they're easy to upgrade parts on. Really, if you can find any guitar with a neck and body you like, you can always change the pickups or tuners or whatever else at some point down the road.

For amps, get something that sounds good and don't feel like you have to buy something with a ton of watts. Fender, Peavey, Marshall, etc. all make good stuff. Stay away from Crate and other low-end amps. Personally, I'm not a fan of Line 6, but to each their own.

[jay 1]

Personally, I'm not a fan of Line 6, but to each their own.

I've owned no less then 2 dozen different amps old and new and my Flextone III is still the second best amp purchase I ever made. It's not something that's meant to be taken out on tour or into a club for a gig. It's a small practice amp that allows you to get an good approximation of the amps it models. He could have a Fender, Marshall, Mesa, and Peavey all wrapped up into one inexpensive combo that will be fantastic for playing in the house at low to reasonable volumes. Oh, and the Delay Modeler kicks ass too.

[Chadd 916]

Last time I checked Marshall's were overpriced.

[bulletproof_funk 0]

I would put more money into the guitar itself at the moment as suggested already. Since you're going to be holding the guitar alot, find one that feels comfortable in your hands (neck and fretboard in particular). You don't have to buy new either: if you look around there are some good used guitars as well. For the money, IMO Yamaha makes some decent guitars with a good combination of features (e.g. bridge/trem, pickups, tuners, etc). Unless you want to play alot of metal, you don't really need the Floyd Rose style floating trem, they just bump up the cost. It depends what style(s) of music you want to play though. Personally, I like having a full-sized humbucker in the bridge position and single coils in the mid and neck so I have a good range from fat distortion to funk. I like having the versatility in one guitar without being overly specialized towards one type of sound, unless that's what you want.

[Bruin88 0]

hey ,i have an epiphone les paul 100(350$ canadian) and a randall rg75 amp(350$ canadian) i recommend this combo ,its great. Its sucha versatile combo ,you can play the heaviest metal and the softest....anything.

[hockey_player_11 0]

Thanks for the input guys

I ended up getting a fat strat and a behringer amp. They had a sale at a store here so I managed to pick both the guitar and amp up for pretty cheap.

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

Sounds good. One thing about the Fender is that with the termolo system on them they tend to go out of tune easily, if you use the trem. Make sure you have a good tuner handy so you can adjust it. Nothing more annoying than playing a guitar out of tune.

[Chadd 916]

Sounds good. One thing about the Fender is that with the termolo system on them they tend to go out of tune easily, if you use the trem. Make sure you have a good tuner handy so you can adjust it. Nothing more annoying than playing a guitar out of tune.

I put Sperzel locking tuners on my import strat and blocked the trem. The one I built is blocked and I haven't needed locking tuners.

[jay 1]

It's perfectly possible to keep a floating strat tremolo in tune without changing tuners. The first step is not jerking and spewing with it. It's really not meant for anything but light tremming. The second is to make sure you string your guitar properly at the posts so that they don't overlap one another and don't have too many or too few winds. It's a common misconception that tuners are what effects how well a guitar stays in tune. It is generally the string shifting at the nut or in the bridge saddles. Unless your doing dive-bombs of course.

[Dan_The_Man_16 0]

I know my old Fender went out of tune very easily by using the trem system on it. I'm not one to dive bomb ethier, but after a long solo with alot of trem work, the guitar would be tuned about 1/2 a step down. I might have experianced a bad guitar, but all I know is after I put Sperzels on mine like Chadd did, it pretty well eliminated it.

One other thing to remember with a strat, the neck on them is usually bolted on, and although you bought that guitar from a shop it might not be set up properly. Make sure you take it in again to get it set up by a pro, don't mess around with it at home becasue you are a beginner.

P.S. Do yourself a favor and learn to read real music along with tabs. It always helps.

[Chadd 916]

On the lower end guitars the tuners tend to break down. I never use my trem at all, in fact I prefer a Les Paul or Tele, but I've seen cheaper strats thet go out of tune from a step and a half string bend. stretching your strings properly when changing helps a bit but some tuners just lose traction.

There was a guy back home who was a master at setting up strats, I had him look over the one I built and had him tweak it a bit. Properly setting the intonation makes a huge difference.

[stevoc 0]

I've got a fender strat that that I've had for about 18 years and it's still going strong. When I got it, it was on sale for 649.00 (or something like that from 899.00), so it's a mid line strat. I've made two changes to it: the pickup and the tuner locks. The standard fender locks tended to not hold as well and the screws stripped real easy. I put a DeMarzio super distorter pickup in it (it's a single humbucker setup) and it has been nothing but sensational. I considered replacing the bridge with a floyd rose or something like that, but the fender bridge and tremolo do just fine. The fine tuners help to keep it in tune, but it takes quite a bit to have it go out...which seems to be only when my strings are real old.

Point being, a strat will last you some time if you take care of it. Congats!

[Chadd 916]

$899 new in 1986? Damn, that's more than a midline strat.