Need some help with learning which guitars would suit me

[Dominus]

Haha! Funny man. Actually, I saw some guitars shaped like a flower. Maybe those would fit perfectly? My wife would LOVE it!

I have a guitar I would like an opinion on. Just picking this out becaues it seems to have two pickup types for a variety of tones(am I right on that?) and the description seems nice to me:

http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem. ... earch=true

Now, keep in mind that I will probably go to my local shop to try any guitars that I put on my list if I were to buy one. So I'm just trying to get an idea of what to go in there looking for so I don't get "sold" something I don't want.

Brent

Good guitar. I'd have a few of them myself if I couldn't find my BC Rich Platinum Virgins. Two humbuckers will give you plenty of different sounds, and the stringthrough body is VERY comfortable to play on, change strings on, and give plenty of sustain.

[Koe:rade]

Ah, I get it. So theres no pickup switching. Which means not being able to select between bridge and neck pickups... which I guess would mean less tone varieties as koolkeys said?

Though how detremental would this be? Keeping in mind, I'm not a guitar player, my music isn't very guitar centered at all, and I basically want it for really distorted industrial tones, thin post-punk tones, and getting noises out of.

In all seriousness, if that's the sound you're going for, all you need is a bridge humbucker.

I play mostly metal, and all of my guitars just have a bridge humbucker. I can get plenty of sounds out of it, my neck pickups would never get used, as I'd even get a usable clean sound out of the bridge.

I'd also stay away from Floyd Rose style bridges, I know some people swear by them but the double-locking ones are a pain to set up and replace strings on. (Single locking ones are hard to find, but all of the guitars I have with Floyds have them, just luck I guess. )

I know very little about guitars ha! ^^"

This is the bridge specs for the hello kitty squire: Hard Tail Strings-Thru-Body 6-Saddle Bridge

What's this?

[koolkeys]

How would that guitar compare in your mind to the Hagstrom Ultralux XL-5 that I linked to earlier?

Brent

[rsadasiv]

I've been playing guitar a long time, and I have to say that cheap/entry level guitars today are miles ahead of cheap/entry level guitars from 20-30 years ago. If you don't buy the absolutely cheapest model in the line, you are going to get something that tunes, stays tuned, intonates, doesn't buzz, and is, in general, a playable instrument which can sound good in the right hands and will not sound atrocious in the wrong hands.

By all means, go play some guitars. CL in Nashville could have some outstanding deals. But my suggestion price/performance wise is to look at the baby brother brands (Squier, Epiphone) go one price level up from the bottom of the barrel (not Affinity, etc) and save $75 for a setup/intonation/new strings. If you continue to grow and find that you want something a little more sophisticated in a couple of years, this guitar should still bring ~50% of its value on eBay.

[koolkeys]

What is CL? We have every store I've ever heard of and plenty that are local. But I don't know what CL is. Maybe I'm just not thinking of them all. I regularly visit Sam Ash, World Music, Gibson Guitar Showcase(very cool place, btw because they build guitars there), and one downtown shop.

Brent

[KTHE]

I've been playing guitar a long time, and I have to say that cheap/entry level guitars today are miles ahead of cheap/entry level guitars from 20-30 years ago. If you don't buy the absolutely cheapest model in the line, you are going to get something that tunes, stays tuned, intonates, doesn't buzz, and is, in general, a playable instrument which can sound good in the right hands and will not sound atrocious in the wrong hands.

By all means, go play some guitars.

hey yeah. my first acoustic was really cheap... one of the cheapest at music-go-round. it's a "hohner", but when i was at the store it was one of the best-sounding ones there. i've had some guitar playing friends play it and got good comments about the sound quality.

just pick em up and play em!

[Dominus]

Ah, I get it. So theres no pickup switching. Which means not being able to select between bridge and neck pickups... which I guess would mean less tone varieties as koolkeys said?

Though how detremental would this be? Keeping in mind, I'm not a guitar player, my music isn't very guitar centered at all, and I basically want it for really distorted industrial tones, thin post-punk tones, and getting noises out of.

In all seriousness, if that's the sound you're going for, all you need is a bridge humbucker.

I play mostly metal, and all of my guitars just have a bridge humbucker. I can get plenty of sounds out of it, my neck pickups would never get used, as I'd even get a usable clean sound out of the bridge.

I'd also stay away from Floyd Rose style bridges, I know some people swear by them but the double-locking ones are a pain to set up and replace strings on. (Single locking ones are hard to find, but all of the guitars I have with Floyds have them, just luck I guess. )

I know very little about guitars ha! ^^"

This is the bridge specs for the hello kitty squire: Hard Tail Strings-Thru-Body 6-Saddle Bridge

What's this?

Basically that's one of the "easy" bridges, the strings just insert from the bottom of the guitar, go through the bridge, and then run up the neck to the headstock. If you break a string, it should take about 20-30 seconds to replace it.

[Dominus]

How would that guitar compare in your mind to the Hagstrom Ultralux XL-5 that I linked to earlier?

Brent

The ESP vs the Hagstrom? If you hate your Danelectro, you'll hate the single coil on the Hagstrom. From what you've said, I think you're looking for the simplicity of humbuckers. On the ESP, I'd say use the neck pickup for clean stuff, and the bridge pickup for crunch/distortion. (The ESP will have a 3way switch - one position for bridge, one position for neck, and one position for both pickups.)

Like I've said, I play mainly BC Rich Virgins, which are almost identical to that ESP F series, and I pull out the neck humbucker.

[Koe:rade]

=)

[koolkeys]

How would that guitar compare in your mind to the Hagstrom Ultralux XL-5 that I linked to earlier?

Brent

The ESP vs the Hagstrom? If you hate your Danelectro, you'll hate the single coil on the Hagstrom. From what you've said, I think you're looking for the simplicity of humbuckers. On the ESP, I'd say use the neck pickup for clean stuff, and the bridge pickup for crunch/distortion. (The ESP will have a 3way switch - one position for bridge, one position for neck, and one position for both pickups.)

Like I've said, I play mainly BC Rich Virgins, which are almost identical to that ESP F series, and I pull out the neck humbucker.

Sorry, I was comparing it to the Squier Strat.

I don't hate the single coils, but I'm just wondering if the Hagstrom will give me a good variety of sound because it has two humbuckers and one single coil. I want good clean sound, low noise, but the ability to also have some good rock stuff. Really just a good variety.

Brent

[Dominus]

I'm the wrong person to ask about Strats, I dislike them, and I don't like Fender as a company either. The Hagstrom will give you a very good variety of sound, and the humbuckers will give you low noise, just avoid using the single coil.

[koolkeys]

Well, I've found in the past day or so that if I move to a certain part of my room with my Danelectro(three lipstick pickups) that the noise almost completely disappears. So it's still manageable even with those noise pickups. And I don't do anything onstage, only recording. So as long as the one single coil doesn't make it worse or the same as the lipsticks, I'm fine.

That being said, the Danelectro still has great sound.

Another thing with me is that I have started this thread to learn what else is available. Before now, if you would have asked me for the best guitar brands, I'd say Gibson and Fender. That's it, all I knew. I've heard of plenty of other brands, but would have never guessed they were equal or better at times than the larger companies. So I'm not set on any one company.

I just need to get to a shop(oh, and sell my Danelectro, but yeah)!

Brent

[Dominus]

Get to a shop, find out what fits you, then check E-Bay and craigslist for a used one, might as well save a few bucks. I haven't bought a new guitar in YEARS....

....Although, I keep seeing myself picking up a new Warbeast:



($200, and it was just released this year, so no used ones yet.)

[Dominus]

Also, check out Guitar Center's used deals on their website. I ordered two guitars this week.

[Resonant Serpent]

I'd say that the best bang for the buck guitars out there are made by Agile. Yeah, the name isn't too hot, and you may not have heard of them, but they are probably the best kept secret in the guitar world right now. Check out the pics, read the reviews, and then take one for a test drive. They are only sold by Rondo music here in the US. The guitar is made in Korea, and the quality is really good. They look good, they sound great, and I can't really find anything I don't like about them. Rondo music allows you to return it if you don't like it, and all you lose out on is the shipping. Occasionally they will have blems up for a good discount, and the shipping time was only four days. They answered all my emails promptly, and were generally friendly people. You can buy them at either their site or on ebay.

This is the one I just bought a couple weeks ago:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0152086745

When it arrived, the setup was done right. All the strings were intonated properly, and no fret buzz. It shipped with D'addario's, and I use GHS boomers, so I had to adjust it a bit after changing strings. The guitar sings like a bird with no dead spots that kill the sustain, or spots that were 'too sweet' where the guitar resonance went crazy. I asked for the darkest one they had, so mine is more yellow/tan finish than white/tan like in the pics. The weight is good, but not too heavy. The electronics work just fine with no glitches. I opened it up and all the solder points are clean and stable/thick. It sounds a lot like a les paul, but with a much brighter tone, and more bite it seems when using heavy distortion. I use my guitar through a PodXt, and I love it. You would be hard pressed to find a better deal. I've owed a couple dozen guitars(including les pauls/strats/steinbergers), and I played professionally for over ten years. While it may not exactly copy the tone of a 3500.00 les paul, it is far better than the epiphones or even the newer, cheaper les pauls like this one:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=517536

I checked out one the mahogany models and I couldn't believe how bad it was. It was a pale imitation of both the tone and the build quality/craftsmanship of the Agile. I sold it after I had given the Agile a spin for a couple of days. Even the build quality inside the guitar was shoddy with messy solder and a tone knob that was obviously defective. For the same amount of money, you could do much worse. For the guitar, shipping, and a sturdy black case it all cost me less than 450.00.

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/revi ... L3000/10/1

http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar-ss10.html

http://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewt ... 42&t=33858

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... d=65325149

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/ ... index.html

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/ ... index.html