You have £400, what guitar do you buy?

[fese]

Electric - some Tele style guitar. Don’t know which brand is good in that price range.
Acoustic - a grand auditorium. Maybe a Sigma or a Dowina. But as I’m a bit of an acoustic guitar snob, I’ll probably want to spend a bit more and have a look at Eastman or Furch guitars in the 800-1500 range

[dellboy]

If your in the UK and near Bath then how about a guitar auction ?

Gotta be careful to avoid getting into a bidding war though.

Just decide your absolute Maximum and stick to it.

And viewing is always essential - assuming that they still allow you to do that.

https://bid.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk/m/vi ... log/id/174

[SneakyBeats]

Something with humbuckers

[fese]

Something with humbuckers

Like that?

[The Noodlist]

Be wary on buying used, chances are that 99% will have some type of fret wear. I have 6 used, 4 guitars, 1 bass, 1 acoustic and have refretted 4 and levelled 1, except the bass. (guitar rescue centre £30-£50). 

If I was to purchase a guitar now it would be an Harley Benton TE-52 NA, T-Styles can cover a lot of genres.

[donkey tugger]

If I was to purchase a guitar now it would be an Harley Benton TE-52 NA, T-Styles can cover a lot of genres.

Heard a lot of good things about them too, and the paisley one looks f**king gorgeous;

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton ... aisley.htm

[Winstontaneous]

Be wary on buying used, chances are that 99% will have some type of fret wear. I have 6 used, 4 guitars, 1 bass, 1 acoustic and have refretted 4 and levelled 1, except the bass. (guitar rescue centre £30-£50). 

If I was to purchase a guitar now it would be an Harley Benton TE-52 NA, T-Styles can cover a lot of genres.

If you ask the buyer the right question about instrument condition including fret wear, truss rod, etc. any defects/wear should be figured into the price.

[Mikelo]

With £400 I'd be looking at an Ibanez RG370AHMZ blue moon burst or a Esp ltd ec 256

[Henry Jimdrix]

For an electric it would be this:



And for an acoustic it would be one of the Sigma guitars.

The PRS looks like a good choice. As for your acoustic choice, I own a Sigma, they have a really good sound for the money with great sustain, on the downside the action is really quite high.

[Henry Jimdrix]

If your in the UK and near Bath then how about a guitar auction ?

Gotta be careful to avoid getting into a bidding war though.

Just decide your absolute Maximum and stick to it.

And viewing is always essential - assuming that they still allow you to do that.

https://bid.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk/m/vi ... log/id/174

Interesting link, I bookmarked it. The only thing with auctions if you are spending a bit of money on a top brand guitar you need to be sure you are not bidding for a fake. I'm not sure I have the eye to detect a good fake Gibson.

[SneakyBeats]

Something with humbuckers

Like that?

Something like that

[Unaspected]

I'm still considering a Schecter Demon 6.



Just found it for £300, which isn't bad.

[vurt]

so a hundred left for some muff

[Unaspected]

so a hundred left for some muff

Actually, £100 left for a matched pair of AKG 451 Bs. Both things I want and could use - though the guitar is probably more immediately useful right now.

[tapper mike]

Whatever hollow body electric I can get for 400

Save a bit more anything under 600 will be crap
That being said I've got three each under 900

Also be decisive on what type of box you want. None is a end all be all. If you want a rockabilly / Jump-Jive / Western Swing box go for an Epi Wildkat, or a Kay Barney Kessel or a Gretsch though tron pups are lousy for jazz


I think they are filled with flaws from the way the headstock is designed to the way the tailpiece works but they are great at belting out those types of tones.

Don't bother with thinlines or semi's. Semi-hollow bodies have a lot of mid punch with little low and high end. When I first started playing guitar I wanted and saved for a 335 with the belief it would cover a lot of both rock and jazz. I was sadly mistaken. Not that it didn't serve it's purpose in blues and rock.

Thin body hollow body guitars are actually more suited for country than jazz they lack the warmth that comes from the low mids.

Jazz boxes are defined by size. The measurement is the distance between the center and the lower bout.

17's 16's and 15's ( the smallest is 14.5) represent three different tonalities and playing styles.

17's the largest of the three isn't suitable beyond three part arrangements. They have both a lower bottom end and high end. These are preferred for chord melody / solo performance arrangements. They for the most part come with floating mini humbuckers (though the Epiphone Broadway fights the norm) They all have 25.5 scale lengths and generally have thicker necks to compensate for the thicker tops. Thick laminate tops give less feedback and produce less acoustic tone. I have a D'angelico Premier EXL-1
https://reverb.com/item/35069319-d-ange ... ric-guitar
Picked it up open box for $700 These are the cheapest well built 17 inch bodies. It's a newer (2017) release for the product so if you buy used chances are it won't have much ware. The fretboard is stained maple. (Ongokol or something like that not rosewood) It's a spruce top with maple back sides and neck. Yes in that range they are all laminate tops.
The action is..relatively high and you can't lower the bridge to low. Boxes like this in the old days also used to have high bridges otherwise they rattle like mad. Still it's better than an old epi regent or 40's /50's era D'angelico. They have relatively fat necks. Not as big as a gretsch close to a contemorary Les Paul just a smidge wider and thinner but not by much. These don't have a lot of acoustic output for their size and you won't be pulling off any Joe Pass type licks in any hurry.

16's are the most popular for jazz players. More comfortable still a full body much more wamth not as floppy, longer lasting
Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor Pro II
I always hated Epi's before this one. No matter what the workmanship was for crap. I picked mine up last year for $650 new with case at a brick and mortar. Les Paul 59 neck (thick) the slim taper refers to how it tapers down a bit between the 9th and 15th fret but trust me it's not slim. In order to balance the wieght you need a thick neck to match the thick top. The thick laminate top is what they use to reduce feedback. Honestly I'd rather have a thinner top because the sympathetic vibrations ring better. The "Probucker" pups are copies of the burstbuckers put on newer Gibsons they are A3 and I don't buy into the hype, I replaced the neck with a SD JB because I prefer more output and punch. With the JB it sounds louder, fuller, deeper. I also replaced the tailpiece with a fingerstyle one for better tuning stability and adjustibility so the low strings didn't go floppy.
Great tone good action, Laminate Spruce Top, Pau Ferro (not rosewood) fretboard)

Lastly 15's
Ibanez GB10 EM
There's one guitar I've wanted since it first came out. Every time I talked to someone about it they steered me away. Ibanez George Benson. I don't have love for Ibanez guitars. I've had a few. Every time I even thought about one they were way way out of my range. But then Ibanez released the GB10EM The first ones were crap. So avoid buying "em's" used. The tailpiece isn't well made and the pots had to be replaced. The newer ones have a wooden tailpiece cover and the pots have been improved.

The only fault I will give them is that it's hard to adjust the height on these floating pups properly. The Hi E loses a little output on the neck. These have a solid low end that doesn't get lost in the mix. The neck is considerably thinner and smaller than most boxes, My fingers fly on it. It's a shorter scale length like maybe 24 the action is low and surprisingly tight. The top is spruce and the body is linden (Basswood) so it's a soft mahogany type tone. Just be respectful of the body as basswood nicks easily. The fretboard is walnut. Unplugged it's got a lot more projection than both other guitars combined. Plugged in It's all George Benson tone all the time with two mini humbuckers that are specially voiced. They pick up a lot of the top's acoustic properties. Punchy compressed warm and full with plenty of sustain.