Saving up for an electric guitar

[nyjm]

I've decided that I'm going to save up buy an electric guitar. The question to the gurus, the peanut gallery and other interested parties is:

What should I get?

Here are some parameters:

- Quality vs. price: I'm looking to spend not more than $400 for both a guitar and an amp.

- Amp: I live in an apartment; I get along well with my neighbors and I plan to keep it that way.

- Sound: I'd prefer to have a wide range of tones, but I have a prediliction for overdrive and don't play much blues or country.

- Maintenance: I want low maintenance: something that sounds good out of the box and doesn't require me to change the pick-ups/frets/action/bridge, etc. after only a few months.

- Use vs. abuse Music-making is a hobby for me; I'm not really concerned with a guitar that will withstand lots of punishment (it'll sit on the stand most of the time) or will always sound good live (I've played live like 4 times in my entire life).

- Misc: If anything, a guitar that will interface well with my PC would be a plus since that's what I do all of my recording on.

So, yeah, what's a good mid-range guitar for a non-beginner?

[ken]

Wow, that is a lot to ask for $400. I suggest you look into some off-brands that make quality guitars for cheap. Check out the Agile AL-2000 Les Paul copies or maybe anXaviere. Then you will need a $200 amp... Maybe one of the small Line 6 amps would be good for you. If you can, try to find a used Peavey Classic 30.

Good luck.

Ken

[pegor]

And then the peanut gallery said:


$150 fun little amp

$100 multi effect pedal to get your tone and piss blue off

and a gtr with bridge humbuckers that feels good to play

($400 isn't enough)

[ken]

Maybe you don't want an amp. Have you thought about getting the Line 6 Toneport? You can get tons of guitar sounds with it. You can't jam with your friends, but I'm not getting that you do that. This way you can spend $300 on a guitar instead of $200. A friend of mine picked up a Squier Tele Custom, and though he did a bit of work on it, I was always impressed by how nice it was.

[bz£]

If you aren't playing live, you probably ought to skip the amp altogether. Ken has already named some of the best low-budget electrics; spend about $250 on one of those and put the rest towards an amp simulator like a J-station. Play through your computer speakers and you won't have to change anything when you want to record.

[Kill Me Sarah]

Ken beat me on both counts: I own an SX guitar also from Rondo Music which I'm really happy with for the price. And I use the TonePort UX2 and it's one of my favorite purchases ever. Pretty much everything I've recorded since "Clouds Were Touching The Ground" has been through my TonePort (guitar and Vox), although lately I've been using my acoustic not not making full use of all the amp models and so I haven't recorded anything for Song Fight yet with my SX.

CWTTG and Evil April (the bridge/chorus, not the verse which is Fruity Loops :LOL:) are probably the best samplings I have online of what I've done with the TonePort. Also All Tan under then name Bonfire of the Manatees is probably the best of all.

[nyjm]

Awesome. See, this is why I ask you folks here at SongFight - I had never really thought of going ampless. And that would work out just fine, giving me more cash for a nicer guitar.

I suppose an important follow up question should be: what should I avoid at all costs?

[bz£]

Were I you, what I would do is go to my local music store and try out various guitars in the $300-$700 range and see what feels comfortable to you, and then go buy the imitation version from Rondo of whatever you like best. They sell some very nice guitars for the money, and you'll do a lot better than you would with, say, a Squier Crap-o-caster.

I actually like Epiphone, which mostly makes knock-off Gibsons these days, but, yeah, I'd avoid Squier. It wouldn't really be "at all costs," because they are extremely cheap for a reason.

[Project-D]

I was given a Dean Vendetta several months ago, and have been pretty happy with it. I did have to tighten the jack nut, and the knobs didn't fit that tightly, but I didn't have to mess with the action, the fretwork was decent (no high frets, nicely polished) and it sounds pretty good. They go for $100-150 depending on where you get it from. I'd be more than happy if I'd had to pay for it. I did get the palowinia wood version, and it is light. I could wear it all day, I've worn it standing up for over 3 hours straight no problem. It doesn't sustain as well as an ash/poplar/mahagony/whatever body, as you'd imagine, but it's a nice tradeoff for me. I keep hearing people here talk up the Rondo guitars, and they run about the same for an equivalent model. I might get one myself.

[Aardwolves]

I actually like Epiphone, which mostly makes knock-off Gibsons these days, but, yeah, I'd avoid Squier. It wouldn't really be "at all costs," because they are extremely cheap for a reason.

Seconded. I bought a supposedly higher end Squier P-Bass Special years back and it's pretty awful. Input jack falls out constantly and the tuners are buzzy. A knockoff would have been a better bet.

[ken]

Charcoal really does give the best advice when he suggests that you go to a music store and play every guitar in and around your price range. That is the only way to fall in love with a guitar.

The thing about Epiphones is that the Agile guitars are made in the same factory and are sooo much cheaper. You end up paying for the name on the headstock.

Ken

[nyjm]

Charcoal really does give the best advice when he suggests that you go to a music store and play every guitar in and around your price range. That is the only way to fall in love with a guitar.

All right, road trip!

The thing about Epiphones is that the Agile guitars are made in the same factory and are sooo much cheaper. You end up paying for the name on the headstock.

Agile electric guitars: My favorite Budget brand under $400

So, next question (you guys are too helpful): how do I speak guitar tech? I know that in the long run, I just need to find an axe that I like playing and that sounds good to me, but the linguist in me wants to know what exactly this stuff means when comparing guitars.

I mean, I understand (mostly) what each category means. An AL-2000 (random example) is made of three pieces of Mahogany (good wood, but better guitars made from fewer pieces) and its top is made of a thin piece of so-so Maple. Pick-ups are... no, I'm lost: humbuckers covered in ceramic? Tuners, fingerboard, neck - no questions. Scale? 24 3/4"? Is that the length of the fretboard? All the Agile series have "2.7mm Jumbo" frets, but what does that mean? And what makes a nut a good one?

By the way, I understand why Humbucker pick-ups are cool; I've heard a few, but are they a brand name or a type?

Thanks again, everyone, especially ken and charcoal.

[Kill Me Sarah]

Agile electric guitars: My favorite Budget brand under $400

That's got me wanting an Agile now I bought an SX from Rondo which I'm very happy with, but I see Agile has a Tele copy that could be interesting. I'd really like to see if Rondo puts up an Agile Strat copy (if they make such a thing).

By the way, a note about Rondo is that they're stock varies on pretty much a daily to weekly basis. They're always swapping out what's available what's on the website, so if you see something you like and can afford it, snatch it up quick. But if you don't see one you like, keep checking back and it will become available.

[ken]

I can't get too techy on this stuff to tell you the truth, I'm sure the web can explain this stuff. Just think the more expensive the guitar, the nicer it is. Sometimes that matters in higher quality pickups, sometimes not as in inlaid mother of pearl fretboard.

These are good questions to ask the sales guy at whatever guitar shop you go to.

Oh, and humbuckeris a type of pick up. Not a brand. Les Paul invented the humbucker as a way to cancel noise from single coil pickups.

Ken

[jb]

You're going to sit down to play most of the time, I bet-- in front of your computer, fooling around, or recording.
You're going to record into your computer and process the sound through some kind of box.

So, when you go to the music store, ignore the dude trying to sell you on wood types and pickups and whatever else it is-- get the guitar that combines the following qualities the best:

1. Sits well-- you feel comfortable with it on your lap. It doesn't want to slide away from you when you're sitting with it. Make sure you try it out while sitting in the position you plan to sit in normally. Like, don't try it out on a tall stool, or a tiny little foot bench. Borrow the office chair from behind the counter at the store if you have to.

2. Doesn't hurt your left hand to play-- Get the best fretboard/frets you can afford, and the best action possible. This is what is going to distinguish YOUR guitar from one that you love vs one that you hate. The fretboard should be smooth and feel easy to slide down. The frets shouldn't feel sharp or square at all when you run your finger over them, and you should NOT feel any of them protruding when you run a finger down the side of the fingerboard. That leads to cuts on your fingers when you're sliding up and down the fingerboard playing power chords to Nirvana songs.

3. Stays in tune! I know this should be a given, but it's not. If you find a guitar that meets the previous criteria but the tuners feel loose or cheap, ask the store to replace them or tighten them or whatever you can get away with for free or cheap.

4. Don't forget that you'll need some accessories. You'll need picks-- buy a few in different thicknesses with different grips. Spend $10 on picks. You'll need a strap, and you should get one that's cool looking and makes you feel good when you're wearing it. You'll need some strings. If you're coming from an acoustic background, you'll want them a bit thicker as you'll be playing harder and the superlight strings will break more easily. Depending on the weight of the strings you get, you'll need to have the truss rod adjusted on the guitar, so the fingerboard is straight. Lighter strings place less tension on the fingerboard. You'll need a good guitar cable. I love this one I got a long time ago-- it's cloth-wrapped and bright green with blue stripes. I am a proponent of making everything about the guitar something that you personally selected and approve of and like. Make the cable you're going to use a nice one that looks cool and which is easy to see on the floor.

[Reist]

Word to the JB. That's great advice. (ps - 10 bucks on picks? That's a lot!)

I play a Godin Detour, and it's way nice, for a decent price.

As JB said, go to the guitar store. Try some out, and hopefully you'll fall in love with one that's in your price range. That's how I got my guitar and my bass. Deciding on a guitar by how it feels in your hands is a better choice than checking its price and ratings on the internet, in my opinion.

[Caravan Ray]

Hmmmmm... I've been putting off buying an electric guitar for 4 years now, thinking I can pretty much do every thing I need to do with my acoustic guitar and computer effects. But there are some things that I think would be better done with an electric.

This thread is starting to convince me that I need to take a trip down to the axe shop.

[JonPorobil]

Rock on, John Benjamin. Rock on.

[nyjm]

So, I finally did the deed. Thank you everyone for their very helpful advice. Because I'm a sucker for instant gratification, I ended swinging by the local pawn shop and plunking through the collection for about an hour or so. Turns out it's a music/pawn shop, so they owner knows his stuff and had a nice variety of used and new equipment (yeah, a whole display of Squier Strats that I walked by).

And, in the end, I got an Ltd from ESP. It's purty:



(yes, that is my cat,, Tatiana - she's fascinated with daddy's new toy...)



Most importantly, it sits well and it sounds great. The frets are nice, fat and round, the action is high, which I like, but easily adjustable. I've ordered a Line 6 Toneport and as soon as that arrives I'll be up and rocking!

Of course, nothing is perfect. Not being used to dials on my guitar, I promptly tweaked the tone knob. It's loose, so I guess I'll have to go about fixing that some time....

[Paco Del Stinko]

Very nice. Don't be afraid to not set the knobs all on 10, as many might do. Enjoy!

[Caravan Ray]

Well - after almost 5 years of recording on an acoustic guitar - I have finally splashed out and bought myself an ELECTRIC GUITAR for my birthday!


Went for the Classic Player ‘60s Stratocaster®


http://www.fender.com/products//search. ... 0141100372

Very cool. Pale blue with aged knobs (and yes - of course I made the obvious "just like me!" joke when the guitarshopdude mentioned the aged knob)

[Billy's Little Trip]

Congrats, that's a beauty.