Need advice buying an eletric guitar. PLease help!

pmk19

Im just looking for some advice for buying a guitar. Ive tried going into some shops but some of the staff werent very helpful, they were too interested in just trying to make a sale as opposed to actually telling me the differences between the guitars they sold.

Anyway, i have a fender squire strat and i want to get a better one. My budget is about €500-€600. Essentially i want to get a guitar that'll will last me for a good bit and that i wont need to replace in the next couple of years. i want something that will be good enough to use for recording purposes

Excuse my ignorance but i havent got a clue about the differences in guitars . I mean, what makes a good guitar? what should i look out for? What are the main differences in guitars? What has the top of the range guitar got that the other guitars dont? Can anyone suggest any makes or models?

thanks in advance

feylya

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_artikel-160094.html

Great guitar.

Seany

What kind of sound are you looking for? Unfortunatley, ususally the better the guitar..the more expensive it is likely to be.

Its really a personal thing. I picked up a new Epiphone Sheraton II incl epiphone case & delivery from the UK a couple of months ago for around €600 and I'm delighted with it

http://stores.channeladvisor.com/aireguitars/Items/31S850VS?

..but then again Im sure there are those in here that wouldnt have bought the same guitar given the same budget

What type of music are you looking to play?

voxpop

http://www.music123.com/PRS-Guitars-SE-Soapbar-II-i158171.music

Might have a little trouble getting it back from the states without paying custom/vat/etc

EDIT - myabe go for thomann instead http://www.thomann.de/iw_smb_suche.html?SUBJECT=KOMFORTSUCHE&iwid=6&SUCHBEGRIFF=prs+soapbar&x=0&y=0

pmk19

Well im just looking for the best i can get with that sort of money..
I play all sorts of music..mostly rock though im also getting into blues lately

anyway no one has really answered my questions..what is the difference between guitars..obviously its the sound but if im buying online i can hardly have a listen first..so what is it? the pick-ups? frets? the neck? the shape? what its made of?

when u see the spec on a guitar how do u know its good or better than other one..coz at the moment the only way i know something is better is by the price!

Johnny Storm

Well, here's my half-baked opinion....

I know exactly where your coming from. There are zillions of differnet types of guitar. You cant try them all, how do you select one thats good value and suits you....well f@@ked if I know but here's a start....

First of all you need a guitar that basically works. IE will stay in tune (good tuners) and play in tune (good frets), that has good electrics (ie volume and tone knobs dont crackle) and is generally solidly built.

To get an idea of the frets: Pick up the guitar and put your eye near (4 inches or nearer) the bridge. Look along the guitar at the frets. They should look smooth. Any frets that look different are potential problems. If the guitar is second hand look out for worn frets.

To check the intonation. Play a harmonic at the 12th fret (better the 24th if your guitar has one). Then play the note at the same fret using gentle finger pressure. They should be the same. Use a chromatic tuner to check.

Curved necks and intonation can be adjusted via the truss rod and string saddles (bridge). Check that the saddles and truss rod (be careful) are not already adjusted as far as they will go.



So now assuming that your guitar is basically servicable the next most important thing is the neck of the guitar. Is it wide or narrow, thick or thin ? Are the frets tall, wide, low ? How does it feel? 22 or 24 frets? Long or short scale? These are all personal preferences. There is no right answer. Having said that most modern guitars (eg Ibanez) tend to have wide, thin necks with jumbo frets.
The important thing is basically to find what kind you like. There is just no substitute for trying loads of guitars here. Just persevere no matter how unhelpful teh shop staff are.

Next - body shape - pretty much a matter of presonal preference. How does it balance when you have strap on it. Does the head keep sliding down and hitting the floor? LOL. Can you get your fingers to teh upper frets? Is it too heavy?

Pick ups - single coil / humbuckers? What do you prefer? Personally I find a middle pickup just gets in teh way.

Construction - bolt on, set neck, neck thru? Probably doesnt make much difference but does impact the next item.....

Next and we could spend all day on this - Sound. This is the real black art. Sound comes from an inexplicable mix of wood, pick-up, strings, construction type and quality, hard ware and your playing style and ability. You have to play the guitars before you buy them to find out what they sound like - its as simple as that. Take your time, adjust the amp the way you want. Remember that your playing style, choice of strings and amps is a major part of the sound.

My recommendation: try lots of guitars in shops, inform yourself on guitars, check the reviews on harmony-central.com etc, dont believe anything you read or hear, eventually you will find a guitar that gives you a hard-on (excuse me!), you wont be able to afford it, so buy it anyway. That's the way I did it anyway....

I'm sure other, wiser heads can add a lot more to this....

pmk19

thanks johnny storm..thats the sort of info i was looking for
Does anyone else have any advice to add to that and for what to look out for when buying

Doctor J

Guitar quality outside of the top ranges has improved dramatically in the last 10 years. Anything you buy for that money will not be a dog. The guitar recommended by Feylya is definitley worth your consideration. Things like intonation, neck relief etc can be adjusted to taste, all you really need to worry about is build quality and Ibanez mid-range are definitely built to last. If you're coming from a strat type guitar, that one will be fairly straightforward to adjust to and tone-wise, seems as flexible as you'll ever require.

Johnny Storm

When you do buy a guitar please post here and let us know how you get on.
Good luck.

cormhag

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_artikel-175928.html this might be a good bet. my friend has one and it plays and sounds really nice. it should suit most styles of music.

david

cormhag wrote:

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_artikel-175928.html this might be a good bet. my friend has one and it plays and sounds really nice. it should suit most styles of music.

Yeah but it looks naaaaaaaasssty!

jcoote

word dave thats crap looking...what about a mexican strat

cormhag

thats actually a curved maple top which looks very nice in real life. also its got a lot of differant sounds because of the split coil.

jcoote

yeah but to someone not to familiar witht he whole guitar setup thing the look would be very appealing (just trying to sound cool that is a really well-featured guitar)

It wasn't me!

The gutar feylya posted is fantastic. I spent a good while playing one at a time I was strongly considering buying one and it's got a gorgeous, well-rounded tone and lovely playability.

Ravelleman

Check out

Fender Lite Ash

If you can get past the birdeyes maple neck then this is a great buy. Seymour duncan pickups come as standard and a nice bright ash sound. Don't be afraid of the Korean build quality.

Go for the tele and you get a very distincitve, twangy sound. It works well for blues and rock (but not metal though).

Go for the strat if you want a good jack of all trades. It'll works well in pretty much every situation. The sound isn't nearly as distinctive as a tele but nothing beats a good strat.

feylya

Ravelleman wrote:

If you can get past the birdeyes maple neck then this is a great buy.

If you can get past the birdseye? Birdseye maple is more expensive than ordinary maple!

Ravelleman

feylya wrote:

If you can get past the birdseye? Birdseye maple is more expensive than ordinary maple!

Yes it is, but on this particular model the birdseye maple doesn't have a gloss finish. I found it was quite gritty to the touch. The matt finish really doesn't do the birdseye maple justice. The fact that it's more expensive wouldn't really influence me. I'd go primarily for what felt best and, secondary to that, what looked best.

feylya

It isn't matt just because it's birdseye though. And a good buff would get rid of the satin feel. Personally, I quite like a satin neck.

Eoin Madsen

Yeah, me too. That's actually shockingly nice looking for such a cheap guitar. Natural finish gets me everytime. :rolleyes: