Recommend New Guitar

[davidarlette]

I am about to buy a new electric guitar. I have only ever owned a strat copy (which I loved till the pickups rusted), and am wondering what people would recommend as the most versatile of all guitars?

Also after people's experiences with the follwing types of guitars: pros/cons

1. The Epiphone Sheriton or any Epiphone with f-holes/ hollow bodied guitars in general.
2. Fender Strats/Yamaha's with a humbucker/ without.
3. The Fender Tele
4. Anything else

I like playing mainly rock, blues, country and popular music. If anyone is from Australia especially and could give me an idea of price, too.

[the EDGE]

Hey David! I see your selection, you understand what you are looking for.

I want a tele really bad, so I would go with that, but it really comes down to what you really want to pay for!

[BEHN]

1. The Epiphone Sheriton or any Epiphone with f-holes/ hollow bodied guitars in general.
2. Fender Strats/Yamaha's with a humbucker/ without.
3. The Fender Tele
4. Anything else


I've got an Epi Sheraton and the built quality, feel and sound is real good. It's certainly not a versatile guitar though. A friend of mine has a US Tele and it's a great guitar. Not quite as nice built as the Epi but it plays and sounds great.... more diverse but not great for your styles. Another friend has a Yamaha strat copy with a humbucker at the same price range and its nice. I wouldn't say it has the 'charm' of the others or quite the feel but it sounds really hot and is probably the most versatile of the three.


What amp would you be running through? That would make a difference to my decision

[davidarlette]

I've got an Epi Sheraton and the built quality, feel and sound is real good. It's certainly not a versatile guitar though. A friend of mine has a US Tele and it's a great guitar. Not quite as nice built as the Epi but it plays and sounds great.... more diverse but not great for your styles. Another friend has a Yamaha strat copy with a humbucker at the same price range and its nice. I wouldn't say it has the 'charm' of the others or quite the feel but it sounds really hot and is probably the most versatile of the three.


What amp would you be running through? That would make a difference to my decision

I really like the look of the Sheraton, but haven't played one (this weekend I hope to try some ES 335s, but what I really want something with the Bigsby Tremolo too. Aria (a copy) have one for $1200 Australian with a case, but the guy who advertised it won't order it into his shop unless I bought it first!

Man, I am bummed that you are saying that your Sheraton is not too versatile, cos that is the way I was leaning, towards some kind of Gibson copy (like the Epiphone WIldcat, or white falcon style), but cannot afford a "proper brand", like Guild, Gibson or Epiphone ($4000 min). The Aria is apparently a "good" copy though.

If I bought one anyway, what amp would you recommend with it for country/rockabilly? I was under the impression you could use the tone switches to go from country twang to mellow with this style of guitar. Is that not true? The only amp I own is a big Jade (Australian made), which can be used as a bass amp too. I'd love to be able to get close to the Brian Setzer sound.

The Tele is out of the race. I loved it in the movie Crossraods, but have heard some really yuk tones come out of them on youtube, and even from professionals on TV.

I know the Strat is very versatile, cos I have had a copy before and played it through tons of different amps, but I wanted to try something a little different this time. If I went that way, would you accept one from Mexico, or is it worth the extra to get a Highway 1 USA made one? What about Pacifica (Yamaha version)? Any good?

Thanks for getting back to me.

[BEHN]

I really like the look of the Sheraton, but haven't played one (this weekend I hope to try some ES 335s, but what I really want something with the Bigsby Tremolo too. Aria (a copy) have one for $1200 Australian with a case, but the guy who advertised it won't order it into his shop unless I bought it first!

Man, I am bummed that you are saying that your Sheraton is not too versatile, cos that is the way I was leaning, towards some kind of Gibson copy (like the Epiphone WIldcat, or white falcon style), but cannot afford a "proper brand", like Guild, Gibson or Epiphone ($4000 min). The Aria is apparently a "good" copy though.

I think it is to do with the style of guitar. I use mine for blues, garage-style rock, post-rock and some other stuff, but it doesn't go way beyond that. I've managed to get much wider use out of it though with the help of a 7-band Boss EQ pedal recently, so that might be worth thinking about it.


If I bought one anyway, what amp would you recommend with it for country/rockabilly? I was under the impression you could use the tone switches to go from country twang to mellow with this style of guitar. Is that not true? The only amp I own is a big Jade (Australian made), which can be used as a bass amp too. I'd love to be able to get close to the Brian Setzer sound.

I use mine through a Marshall JTM615 - now preceeded by the JCM series. It actually sounds really nice for the clean channel which is not normal for a Marshall. Kinda Fender-y. I assume the JCM is similar so might be worth trying. I'm a big fan of the Fender valve combos too.
Beyond that I don't know what smaller companies you'd be able to get in the USA. Of course I'd love to reccomend a Solano or Matchless or something, but the $$$ doesn't usually extend that far for us mortals




I know the Strat is very versatile, cos I have had a copy before and played it through tons of different amps, but I wanted to try something a little different this time. If I went that way, would you accept one from Mexico, or is it worth the extra to get a Highway 1 USA made one? What about Pacifica (Yamaha version)? Any good?

I find that each guitar is different. I've played a Japanese Squier that outplay some US Fenders... some Mexi strats are great, some not so great. I would be inclined to go for a more upmarket Mexican like the 50's/70's series, Mexi Deluxe or even the Jimmy Vaughan sig rather than the Highway series though.

On the Yamaha front, my friend's one looks like the Pacifica 812 and that's a pretty nice piece of kit. Personally i think i'd prefer a proper Fender though (or maybe one of these (http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/yamaha-rgxttd6/1290) ;))... like i said before (i think), it doesn't quite 'feel' the part, even though it sounds great.

Hope that's of some help to ya.

[Lunkwill]

I think it is to do with the style of guitar. I use mine for blues, garage-style rock, post-rock and some other stuff, but it doesn't go way beyond that. I've managed to get much wider use out of it though with the help of a 7-band Boss EQ pedal recently, so that might be worth thinking about it.

It may sound a bit odd, but you can stuff socks in the f-holes to help cut down on feedback, and it doesn't effect the tone much, if any, at all.

[Altruist]

The best 2 guitars for someone interested in playing heavier music would be a Peavey or Ibanez. They have much better value than companies that want to be "metal" (literally every single "metal" guitar company is either absolute garbage or insanely over-priced). If you get something from another company, you probably won't like it for playing heavy music. Fenders aren't good guitars despite what people think. Well, let me rephrase... You can get a good fender for $2000, though you could probably get a better Ibanez for $200. Personally, I would advise against Yamaha. I got a free yamaha guitar from someone for doing a bit of computer troubleshooting, and the thing is absolutely terrible. Granted, it's a lower-end model, but most professional companies don't make guitars anywhere near this bad.

[davidarlette]

Absolutely, for metal I'd go for Ibanez. You seem to be able to get the nice squealy artficial harmonics out of them with the right amp/effects and it sounds absolutley hot, you are right. Like the theme from Top Gun, or Steve Vai style. Although I like listening to metal I don't play it much. Not fast enough.

Where I am hoping to go is more towards country and rockabilly and jazz. I have been playing blues for years. A nice guitar shop in town has two models for me to try tomorrow. One is a Gretch Electromatic (but made in China), with upgraded Gretch pickups. The guy I have been e-mailing about it says I'll "dig it" and that it will give out country twang to mellow jazz no problems. He also got in the Aria copy I wanted to try. If I don't like the style I'll just get a Strat (tried and true).

Behn, thanks for your advice. I'll try it through a Marshall, although I'll have to just get a practice amp until I save up again for a performance one. BTW, my brother in law says you can get a tele sound out of a strat, but not the other way around. Any idea how?

I'll take the advice overall on Strats that you need to play each one and judge it on it's own merits, although I am secretly hoping I'll like this Gretch sound tomorrow.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[the EDGE]

Run with a tele man! You can do all styles of music, no matter who may say it!

[BEHN]

It may sound a bit odd, but you can stuff socks in the f-holes to help cut down on feedback, and it doesn't effect the tone much, if any, at all.

The Sheraton has a wooden block down the centre to cut down on feedback... I have very little trouble

[the EDGE]

really a center block? Is it also a setneck, or neckthrough?

[BEHN]

Setneck. Rickenbacker do a neckthrough with a centre-block

[the EDGE]

yeah and I think Gibson too...Kool man! That is great to know!

[davidarlette]

To my own great surpirise, while I was in a guitar shop waiting for my acoutic to be fixed (turned out someone in the shop had just overtuned the A string and it had lost all it's tone), I asked if I could play the Tele. I said,"Can I have a go of that Tele, I've never played one before and I am just curious?" It was actually a Yamaha Tele copy, but she plugged it in and I was in love! I could instantly get that real country twang, with next to no effort, it was comfortable to play, and the amp was fantastic with it. I asked how much for the two together (expecting around maybe $1,100) and the girl came back and said $600! Edgecrusher, have you been praying for me or something? lol :) This rig sounds professional, for under $600. I am so excited and it even has a natural timber fininsh like my wife loves. It also has a humbucker on the bridge. I can't wait to lern some more country licks!

[davidarlette]

Later in the day I came across an Ibanez copy of the Gretch-style, with the F-holes, Bigsby-style tremolo, single cut-away and it was blue. So, feeling guilty for being greedy, but with my wife's encouragement I bought it too! I feel like the most blessed man in the world today. So the whole lot (incl practice amp) came out at about the same price as I was expecting when I woke up that morning to pay for just the Chinese Gretch!

[davidarlette]

So next question:

Rockabilly is new to me, but I have just developed a thing for it over the last couple of months. Any tips with this new Ibanez Gretch copy and how to play it? It has four knobs, and a pickup selector, all down the body end (ie below and right of the bridge when playing it right handed). It is the most complicated looking guitar I have ever played, but it was worth the money just for the looks :D

I'll play around to get from as warm and jazzy, through to as Stray Cats as I can. Any hints on starting rockabilly? I already am comfortable with blues mainly, so I know my minor pentatonics, major scales, major pentatonics, turnarounds, progressions, some walking baselines, etc. The rockabilly seems a bit more Chromatic though, and more jazzy. Any good sites to visit?

[the EDGE]

just run with simple melody scales....think of Johnny Cash

[davidarlette]

just run with simple melody scales....think of Johnny Cash

I had to buy a Johnny Cash CD (I didn't own any), and got it for half the marked price. The shop assistant said, "This is actually on sale, it's just not marked on it." You MUST be praying for me dood, I swear! :D

[the EDGE]

rockabilly is sweet man; it sounds so hard, yet is easy and if you lived closer say like 15 minutes away we would be jammin I tell yah that!

[davidarlette]

I've got an instructional DVD coming on Rockabilly, but I played some 1950's style stuff for my Mum on the weekend and she started dancing, so that's a good sign. She was right into dancing Rock'n'Roll so she loved it. There are some Stray Cats songs (like "Rockabilly Rules") that are really simple 12 bar, have a butcher's on youtube. It's when they start mixing in the jazz leads it looks tough, and the FAST fingerpickin'. There was a lesson with Brian Setzer on there, but it won't work now, where he slowed down what he does so well. If you haven't heard it, Runaway Boys by the Stray Cats is one of my favourite songs ever.

And yeah, WA is a looooooong way away. It's hard to imagine it's dark here, and probably daytime there.

[Lunkwill]

I have the Brian Setzer hot licks video. It's awesome. That guy is amazing!!!

:cool:

[davidarlette]

Ah yes, the Hotlicks series...I have one of those on Steve Vai. Good stuff. I'll look out for that one. Is it him playing, or someone showing his style?

[rockitmarty]

dude what kind of guitar is that? I haven't seen the new one yet but it looks cool because of the design based intelligence of the crew

[davidarlette]

dude what kind of guitar is that? I haven't seen the new one yet but it looks cool because of the design based intelligence of the crew

Which guitar, mine or BEHN, or Edgecrusher's?

[powermacho]

fenders are one of the most comfortable guitars in the market.

[the EDGE]

yeah I think I am going to be gettin a Tele for my birthday!

[davidarlette]

Interestingly, I overheard a guitar saleswoman telling someone how some metal bands use Tele's, but I don't know any. Do you?

I'm loving the twang! Thanks again Edgecrusher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGCc9cOyIzY (Tele)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgUCs72RDHs (Brian Setzer on a Gretch)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igel3864zpg (Great Tele lesson)

Enjoy these.

[davidarlette]

yeah I think I am going to be gettin a Tele for my birthday!

What sort? What colour? Mine is a Yamaha Pacifica copy with a humbucker and I love it! Are you a made in the US only guy?

[the EDGE]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-Standard-Telecaster-Electric-Guitar?sku=516035
brown sunburst!

[IMP]

just use an air guitar. air guitars rock. literally.

[the EDGE]

I will just play....lol

[IMP]

ok, i will allow you to do that.

[the EDGE]

I did air guitar when I was from like 5 till 14, till I learned to play!

[davidarlette]

If you play air guitar, be a finger-picker, cos otherwise it can look like you are masturbating! (The round hand holding the pick moving up and down). That's what my sister told me when I was playing air guitar once.

Air drums are way better, anyway. Way, way, better.:p

What colour you going for edgecrusher? Oops, you said sunburst. I like it. I played my tele copy the other day and everyone wants one. Good call man!:p

[the EDGE]

lol....you are killing me Dave!