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Author Topic:   New guitar... any recommendations?? (Thanks for the info HD)!
The Mutable Night Force
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Posts: 1451
From: England
Registered: Dec 2004

posted December 13, 2005 04:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for The Mutable Night Force     Edit/Delete Message
I might be getting a new guitar for Christmas! And I know a lot of people on here are guitarists.
And thank you HD for the guitar info on the pictures topic!

So anyway.... I need a lot of specifications covered getting a new guitar... it's downright Virgo of me

Basically, it's gotta be
-Vintagey, cos I like 'em like that!
-Light, cos I'm a weakling
-Small fretboard-ie. for small hands
-Oh and I love stuff with a fuzzy distorted sound...

So, in other words I'm looking for something just like my current Futurama I god damn love that thing but 'apparently' it's crappy.

So... any suggestions? Preferably cheap ones?

Anyone know what guitars the Strokes have?

------------------
I'll sail the stygian swamp to the duties of this momentry life

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sxycrzykewl221
Knowflake

Posts: 207
From: detroit, mi, usa
Registered: Oct 2005

posted December 13, 2005 04:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for sxycrzykewl221     Edit/Delete Message
Hi MNF - I'll tell ya, everyone will suggest that you start with a acoustic, and there are good reasons, but maybe with your smaller hands you should start with a 3/4 size guitar. I know a lot of beginners and women are more comfortable starting with a smaller one. Good luck. It really takes a lot of practice and dedication to learn and get good, ....goodbye fingernails...hello music!

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Happy Dragon
Knowflake

Posts: 2886
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posted December 13, 2005 04:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
mnf

check out links i posted here http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/005869.html

and .. roughly .. how much dosh ... ?
and do you have an mp3 or name of a track .. that has your
fav guitar sound .. ?

check the links .. in particular the one on
solid body guitars and tone ...

.. look out for a small publication called "the guitar guru"
lists descriptions and value of new and used ...

anyhow .. saw your post just prior to tele programme ..
so got to go ...

'later
hd

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Happy Dragon
Knowflake

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posted December 13, 2005 04:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
****-Light, cos I'm a weakling****

... when checking them out ..
ask what the body wood is ....
"agathis" is now used in many instruments ...
be lighter than woods used traditionaly ..
.. has a good tone for fender like instruments ..

'later
hd

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The Mutable Night Force
Knowflake

Posts: 1451
From: England
Registered: Dec 2004

posted December 13, 2005 04:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for The Mutable Night Force     Edit/Delete Message
sxycrzykewl221- I have a guitar already! I'm not a beginner!! Avast, I'm insulted!
And I'm adequently equipped for playing an acoustic. Not that I need to be, since I'm not lugging one onstage for a gig!

HD- Hmmm.... well, my dad can be a bit cheapskatish on occasion... he's thinking under £200 (do you live in America? I think that's about.. $500? Don't know). If you're not English or familiar with the currency, the cheapest sort of thing you can get is a crummy £99.
Favourite sort of guitar sound... like I sort of said- the Strokes! My god, their guitars sound too good for words. They sometimes have a sort of fuzzy quality but can also get a clear strum sort of sound.
Yes, any Strokes song.... the way their solos sound are equally as amazing as the rhythm.

Thanks if you can help!

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sxycrzykewl221
Knowflake

Posts: 207
From: detroit, mi, usa
Registered: Oct 2005

posted December 13, 2005 04:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for sxycrzykewl221     Edit/Delete Message
sorry dear I didn't realize!
hope you get an awesome one that you can't put down!

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AcousticGod
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Posts: 11943
From: Pleasanton, CA, USA
Registered: May 2005

posted December 13, 2005 04:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AcousticGod     Edit/Delete Message
http://guitargeek.com/rigview/598/

Who's a Virgo now?

Fender Strat is pretty classic. I like The Strokes latest song by the way. Very cool.

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The Mutable Night Force
Knowflake

Posts: 1451
From: England
Registered: Dec 2004

posted December 13, 2005 04:59 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for The Mutable Night Force     Edit/Delete Message
sxycrzykewl221- that's okay! Thanks


AG- You little star!!!! Oh my god, what a link! Thank you!

Albert I want your guitar!!!!!!! You are a god!

lol AG, but not as much of a god as you for finding that link!

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Happy Dragon
Knowflake

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Registered: Apr 2005

posted December 13, 2005 05:10 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
ok .. tv be depressing .. 'n i remembered this ..

the Yamaha 'pacifica ' range ...

.. strat shape .. good quality .. good price ..
.. plays well .. nice neck .. should be ok for smaller hands ..
yamaha have pretty good quality control ...
availble in natural finish .. should keep its value ..
has a nice range of tones ...
basic guitar construction is good .. so one can always upgrade
the hardware at some stage if desired ...

i used to have one ... and would buy another .. simply for the comfort factor ..
.. gave mine away to a cousin who showed playing promise .. but he only had
a plywood body instrument that was more akin to a banjo .. so felt sorry for him .. :-)
( btw : avoid indonesian made "squire" guitars ) ..

.. mate down the street .. .. newbie guitarist .. bought one and is realy happy with it ..

.. check out other yamaha models .. they are all worth a look ..
http://www.yamaha-europe.com/yamaha_europe/uk/10_musical_instruments/30_guitars_basses_amps/60_electric_guitars/10_electric_guitars/

so for now .. thats my recommendation ...

avoid any instrument with plywood in it .. be a tone killer ..
various guitar reveiws here .. http://www.harmony-central.com

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Happy Dragon
Knowflake

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posted December 13, 2005 05:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
****If you're not English*****

..Yorkshire .. ... is that considered 'english' ??

but originaly from 'down under' .. kangaroo land ..
.. grew up with pounds / shillings / and 12 pence to the shilling ..
my first guitar was a '63 fender strat .. used .. at 150 australian dollars .. in '68

.. t'was main reason i ended up with the white jap squire in pic ..
virtualy indentical to the '63 model ...

.. anyhow .. i'm going to check with a mate .. he found an instrument ,,
going to see what he did with it .. ( found in a skip .. but still in good shape )
be a strat type ... korean made ... wood felt / sounded good ... nice neck ..
anyhow .. i bet it's still in a corner waiting for some attention .. i'm guesing he don't want it ..

.. there should be a 'yamaha' for under £200 ..
.. actualy those necks be a mite small for my hands ...
.. fretwise and string spacing ...
... one more reason as to why one might suit you ....

and if you don't get on with the tremelo thingy ... they can always be blocked
temporarily with a piece of wood ( maple or mahogany or similar hardwood .. easy peasy )

'llllater
hd

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Happy Dragon
Knowflake

Posts: 2886
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posted December 13, 2005 05:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
.. I just took a look at the link AG posted ..
so .. got the sonic picture ...

well .. you won't find either of those for ?2h ... ...
more like ?5h and above ...

.. i still think the one of the yam 'pacifica' may suit as they have
both single coils and one humbucker .. so in theory you
get both type of "Strokes" .. gtrs in one ( not exactly but ... )

.. and if you like the type .. save up for a fender mexican strat or
fender japan strat .. ... .. 2 days back i played a mexican strat ..
great neck for chords .. easier than mine ... smooth tone ...
maple topped body .. actualy quilted maple ( natural wood patterning )

ps .. figure you would know .. but 'strat' stands for 'stratocaster'
'50s design ... '50s name ..
.. just in case it was a mystery .. :-)

this one looks good .. no idea of price ..
who knows there may be an x-mas deal somewhere ..
i just looked thru their site .. noticed this one has vintage style pickups ..

(copy/paste off site )

** Pacifica 904 **
This pinnacle of the double-cutaway Pacificas draws on a classic elegance, with top-range appointments like a Warmoth neck, Vintage Custom vibrato and powerful Alnico V pickups. ** **

their RGX series are good .. might be a deal on one of them ..

hd

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AcousticGod
Knowflake

Posts: 11943
From: Pleasanton, CA, USA
Registered: May 2005

posted December 13, 2005 07:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for AcousticGod     Edit/Delete Message
I've got a Mexican Tele string through body. I bought it new for $300 American a few years ago. Still rarely play it, though people are in my ear to play quite often.

Radiohead also play Fenders.

Personally, I wish I'd have gotten a Gibson/Epiphone. I don't need the Fender twang so much as I prefer a more pure guitar sound.

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miss_apples
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Posts: 632
From: white bear lake, MN, USA
Registered: Oct 2004

posted December 14, 2005 02:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for miss_apples     Edit/Delete Message
I personally recommend an SG copy. Gibson SG's are expensive, but the copys are pretty cheap. SG's are light and easy to handle in my opinion. I have an Epiphone SG goth as my first guitar and it fits me and my girly hands quite well. SG's are pretty vintagy too, I think the most well known SG player is Angus Young from ACDC.

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Happy Dragon
Knowflake

Posts: 2886
From:
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posted December 14, 2005 09:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
MNF ...

.. "Epiphone" instruments did cross my mind as a suggestion ..
.. and when you mentioned weight .. the SG model did come to mind ..
( just adding a vote for that one as well :-)

.. i've only played one 'epiphone' .. that was a solid body in the 60's ..
.. i've never owned one .. but one of my favourite models is a gibson 335 ..
.. that is one 'type' used by yer 'strokes' folks .. ( had an informative talk today
with a gtr mate and 'strokes'fan ) .. ... anyhowz .. the gibson 335 by quite an
expensive bit of kit .. in particular ones built in mis 60's ...

.. i'd say this though .. based on the companies history and work philosophy ..
.. and as gibson and epiphone are connected .. i would give one of their instruments
consideration in the purchase stakes ..

... another idea ... is .. build yer own ..
it might seem like a whacky idea .. but there are certain advantages ..
.. as in at the end of the day .. you get exactly what you want ..
.. well the potential is there .. ... ... providing what u want is a 'fender' based instrument
(re;the link below) .. and that you like the necks on offer ...
.. construction not be as difficult as you might expect .. just need to be handy with
a screwdriver and soldering iron ... .. and a fair ammount of patience ...

.. the link (company) may be down your part of this island ( i think) ...
.. so in theory you could pay them a visit .. and check out the instruments
yourself ...
in essence .. the wood is top quality .. bodys and necks licensed by 'fender'
.. could be american timber maybe .. as in the fender traditional types ..
alder/ash for bodys and rock maple for necks ..
alder/ash .. i.e different weights
.. plenty of options as to what hardware one can fit ..
.. they supply all the hardware bits .. and also are a main agent for Kent Armstrong pickups ..
.. reason i mention that is because his vintage pickups sound true to form .. and are very
reasonably priced ...

bynote: ... Brian May ... guitarist for 'queen' ... ... when he was about 15 ..
him and his dad tore up a wooden table and a fireplace mantlepeice ...
and made a solid body guitar from it ('cause he couldn't afford the one he wanted i guess )
table wood for gtr body ... mantlepeice for the neck .. ..
he then proceeded to use a sixpenny coin for a 'pik' .. evidently still does ...
... the rest is history .. ... ... these days one can buy a brian may clone gtr ..

.. downside of build yer own ... .. is no fancy name on the headstock ...
i.e. resale value .. .. or maybe to some .. image .. street cred etc ..
... but both are a factor ...

... i've bought bits off them a couple of times ... freindly helpful folk ..
.. quick service .. quality products .. (no i don't work for them :-)
and have come to the conclusion ... that my next bass guitar will be a WD d.i.y. project .

.. and there be something special and satisfying about putting an instrument together / repairing a broken neglected one .... then playing it ...
http://www.wdmusicproducts.co.uk

.. the following link has some info about japanese built instruments .. see history article/page ..
http://www.guitargai.com/html_folder/homepage.html

.. try instruments with different finishes to the necks ..
some use a satin polyester which is quite slippery .. some use more trad. type finishes ..
and they have a bit more friction to the feel of it .. depends what one likes ..
.. i ended up refinishing one satin finished neck .. 'cause i realised a bit of 'grab' to
the neck .. was in my case .. an advantage ... ... what i'm saying is try both if possible ..

turns out sad neglected gtr at friends place .. is an Ibanez ...
i have a yen to bring it home and make it well again :-)
... yet to actualy talk to owner ..

.. one last thing .. i don't know the prices ... but see if you can check out 'Burns' guitars
.. they are a famous british make from the 60's .. i think they have started to make them again
.. that is .. if you fancy something slightly different and very brit -ish .. :-)
( they used to be Burns Baldwin ) ....

h.d.

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Happy Dragon
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posted December 15, 2005 12:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
MnF

.. something else ..
.. many of the cheaper instruments these days come fitted with a plastic nut ..
.. i.e. the nut being the bit where the strings sit on on the headstock ...
.. try and go for one that has a bone nut ( those WD kits have options for that)

.. basicly .. cheap plastic .. or read 'soft' material .. has a bad effect on 'open'
strings ( well compared to a bone nut or similar) .. a bad one can make the open strings
sound like a banjo ..

the 'saddles' and 'nuts' .. have a profound effect on the instruments tone / playability ..
.. be something to natter about to some good looking sales assistant .. y'never know .. :-)
i.e. re: yer 'lonely' thread .. ... baldrik has a cunning plan .. (blackadder:-).. formulated but not posted
.. sort of connects with your guitar playing ..
and gettingthe attention of any guitar sales assistant you fancy .. and ..
who knows .. impress a shop manager with yer guitar abilities you could get a job in a guitar shop ..
.. the lads will flock in ,, you get to choose ... :-)

i may get around to posting baldriks hairbrained idea at somestage ..

anyhowz .. guitar nuts .. take note thereof ..

h.. d .

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Happy Dragon
Knowflake

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posted December 15, 2005 01:14 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
MnF

.. some food for thought ..

.. the other purchase potential .. is to look for a used guitar ..
.. you could very well find a better quality instrument for the price ..
.. used instruments .. well basicly the wood is going to be drier ..
which is good for tone .. .. i think it takes aprox 15 years for the
wood to completely dry out .. electronics aside .. guitars often sound
better with age ..

btw: ..

.. i just talked to my mate who has that guitar i mentioned above ...
.. he's done 'nowt with it .. .. he had forgotten about it .....
anyhow .. on the phone he said i could simply have it ..
i have played it once at his gaff .. i know it needs some electrics fixed ..

it's an early korean made squire strat .. black .. i.e. same shape as
the white one in the pic thread .. .. .. i'm walking down this evening to pick
it up .. and get a good look at it .. well basicly i'm going to take it apart
.. 'n see what needs attention ( i already know it has good potential ) ..

... ... so ... basicly it's on offer to you if you fancy it .. for 'nowt ..

except the cost of whatever bits need replacing .. .. be loads less
than the £200 budget .. .. u could use that money on a decent amp
.. i may have some if not most of the parts needed .. .. and lets say
it needed new pickups .. well pickups are about £30 .. and in reality
u only need one to start with ....

.. so i 'll leave that idea floating here ..

hd

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Happy Dragon
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posted December 16, 2005 08:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Happy Dragon     Edit/Delete Message
mnf

.. just an update on that guitar mentioned ....

turns out to be a 'fender squire bullet' .. serial n. 'E903950'
.. made in korea .. black body / maple neck / rosewood fretboard ..
.. body shape is like a strat but 3/4 the size of one ..
.. neck is standard 'fender strat' dimensions .. more or less ..

.. neck is worth keeping ..

.. electronics are shot .. i.e. junk .. even when new .. deserved that title ..
.. ditto (same for) for bridge (maybe usable) and nut (unusable) ...
.. tuning machineheads work fine .. chrome finish is pitted/rust spots

.. from a looks perspective .. the body is better than my white strat ..

.. i spent a while looking at it (all hardware removed) and tapping it ..
(listening to the sound) .. it looks like a sandwich of 3 slabs .. but
not glued together in the traditional way..
sonicly it sounds as if the body has hollow spots .. ie. cheap wood
laminated together for strength .. but i think its par for budget instruments ..
.. it dosn't have that reassuringly solid 'thunk' sound when tapped ...
.. as to how it might sound with decent hardware attached ..
.. unpredictable .. .. could be interesting .. could be sonicly boring ...
( *the yamaha pacifica instruments have much better body material *)

so in essence .. it consists of one neck .. sonic potential known ..
and one body .. sonic potential unknown ..

.. my approach would be ...
.. new simple 'easy to make' body .. from availble hardwood ..
.. fit totaly different hardware ..
.. fixed bridge (no tremolo) .. one tasty pickup .. one volume control ..
.. maybe a tone control ..
.. could .. be one hot number ...

... anyhow .. one suggestion when window shopping ..

lets say you've decided on a particular make and model ...

well .. try everyone of them in the shop .. 'cause out of 10 you could
probably come accross one .. that for one reason or another ..
is better than the others ... instruments of the same model ..
make .. year .. country of origin .. do vary in their quality / playability ..

.. can't offhand remember names .. but there are a few guitar makers in the u.k. ..
who offer custom models .. limited in spec. but hi in quality .. .. check out guitar magazines ..

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The Mutable Night Force
Knowflake

Posts: 1451
From: England
Registered: Dec 2004

posted December 20, 2005 04:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for The Mutable Night Force     Edit/Delete Message
Hey HD!

Sorry I forgot to thank you for all your trouble at the time you posted this!

Thank you very much for all your help!


Just to say... I've finally got a new guitar. I talked to the shop guy and we figured it would be um.... a bit of a money leap and otherwise to skip from my cheap and cheerful Futurama straight to a genuine Strat, so he showed me this great Tanglewood copy of a Fender 70s Strat, and well, being the guitar rookie I am I couldn't tell much physical difference aside from no oversized headstock, so I got it. Olympic White- oh yeah! It's a good weight, sounds nice and since it was cheaper I managed to get a new amp and distortion pedal along with a new lead thrown in!


Does this sound good? Well, the band I'm in came along with me to the shop and they reckon it looks cool, but I figured I'd get LL's opinion too.


Thanks to anyone who posted

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The Mutable Night Force
Knowflake

Posts: 1451
From: England
Registered: Dec 2004

posted December 20, 2005 04:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for The Mutable Night Force     Edit/Delete Message
Hmmm.... couldn't find a picture of the copy, but it does basically look the same as a 70s Fender Strat reissue in Olympic White (but minus obviously, the trademark headstock).


And yeah! I heard about Brian May building his own guitar- wasn't sure if it was true, but wow! What an accomplishment!

Oh and lol HD, (yey, Blackadder! ) unfortunately, all the shop assistants were a bit old for me... sadly, about 30 years too old..!! Hehe

.

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