Guitars

[Snoo Gliffer]

This is probably going to end up in a ramble, but what guitars do people own and what do they like about them?

I have this really cheap shitty LP copy. All the switches and pots have been ripped out and the humbuckers are wired directly to the jack. The pickups are mostly held in by sellotape. However I bought a nice guitar the other weekend and actually I prefer my crappy old LP thing so it's going back on ebay. It just sounds really warm and lush despite it's looks. I was playing a few guitars (Fender, Jackson, SG) today and don't like the sound of any of them as much. The thing I don't like about the LP is the shape. (and that I sometimes get splinters from the neck!).

So what have people settled on and why?

[daddy rarg]

Like all things, I find that you instantly connect with the right sort of guitar for you. I'm not bothered with special editions, or signature models, or deluxe custom-shop doodaahs, although I've played plenty of nice examples. I think a nice guitar is any guitar which makes you have a slightly odd, buzzy feeling and a desire to pose in front of a mirror. Of course, it's got to play well and sound great, but very often I've found it's down to the individual instrument and how it feels. If it feels good to play, it will probably sound pretty good as well. You'll know when you find the right one.

I love my Telecaster Custom (not that way, perv). It's got the loveliest neck of any guitar I've ever played, and a really thick sound to it. Look, here's a piccy of me playing it and looking well muso:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

It's not all things to all men, but I like that it has a chunky humbucker at the neck, and a single-coil on that metal Telecaster bridge. Really nice mix of warm, jazzy tone, and sharp, percussive bite. Can do big heavy doom sounds if paired with the right distortion pedal.

I have a Squier Strat as backup, which was my first electric and I've had since 1990, and it's really good for its age. Considering it's a 'budget' guitar, it still has a nice sound. The neck is a bit fucked though. I think that in the next 5 years, if I carry on playing and gigging guitar as much as I am at the moment I'd like to get a proper Strat. 2nd hand, nothing fancy, just a nice comfortable guitar with a good sound and feel

I've tried Les Pauls and SGs, and I prefer the SG - I played a particularly gorgeous one once, and I'd love to own one. I've also tried 80s hair metal guitars and they are almost without exception crap. Can't bear them.

Maz from Mustard Allegro has a really nice Gretsch, one of the Electromatics. It's a beauty and everything about it is lush, even if it is a 'cheapy' model. Don't care. Lovely guitar. He also bought a Danelectro guitar (by mistake - he was aiming for a Danelectro baritone guitar and clicked on the wrong ebay link) and was initially disappointed. Nevertheless, he brought it to rehearsal and it looked dreadful. It wasn't well made, the scratchplate was almost buckled, the whammy bar was a piece of pliable aluminium screwed onto the bridge with a nut and a washer, and it was so light it could almost have been made from balsa wood. Nice neck though.

Turned out to be an absolute gem. Sounded absolutely fabulous (albeit really only as a surf-style guitar. Anything else, it would be not quite as ideal) and played beautifully, and light enough to chuck around a bit without crippling yer back (the one downside of my Telecaster is that it can be a little weighty on a long gig, but nowhere near as bad as my mate's Les Paul, which is fucking murder). I liked it so much, I used it at the Mustard's recent Cube gig, and it was a joy. A bit limited in sounds, but for what we do, it was almost exactly right.

[Snoo Gliffer]

I love my Telecaster Custom (not that way, perv). It's got the loveliest neck of any guitar I've ever played, and a really thick sound to it. Look, here's a piccy of me playing it and looking well muso:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

It's not all things to all men, but I like that it has a chunky humbucker at the neck, and a single-coil on that metal Telecaster bridge. Really nice mix of warm, jazzy tone, and sharp, percussive bite. Can do big heavy doom sounds if paired with the right distortion pedal.

Thats what I wanted initially. A tele with a HBucker at the bridge. So obviously I bought some metal type thing with a Floyd rose.
I'm going to flog it and build a Tele from parts I've decided.

[Incarnate]

The neck is a bit fucked though.

What's wrong with the neck?

[daddy rarg]

The neck is a bit fucked though.

What's wrong with the neck?

Needs refretting, or something similar. I had it done at Waghorn's a while back, and it was a good job, but it has been biffed about a bit since then and could do with some work. In truth, it has never felt truly comfortable, and the pickups really don't have much beef to them.

[Incarnate]

Describe the problem, rather than the possible cure. Was it dressed at waghorn, or full on expensively refretted? You can skim a bit off to even them all up and eventually not enough is left to do it any more an then its refret time, if it was refretted a couple of years ago, it won't need more than a dress and setup, a setup might do.

[daddy rarg]

Sorry, I don't think I've explained this well. It has never been refretted. Last time I had it seen to by Waghorn, it just had a setup. There are some bits on the neck (particularly at the 3rd fret) where there is a lot of fret buzz and the intonation is a bit poor. I think it got knocked over at some point and took a ding to the neck.

[Incarnate]

Might have lifted a fret. I'll take a look at it and do easy sorting for beer.

[daddy rarg]

Might have lifted a fret. I'll take a look at it and do easy sorting for beer.

That's very kind of you! I shall be in touch soon.

[Old Father Disc]

I've had the same main guitar since I was 15. It's an early 90s Japanese built reissue Strat. I wouldn't swap it for anything. The harshness of the bridge pickup (which a lot of people hate) is what makes it for me. Weapons grade treble that kills sound engineers at thirty paces.

I don't really do 'warm' but the neck pickup with the tone dialled down is nice and jazzy if you want to play at being Wes Montgomery for a bit. I'm not even sure why it has a middle pickup.

It desperately needs a set-up but I never seem to get round to it.

Screeeeeeeeeeeee...

[Wetdogg]

I look after other people's guitars for a living, and although i've worked with everything from proper nice custom built stuff down to horrible cheap crap, I'm very much of the opinion that it's entirely personal. I've owned some nice guitars and played a lot of very nice guitars, but i too have gone down the Danelectro route. Something about them makes me want to pick them up and play them- and even if that's the way they look or the colour, i think that's more important than build quality. I've got three! A longhorn baritone, a silver sparkle dc-3 and a green mod 6.

[Mr Thomas]

Another cheer for Danelectros. I've got two and they are a delight. (I've seen Richard Thompson playing them, and he's no slouch.) Mod 6 sounds right, I can't remember, but it's pale blue/green and I've got a baritone in Commie Red. These days I mainly use the synth-ready strat with the Roland with the amp simulator to avoid dragging the Fender Twin out. I'm a shallow person and a guitar has to look right. If it's a boutique night then I have my favourite guitar, a Chandler Austin Special. It's still a unique shape thirty years on. Designed by Ted Numan Jones for Keith Richard. Two-digit serial number!

(Somebody else's) picture here. http://vedettferfiak.blogspot.com/2009/ ... o.html?m=1

I love guitars. Let's do fuzz boxes next!

[Lee dC]

now you're talking! i've got quite a few, but i don't play them that much nowadays :(

here's some of them:

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/4176021/ ... s?h=7d90e8

in the order that i got them:

1 Encore classical... first proper guitar
2 Hohner ST Lynx... first proper electric. nice guitar but the cheaply made components wore out and its fallen into disrepair
3 Aria Pro II RS Inazuma V... bought as a temporary replacement for the previous. cheapest guitar in the shop at 90 quid. i've ended up playing it more than any of my others
4 Yamaha 5-string bass... i wanted to get into playing bass, so i got one
5 Ibanez RG7... needed a better 7 string guitar (had a peavey one at the time, since sold). got this one with a custom swirl paintjob by Richard Fay: http://www.btinternet.com/~faymarine/
6 Maverick Chaos... needed a reliable 6-string with floyd rose trem. i've played on loads of mavericks and always liked the low-end chaos ones the best. i've been after a hard-tail chaos 1 for ages, still haven't got one
7 Samick PRS-alike... bought this to get my hands on the pickups, some Dimarzio ones, and a Graphtech Ghost pickup system. currently has no strings and missing a few parts, but wouldn't take much to make it playable
8 Maverick Chaos 2... this one's a hard-tail, but a funny body shape that i don't find so comfy to play. i got it swirled by Richard Fay in pink/white, and put pink Dimarzio Evolution pickups in it and a Graphtech Ghost MIDI pickup system
9 Aria Pro II Urchin... always wanted one of these since i was little, cos my dad had some of the early 80s catalogues back in the day. got this on ebay for 100 quid, really nice guitar. haven't played it much, but i'm going to drop some new pickups in it this week, so hopefully it will become more useful
10 Aria Pro II ZZ Blood... same as previous, always wanted one of these. explorer body shape with white/red bloody graphics. plays really nice. trem is a little odd, wouldn't mind replacing it with a standard floyd rose
11 Fender Malmsteen strat... it's like a Strat someone has "Yngwie-fied", with a great scalloping job on the frets and YJM pickups

mostly i play the Inazuma V, which was the cheapest i've ever bought and the most basic, with just a humbucker in the bridge and a volume knob. its overdue a refret, however. i'm thinking i'll move over mainly to the Urchin once i get these new pickups put in it, since the feel and sound is extremely similar

[Jon]

15 years later, I'm still in love with my SG standard. Just the most lovely thing on the planet, despite having been dropped many times, having the neck twatted when I knocked it off the stand with a vacuum cleaner (rock & roll) and me falling off a scooter with it on my back in a soft case.
Also have a Jackson Surfcaster SC1 for posing. With a Bare Knuckle Mississippi Queen in the bridge position. The only other electric I covet is my Dad's early 90's Japanese Strat. So a bit like Adam's.

Main acoustic these days is a Toon Lansdown: http://www.stevetoon.co.uk/shop/productdetails.php?id=7&cat=2. It's nice.

[Snoo Gliffer]

Anybody owned a thinline telecaster? I'm tempted.. I've heard they are a bit more versatile than a standard tele, despite the looks.

[Jon]

Anybody owned a thinline telecaster? I'm tempted.. I've heard they are a bit more versatile than a standard tele, despite the looks.

I fancied one of those for a while, but then I tried one out and it just wasn't Tele-ish enough. I tried one of the later ('72? I'm crap with years) models, and it had two humbuckers which seems daft to me in a Tele. I think the earlier one has one single coil, so you'd still get that Tele twang.

I'd quite like a Tele Custom. One of those black ones. But then, a Strat is more versatile. I think.

[Old Father Disc]

I don't even like the word 'humbucker'.

[Snoo Gliffer]

Anybody owned a thinline telecaster? I'm tempted.. I've heard they are a bit more versatile than a standard tele, despite the looks.

I fancied one of those for a while, but then I tried one out and it just wasn't Tele-ish enough. I tried one of the later ('72? I'm crap with years) models, and it had two humbuckers which seems daft to me in a Tele. I think the earlier one has one single coil, so you'd still get that Tele twang.

I'd quite like a Tele Custom. One of those black ones. But then, a Strat is more versatile. I think.

It's actually the '72 style with Humbuckers I was looking at. My worry is the Tele would be too twangy. I like the sound of my LP copy so figure the thinline with H/B's might be similar.

Bill, I've always thought 'Single Coil' sounds like some kind of contraception (what ever contraception is). Humbucker sounds like something you get called by a southern American before he hauls your dead carcass into his pick up.

[cabrat]

Westone Thunder 1A. Solid.

[Snoo Gliffer]

Westone Thunder 1A. Solid.

The guitar I built for Annette was using the body and neck from a Westone Concorde. Great guitars, westone seem pretty sought after these days.

[cabrat]

Westone Thunder 1A. Solid.

The guitar I built for Annette was using the body and neck from a Westone Concorde. Great guitars, westone seem pretty sought after these days.

Got it for £80 off the Bay. Fantastic condition, and one of the original issues. There's so many different tones you can get from it, as both humbuckers* can be split, and the active circuit can be switched on and off, and has it's own output control. And considering how much bad guitaring I throw at it, it stays remarkably in tune.




(* Interestingly, 'humbuckers', via this iPad's predictive text thingy, came out as 'huh buckets').

[Jon]

I don't even like the word 'humbucker'.

Chalk and cheese, humbuckers and single coils. I like both chalk and cheese. Though not in a culinary sense. At least not chalk. I used to a be a right Gibson loving, Fender rejecting humbucker king, til I realised basically all guitars are awesome and Strats can make awesome screechy twangy noises. In fact, watching Big Joan probably helped with that conversion.

[Snoo Gliffer]

I don't even like the word 'humbucker'.

Chalk and cheese, humbuckers and single coils. I like both chalk and cheese. Though not in a culinary sense. At least not chalk. I used to a be a right Gibson loving, Fender rejecting humbucker king, til I realised basically all guitars are awesome and Strats can make awesome screechy twangy noises. In fact, watching Big Joan probably helped with that conversion.

Would you say the thinline you tried was closer to a Gibson than a tele' then?

[Incarnate]

Westone Thunder 1A. Solid.

The guitar I built for Annette was using the body and neck from a Westone Concorde. Great guitars, westone seem pretty sought after these days.

The original Westones were made in the Matsumoku factory, which also made Singer sewing machines (imagine how fiddly and accurate they have to be made to work), along with loads of other brands, so they are all good to look out for, but the Westone name got stuck on some pretty shit guitars later on. Since I'm always looking out for these an ridiculous prices, I see lots of them at more sensible prices, anyone who wants one can shoot me details of what they want and budget and I can shoot them such finds, or try and sell them the ones I do buy, for a profit.

[Jon]

I don't even like the word 'humbucker'.

Chalk and cheese, humbuckers and single coils. I like both chalk and cheese. Though not in a culinary sense. At least not chalk. I used to a be a right Gibson loving, Fender rejecting humbucker king, til I realised basically all guitars are awesome and Strats can make awesome screechy twangy noises. In fact, watching Big Joan probably helped with that conversion.

Would you say the thinline you tried was closer to a Gibson than a tele' then?

Yeah, I felt it was a bit too similar to my SG (apart from all the obvious things like the weight and feel and neck) to justify me buying one. Probably not all that similar really, but that was the initial impression I got.

[Snoo Gliffer]

I don't even like the word 'humbucker'.

Chalk and cheese, humbuckers and single coils. I like both chalk and cheese. Though not in a culinary sense. At least not chalk. I used to a be a right Gibson loving, Fender rejecting humbucker king, til I realised basically all guitars are awesome and Strats can make awesome screechy twangy noises. In fact, watching Big Joan probably helped with that conversion.

Would you say the thinline you tried was closer to a Gibson than a tele' then?

Yeah, I felt it was a bit too similar to my SG (apart from all the obvious things like the weight and feel and neck) to justify me buying one. Probably not all that similar really, but that was the initial impression I got.

Cheers.

[daddy rarg]

I've had to play some utterly shit guitars that pupils have brought in, usually cheap Strat knock-offs. Most shocking of all is the Gear4Music BC Rich Warlock copy, where the Floyd Rose is so bad that it was impossible to tune the guitar without the Floyd Rose rising up and leaving the guitar completely unplayable. At first I thought one poor kid was just unlucky, but another kid in a different school got the same guitar and had the same problem. They are completely appalling. Cannot tune them to standard tunings, and they sound horrific.

Mind you, I've played actual BC Rich Warlocks, and they're fucking shite as well.

On the other hand, I've never played a bad Yamaha Pacifica. I'm always impressed by them. For what you pay for them (under £100 brand new, if you're lucky), they are fantastic value for money. They play really well for what they are, and they sound great. Squier Strats are nice, but much more expensive, likewise Epiphones. If I was buying a first guitar for a 13-year old, go for the Pacifica.

Occasionally, a pupil will bring in a winner - usually a Strat or Tele. One of my pupils has a Squier Tele Custom with two P90 humbuckers, and it's a sweeeet guitar. Really nice. Bloody heavy though. The best was a pupil who brought in a Gibson SG. Absolutely stunning guitar. Really gorgeous to play. Should I have told him it's nigh on a grand's worth of guitar? I didn't. He probably knew. And judging by the school he was in, it was probably best if that knowledge was kept quiet.

Then there was a pupil whose parents spent £800 on a Les Paul Studio (a Gibson, not an Epiphone) and then he promptly, and rather ungraciously, decided he didn't want to play guitar anymore. What an ungrateful, overindulged prick. If he were my own kid, I would have made him sleep on the stairs and given his bed to the guitar. Mind you, more fool the parent for not asking the kid if he was actually going to use an £800 guitar before buying it.

[Lee dC]

Westone Thunder 1A. Solid.

The guitar I built for Annette was using the body and neck from a Westone Concorde. Great guitars, westone seem pretty sought after these days.

The original Westones were made in the Matsumoku factory, which also made Singer sewing machines (imagine how fiddly and accurate they have to be made to work), along with loads of other brands...

...such as the Aria Pro II's that I like :) the factory closed around 1987 and the Arias after that were pretty cheap and shoddy

[Old Father Disc]

Hannah found two electric guitars at the tip in Weston last week. One's a Strat copy in perfect working order apart from needing a new bottom E string. The other is a Les Paul copy that some fucking idiot has sheared half the tuning pegs off.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.

[Snoo Gliffer]

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.

I'd speak to Mr Incarnate if I were you.

I've heard squier guitars are lovely until after the first month when they fall to peices from the input jack upward.

[Thumpsquid]

I own one of these (apologies for the git doing the demo, but that really is what this thing sounds like with no distortion or fuzz)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5iK9rH0Ftc

[Snoo Gliffer]

The I own one of these (apologies for the git doing the demo, but that really is what this thing sounds like with no distortion or fuzz)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5iK9rH0Ftc

Do you play Sunshine Of You Love often?

[Thumpsquid]

unfortunately, I don't play it at all.

[Snoo Gliffer]

Well after much deliberation I just ordered a Richwood thinline Tele-copy with P90's in Sonic blue. Twang!

[Unkle Magma]

I have an Epiphone SG copy that nosedives and refuses to stay in tune... mainly it sits on my wall looking pretty because it's so much hassle everytime I try to play it.

Mainly I play a Takamine 3/4 size acoustic which is the best instrument in my house without a keyboard.

I've got a (frankly awful) Stagg acoustic too which I've been promising to turn into something interesting/useful for about 3 years.

[Sandor Krasna]

I have the hockey stick headstock Gretsch TK300 recently posted, which I like a lot. The neck is perfect for my hand, it sustains like crazy and it has a nice tone somewhere on the twangy side of a humbucker.

I don't get so attached to electrics as acoustics though because i get less of a chance to play them.

Acoustics:
Seagull Coastline Grand parlor guitar - cedar top, perfect size for playing on the sofa, again perfect neck for my hand. Sounds pretty nice, nice separation between strings, sound leans a bit more towards classical guitar a lot of steel strings, which I quite like. Not a great recorder though sadly - bit of a resonant bump at 100hz ish and quite boxy in general. I play it pitched down a tone with heavy strings which gets around that a bit.

Guild CV-2 - the nicest sounding instrument I own, hands down. Red spruce top, maple back and sides. Clear, deep, incredibly responsive to different playing techniques. These were made at the old tacoma factory as Guild's flagship series but there were production line problems so far as I can tell - something about the staff weren't trained in fitting the odd carbon fibre neck fixing and so a lot left the factory with horrendous setups. Guild canned the line and sold them off stamped "used", which meant I picked up a £1800 list price guitar for about £500. It does really need a setup though.
Downsides - can sound a bit too "nice" for some things - the higher strings don't break up as much as I'd like when it's played hard and the neck doesn't fit my hand as nicely as the Seagull. I ought to get it set up and try heavier strings.
It's still incredibly satisfying to play though - really expressive guitar for fingerpicking.

I play both the acoustics pretty much every day. The electric has rarely left the case for about 6 months though...

[Incarnate]

I've had to play some utterly shit guitars that pupils have brought in, usually cheap Strat knock-offs. Most shocking of all is the Gear4Music BC Rich Warlock copy, where the Floyd Rose is so bad that it was impossible to tune the guitar without the Floyd Rose rising up and leaving the guitar completely unplayable. At first I thought one poor kid was just unlucky, but another kid in a different school got the same guitar and had the same problem. They are completely appalling. Cannot tune them to standard tunings, and they sound horrific.

I had one of these to sort and it did take completely dissembling it and putting it back together, then feeding it oil, but it worked fine after. Might have put another trem spring in too. Shape was still stupid because they didn't rip off the parts of BC Riches that makes them hang OK even though they have a funny shape.

Mind you, I've played actual BC Rich Warlocks, and they're fucking shite as well.

Problem with BC Rich is they still write 'BC Rich' on what should be their 'Squier'. Almost exclusively being played by numpties doesn't help much either.

On the other hand, I've never played a bad Yamaha Pacifica. I'm always impressed by them. For what you pay for them (under £100 brand new, if you're lucky), they are fantastic value for money. They play really well for what they are, and they sound great. Squier Strats are nice, but much more expensive, likewise Epiphones. If I was buying a first guitar for a 13-year old, go for the Pacifica.

Occasionally, a pupil will bring in a winner - usually a Strat or Tele. One of my pupils has a Squier Tele Custom with two P90 humbuckers, and it's a sweeeet guitar. Really nice. Bloody heavy though. The best was a pupil who brought in a Gibson SG. Absolutely stunning guitar. Really gorgeous to play. Should I have told him it's nigh on a grand's worth of guitar? I didn't. He probably knew. And judging by the school he was in, it was probably best if that knowledge was kept quiet.

Lots of guitars have caught up with the Pacifica now, bit harder to spot, I've had one bad one to work on, but I think that was down to it being taken to Sound Control for fixing and they connected the earth to the output. I had a Gibson SG and it was shit. But it had Gibson on it so I sold it for loads of money. The older Koean made Epiphones are the ones to look out for, the Chinese newer ones have gone to shit, but since they are all made on the same sort of CNC router, its usually just the tweaking an finishing that's the failing, and that can be done after.