Search options

<table border="0" align="center" width="90%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td class="SmallText"><b>cytania wrote on Wed, 21 February 2007 15&#58;00</b></td></tr><tr><td class="quote">
Number one advice is to go along to many guitar shops and pick-up/play guitars irrespective of brand. Then as you get an idea of what you like consider price. For instance in my own recent search I picked up a lovely olympic white Stratocaster, American series and very heavy - but it cost two or three times what I paid for my Brawley which has a pretty much equivalent sound. Maybe my ears aren't connoisseur's ears but since they aren't I don't need to pay above the odds <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">

Beware guitars which try to give you a retro experience. Guitar technology has come a long way sisnce the 50s/60s so no matter have lovingly made a relic tele or strat might be genuine era passive electronics won't be as much fun as a good modern guitar (had great fun with the push/pull pot of my Brawley - pull and the coils are cut giving a telecaster-esque sound).

If you don't have a specific yen for a particular sound look for a guitar that gives lots of tonal variation with the minimum of fuss. My Brawley proves two knobs can do a huge amount. Likewise beware low output low quality pickups, I played a Peavy Rockingham which was fun but obviously faint and fuzzy.

Get the shop to give you a clean zero-gain tone and set the volume then play various makes and prices points through it - you'll be surprised. The Yamaha Pacifica is a nice feeling guitar but it's pickup is faint at a level where I could happily play a Bolin and a Brawley (the Bolin is very, very expensive).

If I was looking again I'd avoid collectable name makes like Gibson and Fender as a rule (unless of course I found something heavily discounted for decent reasons). Ibanez and Jackson tend to do death-metal specials, at least the shops I looked in didn't stock the more unusual parts of their ranges. Semis and archtops tend to be pricey and less robust so unless your particularly want a particular vintage sound keep looking (I can dial up a decent 'Searchers'/Brit invasion from the Brawley without spending huge amounts on an Epiphone Casino, which commands a price due to the Beatles connection).

Losing my point now, I'm sure others will add what I've missed and counter me <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_wink.gif" border=0 alt="Wink">

</td></tr></table>

Nice post but I don't think you really answered his question. I do agree with not always going with the standard Gibson or Fender, but here is one point I like to make with people who are buying guitars. Unless you plan on never truly upgrading and keeping that guitar forever, playing a Fender, Gibson, EPI for one gives you a decent sounding nice axe and two they are a hell of a lot easier to sell over something like a Brawley. Nothing personal but I could re-sell a thousand strats or les pauls in the time you sell the Brawley.

By the way I love this topic. I love how you get a few old timers who like to mention people you never heard of (LoL)!! I am considered an old timer as well (32), and let me throw out my old school pick that no one has mentioned yet. How about lindsey buckingham? Now getting back to the real question of hero, I have to go with Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen for two reasons. First off they combined skill with memorable riffs. For example Steve Vai is amazing, but to me he is so far out there that I can't remember any really memorable riffs, the dude just plays way to many notes!! Love the topic guys!!!

Hi,

I just made the jump and got a Epi Les Paul Standard Plus. I would have never admitted it, but I love this guitar! I also have a Fat Strat that I love as well, but even though this Les Paul might not be as versital it sounds and plays really well. I have been shocked with how much I have enjoyed playing this EPI! Sure it's not a high end Gibson, but I think it's one of the best guitars you can get in the price range. By the way, may I suggest buying a used one? I got one that is in perfect shape with nice upgrades and a hard case for 350.00.

Hi,

I just recently made the change as well. One thing that I would suggest is to learn the bar chords and power chords. Open chords sound bad on electric (with distortion)for the most part. I would also say that palm muting is key, I didn't do as much of it when I played acoustic, but now it's very common place.

Hi Bootleger,

For me it was a good solution because I don't play the tremolo.The point you make is very valid, but what I found was not only the bridge being high but the angle on the back part of the bridge. I want to say that the Fender guidlines say about 1/8 inch, but after I added the thicker strings it was twice that. This creates quite a bit of tension on the stock three springs and well as the 6 wood screws in the front of the bridge. I figure latter on down the road I could easly add two more springs and adjust the tremolo if I want to start using the whammy bar. Basically adding the shim makes my strat a hard tail in about 2 minutes.  <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">

Hi,

I also added some thicker strings and had the same issue. I added a shim and now it works great. I will say that my strat stayed in tune even with the thicker strings. My issue was that the bridge was raised too much. Now with the shim, it sounds great and stays in tune even better.