Hmm, there have been a few different carved tops over the years. I'm not a fan of them though. If you're looking at a lighter guitar though I'd stay away from the LP though. The SG is what you'd want or maybe Melody Maker. If what you want is a Epi/Gibson style guitar. On the Fender side a Squire Classic Vibe is usually a good buy. Either a Strat or a Tele. There's a lot of good buzz on the Tele Classic Vibe Custom. It's a bit more then $200 new but you might be able to find one used. You'll find a lot of decent electrics in the $500 (new) range.
If rocksmith has convinced me of one thing.... It's that eric clapton is the devil. I'll look at anything... looking doesn't cost money
I think the headstocks I liked were on the Scroll model: Similar, but exaggerated. Long curves. Sure, the body looked like what Prince was thinking about before he knew he was thinking about it, but I've always wanted one of these. Found one in a miscellany store once and should've brought it home. They're set apart from most of what Gibson has ever done, and even the odd stuff Epi did back then.
Sorry if this is off topic or 205 Question for all you acoustic types... I have used medium guage strings on my Martin since dinosaurs roamed the planet. My old fingers are starting to feel the pain through the callouses. Is there a huge difference in using light gauge strings? I know I could just go out and buy a set, but I'd like to hear your experiences.
Yes, you'll notice a difference....................mainly in tone. The tone is going to be weaker with lights or extra-lights. Yes, it will be a little bit easier on your fingers, but to me it's only a moderate difference and one I'm not willing to sacrifice tone for. I always ask people "What is a guitar manufacturers job?" Answer: To sell guitars. How do they do that? By making them sound as good as they can and play at least moderately easy. To me it's worth noting that nearly every manufacturer ships their guitars with .012-.54's or thereabouts, not .010-.50. The heavier strings just sound that much better and don't really make it largely noticeably harder to play.
Yep, I'm using 13s. Around here (North Carolina) we use the heaviest gauge possible that will not pull the guitar apart. I swear, some of the guys here use heavy gauge strings and play with actions high enough you could shoot an arrow with it! I'll probably stick with mediums and keep drinkin' Jack to anesthetize the fangers!
IMO, .012's wont sacrifice much tone, and they are noticeably easier on my fingers. Also, Martin (and others, probably) make "half sizes". I used some Martin SP .0125's for awhile; a good compromise.
.012-54's are the most popular and what comes shipped on most new guitars. It's our best selling string gauge for acoustic and it's a really good compromise between tone and playability. If you want to torture your fingers, grab a diehard bluegrassers guitar and play it. Most those guys use AT LEAST .013-56's and have their action pretty high. The higher the action and heavier the string, the louder your acoustic guitar will be, as a general rule. Those guys don't plug in and they want to be heard so they string 'em heavy and leave the action high.
I actually played until my fingers were bleeding tonight. I stuck my hand in the dishwater yesterday afternoon and took one of the tines of a fork up under the nail of my ring finger. Now I've been vamping along to this with the guitar. Oh, hell, life is complicated: <IFRAME height=315 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rRleR-e8_t8" frameBorder=0 width=420 allowfullscreen></IFRAME> Ouch!
What type of music do you listen to? There are about a million you-tube videos giving guitar instruction on every song ever written (or so it seems). Due to the economy you can get a great deal on used stuff. There has never been a better time to start.
I just got an Orange hard-wired tiny terror last year, kinda disappointing. I wish I would have jumped on the used Marshall tubed amp for $300 more.
Just about a year ago I was shopping for my birthday present. I had settled on trading in my 4 year old LP standard for a 58 Re-issue (R58). The biggest GC in the area had a huge LP sale that weekend so I went over there. They had scads of 58/59/60 re-issues but they were floor models that had been pawed and neglected for a few years. AND most did not come with certificates and/or OHSC. The best price for a 58 was $2995. I went to my local GC and got a 58 for $2495 and a decent trade in for my guitar. The salesperson at that GC told me the other store was famous for "losing" stuff in their warehouse. How can you lose a case??????
I dive in and catch up on this thread from time to time. When someone asks about a "decent beginner guitar that I won't outgrow", I see the usual Ephiphone and Squier suggestions - but don't see anyone mentioning Ibanez Artcores. Not only a great guitar for the money, but you can get a variety of configurations. I'll never let my JD Tele go....and I've become very fond of my Schecter C-1 which for the money ($750-ish) is an amazing instrument. It might be marketed as the ultimate shredder guitar, but with the coil tapped active EMG's you can get a soft bluesy/jazzy thing going which is more my style. I wish I hadn't seen the Black Friday mentions.... I've wanted to pick up a Les Paul Studio for a couple years, and an Epiphone Casino. I love P90's.
There's a reason the Les Paul (and the Strat, Tele, etc.) are still with us and in demand after 50+ years: Nothing else sounds like them. Are there shitty sounding Gibson LPs? Absolutely. Are there great sounding LPs with excellent sustain being built today? Absolutely. Having said that, every guitar has it's own unique voice because every piece of wood is different and an LP is a blend of five pieces of wood and sometimes six (two-piece backs). Some people buy $5000 used cars, some people buy $40,000 new cars and some people buy $200,000 cars. Does the $200,000 car deliver 40 times the performance of the used car? Hell no. But that's not the point.
That's a really good deal. I know GC likes to play games with their guitars. The guitar is always priced at 15% lower then retail and the case is charged separably to bring it back to retail. That's a great deal though on a reissue. I'd like a R8. GC also has the GC Exclusive 1960 aka: G0 that's a good deal as well. MF now sells a exclusive 1960. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guit...l-plaintop-reissue-vos-electric-guitar/h75254 I've been tweaking my 2012 std. so much, I've lost the yearning for a R8. I'm wanting to change the knobs to reflectors, add some thumbcutters and Callaham's steel ABR1 bridge and tailstop. I've already added PIO .22uf caps and changed the pickups to Skatterbrane. I think my next guitar might be a Custom. I don't really care for 490R and 495T though.
When I was younger, I couldn't afford a Fender or Gibson, but now I can. The problem is that the quality differences that were obvious between the 'premium' brands vs. the 'introductory' brands has narrowed. I have two crappy Fender copies now (they're both 10-15 years old) and am looking for something that will last. I live near Fendertown and my barber was also Leo Fender's barber before they both died. Lots of strats in Orange County. While I'd like to stay loyal to the US brands, I'm all if you've got better suggestions. I go to the NAMM show every year and I'm overwhelmed by the choices as I have no idea what I am looking for, other than a quality instrument.