Guitar thread

Not going to hear a lot of arguments from me.

I'm not really looking for new one, an older standard sure. The Les Paul Standard is the bar that electrics solid bodies are measured against. Even if the new one suck, there is 50 years of Les Pauls that DON'T suck floating around, its just a matter of finding one.

Plus fit and finish aren't everything, there are a couple tones you really can't get out of anything else, and guys are willing to pay for it.

Are there better out there? Sure, but they aren't Les Pauls.

You can make the same argument for Fenders, I've seen piles and piles of American Teles and Strats that a mid level Jackon or High(ish) end Ibanez make look like tinker toys. But dude plunk down $1,600 for that American SSS that they KNOW isn't going to stay in tune if you don't deal with the tremelo system, 0 fucks given.


(I used to work in a shop as well)

I have an epi LP and like it quite a bit. It was my second real guitar....and when I was shopping I was also looking at the gibson as well. I had the money in hand for the gibson and after going back and forth dozens of times I walked out with the epi and a great deal of extra cash in my pocket. Same thing happened a few weeks ago when I was strat shopping....I still could not find a strat that I could warm up to....fender or squire, so I looked at a few others, Jags and Jazzmasters....both Fender and squire again.....and again same deal I had the money for the Fender, and walked out with a Squire. People say well this or that is different and makes it better....perhaps it does, but with tinnitus from hanging around too darn many race cars and being just not that great a player I just could not tell the difference....so I bought the one my fingers liked the best.

Here is a pic of both the epi LP and the Squire Jazzmaster......Now I am thinking hard about the Jag.....always liked jags.

I'd maybe argue a bit with that. I think there are many, many models from many, many manufacturers that, in a true blind test, you wouldn't be able to pick out which one was the Les Paul and which one wasn't. The same is true for Tele's and Strats.

What is simply amazing to me is the blindness of consumers to brand loyalty. I can have that Fender or Gibson hanging on the wall next to other brands that exceed the quality in EVERY aspect including price, and people will buy the Fender or Gibson first and pay me more for the privilege of doing so.

Oh, well. It pays my bills.

Where there you have it.

Then again, unless you are a professional musician there isn't any real need for any American guitar, you rapidly approach a point of diminishing returns when you start cresting $2000. Are they better then the mid range guitars that go from $500-$900? Yeah, a bit better wood, a bit higher grade hardware, and a couple more features.

Do they have 3 times the performance, mechanically or tonally? Hell no.

Its just a matter of tolerance for price, and no one is going out of business so the tolerance is obviously there. Rationality doesn't usually make its way into instrument purchases.

It had been quite a while since I had been in a music store. Truth is I was not playing that much, kinda stuck in a rut...I would pick and pluck at something every other day or so....I was just stuck. I had not lost my drive really, I played the cord zombie game on rocksmith....why I like that so much I don't know...but it is fun.....but learning new stuff, new song, going outside my confort zone and actually slowing down and learning something I was not doing. I was looking at guitars on the net and off craigs list and was pretty down on the crap I was looking at....even the Rick I went to look at was total junk...how someone could do that to a guitar is past me.

I spent 350 on that squire jazzmaster and it really has lit the fire again....I play every night...and as long as kids and wife allow....about an hour-hour and a half....and am really pumped about it again....with all my guitars.

But in shopping the latest new guitar and going the fender/squire-gibson/epi gambit I really do not see the huge price difference. The squire guitars are very nice....no sharp edges, very even, nice hardware. Several years ago the difference between a squire and a fender branded guitar was pretty darn big....now not so much.

Exactly my point.

I hadn't done much more then pluck around at random on my accoustic for 5-6 years. I went off and grabbed a PRS SE (read Korean) for a song and all of a sudden I have my amps all torn apart fixing and cleaning, completely rewired my BC Rich, new strings polish parts, cables..

....and I suck, I can barely play songs that I could do in my sleep when I was 16, but its coming back quickly.

Would I like a LP standard or Maryland PRS, sure, I have no need for them, I have four guitars amps all over the place and the beginning of some recording gear.

Don't have time to gig or anything, but at least I'm playing again, apparently I missed it.

I am really getting a jones for an sg or a les paul (copy).
Plenty of used G400s and LP100s that I can afford.


Need it? Hell no, Want em? hell yes.

Gibson studios are going for 6 bills on Sam Ash, less if you cash in an instant discount

Guitar Center has a bunch of black Friday deals going as well.

Sub 200 is more my budget.


What can I say... I'm poor.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/In-Store-Used-USED-EPIPHONE-LP100-EBONY-108383998-i2832966.gc

http://www.guitarcenter.com/In-Store-Used-USED-EPIPHONE-G400-GUITAR-108221255-i2785795.gc

Nothin says lovin like a bright assed red guitar.

Here's a nice video about Collings guitars. Bill's a genius, and I am very, very lucky to play one of his amazing acoustics.

+1

Last year's Christmas present to myself was a doghair 290, and this year I'm leaning towards either a D2hg or a City Limits deluxe.

When Epiphone had the headstock that looked like an open book, it was a lot easier for unscrupulous people to convert and sell Epi Les Paul's as Gibson's. It's also why the truss rod cover now uses three screws rather then just two. Metric hardware instead of inch, etc...

Never owned one of those but I've heard the quality isn't that great for the low end LP. They have very little resale value as well. If you're looking for a solid LP that's reasonable priced then check out the Epi Standard. Change out the hardware later and it will sound really nice. Rivaling some Gibson's.

Honestly.... I probably wouldn't know a quality instrument if you were to bonk me on the noggin with it.

This discussion is a bit reaffirming as I've been playing LPs and Strats and just not finding anything I really like enough to throw money at the store. I'm still liking the Tele sound and feel and like the G&Ls. Where I can really tell the difference between the low end model and the higher end version is with the Gretsch guitars. The 5xxx series just don't have the sound of the 6xxx boxes. Part of this could be that the first electric guitar I owned was a '63 Tennessean (6119) that I really loved. I know what that sound should be and the 5119 just does not cut it. The current version that has that vintage sound and feel is the 6119-1962HT. Great sound.

I think if I had the extra to spend, it would be on this 6120-1959LTV



jdg

If you played a nice guitar you'd know it. Going from my Peavey to my Gibson was a pretty big hump. All of the small things I was frustrated about on the Peavey were gone.

After looking at some guitars, I'm GAS'ing for a Gibson Custom in ebony now...

It's a $179 guitar! If it depreciates to zero you can only lose $179!


I just got an email from Sweetwater, who has Les Paul Traditional models on closeout for $1699, which is a pretty great deal.

Since i'm too poor toworry much about it, i'm gonna go with the slow bike fast mentality.

Dad had something, some elderly strat thing that got lost when he remarried and we all moved in together. I do remember that thing being orders and orders of magnitude easier on the fingers.

For o e thing it seemed about half the thickness of the peavey, and half the weight too. But the fingering was just....easier. I have no idea why and probably never will now.

Edit I do remember that it was rounded everywhere instead of having any even remotely squared off edges. And it had 3 pickups, 2 knobs, and either a 5 way or 3 way switch.

$179 is still a lot of money.

Probably a good time to buy. Although, I'm sorta interested in hearing how they sound with a vintage body.