I know I'm getting a guitar for my birthday (in May) but I don't know what kind to get. I wanted a '65 Fender Strat..but that was based on looks. I would prefer electric now, then I'll pick up acoustic. Does anyone have any tips, or recomendations, or anything at all? I'm open to all information.
Umm..my budget is up to $1000 I think, maybe going higher if nessecary...and as far as music pretty much everything. Flamenco, rock, jazz, whatever.
Go out to shops and try out guitars and get one you like the feel/sound of. That's the best way in my opinion.
Hehe, might want to hold off on that 65' strat until you have around 15K to work with. I agree with blindhobo, try them all out....BUT!!!!....play them through the best tube amp available, even if you are going to buy a 100 solid state amp. Do not play through the solid state amps, 99% of them kill the nuances of the guitar. My guess is that as a girl you're going to want something with a smaller, slim taper neck because your hands are likely fairly small. You can get some really really nice guitars for around 1000, especially used! Lighter is better with wood for tone. Most people have a definite preferance between the 3 main types of pickups: Single coils, Humbuckers, and P90s, so I would suggest playing all three types both overdriven and clean. Try and get a guitar with a nitrocellulose (nitro) finish as opposed to polyurethane. Also, remember that an amp is more important to tone than a guitar is, don't expect a nice guitar to sound great through a POS amp, so you might want to incoorperate that into the budget. Hmm, I think that is about everything I wished I knew when I bought my first guitar.
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or buy a cheap package guitar/amp and teach yourself, when you're better (if you havent gone off the idea) spend the rest of the money on a nice guitar.
Exactly. Spend time on lessons now, and get a good one when you know more about playing it and about the brands too (I'm sure whoever teaches you will recommend a fre brands). Though in the end, it's not the brand that matters, it's how well you play the instrument that you've gotten.
Alright, I'll probably do that then, with the package and buy something nice later. I already have lessons lined up, and they aren't going to cost me anything, so that doesn't really matter. But it's probably better to learn to play with a cheaper instrument first and then buy one you really like the feel of, right?
I'd say playing acoustic is harder than electric, especially the fingering. People often say you should start with acoustic and then it will be easy to move on to electric. I guess thats what I did, although I got way more into it once I had an electric. if you like flamenco though an acoustic might be a great way to start. PS..I wouldn't buy too cheap of an electric, I see that as kind of a waste of money, get something decent that you won't grow out of too soon...maybe not the '65 strat, but something you like.
I started out with an accoustic myself, and then...when I showed further interest, I bought a cheap Yamaha electric... I still use it for gigs. Do not underestimate the capability of mass-production
I own a $1400 Guild post-fender JF30-12... it plays like a mass-produced piece of shit. As does my Martin D-35... but it has a nice sound... but I could have spent an extra two hundred and gotten a Taylor 355ce instead of the Guild... still mass produced but at least it's not owned by Fender... and now Fender bought tacoma. Why does a good electric company have to be such a pain in the ass to the acoustic guitar world.
I have a yamaha d-something...but it plays like a dream when i have a fresh set of strings on there...
If I was going to buy a vintage strat, I'd save a little extra and buy a pre-1964 strat... a lot better than the CBS era... CBS:Fender::Norlin:Gibson.
I'd buy a solid tube amp, like a Peavey Classic 30, and a basic guitar, perhaps a Fender standard series guitar? The guitar comes more down to preference, so I should go to a store, and try various guitars on, see if they feel comfortable to you! Be warned though, a tube amp requires extra maintenance, such as yearly retubing (if you are not technically inclined, that means you need to take it to a store for work every year or two). If this maintenance worries you, then I think a solid state modelling amp could be ideal. Maybe a Line6 Flextone? It simulates lots of different amps, so naturally it is very versatile!
Yeah, but if you're going to buy a standard series, buy a new one or one that's like... 2000 or earlier. Damn them five piece poplar bodies. Poplar has gone up in price excessively and Fender is now back to using alder for the standard series. Make sure you have the action set up and make sure the fret edges don't hang over where they'll cut your hand. I've found that rosewood fretboards are a lot more prone to that... that's the only problem with fender necks that I've ever come across. I love them, but I've had MIM's with fret issues. Although, you could buy a nice MIJ strat for a little more than an MIM and it would be just as well built as the american standard series. The 80s model MIJ reissues are excellent buys if you're looking for a guitar to start on and keep for a while. I find guitar selling and trading to be a pain, sometimes. Though, I started on what was originally a '57 strat that was not original to say the least, was owned by my uncle and he was disabled and badly injured so it was leant to me for a while... Myself, I'm in love with my Fender Cyber-Twin 2x12 combo... the celestion G12-T100s are pretty good, but there seems to be a tube rattle in the preamp and there's a kit that Fender made that fixes that, it's just a mechanical defect that occured on the assembly line. I'd wait a year before I'd buy a new Cyber-Twin SE... or any new amp that comes out, just so they have a chance to work bugs like this out. Mine is a 2002. I had a Fender Deluxe that Rocked my socks quite greatly... 6L6s and 12AX7... tube pride... But... these Celestions will never amount to what the Jensens were. I'd kill for a '59 bassman. But yeah, the peavey is great. Cyber-Twins are modeling amps with tube preamp and I'm quite partial to them, but you might want to spent a little less for a little lower wattage. Sometimes I'll crank it up to about five and piss off the contractors building behind my house that wake me up in the morning. That's still 60ish watts with a tube preamp. Tube power is a lot stronger than solid state power... and A class A/B class wattages make a huge difference in sound and volume. Get a Line 6 Pod XT with your amp... you should be set. A strat's a good way to go, beginnerwise. Just don't get poplar bodies or one of those basswood squier things they manage to actually get away with selling as strats... Fender did enough damage to their guitars when they went from nitrocellulose to poly finishes and quit coating the wires in wire mesh cloth... when will they ever learn to stop the agony for us gearheads?!?!? Oh btw, as far as tubes go, Groove Tubes... eh, they're okay, but the thing I like is that they're color coded and don't have to be rebiased.
Wow, that's a lot to take in. I appreciate all of everyone's help, btw. I've pretty much given up on the vintage strat idea, at least for now. I guess what I want to do is buy something a little smaller, more generic, used probably, and much more basic. That way I can learn how to play and everything that goes along, just to get the feel for what I'm doing. Then once I'm more knowledgeable and have more experience, I'll buy the dream guitar! I appreciate everyone's advice, I'll definitely use it all when I go out and buy what I really want. Until then, I can get by with something small.
You'll also probably be more pleased if your amp is a lot more expensive than your guitar... say an MIM strat and a Fender Hod Rod Deluxe. I own seven guitars and I have to say, although I love les pauls, strats is a lot more versatile. I play about four the most... a les paul '60 reissue, a fender strat, a vintage Martin D-35, and for a 12 string.... I really like the sound of the Taylors, but they're a bit cliche and it pisses me off, so I play a Guild. I've got a couple telecasters and another Martin, too... but I really don't play one so much and I borrow parts off of it if I'm missing screws and stuff, sometimes. I built it myself. I have another telecaster I keep at my grandmother's house with a fender deluxe for when I go over there. I usually stay with her sometimes if she's sick or not feeling well, so I have something to play... then I use another Martin as my travel/beater guitar. My acoustics all have pickups self-installed. One Martin D-35 is my main acoustic... it two pickup systems...stereo fraps or an L.R. Baggs Para D.I. The others have piezos I've built myself out of piezo crystals from radio shack and spare parts. I can usually get output jacks for cheap from a local shop from a tech that I know or off of ebay. I record a lot... I don't go a day without cutting some new tracks on my computer... I have enough meterial to release a few albums...
