Well I'm getting a new guitar hopefully at the end of this month. My current one is now officially dead after a steady 3 year run. Finally I am able to rid myself of it and purchase a new one. I'm looking to spend in the $2-300 price range. Any recomendations on what guitar to buy? I enjoy playing different genres of rock....however I would prefer the guitar to have a clean sound when played w/out distortion.....do you understand me? Also....would it be better to go to guitar center/other music store as oposed to buying online? Does anyone know of a company that sells guitars for low prices? Sorry....I rambled on a bit. Thanks for your help.....which I hope to get
you shuold look into a standard fender strat...only 370.00....and they sound good clean and distorted....not for heavy metal but good for blues/rock/classic rock etc.
Promise me one thing, that you'll never set foot into a guitar center to buy a guitar. Other than that, strats are $349 at musicians friend... I really don't like MIM strats, but you can always check ebay for a nice MIJ strat. Just be sure to ask questions here and research it a little... make sure you can trust the seller if you go through ebay. Sometimes people are too cautious and can pass up a really great deal. I've had some little fit and finish problems with MIMs. I really don't like the finish of the neck (I only play maple fretboard strats), the input jack is a little loose sometimes, so I tend to have to tighten the nut on it, and the tuners can be a a little rattley, but you can always buy a $40.00 set of locking tuners from any guitar shop. Guitar Centers will do all they can to lie, cheat, and rip you off. Don't go there to buy a guitar... ever. They don't understand the concept of humidity either, which leads fretboard shrinkage, and it also means you'll have to get your frets polished as they'll hang over the edge of the fretboard and cut your hands to pieces, especially if you play lead. They don't change their strings on showroom guitars, they don't tune them (and if they do, they tune them down a step so they play easy - a slick technique, as the guitars play easily on the showroom, you come home, and you find out you've been cheated), and the salesmen abuse the instruments. Overall, I'd rather spend my money at a mom and pop guitar shop. I go to one owned run by a guy, a couple friends of his, and his family, and I know them really well, so I've bought five or six guitars through him, so he always knocks the price down for me or throws in freebies. The last time, I bought a Guild 12 string from him, he threw in a couple packs of strings, a couple dozen picks, a big heart slide, and some new pickup covers a les paul, plus he knocked $25.00 off of the price of the guitar and didn't charge me tax because I had to wait for thirty minutes because he was really busy (only shop in town). I just sat around playing guitars and waited for him the whole time, but I like friendly shops like that. I can trust them better and they'll always have return customers and word of mouth for business.
By the way, since you live in Dallas, you have a lot of nice non-guitar center shops around the area. Texas has a lot of nice shops, Dallas and Austin especially.
Guitar center isnt that bad, cheap actually compared to mom and pop. Anyway, do ya want a lectric or an acoustic box? I say blueridge for an acoustic, 300 bucks gets ya a nice box. lectric, hmm, dunno.
I hate guitar center & Sam Ash too, and the fact that it takes ages just to get a pack of strings. Plus the sales people look the same as they did in the 80's, metalheads with bad style. I agree with Orsino, as everyone should when it comes to guitars. i wouldn't rule out getting an older guitar, instead of a new one that isn't so great...you never know what kind of quirky deal you can get.
I'm just looking for an electic that sounds great disorted (like a heavy sound) and sounds clean when played with NO distortion. I dunno....maybe it is just me but when I play an Ibanez w/out distortion it just doesn't sound right. Once again I can only spend between $200-$300 so while a Fender sounds great Slammon420, it is way out of my range. I'm into playing a lot of metal tunes.....I just don't want the crunchy sound comin out when I'm not plugged into the the distortion. Man I'm picky
Best suggestion for you, SHOP AROUND!!! Hold many diffrent axes and see which one you feel will make you be able to destory with ease.
A wise man you are SoundStepper. I'll prob just head out this weekend to some shops and check some out. I guess I'm the only person who will be making the decision anyways.
Ibanez guitars aren't an all-around guitar... I'd say there's about three kinds of amps that actually sound good with the damn things... Peavey 5150s, Marshall JCM800s, and Carvins. You can get a used Fender for $200-$300 easy... hell, if Eric Johnson (http://www.ericjohnson.com) can play what he can on one... The only time I ever consider buying a new guitar is if it has a lifetime warranty on it, which doesn't apply with Fender as they only carry five year warranties. Not only that, but if you even tell one of the salespeople at a Guitar Center that you're considering buying a guitar, they'll probably ask you if you want $500 worth of insurance for their advice and charge you $100 just to go to the back room and get some piece of shit gig bag. Anyway, I also highly reccomend Rondo Music (http://www.rondomusic.net/electricguitar.html) . Check out the reviews for SX and Aglie guitars at http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/ Occasionally, you'll stumble apon a guitar center with the total combined IQ higher than a salesman's show size, but, I mean, why take your chances?
And by the way, if there's three words synonymous with guitar+dallas in the history of the music world. "Charley's Guitar Shop" http://www.charleysguitar.com/
No problem (if I didn't help, I couldn't get the energy out of me... I can't help it, I live and breathe it)
Well I picked up my new guitar today. After a few hours of playing around at guitar center I just fell in love with the Schecter Diamond Series 006 Deluxe. It is one pretty guitar and it sounds awesome. Luckily I went there with a friend who knew one of the workers there....so I got hooked up a little. Here is a pic off of some website. Hopefully my pics will come soon. Mine is a vampier red color or something. Similar to this...if not the same. Once again thanks to all those who helped me out
Yeah, congrats on that... as far as Schecter goes, they're pretty half and half, I've heard people who praise them, then I've heard horror stories... As far as "shitty strat" goes, that was the case last for a few years, as Fender was using Poplar for the bodies to cut costs, but Poplar skyrocketed and now they've gone back to Alder, other than that, some locking schallers would do the trick and it would be a good guitar... Personally, I prefer vintage kluson tuners. As for the shecter, it has grovers. The Grover Rotomatics on the vintage Martins I've owned are a nightmare... I got new bushings from stew mac and bought some open back butterbean waverly tuners and I installed a hipshot on my low E for a quick second change to Dropped D. Haha, I think I'm going a little overkill on tuners. I'm thinking about trying the new gearlesss Steinberger or Planet Waves auto-trim tuners.
