Guitar Thread - Page 42

On January 28 2014 21:16 Mikau wrote:
Hi there, the person just starting guitar from a few pages back again.

My birthday is coming up (a week and a half from now), and I kind of want to treat myself to a new ('proper') guitar. I currently have the cheapest guitar/amp I could find online. I read a bit online about buying a guitar (go into stores, play a couple of guitars, pick the one you like the sound of most), but I kind of wanted to buy something off of ebay or the dutch version of craigslist. Buying a new expensive guitar seems like a bit of a 'waste' of money if I've only been playing for a month, plus I haven't really developed an ear for different guitar sounds so I might end up regretting it later if I buy a new expensive guitar. I figure if I'm still playing on my birthday next year I'll shell out the real money for a more top of the line new guitar but right now second hand seems like good value for money at the moment.

However, there's so many different brands (and even more different models within those brands) that I have no idea what to look for. I'm not sure about budget, I was thinking between 500 and 750 euros for a good guitar and practice amp. What would you guys recommend?

On January 29 2014 00:02 ptmc wrote:
different temperatures maybe?

On January 23 2014 04:13 renoB wrote:

Maple on maple makes for a very bright sounding guitar, so you may want to go with something like swamp ash for a little bit deeper tone. You will like the emg 81. I had one in my guitar that was stolen years ago. For tuners, find some locking ones because they're damn awesome.

You should post on SSO even though you don't have a sevenstring. They have a section for people who are building and if you ever needed help they could instruct you.

Edit: As for the tone wood discussion:
Tone wood test (far from scientific but its noticeable)
+ Show Spoiler +

Or it could just be in the hands of the player....
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I personally think its a lot of combinations of things. And if anything, you can feel a different feel from different woods vibrating. Which is why I disliked my schecter because it felt dull when it vibrated whereas my carvin feels very vibrant. It's also a lot brighter and it sounds like a piano when played acoustically.

On January 29 2014 01:33 Teoita wrote:


What kind of music do you play? Which guitarists do you like?

Also, got some cheap Fender American pickups used so im getting all the electronics on my Strat copy sorted (the pots were scratchy as hell after 10 years of never being cleaned up). Looking forward to receving it this next week.

On January 29 2014 07:56 LeperKahn wrote:


Why would they use a distorted overdriven signal to determine if tone is affected by the player?

wtf

On January 29 2014 07:57 Mikau wrote:

At the moment I pretty much just play loose notes and power chords . Seriously though, the short and incredibly vague answer would be 'rock'. To be more specific, I like (in no particular order)

David Gilmour
Brian May
Matt Bellamy
Eric Clapton
Robert Smith
Mark Knopfler

And then there's a couple of bands with a lot of songs I wish I could play. Stuff like Rush, Boston, Nirvana, Foo Fighters.

On January 29 2014 17:07 Teoita wrote:
Well no shit there's no difference with distortion xD It's hard enough to tell pickups apart sometimes...

@Mikau: with that budget i'd look to buy either an epiphone, squire, or mexican fender, along with a fender solid state amp. Should be a good setup for your tastes.

On January 29 2014 20:04 Mikau wrote:

What's the difference between american, mexican and japanese fenders? The americans seem to be the more expensive options but are there any major differences in quality?

On January 30 2014 00:16 Ben... wrote:
I own one (or more) of each MIA, MIM, and MIJ and here's what I've noticed. I've been a Fender guy for a long time so I guess I can chip in. I guess it helps that I'm also kinda nitpicky and like to tinker with guitars.

Quality-wise, the American and Japanese are about on par, maybe a small edge to the American stuff, and both are noticeably better than MIM in most, but not all, cases. When I did a complete teardown, I found the American Strat I own is basically flawless. The frets are perfectly dressed and levelled, the finish is perfect, and it stays perfectly in tune as the bridge seems to be quite a bit more stable than the old style bridges found on MIMs. The necks on the newer (post-2007) American instruments are significantly better than MIM (pre-2008 they are about the same. They changed them for 2008). On instruments with maple fretboards, the back of the neck is satin while the fretboard is gloss, which I do think is the ideal way for a maple fretboard neck to be. For the cost you do need to keep in mind they come with a beefy hard case, which I imagine factors into cost a bit (the case for my Strat is really nice). Structurally, there are very few if any issues in any of the American instruments I've played. The neck pocket in my Strat is perfect and is nice and snug without being too tight. In constrast, the pocket in my MIM Precision Bass requires a fair bit of shimming to get the action (string height) to a playable level.

That said, there is nothing wrong with MIM. 99% of people will be perfectly satisfied with them if they find a good one. For the price doubly so. I certainly like mine. There are MIM instruments that are on par with MIA quality-wise, I have no doubt about that. You just have to find them. The issue is that the quality of the instruments can be hit or miss so trying before buying is a must. I've owned 5 MIM instruments over the years and have sold all of them but 2. It is all about finding the good ones. The one Strat I sold was a FSR (special run) Strat that sounded great but had huge issues with the frets that no amount of tinkering would fix outside of a refret (I didn't notice it when I played it at the shop. Now I take more time to check for flaws). Likewise, I also had a 5 string Jazz Bass that had 3 different high frets that had to be brought down. That bass also had issues with tuning stability. I sold it to get my current main fretted base, which is a MIM Classic Series 50's Precision Bass (All the Classic Series stuff is astoundingly good. I am getting a Classic 60's Jazz sometime in the future). My Precision was a b-stock, so I knew it would have a couple issues to fix, but so far it has been the best MIM instrument I've owned. Other than the neck pocket and a high fret, it has been great. This is what I mean when I say you have to find the good MIM stuff. I thought the P-bass was butt ugly when I saw it at the store but was completely blown away by it when I played it. It continues to be one of my all-time favourite fretted basses. My first guitar was a '96 MIM Strat, and it also is quite good. It has endured many botched repairs over the years and continues to play great. It has the most stable neck of any instrument I own. It never shifts with temperature changes. With an upgraded set up pickups it sounds great too.

Japanese Fenders are definitely the happy medium, or they would be if they were easy to get. They're roughly the same cost as MIM while being roughly the quality of MIA (in Japan anyway. Importing drives the cost up quite a bit. I'd only recommend it for instruments you cannot get a MIM version of). I've had my MIJ fretless '62 Jazz Bass for over a month now and the thing continues to blow me away every time I play it. I've taken it apart multiple times (truss rod is on the heel of the neck so I kinda have to take it apart to adjust the neck) and the neck pocket is just as good as those found in MIA. Snug but not so tight that it feels like you will chip paint removing it. The common comment people make about MIJ is that they are MIA quality but with worse electronics, though I haven't noticed as I quite like the vintage-style pickups in my Jazz. The finish is great, as is the neck. I love Jazz Bass necks in general (they're wider than Precision Bass necks and slightly thinner) but this one is especially good. It has no flaws from what I have found (though with no frets there's less to go wrong). The bridges on the Japanese basses are much nicer than those found on MIM basses, much heavier. Sadly, Fender has pretty much stopped using MIJ for the international market and have reserved them for Japan only now outside of a couple artist models. The Geddy Lee Jazz Bass and many other artist models used to be MIJ, as were many special run instruments but most have switched to being MIM. Now they basically only use MIM outside of a couple things like the Marcus Miller Jazz Bass. The domestic market Japanese Fenders are by far the coolest from what I've seen. They have a lot more variety to the selection of instruments available. But since they are domestic market you can't get them outside of Japan unless you go through a place that does importing (I did. It went perfectly smooth. Was stressful though because I don't trust the post office with fragile stuff).