Help Choosing An Electric?

m98ter · Unread post by **m98ter** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 11:03 pm

When I get back to school in a few weeks I'm planning on putting together a new group to play with, and I'd like to have an electric to go back and forth between it and my acoustic. My problem is, that the one electric guitar I've ever played (in my several years of playing acoustic) really didnt strike me as something I liked. It was the benchmark American made strat, and it just didnt feel right in my hands. The skinny narrow neck and close together strings (or at least I percieved them to be that way) really turned me off from that style of guitar in general. I'd say in all honesty, what I'm looking for is an electric that...well...plays like an acoustic, as crazy as I'm sure that sounds. My problem here, is that I've never played anything other than that, so I dont really know where to start looking. I know I'll play whatever I buy beforehand, but I really dont know what to even start looking at when I get into the store. Im looking for something that can really crank out some noise if need be though (think Foo Fighters or Weezer...even though I know alot of sound is amp/pedal combos). I'd say the electric's use will be confined to the times that I wanna play in those type of styles, so I'm really trying to shy away from the bluesy twang that the strat (3 single pickup) that I played had. Just by looking at some pictures, it looks to me like I may want to go after a hollow or semi hollow body? Seems they have a little more substance to them than a strat copy? I'm not looking to spend a crazy amount (considering it may not even get used all that much), I'd say around $500, but if I could find a $250 ephiphone I was pleased with, I wouldnt care about the name on the headstock. Someone please point me in a general direction seeing as how I've never really played an electric in my life. Thanks.
Will

Pickles · Unread post by **Pickles** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 11:10 pm

im really not an epiphone fan, but some people like them. the only electric that has really made me stand in awe of an electric is... well.. mine. but its a little out of your price range. you can always go for a gibson les paul thats about $650, im not sure what model it is. its the one where its stained instead of painted. im not a strat fan either... i need humbuckers lol. what music do you want to play? if you want more "substance" les pauls are probably the heaviest solid body guitars there are. (semi)hollow are usually used for jazz.... hope i helped, if not ask me some more and ill try to help.

CPTino3001 · Unread post by **CPTino3001** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 9:27 am

You'de have to look pretty darn hard to find a quality Gibson LP in your price range...

However, I do agree that Les Pauls are extremely solid, mine is heavy as hell...

The cheapest one I can think of is that Gibson Smartwood LP, but even that was $900+ from musiciansfriend.com

m98ter · Unread post by **m98ter** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 5:34 pm

The thing is though, I dont neccesarily want a gibson.....or anything that nice if the truth be told. I'm more or less looking for something to familiarize myself with some electric style of play, and not so much to take it out and start doing gigs with it. After looking around as of the past day or so, I'm thinking I may actually end up just getting a foreign strat copy (my bandmate has one he's going to give me) and building on it by switching out the single coils, and then replacing anything else that I deem crap off of the thing (tuners..neck...bridge). It may take some getting used to, but it seems to pretty much be the benchmark. Plus, it would be pretty fun to have a guitar uniquely yours made from the parts you pick out.

Pickles · Unread post by **Pickles** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 5:53 pm

my friend did that to his squier. only thing left on it that came with the guitar is the body itself lol. its pretty sweet though.

DMBFan63 · Unread post by **DMBFan63** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 6:00 pm

I'd go with either a Gibson, epiphone, Ibanez, maybe an esp if you like that kind of electric.. hmm.. i personally would go with a gibson SG Special, Jade/Green in color :-p

Pickles · Unread post by **Pickles** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 6:04 pm

i would have to advise against ESP (aka LTD)..... those are really only good for death metal IMO..

DMBFan63 · Unread post by **DMBFan63** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 12:45 am

thats what I meant by"if you like that kind of electric"

firedancer86 · Unread post by **firedancer86** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 12:55 am

sg's are nice, but the LP Deluxe (in ruby red LTD.) reissue takes all

geekmug · Unread post by **geekmug** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 2:30 pm

You said that you were irked by the "skinny narrow neck".. I have not played on all of the off-shoot brands of electrics.. but I can say that a fender strat neck is as wide as most necks you'll find.. beyond that, the scale length on a strat is longer than a gibson.. I think the fenders scale length will feel more similar to an acoustic..

All depends on what acoustic you play to compare with..

Scale Length / Nut Width / Width 12th Fret

Most Strat's.. 25.5” / 1.6875” / 2.062"
Most Gibson's.. 24.75" / 1.6875" / 2.062"

Most Martin's.. 25.4" / 1.6875" / 2.125"

Btw, Fender doesn't list the 12th fret width on their spec sheets, I measured that myself off of my am std strat.

My point is that the fender should feel closest to an acoustic.. the only variation would be the neck shape and thickness which are about impossible to compare numerically.. just have to go off of the feel of it.

Also, AFAIK all of the gibson electrics use the same "dimensions," so a neck on either an ES137 or a LP should feel the same.

DMBTabs.com

Help Choosing An Electric?

Help Choosing An Electric?

Les Paul

Who is online