Thinking about grabbing a guitar

I have this wild thought in my head after I bought my Jackson bass to replace my Ibanez 5 string that I will likely sell, instead, trading it in for a guitar. Unfortunately I don't really know much about guitars having played bass for 12-14 years now and never really picked one up. I have different materials out there to learn, so that won't be an issue. I'm just thinking about recording some bass stuff and it would help having backing guitar. I'm going to bet I'll get somewhere around the $300 range in trade if I'm lucky, or I'd add a few bucks to that. I'm just looking for guitar suggestions on what to look at.

A few stipulations, I'm not a huge fan of floyd rose bridges, so I'd like to stay away from those right now. I kinda want something metal looking, like a ESP, Jackson, Ibanez, or Charvel. Something easy to play (I'll start with heavy strings anyways). Used or new isn't that huge of an issue to me as long as it's got proper setup.

Anyone got some suggestions?

I reccomend my guitar (Epiphone Goth Explorer) I bought it for around $380 and its an awesome guitar. Easy to play, and has a standard bridge (no tremelo)

Is that a $380 new or used?

Ok, first don't get anything with a crazy shape. Do you know if you prefer a thicker or a slimmer neck? You will want to buy used, as you can get a much better guitar for the money.

Here are a few good choices, but of course you need to try them for yourself. These will all be above $300 new but should be around there used.


http://www.guitarcenter.com/Schecter-Guitar-Research-Hellraiser-Special-C-1-Electric-Guitar-430479-i1531349.gc


http://www.guitarcenter.com/ESP-LTD-MH-350NT-Electric-Guitar-105806467-i1503628.gc

I don't think I'll worry too much about neck thickness, bass necks are thick and I'm used to that. Not bad choices though, like the EMG pickups.

You want an ESP if you like EMG pickups and you want a fixed bridge. You might want to look at a bunch of ESPs.

Yep, if they have them. This place I was going to go to just gets in random used trade-ins and the guy fixes them up. It's going to be tough for me to try out stuff though.

my guitar is an ESP explorer with EMGs. I'm loving it to deth.

Personally, I love ESP guitars, but not all of them.

do you have a guitarcenter near you?

indeed I do, bought the jackson there just in case I didn't like I could take it back in 30 days

No metal guitars at that place my only choice is Guitar Center

I want to clarify on my "no crazy shapes" statement. Want I mean by this is that you will be best off buying a strat style guitar, as they are better suited for a new guitar player.

I would recommend going and playing a few dozen guitars at guitarcenter. And deciding from that. When you know what guitar you like, look online (craigslist, guitarcenter's website, etc) for a used guitar of the same model. I would also recommend not looking at the price tag of a guitar before you play it. If you really like a guitar that is well above your price range just wait to buy until you can afford it. And remember that a guitar can be as much as 50% cheaper used.

Also, stay away from Gibson (Most of these are well over your price range as well as being over priced), Epiphone (Sorry Nerf herder! Most epiphones are not very good/ good value guitars. There are many exceptions of course, but as a rule.), And you may want to stay away from ibanez (they are great guitars if you are looking for a floyd rose, otherwise you probably can find better.)


One last thing. Have you heard of trem blockers? They lock a floyd rose in place, turning it into a fixed bridge. This is great because you can instal one of these in your guitar, and suddenly you can take off the trem arm, and you have a fixed bridge, later if you want a floyd rose you simply undo the trem blocker. I use one on my ibanez, it works fantastic. Just a thought.

Ariel,seekeroftruth wrote:I want to clarify on my "no crazy shapes" statement. Want I mean by this is that you will be best off buying a strat style guitar, as they are better suited for a new guitar player.

Kinda wonder exactly why you say this? Is it because of neck thickness? I mean I'm not gonna be a brand new guitar player, I already know and can move around a neck fairly well or should catch on fairly quick. I know thats half the challenge right there, building up the calluses (already have those). I wasn't going to look for anything like a flying v style or anything like that. Just a standard shaped guitar I just prefer humbucker style pickups on guitars.

The brands are probably the same deal we have with basses and lower end models, if you buy a squire or epiphone it may take a few before you find a good one, regardless if it's made in Mexico or Indonesia or wherever. The fact is I'm not going to just blind pick something, I normally don't buy cheap instruments at all. This is just for noodling, I'm trying to enhance my bass experience by learning more about how it blends in.

I recommend a strat because you want something that will be easy to play sitting down as well as standing. If you are trying to learn a song you don't want to be uncomfortable. I find that many guitar shapes such as SG, and explorer shapes tend to be harder to play sitting down, which is not ideal. A les paul style guitar would also be a good choice, but they do tend to be a bit more expensive.
All in all strats tend to be cheaper and easier to play than most other styles.

Gotcha, yeah I know I want a strat body style, just not a strat. I still want to look at ESP by far, I almost got one of those instead of my Jackson bass, the quality is worth it.

Yep ESP should be your best bet.

Personally, I love Epiphones. Every one I have played or have known someone who played them regularly loved their guitar. Just don't start at the bottom end starter guitars and you would do fine.

Also, if you are willing to play around with the guitar, check out www.rondomusic.com. These guitars can be great affordable guitars that can rival more expensive guitars with a little $$$ spent on the front end. I have an SX guitar that is the same body style as my Epiphone. I had to change out the tuners with Grovers and have the intonation set. But, I did the tuner change myself with a set I already had. The set up only cost me $50. So, for well less than your $300 desired price range you could have a really nice guitar.

I also have a Douglas 7 string that I bought from Rondo. LOVE this guitar! I didn't have to do anything to it out of the box and love the tone and feel of this one. The price? $189. You can't beat that.

Ah yes, SX guitars I am familiar with. Never have tried one for myself. I guess I'm stuck with Guitar Center for picking something out I can try and they don't have much used inventory at the location closest to me. Either that or craigslist.

Any opinions on this?

http://charleston.craigslist.org/msg/3177443890.html

It's a pretty good deal, close and I could test it out.

It looks good, but I would be wary of the paint job.

as long as you're not grabbing my guitar....

unworthy wrote:as long as you're not grabbing my guitar....

I wouldn't dream of it buddy

Seems the dude selling the Jackson doesn't want to reply to my email and tried reposting it for like $100 more than before on a different part of Craigslist. Back to the drawing board.

How much are you looking to spend? also, GC has a used section you can browse online as well.....

I dunno I guess I can possibly go up to $500. I browsed the used online this weekend and didn't see anything really.

Anyone got any opinions on Schecter? There's a really good deal on a Hellraiser locally and I'm not a huge fan of the look of them but I hear they are killer guitars