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mobby_6kl posted:So I think I'd like to finally give this whole music thing a try and pick up Rocksmith and a guitar. Knowing nothing about guitars except what I've learned from seeing Jimi shred, I'd appreciate some help choosing something that's not a total piece of poo poo. Sadly I'm not in the US so no Rondo or Monoprice ( At those price points, I'm going to say the Pacifica and the Ibanez will probably bring you the most joy. I have no love for Epiphone stuff personally.
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Mar 29, 2014 20:00
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) for me. 
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Aside from taking someone who can play guitar with you to try them out, your best bet is probably to go with whatever is most appealing/inspiring to you. On that list, though, I'd immediately gravitate towards the pacificas and and ibanezes.
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Mar 29, 2014 20:04
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mobby_6kl posted:So I think I'd like to finally give this whole music thing a try and pick up Rocksmith and a guitar. Knowing nothing about guitars except what I've learned from seeing Jimi shred, I'd appreciate some help choosing something that's not a total piece of poo poo. Sadly I'm not in the US so no Rondo or Monoprice ( I can't recommend Yamaha enough. They are fantastic guitars and can be found dirt cheap second hand or on ebay. If your a UK goon, it might be worth looking our for Vintage guitars. There by a company called John Hornby Skewes. There cheap and pretty good for the money. They do a model called a v6 which is a Strat a like.
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Mar 29, 2014 20:24
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Ericadia posted:At those price points, I'm going to say the Pacifica and the Ibanez will probably bring you the most joy. I have no love for Epiphone stuff personally. 100% agreed on the Pacifica or Ibanez being the best of that bunch, but I disagree re: Epiphones - some of them are perfectly lovely instruments, in fact there are some Epiphones that in terms of fit and finish kick the poo poo out of their Gibson counterparts. Almost always worse electronics, but you might actually end up with more attention paid and better wiring on the Epiphone. Of the two I'd feel more comfortable buying a pricier Epiphone sight-unseen than a pricier Gibson. Still feel like they're in the land of "try that specific unit before you buy," whereas Yamaha Pacificas are really nice guitars and Ibanez tends to have very good QC with predictable issues mainly related to which hardware they're saving the most money on with softer and cheaper metals... Lower tier Ibanez licensed FR trems are reeeeally iffy.
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Mar 29, 2014 20:31
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I don't really feel like Epiphones at that pricepoint are worth looking at. The higher end LPs they have are great, but the low end stuff does nothing for me. You're absolutely right about the Ibanez trems though. Unless it's a Gotoh unit, stay far away.
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Mar 29, 2014 20:44
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Has anyone bought an acoustic guitar from Rondo? I'm kind of eyeing their $50 3/4 sized classical guitar for travel. I don't need a concert-quality instrument here, but I'd rather not waste $50 on something unplayable. http://www.rondomusic.com/product3763.html
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Mar 29, 2014 21:22
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Gilgameshback posted:Has anyone bought an acoustic guitar from Rondo? I'm kind of eyeing their $50 3/4 sized classical guitar for travel. I don't need a concert-quality instrument here, but I'd rather not waste $50 on something unplayable. My best friend bought a regular size classical from them and it is basically unplayable.
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Mar 29, 2014 21:30
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Southern Heel posted:What does a Fender Blues Jr. do BADLY? I played one at the shop yesterday and it was pretty fantastic, but I'd like to know warts-and-all. If there's something with a comparable sound but less cost, that would be great too (since I'm bedroom player, not a gigger) Well, it doesn't - in its stock configuration - have enough output volume if you're counting on your gear and your gear alone to carry you in a jam or a stage mix, and will struggle even if you throw an overmatched output transistor and an ultra efficient speaker into it. It also has a relatively mediocre reverb tank with a limited range of useful reverb sounds. Sounds very "effecty" unless you just baaaarely use it at all. Finally, the tone stack on it kinds sucks. It's not too tough to fix but it's also not the kind of thing you'd want to attempt on your own without prior "I've worked on an amp" electronics knowledge. Even low power tube amps will kill you. I usually recommend solving issue 1 by running it into a very high efficiency 2x10 or 2x12 cab, open is fine but it tends to sound tighter when driven if closed and sacrifices practically nothing in its clean sound. Number two, doesn't even bother some people but you can fit a bigger tank in for a more authentic Fender verb sound if you want. Number three, have an amp tech readjust it so that it sucks less, basically. You asked "worse case scenario" - that's what I'm giving you; because I like the stock Blues Jr. fine, but if you're looking for things wrong with it...
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Mar 29, 2014 22:20
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Agreed posted:More great stuff Not on the same topic, but I thought I'd ask you a question, Agreed. I was populating some boards today and realized that, from an audio standpoint, I have no idea which non-polarized caps are preferred. Have you ever had a preference? Ceramic? Greenies? Any old film? Just wondering which is preferred (and why but I'm sure you're already say why  )
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Mar 29, 2014 23:45
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You know what's great? When you mention you're getting a guitar to someone who doesn't really play guitar and they mention how it's a waste to spend more than $100 because "there isn't much of a difference".
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Mar 29, 2014 23:54
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booshi posted:Not on the same topic, but I thought I'd ask you a question, Agreed. I was populating some boards today and realized that, from an audio standpoint, I have no idea which non-polarized caps are preferred. Have you ever had a preference? Ceramic? Greenies? Any old film? The only thing that matters for a cap is its value and everything else is snake oil. At least, that's the case with guitars, can't speak to effects pedals.
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Mar 29, 2014 23:55
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Dirty Job posted:You know what's great? When you mention you're getting a guitar to someone who doesn't really play guitar and they mention how it's a waste to spend more than $100 because "there isn't much of a difference". it's really really funny to me when someone is forced to realize how much money things actually cost
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Mar 30, 2014 00:41
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muike posted:it's really really funny to me when someone is forced to realize how much money things actually cost My lead guitarist bought a PRS Se 220(or 240 whatever) last November despite me urging that he look for something much more expensive. He's a great guitarist but he's gear challenged. He thought the PRS looked great online and bought it. Sure enough, months later he's ready to sell it because "it feels okay but it doesn't sound okay" (which I agree with, it's a bottom heavy guitar) I think he's slowly starting to understand why some guitars cost over $1000.
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Mar 30, 2014 01:02
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Ericadia posted:My lead guitarist bought a PRS Se 220(or 240 whatever) last November despite me urging that he look for something much more expensive. He's a great guitarist but he's gear challenged. He thought the PRS looked great online and bought it. Sure enough, months later he's ready to sell it because "it feels okay but it doesn't sound okay" (which I agree with, it's a bottom heavy guitar) I found the opposite; a PRS is like a set-neck Stratocaster. All they're selling you is a great base to put good pickups on, locking tuners, and rock that poo poo out. I got mine used with a Duncan JB in the bridge, locking PRS Phase II tuners, upgraded PRS intonateable bridge, and Graph Tech nut. Sent it for a pro setup and it's my band beater now.
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Mar 30, 2014 01:08
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Ericadia posted:My best friend bought a regular size classical from them and it is basically unplayable. Got it, thanks - I'll look elsewhere. Yamaha and Cordoba both make fractional sized classicals that are probably much better and don't cost much over $100 anyway.
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Mar 30, 2014 01:32
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Sadsack posted:I can't recommend Yamaha enough. They are fantastic guitars and can be found dirt cheap second hand or on ebay. Continental europe, so although I could order one, it's probably not worth for it for a cheap beginner guitar. Thanks for the Yamaha recommendation, though. muike posted:I don't really feel like Epiphones at that pricepoint are worth looking at. The higher end LPs they have are great, but the low end stuff does nothing for me. You're absolutely right about the Ibanez trems though. Unless it's a Gotoh unit, stay far away. Thanks, everyone, it's quite reassuring to see this sort of consensus regarding Yamaha and Ibanez. I am correctly understanding that I shouldn't get the Ibanez unless I can verify that they're using Gotoh trems? Also, do guitars depreciate enough to make buying used worthwhile? Anything to look out for so as to avoid problems down the line? I'm not opposed to the idea if I could get a significantly better guitar for the same money, or a similar guitar for less. If so, I'll see what can be dug up and maybe post a few options for a second opinion.
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Mar 30, 2014 01:41
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Gilgameshback posted:Got it, thanks - I'll look elsewhere. Yamaha and Cordoba both make fractional sized classicals that are probably much better and don't cost much over $100 anyway. For what it's worth, I bought one of the little Yamaha Guitalele's to travel with and it's fun as hell. Holds E standard tuning way better than I thought it would (the guy at the store recommended uptuning to A), and completely worth the 70 dollars they charged for it at GC.
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Mar 30, 2014 01:46
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mobby_6kl posted:Continental europe, so although I could order one, it's probably not worth for it for a cheap beginner guitar. Thanks for the Yamaha recommendation, though. At that price range they won't have gotoh hardware, but if it's not a double-locking trem (has a metal nut with allen bolts), it's probably serviceable. and buying used is a good idea if you have a little bit of an idea of what you're looking for, both as far as the guitar itself, and any possible issues it might have. I buy most of my guitars used...except for the last two, but they were really good deals!!
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Mar 30, 2014 01:58
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booshi posted:Which GFS pickups did you get? Just curious as I've become a huge fan and have GFSs in my Tele and Agile. Went with the TrueCoil overwound set. 12k bridge, 10k middle, and 7K neck with Alnico V magnets. Those ratings are allegedly 15% higher than actual output since they have a dummy coil on the bottom (so like 10K, 8.5K, 6K). Bizarre looking at it for the first time. I have a coils that pickup my dick mojo and amplify it now.   Pretty happy with the arrangement. I had the bridge pickup way too high off the get go and made it sound super lovely, but a half hour on the Jet City and fiddling with a screw driver made me a happy camper again. Wired up the second tone pot to the bridge pickup and I thank myself for that decision. 
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Mar 30, 2014 02:29
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mobby_6kl posted:So I think I'd like to finally give this whole music thing a try and pick up Rocksmith and a guitar. Knowing nothing about guitars except what I've learned from seeing Jimi shred, I'd appreciate some help choosing something that's not a total piece of poo poo. Sadly I'm not in the US so no Rondo or Monoprice ( Everything people have already said, Yamaha Pacifica is probably your best bet, I have the old Ibanez GRGA42T and had to hardtail mod it because they make EDGE III trems out of some soft alloy that deforms over time. Great low profile Floyd Rose trem when it was new but totally hosed up now. Sub £200 LTD's will likely need their electronics replaced, Epiphone's have QC issues and can range from amazing to a literally broken piece of poo poo. Gibson's can too but dodgy store's usually catch the worst ones and try to push what should be factory seconds onto unsuspecting new players. Squier can be amazing but you want to get a Vintage Modified or Classic Vibe model. Bullet/Affinity have lovely wiring and some QC problems with the wood. Most stores won't try to sell one with a twisted neck but warehouse online retailers like Amazon may not be as knowledgeable or careful. There's still a few places selling off their old ESP/LTD stock with the big rebranding going on. I picked up an LTD EC 154DX bass for £170 a while back, marked down from last years £399. http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/clearance/?brandname=ESP+Ltd the letters refer to body shape and numbers seem to be relative quality. ignore the -10's and -50's, aim for -256's or -300's if you can. My EC-330FM is a dream though it did cost significantly more.
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Mar 30, 2014 02:29
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booshi posted:Not on the same topic, but I thought I'd ask you a question, Agreed. I was populating some boards today and realized that, from an audio standpoint, I have no idea which non-polarized caps are preferred. Have you ever had a preference? Ceramic? Greenies? Any old film? Ones with an operational voltage range that allows for 18v-24v operation; I like Panasonic and Wima for manufacturing consistency but that's more an economies of scale thing than something directly applicable to the "is there mojo in caps" question. No, there isn't Just avoid garbage batches of counterfeit stuff and you'll be good to go. We can talk more once you get up to ordering in batches with a lot of zeroes at the end, haha. But, nah, there's no magic there and quality caps are effectively 100% interchangeable in the circuit.
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Mar 30, 2014 02:55
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Gilgameshback posted:Has anyone bought an acoustic guitar from Rondo? I'm kind of eyeing their $50 3/4 sized classical guitar for travel. I don't need a concert-quality instrument here, but I'd rather not waste $50 on something unplayable.
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Mar 30, 2014 06:40
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mobby_6kl posted:So I think I'd like to finally give this whole music thing a try and pick up Rocksmith and a guitar. Knowing nothing about guitars except what I've learned from seeing Jimi shred, I'd appreciate some help choosing something that's not a total piece of poo poo. Sadly I'm not in the US so no Rondo or Monoprice ( My main guitar is a Cort X-6, and it's served me very well so far. It's main differences from the X-1 seek to be the pickup type + configuration and a Floyd rose trem(probably a mistake for me). It feels and plays great with a nice neck, ALTHOUGH in retrospect, I really really should've gone for another Cort that was LP style with a hardtail(well, string through body) that sounded better. It's miles better than the entry-level Ibanez my brother got a long time ago.
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Mar 30, 2014 07:22
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Agreed posted:But, nah, there's no magic there and quality caps are effectively 100% interchangeable in the circuit. To extend this post a bit further, over the frequency range of a guitar any frequency-dependent shifts in capacitance will be at most a few percent with any quality capacitor, and certainly less than the variation from capacitor to capacitor unless you verrrrry carefully match them. Ceramics or film or whatever should be fine as long as they're rated for voltage. It's not like you're building a THz radio here. Just don't use polarized caps where they're not called for (and vice versa).
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Mar 30, 2014 10:04
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What should I put in the screw holes when I take off a pickguard? It's an Agile AL if that changes anything. I'm putting some new pickups in it and I figured it's time I cover up those little black dots that I get asked about.
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Mar 30, 2014 15:35
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Steak Flavored Gum posted:To extend this post a bit further, over the frequency range of a guitar any frequency-dependent shifts in capacitance will be at most a few percent with any quality capacitor, and certainly less than the variation from capacitor to capacitor unless you verrrrry carefully match them. Ceramics or film or whatever should be fine as long as they're rated for voltage. It's not like you're building a THz radio here. Just don't use polarized caps where they're not called for (and vice versa). Thanks (and thanks Agreed). I had read some things stating that film caps were best for this, but I basically just use whatever I have in that value for the pedal, resulting in a mix of film and ceramics, and then electrolytic for the polarized caps. What I really need is some better storage to store all of these to get the values I need faster. Right now I just have the caps split by type and my resistors are in 2 drawers, split at 1k. I know this is a little off topic for the guitar thread but still guitar related, but any other ideas for storing parts besides getting another desktop organizer with more drawers? I don't have a ton of space where I do my work. Then again, I could rearrange to fit it. I've been posting more about the pedals in the GBS ugly instrument thread but if anyone would like I could post some of my builds here too. I'll be decorating pedals soon and recording clips. I'm just waiting for a good time to run my SHO clone into my amp because it sounds so much better pushing them tubes.
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Mar 30, 2014 16:45
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I bartered all my free time to practice away at the altar of employment so the only solution for better sound was more and better pickups. I completed the set after only installing the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge earlier.  Vintage Rails in the middle and Cool Rails in the neck. Vintage Rails is really great, it supports the other two better than I could've imagined and sounds excellent on its own. Cool Rails on its own is a bit of a mystery for me still but all three were a massive upgrade from Tokai's stock PUs.
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Mar 30, 2014 19:37
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any suggestions on how to get started with tapping?
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Mar 31, 2014 00:15
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Just Do It!
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Mar 31, 2014 01:06
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Find a tune you like with tapping, try to play it, then gently caress around and see where you have problems. Tapping is one of the most straight-forward techniques you can do, as the position your right hand naturally takes is fairly ergonomic
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Mar 31, 2014 01:07
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muike posted:Just Do It! Or don't
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Mar 31, 2014 01:07
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JustTheWorst posted:For what it's worth, I bought one of the little Yamaha Guitalele's to travel with and it's fun as hell. Holds E standard tuning way better than I thought it would (the guy at the store recommended uptuning to A), and completely worth the 70 dollars they charged for it at GC. This looks incredibly fun, ordered from MF.
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Mar 31, 2014 01:36
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Picked up this a sweet custom velcro lined pedal case, two planet waves solderless kits, and a Boss DD6 (like new in box) for $200. Going to be nicer to just drag this along to band night with cables tossed inside. 
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Mar 31, 2014 03:18
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Professor Science posted:any suggestions on how to get started with tapping? Check out the YouTube i posted on the last page and then look up a tab online and practice it slow as gently caress.
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Mar 31, 2014 11:57
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Get a metronome, it's a lot harder to stay in beat compared to picked playing
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Mar 31, 2014 14:13
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So I played the CV JM that a local guy is going to trade for $100 and a SHO clone. Played pretty nice, a little buzzing on the bridge, but otherwise I'm 99% on going through with the trade. Now, I'm going to replace the bridge right away on this thing to help with the buzzing issue. Can anyone point me to some good replacement JM bridges? I don't know my hardware as well as my electronics.
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Mar 31, 2014 16:07
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On Offsetguitars the consensus for best JM replacement bridge is the Mastery Bridge, it's pricey, but it is pretty much the top-of-the-line JM that you can find. Meanwhile the Mustang Modified is the most common and reccommended replacement, it gets rid of the buzzing while having all of the features you'd want from a bridge (i.e. intonation, string height, and bridge height). The cheapest replacement would probably be just a regular mustang bridge, which you can find easily enough of ebay, though it doesn't allow you to change individual string height.
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Mar 31, 2014 17:55
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umalt posted:On Offsetguitars the consensus for best JM replacement bridge is the Mastery Bridge, it's pricey, but it is pretty much the top-of-the-line JM that you can find. Meanwhile the Mustang Modified is the most common and reccommended replacement, it gets rid of the buzzing while having all of the features you'd want from a bridge (i.e. intonation, string height, and bridge height). The cheapest replacement would probably be just a regular mustang bridge, which you can find easily enough of ebay, though it doesn't allow you to change individual string height. Yeah I read around a bit more and saw the Mastery bridges but that's pretty expensive for the guitar I'm getting. Yeah I'm getting the guitar at a good price (just straight money-wise, not including the time it takes me to put together a pedal) but a Mastery is more than half the guitar's price. Good to know about the modified Mustang bridges though, because I was going to just go with a Mustang bridge but having proper intonation along with fixing the buzz issue is exactly what I'm looking for.
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Mar 31, 2014 18:10
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Honestly most of the high quality cheap guitars coming out are about $200 worth of upgrades away from beating a ton of the $700+ group of instruments. It's frustrating and seems dumb sometimes but if you enjoy the upgrade and it makes you want to play, go for it. I like the balance Squier has of good guitars with a lot of the extras cut out instead of cheaping out on everything like you see with most cheap metal bangers. I see a lot of worth in slowly upgrading these kind of guitars over time.
Kilometers Davis fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 18:18
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Kilometers Davis posted:Honestly most of the high quality cheap guitars coming out are about $200 worth of upgrades away from beating a ton of the $700+ group of instruments. It's frustrating and seems dumb sometimes but if you enjoy the upgrade and it makes you want to play, go for it. I like the balance Squier has of good guitars with a lot of the extras cut out instead of cheaping out on everything like you see with most cheap metal bangers. I see a lot of worth in slowly upgrading these kind of guitars over time. Yeah I've been doing that since my first guitar (Epi SG that later got Grovers and Seymour Duncans). I don't have a ton of money but I really like my guitars so I prefer to buy cheaper ones and then upgrade as I like. I played the JM and know the bridge should be replaced (though I'm waiting off on the pickups on it, want to play with them more before swapping them out). Did the same with my Agile and Tele. Being able to do some of your own work really opens up what you can do for a certain price point. I've also had to tell myself this is the last guitar I'm getting for a while. Though, I'm happy with the lineup I have now. I know it seems like I'm buying guitars left and right but after my few years from electric hiatus I've wanted to build back up my collection. Tele, Agile LP, and JM has me set for really anything I want to play. Hopefully I'll have photos later this week once I have the guys SHO clone done.
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Mar 31, 2014 18:35
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