Help on buying an electric guitar

[StardogChampion]

I'm looking to buy an electric guitar for under £100 ($185). I don't want anything amazing just something that I'll be able to play something decent-sounding.

I found these:

http://www.musicstreet.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1339
http://www.musicstreet.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=487
http://www.musicstreet.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1221
http://www.musicstreet.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=501

Will the cheaper ones sound totally different to the more expensive ones, or is it mainly things like the type of wood that bump up the price?

 

[ComradeBadger]

There is a whole WORLD of difference between cheap guitars and expensive ones.. the quality of sound is just incomparable..

Personally I wouldn't buy a guitar that was under £100... my accoustic was £250 or something..

Although decent strings on a cheap guitar can make things better

 

[StardogChampion]

That's the thing, my Fender acoustic was only around £80 but it sounds perfect on every song I try. Or maybe it was £180... but I doubt it. I got it 3/4 years ago.

 

[Septih]

Cheap guitars tend to lose tuning easily too, at leasts that's what i found with my yamaha one and that was about £130 :/

 

[SimonomiS]

http://www.musicstreet.co.uk/produc...d=649&osCsid=b70bf5e91868846e0be54f9d309f2c95

£20 over your budget, I heard Squier Affinity's are good value for money. Look around on eBay and you can probably find one under £100.

The other Squier you listed is 3/4 size btw.

 

[thefiznut]

I would recommend humbucker pickups in what you choose, simply because they typically give you a warmer and fatter sound. On a guitar with a 5 position pickup toggle switch, you will be able to enable single coil mode in two of the positions if that floats your boat.

In case you don't know, pickups are the little bars underneath the strings with magnets in them. Single coil pickups look like one single bar, and there's typically three of them. Humbuckers come in what looks like pairs of single coil pickups. Sometimes they will have large rectangle plates over them to hide the magets and such underneath.

 

[StardogChampion]

I was reading about humbuckers today when I found a guitar on ebay with them. It said something about Hendrix not using them because he wanted the noise in his music or something.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WASHBURN-X-16...ryZ33048QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

£75 to "buy it now" but I don't know if it's worth it. He seems to be a legit seller with all his Warhammer novels

http://www.musicstreet.co.uk/produc...d=649&osCsid=b70bf5e91868846e0be54f9d309f2c95

£20 over your budget, I heard Squier Affinity's are good value for money. Look around on eBay and you can probably find one under £100.

The other Squier you listed is 3/4 size btw.

I think I meant to list this one instead:
http://www.musicstreet.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=731

 

[SimonomiS]

I was reading about humbuckers today when I found a guitar on ebay with them. It said something about Hendrix not using them because he wanted the noise in his music or something.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WASHBURN-X-16...ryZ33048QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

£75 to "buy it now" but I don't know if it's worth it. He seems to be a legit seller with all his Warhammer novels


I think I meant to list this one instead:
http://www.musicstreet.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=731

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electric_guitars/squier/bullet/

General consensus seems to be its a good beginner guitar with a bit of noise from the pickups. Seems like a pretty nice price, as does that eBay Washburn. your choice really.

 

[ComradeBadger]

I must stress though, with guitars, you get what you pay for - if you're serious in any way I'd recommend as much as you can afford.


I have my eye on a paisley print Les Paul.. it's a few thousand :|

 

[StardogChampion]

Yeah I've looked at some of the more expensive guitars. Pretty insane.

I found a guitar that's insanely cheap on eBay, it's a copy of a Fender Stratacaster. Here's the vids:
http://video.google.com/googleplaye...erId=-2598779155188987947&playerMode=embedded
http://video.google.com/googleplaye...yerId=6342324175251765675&playerMode=embedded

I know they must be lame guitars since they're copies and they're so cheap, but I don't think they sound so bad.

I might just go with it. It's so cheap that it's not a huge deal if it sounds like crap.

 

[ComradeBadger]

American-made older strats are better than the newer mexican ones



My flatmate's the real expert, he chipped that fact in

 

[thefiznut]

Yes, I would agree that single coil pickups contributed to Hendrix's noisy sound. However, you should remember that his guitar tone still had a certain "fatness" and distinctness that is very hard to match, due to the Marshall tube amps that he used at the time. He reversed the order of the strings on his guitar as well, which kindof confuses pickups in a way. I'm sure quite a few effect pedals also helped shape his tone. Simply having single coil pickups is in no way going to allow you to sound like Hendrix.

 

[Muffin Man]

http://www.squierguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=0335005506

but seriouslt, your going to need to get a piece of @#$! for $180. My squier bullet was around $100 and it kind of sucked balls, but it sufficed and I enjoyed playing it. dont under any circumstances get a "beginner pack" that includes the amp and everything, trust me on that one.

Go pawn shopping, you can sometimes find a good deal. and for the love of god try the guitar ou before you buy it !

^ Hendrix used a marshall full stack (or a wall of them) with all the settings on 10, so he could control everything with pedals and nobs and such. He used a wah pedal, all the time, it's what he did. He also used an arbiter fuzz unit, which is basically overdrive. and a uni-vibe. His guitar was a stock fender 1968 start, restrung backwards because he was lefty. I don't think that made any significance in sound however. Hendrix was just an awesome player, he didn't use many effects, just overdrive 'n that wah, he just was a straight up good player, who didn't know jack about music theory. and whoever said he didn't use a humbucker was full of shit, he used a gison flying-v with dual humbuckers. whoever that was slap them in the face with a knife.

you could try out this guitar
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Guitar/Electric?sku=518097
and then buy an amp later. I would suggestspending all on a guitar, or even saving up more and getting a beter one, and then buying an amp later. And I would try to avoid strat copie,s they are a lot and most are very bad -> because everytbody wants to look cool with that strat style guitar. As I (think) i said before, check out pawnshops too.

-EDIT- and i just read about the sound, and yes, cheap ones will sound like ASS. my squier gives me a mediocre sound, when my $550 schecter 006 Elite gives me a nice, versatile, sexy sound. and remember everything matters, not just pickups. The wood of the body resonates differently and will affect your tone, i like mahogany, it gives a nice dark sound, the neck size will affect your playing, as well as the finish on the back of it. The size of the frets, the strings, everything.

and remember, your amp effects your soud TREMENDOUSLY. your guitar will send out the signal but the preamp is what turns it into the noise you hear.

-EDIT EDIT- I looked at the washburn double humbeucker you posted. It says 'Solid Wood' body, thats probably plywood or agathis, and it will sound like your playing a pizza box with strings most likely. avoid those woods.

 

[Murray_H]

Get a pacifica 112 or 120, the whammy is shite on the 112 but they are solid guitars none the less. What sort of amp are you considering?

 

[3ssence]

Idd, Yamaha pacifica guitars are very popular with beginners. They tend to go against "you get what you pay for" as they are higher quality than many other guitars in the price range.

Also, some of the lower range Ibanez RG series guitars may be worth a look.

 

[Muffin Man]

Idd, Yamaha pacifica guitars are very popular with beginners. They tend to go against "you get what you pay for" as they are higher quality than many other guitars in the price range.

Also, some of the lower range Ibanez RG series guitars may be worth a look.

lower RG's tend to have Edge III tremolo systmes which are made with soft metals and break easily and go out of tune. Avoide lower Rg's with Edge III's.

 

[Crushenator 500]

My friend has a music man luke, it's aweseome, but I'm guessing it's just a little over budget :E

 

[Marius]

I went an bought myself a Gibson ES-335 a few years ago, VERY expensive, but a worthwhile investment!

The thing that got me was that I have an expsnsive Guitar, but a very poor amp, with electric, amps will define the sound a lot more than the guitar will tend to.