The ultimate Session guitar ?

Wessel

Which guitar is the most versatile guitar ? The one guitar that can adapt to all different genres and playing styles and session gigs. Everything from a metal/hardrock band to a pop or jazz outfit. For someone that would take any gig he or she can take ? And whe are talking a guitar stock standard straight from the musicshop. NO MODS!

My bet is on a Fender Telecaster.

What do you guys think ?

dee

My money is on the Fender VG Stratocaster maybe...?

MoJo-JoJoe

deanBailey

John Petrucci BFR 7

Malkav

I'd say something like the John Petrucci model with the optional piezo, or maybe a strat with a bridge humbucker. It's really hard to say because ultimately it's up to you to interpret what tone you want to get in each of those genres and then find a guitar that is the closest to covering all the bases.

Things like the VG strat and the line 6 variax are also very good calls but I consider them to be more like FX units than real guitars ? great innovation but sometimes in the desire to bring the technology up they kinda miss out on the fact that it still has to be a working guitar. The VG strat has a power supply and it chews through batteries and the Line 6's necks aren't particularly comfortable.

dyllels

yep yep.. gotta agree with the john petrucci model. can definately cover everything from a metal/hardrock band to a pop or jazz outfit in my opinion..
good guitars. ?

Heath

My Cort Z44 does a frekkin good job of going from death metal , blow your shorts off to mellow blues to decent sounding accoustic stuff and easily

andrewjbryson

Fender Baja Telecaster
Fender American Standard Stratocaster HSS

DNC

yeah I would say the petrucci model... If you listen to Dream theather they really go around the world in 180 minutes (no punt intended) .... The only thing I would add is maby a single coil pick up to realy get that strat sound... I know the Ibanez jem can do that. But Don't like the whole H-S-H thing...

Maby if you just mod the electronics on the musicman so the for it only uses 1 coil of the humbucker. Add a 5 way selector switch.

Mr-M

Take just about any decent guitar with an HH Pickup configuration and swap the pups out for Seymour Duncan P-Rails. Alnico Single Coil, P-90 soapbar and humbucker (with the choice of series or parallel wiring for different levels of output and articulation) pickup tones in one guitar. http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/progressive/prails_shpr1/ Or there's the Vox Virage Guitars which have custom designed Dimarzio's called 3-90s, which are P-90 sized triple coil rail pickups that give you soapbar, single coil and humbucker tones. The guitars are super-high quality, apparently made in Japan by Fuji-Gen (same guys who make the high-end Ibanez guitars) and have some really advanced design features. The designer Rich Lasner also designed the Ibanez JEM, RG and Yamaha Pacifica guitars. Retail at like $3300 in the US, so out of my price league, but I'm excited to check them out when they do arrive in SA. http://www.voxvirage.com/ The PRS 513 is also really awesome IMO.

Heath

ok those pickups are sweet , anyone know where i can get some , or do i have to import those sick puppies

DNC

Tailon wrote ok those pickups are sweet , anyone know where i can get some , or do i have to import those sick puppies

I know that Andy mcgibbons have got the the "dealership" for SD. They are in Jhb, but you local guitar shop should be able to order from them.. depending if they have stock.

Mr-M

Andy McGibbon's are the Seymour Duncan importers, but they haven't got them. Last I checked it was 12 weeks until the shipment arrives and that was around a month ago, so I'd reckon they arriving December. Based on my previous backorders with Andy's I'm not overly optimistic about that happening though. Maybe I'm wrong - give them a call.

I might just buy them off eBay before that. I remember watching the video demo on youtube back at the beginning of the year and been GASing for them since then. Just haven't got around to getting them yet - I've had so many pedals to buy! ?

Heath

Andys is terrible for back orders , if they don't have stock start looking else where .... always takes forever

Reinhard

I'd say a tele or a P90 Les Paul.

Renesongs

The one thing that always stands out for me about the Fender Stratocaster is it's versatility you just have to look at the diversity of guitarist who use strats for their stock sounds Malmsteen, Gilmour, Hendrix, Eric Johnson, Sony Landreth just to touch the suface, I mean how much more diverse do you want to get?

Orion

Renesongs wrote The one thing that always stands out for me about the Fender Stratocaster is it's versatility you just have to look at the diversity of guitarist who use strats for their stock sounds Malmsteen, Gilmour, Hendrix, Eric Johnson, Sony Landreth just to touch the suface, I mean how much more diverse do you want to get?

Yip, that was my reason for buying a Strat. Im not saying that it beats the Ball or the 513, but it can definately do just about anything.

C-LYDE

MoJo JoJoe wrote PRS 513

Since I figured they are a rip-off of the Ibanez S series - my 2c is the Ibanez S (Jap) series.
- Humbuckers for the fat lead or may7 comping.
- single coils for the cut
- Split coil for the twang

C-LYDE

Renesongs wrote The one thing that always stands out for me about the Fender Stratocaster is it's versatility you just have to look at the diversity of guitarist who use strats for their stock sounds Malmsteen, Gilmour, Hendrix, Eric Johnson, Sony Landreth just to touch the suface, I mean how much more diverse do you want to get?

To a certain extend that is very true - however those artist were not trying to sound like anything other than themselves..? Imagine the producer saying "..that's lovely Jimmy - but we really need something more country-like on this part" or " Dave, this is really good stuff - but it sounds nothing like George Benson!"

The single coil sound is very popular - but mho is that the strat is over-rated as an instrument in today's world.. ? ?

It all depends on what we interpret as "session requirements" 8)