Play them. You'll learn much.

If you get another Les Paul, look for one that's bright and with lower output pickups. See my '50s Les Paul thread to see some examples of what a Les Paul should sound like. "A Telecaster on steroids," is the expression a few people are using.

Have a listen to guitars - including Les Pauls - with P90 pickups as well. That's a fantastic sound right there.

singemonkey wrote: Play them. You'll learn much.

If you get another Les Paul, look for one that's bright and with lower output pickups. See my '50s Les Paul thread to see some examples of what a Les Paul should sound like. "A Telecaster on steroids," is the expression a few people are using.

Have a listen to guitars - including Les Pauls - with P90 pickups as well. That's a fantastic sound right there.

I found one guitar with some versatility that I liked... but alas it was sold like last week... was a PRS with humbuckers with coil tap.
Going through to Marshall woodmead tomorrow during lunch time, will jam a guitar or two there.

PRS is the BEST

But I guess its subjective.. :?

Tokai is the best and thats not even subjective I think you'll find I am correct. Yes.

refuogee wrote: Tokai is the best and thats not even subjective I think you'll find I am correct. Yes.

I was actually quite keen on the LG 118F (prs look...lol)



Well... trying it out for sound etc... but we don't get them here yet.

Hey Warren, where you are at is a good place to be actually. I would enjoy the journey and take my time exploring the different tones and "feels" of the various styled guitars. Don't aim to find one guitar that will determine your "new sound." If you can spare the cash, find affordable but good quality guitars which are really good at different things. And then mix it up every once in a while in your practice and composition by trying out different ideas with the different tones and characters of the 2 or 3 guitars. You may find that your most interesting work will come out of the "experimenting phase" leading up to you "finding yourself tonally." Plus you are not likely to get bored and will definitely learn a lot through it. In all things artistic, nothing need be wasted, the journey itself yields hidden treasures. So this is one of those good problems, the various options are what make guitar playing and finding one's niche in it so amazing.

Kush wrote: Hey Warren, where you are at is a good place to be actually. I would enjoy the journey and take my time exploring the different tones and "feels" of the various styled guitars. Don't aim to find one guitar that will determine your "new sound." If you can spare the cash, find affordable but good quality guitars which are really good at different things. And then mix it up every once in a while in your practice and composition by trying out different ideas with the different tones and characters of the 2 or 3 guitars. You may find that your most interesting work will come out of the "experimenting phase" leading up to you "finding yourself tonally." Plus you are not likely to get bored and will definitely learn a lot through it. In all things artistic, nothing need be wasted, the journey itself yields hidden treasures.

I feel you man! I am actually semi excited at the prospect of a new guitar...
Less excited about being "forced" into the journey.

Going through to Marshall woodmead tomorrow during lunch time, will jam a guitar or two there.

Ask them to change the strings on their gear before you try... I went there twice and both times the strings were older than the Bible itself....
have you ever heard a dull Martin?? I have... It's like all the happiness was sucked right out of the room :'(

Chocklit_Thunda wrote:

Going through to Marshall woodmead tomorrow during lunch time, will jam a guitar or two there.

Ask them to change the strings on their gear before you try... I went there twice and both times the strings were older than the Bible itself....
have you ever heard a dull Martin?? I have... It's like all the happiness was sucked right out of the room :'(

Joh that's crazy!

So I've taken the step of advertising the parts for my guitar now... it's ON like donkeykong!

warrenpridgeon wrote: Currently I am using a buddies Cort with seymore duncans in... I am pretty impressed with the clarity...
I hear stuff in my playing I never heard with the Epiphone with the EMGs'...

I'm gonna have to be a bit of a douche and point out that if you're not getting more clarity out of EMGs then you're not EQing them properly, and I have a serious dislike for EMGs personally so there's no brand favouritism going on here, but one of their absolute plus points is that they are clear as all hell, it's part of what makes them so popular with the tuned down metal crowd.

Chad Adam Browne wrote:

warrenpridgeon wrote: Currently I am using a buddies Cort with seymore duncans in... I am pretty impressed with the clarity...
I hear stuff in my playing I never heard with the Epiphone with the EMGs'...

I'm gonna have to be a bit of a douche and point out that if you're not getting more clarity out of EMGs then you're not EQing them properly, and I have a serious dislike for EMGs personally so there's no brand favouritism going on here, but one of their absolute plus points is that they are clear as all hell, it's part of what makes them so popular with the tuned down metal crowd.

I get what you are saying... They react differently to my playing, some of it might be EQ and the other might be the different guitar body etc. I push the Treble all the way up with the Epi and I didn't get the separation of notes/sounds like I do with the loaner guitar...I actually had to bring the highs down a lot so that this guitar wasn't obscenely topendy... I've played with the mids and highs before... I've kind of always struggled with "cutting" through the mix.

Was just at the guitar shop... and played a PRS Custom 24 25th anniversary edition...
It played ok (tho the strings were vrot... snapped the high e while tuning it... lol)...
But it was played through some mesa boogie... and no matter how much I pushed the treble um the tone was just
too thick... didn't like it... could have been the old strings tho... didn't have time to let them restring it.

told the sales dude I would need to bring my gear in and hear how it sounds through my stuff
considering I would be spending 6 - 8k on something I don't want to buy something that I don't like through my stuff...

his response "but why?! Mesa is one of the best amps."
told him I didn't like how that guitar sounded through it... lol.

So I am looking around...

Hey Warren, i didn't see anyone suggesting you look at the secondhand market. Or are you set on buying a new guitar?

You could get some awesome secondhand gear in your price bracket! Maybe even a Gibson SG Standard or a LP studio or a USA strat or tele. If i were you i'd save another 1000 or 2 and look for a USA model guitar on the secondhand market. But that's just me, in the end you have to be happy with what you are buying, paying and playing!

StefStoep wrote: Hey Warren, i didn't see anyone suggesting you look at the secondhand market. Or are you set on buying a new guitar?

You could get some awesome secondhand gear in your price bracket! Maybe even a Gibson SG Standard or a LP studio or a USA strat or tele. If i were you i'd save another 1000 or 2 and look for a USA model guitar on the secondhand market. But that's just me, in the end you have to be happy with what you are buying, paying and playing!

I am solidly looking at the second hand market... I have set up a RSS set up on my phone with the search term "guitar" on gumtree... lol...
I am shopping around ... IF I see something and feel drawn towards it and I like the price...I MIGHT buy from a shop... but unless it's on a super "sale" or old stock they have been
battling to move so they are selling VERY cheap... not easily... lol...

warrenpridgeon wrote: played a PRS Custom 24 25th anniversary edition...

...

considering I would be spending 6 - 8k on something

??? Surely a Custom 24 is not going for only 6-8k?

Kalcium wrote:

warrenpridgeon wrote: played a PRS Custom 24 25th anniversary edition...

...

considering I would be spending 6 - 8k on something

??? Surely a Custom 24 is not going for only 6-8k?

I left out the SE... sorry...
He told me the SE I can take for 6k

Ah I see...but yes I definitely think you're right to take your own gear in. Regardless of whether the mesa was the best amp ever, the guitar needs to suit what you're going to be playing it through...and anyway the mesa sound is just a different sound, its like if someone likes clean fender amps (non tweed) and you give him a marshall jcm800 and say but the jcm800 is one of the best...

Have a look at the classifieds here too. There are a good few guitars in the 6k-8k range that I would love to own, if I had 6-8k.Although to be fair, single coil guitars seem to be the most well represented in this bracket. There is a USA standard strat up for grabs if you can push your budget an additional grand up.

There are also some great guitars going a bit cheaper.
I see a nice Tremonti Se in there, as well as a Yamaha SG200 (not sure about the 200, but certainly any of the other Yammy SGs I have played from that era have been awesome) and a Cort s800 which I would put money on being a phenomenal guitar.


As for taking your gear in and not using Mesas in the shop...it is precisely because they are so good that you should use your own amp when testing hahaha.

Shibbibilybob wrote: Have a look at the classifieds here too.

This is absolutely true, on gumtree you'll find such gems too...imo you can probably find a decent single coil and humbucker guitar for 6k, I paid R3k for a strat-like guitar that plays like a dream, and i wish I still had the cort M 520 I bought for R2500 with a hardcase that was pretty much a prs style guitar which was great quality too, the cort would be another 1k to up the pickups and the strat already had Kinmans. Just for an idea of how far 6.5k would have gotten me