RickyWicky
Wizard wrote
I decided at 50+ I was going to learn guitar. Bought a Squier in a "kit" with a small amp. The very best thing that happened to me was it got stolen and I started researching slowly what to buy with the insurance money. Still only know a few chords, but I'm still in the game! That Squier would have killed the game
The Squier bullet strat is by no means a bad instrument, but it does depend on your standards. Mine aren't that high. I mean, I know a guy who buys these R30 000 PRS guitars on a whim but... sure they're great instruments, but is it REALLY worth it to pay that much for a guitar when, with a bit of skill and maybe a few economic modifications, you can do well on most electric guitars on the market that are way less than those PRS guitars? I don't think so.
So I guess it might not be truthful to say that the Squier would have killed your desire to learn to play the guitar. Rather, you'd have felt obligated to enjoy your instrument more had it been more expensive?
Wizard
RickyWicky wrote
So I guess it might not be truthful to say that the Squier would have killed your desire to learn to play the guitar. Rather, you'd have felt obligated to enjoy your instrument more had it been more expensive?
No, not at all.
I went
exactly the other way. :roflmao:
I felt foolish at having bought the first shiny thing the salesman had told me to buy without knowing what I was doing.
So I held onto my insurance money very tightly knowing it was a limited resource that needed to be spent more wisely the next time.
And I started asking questions and listening to the people on this forum who did have miles on the clock.
And hell. They really
do know what they're talking about!
"Don't try this at home. We do the experiments so that you don't have to!"
Since then I haven't bought a guitar I really like unless it's also been ok'd by someone who knows.
In my case it's been Alan, Keira and Manny.
Thanks guys !!! :goodtimes:
(or I've built my own)
IceCreamMan
I think we are faaaar too spoilt for choice these days .....in guitarist magazine there is always a small section where they ask guitar hero's 10 questions ....for the most part our guitar hero's started on instruments infinitely worse than a bullet strat, we really have succumbed to the $$$ is better marketing syndrome that suits the manufacturers....margins must be huge on an expensive guitar......
I bought my son a 3/4 squier strat which for the most part is fairly well made ...total cost was around 1500 IIRC. When I started playing it was on a junker Hondo or something like that ....its all we had access to back in the day but we thought we were rockstars.
Don't diss the perceived lower end guitars, they are way better these days than years gone by...
GuitarDoge
The thing about higher-end guitars is that they not only look and sound great, if you buy them for a good price secondhand, you should be able to sell them for that price or more again. If you modify a guitar to be as good, you're never gonna make back what you put in. That's why it's better to buy a 4-5k MIM strat than a 2k squire with 2k worth of upgrades IMO. And the basic build quality (most important thing in my opinion, which you can't improve without changing at least the neck) is much better.
Chocklit_Thunda
Wizard wrote
I think when you can play an instrument well, you can play cheap instruments well too. But entry level instruments can kill the passion of entry level people
A Lot of the time, it's the factory setup (or lack thereof) that kills the passion. It's never fun to fight an instrument until you know what you're doing. (I have this on my Tele. High action so I can dig in.)
I was very lucky with my first cort because they do a great factory setup, even though it's a bit generic. After I got it professional done it became one of the most comfortable guitars I own.
Same with the squier. I bought it from a guy who had it set up to play like butter. Both of these made the whole playing and learning experience a lot easier and also increased my willingness to play.
I think a lot of guys pick up guitars in stores that are just terribly set up and they're fighting to get it to play comfortably and lose that drive. I know I've personally played some high end guitars that felt like they were pine planks strung up with barbed wire....
V8
Hi, I'm V8 and I suffer from newgear-citis... ?
A addition to the collection will get played a lot initially then the new-ness wears off and I"m left wondering what the attraction is/was. Sometimes it might be a different style of pup (Dimarzio PAF's in a old mahogany Westbury) or a string (elixir's on a squire), a neck profile, different fret wire, a really good setup or a cutaway in a different place, etc...If it works then I'll try and replicate on one of my favoured instruments. After hearing a set of exlir's on a humble squire I had to try 'em out on my MIJ strat - that was a bit of a ear-opener after stringing up for years with fender bullets :?
There's a lot to be said in challenging preconceptions and/or changing things up a little occasionally.
P.s. A older squire (80/90's) is a solid choice if you can find it. Usually had real decent parts - depending on model/year, made in Japan, US, Korea, Mexico. The current crop of Chinese/Indonesian ones are built to a price...though on the rare occasion you might find one that's quite a sweet player.
chris77
Feel is imo more important than tone or brand name or whatever when you're starting out. A good, comfortable neck with a low action will do far more for your playing than specs or body wood or pups etc. My advice is to look for as good a guitar specs wise as you can afford (and remember that secondhand always gets you more for your money. Retail store prices are ridiculous and you only get a good deal from them if you have a longstanding relationship with the store or are buddies with the salesman). Then play a few within your budget, and even a few more expensive models if you can, and buy the one that feels best, regardless of what model, make or type it is.
singemonkey
It's a lovely notion that guitar brands make little difference. But the reality is that some are thrown together like cheap office furniture. It's not a question of 'I could buy this Squier and make it work, or buy a R30k guitar that's right from the start.' We're talking about the difference between these shitty brands and brands with serious quality control that cost the same money. And I'm sorry, but based on the quality that I've witnessed, the only reason so many people have Squiers is because they have the magic whiff of Fender about them.
In the world of quality budget guitars that can grow with you as you learn, they don't make the list.
RickyWicky
Update: I think I'm going to give the Ibanez a skip for now. I found a PRS SE Custom 24 that someone is selling for just shy of R3000.
Anyone with experience with these guitars? What are your thoughts? What should I look out for with this instrument?
Edit: corrected guitar's model name
ezietsman
RickyWicky wrote
Update: I think I'm going to give the Ibanez a skip for now. I found a PRS SE Custom 24 that someone is selling for just shy of R3000.
Anyone with experience with these guitars? What are your thoughts? What should I look out for with this instrument?
Edit: corrected guitar's model name
Super good price. Really good guitars too. If it looks like it was not dropped from a skyscraper take it (haha). Check if the neck is more or less straight and see if the frets aren't worn down to little strips. Take an amp along and try it, see if everything works and if the pots are smooth to turn and not too scratchy-sounding on the amp. If so, go fer it (if you like it )
RickyWicky
Awesome, thanks for the pointers!
I'm sure this guy has an amp that I can use, but maybe for safety's sake I'll take my crappy little 10 watt Ritmuller (at least the clean channel sounds fine, it's the crunch channel that's absolute afterbirth-in-a-dumpster.) The peavey Vypyr 75 is a bit too big for the '83 Charade that I drive lol.
RickyWicky
I don't know enough of the brands to make an educated decision. I'm basically torn now between going for the slightly more affordable Ibanez SA160QM or the slightly more expensive (only by R350 in this case) PRS SE Custom 24.
Traveling to get the PRS is the biggest issue, right now, whereas the guy with the Ibanez is a stone's throw away.
Both guitars can coil-tap, have mahogany bodies and rosewood fretboards, 22 frets and floating bridges. The SE has a three way pickup selector and the Ibanez has a 5-way selector (not that this really matters, as you essentially get the same amount of different tones from both guitars with the coil-tapping ability: 6 tones for the SE and 6 tones for the SA160QM.)
The SE has stock locking machine heads but the Ibanez doesn't. Both the guitars still have all their stock mechanics and pickups, except the guy with the Ibanez doesn't have its tremolo arm anymore. Not sure about the dude with the PRS, he hasn't responded to my email yet, but I guess I'll just phone him tomorrow to get the relevant info.
What it comes down to is that both guitars are being sold at pretty much the same price-range, but the SE's retail price is much higher than that of the SA160QM. The latter doesn't seem to be on the market anymore, but it appears that it retailed back in the day at about R3500, same as the current SA260QM.
So it's really just a question of overall quality. I suppose most people will say that the PRS SE Custom 24 is the way to go? I think the selling point for me here is the fact that the SE has a set neck, whereas the Ibanez has a bolt-on neck, so the PRS naturally has a better sustain.
Tokai-SA
Looking at "specs" on paper won't give you an idea of how the guitar plays, feels and sounds.
Go to the TOMS Rivonia "Official opening sale" on Saturday and play some different Ibanez models, see which one feels best for you...TOMS (Midi) are the Ibanez distributors in SA.
warrenpridgeon
RickyWicky wrote
I don't know enough of the brands to make an educated decision. I'm basically torn now between going for the slightly more affordable Ibanez SA160QM or the slightly more expensive (only by R350 in this case) PRS SE Custom 24.
Traveling to get the PRS is the biggest issue, right now, whereas the guy with the Ibanez is a stone's throw away.
Both guitars can coil-tap, have mahogany bodies and rosewood fretboards, 22 frets and floating bridges. The SE has a three way pickup selector and the Ibanez has a 5-way selector (not that this really matters, as you essentially get the same amount of different tones from both guitars with the coil-tapping ability: 6 tones for the SE and 6 tones for the SA160QM.)
The SE has stock locking machine heads but the Ibanez doesn't. Both the guitars still have all their stock mechanics and pickups, except the guy with the Ibanez doesn't have its tremolo arm anymore. Not sure about the dude with the PRS, he hasn't responded to my email yet, but I guess I'll just phone him tomorrow to get the relevant info.
What it comes down to is that both guitars are being sold at pretty much the same price-range, but the SE's retail price is much higher than that of the SA160QM. The latter doesn't seem to be on the market anymore, but it appears that it retailed back in the day at about R3500, same as the current SA260QM.
So it's really just a question of overall quality. I suppose most people will say that the PRS SE Custom 24 is the way to go? I think the selling point for me here is the fact that the SE has a set neck, whereas the Ibanez has a bolt-on neck, so the PRS naturally has a better sustain.
The SE custom 24 is 24 frets. My SE Custom 24 didn't come with locking tuners... so I'm not sure that that is standard. I dig my Custom 24... It WOULD be better for you to play both and then choose, if you can...
beardedmoose
So it's really just a question of overall quality. I suppose most people will say that the PRS SE Custom 24 is the way to go? I think the selling point for me here is the fact that the SE has a set neck, whereas the Ibanez has a bolt-on neck, so the PRS naturally has a better sustain.
[/quote]
Tell me quickly. How badly is sustain going to affect you at your level of playing? Seriously how long are you going to let that note ring for? If bolt on necks were a bad thing Fender would have revisited the whole concept of their guitars years ago, but it works. remember set neck means glued in... You will only hear real differences with Neck through bodies. and even Matsumoko made guitars had glued in necks. its all a matter of preference really, there is no "better" option than the other. it depends on what style you will be playing, how comfortable is the guitar for you? will you be able to look at that guitar for a certain number of months before getting GAS. Dont look at the specs dude, go with your feels. If you feel a les paul junior with one p90 a volume and a tone pot is for you... go do that then. Go to a music store and experiment with different guitars and when you get one you digg. take it for a setup otherwise you will more likely than not get GAS alot sooner than you would like .
Strongs with it...
Wizard
If there are ever two options you can't choose between, either get more information or flip a coin. Don't spin in your head. Follow the advice and go play them. Get more information
babbalute
Wizard wrote
If there are ever two options you can't choose between, either get more information or flip a coin. Don't spin in your head. Follow the advice and go play them. Get more information
Simple solution buy both, no regrets and now the only worry would be which one you're going to play as for which song, which venue, which sound you require or like,......
Life of a guitar player is never easy it looks
RickyWicky
Seems the general consensus is: take what is more comfortable to me. Fair enough. My own consensus, and why I'm a little torn between these two instruments, is that it's not the guitar that makes you great, it's how you use it, and I can play quite well. It's only now that I've started looking into other brands and affordability vs. perceived quality. In that sense, I am a complete novice.
Ultimately what I want is just something a little better than the Squier, and the Ibanez would be that. It's also much closer to me, physically, and a little cheaper, so I think I'll go for the Ibanez after all, and maybe upgrade the pickups if I feel it necessary down the road.
Thanks a lot for everyone's insight and input.
warrenpridgeon
RickyWicky wrote
Seems the general consensus is: take what is more comfortable to me. Fair enough. My own consensus, and why I'm a little torn between these two instruments, is that it's not the guitar that makes you great, it's how you use it, and I can play quite well. It's only now that I've started looking into other brands and affordability vs. perceived quality. In that sense, I am a complete novice.
Ultimately what I want is just something a little better than the Squier, and the Ibanez would be that. It's also much closer to me, physically, and a little cheaper, so I think I'll go for the Ibanez after all, and maybe upgrade the pickups if I feel it necessary down the road.
Thanks a lot for everyone's insight and input.
Ah... *sniff* young GAS (gear acquisition syndrome)...
Good luck man!!! Take pics and sound clips of your new guitar!
RickyWicky
Thanks man.
I think what I'll do is this: I've got a bunch of songs that I have recorded with the Squier, so I'll upload those, and then record them with the Ibanez and do an A/B like that with the same amp settings etc. I recently put new D'addario 9 gauge strings on the Squier, and the guy selling the Ibanez says he put new Ernie Ball 9's on it, so hopefully he's not lying, lol.
