The guitar thread

The guitar thread

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Punisher Bass said:
That's the end result of about 4 months of work.
Click to expand...

And still no logo, huh? :p

Punisher Bass said:
Big :thumbup: for Carvin. Why spend several grand for a Les Paul/PRS/Strat/ect when you can get the same thing custom made all in the USA for about half the price.
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I'm a convert. I've owned a Gibson Les Paul, I've owned an American Stratocaster, and I've never been thrilled by a PRS's neck. My Carvin is the best guitar I've ever owned, and probably the 2nd best I've ever played.

My next Carvin will probably be one of their kits(*). Same exact parts their factory-built guitars are made of; just needs final sanding and a finish. You can still get all of their custom options, too...different woods, figured tops, Sperzel tuners, different frets and fretboard woods, etc. Starts at $429 which is MIM strat territory, but the difference is night-and-day (I've owned a MIM strat, too. It was crap, but made me want to try the American Version. Decent guitar, but it didn't thrill me, and had a trem and a string tree...no thanks. Plus, their $1500 guitar looks like a $100 guitar from Target's clearance shelf. If I'm going to spend $1,700, I want a guitar that looks like $1,700. :p

(*) I'm thinking an all-walnut body, all single-coils, chrome hardware, ebony fretboard with no inlays...the neck gets tung-oil finish, then stain the body dark red so it looks like this:
Untitled-1-33.jpg


...with this pickguard...
boltt-classicsunburst-81433.jpg
 
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I figure I will share...

JCM8002204b.jpg


And my main guitar here...

100_8755-1.jpg



Punisher bass... that flametop bass of yours is gorgeous. Very unique look, but very classy.
 
Nice rig! Have you tried any of the newer 5150's? They've gotten WAAAY too expensive...the 3120 seems like a nice deal, though, just more limited in it's abilities. American-made, too.
 
NecroJoe said:
Nice rig! Have you tried any of the newer 5150's? They've gotten WAAAY too expensive...the 3120 seems like a nice deal, though, just more limited in it's abilities. American-made, too.
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No, but electrically they're the same as the old ones. Any differences would be from tubes.

My 5150 is actually FJA-modded.... it has the "clarity mod" and the bias mod. Its a beast.

The 3120 is exactly the same as the old Triple XXX. It's far more versatile than the 5150. Good clean channel, good crunch channel, good lead channel. The 5150 is kind of a one-trick pony. It does the metal thing very, very well, but not much else. If you're interested in the 3120, go play a Triple XXX. The only difference is the 3120 ships with EL34s I think, and hte Triple XXX shipped with 6l6's. I may have that backwards... but it doesnt matter since both amps can use both tubes, they have a switch to select which you're using.
 
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NecroJoe said:
And still no logo, huh? :p



I'm a convert. I've owned a Gibson Les Paul, I've owned an American Stratocaster, and I've never been thrilled by a PRS's neck. My Carvin is the best guitar I've ever owned, and probably the 2nd best I've ever played.

My next Carvin will probably be one of their kits(*). Same exact parts their factory-built guitars are made of; just needs final sanding and a finish. You can still get all of their custom options, too...different woods, figured tops, Sperzel tuners, different frets and fretboard woods, etc. Starts at $429 which is MIM strat territory, but the difference is night-and-day (I've owned a MIM strat, too. It was crap, but made me want to try the American Version. Decent guitar, but it didn't thrill me, and had a trem and a string tree...no thanks. Plus, their $1500 guitar looks like a $100 guitar from Target's clearance shelf. If I'm going to spend $1,700, I want a guitar that looks like $1,700. :p

(*) I'm thinking an all-walnut body, all single-coils, chrome hardware, ebony fretboard with no inlays...the neck gets tung-oil finish, then stain the body dark red so it looks like this:
Untitled-1-33.jpg


...with this pickguard...
boltt-classicsunburst-81433.jpg
Click to expand...

All the parts for my rebuild, except for the pickups, came from Carvin.

InfernalVortex said:
I figure I will share...

JCM8002204b.jpg


And my main guitar here...

100_8755-1.jpg



Punisher bass... that flametop bass of yours is gorgeous. Very unique look, but very classy.
Click to expand...

Another :thumbup: for the 5150.

While I'd never recommend them, there is a chinese company called Bugrea (I think that's the name) that does nothing more than copy Peavey amps. I've talked to one of the Peavey amp techs and he confirms that all the company does is reverse engineer their amps. Their 5150/6505 knockoff is called the 6202 as I recall. It sounds about as good as a $500 chinese made tube head would expect to sound.

I've also had a hard-on to get my hands on a VB-2/3 bass head.

As for the flame top, thanks. It's also real unlike those old Fenders with "photo-flame" tops. if it wasn't for the decal in the back saying so, you'd never know it was built in South Korea, it's a real top shelf bass. I've played many that cost over twice what I paid for it and few of them felt nearly as nice or as well built.
 
I am sorry to revive this thread, but I need some advice.

I am going to buy a guitar, I really want to learn how to play as I just love music to much to continue playing with plastic instruments.

I think I am going to get this guitar.
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Hofner-CT-Club-SemiHollow-Electric-Guitar?sku=482168

Now I have about $100-150 available for an amp...yes not a lot but I will be playing with headphones most of the time anyways. Any suggestions?
 
Never buy a guitar without playing it first, though there re exceptions to this rule, otherwise you might end up with one that you hate the sound and feel of.

And since you're just starting out, I suggest you avoid making a huge investment like that. You should pickup a good starter pack like this. It will get you need right out of the box without having to spend a whole lot of money, it won't be the best quality but it's enough to get you going. This way you don't have $1,000 worth of gear just collecting dust if you decide to give it up, and you can always upgrade later.

I've seen a lot of people spend obscene amounts of money when they are first starting out because they figure a $2,500 full Marshall stack and $2,000 Les Paul will make them a better musician by default. It's not so much the instrument that makes the magic, but rather the person playing it.
 
Except I am not buying a crappy first instrument, I mean max now with the Hofner I am spending $600 max. I know the guitar isn't going to make me better, but in no way am I buying a guitar that I don't like the look of either.

Out of looking for the guitar value packs this is the only one I like (from what I've seen) and even then it is too metal.

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/...te-Rock-Electric-Guitar-Value-Pack?sku=423376
 
Well, if you're going to be playing through headphones, you need to buy a speaker/amp simulator, anyways, so you can skip an amp, really, and just get a Line6 Guitar Port or something like it.
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Line-6-GuitarPort-XT-Guitar-Effects-Processing?sku=150447
You get a ton of effects and SUPER easy to record...way easier than a shitty amp, because then you need to buy a decent mic (because direct-guitar amp recording sounds like ass...unless it has a built-in amp simulator, anyways.)

One thing nice about a guitar like this:
http://www.carvinguitars.com/guitars-in-stock/single.php?Serial=88462

You can buy a pre-wired Strat pickguard with all sorts of different pickup configs...H-S-S, S-S-S, H-H, etc.

The nice thing about Carvin is that even this $590 guitar is still made with the exact build quality as their $1000-$2000+ guitars, just more basic woods. They are way better than any Mexi-Strat and much more consistant. Heck, they even have Kits that have the exact same components for $379. All you have to do is assemble the parts and finish it any way you want.
http://www.carvinguitars.com/catalog/guitars/index.php?model=gk1

God damnit, I'm a whore for Carvin, but I tell you what...they deserve it.
 
If you're going to be using headphones, you need an amp/speaker modeler/simulator. Otherwise, it just sounds like...ass, plain and simple. Even if an amp has a headphone jack, they usually sound like garbage. I don't know why they bother. Same reason that an mp3/cd player send through a guitar amp sounds like complete shite unless it had a dedidcated aux input for just such things...otherwise if you're just using the guitar input, it goes throuhg the preamp and the EQ, and it's awful.

I've got a 140w 4x12 half-stack, and I usually just use the amp modeler in my RP350. Sounds great (for not being a fully-saturated all-tube amp miked with 3 mics). It works great for recording, too. I still have my amp for the rare times I get to play with a drummer, but I hardly ever use it.
 
I always thought the headphone jack on my amps sounded fine, but maybe I'm just not as picky :)
 
Or you just got a good one. *laughs* I haven't owned nearly as many amps as I have guitars over the decades, but I haven't come across a single amp (that doesn't have a modeler) that sounds at all appealing through headphones.

Bass is another story all-thogether...that works just fine.
 
My current amp does have built in effects, so that could be it.
 
Hey, sorry to bump this.

Musicians Friend is currently giving away a $100 coupon with a purchase I might make. Now...I am still on the fence about paying $400 for my first guitar. As people have told me don't buy used and I haven't really found anything (besides a few Squier Teles and Jags) that I am interested in.

If I can get ~$90 for the coupon, then I would get this guitar for sure, but am on the fence...I kinda hate to ask but it would hate it to go to waste. Anyone intersted in it?
 
Only idiots say don't buy used things. You are going to use the things that you buy new, why not let someone else pay full price? Obviously you're asking for trouble if you buy something that was abused and is in terrible condition, but there is nothing wrong with stuff in good condition that was taken care of. You obviously didn't buy your car new, you probably couldn't afford it if you went back in time and got it new, why not get something used better than what you can new for the same price? Don't listen to retards. There's nothing wrong with wanting new things, but to avoid used altogether because some jackasses said to is stupid.

BTW, I have both a guitar that I bought new and one I bought used. Bought my acoustic used knowing there was some scuffs and discolouration on the neck, but so what? I would have scuffed it and rubbed my greasy hands on the neck had I bought it new, there was ZERO downside to saving money on that purchase.
 
Well...the other thing about used that I found (around here) they are a very limited selection. I mean the only stuff I can find are copies of Strats and Les Pauls and they are all more expensive then buying a new Squire or Ephiphone of Musicians Friend.
 
Yeah, but I's jus sayin, naImean?
 
NAIDANAC A, so you have yet to learn how to play? I would say don't spend too much on a guitar, if you're not sure about your skills.

Why don't you get something cheap, so you can learn and then eventually get something nice?

This is what I'm suggesting (I actually have the same guitar) - Behringer USB guitar.
It plugs into the computer and a set of regular speakers, then you use GuitarRig and can make it sound like 100's of different guitars. It's not a bad deal for the money. It certainly is a good way to start learning.

The software is a bit steep - $400 I think. But there is a way around that... ;)
 
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