guitars are for hippies

Buy a B.C. Rich the N.J. Series. They're cheap and shockingly play nice for the price you pay. They come in every shape aswell. From Strat body to crazy shapes. I own the Models "Virgin" and "Beast". But I play Metal. Plus I have an Ibanez RG series and a Gibson V.

www.bcrich.com Check out the "Assassin" , it's the strat body.

Cheers, I'll look into them. What do you make of the Les Paul Epiphone Black Beauty http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/9552

All reviews say it's just as good if not better with a little adjustment than the Gibson original, but like 1/3 of the price. Couldn't find one in a shop to play today though :(

Would not ever get that. Meh.

He said he doesn't play metal.

I actually play mostly heavy/distored, so I got an Ibanez RG370DX last month. For you, considering the pretty good budget, sounds like PRS Tremonti SE would be a great choice. It would allow you to play many variouse styles of music and the quality/price ratio is unmatched as far as I know. BC Rich is uhh often pretty scary guitar with a pretty 'specialized' sound.
Wha'ts most important to know is what sort of sound do you like most? The two basic choices are between clean bell like like sound of a single coil pick-up (think Strat: Ray Vaughn, Hendrix) and thiner/muddier more suited for distortion sound of humbucker (think Les Paul: Jimmy Page, old Santana). Until you reveal an inclination between either one of these, its very hard to recommend anything.

you couldn't find anything else to define a les paul sound than "old santana"? lol

i wasn't really looking, just examples. lllol

Yeah but santana = Prs

PRS has existed for like 1/5th of Santana's career

guess that shows how much i like santana...

I don't like santana. he is noob yes? lolz

LOLZ no

yelts, have you ever heard the PRS hollowbody 2? it's one of the best guitars I've EVER played on :)

Real Les Pauls are nice. I don't like the Epiphone myself and the way they feel sitting.
I suppose if you're not going to play metal. I'd get a used Fender Strat. They have beautiful tone. But really you just got to sit down with a bunch to figure it out. It's best to test them with your own gear or the gear you're going to buy aswell.

Ok, sorry for robbery but: What do you guys know about Fender's Showmaster (QMT)?

you can get same for half the price, seems like its for fender fans

Yah, not really sure what I want. Willing to spend about the same as he (£500 / 730eur).
Gonna go and try a couple of models in a few weeks, but I'd like some guidance what to test.

You said earlier that until he knows which sound he likes the most, it's hard to recommend. Well what if you could recommend one from both worlds? I like Fender-like clear tone, but I play mostly dist. I'm already considering an Ibanez :>, but not sure what would suit me. Are there some models that I could go wrong with?

IBANEZ RG350DXWH
IBANEZ S520EXDVF
Jap strat
?

Ok, well then you have to describe it a little better.
What sort of sound do you like most distortion wise? Do you like to have the sort of rock crunch where you can make out strings and harmonics or a metal type of distortion like with kirk hammet?
In any case, sounds like you can definitely go wrong with a Strat in S\S\S (S=single coil configuration. Definitely can't go wrong with RG350, that guitar is really good, Ibanez is actually unmatched in playability and features, all of their non-budget guitars come with Floyd tremolo (Edge) that goes two directions and multi-peace necks that are thin (Wizard) as well as 24 frets. Impossible to go back to anything else after you tried those, if you enjoy playing solos the most. Now, besides playability there are of course specific sound and looks and thats the reason a lot of people choose Les Pauls and Strats and even Teles. If you really want to have sound from both worlds of Fender and Gibson, you have to get a PRS in H/S/H or even H/S/S configuration, which doesn't really matter. FYI, any PRS will have a really terrific sound without replacing the pickups, even the SE edition, and like I said PRS Tremonty SE is really unmatched for the overall quality/price ratio. It's obviously more les-paul than strat-like.

Thanks man, you're helping me a lot :). Master of Puppets -sound is awesome but I think I'm after the "overall sound" of guys like Joe Satriani / Steve Vai.

So the RG350 is great, but what about:
S520,
S470?

S520 is better than S470, which is not that special. On the other hand RG350DX has a more versatile HSH pickup configuration and price :) but the ZR Zero Resistance tremolo of s520 is pretty sweet. If you have the money and don't require a single coil pick-up for hendrix/gilmour , go for it. At this point, if you came down to 3 models, read as many reviews as you can find and go from small things that I'm sure I wouldn't pick up, not being you and all.. :)

IMO the RG550 is one of the best ibanez low-budget guitars, got a nice "rock" sound to it, and the clean is very crisp :)

pickguard < *

IBANEZ RG350DXWH

mun mielestä toi kitara oli aika pyllystä :D oli viikon koeajossa

thanks for the advice Yeltsin and d1sm , I opted to spend a little more and purchased a real Gibson Les Paul standard. It came today, it really is an excellent guitar, wonderful sustain and tone, shame about the weight of it but i'm sure i'll get used to it.

o_O
how much?

Yeah, there's something that feels good when you get the real deal. They just seem to feel better. The tone seems to get right to the bone.:) Making you crave to play it more and more. You'll get used to it in no time. HF

Heh, well I had to almost double what I originally wanted to spend and after numerous an hour spent in numerous a guitar shop I decided the extra cash really was worth it. I know full well if i had purchased a £400 guitar by the end of summer I'd just buy a more expensive one. In the end I got a Gibson Les Paul Standard - 50 for 795. I'll upload something once I've got to grips with it :-D By the way, what do you two guys have?

ah cool never played a standard.. I think.. I play a gibson custom 57 reissue:> she's awesome and black:) got it for 2700 dollars in LA with tons of throw ins from the dude..(it was advertised for 3000) And I switched out the pickups with emg's, but if you're not into metal then bleh. I go for the whole Zakk wylde/KSE thing. all in all though my gear is > gibson Les Paul Custom, Ibanez Jem Rock mirror, Ibanez EDR 470 with proper emg's (zakk wylde set), crappy bc-rich warlock, Martin acoustic think it's a dkx2 or something and a bunch of others not really worth mentioning.. Amp shit> Framus Cobra stack:> Effects> Boss:D Mesa triaxis and tons of other shit.

Anything except metal!? Screw you hippy! Don't buy an epiphone they fucking suck. Well I play a gibson custom so I guess in comparison most things suck. To be honest for that price you can't go wrong with most ibanez's or ESP ltds... Uhm, if you like fenders (gay) then you can get some mental ones by looking around oh and if you do find something you like check for it on here www.thomann.de first. Cheap as fucktittybangbang. Which is cheap. Rock on. Or indie on. whatever.

I think for their price epiphones are quite something. Yeah that is a nice collection you have, I also have a Martin electro acoustic , can't beat them :)

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Ever heard a GOOD Alhambra? :)

What kind of music do you play? this is SOO important when choosing a guitar

£20 acoustic from argos > *

A bit late probably, but the Mexican Stratocasters and Telecasters by Fender are quite nice guitars for the money. There is a Classic 50s Strat that's really smooth. I own it. For less blues and more rock, a Tele is a more popular choice, I guess...

well. i would go for CARVIN.

they are prolly the best guitars i have ever played.

http://www.carvinguitars.com/

I'd go 'used' carvin if it's my first carvin. Carvin's make great instruments for the money and their resale value is absolute SHIT. Great for used market. Problem with Carvin is since they sell direct you most likely wont get a chance to try any of them out in person before purchasing.

Also, if fender'isk guitars are your thing check out G&L's. Fantastic stuff, plus they too are great value on the used market. Hell, even their 'tribute' line is fantastic, they have the same pickups and electronics as the USA made ones, just less upscale. I'd put a G&L tribute up next to almost any non custom shop fender.

well, here is one store that sells carvin guitars, i love those.
too bad they are way too expensive for me.

gonna buy epiphone tomorrow ;)

Just dont go for guitar hero and you'll be fine.

I read some great reviews for the Epiphone Les Paul so I bought one and stuck 200 quids worth of Gibson pickups in it. The reviewers claimed this would give me something close to a Gibson Les Paul.... it didn't...

You made the right decision!

Also you can sell your les paul for a lot of money, whereas an Epiphone Les Paul loses half its value as soon as you take it out of the packaging.

hehe, i was just checking today epiphones les paul and loved it when i playtested it :) gonna buy that in few days ;)

One thing I hate about the Epiphone Les Paul is the thick neck. I guess if you have big hands you could get along with it.

i like it thick ;)

just buy a les paul, or an SG

gibson ftw

Can you not see this question is a year old?

i never even looked :)

Fender strat for the blues ;)