Electric Guitar (Which to choose?)

[jimcaleca]

Love Tele's

[coloradoman]

Tele, Strat, SG, Les Paul.

95% of electric guitar music was made on one of those.

Taylor?

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Jay_Tachi

I have a few option at hand. I can choose between a 2013 Taylor Sb-1s or Gibson Les Paul Morte. I can buy both for around $1000, so that's my budget.

OR an alternative I was thinking is to get a new LPs studio faded

What would you guys do?
If you guys have opinions or other suggestions please share. Thank you

Hi J_T...

Took me several years to zero in on the fact I'm a Stratocaster guy, who also owns a Telecaster.

Tried the Gibson Les Paul Custom till the weight started pinching the nerves in my shoulder, and the bottom end was competing with the bassist.

Tried other styles of pickup laden chunks of wood, and finally found what I was looking/listening for in the Strat. The ability to play in a spot where I'm not competing with the keyboards and acoustic, and the high end is sweet and not buzz-sawing people.

Then came finding an amp - another rather lengthy task. Many lived at the house till I found the type (tube) and style I liked. Now I have only two amps (three if you count the battery powered practice amp).

I was tempted briefly by hybrids (electric gutiars with acoustic pickups embedded and acoustic guitars with an electric pickup added), and none of them were either electric enough or acoustic enough.

You need to spend some time experimenting and finding out what you like. If you already know, then forget price and buy what you like.

[drplayer]

If you play a variety of styles and will only have one electric, it's hard to beat a Tele. They're kind of the Swiss Army knife of electric guitars. But, with electrics, it's my opinion that the amp is the most important piece of the puzzle. Assuming the guitar is playable, a great amp can compensate for a lesser guitar...it doesn't work the other way around. Good luck in your search & have fun!

[sbeirnes]

Originally Posted by drplayer

If you play a variety of styles and will only have one electric, it's hard to beat a Tele. They're kind of the Swiss Army knife of electric guitars. But, with electrics, it's my opinion that the amp is the most important piece of the puzzle. Assuming the guitar is playable, a great amp can compensate for a lesser guitar...it doesn't work the other way around. Good luck in your search & have fun!

This is true. The amp is where all of the tone come from.

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by drplayer

If you play a variety of styles and will only have one electric, it's hard to beat a Tele. They're kind of the Swiss Army knife of electric guitars. But, with electrics, it's my opinion that the amp is the most important piece of the puzzle. Assuming the guitar is playable, a great amp can compensate for a lesser guitar...it doesn't work the other way around. Good luck in your search & have fun!

Telecaster+Deluxe Reverb=a 22 watt marriage made in heaven.

[GSM]

Originally Posted by littlewing6283

Tele !!!!!!!!!!

Blue bajas with rosewood 60's neck is due out very soon

My favorite electric guitar of all time (that I kick myself almost every day for getting rid of) was a custom Tele with a graphite MOSES neck and Seymour Duncans. MAN! That thing was BEAST!

Second favorite (that I also deeply regret selling) was a 1997 (Fender made in Nashville) Guild S-100 that had a BRASS NUT. Man I wish I still had those two.

[alpursley28]

Any love here for the Gretch line? I'm contemplating adding an electric myself and am thinking of a Gretch or a Tele. Need to play them both first.

[ewalling]

If you're going for one electric guitar to 'do it all', you might consider one that has a split coil capability giving you the sounds of both single and humbucking pickups. I picked up a used Godin LGXT 'Black Pearl' from Elderly some months ago, and it's a really excellent guitar for recording - it has synth access, too.

[aknow]

Used PRS McCarty w/ coil tap, late 1990's

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by aknow

Used PRS McCarty w/ coil tap, late 1990's

If you know where to find one that's not beat to crap for under $1K (the OP's stated budget), I'm in...

Originally Posted by alpursley28

Any love here for the Gretsch line? I'm contemplating adding an electric myself and am thinking of a Gretsch or a Tele. Need to play them both first.

Been a Gretsch player since 1964, still own the sunburst Double Annie I bought new in sixth grade; the new 5400/5600 Series instruments - both equipped with honest-to-Chet blacktop Filter'trons - are very impressive for their price ($800-900) in terms of both fit/finish and tone, and unless you're doing death metal there's very little a Gretsch can't handle. Be aware, though, that except for the Duo-Jet versions the 5600's are vintage Les Paul heavy, at around 9-1/2 pounds depending on model - if you're OK with the weight and intend to use a wide strap, nothing else sounds like a Gretsch but a Gretsch...

[sweiss]

Originally Posted by williejohnson

IMO, there is no better electric guitar on the planet than a Stratocaster.....so there you go.

I won't go that far, but I will say it's one of the most versatile. The only thing I don't like about the Strat is the location of the volume control. But it's easy enough to relocate it.

[s2y]

The Taylor T3 came down in price and I'm starting to see them on eBay for the $1,000 mark. The SB series has been discontinued and I'm unsure what warranty issues would lie ahead. With the lower price tag, I'm thinking the used price should come down soon, too.

The stock pickups are pretty versatile. They can be split and the push/pull tone knob is very versatile.

[Rmz76]

Originally Posted by Jay_Tachi

I have a few option at hand. I can choose between a 2013 Taylor Sb-1s or Gibson Les Paul Morte. I can buy both for around $1000, so that's my budget.

OR an alternative I was thinking is to get a new LPs studio faded

What would you guys do?
If you guys have opinions or other suggestions please share. Thank you

Depends on what you want to play on it. Electric guitars are like paint brushes. What kind of paintings will you be making with it?

Artist mix it up all the time, but traditionally:

Gibson Les Paul: (heavy, fat-neck, brash sound from the hum buckers suitable for heavy distortion or heavy over drive): Best for hard rock

Fender Telecaster: Twangy lipstick pickup in the neck, smooth and clean angled single-coil in the bridge. The best choice for players mostly looking for a clean electric guitar sound with occasionally overdrive: Best for country and blues

Fender Stratocaster: My favorite electric guitar. There's a reason Clapton, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Kirk Hammett, etc have made this choice. You can find some of the best players in all genres picking the Fender Strat. My favorite configuration is S/S/H with Texas Special single-coils in the front and neck position and a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge (The Super Distortion was the first third-party aftermarket replacement pickup DiMarzio offered, it's the pickup that launched the company and really the pickup that launched the aftermarket pickup market... It's that heavy sound you hear on all those great hard rock tracks in the late 70s).

If you want a Strat of a Telecaster you don't have to spend a lot of money. if you want a real Strat the best value is the Squire Classic Vibe line. They are solid bodies using vintage aesthetics, setup well with good electronics. More consistent than the Fender Standard line coming from Mexico and about $150 cheaper. The G&L Tribute series are also excellent guitars. Essentially American Standard Fender quality at about 1/2 the cost. Asian built, but the quality is there. The setup on the G&L Tributes from factory are a bit better than the Classic Vibes. Avoid Squires outside the Classic Vibe line they are garbage.

[BoneDigger]

I am a Fender fan when it comes to electric guitars. I own a MIM tele and a MIM HSS strat. I also own a MIM blacktop tele (baritone). Between these three, I can get almost any tone I could ever want.

Todd