Others over Fender and Gibson

[j3ffr0]

I thought I'd start a thread for folks to discuss why they chose other guitar brands over Fender and Gibson. There are enough threads that assume that everything is either Fender or Gibson, but this one is about other choices and the reasons people make them. My main electric has always been something else. Here's why:

I started playing in the mid-80s. Lost of the folks I listened to played Strats and Les Pauls, but there were others too -- Hamer, Jackson, etc... were pretty popular. My first good electric was a Martin E-18... I just kind of lucked into it. I found it to be better than most of what Fender and Gibson were putting out at the time. It has humbuckers and coil taps. Most importantly, it stays in tune -- something many Gibsons and Fenders of that period could not achieve. I could never understand why Gibson put such crappy tuners on such expensive instruments. It didn't bother me that nobody (and I mean no one) played Martin electrics at the time.

For my next guitar I wanted a whammy bar (who didn't). I went with a Carvin V220. 24 frets, humbuckers, coil taps, ebony finger board, locking tremolo (vs what came on Strats). It was just a better guitar... once again. I definitely didn't listen to anyone who was playing Carvin guitars at the time, but this became my main instrument for many of my early bands.

I would always pick up electric in music stores in those days. Even if I found a strat that could stay in tune, I just didn't like the feel of the maple fingerboard on most of them. I liked the feel of the Les Pauls, but never could justify the price vs limited features they offered on a poor man's wage.

Later I went to a USA made Californian that I stumbled into for $300. I finally ended up with a Carvin AE185 as my main electric (after outgrowing the bar and becoming more interested in acoustic tones).

I should end by saying Fender and Gibson have both gotten much better since then. Some of the Squire strats they offer now are better (from my perspective) than some of the USA stuff from yester year.

[Steve DeRosa]

Gretsch has been making some exceptionally high-quality stuff in recent years, but IME their Korean-made 5400/5600-Series Electromatics - especially the hollows/semis, and not to be confused with the Chinese/Indonesian entry-level electrics - are some of the finest instruments ever to bear the marque, including most of the '50s/60s Brooklyn originals I've played over the last 55 years (I'm an ex-Brooklyn boy, owned my Double Annie since 1964, and since it was our hometown brand probably played a few hundred in my lifetime). While "That Great Gretsch Sound" is sometimes considered an acquired taste and admittedly not for everybody, if you're a serious player/collector of semi-hollow and hollowbody electrics - or a member of a Beatles tribute band - you need to have at least one Gretsch in your stable; frankly, with prices under $1K for just about the entire lineup you almost can't afford not to - I picked up a 5622T-CB last year that I'd put up against any similar factory-made instrument at any price - and IMO you owe it to yourself to add them to your "must-play" list...

[blue]

G&L offers a 12 inch radius and a big neck. The average ASAT or Legacy is way higher in QC and setup than the average American strat or tele. Pretty simple.

As to Gibbies, too much for too little across the board. I'd rather have a PRS Mira (core not S2) than an SG. Same reasons again.

I'm talking about guitars under $2000. I see no reason to pay that much for an electric. The last "new" guitar I bought was a USA ASAT Bluesboy, with a solidtop semi-hollow ash body. It was $900 from an authorized dealer. Fender can't touch a guitar like that for near that price.

[aknow]

Grew up in the '60's and was a committed Gibson/Fender player. In 1998 I bought a PRS McCarty and fell in love with the feel, playability, and especially the detail of fit and finish. I never ever thought the prs sound was as good as the Gibson or Fender sound, (through a multitude of amps, but especially a 1964 FEnder Deluxe Reverb) but the ease of playing seemed enough to keep using PRS.
Now 20 years later I'm having a love affair with a Gretsch 5420T and a Gretsch Broadkaster. Also like new model Telecaster and Les Paul. So I just love electric guitars! I've sold a lot of the PRS electric guitars I had.

[muscmp]

because you can get a quality guitar elsewhere, that is why.

i have an rks les paul type guitar that ranks up there with a les paul.

i have owned guild and gretsch(presently looking for another one) in the past and they are quality too.

there are quality builders who can put together guitars that may put the gibson and fenders to shame. if you are so inclined, you can too.

play music!

[FrankHudson]

In my early days it was because I needed to go save on the cost. These days, the low end lines from Fender (Squier) and Gibson (Epiphone) would have met my low-bucks needs, but they weren't around then. I probably gigged more with a Japanese Hondo Tele copy (well made, came stock with good DiMarzio pickups) than any other electric guitar.

I've been through many dozens of electrics over the years, including lots of odd-balls and copies/sort of copies of more expensive originals. They gave me the variety I was seeking and were a lot of fun. In another thread I said I reported my thought that sometimes we as players choose a particular electric guitar in the same way that an actor may put on a costume, and that in turn, wearing the costume helps the "actor" in us find and feel our "role." That's not silly, it can be a real, enabling factor. But with odd-balls you get an opposite, but just as valid effect: you may have few, if any, preconceptions.

Of the odd-balls, the ones I still play the most are several from the short-lived DeArmond brand that Fender put out near the end of the 20th Century. They are Korean-made sort-of copies of Guild electrics, which were already oddballs. The ones I have used interesting pickups: single coils that were sort of like the single coil DeArmonds of the early 60s, or humbuckers that are a bit Filtertron like. I use the "sort of" and "a bit" modifiers advisedly. I don't have a lot of experience with the originals, but I like their sound. They have beefier than average necks, nice larger frets, with one exception, and they've stood up over the years.

[1neeto]

I'm a Fender guy, but if there's a brand that truly impressed me with the craftsmanship of their budget-level Indonesia-made guitars then it has to be Sterling by Music Man. A few years ago I bought a SBMM JP-70 and that instrument was better built and better set than my Mexican tele. My tele had wiring issues from brand new, and it came with the same hardtail bridge found in a $100 Squier tele. Right away I had to buy a USA hardtail, drill new holes because it didn't line up with the factory holes, and other misc things like change the string trees. The tuning keys were not the greatest either but I could live with them. I was ok with it, because that's what was expected out of a $600 MIM instrument. If I wanted top quality then I had to of course dish out the four digits for a USA made Fender. Right?

Wrong. Enter the SBMM, a budget line from EBMM. I had no clue about that line and my eyes lit up when I realized I could own a John Petrucci Signature guitar for a price I could afford! So I pick up this seven thing guitar in a stunning purple burst finish and check it out. I first get a feel of the neck, its nice satin finish on the back which fades to a gloss as it reaches the headstock. Fret edges were perfect, nice inlays, including his signature JP shield inlay found in the $2000+ EBMM guitar. I then check out the hardware, everything has this high quality feel to it, the locking tuning keys, the bridge, the feel of the 3 way switch, this guitar felt like a $1000+ USA-made instrument, I look again at the price tag and I see the same $650 number I saw 5 minutes ago, and I see the made in Indonesia stamp on the back of the headstock. This was indeed a budget instrument. I then plug it in, expecting lots of noise and crackling, but no. Absolute silence from its budget humbuckers. I play with the 3 way switch, and perfect. The sound that came out of it was unreal, there was another version of that guitar but with DiMarzio pickups for $200 more, but I like these cheaper SBMM-made ones. I can always upgrade the pickups later. If your local guitar store carries that line, do yourself a favor and check them out, you'll be very impressed I promise!

[KevWind]

This last fall I decided to get into playing electric (I had played an electric a few times between ( 67-69) but had played exclusively acoustic since then.

I had figured I would probably get a Fender but was undecided between a tele and strat. I tried a number of them then on Black Friday I went to my local independant music store. And they had just about everything on a pretty good sale discount so I played a few tele and strat elite's and then picked up a PRS CE 24 and played and that was it. I took it home . And am so far very very pleased with it.

[Nama Ensou]

In all fairness, Fender and Gibson have always made some excellent instruments, it's just that there was a prolonged period where the focus was on two things. Manufacturing as much product as inexpensively as possible, and the feeling that they had a lock on the consciousness of the guitar playing world when it came to electric guitars. Martin too made the same mistake.
When they made great guitars through those years, most of them just happened to come out great, but it took a lot of searching to make sure you weren't getting one that just happened to suck.

Anyway, for the last couple of decades I've been a big convert to Ibanez due to their JEM, RG and S-series and my acoustics are all Adamas.
At one point in time, when I was looking for my first real acoustic, I walked into a pawn shop and they asked what kind I wanted. Not really sure, but definitely not concerning myself with brand, I started feeling the necks on the guitars on the racks until I found one that felt good. I played it and ended up with my one and only Giannini, but I sure loved that guitar for a long time.

It's as much a mistake though to blindly choose a particular brand as it is to avoid it and we've all seen too much of both. One of my friends was convinced he had to have a Martin or an Adamas, but right now he's so happy with his yard sale Takamine that all he ever talks about is how much he loves the sound and easy playability of it.

Nothing wrong with having a soft spot for a particular brand, but it's good to pay attention to ergonomics and how appropriate a guitar actually is for you. I've always thought I'd like a PRS, having played so many in the stores or ones that my friends had. Now I've got a Cu22 that I picked up last year, but one thing I never expected has me planning on selling it. I constantly use my volume control while playing and the location on this guitar is just far enough that my little finger has to actually work at being able to be in control of it, while on my Ibanez guitars, it's right there, easily within reach.

Well, that's enough of that! Go choose the guitars that you like and don't be afraid to play name brands you've never heard of, nor should you avoid a guitar just because it says Fender, Gibson, or whatever on the headstock.

[Nailpicker]

Originally Posted by j3ffr0

I thought I'd start a thread for folks to discuss why they chose other guitar brands over Fender and Gibson.

Fender: I don't like maple fretboards or very thin, small or solid body guitars and I don't like their fretboard radius.

Gibson:They are theicon of electric guitars. I've tried numerous models and many different 335s. Problem for me was that everyone had some flaw I didn't like. Fit and finish flaws and irregularities. And volume and tone knobs that felt gritty like they'd been sprinkled with sand. In my mind that shouldn't be with any guitar that costs $3000+

For me, if I was really into electrics (as opposed to a sideline to my acoustics) and money was not an object, I'd get a Collings. Everyone I've played has been wonderful. Alternately I've seemed to gravitate toward Gretsch. Seem to have more uniformly good fit and finish. Haven't found any with controls that had sand. Gretsch is not perfect either, but I've found more that suit what I look for than most other brands, except Collings.

[Humbuster]

G&L for the win.

If you are in the market for a US made solid body electric (some semi hollows as well) you owe it to check their guitars. Especially if you like Leo's designs.

Tremendous value and playability.

[rdawsoniii]

A few months ago I was looking for a hollowbody electric. Gibson was not an option because I was not going to spend that much. I narrowed my choices down to 3-4 and, and thanks to input I received on this board, bought a Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin that I absolutely love. So does anyone who plays it. I will put it up against a Gibson hollowbody any day.

I've owned an Epiphone hollowbody and Les Paul in the past. Both played and sounded great.

Why do I buy something other than Gibson/Fender? Because there are too many instruments out there that are every bit as good sound/fit/finish-wise, but cost significantly less.

Gone are the days when foreign instruments were significantly inferior to American made. The gap has closed! (yes, there are still many foreign instruments that are junk, but I'm not talking about the low end models)

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by rdawsoniii

Gone are the days when foreign instruments were significantly inferior to American made.

Truth.

[1neeto]

Originally Posted by Nama Ensou

Truth.

Agreed. Check out the Squier Classic Vibe series and compare it to any MIM Fender or anything in the sub $500 range. And the Sterling I mentioned before.

[Scootch]

I am also overly fond of certain Gretsch products and Guild.