Best all-round electric for Beatles

[jricc]

Epiphone Casino. Can do all the things you mentioned. In the middle position with volume knobs rolled back to about 7, can do a faux acoustic sound too.

[FrankHudson]

The idea that the electric guitar's timbre is mostly playing technique/amp/effects/recording tricks is one I endorse, despite owning too many electric guitars. There a small element that is pickups, a smaller element that is scale length and bridge hardware, and a small element that is body type. The cleaner and lower gain the amplification/recording chain is, the more those minority reports make an audible difference.

For home playing a modern modeling amp will get you in the timbre ballpark (is that Shea Stadium?). There are a lot of them out there, and they tend to go cheap used as well. The built in effects on these are not as flexible as the "real thing" but they will do a lot of the time. Beatles records don't generally need a lot fancy guitar effects (other than doing the Leslie cabinet lead part of While My Guitar Gently Weeps). Also I remember little use of whammy bars on their records, so you don't need that like you would if you wanted to do Jimi or Surf records from the 60s.

Playing comfort seems to be another concern of yours as well. I can't judge the value of that for you.

IMHO dept: All that said, I've owned and played a metric ton of electric guitars, and a Telephone with a Neck Humbler I like the vintage black 1960's Bell models with the large C shaped neck humbler mounted on the horn that lets you use both hands to play Beatles licks. Wait, that was auto correct--a Telecaster with a neck humbucker, or better yet, a three pickup Telecaster with a neck humbucker is the most flexible timbre machine around, but I don't think Fender currently makes one, and it's "Fender scale."

The Gretsch that Steve DeRosa linked to would be an interesting choice. Some of those early records have that Gretsch and Rickenbacker sound, and a Gretsch can sound somewhat Rick-like to me as well. A semi-hollowbody like an Epiphone 335 Pro would cover a lot of middle and late territory. The Epi 335 Pro has splitable humbuckers that can grab a bit of the Casino vibe.

Finally, it hasn't been said yet, but I think the real reason some (many?) of us electric players seek out certain models is because we (like some actors) "find the character in the costume and makeup." We feel more like the Beatles when we play a Gretsch or Casino or short scale Rick or a Hofner violin bass, and when play Beatles tunes that's what we want to feel.

[muscmp]

since the amp is about 40% or more of your sound, you should be able to dial in almost any beatlesque sound you need with a wide variety of guitars.

play music!

[Brick is Red]

I'm responding before reading the rest of the thread beyond the initial post. In my opinion, an Epiphone casino will get you there. I'm a fan of the Japanese elitist model if you can find one used. Tremendous versatility from clear cleans, to jangle, to gritty taxman distortion. The Casino and its P-90's cover a lot of ground.

[SJ VanSandt]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! The Casino is getting a lot of love - I will have to try some of them out. If I can find a telephone with a neck humbler I'll definitely try one of those as well.

[guitar12]

Originally Posted by Brick is Red

I'm responding before reading the rest of the thread beyond the initial post. In my opinion, an Epiphone casino will get you there. I'm a fan of the Japanese elitist model if you can find one used. Tremendous versatility from clear cleans, to jangle, to gritty taxman distortion. The Casino and its P-90's cover a lot of ground.

I agree 100%.

To the OP:I'm a huge Beatles fan and after playing their songs acoustically for many years I found myself, like you, wanting an electric to attempt some of their 'electric' songs. I looked all around and tried many guitars, including a lot of the Gretschs mentioned here and settled on a very gently used Epiphone Casino Elitist and I couldn't be happier. I've had the guitar about 2 months and I've been so busy I have not had a chance to get an amp and I'm just playing it through a Vox AC30 Amplug headphone amp but the ability to play along to iTunes and Youtube with the guitar through the headphones is a total blast. The Elitist models are made in Japan and far superior in fit, finish, and playability (IMHO) to the Chinese made Casinos but they are pretty pricey. The non-Elitist Casinos are nice as well and you should be able to find a used one for $350-400 and brand new for $600 thru Sweetwater or any Guitar Center.

Rob

[Beachrunner]

Originally Posted by jricc

Epiphone Casino. Can do all the things you mentioned. In the middle position with volume knobs rolled back to about 7, can do a faux acoustic sound too.

Agree on the Casino. I snagged my mint '07 Casino (w/ case) off Craigslist for $350.

[blue]

Not a traditional choice for cover bands, but with the right amp and pedals a Strat goes a long way. If I could have only 1 amp and guitar for the rest of my life with no pedals, Strat and Bassman would be in the top 3 choices to narrow down from.

If you want to "look right", think Gretsch or Epi. John was never actually that fond of the Gretsch models if you listen to a bunch of interviews.

[nsureit]

Found this poor fella on eBay for $350. The setup and electronics were junk. Put Lollar P-90s in it, along with a 50s style ES-335 harness, Farben bridge and Kluson tuners. So now, I have about $900 in it. I've bought, sold and traded a lot of guitars, but never this one. A keeper, especially for Beatles tunes.

[aknow]

Originally Posted by SJ VanSandt

I appreciate you doing all that footwork for me! I will look into these - I'm sure I can find many of them in local shops. I've never been a Les Paul fan, though: too heavy for me. I lean more toward an SG or a Strat for a solid body. That G5420 is super cool looking - that's a temptation!

I would never associate a les paul or a strat with the Beatles. Lennon liked Gibson l.p. studio's, and melody makers. George played lots of different guitars. Epiphones and Gibson acoustics were prominent. Their songs are so good anything sounds great. I recently acquired a Gretsch 5420T and a new Broadkaster.... I had no idea that Gretsches had such a great variety of sounds. Good luck.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by aknow

I would never associate a les paul or a strat with the Beatles...George played lots of different guitars....

A couple of their better-known clips (note George's guitars):





Actually, these are two of the higher-profile late-Beatles electric guitars: the "Rocky" '61 Strat (minus paint job) was in George's possession by late '65, and the cherry-red LP (initially thought to be a refin but believed by several authorities to be original) was given to him by Eric Clapton around the time of the White Album sessions. This should clear up some of the (magical) mystery:

http://www.guitartonetalk.com/2012/1...n-the-beatles/

[blue]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

the "Rocky" '61 Strat (minus paint job) was in George's possession by late '65

I heard one interview where quite early, on a couple of occasions George heard about a music store having a strat, and running down to get it only to find it had been purchased already.

His son Dani says that the rule around the house when he was growing was that if he wanted to play electric guitar it was Strat into Bassman. Period. No pedals. I tend to agree with child rearing like that!

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by blue

...His son Dani says that the rule around the house when he was growing was that if he wanted to play electric guitar it was Strat into Bassman. Period. No pedals. I tend to agree with child rearing like that!

I'm a guitar-cable-amp guy myself, strongly influenced by George's pre-Revolver work; I doubt he'd have any objections to my old standby setup since '64, a Gretsch hollowbody plugged straight into a class-A tube amp - and I understand Dhani has some of his dad's old stuff lying around...

[ghostnote]

I was in a Beatles cover band for a long time, years, and I have many of the guitar models that they used. A lot of them have been mentioned here already. The best advice I could give you is this: find a guitar you really like and buy that. Don't think strictly about Beatles songs unless that's all you plan to play for the rest of your life. You can play anything on a good guitar.
I still play the Beatles guitars I used in that band, btw, because I like them and they are good guitars for almost everything I play: Gretsch, Rickenbacker, Telecaster, Strat, SG, Casino, J-160, Les Paul.

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by SJ VanSandt

I did a little exploring yesterday and found a couple of interesting possibilities. One Les Paul was tempting:
But even used it's a tad over my budget. It turns out they are making them with chambered bodies now so this one weighs only a little more than an SG. It was very comfortable to play, and I like the understated looks. It may be worth the extra 50 bucks over my budget, but that would be less money for a decent small amp.

Then there was a used PRS SE:
For less than half the price of the LP, It seemed like a lot of guitar for the money. Not too far out as far as looks go, it played very smoothly, seemed very solid. A bit heavy. I'm leaning this way, to tell the truth. I wish I could play both of these through the same amp, but they were in two different shops. Wait - maybe I can compare the PRS to the same model Les Paul, if not the used one I have on hold . . . A mission for Monday!

Personally I love that Les Paul, and I'm not even a fan!

Regarding the PRS SE guitars, the only bad thing that I've been hearing about them, and it's only a certain portion of players, is that they're an absolutely great guitar if you change out the pickups. Others like them as-is and you may be one of the lucky ones. I like my Cu22 and find it to be a very enjoyable guitar to play but like I said, I've heard the SE's are completely pro gear too.