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Old 03-13-2018, 06:26 PM
hotroad hotroad is offline
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Default What electric fits?

I want to get an electric guitar to learn some new technique versus always playing acoustic. I am looking for something under $1500, new or used, good quality, and most important can capture a warm tone so probably a set of humbuckers with separate volume and tone controls. Semi hollow would be good too.
What can you steer me to. I am a newbie in this arena but play out professionally full time on acoustics. Thanks in advance.
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Old 03-13-2018, 06:31 PM
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I think you need to go to a guitar store and play several guitars - PRS, Epiphone and some Gibson hollow bodies come to mind. What amp is also important, a good entry level one is the Fender Blues Junior or some like it. My .02....
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Old 03-13-2018, 06:34 PM
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Bob Womack Bob Womack is offline
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I'll put up my two pages on choosing an electric, HERE and HERE. See if you can find anything useful there!

Bob
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Old 03-13-2018, 07:05 PM
Paleolith54 Paleolith54 is offline
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Originally Posted by fray View Post
I think you need to go to a guitar store and play several guitars - PRS, Epiphone and some Gibson hollow bodies come to mind. What amp is also important, a good entry level one is the Fender Blues Junior or some like it. My .02....
Certainly agree, but you can also go somwhere online like Sweetwater browse to get an idea of what's out there.
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Old 03-13-2018, 08:10 PM
hotroad hotroad is offline
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Certainly agree, but you can also go somwhere online like Sweetwater browse to get an idea of what's out there.
I did that . I am after personal experience please. Who can recommend a guitar that they like that fits the bill.
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Old 03-13-2018, 09:06 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Originally Posted by hotroad View Post
I want to get an electric guitar to learn some new techniques versus always playing acoustic. I am looking for something under $1500, new or used, good quality, and most important can capture a warm tone...Semi hollow would be good too...I am a newbie in this arena but play out professionally full time on acoustics...
Quote:
Originally Posted by hotroad View Post
...I am after personal experience please. Who can recommend a guitar that they like that fits the bill?
My tuppence worth:
  • Speaking as a satisfied owner it sounds like you're a candidate for a Godin CW II, a twin P-90 single-cut hollowbody in the general mold of the early-50's Gibson ES-175/Epiphone Zephyr. While they do make great straight-ahead jazzboxes - Tony Bennett's guitarist has been using one on tour for the last couple years TMK - the lightweight construction gives them a lively, airy tone somewhat reminiscent of a vintage Gretsch, quite different from the thud-&-mud often associated with instruments of this type and far more stylistically versatile than one would expect. As a converted acoustic player you'll also find the handling characteristics quite familiar - the neck/body dimensions are virtually identical to the Seagull mini-jumbos, at ~5 lbs. on the strap the weight is comparable (and about 2-3 pounds less than similar instruments), and QC/playability is up to their usual high standard; if you like your electric guitar tone big, clean, and classy, IME one of these through a nice tube amp (more about which to follow) may be all the guitar you'll ever need...

  • Similarly, if you''d like to break from the Gibson/Fender "same-old-same-old" and really develop your own signature tone(s), one of the Korean-made Gretsch 5400/5600-Series semis/hollowbodies may be just what you're looking for; while "That Great Gretsch Sound" isn't everyone's cuppa tea some of the most influential and original music of the last seven decades has been created on similar instruments, and as a Gretsch owner/player since 1964 I can say without reservation that the current Korean instruments are among the finest ever to bear the marque, period. If you need to cut through an arrangement (or overly enthusiastic audience) without resorting to excessive volume (one of the reasons many of the first-wave British acts favored them when the Vox AC30 was at the top of the power scale) or you're just looking for something that you can make "your own" both visually and sonically, one of these might be a good way to go - and at the price (well under $1K) you almost can't afford not to own one...

  • When it comes to amps you've got a wide-open field - tube, solid-state, new, used, in a variety of configurations and power ratings - but given where I suspect you're coming from musically, there's nothing like a good tube amp; as the owner of a first-gen "blue-light" Bugera V22 1x12" combo I'm more than a bit biased (no pun intended), but if you're a tube tone junkie you're not going to find anything that sounds anywhere near as good, for anywhere near the price. Although I play in a broad variety of styles, having started as a jazzer my fundamental tastes run to classic early-60's "big clean" tones; that said, these little $400 boxes are highly responsive to the kind of low-tech DIY mods that allow you to personalize your tone as the pros do. A set of NOS Soviet-era mil-spec tubes, a mild rebias (not necessary with the new Infinium self-biasing/self-monitoring circuitry - changing power tubes is a plug-&-play deal), and an Eminence Swamp Thang speaker have netted me a '66 Ampeg "key club" Gemini II/B12-XT tone clone (FYI, those amps were the sound you heard on every NYC studio recording of the era, as well as every Brooklyn church-basement/schoolyard/legion-hall dance during my formative years) with enough clean power to cover a ~600-700 seat house, the ability to get "Shea '65" Vox AC100 (for Beatles/Brit-Invasion stuff) or "brown" crunch (with the mid-boost/OD/triode switch) tones when necessary, and the low-power triode setting allows for home practice without placing a strain on my marital bliss . Don't get me wrong, the stock version with the upgraded Turbosound speaker (a major improvement over the old OEM Celestion wannabe) is 100% gigworthy/gig-ready out of the box; best part is that if you catch a coupon day at your friendly local big-box store, you can have one of the aforementioned guitars and a V22 - both brand-new with warranty - for well under your $1500 budget, and raise some eyebrows (as well as furrow some foreheads) among owners of far-pricier rigs at your next gig...
Hope this helps...
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Old 03-13-2018, 11:16 PM
hotroad hotroad is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa View Post
My tuppence worth:
  • Speaking as a satisfied owner it sounds like you're a candidate for a Godin CW II, a twin P-90 single-cut hollowbody in the general mold of the early-50's Gibson ES-175/Epiphone Zephyr. While they do make great straight-ahead jazzboxes - Tony Bennett's guitarist has been using one on tour for the last couple years TMK - the lightweight construction gives them a lively, airy tone somewhat reminiscent of a vintage Gretsch, quite different from the thud-&-mud often associated with instruments of this type and far more stylistically versatile than one would expect. As a converted acoustic player you'll also find the handling characteristics quite familiar - the neck/body dimensions are virtually identical to the Seagull mini-jumbos, at ~5 lbs. on the strap the weight is comparable (and about 2-3 pounds less than similar instruments), and QC/playability is up to their usual high standard; if you like your electric guitar tone big, clean, and classy, IME one of these through a nice tube amp (more about which to follow) may be all the guitar you'll ever need...

  • Similarly, if you''d like to break from the Gibson/Fender "same-old-same-old" and really develop your own signature tone(s), one of the Korean-made Gretsch 5400/5600-Series semis/hollowbodies may be just what you're looking for; while "That Great Gretsch Sound" isn't everyone's cuppa tea some of the most influential and original music of the last seven decades has been created on similar instruments, and as a Gretsch owner/player since 1964 I can say without reservation that the current Korean instruments are among the finest ever to bear the marque, period. If you need to cut through an arrangement (or overly enthusiastic audience) without resorting to excessive volume (one of the reasons many of the first-wave British acts favored them when the Vox AC30 was at the top of the power scale) or you're just looking for something that you can make "your own" both visually and sonically, one of these might be a good way to go - and at the price (well under $1K) you almost can't afford not to own one...

  • When it comes to amps you've got a wide-open field - tube, solid-state, new, used, in a variety of configurations and power ratings - but given where I suspect you're coming from musically, there's nothing like a good tube amp; as the owner of a first-gen "blue-light" Bugera V22 1x12" combo I'm more than a bit biased (no pun intended), but if you're a tube tone junkie you're not going to find anything that sounds anywhere near as good, for anywhere near the price. Although I play in a broad variety of styles, having started as a jazzer my fundamental tastes run to classic early-60's "big clean" tones; that said, these little $400 boxes are highly responsive to the kind of low-tech DIY mods that allow you to personalize your tone as the pros do. A set of NOS Soviet-era mil-spec tubes, a mild rebias (not necessary with the new Infinium self-biasing/self-monitoring circuitry - changing power tubes is a plug-&-play deal), and an Eminence Swamp Thang speaker have netted me a '66 Ampeg "key club" Gemini II/B12-XT tone clone (FYI, those amps were the sound you heard on every NYC studio recording of the era, as well as every Brooklyn church-basement/schoolyard/legion-hall dance during my formative years) with enough clean power to cover a ~600-700 seat house, the ability to get "Shea '65" Vox AC100 (for Beatles/Brit-Invasion stuff) or "brown" crunch (with the mid-boost/OD/triode switch) tones when necessary, and the low-power triode setting allows for home practice without placing a strain on my marital bliss . Don't get me wrong, the stock version with the upgraded Turbosound speaker (a major improvement over the old OEM Celestion wannabe) is 100% gigworthy/gig-ready out of the box; best part is that if you catch a coupon day at your friendly local big-box store, you can have one of the aforementioned guitars and a V22 - both brand-new with warranty - for well under your $1500 budget, and raise some eyebrows (as well as furrow some foreheads) among owners of far-pricier rigs at your next gig...
Hope this helps...
That's big. Great help there. Thanks and I Wil start shopping.
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Cole Clark Fat Lady 2
Taylor Doyle Dykes Custom
Alvarez
Fender Strat '69
Gibson 1942 Banner LG-2 Vintage Sunburst
Gibson SJ-200
Taylor Myrtlewood 12 string
Emerald X20
Godin Montreal w/piezo
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  #8  
Old 03-14-2018, 12:11 AM
hotroad hotroad is offline
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I thought that single coil P90s were not a warm as humbuckers. It's that true or not. Please explain a little. The Godin has P90s.
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Cole Clark Fat Lady 2
Taylor Doyle Dykes Custom
Alvarez
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Gibson 1942 Banner LG-2 Vintage Sunburst
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Emerald X20
Godin Montreal w/piezo
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  #9  
Old 03-14-2018, 12:23 AM
hotroad hotroad is offline
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Very helpful article. Thanks.
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Martin D-28 '67
Cole Clark Fat Lady 2
Taylor Doyle Dykes Custom
Alvarez
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Gibson 1942 Banner LG-2 Vintage Sunburst
Gibson SJ-200
Taylor Myrtlewood 12 string
Emerald X20
Godin Montreal w/piezo
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  #10  
Old 03-14-2018, 01:59 AM
Seagull S6 Seagull S6 is offline
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Originally Posted by hotroad View Post
I thought that single coil P90s were not a warm as humbuckers. It's that true or not. Please explain a little. The Godin has P90s.
Not really true. I have Humbucker and single coil guitars and Fender SC pickups are more clear and articulate while HB's lean toward sounding thicker and more powerful. Sounding "warm" has more to do with your playing style. P90 pickups are great pickups as well and are like Fender SC's on steroids. Godin is Canadian made an are of VG quality.

Go out and audition several of each P/U type until you find one you like. Remember that an electric require a different kind of finesse in playing than an acoustic.so play a lot of different guitars before you decide. I always make it a point to play a guitar in person before buying.

$1500 will get you a lot of guitar for the money but I would stay away from Gibson. They are way overpriced and of lately the quality is sometimes just atrocious.
Epiphone's are Chinese made Gibson licensed copies of Gibson's and quality is usually better than Gibson however, EPI uses some cheap electronics that will need to be upgraded.

Your budget will get you into an American made Fender and I would get a Strat if I wanted vibrato or a Tel if I wanted a hard tale. The Mexican made Fenders are VG, as well for less money.
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Old 03-14-2018, 08:01 AM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotroad View Post
I thought that single coil P90s were not a warm as humbuckers. Is that true or not. Please explain a little. The Godin has P90s.
While Seagull makes a good point about the interaction of playing style and tone, bear in mind also that the P-90 was originally conceived as a jazz guitar pickup (slap on a set of flatwound strings and plug into a tweed/brown-Tolex Fender or blue-check Ampeg 12" combo, and you'll cop the mojo of every early-50's bop recording you've ever heard) and the original PAF attempted to emulate the fundamental characteristics of the earlier design - warmth, clarity, and power - without the 60-cycle hum; I've A/B'd my P-90 LP against a gennie '58 goldtop/darkback, through the same 1x12" tube combo, and while the '58 had the expected lower-midrange "whomp" they were essentially variations on the same theme. As I said above, Tony Bennett's guitarist has been using a P-90 CW II for several years - and I think both he and his boss know a little something about tone...
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  #12  
Old 03-14-2018, 08:16 AM
pf400 pf400 is offline
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No mention of Eastman electrics yet. Check out Eastmans with humbuckers. Might be useful too, if you would provide a sound sample, even if it's a sample of your favourite guitarist from youtube. Gibson Les Pauls can sound perfectly warm...maybe you could buy a less expensive guitar and change out the pickups. Telecasters' neck pickups can sound fairly warm with the eq settings tweaked. Yes, amps and pedals can get you where you want to go and if possible get into the shops and try try try until you find what you want. Be aware though, of the lifelong search for a tone...you may never be totally satisfied, for example as your tastes, and hearing, change.
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