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  #31  
Old 03-27-2023, 12:52 PM
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Originally Posted by janinep7 View Post
Couldn't agree with you more on that. GC has its purpose, but for a serious guitar purchase I would go to one of several local shops we have here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I might go to GC to try out some of the amps and stuff. The one closest to me has a room where there are lots of different amps you can plug into and try out. I did that when I was briefly looking at arch tops. I decided against at that time b/c they don't sound good when they are not plugged in. I was thinking about the Guilds. I was looking for something like these:
https://guildguitars.com/guitars/ele...n/#hollow-body

Now I think maybe a straight up solid body electric would be better to start on. I have a lot of reading to do. But as I have said before, it's going to be a while. There's plenty for me to practice on the acoustic still.
Having gone thru this about 5 years ago my advise is decide on a realistic budget FIRST ........................................... It will inform and eliminate a lot of potential circular motion and wasted time ..
Understanding that you should include an Amp in the budget
Then like you mention,,, try to get out and play as many different basic designs as you can

The next thing is to try decide Solid or Hollow body .
The notion of a hollow body electric is not really to play acoustically. They have an amplified sound of their own and are said to easier for an acoustic player to adapt to ( now for me personally it was not issue to move from 50 years of playing acoustic to playing a solid body electric ) And what I was after was the contrast (both sound and feel) to an acoustic not the similarity..

If you go solid body the next thing to decide is basic Pickup design
Whether you want to be going
Single coil ( i.e like a Stratocaster or Telecaster)
Humbucker (i.e. like a Les Paul )
P 90 - a version of single coil
Or a "Coil Split" design that can be played either single coil or Humbucker

Work on trying to suss out the things and when you do decide to shop in earnest

But be carful going down this "dark side " of the road,,,, because Electric GAS is arguably a broader quagmire than acoustic GAS

You may think like I did "oh I am just going to get one electric and one amp to play around with" and then over the course of 5 (short years) end up like this

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  #32  
Old 03-27-2023, 01:19 PM
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Originally Posted by KevWind View Post
Having gone thru this about 5 years ago my advise is decide on a realistic budget FIRST ........................................... It will inform and eliminate a lot of potential circular motion and wasted time ..
Understanding that you should include an Amp in the budget
Then like you mention,,, try to get out and play as many different basic designs as you can

The next thing is to try decide Solid or Hollow body .
The notion of a hollow body electric is not really to play acoustically. They have an amplified sound of their own and are said to easier for an acoustic player to adapt to ( now for me personally it was not issue to move from 50 years of playing acoustic to playing a solid body electric ) And what I was after was the contrast (both sound and feel) to an acoustic not the similarity..

If you go solid body the next thing to decide is basic Pickup design
Whether you want to be going
Single coil ( i.e like a Stratocaster or Telecaster)
Humbucker (i.e. like a Les Paul )
P 90 - a version of single coil
Or a "Coil Split" design that can be played either single coil or Humbucker

Work on trying to suss out the things and when you do decide to shop in earnest

But be carful going down this "dark side " of the road,,,, because Electric GAS is arguably a broader quagmire than acoustic GAS

You may think like I did "oh I am just going to get one electric and one amp to play around with" and then over the course of 5 (short years) end up like this

OH MY GOD, look at all that GEAR! I'm very susceptible to GAS, be it acoustic or electric guitar related. Do you like the PRS electric guitar? They have a good reputation and one of my local shops is a dealer.
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  #33  
Old 03-28-2023, 06:45 AM
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Originally Posted by janinep7 View Post
OH MY GOD, look at all that GEAR! I'm very susceptible to GAS, be it acoustic or electric guitar related. Do you like the PRS electric guitar? They have a good reputation and one of my local shops is a dealer.
Yes being susceptible to GAS is exactly the reason to set a realistic budget for your initial shopping foray



The PRS yes indeed big Fan

Interestingly, after I decided I was going to go solid body I began to try to determine what basic pickup design I was going to get .
I had played a friends electric in 1967 (but didn't remember what kind) and had been acoustic only since 1968 so really had no clue .....

Being before covid I was able to go to play many models and being a child of the 60's had thought I would get either a Fender (for single coil style ) or a Gibson Les Paul for (Humbucker style). But after about 4 months of searching I happen to play the pictured PRS CE 24, which had split coils so can be played either single coil or Humbucker . For me personally I don't care if it does not sound like either a Fender or a Les Paul and contrary to what many , Fender or Les Paul die hards, will try to tell you,,, it definitely has it's own sound and I like it.

That said a few years later I stumbled on the Limited edition Tele with p-90s and liked it very much also


Just so you know the pictured gear has been acquired over 6 years of Electric GAS I have been in recovery now for a year and a 1/2

Initially because the PRS used up most of my initial budget I opted for a relatively inexpensive ( I think $ 179 when I bought it ) Orange Crush RT 20 watt solid state practice (category) with a Headphones out --so I could practice without disturbing the wife ...

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Last edited by KevWind; 03-28-2023 at 07:32 AM.
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  #34  
Old 03-28-2023, 07:48 AM
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Originally Posted by janinep7 View Post
OH MY GOD, look at all that GEAR! I'm very susceptible to GAS, be it acoustic or electric guitar related. Do you like the PRS electric guitar? They have a good reputation and one of my local shops is a dealer.
Methinks you need to take a deep breath and calm down a bit. Slow down the process and don't get sucked into wasting money on garbage you don't need. I can guarantee that whatever you buy in the near future will be something that is gathering dust in a year or two if you don't chill. I've been playing electric since 1965 so when I tell you this believe me. The AMP is far more important than the guitar for tone. A cheap guitar through a good amp will sound great, whereas a good guitar through a cheap amp will sound like poo.
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  #35  
Old 03-28-2023, 08:02 AM
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If there's a Guitar Center near you, it really makes a lot of sense to let their return policy smooth over the initial "everything looks and sounds amazing" phase. For instance, you won't know what an amp is going to sound like in your house with your own preferred settings until (obviously) you have it in your house and spend some time finding your preferred settings.

My initial amp purchase was a Fender Champion 50XL and I was pretty well convinced it was going to sound as good for the stuff I wanted to play as any amp less than 3 or 4 hundred dollars. After a week or so trying to dial in a clear, sweet, not too boomy, not too thin clean tone I took it back and swapped it for a Boss Katana 100 mkII. Within 2-3 days I was able to get the tone I was imagining. But if that hadn't worked out, they'd have given me back my money and let me go buy something different.

Especially for amps and pedals, that beats the heck out of trying some inexpensive ones that don't quite suit you, sticking with them for months hoping they'll eventually make you happy and then starting over with something different or more expensive. GC gives you 45 days to ask for a swap or refund and you can generally get a real good idea in six weeks.

The problem with doing that with guitars per se at Guitar Center is, yes, they will let you try one and return it. But it's hard to find one that's not suffering from mishandling damage and it's darned hard to find one that has level frets and a decent setup. They don't do anything except pull them out of the box and hang them on the way (OK maybe they tune them). So it's still nice to try something and return it. I did that with my first electric guitar. But I had to move on to another store that actually takes care of their guitars and adjusts them near perfectly before you try them.
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  #36  
Old 03-28-2023, 08:21 AM
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Originally Posted by davidd View Post
Methinks you need to take a deep breath and calm down a bit. Slow down the process and don't get sucked into wasting money on garbage you don't need. I can guarantee that whatever you buy in the near future will be something that is gathering dust in a year or two if you don't chill. I've been playing electric since 1965 so when I tell you this believe me. The AMP is far more important than the guitar for tone. A cheap guitar through a good amp will sound great, whereas a good guitar through a cheap amp will sound like poo.
While I would tend to agree with the approach slowly suggestion and as I mentioned decide on a initial budget. And would definitely suggest just a guitar and amp for starting.

I agree that the Amp is certainly a big factor in the sound ,,, but how much in relation to the guitar,, is often debated among long time and highly experience players. And I am not sure there is a simple formula that works universally ...



And I would be willing to bet that cheap guitars are just as often stowed away or sold off,, as cheap amps-- Agin because I think there is no simple formula that fits all people or situations -- jussss sayin'

I do think the best suggestion is as you say "don't be in hurry to purchase" and play as many guitars and amps as you can before purchasing ..
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Last edited by KevWind; 03-28-2023 at 08:32 AM.
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  #37  
Old 03-28-2023, 08:39 AM
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Originally Posted by KevWind View Post
While I would tend to agree with the approach slowly suggestion and as I mentioned decide on a initial budget. And would definitely suggest just a guitar and amp for starting.

I agree that the Amp is certainly a big factor in the sound ,,, but how much in relation to the guitar,, is often debated among long time and highly experience players. And I am not sure there is a simple formula that works universally ...



And I would be willing to bet that cheap guitars are just as often stowed away or sold off,, as cheap amps-- Agin because I think there is no simple formula that fits all people or situations -- jussss sayin'

I do think the best suggestion is as you say "don't be in hurry to purchase" and play as many guitars and amps as you can before purchasing ..
I agree there are no hard and fast rules, but I do have Custom Shop Gibson's and Squier Telecasters. $4k to $200 and less. They all sound great through my vintage Fender tube amps. I have had SS practice amps in my hands at times through trades etc. and other than Peavey Bandit amps they have never given up the goods for me. That's not to say that there aren't some good less expensive SS amps available but it's a crap shoot as to what will or won't work. I would advise at looking at something like a POD Go and a 10" FRFR speaker over an amp if I was in that market.
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  #38  
Old 03-28-2023, 08:42 AM
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The amp thing depends greatly on three things. What sort of tones are you going for, how loud do you want to play and where will you be playing.

If you're not planning on trying to tease out the finer degrees of a "edge of breakup" versus "grit" versus "power tube distortion" versus "lead that cuts through the mix" it seriously makes deciding on a amp easier.

And if you are going to playing at conversational volumes or just about, alone or with one other guitar playing in your house, you can eliminate 90% of the most desirable amps right off the bat because they are designed to play loud as heck and be heard over a drummer in a bar!
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Old 03-28-2023, 08:59 AM
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The amp thing depends greatly on three things. What sort of tones are you going for, how loud do you want to play and where will you be playing.

If you're not planning on trying to tease out the finer degrees of a "edge of breakup" versus "grit" versus "power tube distortion" versus "lead that cuts through the mix" it seriously makes deciding on a amp easier.

And if you are going to playing at conversational volumes or just about, alone or with one other guitar playing in your house, you can eliminate 90% of the most desirable amps right off the bat because they are designed to play loud as heck and be heard over a drummer in a bar!
This is why the Princeton Reverb is in far more demand than a Twin Reverb these days... What people often times don't realize is that SS watt ratings are usually baloney. A 12 watt tube amp with a fairly efficient speaker will be as loud as a 100 watt SS amp.
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  #40  
Old 03-28-2023, 09:05 AM
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Originally Posted by davidd View Post
I agree there are no hard and fast rules, but I do have Custom Shop Gibson's and Squier Telecasters. $4k to $200 and less. They all sound great through my vintage Fender tube amps. I have had SS practice amps in my hands at times through trades etc. and other than Peavey Bandit amps they have never given up the goods for me. That's not to say that there aren't some good less expensive SS amps available but it's a crap shoot as to what will or won't work. I would advise at looking at something like a POD Go and a 10" FRFR speaker over an amp if I was in that market.
Well I agree that a great amp is a great sound thru all manner of guitars and price points .
But I would also suggest for a beginner IMO it takes more electric playing experience and critical listening ability to actually utilize and appreciate what a great tube amp offers tonally ,, than what a good guitar offers. Especially coming from an acoustic guitar background YMMV .

Now I am by no means suggesting the OP should run out and spend big bucks on a guitar,, particularly since she has offered no actual budget dollar figures . To my mind the ratio of amp to guitar price, arguably depends on the actual total budget amount ..
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  #41  
Old 03-28-2023, 09:05 AM
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Originally Posted by davidd View Post
This is why the Princeton Reverb is in far more demand than a Twin Reverb these days... What people often times don't realize is that SS watt ratings are usually baloney. A 12 watt tube amp with a fairly efficient speaker will be as loud as a 100 watt SS amp.
And a heck of a lot louder than a 100w Katana with the switch in the 0.5w setting!

In fairness, there are tube amps nowadays with low power settings as well. For just these reasons. But I do think, back to the "tube watts" thing, the 1w setting on a little tube combo that's cranked until the distortion sets in is still going to get hugely louder than my 0.5w Katana setting.
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  #42  
Old 03-28-2023, 11:18 AM
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Originally Posted by janinep7 View Post
OH MY GOD, look at all that GEAR! I'm very susceptible to GAS, be it acoustic or electric guitar related. Do you like the PRS electric guitar? They have a good reputation and one of my local shops is a dealer.
"All that gear." LOL! Two guitars, a keyboard, a pedalboard and some amps. I'd call that a good start!

I can't fit everything into one photo. Here's a semi-panoramic shot of my so-called "guitar room."



Behind the closet doors (and yes, every case/bag has a guitar in it!)



THIS is what GAS looks like!
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  #43  
Old 03-28-2023, 01:33 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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...I can't fit everything into one photo. Here's a semi-panoramic shot of my so-called "guitar room."



Behind the closet doors (and yes, every case/bag has a guitar in it!)



THIS is what GAS looks like!
My wife and I will see your guitar room, and raise you two closets and two armoires...
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Old 03-28-2023, 06:57 PM
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My wife and I will see your guitar room, and raise you two closets and two armoires...
Two against one? How do you call that fair?
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Old 03-29-2023, 04:12 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Two against one? How do you call that fair?
Don't get me started on the amps...
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