Guitar Nerds Anonymous

😂

There are so many possible routes to take but second hand is a good idea if you have someone who can recognise a dog. There are less around now as overall quality has improved but there is nothing worse than trying to learn on an instrument that doesn’t work properly (fucked action/frets/nut/intonation/neck relief/etc).

No idea if buying a basic valve amp or something with a load of built in effects is better at this stage - I started out with a shit practice amp and bought a multi FX the first chance I could...

My first guitar was a black Columbus Les Paul Custom coupled with a rubbish solid state Eurotec (?) amp... Total cost was £100 in 1983, felt like a lot of dosh at the time... Two cables and cheap fuzzbox completed the deal...

Agreed but it's a bit of a minefield if you don't know what you're looking for.

As for cheap amps, look for secondhand solid state from well known manufacturers like Orange. They sound fine at bedroom levels and they take pedals very well. Pedals themselves are a fun hobby and needn't be too expensive.

I love the way the J Mascis looks! I think that Danelectro make cheap cool guitars and there's the perennial Yamaha Pacifica too. You can get some of the higher end Pacificas for £200-ish and they're amazing for that sort of money.

Mine was a gloss black Tanglewood les Paul (chipboard body) with a rubbish solid state Watson 10w amp 👌

mine was an epiphone les paul special II in all black, it was ace, i was said when i sold it. but it went to a friends little brother that was starting a band and that was totally the right thing to do.

I gave my first guitar (and my beautiful painted up, first leather jacket) to my first girlfriend... She broke my heart some months later... She probably still has these very valuable totems stored in an attic/cellar/strong room and draws great supernatural power from them...

We still talk, lovely lady...

sold my first guitar to buy drugs.

Ibanez Soundgear.

I covered mine in gaffer tape and a mosaic of cut up AOL CDs, installed a home made fuzz circuit on the front in a small tin and left it in the gigbag for 10 years. Eventually a cat pissed on it and it stank so I left it outside the house as a freebie.

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My first electric was a cherryburst Epiphone Les Paul Custom. Proper Jimmy Page style, first day I had it I dropped it when a cheap strap came off the button.

My first was a Epiphone '56 Goldtop reissue (or whatever they were called). I liked it a lot, but it weighed a ton. Keep an eye on weight - I've always prioritised lightness in guitars since (one day, Parker Fly...).

Also, that Jazzmaster TS linked is a good shout - I'd go for that in preference to most of the other black strats that abound for kids.

This is probably not an appropriate first guitar (and not all that light...), but since we're ebay trawling, this seems like a decent amount of guitar for the money:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EVH-Wolfgang-WG-Standard-Transparent-Red-Electric-Guitar-Inc-Fender-Gigbag/264015903250?hash=item3d7892fa12:g:A7AAAOSwmBhb2YWT:rk:3:pf:0

I can't quite remember the story, but didn't some of the early ones of those have genuinely expensive quilted tops that they shouldn't have?

Keep an eye on weight

Ha, weight weenies for guitars; I never knew that was a thing!

The jassmaster says basswood body is lightweight; should be good?

Makers don't seem to specify weight routinely but googling suggests it's 8lb or maybe slightly less.

Boss Katana 50 for £120 delivered here - http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/143594/fs-roland-blues-cube-hot-boss-katana-50

The denizens of that forum love those things and it seems mighty versatile via the videos I've watched.

Is "The Fretboard" just LFGSS for guitars?

edit: London Fretted Guitars and Single Strings?

It's funny how they don't give weights, even for their hollow guitars. I guess doing not doing so lets them use a much wider variety of woods though the manufacturing lifetime without having being tied to specs.

My Fly P42 is about seven pounds, which I think was ok for a cheap guitar. Eight sounds fine - it's when some of the Les Paul clones start bumping up to 10+ that it becomes noticeable (for me at least).

In case anyone's interested, there's a picture half way down my badly-written-blog that shows what Gibson have done to their Les Pauls over time in terms of weight relieve:

http://chrisbuildsguitars.blogspot.com/2018/07/new-guitar-build-les-paul.html

Enjoyed your guitar building blog - top stuff, very impressed with the skilz.

Trying to understand the world of amps; head amp, cabinets, combis... Just need something so my aspiring rock star can jam with their band. Hopefully not in my house! Something like this?

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Peavey-Vypyr-VIP-2-Modelling-Combo-Amp/PR4

I have a fancy modelling amp that is absolutely not what I want but could be fun for a beginner. I’ve been trying to sell it as I want a vanilla, small tube amp and can’t fit two in the flat. It’s a Line 6 Spider Jam. Can emulate all sorts of effects and even does drum backing tracks etc. I wouldn’t want loads for it but it is heavy. I’m in SE London.

Thanks - might be a bit big. I've asked the teenage person to do some research.

It doesn’t take up that much floor. It’s just that it’s quite heavy. Someone was going to buy it at one point but I couldn’t cycle it to work and didn’t fancy my chances of getting it on a rush hour train either.

I’d take £75 for it. Can send pics if you’re interested.

Hi, yes; interested at that price. Please send some pics!

+1 for the Katana. Fender have just released a new Champ 50 aswell which ive heard very good things about for not many notes. Both have headphone outs and are loud enough to jam with. My current no.1 is a squier 70's modified strat, cracking guitar for the money. Build is spot on and plays really well. Quite a light guitar imo, its basswood bodied too.

I've heard great things about the Katana, it's basically turned into an in-joke along the lines of "Just buy an Arkose" on some of the guitar groups on Facebook, such is it's popularity!

In other extended range guitar news that nobody is interested in I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what to do with my RG2228...

There's some bit of dud wiring that's preventing the neck pickup from working but honestly I hate the EMG pickups so much that I'm not really bothered about repairing it so I've been trying to find the perfect set to replace them with.

Finding any review or sample audio of any 8 string pickup that doesn't sound like Meshuggah is extremely difficult...

I've settled on DiMarzio Ionizer pickups, they're Tosin Abasi's first signature pickup from his Ibanez TAM100 signature model.

DiMarzio Ionizer

Just trying to decide now whether to put in 3no. singlecoils or a bridge humbucker with 2no. singlecoils...

Singlecoil version in isolation sounds like this...

Thoughts?

Stop buying guitars with too many strangs.

A simple solution.

I still have my first electric guitar. It’s technically my sisters hence why I’ve never got rid of it. It’s a sunburst squire strat. I recently got it out to do some research on it, turns out it’s a 1981-1984 made in Japan squire. Apparently everything is Fender, just assembled in Japan with cheaper pickups. I plugged it in the other day for the first time in years and the electrics are fucked! Nice to know it’s actually a solid guitar though and worth keeping. Also it ways a ton and I hate strats.