Guitar Nerds Anonymous

335 for me too, SG is a good shout tho'!

Went to a big guitar shop today(pmt in Romford). Tried a bunch of strats from cheapest squier up to a £1500 US-made one(couldn’t tell you which model exactly).
Lots of variation of the fit/feel at each price point.
Lowest tier(sonic I think) vs Classic Vibe was night and day different. The cheap one felt unfinished and generally rough around the edges.
Not much difference between the Classic Vibe and the Player-tier fender.
Player vs Player II was a huge difference in quality for a very similar price. Sales guy said the Player got a lot of bad reviews and has been replaced by the Player II and is all round a much better value deal in his opinion. They’re selling the original Player series on sale but he reckons it really needs a good setup and the frets tidied up so realistically costs the same as the Player II.
Couldn’t feel any difference between Player II and the expensive one. He wanted me to try it just to reassure me I didn’t need to spend that much money to be content lol.

Left empty handed and a little overwhelmed, staff were chill and seemed perfectly happy for me to fuck around for nearly an hour.

Classic Vibe and Player II both seemed fab, is the fender worth the extra £300? Probably not.
Looked at a jag as well but I suspect I’m not cool enough to pull that off ;)

Definitely a worthwhile fact hunting trip though.

I’m a Jazzmaster man and been fancying an SG, so that seems fair. Really loving the look of those P90-equipped Epiphone SG Classic with the matte finish.

Then again, the Squier Paranormal XII also looks great… 💸

Lowest tier(sonic I think) vs Classic Vibe was night and day different. The cheap one felt unfinished and generally rough around the edges.

Yep, that's what I was getting at a little while back when we were discussing cheap Fenders/Squiers.

The thing that surprised me with the Player stuff was how little I liked the sound of the pickups. They still give them slightly hotter output pickups and they don't sound right to me. Squier CV versions sound much more classic and "correct" to me without having to spend more money to get a Vintera.

The Player II Strats appeal to me in a number of ways but I don't think I could go for one without changing the pickups.

So I tried the Player and Player II one after the other. The II felt superior in the hand and overall fit/finish was nicer.
The Player might not be better than the cv but the Player II definitely is, at least in my uneducated opinion.

I’ve got an appointment to go try a Player II and a CV again after work tomorrow. Peach Guitars have them both in stock in the finishes I liked lol.

The important thing is which colour, right? :)

The green looks quite nice, also like the yellow and the white blonde.

I tried it in black which was meh.

Trying the green tomorrow, they also have the blue in stock but it’s a bit too showy for someone who sucks as bad as me.

Sounds like a fun bit of research. But stop being so down on your playing. This whole guitar thing is meant to be enjoyable and it doesn't matter if you're mashing a few power chords or playing virtuosic solos; find yourself a great guitar and have fun playing it. You're probably already more capable than a lot of players who've been on massive records.

Those Player II colours are absolutely superb!

Particularly like the Coral Red, Transparent Mocha Burst and Transparent Cherry Burst but the real MVPs are Hialeah Yellow and Birch Green for sure!

Hialeah Yellow Jaguar is swiftly moving to the top of my shop list...

@edmundro interested to hear if you're still dead set on the humbucker strat layout after all that playing.

I am actually. If this is going to be the one guitar rule them all I wanted the extra grrrr as I’m mostly into stoner rock and doom. I presume adding a push/pull pot to split it is no big deal anyway. Or go down the rabbit hole and add quick connectors and have a second loaded pickguard to swap between ;)
I’ll try an sss again today I’m sure.

My swinger felt like a uke after trying full sized guitars.

This oddball is just down the road from me, definitely too out there for me but definitely cool for someone.

one of the guitarists in my band has/had one of those. we're pretty stoner/doom...

Just ordered a used Yamaha THR5 for alfresco goodtimes.

I totally forgot those can be battery powered. Can’t wait to run my family holiday in September

Yeah so this happened…

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You can't just drop that image and add no detail. Not cool, man, not cool. What's in there?

So I zoomed in and read the UPC, and it came up as 883978110972 which is a Fender American Professional Telecaster with maple neck, which I don't think can be right.

It is not a tele.
I’m not sure how I feel about unboxing in my workshop! I need to set up a clean space later for something so maybe it’ll happen then. You think I don’t want to unbox it as well?

If you don't unbox it at work how will it get mirror-coated?

I’m not doing that again in a hurry, that said the artist I did that tele for last year wants a couple more..

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Fuck yes

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Well that escalated quickly.

❤

Love how you went from considering an Affinity series, to getting a brand new Player II 😃

#buyer