OT: Fender Stratocaster

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

Lots of good guitars on the market, but they all have one thing in common..

people seem to replace stock pickups with better ones. EMG active pickups

seem popular and people are modding the guitars with them. Seems like

if you buy an already equipped guitar with EMG you pay a high price because

the guitar as a whole can be of better quality, but not always. Or buy a lower

grade guitar and do upgrades later as needed.

so.... take a reasonable good guitar and install the hardware upgrades as you

see fit ... Of those guitars I listed, the RG370DX seems to get really good reviews

because the new model {2005} has new pickups that are better than the older

models and people think it gives EMG a run for the money, but I believe these

are passive pickups and the EMG active may still be preferred if you are skilled

in playing.

So.. rather than buying a $450 - $550 guitar with good pickups that people

seem to upgrade later, or spending $1000 with real EMG actives, I might just

get the cheaper $360 RG370DX to get by for a while and if there is a need for

upgrading, then that is cool too and there is money saved.

I'm not sure about the tremelo guitars over the fixed bridge... fixed seems

easier to tune on a per string basis where the floating bridge requires more drama

as each string needs to be dialed in. I'm not sure if the novice is better off getting

the fixed bridge over tremelo for ease of learning? .. or do you 'jump in the fire'

and deal with it....

Amps: Going to get the Line6 Spider II 112 combo mainly because it has

already built-in effects to reduce the clutter of having extra gear.... For a

noob it should be good .. For the advance player, they want more specific

gear..

 

[liar2 10+ year member]

Go for the Ibanez. They do make very nice guitars. And the RG series is definitely the series for metal music if that's what he's interested in playing.

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Pickup choices have allot to do with type of music ( specific sound charactaristics) your after as well. I have several friends who have opted for the cheaper copies of the strats and such. Then bought fender lace sensors, texas specials, or some of the high end duncan pickups, to replace the crappy pickups they come with. I would say you have made a good choice for a beginer looking to play metal. As for the tremolo if it's equipped with, simply don't attach the tremolo arm. No biggy most are threaded //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

excuse me while I kiss the sky

 

[UndercoverPunk 5,000+ posts]

My Mexican't Squire Fat Strat is a pretty good guitar, the frets are a little small for my taste, but I never ended up getting a new neck before I stopped playing. The stock pick-ups were OK, but I replaced them with the AH's from my Iceman when I put EMGs in that one.

I also replace the tuners, the origional ones were cheap.

Really the cheap strats are good for a beginner... I've upgraded mine so many times there's hardly and stock parts left.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

Looking at this one too.

Jackson DKMG Dinky {black}

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/search/detail/base_pid/511496?src=00631

and...

ESP LTD Viper 400

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/516660/

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Looking at this one too.
Jackson DKMG Dinky {black}

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/search/detail/base_pid/511496?src=00631

and...

ESP LTD Viper 400

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/516660/

D@mn that jackson looks pretty sexy. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[eisenhower 10+ year member]

Go to this website http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/#man

thank me later.

BTW strats are a no no for metal, maple fret boards and weak pick ups sound like crap for any sort of high distortion. and dont let anyone tell you tone in the fingers because its really not at all.

Plus the quality on lower line fenders is complete crap, dont buy fender stuff because its "fender" buy stuff because its good, which would probally mean digging a little deeper than you think.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

Made the decision, placed the order....

... drum roll ....

Jackson DK2 Dinky Electric Guitar

http://www.zzounds.com/item--JAC2901000

For some reason, ZZsounds has it for $427, but other music sites are charging

$479, walk in store price here is $519. Only 2 left so I snagged one....

Reasons for choosing this one [random order];

1. I checked out Jackson DK2 in the store, it feels good even though I'm clueless about guitars. After researching this for a week and getting help from my friend

who showed me some things to look for, this guitar is pretty good for the buck.

2. Made in Japan.. Nothing really wrong with made in Mexico {Standard Fender}

or made in Korea {ESP, Ibanez, etc} and made in USA will cost you over $1000,

but made in Japan seems to have more consistent quality control, hence you pay

a we-bit more...

3. Three pickups for versatility, probably better for a n00b. The two pickup

design is cool but everyone thinks it's limited. I like the RG370DX because you

do have three pickups to mess with even though you may not use it.

4. Ibanez RG370DX is very cool for $370, but for $427 the Jackson feel is better

and the person using it has small hands.

I like the Jackson DKMG but the inlays are probably not n00b friendly and the

standard dual EMG passive pickups are cool, but everyone says that particular

guitar is not as versatile and eventually they replace those pickups with actives.

Also the 20dB preamp is 9V battery powered and nobody seems to like it as they

prefer a real active pickup setup. DKMG seems more like an intermediate guitar

so I scaled back to the DK2.

I was also looking at the action on the Gibson SG, pretty sweet, but this beast

cost over $1k.

P.S. Fender bought out Jackson {recently?} .. /doh

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

Fender SRV model!

that aughtta do the trick!

 

[eisenhower 10+ year member]

Made the decision, placed the order....
... drum roll ....

Jackson DK2 Dinky Electric Guitar

http://www.zzounds.com/item--JAC2901000

For some reason, ZZsounds has it for $427, but other music sites are charging

$479, walk in store price here is $519. Only 2 left so I snagged one....

Reasons for choosing this one [random order];

1. I checked out Jackson DK2 in the store, it feels good even though I'm clueless about guitars. After researching this for a week and getting help from my friend

who showed me some things to look for, this guitar is pretty good for the buck.

2. Made in Japan.. Nothing really wrong with made in Mexico {Standard Fender}

or made in Korea {ESP, Ibanez, etc} and made in USA will cost you over $1000,

but made in Japan seems to have more consistent quality control, hence you pay

a we-bit more...

3. Three pickups for versatility, probably better for a n00b. The two pickup

design is cool but everyone thinks it's limited. I like the RG370DX because you

do have three pickups to mess with even though you may not use it.

4. Ibanez RG370DX is very cool for $370, but for $427 the Jackson feel is better

and the person using it has small hands.

I like the Jackson DKMG but the inlays are probably not n00b friendly and the

standard dual EMG passive pickups are cool, but everyone says that particular

guitar is not as versatile and eventually they replace those pickups with actives.

Also the 20dB preamp is 9V battery powered and nobody seems to like it as they

prefer a real active pickup setup. DKMG seems more like an intermediate guitar

so I scaled back to the DK2.

I was also looking at the action on the Gibson SG, pretty sweet, but this beast

cost over $1k.

P.S. Fender bought out Jackson {recently?} .. /doh

Nice choice, jackson is good stuff, much different than a strat though (flat radius fret board). Just to let you know, that floyd rose bridge is gonna be *****. good luck. I have one on my ibanez prestige 2120x and its a pain in the ***, but it will stay tune if you set it up right.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/

BTW about putting in active pickups (EMGs of course), If your only doing metal, then their a good choice, I have an 81/85 combo on my cheapo ibanez, but for other types of music they sound sterile and bland. Look at some passives as well, they can put out just as much output as the actives and dont need a battery.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

The easy part is making a choice and/or doing mods.

The hard part is being a musician //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Fender SRV model!that aughtta do the trick!

I have an earlier SRV Texas special //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif Tis' very sexy, to me it epitomizes what Texas blues sounds like. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Good choice with the jackson. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif