Guitar advice needed!

Cafe Society
1

Hi! I’ve been playing acoustic guitars for years, and have decided that the time is right to upgrade to one of them new-fangled electric jobbies. Unfortunately, I know nothing about them and I live in a land (Hong Kong) with precious few English-speaking guitar salespeople.

So, which to buy? Money’s not my main concern, but I don’t see much point in spending loads on my first electric. I play mainly blues, and I am very easily swayed by a lovely-looking guitar. I’m currently smitten with a hollow-bodied Ibanez AF thingy which is cheap and beautiful - is it entirely unsuitable for my needs? What are hollow-bodied electrics FOR? What practice amp is a good bet? Effects pedals? Please help, or so help me God, I’ll run out and make an impetuous purchase, and then you’ll be sorry!

2

If you want to be swayed by a beautiful guitar, have a look at Rickenbacker. Beautiful guitars. Their site isn’t much, but there’s an enthusiast’s site here that can provide you with more info than you’d ever want to know about all things Rickenbacker.

I play a Burgundy-Glo 330 and a Jet-Glo 330.

3

Thanks for the recommendation, Arky; those certainly are some sexy geetars. I always associated Rickenbacker with bass guitars before, ignoramus that I am.

Anyone else? Is it worth my while buying a hollow-bodied guitar or is that just going to be a louder version of my acoustic? Should I be looking at the solid bodies for the true electric experience? Can I still get a decent distorted sound out of a hollow body? Thanks in advance for any help.

4

The best guitarist I ever mixed doing live sound used to play, on some songs, an ancient hollow body Maton (IIRC) that he picked up from a pawnshop for about $50. He used it to play really understated blues and Scotty Moore kind of things and playing through a Mesa Boogie could pull enormous fat sounds that he couldn’t get on his other guitars. This was a guy who played a $10,000 Martin acoustic and he bought the hollow body electric because he liked how it sounded. And that is the clue - play it through lots of little practice amps and if you find a combination you like go for it.

The Ibanez would more likely be played by Jazz players today but if you are not looking to be playing thrash it seems a very tasteful choice.

Hollow-bodies have the advantage of being audible without an amp too.

For effects of every kind keep an eye on http://www.line6.com/ who are way ahead of everyone else in sound technology.

5

Missed your second post. You will get a far greater variety of distortion sounds out of a hollow body. Your problem will be if you are doing it with high output speakers it can get hard to control.

6

Excellent! Thanks for the advice - I think I’ll go with the Ibanez, unless another shiny object catches my eye in the meantime (ie, before tomorrow morning.) Last thing, then I promise I’ll shut up; any ideas about a good practice amp? It’ll only ever be used in the house, so small is good.

7

You’d know better than me, but I suspect that there are more than a few guitar shop guys with a rudimentary command of English in HK. But I wouldn’t be talking to salesmen right away. First thing I’d be doing is hooking up with local players and trying out their axes. I’d imagine there are expat Brits and Aussies who rock on the weekends, not to mention Chinese guys who are into the East Asian (mainly Japanese) metal scene in all its bodacious glory.

You mentioned effects pedals. Chances are, if you’re using effects pedals, you’ll be playing a solidbody electric. Effects pedals are usually used when music is played at high volumes, in rock and blues. Hollowbody guitars will tend to feedback at high volumes, so they’re a lot less common in rock. Hollowbodies are common in jazz, where a cleaner, mellower sound is called for, with a lot less distortion and effects. (Think George Benson or Wes Montgomery)

Soldibody electrics have traditionally been grouped into two main categories, the Les Paul style and the Fender Strat (and Telecaster) style. Les Pauls typically have a wider neck that is more comfortable to play, but also more difficult to reach for tricky string combinations.

Les Pauls usually have two humbucking pickups - each rectangular metal pickup cover has two single coil pickups underneath it, positioned side by side. This arrangement cancels out some of the hum and noise that comes through with single coil pickups standing alone. Humbuckers also cut out some of the high tones, and increase the strength of the signal, giving a fatter tone with less brightness than you find with Fender Strats. Jimmy Page was a great Les Paul player during his Led Zep days. The maple top LP’s that Page and other rockers favored also had more sustain and heavier weight than Fender style guitars.

Fender Strats have three single coil pickups, with a selection switch that allows you to combine the pickups for tonal variety. Single coil pickups capture more noise but also more high tones for a brighter, sharper tone. The narrower neck on a Fender is less comfortable to play, but allows for better reach for different string combinations.

Fender Teles - the model immediately preceding the Strat in development by the Fender company - have two pickups, a sharper,brighter sound, and markedly less sustain than Les Pauls. Teles have long been a favorite of country and western quick picking guitar players, though Keith Richards and other blues influenced rockers have also preferred Teles. Strats, by contrast, have been the axes of choice for guitar gods like Hendrix and Clapton.

Nowdays there are all kinds of imitations and combinations of the Fender and Les Paul styles, mass produced in Asia, custom made in Europe and the States. If you’re looking for rock bottom cheap that still gives you an acceptable sound, try the Yamaha Yamaha EG-112, a Strat copy with one humbucker and two single coils. OTOH, if you’re a serious player ( you give that impression) talk to a lot of people and try out their instruments. You can sometimes find a used classic six string with a beautiful sound for a few hundred.

8

Lola - sounds like you might’ve already bought something given the timing of this post. If so, best of luck.

If you have not - a few questions and points to consider if you are serious:

  1. Tell us what type of electric guitar playing you like - what songs and players do you want to sound like? I can tell you what guitar and amp they typically play.

  2. What type of blues do you want to play? Flat pick? Fingerpick? Do you want to play basically the same stuff on electric, just louder, or do you want to play a different style of music? Or if you want to play jazz, blues and some rock, vs. blues, rock and some punk - draw a circle for us around the main styles you will be playing on it…

  3. How critical is your ear - are you a serious acoustic player who, if you got into electric, would pick up tonal nuance pretty quickly?

  4. How much of a toy person are you - if I described a simple guitar and amp rig that is “plug n’ go” but only does one or two tones really well, vs. a guitar and amp rig that has 27 buttons and dials and can recreate dozens of tones, but you need to read the manual for a bit to learn how - which sounds more like you?

How much are you willing to spend? Just a range.

Besides that Ibanez, what guitars have caught your eye in terms of brands, models and colors? Fwiw, Ibanez are decently made Korean guitars that, if set up properly, are fine. They are not great by any means, but they can be good. If you are looking at a totally hollow (vs. a semi-hollow - big difference) Ibanez, it should be good for clean, un-distorted jazz, blues and rockabilly…

Hope this helps

9

I play an Ibanez Artcore Semihollowbody AM73. That;s a whole lot of description, to be sure. I got it because I was mainly an acoustic player, and my Ibanez electric just didn’t sound, well, good enough. So I picked up the semihollowbody and it is amazing. You can sound like an acoustic, or a flat out rocker, and it was cheap, probably a good idea for a first electric guitar. Good luck!

~S&S

10

My “hands down” recommendation for the best inexpensive solid-body electric guitar is the OLP MM1. (OLP = Officially Licensed Product) (MM1 = Music Man 1)
This is an inexpensive copy of a Music Man guitar designed by Ernie Ball. A genuine one goes for over a thousand, Peavey makes a version of this (the Wolfgang) for about $500 but the OLP sells anywhere from $100- $200. It has great “action” and the pickups are quite good considering the low price. If you haven’t bought a guitar already, it would be well worth your time to give the OLP a try.

11

Micro Cube amp for practice and check out the Line6 Acoustics - they aren’t really acoustic but are incredible technology. You can dial up a sound - model of guitar or banjo or mandolin or sitar, and change tunings. They have sound samples all produced from the same guitar model.

12

Excellent choice, Lola. The new Ibanez Artcore line is fantastic. Nice, balanced, medium-output humbuckers for a gorgeous, warm sound, and the fit and finish of these guitars is excellent. Ibanez figured it out. Classic, beautiful guitars without the nameplate markup. I’ve been playing an old, torn-up '70’s Ibanez version of a 335 for years, and I love it.

I found my baby at Central Market in DC back in 1997. Here’s a pic. Some clown stripped the original tobacco sunburst finish and did a horrible job refinishing it, plus replaced the neck pickup with a really hot DiMarzio. I originally vowed to renovate the guitar from the ground up, but after I put new tuners on it and adjusted the neck pickup so I didn’t get a rraaaaaaaaging heavy metal tone when I switched over (now it has a gorgeous, smooth tone,) I decided I liked it just the way it was - scars and all.

Now it’s just about all I play. I can get anything from a silky clean to a jangly punch to a massive crunch on it with no problem. Most versatile guitar I’ve ever played.

I knew that Ibanez stopped making the Artcores (originally called Artist Series in the '70’s) after a series of lawsuits from the big-names. Seems that Ibanez simply bought a Gibson 335, took it apart, and copied the bracing, pickup characteristics, etc., put the Ibanez nameplate on, and sold it for 1/4 the price. Gibson eventually won the right to patent its bracing sysytem and put the Artist Series out of business.

I was therefore understandably interested when I heard that they were reintroducing the same line (with ostensibly different bracing) under the Artcore name a couple of years ago. Were they good guitars or cheap chunks of lumber? After playing several in the series, I have to say:

They knocked the bottom out of it. These guitars are superb. They sound wonderful, and look like they should cost 3 times the price. Best of all, they make a huge range of them, from full-size jazz boxes to 335-style semi-hollows. And, of course, they’re cheap. Can’t go wrong, in my opinion.

Check out the full range here (if you haven’t already): http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/series.asp?s=artcore&l=e

Also, if you’re concerned about the price, consider ordering from www.zzounds.com or www.musiciansfriend.com. Low prices.

13

Ogre - I have a very similar Ibanez to yours - an '81 AS-50, a 335-type of semi-hollow guitar, but the body is smaller than a normal 335. Great great guitar.

I agree with most of what you say, just caution that the new Ibanez’ are made in Korea, I believe in the same Samick plant that makes a tone of different-labelled guitars. The point is that they aren’t the same magical handmade Japanese Ibanez that you and I have.

Having said that, you say you’ve played one and found it great. I have played a few and found them to be a good value, but not knock-down, drag-out amazing. I stick with my original post: it depends on what Lola is looking to play. But these guitars are a good place to start for an electric…

14

Thanks, everyone. I’m going back to the store today to give the Ibanez a proper tryout, so I’ll see how she goes after that.

Wordman , I play fingerpicking blues mostly, but am also reintroducing myself to the wonders of the flatpick. I don’t have any particular player I want to (or could!) emulate, but I guess I’d be more in favour of a clean, bluesy or jazzy sound than heavy distortion, generally speaking. Apart from Ibanez, I’m seriously attracted to all things Gibson, but they look a pit on the pricy side, given that I don’t know if I’ll “take” to electrics at all. Maybe in six months’ time.

Don’t ask , thanks for the recommendation on the Micro Cube - it’s been mentioned by friends of mine, so I’ll certainly check it out.

Belowjob , you’re right, of course; the guitar shop guys do have reasonable English (better than my non-existent Cantonese) but they struggle when discussing technical things which I find hard to get my head around anyway. I’ll definitely have a look for the Yamaha and give it a go.

Everyone Else, all advice and general enthusiasm is gratefully received.

15

Lola - sounds like the Ibanez would suit you fine. Best of luck.

16

Just another vote for Ibanez.

I have what used to a be an RG550 and a Gibson Les Paul copy.

17

Swift update - bought the (unbelievably cheap) Ibanez AF75 and a Roland cube amp. I am genuinely amazed at the quality and range of tones I can get (yeah, I’m only new to it and very easily impressed) and deeply, deeply impressed with the whole package. Acoustic (a rather lovely Martin, I hasten to add) is sitting sad and neglected in the corner…

18

On a stand I hope.

19

Oh and someone should have mentioned headphone amps so that you can add extra hours of practice.

20

Congrats on new gear. It sounds like the 3 of you will be very happy together.

I expect to be passing through Hong Kong early in '05 (Jan or Feb) on my way home from adopting yet another daughter. If’n you’d like to sit and play a bit, let me know–I’ll try to find you while I’m there.