Hey guys,
I'll try to make this short and sweet! I'm mainly a rhythm guitarist who likes to dabble in lead guitar every now and then, so I'd say my playing is 70-75% rhythm, and 25-30% lead. I've been playing for about a little under 8 years now, and looking to buy my second electric guitar lol. I mostly play metal/hard rock, with the occasional alternative every once in a while. Also, most of my playing is on drop D and drop C, again with the frequent standard.
Budget - About 275 - 300 CAD (tight budget, I know :/ ...MIGHT be able to push it up to 325 or 350, but would prefer not to).
Favorite artists/tones - Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, Bring Me The Horizon, Trivium, Trapt (clean tones), Times of Grace.
Pickups - Not leaning towards any specific types/brands of pickups because of my budget, so I'm pretty flexible here. But I would appreciate pickups that put out good pinch harmonics.
Condition - Would highly prefer new, but if the deal is good enough, I'm good with used!
Location - Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Current Gear - Zoom G2.1u pedal that plays into Sennheiser headphones, haven't owned a decent amp in ages (don't really need one, usually only use amps at friends' places or live, in which case they're provided). I have a shitty Yamaha guitar I bought a lifetime ago and have used for a while.
These are my criteria/preferences:
1.) Like I said before, I'm not picky about pickups since my budget is tight, but I do like to have nice and clear pinch harmonics.
2.) I know there quite a few types of bridges out there. Like I said, I have a real old Yamaha with a standard/stock bridge, and kinda got used to palm-muting on that. Heard palm-muting can be a bitch on other types of bridges, so any tips on palm-muting on say a ZR or Edge III bridge?
3.) I'm looking for a guitar that can withstand detuning during whammy bar usage (hence the ZR or Edge III mention above). Doesn't have to stay perfectly in tune but I'm talking relative here.
P.S: Brands I'm open to - Ibanez, Schecter, Washburn, Dean, Jackson, Carvin, Fender, BC Rich, Peavey, ESP/LTD.
Sorry for the long post guys, hope any of can help! Thanks :)
Hi Farid,
Unfortunately, I am not an expert in a sense that I really haven't played a lot of different models during my 'career'. However, I'm sure the other folks here will be of more help and can provide some concrete advice.
Spontaneously, I could think of the Ibanez RG421QM. This may somewhat fit your expectations. However, I've never personally played that guitar, so please take this with a grain of salt.
Ulrich
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What are you paying now, and what are you looking at doing that the one you have doesn't do?
Paul B
What are you paying now, and what are you looking at doing that the one you have doesn't do?
Thanks for the replies guys! As I haven't been focusing on playing for a while, the electric I currently have I bought in 2006 (and have been playing it ever since). I bought it a little after I started out playing acoustic guitar and it's the Yamaha ERG121 (the basic kickstarter gig maker whatever it's called). It gave me tuning issues whenever I used the whammy bar, and over time whenever I played on the higher frets beyond 12th the tuning was off even though all frets before the 12th were in tune. Also, over time, the high E string gave me a weird and disturbing ring when I play the 10th fret, sounded pretty bad.
Right now I narrowed it down to a few brands that have guitars that fit my criteria (mentioned above) within my budget. I am ok with buying a guitar with a floating bridge now, although it'll be a bitch to tune from drop D to drop C and vice versa. This is provided that the guitar holds its tuning very well if I use the whammy bar. These are the few choices I narrowed it down to.
1. Ibanez RG series
2. Schecter Damien 6 (would have to buy it used though to fit the budget)
3. Fernandes Revolver X
4. Epiphone Les Paul Special II GT
Please let me know if there are any other options, and also which of the above you would recommend!
Epiphone Special II GT rocks! Amazing guitar for the money. Honest humbuckers, Whammy bar is old school, but usable. Tone knob kill switch for Bucket Head articulations.
Hello,
First off. Buy used. Watch guitar center used if you have a store near you they will ship it to your local store for $10 USD, you can often negotiate the price and/or get them to throw in strings. There are very few reasons to buy a new guitar unless you have very specific desires and you do not seem to. Check out craigslist. Ibanez and Fernandes make great guitars for the price, I get a lot of schecters and I'm not really impressed with the build and the epiphones are really pretty bland and boring. Obviously, the shechter and the epi you aren't getting the trem. I'd personally go with the Fernedes, I have two right now and they are pretty rad guitars.
As for your tuning problem, there is a right way to set a trem and there is the way everybody use it and complains that they don't stay in tune.
1) Change your strings, tune them up to a few steps flat from A 440hz (standard) (just don't tune all the way up)
2) Bend the strings to seat them over the nut and the saddles
3) Tune each string up to ideal tuning with out fine tuning so you are only tuning up in pitch (you can go slightly over just don't go back flat.)
4) Bend the trem all the way down and hold it there momentarily then slowly release it.
5) now tune the lowest string to pitch and repeat step 4
6) repeat until the string does not go out between trems (usually two or three time)
7) repeat through the strings.
Voila! Trem dives in tune.
If not, you most likely need the nut adjusted to suit the string gauge.
