New Lead guitar..?

[jono]

Originally Posted by Globbits

Mavericks. Get yourself up to denmark street and look around. the maverick X-treme is a crazyass guitar, but probably a bit over your budeget (£750). A maverick F1/2/3 is RG shaped and equally good, with hot Evolution pickups (not the same as Dimarzio Evo's!)

I agree that the mavericks seem to have paid a lot of attention to their stock pickups. But I've never been able to keep on in tune for a whole song when I've tried them in the stores!!! If you can get one with a decent set up that might change though?

[jono]

Originally Posted by Swirly

Cheers Ill keep it in mind.

Would people recomend any ESP's? I heard the EXxxx series is nice to play (Similar shape to Explorers)

I'd recommend an ESP straight away, but would also point out that a LTD is not an ESP as they would like customers to think! However LTDs are still good guitars and on the few I've tried I was impressed by the overall standard of construction. They're a much better bargain inthe USA than they are over here though

I don't like the EX shape, but then I'm not really a fan of outlandish shapes at all. Check it for balance both standing and sitting before you buy.

[dex]

Here I go chiming in with a few sugestions.

In the UK for about £500 there are only 3 pointy rock guitars I would consider getting.

1. RG5xx - made in Japan, 2002 models come with the EDGE and the skiniest neck that was ever put on a production guitar.
2. Hamer Californian - 27 frets on the treble side, maple body for a crisp brittle sound but limited pickup options and it's made in Korea
3. Jackson DXMG - EMG-HZ humbuckers will give you the closest 'tallica sound than any of the above guitars.

You can also have a go at the Maverics, LTD (m-202 is not bad), Washburn and BC Rich while you're at it and just see which one youl like the most.
If you want to play mostly meedley...meedleey....meeeeeeeeeeeeeee kind of thing, get the RG5xx and if you want to play jugga...ja...jugga...ja...jugga..ja...jaahhh...jaa hhh, then get the Jackson.

as some people suggested before me the best thing to do is go to Denmark Street for a day and test play anything that grabs your attention.

[Ving]

Originally Posted by dex

2. Hamer Californian - 27 frets on the treble side, maple body for a crisp brittle sound but limited pickup options and it's made in Korea

It's a travesty...in the 80s they were hand made in America from Mahogany, with custom designed Duncan pickups and although there are only 2 pickups the sound is killer. Makes me wanna cry

For £379 for the current model though (which is around what I saw them for in some mag), you can hardly go wrong.

And it's a wicked shape

[Swirly]

Originally Posted by dex

1. RG5xx - made in Japan, 2002 models come with the EDGE and the skiniest neck that was ever put on a production guitar.

At the moment im swaying more towards the RG. Although are there any downsides to having such a thin neck? I personally love guitars with small necks, but not having played this before, having an amazingly thin neck...does it have any problems?

Originally Posted by dex

as some people suggested before me the best thing to do is go to Denmark Street for a day and test play anything that grabs your attention

Where the hell is that ? . I should be going to Gak (www.gak.co.uk) in Brighton this weekend to try a few out so hopefully ill find the right one

Originally Posted by dex

Jackson DXMG - EMG-HZ humbuckers will give you the closest 'tallica sound than any of the above guitars

Is there a way of replicating such a sound in the RG? Im not sure really how you would define the Metallica sound.But its certainlly the type of thing im after

[mecca777]

Originally Posted by Swirly

Is there a way of replicating such a sound in the RG? Im not sure really how you would define the Metallica sound.But its certainlly the type of thing im after

The "Metallica sound" comes from a combination of EMG-81 pickups and a "scooped" distorted amp sound (bass and treble turned up, middle turned right down). I would imagine that an EMG-81 pickup in the bridge of an Ibanez RG would give you the sound you're after: EMGs sound very consistent, regardless of the guitar they're in.

As for the thin necks on RGs, I've never ever had a bad experience with them. No warping, no set-up difficulties. And they're so comfortable to play. My brother used to play in a punk band. He junked the SGs and Strats he used to play and borrowed my RG570 instead, simply because of the feel on the neck.

[wallopwallop]

Ahhhh!!! Denmark Street. It's the guitar buyer's Mecca for those chaps living in London (and a few living outside!).

Denmark Street is a 150m long road just off Tottenham Ct Road near Soho and it is wall to wall music shops. There is one curry house and a couple of bars though!

There are shops stocking the following:

Ibanez
Fender
BC Rich
ESP
Gibson
Maverick
Tokai
MusicMan
Parker

Turn left at the end of the road and you will stumble across Turnkey (Soho Soundhouse) and Maccarris [sp?]. These guys stock:

Peavey
PRS
Jackson
Hamer
More Gibson's
More Fenders
More Parkers
Dean
Gretsch

All in all you have shops stocking pretty much every 'major' make of guitar within a couple of minutes walk of each other. There are also Vintage guitar emporiums and all kinds of weird / old / lovely exotica. Its worth a trip to London. You can try some stuff out and then check out some other sites.

[dex]

Originally Posted by mecca777

The "Metallica sound" comes from a combination of EMG-81 pickups and a "scooped" distorted amp sound (bass and treble turned up, middle turned right down). I would imagine that an EMG-81 pickup in the bridge of an Ibanez RG would give you the sound you're after: EMGs sound very consistent, regardless of the guitar they're in.

This is spot on, but keep in mind a few things.

1. EMG-81 is an active pickup and you need to install a batery in your guitar to run it.
2. If you only change the bridge, I'm not sure it'll work very well having 2 pasive and an active pickup.
3. Mesa Boogie amp will help as well

The Metallica guys also run a few pedals between the guitar and the mesas.
The easyest way to get that without any mods whatsoever is to get the Jackson as the EMG-HZ in it have a very consistent heavy sound.
To me they sound closer to 85's but still way closer to the 81's than the V8 ever will.
As far as the neck - unles you are a big hands fella skiny neck is a bliss.
It is still solid enough to be stable.
Steve plays wizard necks (Anthony Garone said that) and he's not complayning.
GAK have the DXMG and the RG550 in stock so you can have a go for yourself.

P.S. as mecca said above if you dump real EMG-81 in ANY guitar they'll sound pretty much the same, so if that sound is a must get a £400 guitar and a real EMG-81 humbucker to go in the bridge.

[Swirly]

Cheers for the info. I should be going to GAK somtime this week and hopefully trying out the RG and possibly a few others.
The cheapest ive seen the RG550 for is £480, dont supose you guys know of anywhere in the UK where i can get one cheaper. Hopefully leaving some money left over for some new pups.

Ta

[mecca777]

Originally Posted by Swirly

Cheers for the info. I should be going to GAK somtime this week and hopefully trying out the RG and possibly a few others.
The cheapest ive seen the RG550 for is £480, dont supose you guys know of anywhere in the UK where i can get one cheaper. Hopefully leaving some money left over for some new pups.

At GAK, the RG550 is listed at £500, but the RG570 is listed at £450, and the only difference between the 550 and the 570 is that the 570 doesn't have a scratchplate.

It's also worth bearing in mind that Ibanez have just rejigged their entire product line, upgrading the RG550/RG570 with new hardware and Prestige necks; this might mean that 2002 stock gets put in "clearance sales" once the new stuff comes in, so it could be worth your while to hold your cash for a few weeks and see whether prices on the old ones start to fall. You could see some real bargains.

Hope it goes well!

[Swirly]

Originally Posted by mecca777

At GAK, the RG550 is listed at £500, but the RG570 is listed at £450, and the only difference between the 550 and the 570 is that the 570 doesn't have a scratchplate.



Hope it goes well!

So its basically a case of having £50 extra, and all you get is a a scratch plate. Hmm, thats somthing to consider. For some reason though after reading reviews of both the 550 still came out top :/

Originally Posted by mecca777

It's also worth bearing in mind that Ibanez have just rejigged their entire product line, upgrading the RG550/RG570 with new hardware and Prestige necks; this might mean that 2002 stock gets put in "clearance sales" once the new stuff comes in, so it could be worth your while to hold your cash for a few weeks and see whether prices on the old ones start to fall. You could see some real bargains.

Good point.Although when do you think most UK dealers would be getting the new stuff in? Im pretty impaitient as it is. Im not sure i could wait that much longer

[Alain]

I'd say try every guitar you find!

[Swirly]

Hi again guys. Im pretty set on getting the RG550, but i noticed that the Jackson RX10D was about the same sort of price, and id heard some good things about them, and the fact that they look pretty nice. Anyone able to comment on them?