what brands make a good guitar ?

j.arledge · #1 02-21-2007, 01:44 AM

so i am still kickin around opening up a music shop however the one and only local shop carries , esp, ibanez , gibson/epiphone,fender, jackson and prs . quite an impressive spread .

so that leaves me with
music man
fernandes
bc rich
dean
g&l
schecter
washburn

and any other options i just missed . the one thing the local shop isn't strong on is amps . they carry peavey fender and ibanez NO MARSHALLS which isn't all my thing but lets be honest names sell , you know whoever plays a marshall so i want a marshall .

the town is actually a strong metal town and there are a lot of goth/emo/screamo/ whatever kids . my guitar teacher worked at the local shop and said anytime they'd get an ibanez rg or whatever it would sell quick , but he said they didn't order any fenders or very few fenders the entire time he worked there . when they were selling out thier inventory for a new company take over they had to mark the standard strats all the way down to 280 to move them . yeah .....

so i was thinking dean or bc rich . i'll admit dean in the past has had thier problems with some quality control but they are getting alot better . i owned a bc rich nj warlock , pre-speed loader blunder and it was ok but still not as good as an ibanez or esp comparitivly priced.

schecter makes some really good stuff , but guitar center has them in thier back pocket limiting internet sales. however like i said all the schecters i have played were made very nice and played great .

washburn , they have thier good an bad but re-sale on them is poo , and they dont seem to have a huge artist backing and i have had limited experience with them .

the cool thing about going dean is that the same distributor is responceable for g&l and B-52 amps . b-52 from what i am told is an excellent vaule amp and thier solid state line is cheap .

music man ernie ball . a plus is you get olp but the guitars aren't to everyones tastes . i have never had a chance to play one however they sub series is american made and at 500 somthing is cheap .

anyways , i am looking for input and if you own or have had experience with any of those brands good or bad .

thanks
jordan

dannymills · #2 02-21-2007, 09:08 AM

Music Man guitars are mindblowingly good. Wow. Get them!

Eggy · #3 02-21-2007, 09:13 AM

Brands do not make a good guitar. It's the person playing it.

Ben

Dee · #4 02-21-2007, 09:27 AM

^^^ I agree to some extent.

I disagree with the "a bad workman always blames his tools" mentality. Give an electrician a rusty, blunt screwdriver and a broken soldering iron and what do you get?

Crap gear is crap gear and it will only restrict your progress and discourage you from wanting to play. I played through total crap for years, but once I got a good setup (Marshall 2210 100w split channel JCM 800 full stack and an RG550) I sounded like a totally different guitar player. The sound of the amp was ultra inspiring (how I miss that old beast) and the guitar played like butter. Finally I could express myself AND enjoy doing it.

j.arledge · #5 02-21-2007, 09:31 AM

i know that a lot of it is in the player , but you'd all have to say that a squire is a much different guitar then an eric clapton strat. i was just wonderong what people were playing other then ibanez , and what was of a relative quality for a good price .

Batchimp RG · #6 02-21-2007, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dee

The sound of the amp was ultra inspiring

+1, there is such a thing as a crap guitar (I got one last year...RG350), I sold it within days. Life's too short mate

AleTheNervo · #7 02-21-2007, 10:24 AM

There's a brand I descovered some time ago: Armas. That's a made in Italy prs like guitar, very cheap and very impressive

Demiurge · #8 02-21-2007, 10:27 AM

I'd say go for Schecter (already big with hard rock/metal now), Dean (they're nipping at the heels, and you can be the only shop in town with the Rusty Cooley sig), and then carry Music Man and G&L Tributes for the traditionalists.

Don't forget, too, that you'll need to carry some el-cheapo's to keep the stock flowing. Those Samick Gary Bennett series guitars are pretty nice-looking.

**Ayrton** · #9 02-21-2007, 10:34 AM

Can't beat Schecter in the bang for the buck department.

Eggy · #10 02-21-2007, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j.arledge

i know that a lot of it is in the player , but you'd all have to say that a squire is a much different guitar then an eric clapton strat..

I'd have to opt out of the "you'd ALL have to say" because I completely disagree. I don't think it's a "much" different guitar at all. It's much different in price but I feel it's not worth the price difference. This is my old Squier I used to have. It cost me £40 off the bay and it played fine once it was set up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgIfGo6FzyA

I'd be happy to go up on stage along side most J Custom owners with a 350 any day of the week. As long as it can be set up properly and there's no massive issues then in my book it's a good guitar.

It's very rare that I would consider paying any more than £200 for a guitar since I got my Jem. It's lovely guitar, don't get me wrong but I could buy 6 £150 guitars for the price of my Jem and I assure you it's not worth six of my Washburn KC.

Ben

j.arledge · #11 02-21-2007, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eggy

I'd have to opt out of the "you'd ALL have to say" because I completely disagree. I don't think it's a "much" different guitar at all. It's much different in price but I feel it's worth the price difference. This is my old Squier I used to have. It cost me £40 off the bay and it played fine once it was set up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgIfGo6FzyA

I'd be happy to go up on stage along side most J Custom owners with a 350 any day of the week. As long as it can be set up properly and there's no massive issues then in my book it's a good guitar.

It's very rare that I would consider paying any more than £200 for a guitar since I got my Jem. It's lovely guitar, don't get me wrong but I could buy 6 £150 guitars for the price of my Jem and I assure you it's not worth six of my Washburn KC.

Ben

you have to difficult like that ....

for now getting started out i'd really only want to buy into one guitar company and one amp company . i know that sounds sorta stupid but i wouldn't have the investment capital to buy into 2 or 3 companies and then maintain the lines for however long it would take to generate profit . also buying into one company lets me become more established with that company/distributor and so it would leave the door open to getting better dealer rates and mean i would work my way up in priority .

as far as offering a wide range of guitars at all levels dean imo , is the best choice . they have basses , electrics , acoustics and semi-hollow bodied electrics . My concern is they are rather expensive in comparitive terms to other companies , USA made Deans are setting MAP AT LIKE 3000 and dean isn't the same company gibson is. they have a lot of pointies and new endrosees , but they still have the hardtail and soltero .

schecter seems like a really strong option right now as well . they have guitars that are very competitivly priced.

i still have more research to do i guess .

**jim777** · #12 02-21-2007, 01:35 PM

Inexpensive Deans tend to be very poor instruments, and good USA Deans are extremely expensive. I don't think I'd bother with them at all to be honest. I haven't played any cheaper Hamer's lately, but my brother just picked up a 90's strat copy that is a grat guitar. But I'd skip Dean I think.
Are you considering Line 6? Are you considering Heritage, or is that too non-metal?

King Knall · #13 02-21-2007, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannymills

Music Man guitars are mindblowingly good. Wow. Get them!

+1

My cousin has one and it's just that. Mind blowingly good.

andy7jem · #14 02-21-2007, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eggy

Brands do not make a good guitar. It's the person playing it.

Ben

That means my guitars are crap then

King Knall · #15 02-21-2007, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim777

Inexpensive Deans tend to be very poor instruments, and good USA Deans are extremely expensive. I don't think I'd bother with them at all to be honest. I haven't played any cheaper Hamer's lately, but my brother just picked up a 90's strat copy that is a grat guitar. But I'd skip Dean I think.
Are you considering Line 6? Are you considering Heritage, or is that too non-metal?

Really? I would think that the higher end Imports like the Hardtail are value for money. The Dimebags on the other hand, er, not so much.