A 6 thin stringer

PaulMacCnj · #1 11-24-2010, 05:12 PM

Sorry if this is in the wrong area on TB, but I'm looking for a cheap guitar for recording rhythm parts. Yes, I must admit that while I primarily play bass, I still do play guitar. It's fun to multi-track the bass parts over what I played on the guitar.

I have a Squier Strat that's "ok". But, I demo'ed an Epiphone Les Paul Junior and it was pretty cool, especially at about $160. It just felt, played and sounded a lot nicer than my Squier.

If I had the extra money to spend I would get the Schecter Tempest Custom. That's a really nice and different guitar from the sea of Fender and Gibson copies on the market. The $700 price isn't going to cut it for me, though.

Any thoughts, suggestions from TB land?

**TRichardsbass** · #2 11-26-2010, 08:27 AM

Any old Danelectro or Silvertone. Cool tones, great for rhythm parts.

NKBassman · #3 11-26-2010, 09:35 AM

What kind of music are you playing?

TolerancEJ · #4 11-26-2010, 12:20 PM

Nothing wrong with playing both the bass and guitar. Have you ever practiced your bass for a very long time, then picked up the guitar? The strings feel almost non-existent. ...And since I'm a fingerstyle bass player, I find myself using my fingers to play the guitar as well. I am able to use a pick, but I choose my fingers by choice. I suppose if I need a some thick & chunky sound, I will probably need to use the pick.

If I were to own any 2 guitars, I would choose a Fender American Standard Strat HSS and a Gibson Les Paul Standard/Traditional/Custom, or even a Studio model would be good... so many different LP models, it's hard to keep track of them. I think those 2 guitars would pretty much cover any sound you would need. (If I had a 3rd choice, I'd probably pick a PRS Custom 22 or 24.)

GianGian · #5 11-26-2010, 12:31 PM

Something with a single on the neck and a humbucker on the bridge is very versatile. You could modify a cheap start, or get one like this. You can do a lot with this pick up configuration.

PaulMacCnj · #6 11-27-2010, 07:05 AM

Here's an update. Being it was Black Friday and I had a couple of gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, I went to the music store and bought an Epiphone Les Paul Special II, new. The salesman knocked off a few bucks and threw in a set of new strings. I get it home, tune it up and start playing. About 10 minutes goes by when all of a sudden the guitar goes completely out of tune; I mean seriously out of tune and the action went really high. Two of the neck screws pulled out! I'm thinking some knuckleheads in the store must have had fun bending the neck. It's a cheap guitar, but I can't believe Epiphone is making guitar this badly.

While it's easy to fix stripped neck screw holes, I'm going to take the guitar back to the store today because who knows how much other abuse this guitar has been through. This is why there are signs everywhere that say, "DO NOT TOUCH THE GUITARS!".

Answer to the question: I play Rock, nothing hard sounding like Metal or the derivatives of it. Think more like Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Allman Brothers, old Dire Straits, Doobie Brothers, etc.

Martin89 · #7 11-27-2010, 09:22 PM

I had a special II and I loved it, very versatile for the price as a rhythm guitar. I was almost tempted to grab the one they came out with p90's in it but I'll probably end up getting a dot semi-hollow as my main rhythm guitar when I get back to the states. Strat HSS rig is always good too, an Ibanez RG/S with that config would be more than accurate and good for lead stuff too.

N.F.A. · #8 11-27-2010, 09:26 PM

Answer to the question: I play Rock, nothing hard sounding like Metal or the derivatives of it. Think more like Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Allman Brothers, old Dire Straits, Doobie Brothers, etc.[/quote]

I like your taste in bands. Old Peavey Predators are cheap on CL and not too bad guitars.

FrenchAK · #9 11-27-2010, 09:37 PM

I know the SX basses from Rondo are highly praised on Talkbass, and I have a friend who bought an Agile, on of Rondo's guitar brands, and absolutely swears by it. He ordered one of the many Les Paul copies, which I think look great. He's played it side-by-side with a Gibson Les Paul (Studio, I believe), and says the Les Paul sounded fantastic but his sounded almost as great, cost about a third as much, and was more comfortable to play. Not to mention Rondo carries just about as many guitar shapes and styles you can imagine.

"I'm thinking some knuckleheads in the store must have had fun bending the neck."

I don't even like thinking about all the guitars and basses that get destroyed, or beat up, or just generally mistreated by people in music stores. :/

PaulMacCnj · #10 11-28-2010, 06:24 AM

The sales people at the shop were very cool and offered a few options. There were no more Epiphones in that price range, but there were a few Squiers.

I chose the Telecaster Avril Lavigne signature model since I didn't want another Strat. It's really more like an Esquire since it only has a bridge pickup, a humbucker/single coil tap type. It plays/sounds great and they gave me a better deal on it than the Epi. The only thing that had to go away immediately is the white/black checkerboard pickguard. The black was painted and easily removed; the all white looks so much better, IMO.