The Official Guitar Thread

  • Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and give us your nominations!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Zapatta

Zapatta

Krugman's Fax Machine
<Gold Donor>
83,775
439,919
Welp apparently giving an Electric to my nephew for Xmas worked, he has clocked 12 hr. on Rocksmith over 2 days. Starts lessons in a week and won't STFU about guitars, . Both his parents are now super annoyed at me, and that was my true goal. I told them "Count your blessings, he wanted drums, I talked him into a guitar. " Up next I have to start introducing him to music. He doesn't know a single famous guitar player. I am gonna start with Chuck Berry and work forward.
 
Last edited:
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
27,463
43,676
Howlin Wolf man, Smokestack Lightnin', easy good tunes to learn!

So listen not to be a drag but from personal experience some teachers suck. Whoever is trying to inspire the kid should maybe sit in on a few lessons to make sure things are going well.

For instance when I was young I had a really shitty student guitar. Teacher was very strict but didn't really listen or try and adapt lessons or truly teach. I had a huge problem with my F chord. He tried to teach me a song I hated (like legit hated) and made me play it over and over for homework each week for like a month because I had trouble fretting a complete F chord. I gave up the guitar after maybe six months of bashing my head against stupid things and being forced into an acoustic for some practice in the studio which was awkward and heavy and made me feel shitty since I practiced at home on my electric.

Years later I said fuck it and drove to the local guitar store. I got another guitar (albeit a $400 one on holiday sale cheap instead of a $100 one) and took lessons. After a while and learning a lot really quickly, I went to my closet and pulled out the really shitty starter strat, restrung it and sure as shit the neck was warped and it was nigh physically impossible to fret an F chord because two of the unwound strings would fret out at around the fourth fret. As a kid I didn't know better, the teacher didn't care and I lost years of playing.

There's a lot of value to practice routines and reading music but at the end of the day if you don't connect with music you're just learning muscle memory for a sound tool.
 
Zapatta

Zapatta

Krugman's Fax Machine
<Gold Donor>
83,775
439,919
Palum said:
There's a lot of value to practice routines and reading music but at the end of the day if you don't connect with music you're just learning muscle memory for a sound tool.
Click to expand...

Biggest hurdle is kids don't seem to be as connected to music now days. The radio and the record stores were a big part of my childhood, they don't have that anymore. He can't tell you the name of a single song, the kid needs a serious rock n roll education. I was proud the first things he wanted to learn to play were The Ramones and Kiss, so there is hope. A copy of AC/DCs Back in Black is headed his way in the near future.
 
Zapatta

Zapatta

Krugman's Fax Machine
<Gold Donor>
83,775
439,919
Palum said:
Howlin Wolf man, Smokestack Lightnin', easy good tunes to learn!

So listen not to be a drag but from personal experience some teachers suck. Whoever is trying to inspire the kid should maybe sit in on a few lessons to make sure things are going well.

For instance when I was young I had a really shitty student guitar. Teacher was very strict but didn't really listen or try and adapt lessons or truly teach. I had a huge problem with my F chord. He tried to teach me a song I hated (like legit hated) and made me play it over and over for homework each week for like a month because I had trouble fretting a complete F chord. I gave up the guitar after maybe six months of bashing my head against stupid things and being forced into an acoustic for some practice in the studio which was awkward and heavy and made me feel shitty since I practiced at home on my electric.

Years later I said fuck it and drove to the local guitar store. I got another guitar (albeit a $400 one on holiday sale cheap instead of a $100 one) and took lessons. After a while and learning a lot really quickly, I went to my closet and pulled out the really shitty starter strat, restrung it and sure as shit the neck was warped and it was nigh physically impossible to fret an F chord because two of the unwound strings would fret out at around the fourth fret. As a kid I didn't know better, the teacher didn't care and I lost years of playing.

There's a lot of value to practice routines and reading music but at the end of the day if you don't connect with music you're just learning muscle memory for a sound tool.
Click to expand...

He is getting his first lessons at school (private) from his Music teacher who is a multi-instrumentalist and plays in Jazz and Rock bands, That teacher kind of set this all in motion by saying the kid should move away from trumpet and into Bass or Guitar. Hopefully he can get the ball rolling. There are a ton of private teachers around here and if I am gonna pony up for one I would definitely sit in and see whats what. They also have a School of Rock type deal in my town that has been running for 30+ yrs I want him to go check out. Once the kid starts getting a handle on the basics I have semi-pro friends who offered to step up. They are super supportive of the idea of helping kids become shredders.


So now I am looking for used. Craigslist around here blows for guitars. All the listings are either a bottom rung Squiers, Ibanezs from the 80s or $3000 LPs. There are a ton of decent amps, but no guitars. I am probably not knowledgeable enough to buy off of CL anyhow. There are 5 decent new / used Mom-n-Pop Music stores in my area, guess I will start hitting those. No clue what I am looking for. What am I looking for guys?
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
38,360
16,251
Zapatta said:
He is getting his first lessons at school (private) from his Music teacher who is a multi-instrumentalist and plays in Jazz and Rock bands, That teacher kind of set this all in motion by saying the kid should move away from trumpet and into Bass or Guitar. Hopefully he can get the ball rolling. There are a ton of private teachers around here and if I am gonna pony up for one I would definitely sit in and see whats what. They also have a School of Rock type deal in my town that has been running for 30+ yrs I want him to go check out. Once the kid starts getting a handle on the basics I have semi-pro friends who offered to step up. They are super supportive of the idea of helping kids become shredders.


So now I am looking for used. Craigslist around here blows for guitars. All the listings are either a bottom rung Squiers, Ibanezs from the 80s or $3000 LPs. There are a ton of decent amps, but no guitars. I am probably not knowledgeable enough to buy off of CL anyhow. There are 5 decent new / used Mom-n-Pop Music stores in my area, guess I will start hitting those. No clue what I am looking for. What am I looking for guys?
Click to expand...
What type of music does he like?

You mentioned Chuck berry but is he even into that stuff? I only ask because you don't want t to get into the mindset that he's wrong and you're right about music.

I'd guess kids these days are still into the same old stuff. Alternative and rock pop at his age.

Nothing wrong with a Jackson dinky or a used Ibanez rg. Something like an rg570 or mij Ibanez rg470 are great guitars. Fenders are good starters too. You could find a mim strat in that range I'd imagine.

I'll be honest I've never played a schecter I liked playing but if he likes those you could look for used C-1s as those are good quality.
 
Zapatta

Zapatta

Krugman's Fax Machine
<Gold Donor>
83,775
439,919
Palum said:
What area are you in Zappatta?
Click to expand...

ATM Hawaii til Feb. Then Guam, then Japan.

Noodleface said:
What type of music does he like?

You mentioned Chuck berry but is he even into that stuff? I only ask because you don't want t to get into the mindset that he's wrong and you're right about music.

I'd guess kids these days are still into the same old stuff. Alternative and rock pop at his age.

Nothing wrong with a Jackson dinky or a used Ibanez rg. Something like an rg570 or mij Ibanez rg470 are great guitars. Fenders are good starters too. You could find a mim strat in that range I'd imagine.

I'll be honest I've never played a schecter I liked playing but if he likes those you could look for used C-1s as those are good quality.
Click to expand...

I got him a cheapo SGR by Schecter C-1. It fine to start. He's very happy with it so far. It sounds and plays amazing for the price tag.

I am looking for something affordable / cheap for me to fuck around with and hand down to him as he gets better as an incentive to progress. As far as music he likes. He doesnt have a defined taste so far. He enjoys rock. I have been texting him a vid of a Guitar God a couple times a day to see who grabs him. He just insnt exposed to a lot of rock. His parents have shit taste in music.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
38,360
16,251
Send him a video of any of these:







You might be better off hitting up a guitar shop and just playing around with guitars and see what feels good in your hand. I know for me I have to feel a neck before I play a guitar. If it's too thick I just can't do it - other dudes are complete opposites.
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
27,463
43,676
Zapatta said:
ATM Hawaii til Feb. Then Guam, then Japan.
Click to expand...

Whoops. On your own... lol.

Also oh shit look what just arrived

1229162054.png



Seriously though what humbuckers to get?
 
Heriotze

Heriotze

<Gold Donor>
1,049
1,450
McQueen said:
I went from 10's to 9's on my RG655 and the guy ran out of adjustment room on the neck and the fat E string ended up with a buzz. Is that kinda thing normal? I think I'm going to go back to 10's (maybe 10-52?) rather than fuck around trying to get 9's to play right.
Click to expand...
I had the same thing with my Penguin and it ended up being that the saddle in the bridge was just molded weird and the low e was able to shake around. The only way that I found to fix it was to raise that side of the bridge almost up to the last thread and that was a shitty solution so I went back to a 10 set and that cleared it up.

I'd never had that problem before and it was the first pro setup for that guitar so it was a bit annoying that they left my low e practically unplayable but 10's fixed it for me
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
27,463
43,676
So if anyone cares, I sent a tracing to WD Music for my PG along with instructions on reroute for humbuckers. I did a test fit and it's nearly perfect. I will have to do a tiny bit of sanding where it meets the control plate, but I was expecting that because the stock guard was a bit sanded/beveled oddly for fitment as well.

The pickup holes are right on and it's going to work well. If anyone needs anything custom i would recommend them at this point.

Also, spent hours listening to videos and ultimately ordered SD Antiquities. In the end it was a toss up between Seth Lovers, SD 59s, Ants and Gibson BB Pros. I also briefly considered Alnico II Pros but they fell in an odd gap between the 59s and SLs to me so I decided against considering them.

Ultimately while none are perfect, I felt the 59s were a bit higher output and lacked some clarity and the BB Pros are pretty nice but become ice picks pretty quickly. The Seths were the main competition but I think there's a better clarity and articulation to the sound with the degaussed Alnico IIs in the Ants vs the new ones in the SLs. Ants will be lower output and a bit warmer but the guitar is lighter and Alder vs Mahogany and my setup is tuned towards single coils anyway.

We'll see, I may end up swapping them out with the SD warranty if I change my mind.
 
Zapatta

Zapatta

Krugman's Fax Machine
<Gold Donor>
83,775
439,919
Continuing my search. I am looking at this Fender Triple Telecaster Guitar. And I would totally pull the trigger but a Black on Black Tele is meh and fat C neck doesn't thrill me either. The price tag is stupid cheap tho, but that means they aren't moving I am guessing.
 
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
27,463
43,676
Teles are bricks and yea I'm not a super fan of a fat C neck myself.

Decent price though.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
38,360
16,251
You'd think so

Check out early wintersun videos. Singer shredded on a tele and played melodic death metal.

I got that Dunlop full guitar care kit. Gonna try it out tonight. Probably mostly snake oil.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.