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Guitar Gaf |OT| Fingerpickin’ good

Yeah, Tokai does make their lower priced models in China— the comment about the Fakais wasn't a slight against non-Japanese guitars, just a buyer-beware about guitars purported to be Tokai that aren't.


My Fender Japan Stratocaster was possibly made by Tokai (though also could have been Dyna, like my Greco). Bought it new from Ishibashi before Fender put a moratorium on exporting new ones (may have been lifted?). Ishibashi was a great experience despite the first Strat getting lost in the mail.

Ha! I actually meant to quote the guy you quoted who was asking about Tokais! You are correct that there are a lot of fakes tho - pretty sure I the PRS copy i got is a fake - it's not a patch on the LS48
 

Surfinn

Member
I've got a question here.. I've owned a Gibson SG Special (American) for about ten years now. I LOVE the way it sounds (I replaced the pickups with SD Jazz and SD JB), but I was doing some research and lots of people saying the neck is prone to bend and go out of tune easily, even with better tuners/other improvements and upgrades. I've struggled with it for years and have decided to sell it for a guitar that's just better built to stay in tune.

Are there any high quality guitars out there that are more likely stay in tune consistently and have a smooth fretboard that's easy to move up and down the neck? Looking for just a good versatile rock guitar with the same or very similar pickups. Range is about $800-$1000. Thanks for the help.
 
I've got a question here.. I've owned a Gibson SG Special (American) for about ten years now. I LOVE the way it sounds (I replaced the pickups with SD Jazz and SD JB), but I was doing some research and lots of people saying the neck is prone to bend and go out of tune easily, even with better tuners/other improvements and upgrades. I've struggled with it for years and have decided to sell it for a guitar that's just better built to stay in tune.

Are there any high quality guitars out there that are more likely stay in tune consistently and have a smooth fretboard that's easy to move up and down the neck? Looking for just a good versatile rock guitar with the same or very similar pickups. Range is about $800-$1000. Thanks for the help.

My ESP Eclipse II is a great rock guitar - not had any issues with tuning sounds outstanding (SD JB and 59 pups). New they are pretty pricey but I got mine for a steal at 650 bucks. Would recommend it in an instant if youy can get a good deal.

Funnily enough the singer in our band has an SG that has tuning issues as well, been set up many times and always goes out pretty quick.

My approach has always been to 'try my hand' at deals rather than blowing all my moolah on a real high-end guitar, and have been pretty lucky so far - that would be my other advice, look for deals, keep trying out guitars till you find one that speaks to you!
 
[tuning problems]

Might be the neck, might not. Seems you'd need to do some experimenting to be sure.

FWIW I have a thin Gibson LP-like guitar that wouldn't stay in tune. Luthier I took it to looked at the headstock and told me I was stringing it wrong. He told me how to string it right and that 90% of tuning problems were stringing mistakes and after that the nut.

So— it got better with better stringing, and my three other guitars became very stable, but the Gibson didn't. It didn't sound like nut problems (no pinging and lubrication didn't help), so I swapped the tuners and that took care of it.
 

NEO0MJ

Member
I'd have thought Gibson's design would be more stable because it's symmetrical, or do you mean the design of the nuts, bridge, etc, themselves?
 

RevenWolf

Member
I've got a Tokai LS48 (pic a few pages back) which is made in China and happens to be one of my best guitars - a lot of bang for the buck!!

That's great to hear! I think I might have stumbled on a great price for one but was worried about build quality since it was made in China.
 
I've got a question here.. I've owned a Gibson SG Special (American) for about ten years now. I LOVE the way it sounds (I replaced the pickups with SD Jazz and SD JB), but I was doing some research and lots of people saying the neck is prone to bend and go out of tune easily, even with better tuners/other improvements and upgrades. I've struggled with it for years and have decided to sell it for a guitar that's just better built to stay in tune.

Are there any high quality guitars out there that are more likely stay in tune consistently and have a smooth fretboard that's easy to move up and down the neck? Looking for just a good versatile rock guitar with the same or very similar pickups. Range is about $800-$1000. Thanks for the help.
Check out Reverend guitars. They're a smaller outfit, but have a reputation for high quality instruments. And outside of their signature series, the prices don't tend to top $1000. Personally, I found their Double Agent model to be very versatile, and their Sensei line great for heavier stuff. Definitely would recommend finding a dealer to demo some.
 

Wag

Member
My Epiphone G400 and Mustang amp showed up at Guitar Center today.

I have to go down there and test them out when I get a chance. I could have had them shipped to my house but decided it would be easier this way, especially since they're used.

I still have to buy a gig-bag and stand for the guitar (not going to bother with a hard case). Any suggestions? This is GC we're talking about, so keep it cheap.
 
one of this

365021000358000-00-500x500.jpg
 

NEO0MJ

Member
Nah. Just a plain, cheap stand that I can keep in my living-room.

Yeah, that's better IMO. A wall hanger is too much work and leaves a mark on the place. Maybe if you like have enough guitars to fill a wall it would be cool, though.
 

Kalamari

Member
A winder/string cutter is a good idea to get, as well as a set of fresh strings (the strings on guitars purchased from shops are often old and need replacing). You probably need to get a strap, a few picks, and a cable if not included.

A basic gig bag and floor stand will suit you fine as long as you treat them well.
 

Wag

Member
OK, I got my guitar and amp. They're both in excellent condition- almost brand new.
Guitar Center wanted me to spend $60 on a gig bag and $40 on a patch cable. Uh, no. I'll buy them online.

073bb653a3599ed90a9e81681256750823-mid

011817123226.png


I called Epiphone. It is indeed a G400, just not a 1966 Edition. For $160 no complaints. Those are just reflections on the edges.

So what's a good, cheap, padded gig bag and stand?
 

NEO0MJ

Member
I recommended my lil' bro a Squier Affinity Stratocaster HH since it's on sale right now at Musician's Friend. Did I do right by him?
 

blackjaw

Member
Looks like a g-400 pro with a red push pull/pick guard. Not sure if custom or if they sold that configuration sometime.

You can email Epiphone with the serial if you want to confirm.
 
Funny how I ran into this thread. I bought an entry level electric guitar with an entry level fender amp about 10 years ago. It was the last instrument I tried learning. I didn't get a chance to go for classes and didn't have the motivation at the time to self-teach myself no any friends to point me in any right direction for resources. Literally these last two weeks I've been rabndomly looking at guitar covers of songs and themes that I like and thinking about dusting off my guitar and finally learning to play it.

The first order of business is for me to figure out how to get it tuned. It sounds so weird between each of the 5 strings
 

Surfinn

Member
Funny how I ran into this thread. I bought an entry level electric guitar with an entry level fender amp about 10 years ago. It was the last instrument I tried learning. I didn't get a chance to go for classes and didn't have the motivation at the time to self-teach myself no any friends to point me in any right direction for resources. Literally these last two weeks I've been rabndomly looking at guitar covers of songs and themes that I like and thinking about dusting off my guitar and finally learning to play it.

The first order of business is for me to figure out how to get it tuned. It sounds so weird between each of the 5 strings

Best piece of advice I have for beginners is to learn songs that you love (along with regular practice/techniques). I am self-taught and I couldn't have done it playing Old McDonald all day. At the same time, don't skimp out on timing and basics with a metronome. I also recommend recording yourself with a cheap mic when you start getting better so you can better hear your mistakes.

My ESP Eclipse II is a great rock guitar - not had any issues with tuning sounds outstanding (SD JB and 59 pups). New they are pretty pricey but I got mine for a steal at 650 bucks. Would recommend it in an instant if youy can get a good deal.

Funnily enough the singer in our band has an SG that has tuning issues as well, been set up many times and always goes out pretty quick.

My approach has always been to 'try my hand' at deals rather than blowing all my moolah on a real high-end guitar, and have been pretty lucky so far - that would be my other advice, look for deals, keep trying out guitars till you find one that speaks to you!

Might be the neck, might not. Seems you'd need to do some experimenting to be sure.

FWIW I have a thin Gibson LP-like guitar that wouldn't stay in tune. Luthier I took it to looked at the headstock and told me I was stringing it wrong. He told me how to string it right and that 90% of tuning problems were stringing mistakes and after that the nut.

So— it got better with better stringing, and my three other guitars became very stable, but the Gibson didn't. It didn't sound like nut problems (no pinging and lubrication didn't help), so I swapped the tuners and that took care of it.

Check out Reverend guitars. They're a smaller outfit, but have a reputation for high quality instruments. And outside of their signature series, the prices don't tend to top $1000. Personally, I found their Double Agent model to be very versatile, and their Sensei line great for heavier stuff. Definitely would recommend finding a dealer to demo some.

Thanks so much for this advice.
 

zbarron

Member
The first order of business is for me to figure out how to get it tuned. It sounds so weird between each of the 5 strings
There are a ton of free apps that will help you tune your guitar. It uses the phone's microphone. Just download one, open it and start with one string and tune them one by one.
 
So I'e gotten back into playing after taking a big break from it, and am looking at crafting a pedalboard and HOLY FUCK there are so many pedals out there it's ridiculous!

I've mainly been researching Tone City, Amptweaker and Earthquaker pedals, but does anyone have any pedals in particular that they would recommend to anyone? I'm looking to get a new wah (old one's dead), chorus, compressor or a boost, a looper, one or two trippy pedals, a tuner, and potentially another distortion (currently using a Blackstar HT-2 dual valve, but the amptweaker fat metal just sounds so sick).

What pedals do you guys have?
 

Wag

Member
Finding a bag that fits the Epiphone G400 is next to impossible. Can someone point me in the right direction? I don't want to pay $100 for a hard case.
 

Wag

Member
eBay?

You may even be able to find that properly supports the headstock, but most cheap ones won't.

Yeah, It's confusing. Are the Gibson SG/Epiphone SG the same dimensions? I assume the Gibson SG bags will fit my G400?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-Size-Electric-Guitar-Case-Racing-Stripe-Red-by-Phitz/131919562690

Meh. I bought this case. It was $18 shipped at Ebay and I had $5 in GC. It was the least ugly of the Phitz cases on sale and they got great reviews on Amazon.

Yep. Nice guitar. Considering it was listed in "Fair" condition it looks almost brand new.
 

EVOL 100%

Member
Does anyone have experience with Mexican HSS Strats? What sort of a difference does the humbucker make?

Never played that particular model, but a having a humbucker in the guitar will generally make it have stronger mids and lows, and highs will have less presence. In other words, it'll sound fatter and bigger, but most likely have less clarity than a single coil would.
 

NEO0MJ

Member
So, how's the best way to find out if there are any instructors near where you live without going to a guitar shop?
 

Wag

Member
So the Mustang 1 V2 is an interesting little amp. I never used tone modeling before, I always had old Fender tube amps. Can I make my electric sound like an acoustic?

Shit. Getting static off my G400's input jack (when I move the plug I get static). Any easy fix for this?
 

Kalamari

Member
So, how's the best way to find out if there are any instructors near where you live without going to a guitar shop?

Google maybe? Or just ask everyone else but the guitar shop, people who have lived in the area for a long time would be your best bet. The local school's music teacher probably knows someone if you put in a little effort to contact them.
 
Shit. Getting static off my G400's input jack (when I move the plug I get static). Any easy fix for this?

Take the plate off the back and see if the jack is loose. May also be that end of the cable— so if you haven't swap ends and see if it still does it.
 

Lan Dong Mik

And why would I want them?
Treated myself to some shit this week dudes.


Fender Standard Jazzmaster HH

Big step up from the Epiphone I was playing. This bad boy should be here by Tuesday. Cannot fucking wait. Played my friends Fender last week and I fell in love with it.

I also got me that Earthquaker Afterneath reverb...goddamn it's beautiful. Pretty sure I'm all set on pedals for now.


I recently made this pedal board for about 40.00 bucks btw!

No more spending money for me for a while haha
 

blackjaw

Member
Treated myself to some shit this week dudes.



Fender Standard Jazzmaster HH

Big step up from the Epiphone I was playing. This bad boy should be here by Tuesday. Cannot fucking wait. Played my friends Fender last week and I fell in love with it.

I also got me that Earthquaker Afterneath reverb...goddamn it's beautiful. Pretty sure I'm all set on pedals for now.



I recently made this pedal board for about 40.00 bucks btw!

No more spending money for me for a while haha

Call me a nerd but I take pics of all my favorite pedal settings (since my kids twirl the pedal knobs). Here is my fav from Afterneath. Perfect for those angelic/haunting pads underneath music. Enjoy!

MiXmV9N.jpg
 

Lan Dong Mik

And why would I want them?
Call me a nerd but I take pics of all my favorite pedal settings (since my kids twirl the pedal knobs). Here is my fav from Afterneath. Perfect for those angelic/haunting pads underneath music. Enjoy!

MiXmV9N.jpg

awesome man!! i love to see other settings people use. will definitley be checking this out later on.

did you see EQD's space spiral delay they just announced? sounds pretty fucking cool, but not sure i need it quite yet haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p-UjqKnty0
 
I just bought a Flying V DIY kit. Should be an interesting learning experience or a complete disaster! Gonna start thinking up some color schemes.
 
Vid detailing Chapman Guitars (UK) new range of axes. I have one and it's great. Very good quality at a very good price. Anyone considering getting a new guitar should consider them.
 
Oh, this was something I was going to ask about but slipped my mind. What worthwhile tech was shown there?

Some nice stuff guitarwise announced at NAMM

My highlights:-

+ Source Audio Ventris Reverb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34IFjjBS67M
+ DOD Rubberneck Analog Delay & Digitech FreqOut & CabDryver - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kXs945kAi4
+ Suhr Eclipse OD/Dist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-gbnyEuqZg
+ Tech 21 Q-Strip Parametric EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgaPPjSbiM4

But there is tons more!
 

Surfinn

Member
Alright I've got kind of a predicament here..

So I've been doing some research and went into my local guitar shop to ask around.. My question is:

Will I see a substantial difference in sound quality recording with a dedicated audio interface? I'm currently recording with the Rocksmith Real Tone cable that came with the game. I'm using ASIO drivers and I'm able to achieve a very low latency of 6MS.

Will an audio interface and quality monitor headphones be worth spending 200 plus bucks? So far, I've been told the answer is no.

Thanks for all your help everyone.
 
Alright I've got kind of a predicament here..

So I've been doing some research and went into my local guitar shop to ask around.. My question is:

Will I see a substantial difference in sound quality recording with a dedicated audio interface? I'm currently recording with the Rocksmith Real Tone cable that came with the game. I'm using ASIO drivers and I'm able to achieve a very low latency of 6MS.

Will an audio interface and quality monitor headphones be worth spending 200 plus bucks? So far, I've been told the answer is no.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

Headphones are a pretty personal thing, but for me they are pretty important when it comes to guitar recording straight into a DAW - they got to be comfortable for extended playing. It depends on what you are using but I like a nice set of close backs - AKG K271 is what I use mostly. heard good things about Audio Technica ATH-m50x as well.

On the interface side, again it depends - converters can help, but they are way over-exagerated IMO, especially if it's just rehearsal / playing along. That said, I notice big differences between my Motu AVB interface compared to my Digitech GSP1101 - the Motu is much clearer with a bigger soundstage.

I'm not familiar with Rocksmith, but based on music shops in the UK, my advice would be to see if a place could let you try out a 2x2 interface and decent cans like the ATH m50x - I'd have a wee play through them for 30 mins; I'd suspect an interface like a Focusrite Safire would be a step up - how much is the question!
 
Have played around with a bunch of different devices on Mac/Windows/Linux through home and work, here are some quick problems I've had with lousy cheap USB devices compared to decent slightly-less cheap alternatives:
- USB mic with very low levels (too low to be useful)
- device with shifting gain levels over time and different gains on inputs 1/2 despite being knobs being at the same detent and same source volume.
- shitty latency in Windows (ASIO4All helps)
- non-class compliant devices (class-compliance is very useful in Linux and to a lesser extent the Mac; if anyone needs 4 in / 4 out (plus S/PDIF) in Linux, try the Komplete Audio 6)

Speaking of non-cheap interfaces:
Have a first-generation Apogee One at home (it was on sale); have to force-quit its driver and coreaudiod if I've gone too long without using it and then would like to. Quite irritating.
 
Have played around with a bunch of different devices on Mac/Windows/Linux through home and work, here are some quick problems I've had with lousy cheap USB devices compared to decent slightly-less cheap alternatives:
- USB mic with very low levels (too low to be useful)
- device with shifting gain levels over time and different gains on inputs 1/2 despite being knobs being at the same detent and same source volume.
- shitty latency in Windows (ASIO4All helps)
- non-class compliant devices (class-compliance is very useful in Linux and to a lesser extent the Mac; if anyone needs 4 in / 4 out (plus S/PDIF) in Linux, try the Komplete Audio 6)

Speaking of non-cheap interfaces:
Have a first-generation Apogee One at home (it was on sale); have to force-quit its driver and coreaudiod if I've gone too long without using it and then would like to. Quite irritating.

Worst thing with USB interfaces on the PC is low-level audio interference / RFI. My old Edirol UA1000 interface came witha ferrite sleeve for the USB cable that actually helps a lot.

Power supply also makes a big difference for sure - even the cheap Phonic power strip I've got is a big help.

In my experience ASIO4ALL is ok, but pretty unstable, solid native drivers are always better
 
Worst thing with USB interfaces on the PC is low-level audio interference / RFI. My old Edirol UA1000 interface came witha ferrite sleeve for the USB cable that actually helps a lot.

At work, an audio/RF engineer and I took apart something that looked a lot like a ferrite sleeve, but was way too light— turned out to be nothing but plastic. Can't remember if it was for a USB cable or not, but it was amusing.
 

Wag

Member
Fooling around with Rocksmith. It can be frustrating at times, but overall it's fun. I thought I was a decent player until I started doing the videogame drills.

Ah, and I need to have my new guitar adjusted as well.

Maybe they can do something with the short I have in the jack.
 
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