Advice on buying electric guitar

Orizio

So I have some spare money hanging around, and figured I would start to learn a new instrument once the summer holidays arrive.

So with a budget of about 200-300 euro, what electric guitar should a beginner get? Opinions on these...

Yamaha Pacifica 112 RW RM Red Metallic

Fender Standard Stratocaster RW Black

Ibanez SA 160 Black

I listen to all types of music, except metal.

I'm leaning towards the Ibanez, purely because I have bass of the same brand that works well and I would rather not spend 400, so I'll only get the Fender if the experts here think its really worth it.

BTW, would a moderate ability on the bass help when I'm learning to play electric guitar?

darrenw5094

If you are a beginner...stay away from the Ibanez.....
It has a Floyd Rose Tremelo.......a nightmare tuning strings and changing them........

They are great when you able for dive bombs etc.......but that's it.
It would be more trouble than it's worth starting off...

You could push your budget to €400 and get a fairly good second hand one on ebay.
But either of the other 2 are a good choice along with a second hand Epiphone Les Paul if that's your thing. You could pick one of those up second hand for about €300.

Rustar

Dunno if the trem is a deal-breaker...
The Ibanez might arguably have the best tonal/timbre range of the three, with the mahogany body, maple neck, and "fat-strat" configuration.

The Ibanez also wins for me in the looks department, but all three appear to be good quality starter guitars, whichever you decide to go with.

BTW, would a moderate ability on the bass help when I'm learning to play electric guitar?

Sure will! Any amount of finger strength building, accurate finger placement, and knowledge of scales & patterns will transfer between guitar-family instruments.

Voodu Child

darrenw5094 wrote: »

If you are a beginner...stay away from the Ibanez.....
It has a Floyd Rose Tremelo.......

No it doesnt.

The Pacifica is probably the best of the bunch. That's probably what i'd go for, although i'd get it in that groovy metallic orange :pac:

The Fender is a good guitar, although you're spending a decent bit more than the Pacifica. And honestly, I doubt there's anything between them quality wise.

The cheap Ibanez's are ok, they're built fairly well and do the job. But the Pacifica for me is just the best all-round guitar in the bunch.

darrenw5094

My mistake....i just assumed all ibanez guitars had the floyd's or similar.
Silly me.:p

Orizio

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I have had this suggested to me on another forum...

Epiphone G-400 Cherry

Opinions?

steveland?

Orizio wrote: »

BTW, would a moderate ability on the bass help when I'm learning to play electric guitar?

Most definitely.

I've been playing the guitar for years and only took up the bass last year or so. Took a while to get used to not using a plec (personally prefer the sound without the plec) but having strong fingers will definitely help.

Any time I switch back to playing my guitar now after playing the bass for an extended period of time I find I can play it much quicker and more accurately than before with the smaller strings.

You might have problems barring chords but you'll pick that up fairly quick.

I'd go for the Pacifica out of that bunch. Probably the best chunk of guitar you'll get at that price!

-=al=-

i liek the ibanez

Patricide

I say this everytime but il say it again for any beginner......Yamaha pacifica + Microcube = The best beginner setup thatl last even when you have nicer guitars.

I started off with a pacifica and even though i have nicer instruments i still play my pacifica A LOT(i do have a new pup in the bridge but still).

DeadSkin

Patricide wrote: »

I say this everytime but il say it again for any beginner......Yamaha pacifica + Microcube = The best beginner setup thatl last even when you have nicer guitars.

+1 for this, wish I had that set up when I started out.

Glydeside white

Definitly a epiphone les paul, there basically a cheaper gibson les paul, but are still a great guitar, and you can pick one up fairly easy for about 300-350 euro brand new. the sound from epiphone is excellent and it even sounds like a gibson. i got a fender squier strat there last year and it isnt really a great guitar so stay away from them, they usually come with a fender amp, which makes the deal look great, but really the guitar is pretty poor.

fguihen

i started on an epiphone les paul, and moved to an ibanez. i have also owned yamaha pacifica's and access to many squire strats.

Id advise you go for the pacafica. they are fantastic guitars for the money. real sturdy, very playable ( as long as they are set up correctly) and they really sound good. a pacafica is a guitar you will always want to play.

so thats +1 for the yamaha.

Patricide

Yup, wouldnt really go for an epiphone myself, the cheaper ones are dire and if your gonna spend 500-600 on a more expensive one you might as well get a gibson second hand.

my 2 cents.

Dord

Seconded on the Pacifica and Microcube suggestion above. That'd be great for a beginner or anyone else for that matter. :pac:

Orizio

I'm almost certainly going to order the Yamaha and the Microcube in the next few days. Thanks for the advice everyone!

Kenny_D

My first electric was that SA160 and it's really nice. It retailed at about 480 when I got it from musicstore. Anyway it's a great guitar and at that price you wont go wrong

Feelgood

Maverick F1, F2, F3, F4.

Cheap as chips and probably the best guitar you will ever have the pleasure of playing.

My collection consists of an LP Custom, PRS custom and a standard strat and the first guitar I pick up every time is my Maverick. There aren't any words I can write that will explain how good the action is on a Maverick. Pickups are class with a savage clean tone on them.

Unfortunately Maverick have stopped making guitars at the moment (didn't go out of business), but if your lucky enough you might pick one up on ebay or google it.

Check the reviews on them aswell and you will know what I am talking about...

Music Gear

Ultimate Guitar

Everyone should have one of these....

Heres one!
Maverick Ebay

steveland?

Feelgood wrote: »

Maverick F1, F2, F3, F4.

Cheap as chips and probably the best guitar you will ever have the pleasure of playing.

My collection consists of an LP Custom, PRS custom and a standard strat and the first guitar I pick up every time is my Maverick. There aren't any words I can write that will explain how good the action is on a Maverick. Pickups are class with a savage clean tone on them.

Unfortunately Maverick have stopped making guitars at the moment (didn't go out of business), but if your lucky enough you might pick one up on ebay or google it.

Check the reviews on them aswell and you will know what I am talking about...

Music Gear

Ultimate Guitar

Everyone should have one of these....

Heres one!
Maverick Ebay

Actually, as much as I like Pacificas I agree. My Maverick F1 is the first guitar I pick up aswell.

The neck is paper thin which is exactly what I want plus I picked mine up for €170(!) a couple of years ago (didn't know how good it was at the time and I don't think the guy selling it knew how much they were worth). The Floyd Rose on it was totally set up wrong and was floating about an inch off the body... a little work with a screwdriver and about 4 hours tuning it was right as rain

Sounds class! It looks like the type of guitar you'd mainly play metal on but I pretty much only play blues-y type stuff and ska and it sounds class for those.

Patricide

Yea mavericks are nice too, if you can find one. Some of them do have problems with warping necks though so be carefull of that and you should be grand.

Orizio

So I ordered the Yamaha and got it about a week ago. Everything in working order upon arrival as far as a noob like me can tell.

Unfortunately yesterday, my 5 year old niece got at the guitar and now the electronics or magnetics have gone awry. Simply it doesn't respond when I plug it into an amp. My amps and wire's work fine when plugged into my bass so I am assuming its a problem with the guitar itself.

Any advice as to how to solve this problem would be most appreciated.

Patricide

Sounds like the input jack is dodgey, unscrew the jack take it out as far as the wire will allow and push the metal connector inwards a bit so that when you plug in the jack it is making a connection with it.

Orizio

Patricide wrote: »

Sounds like the input jack is dodgey, unscrew the jack take it out as far as the wire will allow and push the metal connector inwards a bit so that when you plug in the jack it is making a connection with it.

Thank you very much, this seems to have solved the problem.

Patricide

No worries dude. Just enjoy the guitar!!