Help me decide

Mad_Dave

Hi all,

I've moved to australia a few weeks ago to work and my first pay day is fast approaching (paid monthly is a bitch )

Anyway as a reward for finally getting a job / early christmas present I'm planning on a getting a new guitar, something really nice for once.

Only problem is I have no clue what to get and no realistic chance of playing any to see what's best. Gonna be buying through american ebay.

Budget is roughly a thousand dollars - no import tax here for instruments under a grand.

I've narrowed it down to the follow guitars:
American strat
Jap Fender (72 tele or jaguar)
A selection of Schecters
LTD EC 1000
Hagstrom swede
Edwards les paul

Basically I want a guitar that has quality parts (no need for pup changes or any electrical upgrades) and top build quality.

Musically I play a little bit of everything, so I want something that's as versatile as possible.

So there it is...experinces, recommendations, suggestions, pros/cons - all welcome !

Cheers

bad2dabone

nice one, i'm afraid this may be more of a spanner in the works but personally if I was in Australia i'd consider a Maton:
http://www.maton.com.au/products/electric-guitars.html

mmmm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ZKrzwmQGs

http://www.guitar.com.au/guitars/electric/maton/ms500.htm

Josh Homme from QOTSA plays em, he's an idol of mine

brendansmith

Make it easy on yourself and go through the australian ebay and you will know exactly what you will be paying inclusive of postage.

I found this for you:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Schecter-Hellraiser-C1-Electric-Guitar-WOW-/150515395138?pt=Guitar&hash=item230b6aaa42

Ive got it with the Floyd rose and its a beaut.

Its quite versitile also as you can split the pickups ie with the lift of a knob you can have humbucker or single coil pickup.

quicklickpaddy

I'd say go with the American Deluxe Strat. Because of the S1 switch it's easily the most versatile guitar I can think of. Plus, it's got all the quality. If possible, try out any guitar you're looking at - the specific one you are going to buy because they can all vary so much from individual guitar to guitar

brendansmith

quicklickpaddy wrote: »

I'd say go with the American Deluxe Strat. Because of the S1 switch it's easily the most versatile guitar I can think of. Plus, it's got all the quality. If possible, try out any guitar you're looking at - the specific one you are going to buy because they can all vary so much from individual guitar to guitar

There are only a few on ebay and they are way out of his budget.

darrenw5094

Both the Edwards and ESP LTD are singlecut Les Paul types, which are very unversatile. A Strat would be more versatile than most.

quicklickpaddy

brendansmith wrote: »

There are only a few on ebay and they are way out of his budget.

Ah I was thinking 1k Euro

Mad_Dave

Thanks for the replies guys

unfortunately the deluxe strat is too far over budget to justify...pity, looked really nice.

probally should have mentioned that I'm left hand, so trying guitars out really isn't an option, even ebay here has a shocking lack of lefties.

the maton looks cool, but again having difficulty tracking down a lefty model.

At the minute it's a toss up between the strat and the edwards I think, probally leaning a little more to the edwards

darrenw5094

Mad_Dave wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys

unfortunately the deluxe strat is too far over budget to justify...pity, looked really nice.

probally should have mentioned that I'm left hand, so trying guitars out really isn't an option, even ebay here has a shocking lack of lefties.

the maton looks cool, but again having difficulty tracking down a lefty model.

At the minute it's a toss up between the strat and the edwards I think, probally leaning a little more to the edwards

Doing a Hendrix with a righty Strat always looked the business.;)

seachto7

+1 on the Matons if you're in Australia. Beautiful guitars, acoustic and electric.

Another option is Cole Clark, also Australian, but not sure what their electrics are like:

http://www.coleclarkguitars.com/products_electric.asp

Ravelleman

darrenw5094 wrote: »

Both the Edwards and ESP LTD are singlecut Les Paul types, which are very unversatile. A Strat would be more versatile than most.

The versatility of the Les Paul is well documented.

darrenw5094

Ravelleman wrote: »

The versatility of the Les Paul is well documented.

That could be a debate all on it's own. For me, the Les Paul does one thing, but does it very well.

brendansmith

darrenw5094 wrote: »

That could be a debate all on it's own. For me, the Les Paul does one thing, but does it very well.

Rocks heaven?

Nah seriously, what does it do? Can you explain what you are talking about?

darrenw5094

brendansmith wrote: »

Rocks heaven?

Nah seriously, what does it do? Can you explain what you are talking about?

Rock.

Mad_Dave

hmm, some not very positive reviews on matons, mostly about poor pickups.
Still, emailed em just now to get a few quotes, gonna wait and see how they compare.

Mad_Dave

Looks like we have a winner !

Schecter Solo 6 Classic: http://www.lefthandguitars.com.au/catalog/schecter-solo-hard-case-p-67.html

Really well speced with duncan custom/59 pups with coil tap, locking tuners, tonepros bridge and looks amazing. Plus it's from an australian company so any problems are much easier to sort out.

Can't wait