cheap electric guitars what to look for?

emmet the rover

hi i was looking at some cheapish electric guitars in the usuall argos ect but in a second hand shop as well. now i have never played a electric guitar and dont know what to look for. i was going to go in and ask the fellow to plug the guitar into a amp and strum . what am i looking and listing for.

my main musical intrest in rock/metal so will need a amp to suit the music style but not very loud and need advice on this as well.

Alanstrainor

it all comes down to budget being honest.

Micro Cube, and a Yamaha Pacifica would be a generic response that would fit pretty much anyones needs.

geetar

the main thing you are looking for is something that feels comfortable to you.

if you are into rock/metal, generally you should get a guitar with humbucking pickups ( like a les paul style guitar) , not single coils ( like a stratocaster).
they have a higher output and will get you the sound you want easier.

i bought an epiphone sg style guitar with a 20 watt amp from waltons for about €200 a few years ago, i think its still for sale there and its great for a first guitar/amp combo. depends on your budget, but also check out adverts.ie for good bargains on second hand stuff too.

kevin65

Recommend that you try out any guitar before purchase. Bought a guitar and amp package for my son once in Argos and had to bring it back as it was untunable.

jimi_t2

emmet the rover wrote: »

hi i was looking at some cheapish electric guitars in the usuall argos.

DON'T BUY A GUITAR IN ARGUS.
Cheap guitars are kindling, not instruments!

Very much with Alan Strainor here. A microcube is by far the best amp you can get for the money; for a beginner there's absolutely nothing that can touch it.

Yamaha Pacifica's are lovely guitars. My advice would be to buy online but if you really want to buy bricks'n'mortar in Dublin at the very cheap end of the scale then you could do a lot worse than the SX series guitars they have knocking about in Waltons. I think they're a lot better than the cheapy Fender Squire or low-end Epiphones for the money.

As for what you should be 'listening' for, I'd be more concerned with how it feels. You can always (and often should) replace the stock pickups and electronics on cheap guitars; its very simple circuitry and there's thousands of how-tos up on the web. Replacing a neck, however, is expensive and ill-advised on a cheapy guitar.

Best advice I could give you is to look for a reasonable condition Fender Mexican Strat on adverts.ie - they're good all-round workhorses and you'll get a very nice one for around 300-350 with some haggling. Its better to spend that little bit extra as they hold their value very well and are handy enough to resale if you decide its not for you.

CianRyan

jimi_t2 wrote: »

DON'T BUY A GUITAR IN ARGUS.
Cheap guitars are kindling, not instruments!

Very much with Alan Strainor here. A microcube is by far the best amp you can get for the money; for a beginner there's absolutely nothing that can touch it.

Yamaha Pacifica's are lovely guitars. My advice would be to buy online but if you really want to buy bricks'n'mortar in Dublin at the very cheap end of the scale then you could do a lot worse than the SX series guitars they have knocking about in Waltons. I think they're a lot better than the cheapy Fender Squire or low-end Epiphones for the money.

As for what you should be 'listening' for, I'd be more concerned with how it feels. You can always (and often should) replace the stock pickups and electronics on cheap guitars; its very simple circuitry and there's thousands of how-tos up on the web. Replacing a neck, however, is expensive and ill-advised on a cheapy guitar.

Best advice I could give you is to look for a reasonable condition Fender Mexican Strat on adverts.ie - they're good all-round workhorses and you'll get a very nice one for around 300-350 with some haggling. Its better to spend that little bit extra as they hold their value very well and are handy enough to resale if you decide its not for you.

If you're going to do this you'll definitely want to change the pick ups.
I really don't see the sense in telling a beginner to buy a strat if they want to play metal though.
I use a strat for metal but I have it set up for it, a standard Mexican strat will sound terrible for this.

For example, this is my metal strat, loaded with two of these and one of these.

Rail pick ups are easy to fit into strats and sound great for metal but if there's a tight budget it isn't really a great idea to to be buying these and having some one install them for you.

And for single coils, this is fitted with high end single coils and even though they can handle high gain stuff well they just don't hold up for metal.
The pick ups that come with a Mexican strat would not be half as nice as these.
(skip to about 8:00 for high gain stuff)

If it was going to be buying a cheap guitar for metal, Schecter make great affordable metal guitars.


That's my opinion on the guitar side anyway.
As for the amp, the Micro cube will be grand for starting out. The rectifier model is quite nice.

Antomus Prime

Alanstrainor wrote: »

it all comes down to budget being honest.

Micro Cube, and a Yamaha Pacifica would be a generic response that would fit pretty much anyones needs.

Yamaha pacifica with a humbucker is a savage entry level guitar, I know a guy that gigged with one for years!! Great piece on musical instrumentation!!

OP I would highly reccomend an SX Les Paul Custom style guitar...



I had one of these before and it was as good as any epiphone LP I ever played, bar the signature series. Think theyre only around €200 in waltons!

JonathanAnon

+1 for the pacifica... nice to play.. and sounds amazing for what it is.. you could pick one of for 150 or less on adverts.ie

RC88

defo agree with jimi, argos guitars are a major nono, unless you want something to practise your soldering skills or just to take apart without worrying bout ruining your guitar

ampwise the roland microcube is the best choice with the vox vt series coming behind it, and if neither of these tickle your fancy, a small marshell combo will still leave ya cooking with gas

throwards cheap guitars , i swear by the vintage brand, as do many professionals. I own a VS6(SG) and a V6(Strat) and they also make V100(LP), vintage parts are made to last, only small things like the odd screw or nut may need to be swapped depending on how ya like the guitar set up

and i agree with geetar as well, choose something that feels comfortabel to ya, try as many as you can in shops for feel,weight and balence both standing and sitting, what good for one person might not be for another

and dont be afraid to shop around, even places like cash converters or pawn shops can hide little gems