Help me choose a guitar for metal!!!

/|/)etal)-|ead

I'm trying do decide between a jackson ke-3 http://www.jacksonguitars.com/FlshSite/pages/KELLY/KE3BLK.html
and a Gibson Gothic Explorer
http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/xfactor/GothicExplorer.html

I'd buy them from music123.com. The Gibson is nearly double the price of the jackson, would there really be a HUGE difference in quality? Can people give me some opinions please?I haven't ever played a gibson, I tested the ke-3 in a shop, very nice neck but the body was kinda uncomfortable, the gibson looks more comfortable, but i'm not sure about the lack of fret markers, and 22 frets as opposed to 24 on the jackson. I would be very interested to hear any opinions, thanks! ( of course I would only be using it for melodic/death/goth metal etc so i'm not bothered if it can't get a good clean tone etc. )

Oeneus

I'd say try out the Jackson! Gotta love the Floyd Rose Tremelo.

bombidol

I reckon the floyd rose would be more of a pain in the arse for playing metal, touch the feckin thing and it goes off, i reckon the Gibson Gothic as ive played one and it was sweet, although i dont like the necks on Sgs usually

Giblet

A Fender Strat

RicardoSmith

Both quitars are going to sound a lot different. The Gibson with the mahogany body and Tune-o-matic/Stop bar are going to make the guitar sound a lot deeper more UK Metal than the Jackson which is going to sound more US metal. The Gibson has a tradition thicker and more rounded neck than the Jackson which generally have a shallower flatter profile. The latter is favoured for a more "shredding" playing style.

I suggest you try out a Gibson les paul (similar neck profile and physical weight) and the sound will be boardly similar and then try any Jackon quitar as they are all broadly similar. But they are very different quitars and you are comparing chalk and cheese really.

Some might say that the Jackson is more set up for lead playing and the Gibson for rythmn but I'd disagree and its really up to which you feel most comfortable playing with. You can only know that from picking them up and playing them.

As for the difference in price well a lot of the Jacksons are not USA built so thats why they are cheaper. Also the Gibson name is more like a Mercedes than a Toyota so thats a factor too. Plus the thing is mahogany which is more expensive and I think that this quitar may have a neck that is built into the body and not just slotted in which adds a lot to the cost.

The Floyd Rose, completely changes the sound and style of playing really. Its another thing you should try as somepeople hate them and some love them. I certainly never had a problem with them on any quitar I ever had, and they do not "go off" just by touching them!

I think you should do a bit more hands on looking as you really don't seem to know much about them to be honest.

bombidol

yeah what he said............ i just dont like Floyd roses cause i think they get in the way , but then again im just not used to em. Fender strat is no use to you for goth metal, to twangey, although who said thats not what you want. i use an Aria Pro II Special and it suits the stuff im playing down to a tee (punk.Metal) but maybe a BC rich would suit you or an ESP would be perfect, go into Insrumental on the quays in you are in Dublin and they will show you a load of guitars and help:)

RicardoSmith

Spending that much on a quitar it would nearly be worth taking a ryanair flight to london and checking a lot of quitars over there.

Alterantively, check out the store Musician in Dublin for Jackons (very helpful guys) and Waltons for Gibsons though personally I don't think much of Waltons. Music Maker is ok too, depends who's working when you do in.

bombidol

www.thomann.de is your best bet for prices, they only charge 20E for delivery too, they do an epi gothic which is nice if you dont wanna spend loads

black_wizardd

Personally I hate Gibsons so I'd go for the Jackson. 2 people I know played the Gibson Gothic series guitars (Explorer and Les Paul) and both said they were absolute sh!te, that's just their opinions though, the guitars may not have suited their playing style.

Every Jackson, bar the really crap ones in Music Maker, that I've played have all been serious guitars, especially for Metal. What happened to ESP, did you decide against getting the F-200? Alot of the Melodic Death bands like In Flames etc use ESP as far as I know (could be wrong) so if you want that sound then I'd go for an ESP, just my two cents.

RicardoSmith

Personally I think I'd prefer the Jacksons and ESP's too. Though not with a Floyd Rose. I wouldn't use it as I think it hurts the tone.

Jaicster

Check out
ESP
BC Rich
Jackson
guitars

I'd go with the jackson coz look at it
But really it is a metal guitar and how else would you do those screaming solo's without a bar.

I'm buying a guitar soon also, i'm gona buy a jackson the one i'm gettin has got a bit of custom hardware and its tastey. The thing is i haven't seen the model in any shops :O

Anyway The thing about the body being uncomfortable, did u play it standing up or sitting down coz your ment to play em standing up and also where your strap connects is important. Many people perfer it connect at the back of the guitar just behind the top of the neck. You can change that your self or most guitar shops will do it for free minus the cost of the screw thingy.

In short although both the guitars you picked are nice you've gotta look at what kind of music you play, is there any need for the bar (if your playing real metal there f0rkin well is)
Which one most reflects your image, what hardware have they got up in em, will it make the 'sound' you want to produce
and so on.

Oh and giblet was way of with the fender strat, what you want is a 'Shell Pink Telecaster' now your in business

Giblet

Originally posted by Jaicster
Oh and giblet was way of with the fender strat, what you want is a 'Shell Pink Telecaster' now your in business

Pfff Obviously:)
I play metal with any type of guitar I find

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Jaicster
But really it is a metal guitar and how else would you do those screaming solo's without a bar.

All those les paul/sg/strat/tele/explorer players might disagree with you on that one...

Jaicster

Yeah you can solo on any of those guitars, but you won't get the pleasure from ramming that bar (and/or) pulling it out, or giving it extreme vib while making your best guitar faces (try , theres bee's try'n fly into ur mouth but you don't wanna let em) and so on.

As for a 'metal guitar' it should be black/silver or some other dark colur and big n dirty scary sharp pointy lookin **** off thingy from the depths of hell crafed by a soul-less creature of equal scaryness.

Well thats if your serious about your music.

/|/)etal)-|ead

Hey guys, thanks for all the helpful and comprehensive advice.

Anyway, it turns out the gothic explorer has been discontinued

-and rather than getting the jackson, i decided to order the
esp f-200 instead, from thomann.de ( in black, of course- that silver looks pathetic).

it was cheaper than the jackson, so i'll get 2 emg 81 pickups for it (i didn't forget about it black wizard, see? )

I'm in Cork, so there's not many places for that style of guitar, and i'm way too lazy to go abroad for it lol

I've been playing about 2 1/2 years, and I still have a very very very bad fender beginner's thing and i'm getting seriously pissed off with it- I have to use a combination of about 10 digital effects to make it sound anything like what I want but then obviously it sounds all digital and noisy.

I usually (try to) play dark tranquility/ old in flames/ old metallica
style rhythm and Children of bodom/ Kirk Hammett style solos with lots of 80s shredding lol

thomann say I can send it back within 30 days anyway if I dont like it. Now all I need is a 5150 amp/cab heheh...

I'll let ye know if its any good when i get it ( if anyone's interested...)

Jaicster

Thats a mean lookin axe, a friend of mine wants it in silver lol 'titianium' to be precise, anyway all reports i've heard on this guitar were good plus it carries a big ole ESP on the head so it should be good.
The only bad thing i heard about the F200 was your gona have to change where the strap connects coz its a bit un-comfortable, and i also heard "The F200 is too hard to play" but thats coming from some1 who only ever played top quaility (sniger) fender strats all their life so what do they know.

Giblet

Originally posted by Jaicster
and i also heard "The F200 is too hard to play" but thats coming from some1 who only ever played top quaility (sniger) fender strats all their life so what do they know.

Whats wrong with fender strats! The guitar doesn't make the guitarist!

RicardoSmith

I think he means that if you've only played the same type of quitar all your life you won't have a very subjective opinion on other quitars. I don't think it was a dig about strats.

Giblet

Ah he was slagging the ol' Strats alright :>
Most 'METAL' Guitars are truely made from cardboard.
I like the BC Rich NJ-Thruneck Mockingbird though :>

Oeneus

For playing metal, I really like the Ibanez RG series, and also the Washburn CS780 but unfortunately they are now discontinued. I am still trying to find one.

/|/)etal)-|ead

I got the F-200 anyway, I really like it, it's very comfortable to hold, fretboard is very nice. I don't like the emg-hz pickups much though, they're quite fuzzy and noisy for my tastes- they sound pretty sloppy for very fast stuff. I got a pair of 81's though, just have to work up the courage to rewire everything . I think the truss rod need adjusting too- the strings are a good bit higher on the higher frets. Anyway, I really like it though, once i get it sorted out it will probably be excellent.