Guitars... what you've got / what you want

that's aged like fine wine

What's everyone's feelings on the Danelectro reissue stuff? Been wanting a real clean/chimey tone?

'67 Dano looks cool, a friend in Japan just picked one up and has a show next week.

Changing subject to WANTs, what exactly is this Arthur Lee frankenstein and how do I get my hands on one?

https://i.imgur.com/uo5SBty.jpeg

mad headstock on that top neck!

Almost perfect body/neck/headstock ratio... floating trem too lol, i bet that's "fun" to keep in tune.

woah -- look at the pickups on the bottom - the neck pickup looks like it's offset so it's not getting the bottom two strings, and the bridge is offset so it's getting those but not getting the top two strings

looks like a teisco or one of those brands

that pickup config is insane lol

what could be the purpose of that offset thing? some kinda 1 + 3 pickup setting with a phase thing going on?

I’m thinking of picking up an Epiphone Les Paul Standard 60 after years of playing strat clones and cheap Ibanez’ish pointy ‘shred’ guitars. Never had a LP before and can’t justify more than £500ish. Can anyone talk me out of it or recommend something better in that range?

I have had two Epiphone Les Paulish guitars. An LP Standard and a 339. Both were extremely good guitars in terms of fit and finish, playability, etc.

Although I ultimately decided to sell them and be single-coil forever more, I have no quarrel with those utterly fine instruments.

I’ve got one of the recent trad reissues (wooden bridge), I’ve really got to put more effort into setting it up. The factory string height/etc. was trash (no surprise) but I’ve got to monkey with pickup height because it just sounds dull (compared to other Dano reissues I’ve played and my old Silvertone).

my 17yo has got his first gigs booked!! he plays guitar in a thrash/death metal band. so far he's just been using a cheap marshall practice amp so i just got him a 90s peavey bandit 112 teal stripe for £99. we pick it up on tuesday. did i do good?

Willl I have heard extraordinary praise for the Epiphone Les Paul Muse series from folks who would know - they are metallic colours if you can abide that. Retail £499, Thomann have them for £399, some places less.

xpost I'm a Peavey fan it's wild how that company stays at underrated

Yeah Peaveys are quite solid and versatile.

seemed like a good way to get 80w of loudness for cheap, and the clean channel is apparently what a lot of the swedish death metal guys used to run their hm2 pedals through

he's going to be running an epiphone les paul through a metal zone or a rat, hope the neighbours will be cool with it oops!

I loved the old Peavey 5150 in my high gain days. I played a Classic 30 quite a bit, that's a sweet, compact affordable tube amp.

Classic 30 and Classic 50 are extremely good amps.

the new Danelectros seem very expensive for what they are. I'd rather have a J Mascis Squier Jazzmaster in that price range. The 67 DOES look cool though. I think the Danelectros are cool for trashy garage stuff, less so for chimey cleans.

xpost I'm a Peavey fan it's wild how that company stays at underrated

well I don't know about that

https://bid.omegaauctions.co.uk/auction/lot/lot-251---punk-interest---john-mcgeogh-owned-and-used-peavey-amplifier/?lot=44617

Cheers everyone, looks like it’s Epi Les Paul time then. Now just got to talk myself out of the James Dean Bradfield style all white and gold custom I just spotted 😂👌

why would you talk yourself out of it?!?

this looks rather appropriate: https://reverb.com/au/item/69438004-epiphone-les-paul-custom-1989-2012-alpine-white

but if I was choosing I'd take this one, the 90s Korean made ones are just superb. https://reverb.com/au/item/64911200-epiphone-les-paul-1999-cherry-burst

I wanted this exact guitar so bad when I was 18, it looked like Billy Zoom's Gretsch (and I didn't know enough about guitars to know that Billy's was a Gretsch)

https://reverb.com/item/73944190-2001-epiphone-les-paul-special-edition-electric-guitar-silver-sparkle-flake-pro-setup

@ matttkkkk was mainly trying to talk myself out of it to save £725 ;). £450 is a lot more achievable, thanks for the heads up

majorairbro - thanks for the advice, I actually went to a store yesterday and see what you're saying, one Danelectro that was over $500 had that black plastic that covers the edge of the guitar pulling up off the guitar around the neck joint, seems unacceptable for a new guitar

The prices have gone up, but I've had a bunch of 21st c. Danelectros — 12-string, baritone, longhorn bass — and they've all been great.

so I basically am so sick of all this gear that I have acquired since Covid, and went shopping this weekend....took a synth, an amp, and two guitars to trade. Intended to get a Jazzmaster but at GC I fell in love with an American Professional II Stratocaster that was marked down from $1699 to $1350, with all the trades I basically got out the door for the price of a used Squier.

I'm absolutely blown away by this guitar, the new V Moda II pickups are amazing, one tone knob is push/pull so you can add the neck pickup to the bridge and bridge + middle positions (basically the David Gilmour thing I think?)

This is the most comfortable guitar I've ever played by far, the neck is fantastic, it's just effortless. I've usually been a quirky/bargain guitar shopper I've never really owned an expensive top of the line model and this is pretty amazing.

At the end of the day I just think I like Strats the best, the body style and dimensions are the most comfortable for me to play.

Olympic white + tortoiseshell pickguard

https://i.postimg.cc/85B96bx5/PXL-20231205-153449537.jpg

looks super nice

nice. i was just thinking about how models go in and out of style (seems like offsets are back in right now, it was telecasters like 10 years ago, etc.) and how it makes sense to buy off-trend if possible. not like strats are ever really out of style.

yeah I mean it's got a bit of tone attorney stigma but it's just a comfortable body style, that's why it's been so popular for so long

I like the neck on this - it's not a regular thickness, it's thicker down by the headstock for chording then gets thinner up and past the 12th fret, sort of like a compound radius but for thickness not radius

congrats on the strat, looks really nice. and it always feels great to do some trading in and get something you really want out of it.

When it’s right it’s right

I have felt that way about exactly one Strat, and then when my daughter turned 18 I gave her the pick of the rack, you know what happened next.

@mississippi - wow, that's a beauty. the neck sounds very special. would love to hear how it sounds!

@matttkkkk - that must've been heartbreaking! i hope she's doing justice to it. my dad's got a stunning MIJ strat from '86 or something and every time i pick it up i yearn for it

I love that she has it. She loves it too. Squier Japan 1982 JV sunburst, just alive in the hand.

oh man, i've heard great things about the 80s squiers. i really do rate japanese guitars - i have a 1994 "black label" MIJ jazz bass (from the fairly obscure "squier series" - basically a fender neck and body with cheaper electronics" and it is soooooo nice to play. i just wish it was a p bass tbh

I recommend you search out a Tokai “Hard Puncher”, they can be found cheaper occasionally and it is the most P bass I have ever encountered. Kills 70s Fenders dead.

i will! thanks for the tip!

Seconding the MIJ love. Nothing to add though.

UMS, I got an American Professional II Telecaster a couple of years ago and it is about the best combination of "easy to play" and "sounds amazing" that I have ever had access to. Anyone I let play it agrees. Not really a big gear person, I am probably not qualified to really speak to these things beyond being a guy who has played in bands for a lot of years, but yeah it rules. I imagine the Strats are great too.

i bet the tele is great too, i feel like this series hits the perfect mix of staying pretty traditional but with little smart improvements

The Dano 12s sound amazing, I have one-though it's not that balanced. very curious what the new humbucker one sounds like.

I went to this crazy store in Maryland called Chuck Levin's, which carries like every new model of every big brand. I played about 10 telecasters and the neck of the American Pro II was simply too good to pass up. About the best feeling neck of any instrument I have ever played.

For anyone “12 curious”, do NOT sleep on the Squier Paranormal Jazzmaster XII. Insanely well made and easy to play.

Grandavis, Chuck Levin's has been an institution basically forever. Given the amount of money I have spent there, I would like them to name a new wing after me (but they probably will not).

Glad you connected with an instrument. Hope it serves you well.

It was very nice to go to a non-Guitar Center-like environment and really get to try out the guitars. Much different experience than most stores like that I have gone to, and yeah that telecaster has been great so far. A real joy to play.