Still looking for new guitar......need opinions

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Alright, I've been shopping around Toronto looking for a cool guitar - and have zero idea of what I need/want.

I want a Hole/Nirvana/Smashing Pumpkins sound for a price that isn't anymore than about $1,000 US or $1400 CDN - which should be able to score me a fairly hot guitar, one would think.

But which guitar suits that sound best? Vintage jaguars are too expensive, the jagstang blows, and the American Standard Stratocasters are made in shitty Corona, which tells me Fenders' "American" series is borderline Mexicana. Would a Gibson SG be better?

HELP PLEASE!

― JesusMaryChain, Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

You probably shouldn't get a Gibson SG if you want a sond like Hole, Nirvana or Smashing Pumkins. At least, I don't think so.

Do you have a Guitar Center in Toronto? They have sales all the time that I always have to ask my mom, "Are they going out of business?"

Why don't you just get the fender? Just use pedals with it. I don't think many people play clean anymore. If you want to write something, write it clean, then use the pedals.

― Aja (aja), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Because I've heard scary stories of Mexican parts "accidentally" finding their way into American models. I just don't trust Corona, Cali.

― JesusMaryChain, Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Grab a good (really good, maybe a teacher as well) local guitar player and have him take you around the local places. $1000 US is much more than enough to get a decent guitar, but you don't necessarily have the experience to make the right decision on your own at this point, and anonymous interweb mentalists can't really help.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Sunday, 7 March 2004 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

My advice: take the $1000 and buy ten Danelectros or ten Silvertones. They're lightweight, durable, and will do the job just fine. Don't be a gearhead - anything through a Turbo Rat and a Marshall, turned up loud enough, will peel skin and melt faces.

Remember, those bands you mention had PRODUCERS that were just as talented as the bands themselves, so when you're listening to Siamese Dream and wondering why you can't get the same tone, that's because you don't have an actual wall of amps and Butch Vig in front of them moving a mic around to get the best possible sound. Oh and once they did that they laid down about 100 separate tracks.

Get good first - worry about gear second.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 7 March 2004 20:08 (twenty-one years ago)

first:
the American Standard Stratocasters are made in shitty Corona, which tells me Fenders' "American" series is borderline Mexicana.

and then:
I just don't trust Corona, Cali.

excuse me, but you appear to be severely misguided. leo fender began making guitars in fullerton, california which is but about a 15 minute drive on the 91 from corona, california. corona is in between riverside and "the OC", that is to say, suburban los angeles.

why on earth you would consider corona, california "borderline mexicana" or not worthy of your "trust" (esp. if Hole, Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins is your archetype of guitar sound)?

― gygax! (gygax!), Sunday, 7 March 2004 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Buy one that looks cool. Also, don't spend all that money unless you become absolutely obsessed with a particular guitar that costs that much. I'd say my entire setup costs less than that and I've never felt particularly impoverished.

Is there a particular reason for thinking the Mexican Fenders are really shoddy or something? The only thing I never liked about them was that you couldn't get them in enough colours, but I'm like that.

(R Adultery OTM)

― ferg (Ferg), Sunday, 7 March 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I want a Hole/Nirvana/Smashing Pumpkins sound

Why on God's Green Fuckin' Earth would you want that? Hasn't that ground been well-covered by now (read: beaten into blubbering, mind-numbing submission)?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 7 March 2004 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

you know those guitars, they're like.. double guitars?

― astroblaster (astroblaster), Sunday, 7 March 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

hit up steve's music or a longe and mcquade and try some out. go with what you like

― astroblaster (astroblaster), Sunday, 7 March 2004 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

http://guitargeek.com/index.php

― misteraliendaba, Sunday, 7 March 2004 23:03 (twenty-one years ago)

roger, arre danelectro 56 u2 reissues worth buying? i mean, is it a good guitar?

― cozen (Cozen), Sunday, 7 March 2004 23:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Get something cheap first, then if you get better and still really want to play, get something good.

That's sort of what happened to me.

― Aja (aja), Sunday, 7 March 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I've got a mexican tele. but I want another guitar set-up in nashville tuning so I can play annoying jangle-pop.

― cozen (Cozen), Sunday, 7 March 2004 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

The amp that you will be playing through will also affect your sound -- almost as much as the kind of guitar you are playing. To a large extent, it is a trial and error process to get a sound you are happy with and fits the music you want to play.

Try out as many different guitars and amps as you can before you buy. This will give you some feeling in terms of the decision to go with single-coil or humbucker pickups (probably the greatest differentiating factor between guitar tones). Also, compare the feel of the necks and general playability. This varies greatly from one guitar to the next.

Good luck and have fun!

― 57 7th (calstars), Monday, 8 March 2004 01:39 (twenty-one years ago)

more important than how the guitar sounds, is how it makes YOU look. before you buy your guitar make sure to find a mirror and strap the guitar on and go through all the rock star poses and movements. ask yourself "do i look cool?" "am i attractive to the opposite (or same) sex" etc.

― roughguidetorockstardom, Tuesday, 9 March 2004 01:30 (twenty-one years ago)

choose a guitar with a heavy wood body, something that will do considerable damage when whipped at a drummers head.

― roughguidetorockstardom, Tuesday, 9 March 2004 01:30 (twenty-one years ago)

It doesn't really matter, as long as it's electric, 'cause it has a good effort-to-effect ratio. Also make sure you get one with the tuning pegs at the end, otherwise you'd feel pretty foolish, and that's not the idea.

Thanks D. Fair

― Sasha (sgh), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 05:04 (twenty-one years ago)

How do you like that Mexi-Tele? I don't think I'll be able to afford the '72 thinline I covet any time soon (http://www.fender.com/products/show.php?partno=0137402), but I want to get a decent guitar and one of those headphone-digital amps to play with.

I never got comfortable with the Epiphone LP I had (and it had some fucked up '50s whammy/tremolo setup that never kept in tune), but I loved the lightness of the Telecasters I tried.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 05:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i really don't think kurt cobain's or billy corgan's guitars sounded very much like each other. but either one of 'em could've gotten his own guitar sound, or at least 90 percent of it, with any well-made guitar and any decent tube amp. it's a cliche but it's true: the sound is in your fingers, not in your equipment.

but a big "me too" to 57 7th's suggestion that you try various gtrs for the feel of the neck and general playability.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 06:29 (twenty-one years ago)

the electronics - pickups and amp make way more of a difference than the body of the guitar itself ("me too, mee tooo to 57 7th"). get something that feels comfortable to play and moderately priced (ie, mexican fender priced and up). I would stay away from epiphones however. the reason for getting something not bottom of the barrel cheap is because the parts tend to be really shoddy and it will break down on you. you can have a GREAT guitar for 500 dollars (american). there's no need to spend $1000 on vintage or rare or PRS type crap.

also: try getting it used. a used instrument is, in my opinion, BETTER than new because it's had time to settle unto itself. plus, if you have any reservations, it's easier to bash up on a guitar that's already been bashed up before. they look cooler that way.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

You need to have one of your uncles give you a beat up acoustic from the back of their closet for free. Spend six months playing chords on one of those suckers and pretty much anything you play afterwards will feel like something Leo Fender personally made for you.

― earlnash, Tuesday, 9 March 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

Guitar Center:
http://www.steveswebpage.com/media/mov/scarysteven.mov

― ())(())()()()(()(LASER)()()()LA(Z)E(R)()()()((L)()()(A)(S(E)R()()()) (ex machina, Wednesday, 18 August 2004 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I'm with earlnash, why would you want to put $1000-$1500 on a guitar when your not even sure you're goona get into it that much. Also if you wanna sound like Nirv, get a squire strat and a half-decent amp, turn the distortion and treble way up and score yourself a Boss Super Chorus pedal, for some Come as you are, and smells like teen spirit (solo) sounds. See how that works for ya.

Peace

― LC, Saturday, 29 April 2006 21:42 (nineteen years ago)

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