I play clean mostly, strumming for church / worship songs.  And writing my own stuff.  My style is poppy alternative.  But like a lot of different styles.  I mean I just like good music.  But have a tenancy to lean towards pop with a bit of strange mixed in.  Anyways....  just think nice clean sound for strumming or melody type leads.  I can't shred or play leads like a real guitarist.  LOL.  

250-400 budget.  


Here's the issues I'm having and always do have.   The issue is I like a things from different guitars but don't really like any of them in stock form.  Or there is something I have an issue with.  

This is what I run into.  I like the body and feel of a strat.  But I really dislike the pickup in the middle.  It's always right where my pick is if I'm picking notes. On the one I have now I put the pickup down as far as it would go. That helps but it still hits sometimes and is annoying.  I'm not even super enamoured with the sound of a strat.   It works though and I'm sure messing with tone knobs and amps can get me close to what I want but there's something about the sound that sort of....  In it's most stock form and not adding effects.  

When I played a lot in my late teens and early 20's in bands I started out with Epiphone Les Pauls and moved to Teles.  In the end I stuck with a few Mexican Teles because I like them the best and they got closest to what I wanted for sound.  

HOWEVER, about 10 years ago I had an American Tele with the S-1 switching the dude I bought it from wired up himself.  Which I'm not sure was completely golden.  But what I figured out was I started to not like the slab body.  I lost a bunch of weight from lyme disease so I'm a bit skinny.  Well I was even moreso then and the body just dug into my ribs playing sitting.  And it annoyed me.  Plus there again the Tele sound I like better than a Strat but that one I had seemed almost too country ish.  

Then, Les Pauls…  I like them but probably a bit too heavy and I always struggle with getting a clean sound I like.  Seems like a guitar best left as a rock machine.  

So I'm starting to look at more oddball guitars to see if I should stray from the big 3 to get what I want.  

Cuz what I want are these three things.  Good clean sound for rhythm and strumming in church.  And melody type leads.  No middle pick up to get in the way.  And a smoother shape that doesn't dig into the ribs.  

And one other thing about Les Pauls and then add Jazzmasters to this.  I don't like the pick up switch on the top of the body under the neck like that.  I sometimes like to strum up there and hit the thing when I don't want to.  So I gotta add that to the list.

Good clean sound
no middle pick up in the way
no switch at the top of body near the bottom of neck
comfy body, not too heavy.  
(and I don't think I'd like 3/4 scale like a Mustang.  I'm not a big guy but my fingers are not overly small)
oh yeah, one other issue, I don't like super tall frets.  

Used or new for 250-400 bucks.  

I know tall order.  

I started looking at G and L and I see they have this different one that was based on the SC-1.  Now I forget the name of it.  But it's more shaped like a duo sonic.  But it looked like that one always had jumbo frets.  

I think my pick would be a Tele Deluxe.  I think the body is good.  But then they moved the stupid pup switch to where I don't like it.  Plus they're more expensive.  Although I think maybe you can get a classic vibe one in that range eh?  

Anyone know about the Fender "Lead"?  Seems like the single coil version might fit my requirements but they're a bit more money I think...  

OR.  I feel like my ultimate set up would be a Strat with 2 P90's.  I really think that would be just what I'm looking for but I don't ever see that.  And seems like I'd be over my budget.  Although there again, maybe I could get a Squier and then change out the pickguard and pups.  

What do you guys think would fit the bill for me?  

I also like the idea of the Epiphone Les Paul Special with P90's.  BUT, I think the body would do the digging like I said my Tele did.  But maybe not?  It is a bit smaller up there in the front.  Plus I hear Epiphones have really been good lately.  

This coronavirus crap makes it hard to shop for guitars.  

I think this meets all your criteria.
https://www.guitarcenter.com/Used/Epiphone/ES339-Hollow-Body-Electric-Guitar-116238857.gc

Yes.  You're right.  After I posted this I thought, you know an Epiphone hollow body might be the ticket.  

I think I would prefer one with P90s but the humbuckers mixed with the hollow body gives it a cleaner sound than an SG or Les Paul I guess....  The only thing is that the last time I was shopping for guitars when I bought that American Tele about 10 years ago, I felt like the Epiphone Hollow bodies I tried seemed less than stellar.....  Some just didn't feel right to me and I feel like they didn't stay in tune as well.  It might've just been me or sometimes I feel like that is the case when trying guitars at a store.  Strings not stretched out properly or whatever.  

I also think the big body might get annoying.  Possibly.  It is nice that is thinner than my acoustic.  But honestly, I don't even really enjoy playing an acoustic that much.  If I write a song it's usually on an electric or my bass.  Typically.  I only play it if I need to.  Like we've been singing with a few neighbors after online church this last month and I play it then.  But otherwise, it's not my favorite guitar to play other than they do sound good clean.  

I don't know how many guitars he has but I'm pretty sure he likes Gibsons…  Will be interesting to hear what he's got to say though.  Thanks for tagging him.

If you do end up getting one with double humbuckers in it, you can rewire the tone knobs to roll off one of the humbuckers to make it a single coil.
The double humbuckers have to have 4 wires for this to work though.
That way you can get a very wide variety of sounds out of one guitar.

Doesn't  the ES-339 Pro have coil splitting?

Apparently it does. haha
I didn't know that.
I have played a few guitars where the knobs lift up to split the coils.

I would agree or possibly a Gretch.

Epiphone ES-339 P90 Pro Wine Red Maroon Semi-Hollow Double Cut Away https://reverb.com/item/33477333-epiphone-es-339-p90-pro-wine-red-maroon-semi-hollow-double-cut-away?utm_source=android-app&utm_medium=android-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=33477333

REVELATION RFT SEMI - F-HOLE P90 T-TYPE IN TRANSLUCENT WHITE, NEW https://reverb.com/item/32078365-revelation-rft-semi-f-hole-p90-t-type-in-translucent-white-new?utm_source=android-app&utm_medium=android-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=32078365

What about an SG?
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EISPFPENH--epiphone-sg-special-p-90-faded-pelham-blue?mrkgadid=3331287879&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=gpla&mrkgbflag=0&mrkgcat=guitars&&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=92700046938598390&lid=92700046938598390&ds_s_kwgid=58700005283398290&ds_s_inventory_feed_id=97700000007215323&dsproductgroupid=375368710555&product_id=EISPFPENH&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=m&network=g&matchtype=&locationid=9059462&creative=332063179650&targetid=pla-375368710555&campaignid=1708733951&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIm5mbuqG76QIVzMDACh1N-gpiEAQYAiABEgKq2vD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Werd.  I played a Gretsch last time I shopped and I was very very tempted.  


That SG is purdy.  I'm not super into the looks.  Plus I hear the head likes to dip down on you from being heavy in comparison to the body.  It's been a while since I played one so I forget....  

After watching lots of vids I'm starting to know what sound I like.  I think my favorite are Jazzmasters and Mustangs when it comes to sound.  I feel like they sound the closest to what I like, other than the Mustang gets kind of muddy.  But I feel like most humbucker equipped guitars get kind of muddy too for clean sounds.  But yeah, the P90's help that.  


Couple of questions for you all....  

On a LP or a Tele Deluxe, can a guy move that switch up top?  Anyone ever see a mod like that?  

Also...  Is a Mustang a 3/4 scale guitar or is it the same as a LP?  A vid I just watched said it was 24" scale.  Which I thought that's what a LP is.  

I feel like what I want is a strat that doesn't sound like a strat.  With 2 pups instead of 3.  LOL.  But even the Fender strats with 2 humbuckers still have that Strat sound I don't really love.  I don't how to explain it but you probably know what I mean..  It's.....   toothy...  Something.. How do you explain it.  It's got that sort of whine in the tones that I just don't dig.  LOL.   The Jazz's lose that.  

Some of the Non Fender strat types lose something too though.  It's like they almost sound generic.  Like some Ibanez.  

I think the top ones on my list right now are a Mustang, ES339 and Jazzmaster, Tele Custom Deluxe.  My local music go round has some Music Man Sing Ray's that I love the look but again it has the pup switch in the wrong spot and the tone seems a bit....  again sort of generic.   Although I realize with anything you can tweak.  But the dual humbuckers just not completely my thing.  

The ES 339's body is a pretty nice size.  My guess is I'd always play with the knobs out.  LOL.

Do what i did...

SG with P90's?

Or maybe this-

Epi LP junior

Nicely contoured and great sound. Coil splitting is standard now on these, unlike when I got mine way back when and had to wire it that way. Still though, never sounded muddy even without splitting.
Paul Reed Smith SE


A friend of mine have one of these and it’s a joy to play. Great sound and the body feels “thin” if that makes any sense. Great sound too.
Ibanez S521

I have one of these Schecter Hellraiser. Playability is great, good sculpting on the body and it forever turned me on to active pickups/preamp in a guitar. Almost all of my guitars now are now equipped with active pups/preamp. Very large range of tonal possibilities.

I know these are pushing your price range or well over it (Schecter) but you can definitely find these in good condition used. Sometimes you get lucky though. I got the Hellraiser new-in-box for $235 when Best Buy was discontinuing their instrument sales.

I've posted about it extensively before but i picked up a Schecter Hellraiser Extreme (new MSRP $1150) in excellent condition for $225 w/hsc (cheap case not the OEM) in all places a pawnshop in Austin. They must have thought it was an Omen line or something, but the deals are out there.  Would still have it if it was a hardtail (string thru) and not a trem. Neck, frets, fretboard were the nicest of any guitar I've owned before or since.

I used to have my Les Paul wired up like this.



Normal switch isn't wired up and the pickup switch is in the volume spot.

Cool guitar!!!  Did the other volume knob control both pickups then?

My Music Go Round has both of those options (PRS SE and Ibanez you mentioned or two very similar.  One black and one white) and I'm intrigued by them.  I haven't been there to play them yet but they've been on the website for a long time.  I'm starting to really like the idea of the SE.  I watched a youtube video of them making them and I was sold.  I don't know if I would know what to do with all them high frets on the SE.  LOL.  I had a buddy that I played with back in the day and he lusted after a PRS.  But he liked the metal sound more.  

I'm not really a metal player but then I listened to the white album again last night through my headphones the the other day.  (for a long time it wasn't on youtube but I recently saw it)  and some of the sounds they were getting were pretty thick with distortion / dirty.  Like on Birthday.  

I don't know.  I was just in the hospital with kidney stones on Friday and I'm probably not gonna go many places for two weeks to make sure I don't expose anyone if I was exposed, but a big part of me wants to do something other than : Strat/Tele/LP.   I was leaning towards trying an epi LP, but I always remember having a hard time getting clean sounds I liked from it.  And I play mostly clean.  Obviously they rip when you want leads and high gain.  But mostly I'm more of a chill, chords and clean and use it clean for church.  I do have song I'm writing that I will use some distortion on and will use it sometimes.  But not planning on it being super heavy.  

Anyone else on here have a PRS SE that you can comment on if you like it?  Or an Ibanez like that?  For me it seems like the Ibanez has kind of a generic sound....  Ish.

That's not mine, it's James Hetfield's guitar.

But on mine I had the top 2 knobs for volume controls and 1 tone knob.

Interesting....  

I'm starting to lean towards fixing up my guitar but I'm not really sure how.  Part of the reason is I'm convinced I want a P90 equipped guitar.  And they're not always the most common.  I do like the idea of the LP Special with P90's.  But I'm not entirely sure I want the slab body and the inability to individually adjust for intonation.  But maybe they're good enough.  

I have a bit of emotional attachment to this current guitar even though it's so low end.  It would be really sweet to find some kind of deal on a neck.  But having never built up a guitar I'm not sure it's all that good of an idea.  I have no clue what are good brands for parts unless you just buy fender or something.  There's so many choices and I'm not really set up.  I don't have a solder gun.  

Ugh...  what to do.  What to do.  I gotta get out there and play some but I'm giving it a week or so since I was in the hospital on Friday.

You can get P90-type pickups in standard humbucker-sized packages, so pretty much anything that you otherwise like that has humbuckers could have a set of P90-style pickups swapped in if that's what you're after.

Yeah, gotcha.  Good point.  So what you're saying is if I bought any ole guitar that has humbuckers you can get P90's that would mount in the spot eh?

Hey Czechers, how do you like that guitar?  I wouldn't want that cuz for sure I don't want a middle pick up.  I don't really dig the style either.  I like the color though.     How has it held up?  Stay in tune?

I used to have a guitar with a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat and it sounded pretty good, but I've heard as far as humbucker sized P90s go, it's not the closest sounding. I've been wanting to try out a Gibson P94, I've heard they're pretty good.

Wowz. you pay to play with that one.  LOL.  Yowza.  


I'm still all up in the air.  I watched a good youtube video last night called the pedal show.  It was these two brits and they went through a good amount of p90 type guitars along with their humbucker counterparts and I liked all the P90 equipped guitars much better by listening to them EXCEPT the PRS.  They had a McCarty with soap bars and it didn't sound anywhere near as good as the humbucker version.  But the rest of the guitars, P90 all the way.  But they were all Gibson type guitars.  A few hollow bodies and LP's.  

I had a LP junior with one P90 for about a week once when I was a young man and I fricking loved the way it sounded.  But I couldn't get over how steep of the angle the neck was to the body and it felt super awkward to me. But for the sound... I loved it.  So I got rid of it.  I shouldn't have cuz it was a real Gibson and I did not pay a lot for it.  Aren't they worth something now?  LOL.  Ugh.  I'm thinking it was made in either the 70's or 80's and it was pristine.  Red stained.  

That video made me want one again.  But that issue with the neck being on such a steep angle I don't like.  I also think SG's are somewhat that way which is one reason I'm not sure I want one plus the headstock diving thing.  Although I never played with one slung over my shoulder in a band so I have no clue if that's a big thing or not.  

I gotta admit, after learning about the Muse Epiphone models I'm kind of intrigued.  I like how the LP has a contoured and thinner body.  And the coil tapping.  Although I still think a P90 guitar would sound better.  I'm not sure I could live with the TV Yellow Special though.....  

Well, the search continues.  Hopefully soon I'll get to go play something....  The nearest guitar center is pretty far from me and the only close places are music go rounds and some el cheapy stores that don't carry much.....  

With new string trees and tuners ($32?) It is now very stable. Ive also found that i constantly hit the middle pickup so I'll likely remove it and maybe do some interesting alternate wiring since it has a 5 position switch.  For non-reverse wound pickups, its very quiet. I ordered a cable so i can record direct so I'll try to get samples up in the next couple weeks. For $50 i can get a custom tortoiseshell pickguard from Warmoth with whatever pickup config i want so might do that.  I haven't decided if I'll replace pickups since i like how these cheap ones interact with the Fender amps (simulated). Their dirty factor just works well with my rig. I dont know how much that'll change if i remove the middle pickup. Maybe remove the middle pickup but leave the cover in the slot so it will sit lower.  I really love the P90's though and they do something really wonderful if you run them through a Klon clone like my Pegasus first in signal chain but if you want to spend $80 to $200 you could get a JHX Soul Food or Greer lightspeed .

I love a good bargain:

$139.  SX Liquid 3P90
$32.  Upgrades, tuners/string trees

$80. Tele copy with good bones
$120. Upgrades, pickups/tuners/string trees/wiring harness.

My "nice guitar" is an Ibanez ARX i paid $175 for in mint condition.

Budget signal chain:
$280. Like new Firehawk FX
$43.  Caline Pegasus
$169. New Alto TX210 powered speaker

How about a Strat in a HH configuration?  Or a custom pickguard with a single coil in the neck and humbucker in the bridge?

Modify the switch and pots as necessary for coil tapping, series/parallel, etc.  Plenty of awesome aftermarket pickups are available too.  

That way you get the body style you feel comfortable playing without the middle pickup in your way.  You can experiment with this buy taking an existing strat and simply removing the middle pickup.  

If you're already partial to the SG, take a look at the Gretsch Corvette. It's a remake of their design from the 60s. It's a part of their "electromatic" series.

You seemed to be open to a hollow body type and wanted P90s.  This is a pretty good sale right now pretty close to your budget.

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/dangelico-premier-series-dc-boardwalk-semi-hollow-electric-guitar-with-seymour-duncan-p90s

ETA: LOL, not sure why I quoted myself here.    

I am really appreciating all the feedback.  

You guys really will buy stuff online without playing?  I guess I'm kind of old fashioned or something and I have a hard time with that. Cuz every guitar is different.....  That being said, I guess you can probably tweak most guitars to get them to how you want....  maybe?  I don't know. But to me that seems like you might get something and be like blaaaaa, I don't like this one.  Even if it's a model you're used to liking.  



I'm still shopping.  Hitting some facebook ads and talking with dudes.  Got a line on a couple reasonable Epiphone Les Pauls.  One is a studio and the other one is a Les Paul that has "Shiner Beer" graphic finish.  It's kind of funny.  But the price is right and if it plays well...   Also have a line one a Thinline tele with P90's.  

Here's another interesting one for you.  A dude lives in my subdivision and it selling a "Keith Urban" electric guitar.  It's this sort of Les Paul copy type thing.  He says he's never played it and bought it new.  Apparently Keith was selling these guitars exclusively through HSN.  I did some youtube looking and there's mainly lots of unboxing vids that most don't strike me as....  well lets just say I'm trying to understand if there is any quality to these or not.  Seems like maybe, maybe not.  Most of the vids are a bit hokie.  The only reason I'm thinking about it is cuz he only wants 150 bucks for it and he would throw in a Distortion and flanger pedal....  I mean.    

But it feels a bit hard to take the guitar seriously but I'm not usually a brand snob....  Although I have a deep seated love for Fenders, to which reason I can't even explain why.  I think I like the simplicity, the looks, the history and whatever else comes along with them.  

I'm dealing with kidney stones right now so I haven't went and played anything anywhere yet.  I had a small window to do so but I'm having a lithotripsy procedure on Thursday (breaks up the stone) and I get a covid test today.  And I have to self quarantine in between the time of the test and my procedure.  They want to make sure you're healthy if you're getting work like this done.  So...  it will be after my procedure a few days before I'll feel like going and playing anything anywhere.  

If I was going simply by looks, I love the look of the body shape of the this Stagg Silverary DC.  Which I think is a body style copy of one of the styles Gibson used as a Junior at some point.  I love the shape and looks of that guitar....  I also like the Music Man something or other.  Forget what model.  No doubt I love the way Tele's and Strat's look.  I don't know if the Stagg is also one to take seriously.  My music go round has two of the for 150 bucks each.  I mean....  how good can it be?  

But a strat with humbuckers...  I don't know....  I keep listening to vids and such and I'm just not in love with the sound.  It still sounds like a strat to me.  But then it sort of sounds like....  not as good or something.  I don't know how to explain it but it so far it's not on the top of my list for wants.  Now a Tele with P90's or Humbuckers, completely different thing.  I'd go for that especially if the body is shaped like the customs are.   I could just go for a classic vibe 72 reissue. but we will see.  I'm like Czechers and sort of love a deal.  Plus with all the kidney stone work I've had done over the last week, bills are gonna roll in I'm sure.....  Even though I have insurance.  


I did a little bit of work to my guitar and in some ways I improved it.  But I won't know completely until I put .11's back on.  I ordered some Fender .10's, just to try and I really don't like them.  

I sanded down the fret ends and rolled the edges a little and that part turned out really good.  But really when I look at the frets on this thing they're all over the place.  I see flat spots and such.  I did take 000 steel wool to the frets a few passes just to clean them up and smooth them out a little.  And I avoided the first 3 because that's where I was getting some buzzing.  But now it feels like when I do bar chords I get a little bit of deadness if I'm not pressing really hard with my bar finger.  Up higher on the neck.   It wasn't doing that before.  Either that's the smaller strings or the fact that I took off a bit of height with steel wool.  Who knows.  To be sure if I was serious about this guitar I would get a new neck...…   But it seems kind of silly to spend that on a guitar I'm not even sure I really like the sound of.  LOL.  That being said, it's not the worst idea in the world to have a decent playing strat in the arsenal.  LOL.  

And all I can say is I remember why I switched to .11s....  I just don't like 10's.  I just can barely feel the first string.  Like when doing an D minor and a few other chords it just feels like nothing is there.  Or like when picking chords....   I'm so used to thicker gauges.  

I could try to put humbuckers in my Strat, if I could get some cheap.  It's routed for it.  But then on the other hand on mine the bridge is wired to the tone knob and that is a bonus...…  

The pots say "CF" on the.  Maybe you guys can tell me if it's just all super cheap Chinese stuff.  Which I would imagine it is.  I know those pups are just cheap magnet ones, but not sure if that's a really bad thing or not....    

I've bought 3 new acoustic guitars online.  But they are high end, and I was fairly confident about them, and the place I bought them from (Sweetwater).  I would not likely buy something used online.

FWIW,  I would give your current guitar a good inspection, and if it checks out, I would rebuild it (I like doing that kind of stuff).  Check the height of the frets, to see if there is enough "meat" left, so they can be leveled and re-crowned.  Check the neck for proper neck angle, and to see if it can be adjusted for proper relief (I like to use a notched straight edge directly on the finger board for this...not on the frets themself).  If it's good to go, then the rest is relatively easy, though not necessarily cheap.  The pickups and electronics can all be replaced if you are having problems with them, or simply want a change.  Along with tuners, bridge, saddles, nut, etc.  I like CTS potentiometers, and got mine from RS Guitarworks.  I use both their audio taper pots, and their "super pot" for volume control.  They are super smooth, and work well. You can even get the entire electronic package, prewired from them.

I don't know anything about Fenders, so I can't be specific, at all.  

Good luck with it.

Not everybody is fortunate enough to have a well-stocked local shop. Even with better shops, there's also the case of finding almost what you want, but the shop not having the specific model you want in-stock. I ordered my Hellraiser through a local shop in such a case - they only had a Floyd Rose-equipped model on hand, but I didn't want one with a FR.

Out of the 4 guitars and 3 basses I currently own, only 2 were bought in person.

How do I measure the height of the frets?  I have an old school set of micrometers.  Maybe could measure the whole neck and then add the fret to it and subtract the difference???  They are not digital but the kind you screw in and out.   How tall should a fret be?  

I can adjust the neck, although it likes to be bowed back.  If I adjust it to be more flat before putting strings on it's too far bowed forward.   I don't think I can actually get it to be completely flat though.

There are digital calipers designed for such things, but an easy way, is to lay a straight edge across two frets, and measure the distance between that and the fretboard with feeler gages.  Of course it will probably vary some, on different places around the neck.

 
I'm a looooong way from being an expert on this subject, but new frets are typically in the .040-.050" range.  But you can certainly find them a little taller or lower than that.  I'll go out on a limb and say that frets worn lower than, oh, let's say, .030-.035" is getting down there, because the final height would be even lower.  I guess some people like them as low as .025" (finished and crowned), but that seems awful low, to me.    I think .035" might be OK for leveling, if you don't go crazy with it.   However, if your frets don't have a lot of grooves, and most are in the .035" range, then you may be able to spot level any tall (unworn) frets down to match the majority.  You just have to be careful not to over do it, and to try to keep things level.  


I don't know anything about Fenders, but Gibson recommends .012" relief at the 7th fret for their electric guitars.  But nothing is written in stone, and many people like the neck a little more flat. I set the neck relief, and action on my Les Paul to Gibson specs, and like it.  Factory specs seem like a good place to start, to me.  I'm sure you can find the Fender specs somewhere on the internet.    

Epi Les Pauls were never my thing (depsite having a strange love affair with Squier).  Back in the day (not sure about now), hardware wasn't compatible with Gibson so if you broke or lost a bridge, you couldn't swap in an Epi part.  And the bridges... damn were they sharp, even cut myself on one once while palm muting.  They sure make a pretty cherry sunburst, though.  Looking at prices though, used Gibson Les Paul Studios can creep down towards some of the premium Epi prices.  A new or used Schecter or LTD might get you the sound you want, but maybe not the look.

If your current guitar is routed for humbuckers, swap in a loaded pickguard.  Go as cheap or as premium as you want.  Duncans, GFS... whatever.  Can't say I've ever heard a Strat with a Duncan Invader or Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge that sounded "like a Strat".

OTOH, why change your old guitar when you can buy a whole new guitar?  Why buy a drop-in barrel for your Glock when you can just buy a whole new Glock?  :)

Kekoa.  Thanks for the tips.  It made me think of what I can use.  I have super thin feeler gauges that I don't think would be thick enough to measure that far but I could probably use a spark plug gap tool.  I'll see.  Probably work on that today.  

Strat81.  It's the same old story.  Money is not an abundant commodity in our household.  I could bore you with the details but suffice to say I don't just go out and by 500 dollar things without a really good reason.  I do have 500 bucks cash just sitting in my drawer but it could easily be routed to something more respectable, like doctor bills, new tires, etc etc.  


I keep watching vids and I'm no more convinced I need another guitar than when I first started.  IF, I can get the neck right on this one. I have a feeling this frets are shot.  I wouldn't necessarily mind finding a decent neck but a new, good one is as much as a guitar.  And I'm not sure what to think about buying used ones on ebay or something.  Could be a gamble.  

And despite the fact that a strat is not my favorite sound, I'm not sure there is anything else out there that I totally love either.  I think it might be more of just tweaking the amp to get the right sound.  There are definitely tones that annoy me about it.  I don't like the super trebly or quacky sound.  But you can get some warmer tones from the right position. Mainly the neck pick up but I recorded a song the other day using the middle pick up.  

So....  I'm not sure what to think.  I think next week it will be go time to go play some other guitars and see if I feel like I'm missing something, or if something calls to me. My guess is there is going to be something about every guitar you play that is a compromise and maybe  I should be more looking at amps as far as tone goes.    I mean at church I play through my Fender Bassman 100 watt 2x10" and at home I have the crappy SP-10.  LOL.  I usually play bass at church so I just leave that amp there.  And most of the time I'm playing guitar it's cuz other people in the band are gone and there's no other bass player besides me (small church).  So the extra bass tones out of my guitar is kind of a good thing.  LOL.   Although I dial them back too.  


Yeah I can't explain it.  I have a weird love and fascination for Fender but I'm not really in love with the quacky, chicken picking sounds that come so easily out of single coil teles. Or the Hendrix-esque (chilli pepper) sound out of the neck pickup.  You might be right about trying a different pick up in my guitar.  Only thing is my body doesn't seem like it's very good wood either, but I'm not sure I really care that much about that.  I'm sure it has an impact on tone and resonation though.  You would think.  I can't really tell what it is but what little I see of any wood it looks like there' not much grain to it.   Some chu wood.  Basswood maybe?  I remember my brother in laws polytech had the poly stock and that thing was light.  Kind of made it nice though cuz the gun felt so much lighter.  

I think a rosewood fret board might help move more towards what I want.....

I think what I really want is a tele with P90's that I feel like I could take my belt sander to and round off where your right arm lays down and put a belly cut in.  But it seems like it would be a shame to ruin a good paint job.  LOL.

They look like they're about at .040 from what I can tell.  Although I didn't measure everywhere.   I'm not sure why I'm getting some dead spots when I bar sometimes.  Seems like especially on the D and G string.    But I'm gonna put .11's back on and I bet that would solve that.  It might need a fret job to level them out.

 I watched the vid one of you linked (thanks a ton) and I will probably buy that kit to see if I can get rid of them. I don't really know if that is the problem or not cuz I don't feel like I hear dead spots when I do single notes....  I don't think it's me cuz I've been playing bar chords forever.  But it seems like the strings I got bend to the point that they will touch the fretboard.....  So maybe I'm just used to thicker gauge.  I'm not sure what's going on.....  It doesn't feel completely right though.  LOL.  


I need to post a pic of this thing...  

That happens to me too, but it isn't the guitar.  I'm a  relatively trim kind of guy, and don't have much meat on my fingers.  So if I don't play a barre chord just right, I get dead strings, or buzzing.  Think about it..not likely you could use a bare finger bone as a capo.  It's too uneven.  


BTW, you can use guitar strings as a cheap feeler gauge.  When you put on new strings, cut off the tag end, and use some tape to label the gauge.  Probably not perfect, but it can get you in the ballpark.

Funny you say that. My Tele has a plywood body with a pristine poly burst finish and no body/arm cut. I think it would be cool to take my new belt sander to it

Yeah.  I'm skinny too.  But I don't remember if I had this kind of issue before or not now.  It might be that for a long time I've been using .11's and that might help with that cuz they probably don't bend as much when barring.  

Thanks for the tip on the strings for a feeler gauge.  I'll save the ends the next time I install them.

Ugh....  Not sure why that didn't work.  Had some good pics....  LOL.  

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tdpri.com%2Fthreads%2Fforearm-contour-and-belly-cut.623946%2F&psig=AOvVaw3y7hKAMhZW77PLtO7gsF7n&ust=1592162617674000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCJjH7JTC_-kCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAq

I have the same problem, but I have sausage fingers. Usually I'll just grab the low E with my thumb, mute the A, and get the rest of the strings with my fingers, and that gets it close enough for rock and roll.



As long as you don't base all of your guitar playing on trying to sound like somebody else, you'll eventually get to the point where other than some subtle differences, you sound the same on pretty much everything.

Little bit of an update.  A dude came by on Saturday and brought me a Thinline Tele (Squier) to check out.  Has P90's in it.  

So.....  This is what I learned:


I'm not sure the P90's sounded THAT much different or better than my cheap strats pups.  Although I only had a practice amp at home.  So more than likely through a better amp it would make a difference.  It did sound decent.  It did FEEL a lot better to play than mine.  He has a replacement neck on his and the fret board was definitely rounder than mine.  Seems like the cheaper Chinese strats use a flatter radius.  He was saying mine felt super flat.  LOL.  Also, his needed the fret ends sanded down cuz it did that thing that mine used to do where it grabbed the high E string once and it got stuck under the neck on the end of the fret. LOL.  I cleaned up the fret ends on mine and rolled the edges and it's really nice now.   I just wasn't sure if I did something to it cuz I gave a few passes over the whole fret board with 000 steel wool and then it seemed like I got more dead spots when barring.  But I also put on smaller strings and I think that's got more to do with it.  

I prefer the Strat body.  But I could also get into sanding a tele body.  However, you can't really sand a thinline, I wouldn't think for the belly or forearm contour.  So it's not the best choice.  I also think the thinline body brings more high ends out, which I don't want.  The neck pup sounded pretty warm though.  And not overly so.  

This was a younger guy super into playing and such and he also showed me a few places I could buy a replacement neck on.  He's used Allparts and stratosphere and said those would be good places to get something.  

I think I've figured out my next step.  First, I'm gonna get some .11's for mine and see how it feels.  Second, I'm gonna start playing some more OTHER brands and styles like Epi's, teles, hollow bodies to see if something feels more like home to me.  Thirdly, if the strings do the trick on mine, I think I should look into upping the quality of the tuners.  And POSSIBLY do something about the PUPs.  However, mine is wired with the middle and bridge pup to the tone knob and I like the ability to be able to tone down the bridge pup.  I'm not convinced they're that terrible, even though I know they are lower quality.  But for what I do and play through, it might not make that big of a difference.  I'm not needing to play super loud ever.  And don't really plan to.  Although I may try  to do some amp swapping with my Fender bassman and see if I can wrangle a better guitar amp in a trade for a smaller bass amp.  But not really sure about that.  I just know my fender bassman 100 is way overkill for my church.  And I'm not sure I would ever feel like I need that much amp.  Although I guess if I played with a band that had a full drum kit and loud player I might.  

I get what you're saying about sounding the same on other guitars...  I know picks have a lot to do with it.  And I play a fender medium.  I do try to play closer to the neck to warm it up.  And I definitely strum up there.  But when I pick it's usually right over the middle pick up or a bit forwards.  Unless I'm muting.  Then I'm further back of course.

But this is another thing I think, I feel like a lot of other guitars just have a very....  generic sound if it's not a Les Paul or a Tele/Strat/Jazz.  Just from watching stuff.  For example.  My music go round has two Music Man Ernie Ball string rays and I like the way they look.  But when I listen to to all the demos it just has this sort of...…  I don't know how to say it but sound that just doesn't sound alive to me.  Yeah, it's warmer and less jangly but it's like it's missing something.  So maybe I'm more of a fan of a strat then I think.  But then when I listen to a lot of guys playing a strat I'm thinking, it's too.... quacky.  LOL.  But you're right. might have a lot to do with the persons style than the guitar.  

Anyways....  lot of talking and not solving much.  LOL  Any of you guys ever buy from allparts.com or stratosphere?  That's my thing about buying parts is it feels like a gamble to me cuz there are so many choices and I have no clue what it is decent.  Especially for lower money.  Obviously if you pay 300 for a warmouth or fender you're gonna get something decent but I don't want to spend that much on this guitar for a neck.  

I haven't ever bought anything from them, but if I remember right, Stratosphere just parts out new guitars.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you're all over the place.  Necks, pickups (sound and location), body shapes, amps...  

Some amps, especially cheap beginner amps will mask a guitar's tone.  Similarly, plugging a Squier Affinity into a rack full of effects and out into a JCM2000 will make a middling guitar sound pretty good.  With an electric guitar, you have a lot of ways to shape the one, even with mediocre pickups.  And one dude's holy grail of tone may not be yours.  A church band may not be the best place for EMG 81s and a Triple Rec.  

Find a guitar that feels good in terms of how it feels in your hands, action height, and how it interfaces with your body (belly cut?  arm cut?  cutaway for higher frets?).  Once you find the right guitar, then worry about amps, effects, and pickups.  Sweetwater lists over 200 guitars in the $300-$500 price range.  At least one will work for you.  Strats, Teles, LPs, SGs, Dinkys, Gretsches, PRSeseses, trem, hard tail, locking trem, reissues, modern...  

And the only way to find that is to play.  And not all Strats or LPs feel the same.  Different neck contours and fretboard radii, so a '57 reissue will play differently than your modern 2020 version.  Play, play, and play some more.  A few hours in a guitar shop will be more helpful than Youtube videos and gun guys offering reviews and advice.  Avoid Saturday and Sunday if you can, as it'll be busy.  Weekdays and weeknights work best.

Yeah, I totally agree.  It's been kind of fun learning what's all out there now watching vids but I totally see your point.  But the converse to that is some people will say anything you play long enough you get used to.  LOL.  Which I think there is some truth to also.  But yeah, I think there are some guitars that will feel better immediately to a certain person.  Definitely now that my kidney stone stuff is largely out of the way I can start going to places and playing more.  

The "you're all over the place" thing makes sense.  But there are a lot of options a person can take, so...  just trying to figure out which one might work for me.  And one that costs the least.  LOL.  Money is always an issue and now after having a kidney stone episode we're going to have more doctor bills to deal with.  Grrrrrrrrrrr…….   It's also good to just have somewhere to talk out your ideas and see if someone throws in a new one to think about.  So I apologize for throwing a lot at you guys.  It's been a good thread to help me think through it.  And I learned some stuff.  

Part of me has an emotional thing with this guitar I have.  But part of me is like, that's just dumb.  LOL.  It reminds me of my Mom cuz she gave it to me and I've written songs on it over the years.  So part of me want's to get this thing where I like playing it again.  It never was very good though.  It just was there.  And I played my bass mostly at church.  And sometimes I would play my acoustic.  But this one got thrown into the mix at church a few times, more so in the last two years.  

I played it on this song posted below (need a fb account the hear I think).  This song is no joke to sing.  LOL.  I'm not saying it's good but I was surprised we actually could sing it and for me play it at the same time.   We did this during being locked down and not in church in April.  Our worship leader was gone on a cruise and my wife and I were the ones posting the songs for church for about 3 weeks.  

Allelujah.  With my Starcaster.  LOL.  

Ooops, the name of that song is Christ the LORD is Risen Today.  

It kind of looks like that when I look at their loaded pickguards.  But they also carry these new necks called mighty mite...…   Not sure how good they are.  

Hey, I recognize that song from church.  I think my kids sang it for VBS one year (or maybe youth group?).  

Kidney stones suck!  My urologist had the world's hottest nurse help him remove the stent.  Yeesh, talk about embarrassing.

Anyway, yeah, you can get used to stuff, but even after getting used to something, when you play something that just fits, it's that much better.  Kinda like guns, if you usually shoot 2 notches out with a 6-pos stock, you'll probably do OK if it's fully extended, but you'll do better with it at 2.  

I started with a Squier Bullet Series Strat in the 90s... similar quality to your Starcaster.  Changing pickups made a YOOGE difference in tone *when played through a decent amp.*  Some $50 beginner special... yeah no.  

New pickups are the cheapest option and will result in a huge change in tone.  If you don't like SSS configuration, you can switch to an HH configuration.  

But if you're not in love with the neck and body of your current axe, why bother upgrading?  Save your shekels for a guitar that feels better.  I don't know if that's a LP, SG, Ibanez, Jackson, G&L, or what-have-you.  

And I get the sentimental thing... I'm probably going to spend a couple hundred bucks repairing frets on my first guitar, that Bullet Strat, because it was my first even though I can get a brand new Squier Strat for the same money.  My Gibson LP?  Hardly ever play it because the neck is way thick, but I won't sell it because it's the first thing I ever earned - worked my teenage butt off to pay for it.  

Reasons to buy a new guitar:
1) Tone (unhappy w/ current guitar or looking for something more rock/metal/country/bluesy/etc.)
2) How it plays (neck is too thick/thin, body is not ergonomic, action is too high)
3) Build quality (won't keep tune, frets are lifting, finish is peeling, electronics are failing)
4) Pride of ownership aka brand snobbery
5) GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome, see also: BRD)

Get out to the guitar store and play.  You might also see if you can buy some time with a different amp.  Some of the modeling amps can make some marginal guitars sound really good.  So bring your guitar along and go amp shopping and guitar shopping.  

Don't forget used stuff.  There is so much good gear on FB Marketplace, Reverb, eBay, Music-go-round, GC, your LGS... try it all.