Posted: 3/9/2014 8:38:47 PM EDT
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I haven't played guitar in quite some time, and for Christmas my wife bought me an Ibanez RG421. It was pretty cheap, less than $250. After a set up, I was amazed what $250 will buy these days. It has got me back into fumbling around with music again. I was at the local Guitar Center the other day, and found a still new 2013 Gibson SGJ. I knew they had been sitting on it for a while, and I was able to get out the door on a real USA Gibson for less than $400. I love it.
Not really a point to this post I guess, other than I am just blown away what is out there at these price points if you look around. I seem to remember when starting out back in the late 90's it was a lot more difficult to find quality at these prices! |
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It is true that some amazing values are to be had in the budget range... quality has come up substantially on the low end guitars pretty much across the board.
That SGJ and LPJ line of Gibsons is pretty dang solid for the price. I played an LPJ late last year that I thought sounded as good as my Gibson LesPaul Studio... finish polish was the biggest 'corner cut' and the fingerboard wasn't quite as nice, but overall a heck of a deal on an American built guitar. |
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Quoted:
It is true that some amazing values are to be had in the budget range... quality has come up substantially on the low end guitars pretty much across the board. That SGJ and LPJ line of Gibsons is pretty dang solid for the price. I played an LPJ late last year that I thought sounded as good as my Gibson LesPaul Studio... finish polish was the biggest 'corner cut' and the fingerboard wasn't quite as nice, but overall a heck of a deal on an American built guitar. +1 to that. I tried explaning to some knuckledragger on Geartalk that the cost savings on the "J" models was mostly labor, from not spraying multiple coats of Nitro & polishing/buffing. He was calling them "total garbage", and advising someone to "just get an SG Standard". I seriously doubt that he had actually played either an SGJ or LPJ... I love mine... 
(Yes, that is my actual LPJ - but no, I didn't shoot the pic. Sweetwater took rather fetching pictures of it before they shipped it to me...) |
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I tried explaning to some knuckledragger on Geartalk Your first mistake. 
I played the SGJ in the photos above. I'm not a Gibson-neck guy, but the SGJ plays great. It's light and comfortable, and the satin/rubbed finish on the neck makes it pleasant to use. I don't think I'd ever use the bridge pickup, but the neck pickup sounds great! That being said, I preferred the RG. Better spectrum of sound from the pickups, and DAT NECK! Nice LPJ above, too! These really are the best-value, US-built instruments I can think of. Not something I'd have said of Gibson previously. I despise satin/matte finishes, but just by feeling and looking at the finish on the J models, I could tell that these are going to "wear in" and look/feel cool as hell after several years of dings and wear! |
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Quoted: +1 to that. I tried explaning to some knuckledragger on Geartalk that the cost savings on the "J" models was mostly labor, from not spraying multiple coats of Nitro & polishing/buffing. He was calling them "total garbage", and advising someone to "just get an SG Standard". I seriously doubt that he had actually played either an SGJ or LPJ... I love mine... http://i990.photobucket.com/albums/af25/arhoodooman/133120583-front-large_zpsa32e3341.jpg?t=1394551377 (Yes, that is my actual LPJ - but no, I didn't shoot the pic. Sweetwater took rather fetching pictures of it before they shipped it to me...) Quoted: Quoted: It is true that some amazing values are to be had in the budget range... quality has come up substantially on the low end guitars pretty much across the board. That SGJ and LPJ line of Gibsons is pretty dang solid for the price. I played an LPJ late last year that I thought sounded as good as my Gibson LesPaul Studio... finish polish was the biggest 'corner cut' and the fingerboard wasn't quite as nice, but overall a heck of a deal on an American built guitar. +1 to that. I tried explaning to some knuckledragger on Geartalk that the cost savings on the "J" models was mostly labor, from not spraying multiple coats of Nitro & polishing/buffing. He was calling them "total garbage", and advising someone to "just get an SG Standard". I seriously doubt that he had actually played either an SGJ or LPJ... I love mine... http://i990.photobucket.com/albums/af25/arhoodooman/133120583-front-large_zpsa32e3341.jpg?t=1394551377 (Yes, that is my actual LPJ - but no, I didn't shoot the pic. Sweetwater took rather fetching pictures of it before they shipped it to me...) Sweetwater is a class act. They are only about 45 miles from me.
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Some bass players swear that all you need is a cheapie bass made with decent piece of wood and good aftermarket pickups. That an expensive name bass is not guaranteed to sound like what you paid for it. People forget that at least half of the equation is in the amp (along with good strings). I had a tech poo poo my $98 Korean DanElectro. Picked it up, played it, made a weird face and said something about how it sounded. I told him I think it sounds pretty cool. It's got a chambered sound to it and when plugged in, it sounds great (lipstick pick ups a little weak). Unique sounding but not "bad" sounding. Plays like butter too. It would really shine with a slide 
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People forget that at least half of the equation is in the amp (along with good strings). I had a tech poo poo my $98 Korean DanElectro. Picked it up, played it, made a weird face and said something about how it sounded. I told him I think it sounds pretty cool. It's got a chambered sound to it and when plugged in, it sounds great (lipstick pick ups a little weak). Unique sounding but not "bad" sounding. Plays like butter too. It would really shine with a slide
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Quoted:
Some bass players swear that all you need is a cheapie bass made with decent piece of wood and good aftermarket pickups. That an expensive name bass is not guaranteed to sound like what you paid for it. People forget that at least half of the equation is in the amp (along with good strings). I had a tech poo poo my $98 Korean DanElectro. Picked it up, played it, made a weird face and said something about how it sounded. I told him I think it sounds pretty cool. It's got a chambered sound to it and when plugged in, it sounds great (lipstick pick ups a little weak). Unique sounding but not "bad" sounding. Plays like butter too. It would really shine with a slide
I always figured you use the guitar to play the amp. (Sort of like you use a keyboard to trigger sampled sounds.) To me the tone begins at the interaction between the pickups and the string and ends with speaker selection. Yes, the guitar body, neck materials, scale length , etc. effect to tone slightly but everything after the string vibrating in front of the pickup has a far greater effect on the finished tone IMHO. To me playability is the most important aspect of an electric guitar. Once you have a playable guitar the tone can be adjusted to duplicate anything out there within a very small margin just by selecting the correct pickups, effects, amp, and speakers no matter the guitar. |
Very true. One of my favorite guitars in my collection is my el-cheapo Jackson JS Series King V, and I want to say I only payed somewhere around $300 for it. It's been about 10 years ago, but it's been a great guitar, and has served well as a guinea pig for when I feel like trying out pickups......then again, several of my guitars have become guinea pigs lately. 
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I had one of those epiphone "demon" V's that was kind of a fun little guitar. I think it cost me $300 and it came with a nice hard case.
Otherwise I had a nice Ibanez that was a pretty good guitar. It got sold to fund my double cut PRS clone build. I do not regret that trade off at all! |