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You MAY be interested in a Variax for tonal spectrum. Otherwise, I am of the school of thought (and practice) that you need a Les Paul, a Strat, a Tele, a Gibson 335 and something, anything, that plays dirty. Ibanez with dirty pickups, etc.... alongside your favorite acoustic (Ovation for me).
Not much help, was I? That Variax has always seemed interesting to me. Turn of a knob and you are playing a totally different guitar, different tunings, effects, etc..... The downside is that the main board likes to go out in humidity.
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Joined: Oct 2007
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My son just bought one of these: Gibson Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/gibson-les-paul-studio-electric-guitarHe got the Faded Cherry. Very nice. "Aged" MOP inlay and tuners. You can actually feel the wood grain under the finish. Plays and sounds great. Great price for a Les Paul.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 7,913
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What kind of a tone are you looking for? The world of electric guitars has opinions all over the map. A recent master of tonal variety that I have played is the Epiphone Nighthawk Custom. Two different HBs, a single coil and a strat-like hard-tail-piece! I can't play Gibsons or Epiphones very easily with the tune-o-matic style bridge. This little beauty was stellar in every way. Scale length was nice; a little wider neck than a strat (me likes), etc.
-Scott
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Joined: Dec 2003
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Joined: Dec 2003
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Scott hit the nail on the head, what type(s) of tone are you looking for? Personally I like a number of different guitar tones but I’ve found that one guitar does not cover them all. As much as I would love to have a collection of Fenders, Gibsons, Gretschs, and many other top line instruments I just can’t afford them. My approach was to buy a number of inexpensive but solidly built and great sounding copies from the following companies: http://www.rondomusic.com/http://www.guitarfetish.com/http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dmi&field-keywords=jay+turserI have copies of Teles, Strats, Jazz hollow bodies, acoustics, 12 strings,and LPs and although not exactly sounding like the originals they are very close, especially for recording straight into a DAW. Note that I do not gig anymore so I don’t know how “road worthy” they are however they do look and feel like they could go on the road. I did think about a Variax but I am very leery about electronics like that in a guitar. The reason is I have a Casio strat midi controller (MG 510) that the midi control board died. They do not make that model anymore thus the midi part of the guitar is now useless. Fortunately the strat part still works. Just my thoughts.
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia.
She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Joined: Oct 2008
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Quote:
My son just bought one of these:
Gibson Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/gibson-les-paul-studio-electric-guitar
He got the Faded Cherry. Very nice. "Aged" MOP inlay and tuners. You can actually feel the wood grain under the finish. Plays and sounds great. Great price for a Les Paul.
that *is* the best price I've seen lately for a Les Paul bearing a Gibson logo !!
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Joined: May 2003
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I have a Rondo Strat and have had experienced players not able to believe the sound and playability of an instrument that cost $99
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Joined: Dec 2003
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Quote:
I have a Rondo Strat and have had experienced players not able to believe the sound and playability of an instrument that cost $99
John. I have had identical responses with my $110 Rondo Tele!
I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia.
She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 193
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 193 |
My Ibanez 24 fret axe routed for Variax guts with Roland GK3 hex pickup (not shown on this old photo) and built in wireless transmitter is hard to beat for the range of tones available: http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff260/Keebo_photos/VariNez/VariNez_1.jpgSome of the Rondo guitars are very nice indeed. I have 3 lower priced models that are well worth the cost.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 506
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 506 |
I am not interested in the VariAxe type of thing. Nor synth guitars. I'm looking for sound that is a bit more organic. I'd like a wide variety of tone but am not interested in shredding the latest metal riffs or covering Metallica. The range tone I'm looking for is from Nashville contemporary-clean to crunchy-country-lead with the possibility of Western Swing. I'm leaning heavily toward a Taylor T5 Classic. http://www.zzounds.com/item--TAYT5X2012Not too dressy, but gorgeous in it's own way and it will git-r-done.
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Joined: Nov 2010
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Journeyman
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Posts: 506 |
Yep. This really convinced me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgRzOWNOG08It has the tones I was looking for and I trust the brand. I've ordered "used" on Musicians Friend. Saved hundreds of $$ and have the ability to return it for a full refund after a 45 day test-drive -- can't beat that.
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