+1 hold out for an Epi or something, cheap guitars can be a real false economy

Strummer07 wrote:

IMO the Internet is a great place to look a guitars ....not to buy them.

Possibly the best quote I have seen for a while.

I would NEVER buy a guitar on the internet. When I bought my clapton strat I tried about 10-15 different clapton strats over a period of about 6 months, I knew I wanted one because my mate has one that I love but I couldn't find one that gave me the same feeling, it was always either the wrong color, body wouldn't resonate enough, neck wasn't quite right. Same when I bought my Maton guitar and the Epiphone SG that I'm about to pick up. You should always get what YOU want and not settle for what you can afford. If you love a guitar that is a couple of hundred bucks more expensive then save the money. After all it is just money, can't take it with you when you die and most of it is just an imaginary number on a computer screen.

I've never played an SX but, I know a guy who was a affiliate for Rondo Music. Some of their guitars are cheap quality and some of them do fine.

- Adam

I didn't get to play my Fender Stratocaster before I bought it, I went with my gut that It sounded good. It came from California to Kingston in 2 days and I opened the box and there was my Blackie

- Adam

I was looking at RondoMusic and I found another left handed Gold Top Les Paul, just for another 50$ it has vintage looking pickups and a finer looking finish. http://www.rondomusic.com/al2000goldp90left.html


- Adam

I bought my Les Paul Deluxe, Blues Jr Amp and EC Strat online, but it was from Musician's Friend, and they had a no-hassle 45 day return policy (as well as 45 days to find one priced less at an online STORE and they'd match it if it were legit, with did happen with the LP - and they DID honor it and refunded me the difference!).   And luckily all were primo for me with no defects or problems and well set-up, but I did have a luthier tweak the LP and I tweaked the strat (GOLDIE) myself.  But I knew if I didn't like them FOR ANY REASON, they'd take them back for a *full* refund or another guitar of same model or cost.  And I got a 5% automatic reduction in cost because I'm in ASCAP and free shipping.

BUT - without that guarantee, NO WAY would I buy on the internet!

Jim

playingguitar wrote:

if you're dying for the real thing, you won't be satisfied by an imitation.

Agreed, but only if we're talking cheap copies. Also don't buy an imitation if you feel a strong affinity to a brand label or manafacturer. In either case you'll probably be getting out the wallet again before too long.

There are however some top quality copies out there made from good quality materials by skilled craftsmen who don't necessarily need to rely on computer systems to build the guitars for them. Just sometimes these smaller organisations can put one over on the big corporations and produce as good as a guitar for less money, or even better for the same price. They take some finding though, as they don't have the numbers and marketing muscle that mean every town has their product.

I was looking for something in the £600-£700 range (around $1000-$1150) of a Les Paul type. Nothing I could find locally (and that basically means major brands as Edinburgh is very conservative in its guitar selection) spoke to me whem I tried it including the G****n models in that price range.     OK a G****n Les Paul Standard felt great but it was not even close to my price bracket, not even second hand.     A chance encounter with a second hand "copy" Les Paul meant that I got a new guitar by the same manufacturer, in the price range I was looking at, that not only blew the competition I'd tried out of the water, but bettered by a good margin the G****n SG Standard I used to have before a financial crisis meant its sale over a year ago. It's just as "real" a quality guitar to me as the original GLP.

Now when I sold the SG Standard, and believe me I didn't enjoy that experience, I made do with a cheap LP "copy". It was good value "copy" for its price, and felt pretty good to play, but I was forever trying to tweak at its sound and eventually had to settle for a tone helped by a blues overdrive / booster pedal. The cheap LP "copy" been gathering dust since the newest acquisition and I must admit I did try it again tonight having been reading this thread and it now seems a much poorer quality guitar than it used to. A bit sad about that as it was a good friend for quite a while.

LeftyBlues wrote:

Hey guys, I put some serious thought and I think that you guys are right. What really got me was the "If you're really dieing for the real thing, you wont be satisfied by an imitation." So i looked online. And then I saw some videos of Clapton in the 90's with his 335 and said, I NEED ONE OF THOSE. I convinced my dad to let me pay 265 right now, 100 after christmas, and for christmas i am only getting a guitar pedal. But here is the guitar.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Epiphone-Do … 1150127.gc

I think everyone can agree that this is a great choice.

That will make 3 lefty's I know of who own Dots, hmmm

Actually one of these lefty's owns the guitar that I've always coverted a  Les Paul Custom $7000 + as well as another quite pricey guitar, yet the Dot has been his main instrument ever since he got it he loves it.

That's a great price, but even still play one if you can just to be sure it's what you really want.

Good Choice! The Epiphone Dot is an amazing guitar!

Epiphone ES-335 Dot

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/guita … 22#content

Winner of the Musicradar.com poll for best guitar under £300 with 34% of the vote.

Yeah, sorry bout that, guess i fell completely under its spell.

REVIEW: Epiphone Dot

Playability: Love the guitar, pretty big, great tone, but as all gibson/epiphones the neck is pretty big making playing for hours on end starts to get tireing.

Neck: Love the neck. Although it is big, if you have long fingers, it plays perfect cause of the flat, shallow back of neck.

Body: Finish is wonderful. I got the cherry finish and the maple wood shines through the finish. Great hollow tone and seems sturdy. Pick up are pretty hot for an epiphone, I like either the bridge pickup with vol at 7-8 and tone at 5-6, for the neck pick up, i like a nice peter green-esque tone so i crank the volume and tone to 10.

Sound: Love the sound through at hybrid or all tube amp. Tried it through one of my solid state amps and its natural reverb from the semi hollowness is too much and it sounds bad.

Price: I got mine for about $420.00 and it comes with the guitar, a poster, and a cheap guitar cable.

Overall: If your looking for a semi hollow and you're on a budget, i'd definitely suggest this or anyone of epiphones semi hollows.

tradrrr wrote:

LeftyBlues wrote:

Yeah, I dont know if i can wait for it to ship, gonna head to my local guitar center and see if they got any in stock for me to try and walk out with it as soon as I'm satisfied.

Hey Lefty, you never followed up with how you're liking your Epi.

I've wanted a Goldtop for a while and saw the 56 Epi Goldtop. Anyone ever play one? I also like the Gibson one, but $4k vs $500 is a big difference. I don't play well enough to justify spending that much on a guitar (no matter how much I'd like it).

Here's the difference in the specs:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/compare? … pid=518320

Jim S, I think you picked up a Gibson goldtop a while back. How's that working out for you?

I love the '56 Goldtop.  I've played 2 epiphones in shops- one felt crappy and didn't sound so great, but the other I tried was superb.  It was only bettered by the epi casino I tried immediately afterwards.
I just love that P90 pickup sound.

I might be wrong, but I have a feeling Jim S's has humbuckers, like AlaskaBluesGuy's goldtop.