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Same issue here. I can’t really play but know enough to seriously dislike GSOs.
Spoke to a friend who plays well and owns a lot of guitars, and got both some advice and the loan of an Epiphone SG for a few months.
Sadly number one son learned enough from the SG to know what he likes and a trip to the local guitar shop to pick one for Christmas was not, repeat not, cheap
On the other hand the Christmas guitar stashed under my bed both looks and sounds lovely.
This takes me back to my first electric guitar purchase at about 17 years old.
I went to Mark's Music (probably long gone now) in Ipswich, tried a bunch of second hand guitars. It was down to a headless Hohner and an Ibanez EX in a green and black tiger print type design.
The Hohner was superior in every way to play but it was fugly. The Ibanez looked a lot better and iirc someone from a favourite band played Ibanez guitars.
The Ibanez won. It should have lost resoundingly. I ended up a few months later with an Aria Les Paul copy, which was cheaper and loads nicer to play.
Don't let your son make this stupid mistake. Better an ugly guitar that plays well. Just typing this 30 years later I still think I should have bought that Hohner it was a much better instrument.
PF / Gilmour and DS / Knopfler are both known mainly as Strat players, they’re both great guitarists but also old ****ers.
I’m struggling to understand what “but also old ****ers” has to do with anything! They weren’t when they started, and they were playing Fenders and other makes before anyone much even knew who they were. Same for Marr. Knopfler’s first guitar was a Hofner Super Solid V2 that his dad bought him for £50. As that was in the late 50’s, very early 60’s that would have been a lot of money. His next guitar was a Fender. That was before Knopfler was 16, and he was born in 1949. Gilmore’s first guitar was one he borrowed from a neighbour but never gave back. His first good one was a 60’s Telecaster that he had as a gift on his 21 birthday. He was born in 1947, so there weren’t the cheap, poorly made and finished guitar-shaped objects sold through Amazon, eBay and other low-cost outlets like there are today. Any cheap second-hand instrument would have been pretty well made back then, and mostly played by jazz and big band musicians.
It’s possible to find old instruments that just need setting up and new strings fitted, but many were bought by indie musicians’cos they were cheap, and then they started to become popular and then more expensive. As things do.
He was born in 1947, so there weren’t the cheap, poorly made and finished guitar-shaped objects sold through Amazon, eBay and other low-cost outlets like there are today.
I don't think that's exactly true, the cheap Japanese guitars of the 60s from Teisco, Guyatone etc definitely fit the GSO bill in my experience. Despite the hype (thanks to their fame in the hands of indie bands as you say), I've played a couple and they were dreadful instruments, totally outclassed by today's budget offerings from Squier etc. I guess my broader point though is that, contrary to the gist of your post, there has never been a better time to be in the market for a first guitar. So long as you get something from a well-regarded brand like Squier/Yamaha/Epiphone/Harley Benton etc as others have recommended in this thread, you're pretty much guaranteed to end up with a very playable instrument that might need a quick set up (very DIYable) at most.
Guitar trends seem to be pretty cyclical, the "old ****ers" get all misty eyed about a certain model (Les Paul's seem to be the current Peak of this) and other models plummet in price where they're picked up by skint young musicians, who end up making them cool.
Kurt Cobain making the largely rejected Fender Jaguar cool again being probably the most obvious example.
I’m struggling to understand what “but also old ****ers” has to do with anything!
It was in the context of when weeksy seemed determined to buy online as a surprise. I asked what he listened to then, in the absence of any other directions get him a guitar like his guitar hero plays.
And the answer came back with three guitarists in their 60s or 70s. A teenage boy's guitar hero should be some skinny hipped bundle of attitude, that your mum simultaneously hates and yet whenever she sees him on TV makes her bum feel a bit fizzy. Not a pensioner
Johnny Marr of course transcends all that, and having a guitar like his is always an option
Kurt Cobain making the largely rejected Fender Jaguar cool again being probably the most obvious example.
You wot mate?
He played a Mustang and a couple of straits.
I know he played a jaguar on a tour but it's a bit of a stretch associating him with one over the teen spirit Mustang.
This is the sort of solo he should be assaulting your eardrums with, not Brothers in Arms.
Bands that are gigging out of transit vans, not private chartered jets. Surviving on pasties and JD&coke, not a chef on a retainer.
Kids nowadays, tsk. Get some proper heroes.
I know he played a jaguar on a tour but it’s a bit of a stretch associating him with one over the teen spirit Mustang<br /><br />
Fender did enough to make a signature model.
Fender did enough to make a signature model.
The Cobain signature model is actually a "Jagstang". His own design and a hybrid of both guitars.
He was born in 1947, so there weren’t the cheap, poorly made and finished guitar-shaped objects sold through Amazon, eBay and other low-cost outlets like there are today.
There absolutely was. Jack White has made a career out of them. The US "catalogue" guitars like Kay, Airline etc. Not made in the far east but in the US, and they were cheap and crap.
The Cobain signature model is actually a “Jagstang”. His own design and a hybrid of both guitars.
Signature models are not the same thing at all.
Signature models are not the same thing at all.
I know, but I assumed Razaroo thought Kurt's Mustang use was so significant that Fender made a signature version when in fact it wasn't
I missed the reply before your boarding Bob.
I thought you were outpedanting me.
This place is quite local.... What do you fellas think of this ?
https://musicmanreading.co.uk/product/epiphone-les-paul-100/
I need to chat with the boy but there's also this
https://musicmanreading.co.uk/product/fender-squier-showmaster-2/
Both may be worth taking a trip into Reading for a look-see... Not made easy by the fellas opening hours though lol.
Now you've spoken to him and the element of surprise is gone, I'd give him a proper morning and a choice rather than edge him to stuff because it's available in a second hand guitar shop.
Especially as it's not really that much cheaper than a decent entry level guitar that he chose with a shop set up behind it.
Alright alright, Sonic youth and the Jazz master then.
Eric clapton playing a.....Gibson acoustic? the world has gone mad I tell thee!
He generaly plays strats and martin acoustics, live, almost exclusivley. Not that there's anything wrong with that, they are both iconic guitars for good reason but I suspect there's hefty sponsorship deals behind that which helps!
I know, but I assumed Razaroo thought Kurt’s Mustang use was so significant that Fender made a signature version when in fact it wasn’t<br /><br />
Nope, just pointing out that Fender’s Cobain model is a Jag, so one could simply figure that that model is the one most associated with him.
For £99 that Fender Squire Showman is good value. Of all the guitars suggested so far that's the one I'd have as a budget first guitar. It's a Superstrat which have gone out of fashion hence the price, but they remain pleasant to play and versatile guitars. Even if it's badly set up all that's needed is an allen key for the saddles (ask the shop for a free one, they'll have drawer full) and philips screw driver. Plug it into an an amp and check all the pickups/knobs work and sound OK before handing over your cash.
I dunno exactly what's involved in creating signature editions, but are they not slightly modified versions of the standard line, but pretty simmilar, like these Jon Mayer and Eric Clapton 000 signatures, with input from the artist can specify little things like Engleman spruce or Sitka spruce tops, different neck profiles etc?
Not nessesarily what the artist uses as a daily driver.
Fender have a data base with 3D models of their most famous necks so they can CNC you an exact copy of Clapton's Strat neck if you pay enough to the custom shop. The Fender signature models use necks that are very close, the soft V on the Clapton signatures is really uncomfortable for my hands and the way I play because it's too big. On the other hand a cheap Epiphone Peter Frampton signature acoustic is seriously skinny and a I love it - even if the guitar isn't very loud. The Squier signatures I've tried have all had standard Squier necks which is great as far as I'm concerned, they suit my hands perfectly - and most people get along fine with them - note that OP, the standard Squier necks are very much one size fits all..
Take him to a guitar shop, let him choose.
Priceless.
As Harry said, I recently sold him a Squier Bullet Mustang.
His delightful daughter had set her mind on one and nothing else would do.
I know how she feels.
I've tried replacing it with a pink, maple necked model over the last month, 'cos I'm vain.
I've spent £150 in fuel trying to find a comparable instrument.
Nope.
I'm sat here now with a LAG acoustic which cost £170 secondhand. It suits me more than a Martin at 10 times the price.
I only buy guitars when a choir of angels starts harmonising when I pick it up. That's how I ended up with an Ibanez RG550, despite hating that style of guitar.
Yeah, neck profiles make a big difference to the feel of the guitar... hence why it's always good to actually get your hands on something before buying.
Some profiles are a lot more one-size fits all, than others, and that's not a bad thing... but there are a lot of options available, these are just from one manufacturer:
https://www.maurysmusic.com/maury_s_blog/view/187208/martin_neck_shapes
Yeah, neck profiles make a big difference to the feel of the guitar… hence why it’s always good to actually get your hands on something before buying.
It's SO important.
I always fancied a Gibson type instrument and bought a Vintage brand (pre Trev Wilkinson) VS6 SG type for £90 at a guitar show. It looked like it had been used to beat off zombies.
Beaten up to hell.
I sold it. Big, big mistake.
I've never found a better SG.
Yeah, my late old man sold his origeonal spec Gibson Marauder to a working band guitarist after offering it to me for free...
I turned it down as despite sounding amazing, I just couldn't get on with it, and it would have ended up just being an ornament.
You can always swap out pickups etc. on an electric, but you can't realistically change the weight, neck shape and general feel of the thing.
The guy who bought it said something simmilar..."it sounds phenomenal, but it's a difficult guitar to play!"
Thanks to the massively kind @finishthat and the power of stw forum again, we have this arriving/collected tomorrow
Yamaha Pacifica 112 and a Roland Cube 15x
This place really is a gem at times and the people on it.
That is a lovely guitar and soooooo far away from a Stagg you have no idea! (but he will). Roland do electronics very well so the amp will work for ever.
"Kurt Cobain making the largely rejected Fender Jaguar cool again being probably the most obvious example"
I bought a Les Paul Jr because I saw Billy Joe Armstrong ripping on one years ago and always remembered it when I finally decided to learn the guitar this year. Its not a Gibson but as its 30 years old Epiphone it has original gibson P90 pick ups and cost the same as a cheap new guitar. I know nothing but my mate says it sounds almost as good as a proper one though not when I play it.....
So a Yamaha Pacifica, good choice. 🙂 He'll need to watch a Youtube video on adjusting the intonation, it's visibly out in the pic. 😉
He’ll need to watch a Youtube video on adjusting the intonation
The good news is that's way easier on an electric than an acoustic
Well there's other crazy too. An hour before we got offered the Pacifica we bought this
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Jett js400 which according to reviews is brilliant but if Mrs Weeksy has her way, now she's found out, I expect it'll be sold. But it wasn't exactly expensive
I don't know what it is in truth at the moment. We went back to STWer to try and buy the Amp as he was local.. somehow we ended up with a 2nd guitar.. it wasn't planned and just kinda happened. But it's not a hardship of course.
This sort of magical shit just happens with guitars.
Daughter bought a Squire Bullet Mustang from RustySpanners. I happened to mention it to my FiL the day after and that we were looking for an amp, as ours registers on the Richter Scale. His reply was "I don't use mine any more, you can have it... and a barely used Squire Strat."
Bought a guitar. Accidentally ended up with two and an amp.
Magical Shit in action.
The red trainers didn't appear by magic.
He’ll need to watch a Youtube video on adjusting the intonation, it’s visibly out in the pic
That may as well be written in Arabic 😀