That's a toughy. My early axemas gift to myself was a Gibson Flying V Faded. :) And I also named it "Veronica" already. I tryed the B.C. Rich Warlock and like the platinum and KK flames guitars.
Have fun deciding.
:D
Hehe! Is the Flying V a light or dark Faded?
"If I had a time machine, I'd go back and tell me to practise that bloody guitar!" -Vic Lewis
Everything is 42..... again.
I can't make a decision on your choices but I think I have a fair idea what you want to do with your music.
I am going to make a suggestion. Get yourself a cheap (maybe even from a pawn shop) acoustic guitar to practice basic stuff on. It will build up your hand strength faster and force you to play things very cleanly. Whatever you learn on the acoustic will be a piece of cake on your electric. Consider it a tool to get you where you want to be.
I'm not sure if its light or dark faded.......or what that even means but here it is here:
http://www.music123.com/Gibson-Faded-Flying-V-Limited-Edition-i226331.music
As for the accoustic........it would have to be real cheap, like $100 or less. It doesn't make much sense to spend $200 for one, play it for a while, then never touch it again. Once I get a new amp the sound will be a lot cleaner, but I'm assuming its not the same as an accoustic. What is the difference in sound between an accoustic and an electric with distortion off?[/url]
That question would be best answered by going to a store and play both and see for yourself.
Listen to any unplugged CD. unplugged means acoustic.
Not quite the same but I would equate the diference in sound as the difference between a piano and an organ (like I said not quite the same but there is quite alot of difference in sound)
It doesn't make much sense to spend $200 for one, play it for a while, then never touch it again. Once I get a new amp the sound will be a lot cleaner, but I'm assuming its not the same as an accoustic.
This is the never ending question of guitar owning. It's either good or bad, depending on whether you like buying more guitars on not. :twisted:
One view says that it's good to buy the very best you can afford when you start out. You should then get a decent neck, reasonable sounds, and all the general benefits of quality over cheapness.
The difficulty here is that when you start out you really don't know which direction you'll end up following, or which guitar will ultimately suit you the best. You can't guarantee that paying more will always buy much more quality, nor can you be sure that the characteristics that you're paying for will turn out to be the ones that you like, or will be able to exploit. Even among pro players and expensive guitars one will hate whatever the other loves.
There's also a tendency for beginners to blame their guitars for what they can't do. My teacher has a Aus$4000 Gretsch and I have a Aus$500 guitar. So you can guess which sounds best. Until we swap guitars. Then - WOW - the $500 guitar sounds fantastic and the Gretsch mysteriously sounds pretty terrible. :cry:
Another view says buy a cheapie and learn the basics until you're good enough to pick the real differences between guitars in the shop (and not just the looks).
My view is in between. I never buy junk, but look for reasonable quality in the mid range. I keep saving as I play too. I know that I'll always want that next better amp or sweeter guitar further up the ladder.
Oh, and the guitar in the pic you linked to looks pretty good too. :D
Hope you find "the one" - for now...
Cheers, Chris.
I went for buying a cheapie myself. I figured there was no sense spending $500+ on a guitar then finding I wasn't going to stick with it. The guy I bought it from was desperate to make the sale so he threw in an amp cheap and a free: extra set of strings, cable, strap and picks.
I'm still learning what is good and what isn't. For example, on the site I linked to, it listed what material the body, fingerboard is made of, tuner types and pick up. Unfortunately, I don't know what most of that means, or what is better. Normally, I just base how good it is based on reviews or, if I'm in a store, how it feels and sounds.
What really got my attention though was the reviews, "The distortion is so thick and crunchy.......just raw, untamed distortion at my disposal." Sounds like its just the tone I'm after. It is hard to tell with just text though. I hope to try one before I buy it.
What really got my attention though was the reviews, "The distortion is so thick and crunchy.......just raw, untamed distortion at my disposal." Sounds like its just the tone I'm after. It is hard to tell with just text though. I hope to try one before I buy it.
I love reading reviews and getting all pumped up too. :D But in my heart of hearts I know that you can't play guitar reviews, just like you can't drink wine reviews. With wine you discover after a while that there's only so many words to go round and you read endless variations about "oak flavours, hints of blackcurrant, honey overtones" and all the other twaddle. But in the end the only thing that really matters a darn is whether you like drinking it or not.
With electric guitar reviews you also get a range of buzz words that get recycled again and again - "sustain, crunch, distortion, scream..." and so on. And some of the things referred to depend as much or more on the amp than the guitar anyway.
It's also hard to find truly unbiased reviews. We still have to try and find out what it does or doesn't do in our own hands.
Your planned step up sounds good to me, if I understood it right. But is there any special reason why you're not satisfied with your current guitar?
I try and look at guitar purchases logically, but I know that in the end it always just boils down to "am I really keen to get this?" and "have I got the money right now?". Two yes answers and I'm half way to the shop already.... I always do the research first, but the casting vote always goes to the heart not the head. :D :wink:
Cheers, Chris.
Your planned step up sounds good to me, if I understood it right. But is there any special reason why you're not satisfied with your current guitar?
Don't get me wrong, my guitar is fine. It rarely ever slips out of tune and has a Floyd Rose locking system on it to keep it in tune when I use the tremolo. There are a few things I don't like about it though:
1. The floating bridge makes it harder to tune.
2. The guitar is at least 17 years old.
3. It only has 21 frets. Most guitars I've seen have 22. Some I've seen have 24.
If I were to get a new guitar, I would probably keep the one I have too. Especially if I got that one since that one doesn't have a tremolo system. Though I have seen amps with tremolo built into them as an effect. Not sure how that works.
The 'tremolo' bar on the guitar is misnamed, it actually creates vibrato or rapid alteration of a pitch up/down (a similar effect can be achieved using your fretting hand). The tremolo effect on the amp is the rapid repeating of a single pitch.
"Things may get a whole lot worse/ Before suddenly falling apart"
Steely Dan
"Look at me coyote, don't let a little road dust put you off" Knopfler
Don't get me wrong, my guitar is fine. It rarely ever slips out of tune and has a Floyd Rose locking system on it to keep it in tune when I use the tremolo. There are a few things I don't like about it though:
I believe you have a Kahler style bridge. Floyd Rose would be stamped into the bridge other wise
1. The floating bridge makes it harder to tune.
They are not that bad once you understand them
2. The guitar is at least 17 years old.
I think they sound better as they age
3. It only has 21 frets. Most guitars I've seen have 22. Some I've seen have 24.
Definitely a draw back there, I know, My Squier only has 21 frets and so some lead runs are out of the question
If I were to get a new guitar, I would probably keep the one I have too. Especially if I got that one since that one doesn't have a tremolo system. Though I have seen amps with tremolo built into them as an effect. Not sure how that works.
Get an amp with a clean and dirty channels. Buy pedals if you want effects.
I'm going to against the grain of most of the members here and say.... Buy an expensive top of the line guitar! It does not need to be made in America but it should of quality. Nothing will turn you away from playing faster then an instrument that won't stay in tune, is difficult to play or does not sound the way you want it too. Trust me when I say you will never want to put a guitar down that you have saved up, worked your butt off for.
Look at what your guitar hero's play because that is most likely what you will want to play.
That Gibson Flying V pic almost looks more like a black painted one rather then like the faded one I've got. I'll check the Gibson site to see if I'm wrong. Might be a goth style faded, which is cool.
When I was asking about dark or light it just meant the wood being dark or light. A month or so after I got mine the shop got a darker wood verison of the faded V I've got.
I'm sort of torn over an Ibanez GRG that I bought in early spring for $200, if I would have waited longer I could have gotten an RG that I really liked for $170 more.
"If I had a time machine, I'd go back and tell me to practise that bloody guitar!" -Vic Lewis
Everything is 42..... again.
1. The floating bridge makes it harder to tune.
They are not that bad once you understand them
So does that mean I can get my guitar to Drop C with relative ease?
2. The guitar is at least 17 years old.
I think they sound better as they age
I always thought that was for acoustics only. The wood dries and as it does it sounds better. I guess the wood in an electric would dry too but the sound does resonate through the body that much.
Look at what your guitar hero's play because that is most likely what you will want to play.
That's what I did actually. I saw the guitarist in a band I like play one, or at least one similar so I thought I'd check them out.
It would take a bit of work buy it could be done somewhat easily. Your guitar would not take to kindly to changing tunings between songs.
Basically I meant that restringing and basic setup is pretty easy once you figure it out.
Make sure that guitar has a set neck. I think V-bodies sound horrible with bolt on necks.
Is there any way to tell what type it has? It doesn't list it on the site.
It looks as if it does. I can't find any info saying so but one photo I found shows it to be a set neck. Wait till you play a neckthrough or set neck guitar, the tone is amazing, there is no heel to get in your way and the pickups are generaly mounted right on the neck for that added tone.
