Not impressed

I feel that a lot of times players get used to their guitars, how their guitars feel, and expect other guitars to feel the same, and then when they don't, it gets written it off to being of less quality.

Example: I used to play a Squire bullet strat, loved that guitar, it felt great. When I got my Gibson Les Paul (one of the $3,000 gems you're talking about) I thought, "hmm, this just doesn't feel as good as the Squire.." but of course, I just had to get used to the different feeling of the guitar, and now I love it, don't like playing anything else, and havn't looked at my Squire since.

I've bought my share of gear at GC and I agree that you have to take the good with the bad. I boycotted the place for a few weeks due to my frustration with their lack of customer service and less than perfect products, but ended up at a different location eventually... :oops:

Anyway, as for the faded SG, I bought one there and I love it. Maybe the difference (besides plain personal preference) is that I never even looked twice at buying an SG before. I picked that one up (heritage cherry, not brown) and was shocked at how much I liked the feel and the sound of it. The neck is huge, but I like it despite my small hands. I agree that it's cheaply made, leaves a lot to be desired in the looks department, and will never be a timeless classic. But I find it charming for the same reasons. One fear is that I could get a splinter from the unfinished body one day, or that the ugly-looking pups may fall out and render me panic strickenly acoustic... :shock: I got a heckuva price on it (as one should) and that was that. I always think that maybe one day I'll get a "real" SG (or a "real" PRS), but I love the faded for what it is.

I generally go for the "pretty" guitars, but my idea of a pretty SG costs about 3Gs!!!! And one other big plus to the faded is that I don't worry about scuffing it up as I do some of my other guitars. I never purposely bang things around, but I'm not sure I'd feel as comfy playing a $3000 SG as I do my faded (although I wouldn't mind doing a comparison test on it, either :wink:).

I do agree that most of the stuff at GC is not exactly for the discriminating consumer. I can't tell you how many times I've seen trashed gear there being sold as new. It's sickening, really. But I'm a junkie. GC is relatively nearby and in my times of desperation I cave in. I would not, however, buy an expensive guitar or amp ($1000 or more) there. Wait a minute...I take that back. It's already happened once. But no more! There are too many other places from which to choose.

So...which amp did ya get????? :?:

I feel that a lot of times players get used to their guitars, how their guitars feel, and expect other guitars to feel the same, and then when they don't, it gets written it off to being of less quality.

Example: I used to play a Squire bullet strat, loved that guitar, it felt great. When I got my Gibson Les Paul (one of the $3,000 gems you're talking about) I thought, "hmm, this just doesn't feel as good as the Squire.." but of course, I just had to get used to the different feeling of the guitar, and now I love it, don't like playing anything else, and havn't looked at my Squire since.

Oh, I get what your saying Taso, but I have 20 guitars at home so I am used to quite a variety of feels. I guess I meant I didn't care for the rough unfinished feel of the necks on the faded guitars. The expensive ones felt just fine. :wink:

It's nice to see that I am not alone. I bought an Epi LP Custom (I just looked, made in Korea) a couple years back. I really expected there to be a HUGE difference between the Epi and the Gibson that I was comparing it to at more than twice the price. It wasn't there. I'm beginning to think that I ended up with a real gem with the Epi. I've had two different guys who have each played for 30+ years fall in love with it.

I'm a little miffed these days about my Epi SG purchase a year ago. At the time, it was a great deal. I couldn't come close to the deal I got even looking at on-line retailers. A year later, that same thing is selling for $150 less than what it was. :evil: :evil:

It's nice to see that I am not alone. I bought an Epi LP Custom (I just looked, made in Korea) a couple years back. I really expected there to be a HUGE difference between the Epi and the Gibson that I was comparing it to at more than twice the price. It wasn't there. I'm beginning to think that I ended up with a real gem with the Epi. I've had two different guys who have each played for 30+ years fall in love with it.

I'm a little miffed these days about my Epi SG purchase a year ago. At the time, it was a great deal. I couldn't come close to the deal I got even looking at on-line retailers. A year later, that same thing is selling for $150 less than what it was. :evil: :evil:
Roy, I'm right with you brother.. I have a MIK Epi Custom as well and I love it.

I work by a GC and sometimes I go over during lunch. I'll pick up a few Gibby's and to be honest, I'm not impressed with them. Not enough to drop that kind of money.

However, I will pick up one of the Epi Gold-tops with the P-90 and fall in love...again and again for their feel and sound.

Maybe its because they too are MIKs and they feel so close to the one I have? Who knows...<shrug>

OK, so I've been playing with a lot of my guitars through my new amp and I realise why the let down on the faded guitars. (SG, V and Les Paul) My Gibson Les Paul Special Humbucker. $549.00 and came with a real nice leather Gibson strap. It is shiney, smooth as glass and plays and sounds better than my Les Paul Studio. The tuners are even smoother too. (The faded/worn finish LP I tried at Guitar Center for $749.00 had big tuning issues, I think it was nut related) I went there expecting them to be as good of quality as my Les Paul Special Humbucker. They were not. Maybe I just got a good one, I don't know, but I'm keeping it. :lol:

I'm sure there are some out there with faded (fill in the blank) gems as well. I just didn't find one. :( It's OK though cause I got an awsome tube amp that makes more sense right now anyhow. :D

TRGuitar wrote:

My Gibson Les Paul Special Humbucker. $549.00 and came with a real nice leather Gibson strap. It is shiney, smooth as glass and plays and sounds better than my Les Paul Studio.

Now I get it! Without being able to feel, hear or see (in person) your LP Special, I suspect I'd pick that over the faded SG for virtually the same price (mine was roughly $550 incl. generic hardshell case and tax)...if I were a LP person, that is, which I'm apparently not. I also have an LP Studio (my hubby bought it for me last Christmas) and I've never been as impressed with it as I thought I'd be (don't tell him...). It's a beautiful arctic white w/gold hardware, but it's too heavy, unbalanced and just doesn't feel or sound as good to me as many other guitars.

Again, regarding the faded SG, I don't even consider it an American-made guitar even though it is. For the price and the BIG name, it's just fine for me wherever it was made. I bought and returned the faded LP version, however, after realizing that the faded was no more comfy or better-suited to me than the LP Studio.

High expectations??? Sometimes! :) I always wanted a Les Paul. I like it, but I certainly don't love it.

I own a Faded SG and it is my favorite guitar. I love the pickups in this guitar, great clarity. I also own a LP Studio and it is better quality by far, but I also agree it is heavy and the tone is a little dark. I prefer the very slightly brighter tone of the SG. As for the finish, I really like it, I beat my guitars up pretty quick anyway. I noticed a few nicks in my SG yesterday. I am probably the opposite of most folks, but I hate a shiny new looking guitar. I like a guitar that looks played. When I was a kid I lived on the ocean in Florida and surfed. Our boards were all beat up from surfing everyday. We would see "townies" come down with their shiny new boards. We would laugh at them because we knew they didn't really surf. I am kinda the same way about guitars. I don't care about the looks if it plays and sounds great.

........We would see "townies" come down with their shiny new boards. We would laugh at them because we knew they didn't really surf. I am kinda the same way about guitars. I don't care about the looks if it plays and sounds great.

Yeah man, it's the same way with motorcycles. I've probably got the least shiney Harley in town. If I got an hour to spare, I ain't polishing it. I'm riding it.

I own a Faded SG and it is my favorite guitar. I love the pickups in this guitar, great clarity. I also own a LP Studio and it is better quality by far, but I also agree it is heavy and the tone is a little dark. I prefer the very slightly brighter tone of the SG. As for the finish, I really like it, I beat my guitars up pretty quick anyway. I noticed a few nicks in my SG yesterday. I am probably the opposite of most folks, but I hate a shiny new looking guitar. I like a guitar that looks played.

Oh, I got no problem with the looks like it's been played part. That kind of drew me in in the first place. It was that "This neck is gonna give me a sliver" feel to the ones I tried that turned me off. Now the faded finish LP Studio did have a better neck. I liked that one well enough, but not $750 well enough. :lol: They all sounded good but due to the neck, to me they did not play smoothly. You gotta like the way they feel. I am in no way saying they are bad guitars. I'm just saying I was dissapointed. I expected them to look like they have been played and feel that way too I suppose. :? I don't know??

It's ok even if you didn't like the SG. I respect that all people are different and have different tastes.

The neck on the SG really feels fast to me. But I have super dry hands by nature, all necks feel fast. :D

The action is not as good on the SG as my LP Studio. With my LP I have the strings dead low without any buzz at all. I have the action set up a little higher on the SG. But it still plays easily. I think the neck is a little narrower on the SG, which suits me as I don't have large hands.

But the main thing I like is the tone. Even my bandmates say this SG has great tone. I love the tone of this guitar and the clarity of the pickups. They aren't real high gain but they sound great to me.