Question

[sagebrush]

If your want a fat sounding guitar try out a jackson . And play the epi for a good bit at the store and if it fells good get it .

[Hardrock69]

Yeah drop a guitar on the floor.

And if it fells good, it just proves that gravity still works.

[Alex Mogilny]

I was at the Gibson Showcase store the other day at Opry Mills.

They have signs everywhere about if you damage a guitar...you buy it.

I'm afraid to even breathe on a guitar at that store....their prices are very high as well.

HR....where is the best place in the Nash to buy a new guitar??....I've only really looked at Guitar Center right of I-65.

[BrownSound1]

Hmmm...What brands do Corner Music carry? I know they have a lot of Fenders. Those guys are pretty cool. I like going to Rock Block too, but more for looking at boutique pedals, and they have a few amps that are ok. Guitar Center has tons of guitars that you can try out...but damn, you have to wade through people to get anywhere in there. Goddamn 100 Oaks Mall....I always hated that area.

[BrownSound1]

One other thing....a good guitar through a shitty amp sounds like shit.

A shitty guitar through a great amp sounds like shit.

Good guitar and good amp sound good.

The thing you have to remember is the amp is just as important to your tone as your guitar. It is the other half of the equation, and often the most overlooked. So many times I've seen guys spend money on expensive guitars only to play them through a freakin' Crate or cheap Peavey. The downside of getting good gear is the cost, obviously. Save up and get you a good guitar, but as soon as you get it, start saving for an amp.

Good things ain't cheap, and cheap things ain't good.

[Diamondjimi]

Originally posted by BrownSound1


Good things ain't cheap, and cheap things ain't good.

Amen !

[Nitro Express]

There's different grades of Epiphones. There's the Epiphone Elite Series which are made of better quality wood and a higher level of workmanship and many say are just as good as the Gibson equivalents.

Now Gibson makes a good guitar but their quality control can be hit and miss. I've seen Les Pauls with horibble fret and nut work and I've seen real beauties. Gibson charges dearly for it's name and to be honest, they charge too much for the hit and miss quality.

Epiphones can be hit and miss. The regular Epis with be made out of cheaper wood than an Elite Epiphone or Gibson. They will also have more glue joints in them. The switches, potentionmeters are very cheap and you are going to have to replace them. The pickups can be hit and miss. Some Epiphone pickups sound fine and others have to be replaced. Epiphones also have a thick polyesther finish as oppossed to real laccur or varnish.

I have a Epiphone SG Custom and a Les Paul standard. Both sound fine and the setup and fretwork were good for the price of the guitar. The pots are scratchy and the switches are tottal garbage. I've left the original pickups in.

You can do worse than an Epiphone. For the money, they are hard to beat. Sure they are cheaper wood and they have some construction shortcuts but if the guitar plays good and sounds good, it's going to hold up fine if you replace the cheap electronics because the switches and pots are real shitty ones.

I see no reason why a reworked Epiphone couldn't handle years of hard playing and if it gets broken or scratched up, hey, it beats having that happen to a $3000 Gibson. If you are going to play it, it's going to get dinged and beat up some. Why pay a ton of $$$$$$ for something that is going to be out in the battlefield?

[Nitro Express]

My first good guitar was a three pickup Les Paul Custom that I bought used in the early 80's. I wish I still had it. So I've played the real thing and a regular Epiphone is pretty close but of course that was just a killer Gibson LP.

That being said, I'm a Strat man now. I like the spongier 25.5 scale better than the shorter Gibson scale. I like a whammy bar. Strats are indestructable but if your Gibson falls hard the headstock has a bad tendancy to break off. See, they removed wood for the truss rod hole right were theres a ton of strain and it is suseptable to break. They sound great and look great but for me, a Strat is more comfortable.

In my oppinion, a good ash body and the right pickups will sound as good as anything. Put the right humbuckers in and it will sound thick as hell. I will never go back to the Gibsons. I like them but I've found my main squeeze.