best guitar for REGGAE?

Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

anything with pickups that aren't stupid hot!

i've seen strats, teles, les paul juniors (bob marley had a signature junior i think?)

single coils are more popular, but reggae sound is more of a technique.. it's all about letting your hands and fingers drive the sound instead of high output pickups or gainy amps!
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

Ric with a Bigsby!

Make sure the Bigsby has the new and improved Dive Bomb button and the TS9 option.
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

I'd say a les paul special, like bob marley used. Either that or something else with single coils.
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

I've seen many players using Teles and they are really cool for the what you need.
The main problem with them is that the control cavity is not bit enough to hide pot inside - and that's a very important feature for a reggae player.
Les Pauls have a little more room, the 72 Teles may also work well for a little bag of good stuff - but they won't give you easy access. :smokin:
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

You just have to dial in a really trebly, snappy tone. Single coils help with that. I'd use my Strat or a Tele for reggae, with my amp set for just a little bit of natural tube break-up.
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

I would look for a guitar with six strings...
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

i could see a tele with a neck humbucker being super for Reggae....

The guitarist for Keepin' 6 (ska/punk) uses that and a Washburn. When I play ska I almost always use my Tele, except my strat on neck+middle for Operation Ivy. For ska like Marley, Bedouin Soundclash, Sublime (they have some more Reggae stuff) etc. you'd be best off with the versatility of a strat, and a Twangbanger in the bridge.

Telecaster with bridge single coil and either a P-90 or humbucker in the neck will get you the best reggae ska tones.
 
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Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

I'm a big fan of p90s for reggae.

Strats and teles are cool but I personally like p90 better.
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

What kind of reggae? You lookin' for dub, dancehall, ska, rude bwoi? Most anything'll do for rude bwoi, and dub to an extent, but the ska requires a little bit of a brighter tone, I think, and the dancehall... I just stay away from it. My friend used a tele for dancehall though, if I remember correctly.
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

I've seen players get great tones from LPs and SGs into twins, teles and strats, all kinds of stuff. I've even seen a guy get a decent reggae tone from a George Lynch kamikaze ESP.

I'd agree that any guitar without hot pickups is the way to go. Head towards a gibson-style guitar for a warmer tone that fills out a mix, or if you want a bright cut go for a fender-style.
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

anything with pickups that aren't stupid hot!

i've seen strats, teles, les paul juniors (bob marley had a signature junior i think?)

single coils are more popular, but reggae sound is more of a technique.. it's all about letting your hands and fingers drive the sound instead of high output pickups or gainy amps!

+1

Reggae is more about timing than the sound of the guitar . . . pretty much anything will work well. The roots rock reggae guys seemed to just grab whatever instruments were available, so you can probably find examples of reggae with nearly any vintage sounding guitar.
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

The guitarist for Keepin' 6 (ska/punk) uses that and a Washburn. When I play ska I almost always use my Tele, except my strat on neck+middle for Operation Ivy. For ska like Marley, Bedouin Soundclash, Sublime (they have some more Reggae stuff) etc. you'd be best off with the versatility of a strat, and a Twangbanger in the bridge.

necromancy!!

i bet you said this before you experienced p-90s and/or sold yo' strat;)

i know this thread is dead by a mile and a dozen, but i'm still gonna give my $0.02.

imo bright is not where it's at for reggae. for me that sound has always been defined by a super thick, midrangey quack by combination of wah and syncopated rhythm technique. as for ska... too bright equals too thin and getting lost in a mix-treble is good, but too much is bad. so i dial in a good amount of treble and jack up the midrange for my "brightness".

for both i use my SG faded and epiphone dot. the SG has got a a5/a4pcB-a5pgB combo with the pg in the neck, while the dot has a 490r/t, a5/a8 setup, respectively. imo you're not going to get a better tone for either from anything short of a semi-hollow with low-to-medium 'buckers in it. just use the bridge for ska and the neck for reggae:)
 
Re: best guitar for REGGAE?

and play the muted down-stroke on the 1st beat FFS
don't be the guy who plays off the 2nd (up) beat.
:grumble:
 
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