Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

I really like the neck feel of a 6. I have a nice 7 and as soon as the band I was playing in didn't require it, it went to the bottom of the priority list, just less comfortable. If I want it to go to B I set the guitar up for it in 6.

I approach guitars in terms of tone, and the best pickups to make that tone. Then an individual guitar that has "it" to be the bedrock for those p/ups. I have them from used and cheap to embarrassingly expensive, "it" doesn't have a set price. The fact is every guitar is different and doing 80's metal with EMG's in shredstick through a JCM800, late 60's rock with PAF's in a Les Paul through a Supro, classic country with a Tele and a Twin R all sound killer. They need their own dedicated gear though and one rig just isn't going to do all those tones justice.

However If just one nice one to start out with is a general direction, I second the idea of a J. Custom S series. I have a J. Custom Ibby Iceman and it is amazing! It took me 20 years to find one that plays AND sounds better.

I do have a dedicated set of guitars for gigging. Meaning that if they are stolen or broken I won't have a mental breakdown.

Just keep buying guitars, always buy more, then another, till you have all you can stand. Then you'll be good.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Ben1962 said:
More Gibson hate? Where can I buy any AMERICAN set neck guitar for less money? You show me who has em? ESP? SCHECTER? Nope How about Japan? Europe? How much for a bolt on Shure? Caparison? It will never end. Do any of the other brands hold their value like a Gibson? EBMM? PRS? NOPE
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CMG comes to mind. But less money than what Gibson? CMG Ashlee (LP style) is probably in line with the Studios (gloss finish) but priced lower. A bit higher than the satin Tributes. I have no hate for Gibson. In fact, the LP is my favorite guitar and has been for decades. Just saying ... https://www.cmgguitars.com/index.html
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

I wasnt the one who brought up Gibson, and I wasnt referring to you. So you found 1? My point is that if people dont like single cutaway humbucking guitars for the tone or even the looks, thats cool. But everywhere I go I read people ragging on Gibson. Its getting old TBH, and its always the same ole. My ire wasnt directed at you BTW, I may just have to try a CMG
 
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Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Silver said:
I think versatility is the red herring here.

Wanting different stereotypical tones (strat, Tele, Les Paul, etc.) is not the same as wanting versatility. If that's what you want, then for sure you'd be better off with four $500 guitars than one $2000 guitar.

But if what you mean be versatility is that you want a good clean sound, a good overdriven sound, a good heavy sound, etc... And you want to play a variety of styles. Well, you can do that with a single guitar and would probably be better off buying one real nice one that you enjoy playing and that brings out the best in your technique.

The Stratocaster for example, with 3 standard single coils, have been used on a very vast array of music from country to blues to rock to metal.

The same for the Tele, SG and Les Paul.

I even saw a blues band once where the guitarist has an Ibanez JEM and as you came through the door of the club you'd have not realised it was a shred-stick because his tone was real vintage.

You can make a guitar work for you, and therein lies the secret to finding your own sound.
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Any guitar should be able to get clean, dirty, heavy, etc... tones. That's more about the player and their ability to dial in tones than it is with the guitar. If you can't do that, the problem isn't with the guitar.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Chistopher said:
Really? That equates to about $4200 in real money and with that I could buy a used Marshall JVM410 full stack and use the left over money to by a Classic Vibe Squier. This set up would be more versatile than the three more expensive guitars with whatever amp you happen to not have (after all, since in this simulation you had no guitars you'd have no reason to have an amp)
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The amp budget was separate ;-)

Honestly though, the most expensive guitar I have was £850 new, total spend under £2000 (over around 20 years)
I have a Les Paul Studio, a Les Paul Doublecut (both Gibsons), a Japanese Squier Strat, and an EVH Striped series (Mexican).

If I was starting over (for example, all my guitars were destroyed in a fire and I was given the insurance money), I'd probably be looking at a Charvel Pro Mod and a PRS singlecut to start with. New, that would run to about £1100-1400 depending on the models I went for. Then I would have to decide what else to get, maybe a Ltd EC-401, or an EC-256 and a Squier Strat.

I'd have a guitar for classic rock, a modern hard rock/ metal guitar, a versatile/ '80s guitar with a Floyd, and a guitar with true single coils and a traditional vibrato. I would say that covers a lot of bases.

As for the £-$ conversion, $ prices are usually similar figures to £ prices, so cheaper in real terms.
Although at doesn't seem to be the case with the Charvels (the places I looked at didn't have the 2016 models), at Sam Ash I could get a 2018 Pro Mod, an SE 245, and an EC-401 for about $2000. At current conversion rates, I'd have just under $800 left to spend to be equal to £2000.


Obviously, the OP's tastes are different to mine, but if he has over $1000 to spend, I would recommend getting more than one guitar.

Again, this is excluding amp budget ;-)
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

I love the LTDs, I just wish all the finish options had a choice tween the EMG and the Duncans. My buddy I jam with has the 401 with EMG and the tone pales in comparison to my Duncan stuff
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Willy25 said:
I know having multiple guitars are for different tunings, but won't it be easier to just transpose everything? Like from drop c to drop d?
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No it will not be easier to transpose everything.

Full disclosure - I am not a 7 string player at all. But I'm bringing a wealth of 5 String bass player experience to the table. And we play almost everything in original keys/tuning (D, Eb, Drop-D, E)

Here is what happens with this situation.

We learn a song in E. The Bass player plays it that way. He is using open A's and E's, etc. Then, singer asks "Hey - can we drop that a half step?"

Guitar player: "No problem." We swap to an Eb guitar and rock on immediately.
Bass player: "Uh - wait. I'm out of the key. Hold on. I don't have that yet. Wait, is the an A or an Ab?" Suddeny all of his no-need to fret notes are fourth fret on the next lower string. Suddenly things that sounded awesome now sound farty and loose because of the bigger string and 4th fret.

And the answer is not "these guys are just lousy bass players." If they were professionals, ok. Shouldn't be an issue. But they are also not pro's. Your muscle memory is important, and so is your tone. If you are that good, even if you can do the transpose on the fly, cool. It may still crap up the sound.

Awesome goal to aspire to. I say go for it. Still there will be times when you want the other-tuning instrument. And Bass is easy....
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Aceman said:
No it will not be easier to transpose everything.

Full disclosure - I am not a 7 string player at all. But I'm bringing a wealth of 5 String bass player experience to the table. And we play almost everything in original keys/tuning (D, Eb, Drop-D, E)

Here is what happens with this situation.

We learn a song in E. The Bass player plays it that way. He is using open A's and E's, etc. Then, singer asks "Hey - can we drop that a half step?"

Guitar player: "No problem." We swap to an Eb guitar and rock on immediately.
Bass player: "Uh - wait. I'm out of the key. Hold on. I don't have that yet. Wait, is the an A or an Ab?" Suddeny all of his no-need to fret notes are fourth fret on the next lower string. Suddenly things that sounded awesome now sound farty and loose because of the bigger string and 4th fret.

And the answer is not "these guys are just lousy bass players." If they were professionals, ok. Shouldn't be an issue. But they are also not pro's. Your muscle memory is important, and so is your tone. If you are that good, even if you can do the transpose on the fly, cool. It may still crap up the sound.

Awesome goal to aspire to. I say go for it. Still there will be times when you want the other-tuning instrument. And Bass is easy....
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We play everything in Eb or drop Db/C# without too many issues and it eliminated the need to carry another guitar. All the E and Drop D stuff is played the same way, just a half step lower in pitch. We only have one song that is a true D song and we moved it up to Eb. We could do it in drop D but didn't want to put too many song from the same group together.

It makes gigging easier, and I just keep one guitar in each tuning for learning stuff at home.

There s no right or wrong answer to how you handle it, just preferences.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

I remember playing at a party years ago. We were tuned to standard. Singer asks if I can play Basket Case in standard tuning, but in the same key as the original (E flat). I say hell no, he has to sing it in E, or we all retune, or we don't play it.
Playing a song you already know in a different tuning is pretty tough.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Neither - one Telecaster, one Deluxe, one Katana 100 (replace speaker).
Look at top studio guitarists of all time, majority go to guitar = Telecaster.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

The guitars the biggest studio pros used were all over the map. A lot of times what they used wasn't their choice either. The producer (rightly or wrongly) would dictate which guitar they wanted.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

A Nashville Strat or Tele, an HH 6-string, and a 7-string would cover most styles.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Well, it might be versatile in the world of metal. But the pickups alone are probably too high of an output for many other styles.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Mincer said:
Well, it might be versatile in the world of metal. But the pickups alone are probably too high of an output for many other styles.
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ok didnt know that, not that good with electronics. so you mean if i switch to another genre, i have to run to the amp and lower the volume or something?
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

I think it depends on what you are doing with the guitars. If you are playing at home one great guitars is beautiful to have. If you gigging and the budget is tight you are better off with two or three moderate priced guitars so you always have a backup or two live.
 
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Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

Willy25 said:
ok didnt know that, not that good with electronics. so you mean if i switch to another genre, i have to run to the amp and lower the volume or something?
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Well, high output pickups are great for metal and hard rock. They aren't so good for styles that depend on touch-sensitivity (blues,jazz, other cleaner styles). Certainly an amp settings matter, but if you are slamming the input of the amp with a lot of signal, there is only so much you can do.
 
Re: Versatile expensive guitar vs multiple inexpensive guitars

werd Bruce - always have a backup live!

Now - we use a lot of guitars because of the show...but we also meticulously arrange the set.

At the end of the day, the singer dictates the key. The drummer dictates the practice location. So unless you want to sing, or set up drums....

But the question of Does another string make transposing easier? No
Does it make it possible without retuning or changing guitars? Yes
 
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