which guitar

[fisheye]

I'm thinking about buying an electric guitar but I don't know which one to buy. I'll spend around 500$ on it.

The guitars I've been looking at is
PRS Tremonti SE
Epiphone les paul or SG
Fender Stratocaster

I've been playing western for around 2½ years now so it's my first electric.

Any advice?

 

[Kepa]

I'm thinking about buying an electric guitar but I don't know which one to buy. I'll spend around 500$ on it.

The guitars I've been looking at is
PRS Tremonti SE
Epiphone les paul or SG
Fender Stratocaster

I've been playing western for around 2½ years now so it's my first electric.

Any advice?

Well they're some pretty good choices, I'm not exactly sure on the whole price thing tho, seeing as how I'm in NZ.

From what I know, the SE models from PRS are the lower end, but seeing as how this is your first guitar, thats ok =] Not sure on the quality of them, someone might be able to give you some info on that

Epiphones are another good choice. I think the main problem with them are the electronics, so I've heard.

The Strat is very different to the other gats you've chosen, unless of course you're looking to get a fat strat. The standard strat has 3 single coil pups, where as the others generally have 2 humbuckers. You can either get American or MIM. MIM's are cheaper than Americans.

The sound that you're going to hear from each of these guitars are going to be different. Especially the strat. Single coil pups tend to have a glassier, hollow sound. Where as the humbuckers have a fuller sound.

You're also going to want to have an amp to hear them gats =]

 

[nmi346]

www.carvin.com

nuff said

(i own 3 of em goin on 4- playing 8 years-music teacher)
more than 500 but worth it.

 

[JahRawks]

I'm a bit partial to fender strat's myself, one of my best friends is using a squier strat, and though it's the low end version of a fender, I still like the sound of the strats the best, though showmasters aren't too shabby either, especially seeing as how mine has a humbucker in it which is nice, a PRS is a pretty nice guitar too, not sure about the SE models being lower end, as I haven't checked em out too much, but I know PRS's are pretty nice, so if it were me, I'd go with the fender or with the PRS, it just depends on which guitars sound you like the most.
God Bless,
Nathan

 

[mbuc]

www.carvin.com

nuff said

(i own 3 of em goin on 4- playing 8 years-music teacher)
more than 500 but worth it.

I love Carvin (I own a DC 727), but for a first electric I would go with something basic like a Strat. I had a Mexican-made Strat as my first electric, then a couple of Epi Les Pauls (one Standard and one Custom). Once I had some experience with different styles of guitars, I had a Carvin 7-string custom-built with the exact features I wanted. Get something cheap and simple as your first electric, because you'll probably want to try something different down the road. Also, there's nothing wrong with buying used if you find something good. Two of the four guitars that I've owned were purchased used (one was rescued from a pawn shop), and they served me very well.

 

[katylees]

i've heard that fender is really good, i had guitar for xmas (earthfire) electo-acoustic

 

[longfingers1]

It really depends on your style if your into just heavy stuff the PRS or epiphone would be fine.But the clean sounds are nasty if you want something that is versatile you can't go wrong with an American Strat.The PRS guitars I am teaching a guy and he just bought one.It's not a bad begginer guitar the action is a little high .I'm thinking he paid about 700 for it and you can get an american strat for about $800 much better deal for the strat.And a much better guitar.My favorite guitar is the ernie ball music man but it is very expensive.But it has great distortion and clean sounds.Also you could by a cheap guitar and upgrade the pickups.My friend bought a samick strat copy and I put 3 new dimarzio pickups in it and it sounded sweet.

 

[peanutbutter12]

Three little letters: GMP

 

[Kepa]

lol, you're telling a guy with NO electric guitar experience 3 letters?
Dude, give him something to work with.

 

[72_Chev_Truck]

im a drummer

GO WITH THE FENDER

 

[fisheye]

Thanks a lot for your advice, I guess I'll go try them all out then

 

[RTM]

Don't buy new! You can get soooooo much more for your money if you pick up a used guitar. If you're not averse to eBay you can get some great deals there if you have a specific model you're on the lookout for.

That being said, I picked up a Carvin kit guitar a few years back. It cost me ~$400 after the finishing materials (sandpaper, varnish, lemon oil, etc.) but now I have a guitar that I will appreciate forever just because I made it with my own two hands.

 

[12volt_man]

Don't buy new! You can get soooooo much more for your money if you pick up a used guitar. If you're not averse to eBay you can get some great deals there if you have a specific model you're on the lookout for.

And that's something else to consider. Most guitarists tend to take good care of their stuff so in a lot of cases, you can get a better deal on a slightly used guitar. I've gotten several second hand. It's also kind of neat to have one with a history to it.

All that said, you're better off going with the Strat. I've been playing professionally, semi-professionally and recreationally for twently years now and there's nothing I can do with a Les Paul that I can't do with a Strat. I tend to jump between rock, country, folk, R&B, blues and jazz and the Strat handles all of that really well.

 

[Ton777]

I'd go with the Strat. You can't go wrong with it. It just looks good and plays well.
I'm in Australia and down here u can get a Fender with a Squire amp as a package for $399 i dunno how much that is where you live.
Hope that helps.
God bless

 

[the_letum]

first guitar? if you're willin to shell out some cash get the Gibson SG Faded ($599.99 at Guitar Center)... the SG is a very easy guitar to pick up... it's light, it's fast, it's versatile, its durable, it's upgradeable... a lot of pluses to it, especially for the price! if i was in your place, i would buy it in half a heartbeat... but if you want something cheaper go with an Epiphone Les Paul, my friend had one... while its not the quite the craftsmanship of an actual Gibson, its not a bad way to get started.

 

[Rafael]

Strat is versatile, but the choices abound even with the Strat in neck radius, pickup selection, fretboard, etc. I have one each of the classic body styles - Les Paul, Stratocaster, and Telecaster. The Telecaster 7 3/4" radius neck is sweet for rythmn playing. The Les Paul late sixties neck is fast, but the Strat is just plain hard to beat for all around. Many new Telecasters have a three pickup system similar to the Strat if you prefer their body style. The Paul Reed Smith guitars are expensive, but have a combination of features from the Strat and Les Paul that are pretty nice too.
I've had a mess of guitars, and I liked them all. It's hard not to. I even liked my old Sears guitar with the amp built into the case. It played great and had the old lipstick style pickups.

 

[the_letum]

as you can see some people are fender loyalists and some people swear allegiance to gibson alone. i suggest the best thing to do is go to your local guitar store sometime and just mess around with all of the guitars and see if there is a model that speaks to you personally. you may fall in love with a model that nobody here has yet mentioned!

"it will be mine... oh yes... it will be mine!"

 

[Wahwax]

Three little letters: GMP

Those RAWK!!!

 

[Wahwax]

"Agile"

rondomusic.com

 

[george0g]

just get a strat they last you 20 years and aren't overpriced