Versatile elctric guitar £1k
Discussion
Hello all. I sold off most of my kit a couple of years ago due to lack of use through work/family commitments and I'm now left with a cheap Harley Benton PRS clone I bought for my son and Vox practice/modeling amp.
Circumstances have changed for the better and really want to get back on the horse this year, get regular lessons and put some proper time in so after a guitar that will help inspire me to do so.
Looking for a versatile guitar as mentioned in the thread title. The PRS Hollowbody ii/Piezo have caught my eye from Andertons as looks a steal for £699/799 respectively and love the look of them, although they are on back order and not due until late April/early May.
Am I looking at the wrong thing? I enjoy a wide range of music with the odd Metallica riff being about as heavy as it gets.
Cheers
Circumstances have changed for the better and really want to get back on the horse this year, get regular lessons and put some proper time in so after a guitar that will help inspire me to do so.
Looking for a versatile guitar as mentioned in the thread title. The PRS Hollowbody ii/Piezo have caught my eye from Andertons as looks a steal for £699/799 respectively and love the look of them, although they are on back order and not due until late April/early May.
Am I looking at the wrong thing? I enjoy a wide range of music with the odd Metallica riff being about as heavy as it gets.
Cheers
Nice position to be in!
£1k is a decent budget that opens up lots of options from decent brands, so ultimately I think it will boil down to what 'floats your boat'.
I think key considerations would be pick-up configuration, bridge, neck profile and overall style/shape (Strat, LP, Tele, 335, etc.). After that, pick the finish/look/brand that you like the look of.
Pickups: Humbuckers, single coils or somethign else (P90s, WRHB, etc.)? For versatility I'd suggest a HSS or HSH configuration would be the most flexible, but HH with coil split woudl also be a good option.
Bridge: Fixed bridge vs Bigsby vs traditional trem vs locking trem? For versatility I'd go with a traditional trem.
Neck profile: Baseball bat, Ibanez Wizard, or something in between. Predictably, a 'modern C' with a 9.5inch or flatter radius would do the job.
Overall shape: Strat shape is probably the most versatile.
Other: Bolt on vs set neck, rosewood vs maple, scale length, pointy or traditional, etc. won't really affect versatility.
Based on those specs there are loads of options from Fender, PRS, Ibanez, Charvel, Schecter etc. to consider.
£1k is a decent budget that opens up lots of options from decent brands, so ultimately I think it will boil down to what 'floats your boat'.
I think key considerations would be pick-up configuration, bridge, neck profile and overall style/shape (Strat, LP, Tele, 335, etc.). After that, pick the finish/look/brand that you like the look of.
Pickups: Humbuckers, single coils or somethign else (P90s, WRHB, etc.)? For versatility I'd suggest a HSS or HSH configuration would be the most flexible, but HH with coil split woudl also be a good option.
Bridge: Fixed bridge vs Bigsby vs traditional trem vs locking trem? For versatility I'd go with a traditional trem.
Neck profile: Baseball bat, Ibanez Wizard, or something in between. Predictably, a 'modern C' with a 9.5inch or flatter radius would do the job.
Overall shape: Strat shape is probably the most versatile.
Other: Bolt on vs set neck, rosewood vs maple, scale length, pointy or traditional, etc. won't really affect versatility.
Based on those specs there are loads of options from Fender, PRS, Ibanez, Charvel, Schecter etc. to consider.
I guess it depends what you mean by versatile? I own a PRS Hollowbody II with the Piezo and it's a lovely guitar, very well made, lovely to play now it's had a proper set up and sounds great with either the piezo or electric only or a blend of the two.
You could always go for a PRS SE Pauls Guitar, again I have one that I love and you can split either/both of the haumbuckers to get single coil type tones. I think the SE Custom 24 does the same thing.
That said, what about a MIM Fender Player Tele? They're decent guitars and if you do the 4 way switch mod (about £30 and 10 minutes with a soldering iron) you get proper single coil tones but can get humbucker type tones two by switching the pickups in parallel. I've modded one of my Tele's this way and it's brilliant!
Finally, you could look at a MIM Fender Player HSS Strat, that's give you a very versatile guitar with no need for modding.
You could always go for a PRS SE Pauls Guitar, again I have one that I love and you can split either/both of the haumbuckers to get single coil type tones. I think the SE Custom 24 does the same thing.
That said, what about a MIM Fender Player Tele? They're decent guitars and if you do the 4 way switch mod (about £30 and 10 minutes with a soldering iron) you get proper single coil tones but can get humbucker type tones two by switching the pickups in parallel. I've modded one of my Tele's this way and it's brilliant!
Finally, you could look at a MIM Fender Player HSS Strat, that's give you a very versatile guitar with no need for modding.
AndrewGP said:
I guess it depends what you mean by versatile? I own a PRS Hollowbody II with the Piezo and it's a lovely guitar, very well made, lovely to play now it's had a proper set up and sounds great with either the piezo or electric only or a blend of the two.
You could always go for a PRS SE Pauls Guitar, again I have one that I love and you can split either/both of the haumbuckers to get single coil type tones. I think the SE Custom 24 does the same thing.
That said, what about a MIM Fender Player Tele? They're decent guitars and if you do the 4 way switch mod (about £30 and 10 minutes with a soldering iron) you get proper single coil tones but can get humbucker type tones two by switching the pickups in parallel. I've modded one of my Tele's this way and it's brilliant!
Finally, you could look at a MIM Fender Player HSS Strat, that's give you a very versatile guitar with no need for modding.
Have also got the Paul's guitar on my list but not sure how it would compare to the hollowbody ii, although as you quite rightly say it does come with coil split option which the HB lacks. Andertons have a B-Stock available at the minute with a small cosmetic defect, although at £799 it's not much of a saving compared to the reductions on a couple of hollowbodys they've sold for around £400 recently that I missed out on.You could always go for a PRS SE Pauls Guitar, again I have one that I love and you can split either/both of the haumbuckers to get single coil type tones. I think the SE Custom 24 does the same thing.
That said, what about a MIM Fender Player Tele? They're decent guitars and if you do the 4 way switch mod (about £30 and 10 minutes with a soldering iron) you get proper single coil tones but can get humbucker type tones two by switching the pickups in parallel. I've modded one of my Tele's this way and it's brilliant!
Finally, you could look at a MIM Fender Player HSS Strat, that's give you a very versatile guitar with no need for modding.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/b-stock:-prs-se-pauls-...
Never been taken with any Fender I've picked up as struggle to see the value in them compared to something from the Squire classic vibe/vintage modified line or many copies form the likes of Sire or G&L for considerably cheaper.
Speaking of Sire, the T7 FM does look to offer a lot of spec for the money and is well under budget. Anyone have any experience with the brand?
https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-g...
SWoll said:
AndrewGP said:
I guess it depends what you mean by versatile? I own a PRS Hollowbody II with the Piezo and it's a lovely guitar, very well made, lovely to play now it's had a proper set up and sounds great with either the piezo or electric only or a blend of the two.
You could always go for a PRS SE Pauls Guitar, again I have one that I love and you can split either/both of the haumbuckers to get single coil type tones. I think the SE Custom 24 does the same thing.
That said, what about a MIM Fender Player Tele? They're decent guitars and if you do the 4 way switch mod (about £30 and 10 minutes with a soldering iron) you get proper single coil tones but can get humbucker type tones two by switching the pickups in parallel. I've modded one of my Tele's this way and it's brilliant!
Finally, you could look at a MIM Fender Player HSS Strat, that's give you a very versatile guitar with no need for modding.
Have also got the Paul's guitar on my list but not sure how it would compare to the hollowbody ii, although as you quite rightly say it does come with coil split option which the HB lacks. Andertons have a B-Stock available at the minute with a small cosmetic defect, although at £799 it's not much of a saving compared to the reductions on a couple of hollowbodys they've sold for around £400 recently that I missed out on.You could always go for a PRS SE Pauls Guitar, again I have one that I love and you can split either/both of the haumbuckers to get single coil type tones. I think the SE Custom 24 does the same thing.
That said, what about a MIM Fender Player Tele? They're decent guitars and if you do the 4 way switch mod (about £30 and 10 minutes with a soldering iron) you get proper single coil tones but can get humbucker type tones two by switching the pickups in parallel. I've modded one of my Tele's this way and it's brilliant!
Finally, you could look at a MIM Fender Player HSS Strat, that's give you a very versatile guitar with no need for modding.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/b-stock:-prs-se-pauls-...
Never been taken with any Fender I've picked up as struggle to see the value in them compared to something from the Squire classic vibe/vintage modified line or many copies form the likes of Sire or G&L for considerably cheaper.
Speaking of Sire, the T7 FM does look to offer a lot of spec for the money and is well under budget. Anyone have any experience with the brand?
https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-g...
Lotobear said:
I'm looking at the Sire Larry Carlton H7 as a possible birthday gift for my son who is showing some real promise on the guitar. It gets consistently excellent reviews.
After more searching and reviews I think I've concluded that the best fit for my needs is the Sire T7 FM. Love the aesthetics (especially in blue), has great spec (Alder body, roasted maple neck and fingerboard, locking tuners, bone nut, coil splits) and at half the original budget leaves me with £500 to set aside for a future purchase (fingers crossed another B-Stock PRS HB II comes up for £400 at some point)
Thanks for the input all, will share pics on the other thread once it arrives.
SWoll said:
After more searching and reviews I think I've concluded that the best fit for my needs is the Sire T7 FM. Love the aesthetics (especially in blue), has great spec (Alder body, roasted maple neck and fingerboard, locking tuners, bone nut, coil splits) and at half the original budget leaves me with £500 to set aside for a future purchase (fingers crossed another B-Stock PRS HB II comes up for £400 at some point)
Thanks for the input all, will share pics on the other thread once it arrives.
Only thing I would add to this is make sure you try it properly first, or have the option to send it back, if you are banking on the split coils to be a substitute for single coils. In my experience they are a bit poor, with the caveat that I haven't heard those specific ones.
Looks like a lovely guitar.
Looks like a lovely guitar.
Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff