Posted on 12/17/2001 10:12:56 AM PST by Nita Nupress
FReeper help needed!
My son has taught himself to play the guitar and he's no longer content with just playing the acoustical guitar that he learned on. He's now wanting an electric guitar and amp for Christmas, and to achieve this goal, he's telling all the family to forego any Christmas presents this year and is asking for the equivalent cash instead. For those of you who remember what it was like to be young and wanting that first electric guitar, you'll understand that he's so desperate that he'll spend his Christmas money on trash if I don't take some action here and help him out.
I have several choices on how to help him find a good quality, yet affordable (i.e. "cheap") guitar, but I have no technical background or expertise on which to rely. Thus the vanity to ask the Freeper experts. ;-) I need your opinions and any information that I can collect before making a decision.
My main problem: Do I fix one of the guitars that I already have? Or do I go help him pick out something retail?
Here are the facts I'm working with:
I have two 'hand-me-down' electric guitars in storage that I used to play in the mid-'80's (When I started having kids, that was essentially the end of my guitar-playing days.) Neither of the guitars are in working order -- one of them (a GRETSCH) was taken apart and needs to be put back together (more on that later). The other (an Ibanez) just plain doesn't work; it may be something as simple as a loose wire.
I'm thinking that it would be much cheaper and safer from a consumer standpoint to choose one of these guitars to get repaired than to go retail and be at the mercy of some salesman who takes advantage of the dumb blonde. My main fear with going retail is that my son will get stuck with a guitar that's so low-quality that he'll get discouraged. I have no idea how much money he'll be getting for Christmas, which is another problem. My other fear is that I'll give him my vintage GRETSCH and find out later that it's worth thousands and he won't be nice to it. ;-)
Before I can make an informed decision on the repair job, I need information on the value and quality of the two guitars. I'm in the middle of doing an internet search but it's getting discouraging because I'm not finding much. Here's what I have:
- GRETSCH - Model 7628 Committee - solid-body guitar with a natural wood, two-tone finish. It has two pickups and 5 switches/knobs, but the problem is that all the electrical components are in a cigar box! It was given to me in this condition, but I played it before it was taken apart and it played fine. This was in the late '70's and early '80's, so it's at least that old. I'm not sure how much money I'm looking at to get it reassembled. Any guesses out there? I don't want to get ripped off.
This is the closest I can find to what it looks like: http://abacus.sj.ipixmedia.com/abc/M28/_EBAY_6f5b41d7ead029265e1ab7c604/i-1.JPG
- Ibanez Silver Series - D77**** (Made in Japan) - If I'm reading this page correctly, the "D77" means it was manufactured in April, 1977, which means it's one of the Lawsuit Tele clones. I used to play this guitar on a Marshall amp and absolutely loved it. In fact, I used to own an American-made Fender Telecaster at the same time, and I always preferred playing the Ibanez. It stopped working one day for no apparent reason; hopefully it's just a loose wire or something minor.
This is what it looks like: http://www.tonezonenc.com/guitar_gallery/Mvc-593f.jpg
Here is a review: http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Ibanez/Silver-Series-01.html
I suspect the Gretsch is more than a 15-year-old beginner needs and may be too valuable to give him. (If he sticks with it, maybe later.) But part with my Ibanez? Yikes!
Now that I've typed all this, I'm thinking maybe I should just take him to a music store and let him pick out a cheap guitar to learn on and give him one of my older guitars later if I see that he sticks with it. LOL!
Thoughts, anyone?
I agree with Freeper parcel_of_rogues: "...nothing can kill a kid's interest faster than a crappy instrument."
I just checked around the internet a bit (well, I looked at Music123.com), and it looks like these days you can get a decent, name brand amp for around $150-$200. And they've got some Fenders for less than $250, and some low-end Ovations for around $250.
I'm sure if you check out places like local Guitar Centers you can get equally good deals.
My recommendation is to get your son new equipment, if you can afford it, and stick with solid, name brand stuff. Amps don't have to rock the roof off, just have good tone.
I've got a Telecaster and some low end Fender amp that have played true for more than ten years now. (But, if I were going to splurge today, I'd get a good Ovation and an even smaller amp -- something like a Pignose. They're making them again, and, if you get a contract, you can plug them directly into a mixer...)
Mark W.
I find that if it frets out true all the way up, the action is medium to medium-low, and is equally comfortable to play seated or standing, that is about all you can ask for in that price range.
I once had one of those ibanez jobs with the wierd shape (destroyer?) that was nice but awful to play seated. Never again.
The main thing is to get a decent-to-good instrument so it is easier to play and learn on.
Little known fact: It's believed by many that the reason he had only one pickup was because he was creating a new look by having a single humbucker in a strat-style guitar. The truth is, he simply did not know had to wire two pickups into his guitar, so he just left it with one!
BTW, our Ibenez can be tuned for a very rock friendly, chunky sound.
Have really simplified these last years. OK, for some time now. Have an '81 Les Paul Custom "Black Beauty", a latter-'80's Fender Twin ("The Twin"; 100W, tube, 2-12's, one LOUD sumbitch.....), wireless setup, and a Line6 POD (AND the Line6 foot controller; don't leave home without it; trust me). Live, I'll either just run straight into the POD and straight out to the board........or I'll go into the POD, into the Twin, and XLR out to the board.
I get some unholy, killer tones out of the above.
The one thing I would point out that has not been mentioned thus far, is tuning. I would assume that your son knows how to tune a guitar. If yes, when he is selecting the guitar in the music store, have him do some 1 to 2 step string bends (that's fretting a note and then literally bending the strings up to a higher note without fingering a new note). Do that about 4 or 5 times on every string. Then see if it is still in tune. If it isn't, there's no way that it will stay in tune throughout your average rock guitar solo. In other words, your son will soon be pulling his hair out. Similarly, I would check the stiffness of the tuning pegs (knobs). I prefer mine to be definitely on the stiff side, but as I play a lot of Stevie Ray Vaughan style blues(lots of string bends), I don't want anything to slip, tuning wise.
There is an earlier suggestion that you check the neck; excellent advice as you want to make sure the guitar has a metal rod within the neck running the length of the "keyboard" and into the guitar's solid body. This rod helps prevent warping of the guitar neck.
Good luck!
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