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It's not the distance that's the stumbling block there, it's the Xmas present surprise day thing that means we want to present him with whatever it is as an Xmas thing on the day. Getting an IOU a Guitar/Amp in an envelope just isn't quite the same. Add to this the fact that in reality, apart from a guitar being a pretty colour, we don't actually know what he wants in terms of the tune/noise/etc... Or i'd expect the feel/shape of it. I don't think he's developed enough style/feel to be able to say "yeah feels great" on one model and "feels horrible"... I think whatever it was he'd just get used to it.
Onwards… This guy seems to have several HBs for sale for not crazy money ?
My only electric guitar is a HB tele style guitar. (A TE52 in charcoal frost, approx £140ish new.) I didn't need to do anything to it out of the box, and other than cheap feeling tuners, it is a very nice guitar for the money. There are some reports about occasional poor QC but if the seller on eBay has set them up then I'd not expect any problems. Definitely recommended.
Getting an IOU a Guitar/Amp in an envelope just isn’t quite the same. Add to this the fact that in reality, apart from a guitar being a pretty colour, we don’t actually know what he wants in terms of the tune/noise/etc
You'd be surprised.
"Come on we're going guitar shopping" and trying a few out to work out what you like... Great fun.
More than bikes. You can fall in love with something you didn't know you needed.
Which is very much a worry in itself!
My point was though that if you go yourself (without him) and talk to people in the shop they can guide you.
I don’t think he’s developed enough style/feel to be able to say “yeah feels great” on one model and “feels horrible”…
You might be surprised - I'm no expert but when buying my guitar (from Andertons) some were instantly rejected (and yet are well known and widely used so nothing wrong with them). But whether buying yourself in a shop for him, or online that'll be an issue.
A Strat shape is (IMHO, and there will be some Strat owners and players on here who are about to kill me) a bit Ford Mondeo. An absolute classic, and in the right hands killer (Hendrix, Gilmour, Knopfler, Clapton, Rogers, Richards, .....) and by the same token most can get on with and indeed most players will have owned one in their time (or do own one). No surprise most GSO's are in fact SSO's, and many of the budget offerings are Strat shaped.
I think whatever it was he’d just get used to it.
The best guitar in the world is the one that you can't walk past without picking it up and noodling out a quick tune.
I really enjoyed the guitar shop visit, I knew nothing about guitars, one of the best weekend mornings for a while with my daughter, spent ages in there and she came out with exactly what she wanted rather than what I thought she might want. I'm half tempted to buy a guitar and get learning myself!
Shit guitar for Christmas. not really what is required when you can get some much better for a around £300
Appreciate that you may not have that money to spend but better not to have than something that will break your interest
30 years ago I took a young brother in law to buy his first guitar, he chose one and I added some money of my own to get him to something that looked the same but was intrinsically a better guitar
We met up recently and he ties that pivotal decision on his continued passion for guitar.
Your opinion may differ but I right on this one
I just repaired my acoustic headstock after it got snapped in a hoovering incident.
It's not really worth anything but I went in for an epiphone SG...
Edit - just read through thread and see others making better suggestions for 2nd hand...
What about 2nd hand. I've no experience of buying used guitars but I'm guessing there must be loads of little used guitars out there
Not sure what the risks are (only bought new) but others may have a better idea what to look for
You'd be how surprised how hard it is to get answers. Both on eBay and FB, in fact shops too.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256315871307
We've offered £120 on this setup. Still waiting, a shop in Oxford is another and the one linked on FB.
The guy with several Harley Benton's is good at Comms, but wants a bit too much for what we'd like to spend.
Prices are stronger than MTB in relation to RRP and used, used only seems to be 15-20% less.
Prices are stronger than MTB in relation to RRP and used, used only seems to be 15-20% less.
this is very true. It works both ways - used isn’t as much of a saving as you’d think, but they also hold their value so getting something decent isn’t money down the drain - - so long as it’s looked after you’ll get a large amount of it back when it’s eventually either sold through lac of use or to upgrade.
Harley Benton direct from Thomann is a good choice, but even if you don't play a guitar yourself you can still go to a shop and get them to play one for you. You want them to play both at the end of the neck and close to the body and both quietly and quite loud. Does it still sound in tune and does it buzz. Does it look great :). The Pacifica offered above would also be a very good choice
IF it were me I would go for a Squier Stratocaster (in black, like Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd, although his guitar is slightly more expensive!), or a Yamaha Pacifica. Harley Benton is another good opiton, and they also do Strat copies that look good. There is a reason that strats are still very popular as they are generally pretty good guitars.
My sons £100 Squier Strat is surprisingly good to play, and better than my other sons £80 Harley Benton strat, although not by much. For comparison I mainly play a £1k Jackson and a 90s Gobson SG that is probably worth at least a few hundred, so these cheaper ones hold up reasonably well - good for the price.
Dont forget to budget for an amp (a cheap one will do for now, but pretty soon you will need to upgrade it - the amp makes a huge difference to the quality of the noise. The Roland Cube offered above is a pretty decent amp beyond the real basic starter amps.You will also need a cable (around £7-10 for a semi-decent one) and possible picks/straps, although these can be found for very little.
I wouldnt go for second hand at this price unless you know what you are buying - a cheap guitar may have been set up by its owner, and that can be good, or very bad - and if you dont play it is impossible to really know the difference. Getting a poorly set up guitar sorted will cost around £30+ so could be a false economy
Colour choice is very important.
From chatting and pulling the boys brain apart I think we're going to end up going to a shop instead of buying randomly in advance. Partly because of what you guys said and partly because (as you said) they're quite individual in terms of colour, shape, fit, style etc.
It'll be after Xmas rather than on the day, which is a shame of course, but gives us a better chance. We may still buy online after that, but armed with a little more knowledge then.
When it comes to guitar amps, having a loop function is handy.
It’ll be after Xmas rather than on the day,
Make him a cardboard one. In pink, with elastic bands for strings:). You know you want to
If you can’t find a cheap, secondhand amp…
JOYO Mini Practice Guitar Amp Combo 5W Rechargeable Small Guitar Amplifier with Two Channels Bluetooth Headphone Jack(JA-02 II Blue) https://amzn.eu/d/iLmMM6h
Or, if your son is happy to use headphones, buy some kind of digital multitrack recorder, and use the onboard amp and effects.
You’d require some kind of audio interface to run the guitar through a laptop.
If your son is an Apple fanboi, an Irig can be found cheap on eBay.
As for guitar?
A squire bullet mustang or a used Vintage v6s/ epiphone g400.
The latter seems quite popular with guitar students and battle-of-the bands types. (Short scale neck, easy to lug around)
And it’s not even Monday…
Good decision. Now remember, it's an investment and still a fraction of the price of an EEB. And the law of diminishing returns definitely applies.
And I stick by it, a Strat is the Mondeo of the guitar world and a black Strat is the silver Mondeo of the guitar world 😉
Despite it clearly being an advert there are some good tips on buying a first guitar here. Especially the one that say buy him the one HE likes the look of as then he's more likely to want to pose in front of the mirror with it which in turn means he'll want to practice more.
And I stick by it, a Strat is the Mondeo of the guitar world and a black Strat is the silver Mondeo of the guitar world
I find that anology highly problematic... and I don't even like strats that much due to thier ubiquitousness but they have a 'sound' to them.. like a Gibson SG has as 'sound' to it...or a Martin acoustic.. it just has a certain vibe and twang, and you know just what it is when you hear it or feel it or play it.
It's tongue in cheek, but that ubiquitousness is what I'm joshing at.
Because, like the Mondeo, it is damn good at what it does.
It's the wrong ford.
The telecaster is the ford model t. Designed to be mass produced line no guitar before. Produced in large numbers. Completely revolutionised the industry.
That makes the strat a model A I guess. But with model T sales figures.
The guys in PMT Oxford were great. Popped in with my lad and spent ages in their practice room trying different guitars out.
We left empty handed (he's been saving up to buy one). I went back later and bought the one he liked. I can't wait until Xmas day!
Was it that lespaul?
I'd have probably bought that for him if he hadn't gone and tried a few out. Also tried the Epiphone SG and a few others. His Favourite by far was the Ibanez Mikro.
The kid in me wants that yellow Strat.
Are you buying him some leather trousers and a wig to go with?
That's going to be a mega good day, opening that. You should ask the shop for any old box for a GSO
And put it in that before wrapping 😁
whatever you do, if you do end up buying online ensure it’s from a reputable shop. Lots of fakes out there, especially things like epiphones
Think he's definitely going to grow into that look! He taught himself Judas Priest Breaking the Law the other week and has been banging out Since you've been gone all morning.
Big bro came home for a visit last weekend and the pair of them spent the majority of time doing this...
50W Marshall that someone from STW gave me years ago which sounds glorious but if I’m being honest is a bit too much for use in the house and it weighs more than a fridge.
One year The Boy spent his summer earnings on a secondhand 8 x 10" cab and a 500W amp. I would have preferred a 50W, bass at those levels will find any weakness in the building (plus frighten the dog and neighbours within 500m.
His band mates invited that he didn't practice or play at full volume with them as they liked to hear the drums. The cab has gone but does anyone want/need a 500W bass amp with wireless playing capability?
I'd be talking to FinishThat, Pacificas are ideal starter guitars, very hard to damage, very average and comfortable to play. If you're going to a shop the trick is to sound each individual note on the fretboard with similar intensity, listening for any differences. Some people think you have to play the most fancy chops you know as loud as possible but that often won't tell you much about the guitar.
Same issue here. I can’t really play but know enough to seriously dislike GSOs.
Spoke to a friend who plays well and owns a lot of guitars, and got both some advice and the loan of an Epiphone SG for a few months.
Sadly number one son learned enough from the SG to know what he likes and a trip to the local guitar shop to pick one for Christmas was not, repeat not, cheap
On the other hand the Christmas guitar stashed under my bed both looks and sounds lovely.
This takes me back to my first electric guitar purchase at about 17 years old.
I went to Mark's Music (probably long gone now) in Ipswich, tried a bunch of second hand guitars. It was down to a headless Hohner and an Ibanez EX in a green and black tiger print type design.
The Hohner was superior in every way to play but it was fugly. The Ibanez looked a lot better and iirc someone from a favourite band played Ibanez guitars.
The Ibanez won. It should have lost resoundingly. I ended up a few months later with an Aria Les Paul copy, which was cheaper and loads nicer to play.
Don't let your son make this stupid mistake. Better an ugly guitar that plays well. Just typing this 30 years later I still think I should have bought that Hohner it was a much better instrument.
PF / Gilmour and DS / Knopfler are both known mainly as Strat players, they’re both great guitarists but also old ****ers.
I’m struggling to understand what “but also old ****ers” has to do with anything! They weren’t when they started, and they were playing Fenders and other makes before anyone much even knew who they were. Same for Marr. Knopfler’s first guitar was a Hofner Super Solid V2 that his dad bought him for £50. As that was in the late 50’s, very early 60’s that would have been a lot of money. His next guitar was a Fender. That was before Knopfler was 16, and he was born in 1949. Gilmore’s first guitar was one he borrowed from a neighbour but never gave back. His first good one was a 60’s Telecaster that he had as a gift on his 21 birthday. He was born in 1947, so there weren’t the cheap, poorly made and finished guitar-shaped objects sold through Amazon, eBay and other low-cost outlets like there are today. Any cheap second-hand instrument would have been pretty well made back then, and mostly played by jazz and big band musicians.
It’s possible to find old instruments that just need setting up and new strings fitted, but many were bought by indie musicians’cos they were cheap, and then they started to become popular and then more expensive. As things do.
He was born in 1947, so there weren’t the cheap, poorly made and finished guitar-shaped objects sold through Amazon, eBay and other low-cost outlets like there are today.
I don't think that's exactly true, the cheap Japanese guitars of the 60s from Teisco, Guyatone etc definitely fit the GSO bill in my experience. Despite the hype (thanks to their fame in the hands of indie bands as you say), I've played a couple and they were dreadful instruments, totally outclassed by today's budget offerings from Squier etc. I guess my broader point though is that, contrary to the gist of your post, there has never been a better time to be in the market for a first guitar. So long as you get something from a well-regarded brand like Squier/Yamaha/Epiphone/Harley Benton etc as others have recommended in this thread, you're pretty much guaranteed to end up with a very playable instrument that might need a quick set up (very DIYable) at most.
Guitar trends seem to be pretty cyclical, the "old ****ers" get all misty eyed about a certain model (Les Paul's seem to be the current Peak of this) and other models plummet in price where they're picked up by skint young musicians, who end up making them cool.
Kurt Cobain making the largely rejected Fender Jaguar cool again being probably the most obvious example.
I’m struggling to understand what “but also old ****ers” has to do with anything!
It was in the context of when weeksy seemed determined to buy online as a surprise. I asked what he listened to then, in the absence of any other directions get him a guitar like his guitar hero plays.
And the answer came back with three guitarists in their 60s or 70s. A teenage boy's guitar hero should be some skinny hipped bundle of attitude, that your mum simultaneously hates and yet whenever she sees him on TV makes her bum feel a bit fizzy. Not a pensioner
Johnny Marr of course transcends all that, and having a guitar like his is always an option
Kurt Cobain making the largely rejected Fender Jaguar cool again being probably the most obvious example.
You wot mate?
He played a Mustang and a couple of straits.
I know he played a jaguar on a tour but it's a bit of a stretch associating him with one over the teen spirit Mustang.
This is the sort of solo he should be assaulting your eardrums with, not Brothers in Arms.
Bands that are gigging out of transit vans, not private chartered jets. Surviving on pasties and JD&coke, not a chef on a retainer.
Kids nowadays, tsk. Get some proper heroes.
I know he played a jaguar on a tour but it’s a bit of a stretch associating him with one over the teen spirit Mustang<br /><br />
Fender did enough to make a signature model.
Fender did enough to make a signature model.
The Cobain signature model is actually a "Jagstang". His own design and a hybrid of both guitars.