How exactly do you find the right guitar?

[Iommic Pope]

I'm late to the party, and hardly helpful, but....

I got lucky.
Years ago I went for broke and bought my dream guitar on a whim, blind, never having played one off ebay (back when you could still get shit cheaper than retail, even with shipping to Auslandia).
I really just wanted an Iceman and didn't care how much the reality of owning one might suck.
Fortunately it didn't. And that mother fucker ain't going nowhere.
I have changed the pickups once or twice, and I may do that again soon, but playability, suits me just fine.
I'm a bit grumpy about how the finish has held up (or hasn't) over time, but they're minor cosmetic flaws that don't really get me down while I'm riffing.

Jump in man, you might just get lucky.

[backwardsvoyager]

^ yeah sometimes just buying stuff you think is badass can turn out really well too. I always wanted an Iceman, it's disappointing how limited the options are for those now because it's such a cool design.

I bought that SGV-300 off Achtane having never played a reverse offset before. Technically my jazzmaster is still my 'main' guitar but lately i've been thinking if i modified the SGV a little it would probably be a more suitable guitar for me, just gotta improve the tuning stability, set it up with slightly heavier strings and change the electronics a little. The most important thing to me is body/neck shape and balance, i find once that's perfect everything else seems realistically within reach via modification to some degree. Some guitars are pretty hard to get a good sound out of though, i went through a few pickups on my old ibanez but in the end it was just too thin and lightweight to get a strong enough tone.

[Iommic Pope]

Yeah, options on the new Icemen are pretty great for shred dudes, not so hot for anyone else.
Guh, I want an SGV so fucking hard.

[Andrew]

Basically pure luck on my end.

I think this is it, buying a guitar based purely on specs is one thing but that guitar being enjoyable is a whole other thing entirely.

Played a PRS s2 cu22. Seems pretty good, can get pretty gazey with a wammy bar. Would definitely get a good setup and maybe swap out the pickups.

[voerking]

i think part of it is learning to adapt to the specifics and peculiarities of a certain guitar. i don't think there is a such thing as the 'right guitar', necessarily. it's kind of like a relationship...you need to find one that is close enough that you say to yourself "i can make this work", then actually commit.




did i really just type that? ugh.

[UglyCasanova]

^ yeah sometimes just buying stuff you think is badass can turn out really well too.

That shit swing both ways for sure. I always wanted a desert burst LP STD. I saved up for a year, ate shitty food, didn't travel or anything. And it was the worst guitar I ever owned. I played Gibsons for years because I though it was "my guitar" even though I never really felt a connection to them. I ended up being a telecaster guy. I initially didn't like the country vibe I got from them, but now I think they're sexy as f00k.

Anyways, here's Wonderwall (AKA 'cool story bro' from me)

[Hyphen Nation]

^ Yeah, try as many as you can.
One other thing, rfurtkamp mentioned it earlier but scale length is really important to feel. I was always a Gibson 24.75 guy but these days I really love the 25.5 Fender scale, especially with a 7.5" neck radius (neck radius is also important). But the numbers don't mean shit unless it feels good in your hands.

Yes. I thought I was gibson…always…Spend months looking for an awesome SG. Then I got a jag [close to Gibson scale, right?] Then I realized how much I like fender necks…then I realized how much I like 25.5 and single coils…then I realized I haven't played my LP in months…

[goroth]

The easiest answer to this thread: be left handed. That way anything strung vaguely left handed is the best guitar ever.

On a serious note - I've played guitar for 18 years now and know pretty much nothing about guitars because I've just never found enough lefties to even build a frame of reference for judging guitars.

[Hyphen Nation]

sounds like you need to go to Houston:
http://www.southpawguitars.com

[goroth]

sounds like you need to go to Houston:
http://www.southpawguitars.com

Hnnnnnng!
Just looked it up - Texas has 3 times the population of Sweden.
Woah. So many lefties....

[Swordfishtrombone]

Yes. I thought I was gibson…always…Spend months looking for an awesome SG. Then I got a jag [close to Gibson scale, right?] Then I realized how much I like fender necks…then I realized how much I like 25.5 and single coils…then I realized I haven't played my LP in months…

Pretty much the same for me (I've never had a thing for Gibson/Epiphone, and haven't really liked anything I've played from them either). First "real" guitar I had was a jaguar, and wasn't a fan of 25.5" until I decided to try out one of Rondo's tele copies. I think the perfect guitar for me would be somewhere between the two (jaguar scale length + body and strings behind bridge with a tele bridge (maybe with a semi hot tele bridge pickup sized humbucker) + chunkier neck like on tele copy. Teleguar?), but with a jazzmaster/Omar Rodriguez Lopez style split pickguard + some wiring done for my needs. May do this to jaguar eventually.

The easiest answer to this thread: be left handed. That way anything strung vaguely left handed is the best guitar ever.

On a serious note - I've played guitar for 18 years now and know pretty much nothing about guitars because I've just never found enough lefties to even build a frame of reference for judging guitars.

I couldn't imagine having to deal with this. I'd probably go the same route as David Byrne, Marc Ribot, or maybe even pull a Hendrix/Omar, and just play a guitar made for right handled people. I can't possibly be more shit than I already am, so I doubt that would change things much.

Also, it's not really related to the thread, but does anyone have any guesses as to why lefties seem to have difficulties when playing like righties (Marc Ribot has said that he thinks that this held him back as a guitarist)? I've never tried to play a lefty guitar, but I'd think that it would make sense that it would be easier to do fretting with your dominant hand. I know that Kurt Cobain and Paul McCartney apparently found it easier to do this, but it seems like they're the exceptions?

[backwardsvoyager]

I'm actually left-handed and cannot even slightly play guitar left-handed. It's beyond difficult. Right-handed just felt natural

[Gone Fission]

I'm actually left-handed and cannot even slightly play guitar left-handed. It's beyond difficult. Right-handed just felt natural

A college friend was a lefty who played righty but played air guitar lefty. That really struck me as pretty odd.

[goroth]

Re: playing righties:

1. After putting a new endpin in, not all guitar shapes balance properly upside down
2. You need to file a new nut
3. The cutaway is often messed up so you accessing higher frets is tough. No Yngwie for you
4. There are a lot of bridges that will never intonate properly - any bridge that isn't exactly 90 degrees to the strings, with fully adjustable saddles won't intonate. So pretty much strat style stuff bridges. (edited for complete factual goof up)
5. On many pickups the polepieces are going to be messed up which makes getting a balanced output hard.

So it worked for hendrix because
1. Not sure never tried a reverse strat.
2. Probably had some lacky do it.
3. He had enormous hands and could have shred on anything.
4. Strat bridge = intonates properly upside down
5. Dunno if they were adjusting polepieces for each string in those days or if they were just flat.

As to the technical difficulties - because I write right handed I'm more dextrous (fine motor skills) with my right hand. You'd think this would mean that playing left handed would be rad because you know - fingers and stuff. But your fingers are pretty well ambidextrous anyway and you have very good muscular control over both hands - think playing the piano, typing etc. But the difficulty is with your picking hand. Without the practice you have making very small, very accurate wrist movements it's really difficult to work up your dexterity in your picking hand. This has definitely held me back, and I'd guess this is what Ribot's getting at, except opposite as he's a lefty playing righty. When I practice I mostly working on my left hand.

[Swordfishtrombone]

Not quite sure about how authentic these are (whether it's pics edited, or Hendrix miming), but it appears that upside down Jaguars + Jazzies may be possible:





And I dunno what Ribot's problem is exactly. Not sure if it's what you said, or if it's with his left hand (he's always hunched over and appears to be staring at that one at all times). Definitely does show that he has problems playing (I love Ribot's style, so I'm not complaining), just can't really tell what it is. I'd give it a go if it wasn't for left wrist being fucked.