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So as a few of you know from the main doom room thread, I'm selling a couple of Epiphone guitars and replacing with one guitar. the budget i think will be about £500'ish (so effectively the price of a second hand Gibson Studio)

so far looking on ebay, i've found the following that look good, but wanted to get opinions:

- Yamaha SG300
- Gibson LP Smartwood Studio
- Tokai MIJ LP Double cut
- Gibson LP Sonex180
- Tokai MIK LP
- Gibson LP Studio - a wide variety at this price (I have seen a desertburst that looks really nice)
- Cimar/Ibanez 290BLK...looks like a half between a strat and a LP...strat shape but big and fat like and LP with HB
- Westbury MIJ thick SG shape

has anyone had any experience with these guitars, or know much about them?

I've got an Orville by Gibson LP Custom that absolutely smokes my other Gibsons so any of the Tokai, Burny, Greco, Orville and Edwards guitars from the 80's or 90s will probably be great guitars. I'm sure you can find one in the same budget as the others you have listed. I borrowed a Gibson Sonex from a buddy one time while my guitar was in the shop. From what I remember it may have been a bolt on neck (not sure if that matters to you) but it played really good. Never played a Yamaha SG but they look sweet and I never hear bad things about them.

also...just saw a BC Rich Mockingbird NJ Classic series with neck through body...could be good with pick up swap.

samzadgan wrote:So as a few of you know from the main doom room thread, I'm selling a couple of Epiphone guitars and replacing with one guitar. the budget i think will be about £500'ish (so effectively the price of a second hand Gibson Studio)

so far looking on ebay, i've found the following that look good, but wanted to get opinions:

- Yamaha SG300
- Gibson LP Smartwood Studio
- Tokai MIJ LP Double cut
- Gibson LP Sonex180
- Tokai MIK LP
- Gibson LP Studio - a wide variety at this price (I have seen a desertburst that looks really nice)
- Cimar/Ibanez 290BLK...looks like a half between a strat and a LP...strat shape but big and fat like and LP with HB
- Westbury MIJ thick SG shape

has anyone had any experience with these guitars, or know much about them?

i have at least some experience with a bunch of those. my bandmate has a yamaha sg 1500. it fucking rules. i know the 300 is closer to the bottom end of what they put out and the 1500 was upper mid level, so i'm not sure all the differences. my guess is that it's decent, but you can probably do better for your price. if lower end means a bunch of plys for the body, shoddier electronics and maybe not as nice of a neck, i'd probably expect that you'd want to upgrade later down the road. we found his guitar for $700, so if you look around, you can find a nicer yamaha in your budget.

i had a smartwood LP for years. it was a great guitar, although i played some that weren't as nice to play as mine. could be a setup thing or just gibson qc. definitely decent guitars. about on par with other decent LP studios though, so i would say it's an aesthetic choice at that point between getting one of these or another studio.

the MIJ tokai guitars that i've played have just been awesome. this would be my top choice out of your list. i don't know as much about them, but my experience has been good and everything else i've ever heard has been good. plus, i love double cut LP's. they're awesome.

one of my good friends and bandmates many years ago had a sonex 180. it played pretty well, but it was bolt on and if i remember right they're a pancake body. they play decent but aren't the best gibsons construction wise. if you can find one cheap though and need a guitar in a pinch, it's not a bad choice.

i don't know much about the korean tokais, but i would definitely go japanese over that and probably lean towards a gibson.

studio LP's are what they are. if you find a good one, it can be a fucking great guitar for a lifetime. others, not as much. the older the better. ones from the 90's and before are probably safe to buy on ebay even, but i would want to play a newer one to see.

i don't know anything about these ibanez 290blk

the other guitarist in my band also has a westbury standard that we use as our backup guitar at shows. i've played it a fair bit. he got it for $350 or something and i think it's one of the best bang for the buck guitars i've played at that price. it plays really well and the pickups sound alright. set neck and really solid feeling, though not as thick as an LP. i really like it. aesthetically, it has white pickups and white knobs, which i'm not into. if it was my main guitar i'd probably get some nicer pickups and change the knobs and make it look cool. it'd be worth it. i like his yamaha better, but it cost twice as much, so, there's that.

there's my two cents on all your choices.

i should add, and i say this all the time, that my favorite guitar ever is the one i own. it's an early 80's ibanez artist, AR50. i know they're not as easy to find over there, but i got mine for $420 and it is fucking killer if you like a les paul type guitar. i think they've gotten hard to find at that price, but are still pretty cheap and you may be able to find one in your budget. i like it easily as much as my bandmate's yamaha sg 1500 and a fair bit better than all the other guitars on your list.

wow man...thanks so much for this.

i am keeping an eye out for those Ibanez AR guitars...so far I've only found a korean one from 2005...but it depends on how much it goes for.

and although there isn't much logic to it...that Mockingbird has really got me hooked!

I haven't heard anything about those low end yammies being made out of ply, they generally just have less attention put on the little details like binding, and crappier pickups. Solid guitars, but a Gibson studio is probably a better investment unless you really like the look/fret access. I think they look cooler than the Ibanez doublecuts...

I've got a Sonex Custom, which was the higher end one with a maple neck, ebony board, dirty fingers. They are fucking indestructable. The bodies are a mix of sawdust from the gibson shop floor and glue moulded around a wooden core, ahah. The more common model, the deluxe came with "Velvet Brick" pups, which are pretty cool by all accounts. Mine sounds pretty monstrous with the DFs. I have a bit of a love hate thing with them though, and they aren't potted. The paint on the Sonex's also rubs off when mixed with human sweat.... so there's that.

I second the westbury call, for the money they are tits.

I love Tokai's, on my current watch list:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tokai-SG-50-BLK ... 461262cbd8

I forgot to post this delicious Westbury from over on shortscale.org.
...sexed up with blank pup covers and new knobs.

The only one I've used off you list is the Studio, I've had two in the last few years. I had a recent ( think it was an 06) version, which was just alright - it had a nice neck but really crappy finishing around the neck and in particular the nut. It felt weirdly light too - I guess that's an advantage to some, but if I played a LP I'd want that reassuring weight. The finish dinged and chipped really easy too.
I replaced it with a '92 I bought off eBay. Ebony board and gold hardware, same year as Steve Brooks old LP from the Floor days, which seemed like a good omen. Anyways, it was killer. Weighed more, but sounded twice as thick as the other one, and played WAY better. The finishing was great too, despite it being pretty well used and abused.
Point is, the year matters, and it doesn't seem to affect the cost. Seems late 80s up to 93 are the years to go for. That's a lot of guitar for £500!