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I'm a bassist, but I've been wanting to get a decent guitar to bang around on. Here's what I've tried out in the area:

Ibanez Talman - Not sure of the model number, but its MIJ and its green.
Pros: It's green, it's got P90s, nicely balanced, and it felt good.
Cons: It's the most expensive ($220), it was noisy, and it's missing the top part of the pick up selector

Memphis double cutaway Les Paul Special
Pros: P90s, felt pretty good, MIJ, not as noisy as the Talman
Cons: It's cherry colored (not a big con, but not my first choice in color), very body heavy (but no neck dive so I guess that's good), second most expensive at $190, the guy selling it doesn't want to buy advertising from me

Peavey Patriot
Pro: Nicely priced ($150), it's kind of hair-metal looking, maple fretboard, MIA (and therefore patriotic)
Con: It's red, it only has one knob, and only one pick up (not a huge con though)

Epiphone Les Paul Special
Pro: Cheapest of the guitars I'm considering (like $100), P90s
Con: It feels the cheapest, its that ugly matte black finish, and I don't remember much about it so it clearly didn't stick with me well

What do you all thing? I'm really leaning towards the Memphis, but I'd love some opinions

Stay away from the Talman, not sure about the p90's but my friend destroyed one in a rage one time and it seemed to be made out of pressed paper cause the shit exploded into a pile of fluff like a cat-tail does... See if you can find a Tele style to try out or an SG, both very different but maybe you'll like one better...

sonidero wrote:Stay away from the Talman, not sure about the p90's but my friend destroyed one in a rage one time and it seemed to be made out of pressed paper cause the shit exploded into a pile of fluff like a cat-tail does......

Not all Talmans were made out of pressed paper.

sonidero wrote:Stay away from the Talman, not sure about the p90's but my friend destroyed one in a rage one time and it seemed to be made out of pressed paper cause the shit exploded into a pile of fluff like a cat-tail does..

but but but luthite was the wave of the future of guitars in the 90's...

Which shall now and forever be know as the Luthite Rage... It only perpetuated the destruction as soon as the first smash produced a cloud of fluff... When it was over it was real easy to retrieve most of the neck and the pick guard and electronics cause that's all that was left...

sonidero wrote:See if you can find a Tele style to try out or an SG, both very different but maybe you'll like one better...

I only have one opinion about guitars. And that is, everyone should own a Telecaster.

I had a Talman for a while and it was good, coulda been made of Kinex for all I gave a shit. The stock P-90s are supposed be noiseless though, so if it's noisy they were replaced or the wiring needs cleaning. I think you could use that and the pickup selector issue to knock $20 off?

I'm really leaning towards the Les Paul Special, but it had some intonation issues that need to be worked out. The guy selling it said he sets up all of his guitars before sending them out, but I'm worried it might be a bigger problem.

I'll have to look for some Telecasters, I just didn't find any in my price range (as far below $200 as possible)

Peavey Patriot.

Peaveys play way better than they should at the price they are at and they don't hold their value well, so you can get a lot of guitar for the money.
Any knob that isn't a volume knob is extraneous, so that is just saving you the trouble of removing the other knobs.
Bridge pickups are the only pickups worth playing, so again, that saves your guitar from looking all Malcolm Young after you rip the neck pickup out.

If it has a floating trem block that shit, put whatever rad pickup you want in there (p90 for happy fun times with fuzz) and go nuts.

Rondo. Rondo rondo rondo.

Rondo is designed for, among other things, exactly what you're looking for, a decent dirt cheap instrument for the banging. They've got tele-styles for less than $100 - even less if you're willing to accept some b-stock scratch & dent - leaving plenty of cash for some better but still cheap pickups and a decent setup. And options galore - traditional pickups, or HBs, or P-90s; some 'relic'd': some with gigbags: some with trems: some with binding; some short scale...

Me, my favs are the Ash-bodies natual matte finish SX models, but I think those are only available in the ebay store.

I will second the Rondo option. They need better pickups to really sing, but are completely functional out of the box. Very happy with my upgraded Rondo Tele that compares favorably to the Mexican Fender tele IMHO.

Bridge pickups are the only pickups worth playing

monoprice.com They started dipping their heels in the guitar business and I've heard alot of good things about them. Tempted to buy one since they sell new for less than $150, but the thought of buying another cheap guitar makes me cringe...

The Memphis be aware that resale is absolute crap - I've played and owned some that were ok, some that deserved to be given to an enemy.

Best deal out of that lot is either the Peavey (I'm not a personal fan of them, but for a buck fifty it'll be solid) or the Talman. Talman sounds like it may need some work.

Is the Talman a wood model (some of them were and some of them were made outta random crap)? If it is, I'd go for it; if not, dunno. My experience with Memphis is that they were crap, but they were Japanese, and some of them were probably OK.

If there's something wrong with the Epiphone, you might be able to get one from GC for the same price.

Or you could go for this from Rondo:

I made the decision to just pick up an acoustic guitar. My buddy sold me a Starcaster Fender acoustic for $50. Its not amazing, but for $50 it'll get the job done. And its an acoustic electric, so if I ever get bored I can just throw it through my pedal board. In the mean time, I'm going to save up for a nicer electric. Maybe a Telecaster. Then I'll be happy.