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Post by Andrew on Nov 2, 2004 2:07:46 GMT -5
Pick one.
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Post by henry on Nov 2, 2004 19:55:06 GMT -5
Get a Mexican Strat (Fender "Made in Mexico"), it's the best, most upgradeable guitar in a reasonable price range. It's also what I've got. I'm guessing the strat you're considering is a MIM, they sell around $350 ordinarily.
They're good guitars, well constructed, lovely vintage tremolo bridge, quality wood. The stock pickups are fairly lame, but they are on almost all guitars under $1000 and cost relatively little ($80 - $180) to replace with quality pickups.
As far as I know, the best electric guitar available for a real person is a MIM Strat with new pickups. For the record, though, I have yet to replace mine. They're quite usuable - just not ideal.
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Post by bezzerkker on Nov 2, 2004 23:15:04 GMT -5
Did Kurt Cobain actually use the guitar or is it one designed by him or something?
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Post by henry on Nov 3, 2004 1:26:53 GMT -5
more likely one that has little or nothing to do with him, but had his name slapped on it after he died.
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Post by bezzerkker on Nov 3, 2004 1:34:00 GMT -5
Courtney Love probably gave permission for it
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Post by Andrew on Nov 4, 2004 10:27:08 GMT -5
Well, hisjournals, (page 218 or something) he designed it himself, in 1993. I think like, "in his honour" or something they made it. But.. Mexican Strat? Okay, im going to write that down, i'll check it our today after my lesson. Also, Henry,
I need to know if theres a cheap amp i can buy anywhere, like, that really small one pavel has or something, something like that. Nothing big or complex. Just so I can "Amplify" my music.
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Post by henry on Nov 4, 2004 18:34:46 GMT -5
www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/510000/the "standard strat" is what they're calling the Mexican lately. The trouble with cheap amps is that, well, they blow. There are a couple reasons for this: People just beginning to play electric guitar tend to want a small "practice amp" so they can play alone and learn. Manufacturers know this, and also know that many kids who buy a practice amp when they start will soon want to expand to something bigger, especially if the only practice amps available are really nutsty. I own a lousy practice amp (a Fender "Frontman") that I bought with my Mexican. It makes a great deal of clean, undistorted sound, and I've never had to crank it past "2" to get enough volume. The thing that I didn't realize early on, and that very few people do, is that the tone sucks. A lot. Ooh it burns. Ack. Another important thing to know when purchasing an amp is that WATTAGE AND POWER RATINGS ARE SILLY. Speakers have two very important ratings: power handling (in watts) and efficiency (sometimes called sensitivity, always in dB). Efficiency is a rating of how many dB of sound are produced when the speaker is fed 1 watt. Power handling is how many watts you can feed it before it explodes. Suppose you have a speaker with 90 dB efficiency and 100 watts power handling (both common ratings for instrument speakers). Feed it 1 watt, and it'll produce 90dB. Feed it 2 watts, and it'll produce 93dB. Not 180db, and not 100db. A 3dB increase is the smallest noticeable increase. A 10dB increase is percieved as double the volume. Feed it 100 watts, it'll produce around 110 dB. A 100 watt amp costs a nutsload more than a 2 watt amp. Actually, you can't buy a 2 watt amp. Feed it 20 watts, it'll produce just over 100 dB. A 100 watt amp costs a nutsload more than a 20 watt amp. So you could double the volume from the speaker, but you'd have to increase your spending by a lot more than double. Also consider the fact that two 90 dB speakers each fed 20 watts will produce a hell of a lot more sound than one 90 dB speaker fed 100. I did some poking around on musician's friend, and I have a couple recommendations. www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/482800/This is a small Marshall amp in a respectable but affordable line. Pavel has it's bigger brother, which is awesome. From what I can see, it's a fairly solid amp that ought to have decent tone and volume at a reasonable price. The speaker is only an 8 inch (12 is standard, 10 is fine), but I know that Marshall uses quality Celestion speakers, so I wouldn't worry. www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/product/reviews/base_pid=480685/rpp=10/Behringer is a highly respected company. This amp, although I've never used anything remotely similar, looks quite solid to me. 10 inch speaker seems like the sweet spot in practice amps, and Jensen is another respected, solid speaker manufacturer like Celestion. The effects loop is an extremely valuable addition, allowing you to bypass the preamp stage with an effects pedal. The onboard effects and modelers will give you more than enough to play with, and will be useful tools in finding a tone that you like. All in all, I would probably recommend the Behringerl; however, keep in mind that I have not played either amp, and am judging based on specs and reviews. I would recommend that you go to a music store (Haight Ashbury, in Sunnyvale, is a lovely store) and try out some models. I would also recommend that you NOT buy anything the first time you visit, but instead go home and check what the sales people in the store said against what the internet says, because sales people tend to screw buyers over. edit: keep in mind that, should you decide to, you could purchase/build an extension cabinet (cab with extra speakers) to increase the volume / quality of tone that a smaller amp will produce. another interesting mod would be to remove the amp from a combo's cabinet completely, and install it in a custom cab. thus either of these amps is quite expandable in terms of output and speaker quality.
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Post by Andrew on Nov 5, 2004 2:36:04 GMT -5
www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/510000/Thats the one Pavel recommended. I went to the shop today. I was embarresed. (d**n you pavel). I confused Mexican with Standerd Strat, (they are the same thing) so the lady looked at me weird. And i asked if Jag's were cheaper. (Pavel said Kurt used Jag's cuz they are cheap but have sucky sound) Well, they remade the Jag, it's a high quality than the Standered Strat... But heres how im going to raise money. I'm going to go Door To Door: "Hi, my name is Andrew and im trying to raise money for the music in our Church, I personally will be getting a guitar from any money you donate, the 'extra change' will go to remodel and rebuild the church." LOL, i can't wait to see the look on my Teacher's face is if i come up with a Nirvana guitar . But see, heres the deal.. the Nirvana Jag is a special model, making it better than the Mexican Strat, it costs about $100 more now. But since its a "KURT" model, it costs even More. But since i live next to rich people, i can do that. And my church has amps. so it works out. What do you think henry/ (i can stela an amp from my church i suppose) Mod: www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid/510000/I saw it for $340 at the store i went to. so thats best i guess
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Post by henry on Nov 5, 2004 2:49:32 GMT -5
I just checked out the "jag" online. Personally, I would go with the Mexican, and spend the money you save on a new set of pickups - for the price difference, you could probably buy a beautiful set of kinman's, perhaps the greatest pickups known to man. Also, the pickup configuration (single coil neck, humbucking bridge, no mid pickup) seems rather odd, whereas the standard bridge/mid/neck strat setup is about the most versatile configuration available. It's up to you, of course. The jag would appear to be a quality guitar. Also, if you can borrow an amp from the church to use for now, go for it. They've probably got something cool and funky.
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Post by Andrew on Nov 5, 2004 2:51:44 GMT -5
Well, she told me the Kurt model has good pickups and everything, and the New Jag (she said) has improved Pickups, which is why it costs $100 more than the Standerd Strat... but i think i'll try to get the Nirvana guitar after Pavel proved himself wrong. And on the ad sheet it said "Remodelied Jag" The lady ment its the New Jag, not the kind Kurt used back in '93 (The ones with crappy pickups).
That lady was cool and had big things.
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Post by Andrew on Nov 5, 2004 3:03:54 GMT -5
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Post by henry on Nov 5, 2004 15:13:25 GMT -5
Sounds good. After reviewing the specs, I must say the switching system on the jagstang makes it surprisingly versatile. I'm a little concerned as to the value of the stock pickups, however; no spec sheet available listed what they actually were, only that they were "vintage humbucker & single coil", which suggests that they're lame. My concern would be, then, that you may be paying more for a big name than for quality electronics.
edit: my above common is assuming that you will buy it new in february, and not off eBay. eBay is scary.
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Post by Andrew on Nov 6, 2004 4:22:34 GMT -5
yea, i found a good site , its 385 bucks, but they ship it from the factory in japan, 75 bucks shipping..crazy..flying..truck drivers. but it will still be cheaper than the store. Then i can go door to door and use THAT money to buy pickups.
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Post by henry on Nov 6, 2004 16:01:17 GMT -5
yay!
it's always a good idea to replace the pickups in your guitar if the manufacturer doesn't specify what they installed. also note that the jagstang they mass produce now does NOT come with the pickups that Cobain used (A Texas Special and some DiMarzio humbucket, i believe. Both quality pieces, as I recall).
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Post by Andrew on Nov 6, 2004 17:01:17 GMT -5
Okay, so today im getting the Jag-Stang, then once i get enough money i'll ask the lady at the store what kind of pickups to buy. And henry of course.
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