this is for IlikeRiffseveryone. ESP has some LTDs and such avaialble left handed

Floyd Rose bridges are a giant pain in the ass to set up properly for down tuned metal. It makes it a little easier if you stay in standard tuning as a beginner, reason being that most every FR guitar I've seen has been set at the factory for standard. My best advice to those of you looking to get a "starter" floyd equipped guitar is to have the guitar set to your preferences by a professional. It usually costs from as little as $30 to $100 to do a setup depending on the tech you hire. Tuning and restringing are no fun either, so remember that the joy of dive bombs comes packaged with the agony of tedious maintenance. My biggest issue with double locking guitars is that they don't allow for alternate tunings (except drop-d).

It might sound counter-intuitive, but I think it would be better for a new guitarist to start out on a non-locking (like a Wilkinson) trem guitar before getting a double locking. This way, you have the opportunity to experiment with different tunings, playing styles, string gauges, etc. and decide of a floyd is really necessary for your playing style.

I started out playing a Charvette bastardized trem system and quickly discovered that I wasn't playing anything that actually required a double locking trem....in fact I spent most of my time playing without the locking nuts installed so I could switch tunings with less fuss.

There are definitely techniques out there that can only be played with a double locking trem, but a FR or any of its cousins comes with limitations too. If you rarely or never change tunings, and you rarely or never do double-stop bends, a FR or Lo-Pro will do you just fine. Otherwise, it's just going to get in the way too much.

If you're sure a double locking is what you're after, then I humbly suggest a mid level Ibanez (if you like the sound of basswood guitars especially), or mid-priced Jacksons/Charvels. These are guitar brands that are synonymous with FR bridges and sounds. I particularly like the hinged trem bridge on some of the newer Ibanez's.

The reason I suggest the mid-priced varieties is that the cheaper guitars are usually made of bad cuts of wood. If you do get a cheap one, make sure to play it alongside higher quality guitars of the same type to get a feel for just what the difference is. Additionally, cheap guitars come with muffled, indistinct pickups that you'll end up paying to upgrade at some point. You may as well fork over an extra $100 bucks now to avoid the hassle of modifying your guitar.

Lastly, makes sure you really want EMG's in your guitar. Try out several EMG equipped guitars along with some with passive pickups before you buy anything with actives in it. Active pickups are not meant for just any kind of music. They are designed to boost the input level from your guitar so as to overload the preamp circuit on your amp. That's great if your playing an old-school Marshall, Hiwatt or some such, but not so great if you play into digital or solid state amps or effects units. You can easily start a digital unit clipping (in a bad way) by overloading the input. Also, most metal amps today have far more gain on tap in their preamps than you should ever need...having active pickups boost an already saturated preamp can present some problems.

The reason I mention this is that I made the mistake of adding EMG's to one of my guitars and discovered that my digital chorus unit (that I loved) clipped when the EMG's blasted its input.

no need for a high class guitar.
its all on the skills of the user








http://www.musicalinstrumentsetc.co...%20Guitars.html

I agree. Most of the most expensive guitars are more cosmetic than functional. However, bad gear can screw your sound. A great guitarist can make a bad guitar sound good, but not great. Good gear with good fingers = magic.

After (stupidly) selling my Ibanez RG with Seymour Duncan Invader and Full Shred pickups because i kinda lost interest in playing after my band split up, i've recently purchased a Zakk Wylde Epiphone Les Paul which is ok but not really for me! I've started playing quite intensely again and im looking for a new guitar. I play Death Metal. i was looking at one of the seems pretty cheap plus it has 81/85s what do you think? It's a Washburn X200 Pro

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WASHBURN-X200...A1%7C240%3A1318

Ghost--
Looks like a great deal to me. I especially like that it comes with Buzz F tuning. However, I do think it's a bad idea to buy a guitar sight unseen...you never know until you have it in your hands. If you've played Washburns before, and know their feel and neck profile well, by all means, go for it. Otherwise, I strongly recommend trying it out before you order one.

The features look excellent though.

Thanks Resonance. I've never played a Washburn before but the spec for that price really caught my eye. It's the EMG's that do it for me. Has anyone played this guitar to comment on it? I'm used to and feel at home when playing Ibanez. I like the feel, the fretboard, everything about them really. Do the Washburns play similar? I know each guitar has it's own feel but maybe if they're similar to Ibanez' then i might go for it. I'm currently looking at an Ibanez RGT6EX but may go for the Washburn due to the price difference.

Im loking fora new guitar perferrably an ibanez/jackson/ESp or a knockoff that looks good and is built well. If you guys could give me links to pics of gutiars that are uniue or loook different with crazy body shapes or paintjobs itd be apreciated. Thanks

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hey there. ive been playin for 2 years and i am looking to upgrade from my Epiphone LP Special. I play mostly metal so i need something which will give me a good heavy metal sound.

Ive considered the following guitars:

ESP KH-202

ESP LTD F-250

B.C Rich Beast

Schecter C-1 FR

Im leaning more towards the ESPs cuz they are just fantasticaly made guitars but i want somebody eleses opinion.

Schecter but without the Floyd if you want to be more versatile about the tuning question and string changing!
Schecter are pretty high-quality, even the low-budget guitars

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Metal Mongol--

You might want to consider the scale length you want for your guitar--the Epi you're playing is a 24.75" scale guitar and will always sound different than a 25.5" scale of an otherwise identical guitar. All of the guitars you're considering have a 25.5" scale length.

With that caveat, of the ones you've listed, I have experience with all but the K-202 however, after playing several floyd equipped LTD's, I'd say they're very well made...but for some reason sound lifeless to me. I even feel that way about the high end ESP's. I don't know what it is, but they sound flat to me....probably the pickups. (The standard ESP passives aren't very good, and I dislike EMG's.) However, there is one exception...see below.

ESP LTD F-250. I LOVE the body style, but still disliked the one that I owned (same complaint as above).

BC Rich Beast. I think these guitars don't get enough credit. I tried one out a few years ago and thought it was pretty good bang for the buck. Gotta get used to the body shape though.

Schecter C-1 FR. Not a big fan of Schecter guitars. Their setup is usually bad, and I'm convinced they use an inferior grade of mahogany in their bodies. The high gloss finish on all their necks bug me as does the somewhat chunky neck profile they usually have.

Of all you've listed, I'd likely go with the Beast.

My suggestions:

If you have your heart set on a floyd equipped guitar, I'd vote for an Ibanez (if you like the sound of a basswood body), Jackson, or Charvel.

Also, try a Gibson scale guitar against a Fender scale side by side at a store to see which sound you really prefer. If you're interested in a Gibson scale guitar, I totally recommend the ESP PB-500 (not the newer one with P-rail pickups, the OLDER one with SD Alnico-II's in it). That is an EXCELLENT guitar in the price range you seem to be aiming at. I know Alnico-II magnets aren't usually the first pick of a metal guitarist in a pickup, but they work great for me.

Sorry this post is so long, but there really is a lot to consider.

Hope this helps.

Completely agree on the dead sounding ESP's.

And BC Rich really is a good brand, lately they seem to have gotten quite a low-quality image, but that's just 'cause everybody just buys their starter-kits. They have a good tone (I very much like their stock pickups), are real sturdy and if you like the shape of them then there's really no reason to go with them.

Seriously, an ESP will give you a real flat sound. It doesn't help that every metal-band plays ESP's and EMG-pickups lately, so if you want a different tone than the rest of the pack ESP really shouldn't be your choice.

Also, I wonder why you haven't included Ibanez in your options? They're basically the kings of Floyd Rose apparently, are the most decent you'll ever find in their price-category, and by decent I don't mean the "well it's not crap"-decent, but great quality.

So yeah in short, just like the helpful poster above me said: out of your options I'd take the Beast anyday, but I think you should really check out an Ibanez sometime.

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get an ibanez like an rg series there nice and cheap.

[QUOTE=DeathCS]I know Pat O brien is left handed but he plays right handed. Left handed people that play right handed usually have a pretty fast fretting hand.


yea i ply like tht

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im an ESP player love my guitar it weighs more thn any other guitar i played which i prefer its an EC series

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I live in a part of the world where buying a guitar is much more complicated than going into a store and trying the equipment out. Recently, I've found a dealer who will import the guitar I want (at a much higher price than most of you pay, though). Now here's the deal:

I want a standard series ESP Eclipse II and I need to decide between two versions: either an EMG equipped one (Vintage Black or Snow White model) or the Duncan equipped one (Aged Honey Burst model). I used to play a lot of metal, but the last few years I've been mostly playing mellow clean stuff/ballads in chords/etc. I will probably pick up on the high gain stuff again, now that I have a lot of free time after some busy years. But since I'm going to play a broad range of styles anyway, I figure the SD setup (JB/59) are better suited for me. On the other hand, the EMG set has its advantages. I'll list the pros and cons of these two options (for me, of course):

AHB:

pros:

• SD pickups, more dynamic tone and better versatility
• More of a classis LP look (though I don't care for the red finish on the backside)

cons:

• I really don't care for the "distressed" finish, real turn off.
• Rosewood fingerboard. I've always wanted an ebony fingerboard (my current rather low-end Ibanez RG has rosewood, not a fan of it really).

Now the VB/SW models have nice finish, have ebony fingerboard but are equipped with EMGs.

I have only one day to make the decision. What would you say is the bigger dealbreaker for me, distressed finish and rosewood fretboard or EMGs?

Appreciate any advice.

P.S. All models can be seen here: http://www.espguitars.com/guitars_eclipse.html

Close-up picks of the AHB can be found here: http://bbs.espguitars.com/showthread.php?t=40055 (although it's a European "full body thickness" model, I believe the nicks and blemishes are the same).

My Fender Squier has served me well for the last 14 or so years. It's time for an upgrade. It's time.

I've had one electric guitar for all of my guitar-playing life, so I know precisely fuck-all about "hardware". I've got my eye on the Jackson JS32RT Dinky. Here's where I'd get it from if I go ahead with it:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/jackson_js32rt_dinky_bk.htm (good website, got some bargains there)

Here's Jackson's own webpage for it:

http://www.jacksonguitars.com/en-GB...rtno=2910027376

I have questions, most of which will make me sound like a twat.

1. What are jumbo frets? Are they just fatter/taller frets than normal? How does that affect playing?

2. It has two CVR2 humbuckers. Any good? I read about humbuckers today and learned what they do and how they differ from single coil setups, but that's all I know.

3. What's a compound radius fingerboard and is it a good thing?

4. On the Jackson page it gives the specs of the guitar, and it mentions string gauges. Why is this info mentioned? Is it telling me the minimum and maximum gauge of string the guitar can handle?

Thanks lads.

Ignore the above, I got the guitar today, and fuck me it rules. I know the Squier is kinda shitty n'all but holy mother of Christ I had no idea how much better a proper guitar would be. I actually play like 20% better, how's that even possible??

My wee brother bought it for me, it's supposed to be a birthday/Xmas combo-pressie but he gave it to me today haha. Awesome.

My last guitar was so shit that I now have to update all of my effects on the GNX4 because I had to set them in such a way that they compensated for said shittiness Weeeeeeee!

Haha! Congrats man. Now... post a video

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SURE WHY NOT JUST A SEC

I think playing on a shitty guitar for some time makes you better. If you can play half ass on a shit guitar, when you actually get a good guitar, it Rocks!!
Cheers

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RON WILLIAMS, EVERYBODY!

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Yes i agree with Ron

I'm looking for a nice 7-string for metal, with coil split so I can get that acoustic sound. Price range is $300-$500. Tremolo is nice but not required.