I know it is embarrising, but I never cared so much about guitar types, amps and all that technique stuff. I got my equipment really cheap second hand and it was ok to start out, but I definately want to get a real and goodsounding guitar soon (same goes for my amp), maybe also an effect item.

However, I have at maximum 1000 euros to spend, which are approimately 1500 dollars - and I definately wouldn't mind to spend less If your interested, here is the Homepage of the shop where I'm probably going to buy the guitar - just click on "E-Gitarre" on the left side and then again on "E-Gitarren" to see their guitar sortiment and click on "E-Gitarre" and "Gitarrencombo" to see the Combo-Amps they sell.

Maybe I should also mention I mostly play (melodic) death and trash metal, both rhythm and lead.

I would be glad for any suggestions about a good guitar for me to buy. Thanks!

What do you have now?
What are you looking for?
Does the guitar have to 'look' metal?
Do you want a rig that's mainly for lead or for rythm?
Do you want to gig? Practice with a band? Record? Practice at home?
Mind getting second hand stuff?
Do you have big hands or small ones?
Do you want a tremolo?
Lot's of buttons, options, versatility or simpleness?

Can't realy reccommend anything without knowing what you want..

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What do you have now?
some cheap strat copy...i really want to get rid of it the amp is 15w ans "crate" stands on it - it was ok in the beginning, but now the distortion is making some problems, so i'd like to get a new amp as well

Does the guitar have to 'look' metal?
no.. i mean, if it's pink, i'll probably paint it, but the look actually doesn't matter

Do you want a rig that's mainly for lead or for rythm?
both (can't decide for one, really...i want to play more lead stuff in the future, but i have no rhythm guitarist, so i need a good sound for rhythm as well)

Do you want to gig? Practice with a band? Record? Practice at home?
at the moment basically practising at home, but since i won't be able to afford another guitar for quite some while after that one, it would be good, if the guitar was at least good enough to play in a band and record some stuff

Mind getting second hand stuff?
actually not, but i'm not sure, wheter i'm able to tell, if that stuff is alright and won't make problems after some weeks. else it's finde

Do you have big hands or small ones?
small ones (but don't suggest a childs guitar now... )

Do you want a tremolo?
it isn't that important, but if it's not too expensive it would be cool of course as will probably need it for some soling stuff

Lot's of buttons, options, versatility or simpleness?
Hmm, my current guitar has no options at all, so I guess some will also be very cool. But I have to admit, that I don't have an idea about how important this things are and what you can do with them

If the guitar plays reasonably well, you might want to look into getting some decent pickups/humbuckers, like Seymour Duncans or Dimarzios.

That might mean you also need a new pickguard, if the strat has the traditional 3 single coil configuration. Or.. you could get those single-space sized humbuckers, but I recommend double sized annyhow.

Different pickups can mean the difference between a good playing but crap sounding guitar and a good playing and good sounding guitar.

It does depend on what kind of wood the guitar is made of, though.

Personally, I also much like keeping a guitar that I'm already much comfortable with rather then having to get accumstomed to a new one.

It's probbably the cheaper solution then getting a new guitar altoghether, especialy considering you usualy have to replace the stock pickups anyhow.

If you give it a good set-up treatment with new pickups, you probably be suprised how good even a cheap knockoff guitar can be.

If you have any questions about this, or this sounds like mumbo-jumbo jargon, just ask



That is good, it gives you that much more options.
However, unless by 'painting' the guitar you mean (professionally) refinishing it, I don't recommend it.
If by painting you mean getting a brush and paint and put paint on top of the old finish, that's definitely going to look ugly and feel ugly too.
Much better to get a guitar you like then getting one and fucking it up.







You might want a Ibanez RG. Those Wizard necks are very accomodating for smaller hands and lead playing, they look 'metal', and are usualy good value for the price.
I heard some (cheaper) models have very shitty Floyd Rose tremolo copies, so if possible look at one that has an original one.

Can't realy recomend any model in particular, but they're popular and have quite a following. Somebody else could easily help you with that. I'm also quite sure you can get a good 2nd hand deal for one.







Where you want to play isn't very important for your guitar. A good guitar is a good guitar.
However, it does depend for the amp.
You don't realy want or need a 150 watt fullstack for your bedroom.
A good sounding tube combo is maybe nice for home or band practice, but probably isn't going to cut it in a gig.

But, there are probably two recommendations.
1) get a (temporary) distortion pedal until you have more money or know what to get. You can for example, get a Boss metalzone (it sucks, but it's okay for bedroom practice) or one of those a bit more expensive tube distortion pedals.

2) Get a decent tube combo, 50 watts or so. Something like a Engl Screamer or Thunder. That amount is do-able for bedroom practice, and might work in a gig, but you might need to mic' it.



Beware of buying guitars online, especialy 2nd hand.
I wouldn't reccomend buying a guitar if you can't check it out, unless you can return it with a full refund.

I possible, get a friend with you that knows his stuff. By that, I mean one that has bought more then two guitars and knows how to set-up and maintain his guitars, so he'll know what to look out for.

Alternativly, you could learn it yourself.

A few of the things to look out for:

Is the neck warped? Suffering from neckbow? Look for tutorials about truss-rod adjustment to learn how to figure this out.

Is there fretbuzz or dead frets? Are the frets worn out?

Cracks in the fretboard, neck, headstock?

Do the electronics work like the should? When you switch different pickups on, can you hear a clear 'thumping' sound or hum when you tap on it with your plectrum? Do all the tone and volume pots work? No scratch or feedback when you turn them?

Buying second hand isn't that difficult for amps and effects, luckily.
Any problems are very apparant imediatly, and amps don't suffer wear and tear as much as guitars can.

Look on ebay, local 2nd hand advertisments online or on paper, check out musicians sites/forums in Austria.

Also, check out musik-produktiv.de .. It's not in Austria but Germany, but they have a lot of stuff, reasonable prices, and the shipping won't kill you.

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Wow, thanks a lot for your detailed answer. I have 3 pickups, yes, but I'm not sure, wheter changing them would actually help a lot. First, because I only get a sound if the volume control is on certain position (10 doesn't work, 9 and 8 do, 4 to 7 don't, 3 again works and so on). And I just discovered a strangeness: I tuned my guitar, so 5th fret on the 3rd string would sound the same as 1st fret on the second. However, at the same time 12th fret on the third string didn't sound like the 8th fret on the second string also it should actually... Plus my old guitar has only 22 fret (the last few beeing already very hard to play) and i have two buttons ("tone" stands on them) but nothing happens, when i turn them...

how can i see what wood the guitar is made of? the neck is rather light would with a drark fretboard (maybe i could ask the farmers in my family next time i meet them )

ah, and if i want to change the pickups - i guess i should find someone professional doing this, right?

thanks a lot also for the ibanez suggestion. i found to models, which they sell in my local store, which are made for metal (referring to the description) and which are quite cheap. Ibanez RG321MH-WK Wheatered Black and Ibanez RG370DX Black . Maybe someone can say something about them?

Thanks again for the great help so far!

Your welcome



Quality pickups are *always* better then crap cheap stock ones.
How much of an improvement in sound depends of coarse on the guitar and amp.







Sounds like the control & volume pots need to be replaced.
Also, you can do this yourself, replacing pickups too.
You could of coarse get someone else to do it, but it's expensive.. 100 euros isn't a high price for getting it done.
It will probably also take a couple of weeks before you even get it back, and I personally don't really trust anyone besides myself to touch my with my guitar.

Anyhow, soldering is quite easy to do and learn. The tools and supplies are cheap enough, and it shouldn't take you more then one or two hours to get it done.

This is also more of a personal thing, but I find that tinkering with my guitar is fun, gives me a bit of pride and satisfaction doing it myself, and knowing about the technical details of my instrument feels like..I'm appreciating it more then just playing it.

It's much like cars and motorcycles I think. There is nothing like playing a guitar that *you* put time and energy and love into.

So.. doing the electronics.. what do you need?

1) Some pot-meters, they're not overly expensive. You can buy a whole pre-wired set for a strat for 10 euros or so. Ask in your local shop of choice.

2) Some electronics wire. Look for smaller thickness, shielded wire. It's a good idea to get two or three different pieces of differently coloured wire, so you wont get confused about the wiring later on. A meter and a halve of wire is more then enough.

3) A soldering iron. Get a pen-type, not the pistol type ones.
A 20 watt iron should be adequate, but anything between 15 and 50 is good.
Should costs between 15 or 20 euros for just the iron, depending on where you buy it.
You can also get a 'set' which has some handy accessories like a solder removing pump, a clamp, but isn't necessary.

4) Some rosin flux solder. 1 or 2 euros. Make sure it's the type suitable for electronics. Ask in the shop if you don't know.

5) A good tutorial. I think this one is pretty good.

6) A wiring diagram for reference. What kind of diagram you need depends on what kind of pickups you have / are getting, the tone controls you have etc.
You can find loads of diagrams here.
Also take a good look at the wiring of your guitar before you start with anything.

7) Some common sense. Soldering is *very* safe if you use common sense.
Dont touch the tip when it's hot, dont leave it plugged in or on when you are not around. Don't put the tip of the solder iron on anything that can *burn*.
If you know how to cook or iron your clothes without burning down your house, you know how to solder safely.
Also, if you are unsure about anything, STOP and ask questions.

8) Some replacement pickups. A good *brandname* humbucker should cost between 80 and 120 euros each new. A new single coil or humbucker in a single coil is about between 60 and 100. Getting a whole set of matched pickups is a lot cheaper then getting them all separate.

It's a lot of cash, but I always found *very* good deals on pickups on the German and US Ebay sites. If you are lucky, you can get a good pickup for as few as 30 euros

Make sure you know what you want, and it's in the specs you need.

9) If you are getting differently shaped pickups then the ones that are in your strat right now, you need to replace your pickguard.
You can buy them in lot's of different colours online or in musician shops.
You can also try to cut out the one you have now.
Shouldn't cost you more then 15 bucks, tops.
If more, you are getting ripped off.



Sounds like a intonation problem. Do you know how to intonate your guitar?
Try to re-setup your guitar before you a new guitar or buy pickups or anything.
Project guitar is IMHO the best information source on the net dealing with repairing, maintaining, customizing and building guitars. They have loads of helpful tutorials, Here is a page dealing with setup.
Here is a page with maintenance and cleanup tutorials.



It's realy up to taste. Why don't you try them out in a shop, if it's possible?
Why do the setup *before* you change any of the electronics?
If your guitar has any big problems that you can't correct (cheaply), like a warped neck, fret buzz that doesn't go away, etc, you'll find these problems when you are doing the setup.



Most strat type guitars only have 21 or 22 frets.

Do you realy need 24 frets? I never got why people were so obsessed by getting two extra frets, than were both very difficult to reach annyhow, and were so bunched togheter it's difficult to use.

However, if it's a very important priority for you, you might indeed just get a different guitar. It's about your preferences, not mine



It's probably a Rosewood fretboard on a Maple neck. It's also the most common wood combination. As far as body wood goes, Alder or Maple are the most common on strats, but Basswood and Swamp Ash are common too.
Especially Basswood seems common in cheap Chinese strats these days.
Without looking at it myself, I couldn't really say for sure.

The best way to know is trying to find the website of the brand of your guitar, and look around. Most guitar manufacturers, even the cheap Chinese ones, have websites with the specs of their models on them.

Alternatively, you could make some pictures of your guitar and upload them.



They seem very alike as far as the neck concerns.
I personaly would take the Mahagony bodied (and cheaper!) one over the Basswood (linde) one, as I like the sound of Mahagony bodies more then Basswood. It doesn't have a tremolo unfortunately.



No problem
I always have been helped by people when I had questions or problems.
Knowing that there is always someone more knowledgeable or wiser then me, I wouldn't know where I'd be without all the helpful people.

So, I feel I should always help someone out with their questions when I can.

Ich wünsche du vieler Spaß und Glück mit deine Gitarre

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Wow, I didn't ready through all this and the tutorial yet, but it seems to be explained good enough for me to unterstand and do it my own - and I guess it can be lots of fun indeed
thanks a lot again, I guess I'm trying this out, once I find some free time...

Be carefull.. building/maintaining/customising guitars can be even more addictive then playing them

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