[dragon42]

SO I'm buying a my first guitar and I decided that it's going to be an electric. I'm gonna be mostly playing myself and sometimes with my friends, but not that much. I'm interested in learning rock songs mostly so I decided electric. My budget is really low, like $150 since my parents won't let me spend that much. I was orginally thinking of buying the Behringer V-Tone Electric Guitar Package from costco since it was cheap, but now I think I'm gonna buy a used one.
Any tips on buying a used one? What flaws should I look for? I will be bringing a friend along but he has only been learning for about 3 months.
Thanks for the help.

[Lcjones]

Just my thoughts on the first guitar .....

If you're buying electric, remember you're going to need a small bit of an amp. Otherwise you'll be limited to plugging in to your computer, which limits your mobility.

As for the guitar itself look for a straight neck and solid intonation. As well, there are many good guitars out there in that price range but the are just a many not so good guitars. I'd say the most depressing and discouraging problem a new less expensive electric guitar has, is it's ability to stay in tune. Nothing more exasperating than a guitar that won't stay in tune.

Just my opine here... I'd rather see a first timer pick up on a better acoustic guitar before jumping on the electric wagon. Here are a couple three reasons I say this ...

• Mobility (you can play it anywhere)
  An acoustic gives more incentive to learn multiple styles and techniques, i.e., finger picking.....
  Less expensive to maintain
  Starting on acoustic helps build your hand and finger muscles more quickly
  You can play most any rock tune on an acoustic and it still sounds good
  Cool factor .... Dylanesque, Free Wheelin' ....
  Anything you can do on an acoustic is directly transferable to an electric later on

again, that's just my opinion... and exactly how I encouraged my son who is now an accomplished electric bassist as well as guitarist .

**
Les

[dragon42]

Well, my friend has an acoustic (classical I'm assuming) that he's gonna let me play, so I'm gonna buy an electric that we both can play also. My price range is just for the guitar now, since my parents let me pay for the amp myself. I saw a Fender Squier Stratocaster on ebay for $140 new, but I'm sort of skecty if its real or now, but my friend said that it isn't too cheap to be very likely to be fake. I can't post links yet, but the guy has 6122 feedback and hes a power seller. Can someone please check it out, his sn is save5150. Thanks for the help btw.

[Stratrat]

If you have your heart set on an electric guitar, the Squier is a good buy for your budget range - but I'd recommend buying it from a guitar shop rather than from e-bay. Many people claim that the quality control on the Squier line is sometimes spotty, so you'd be much better off buying from a place where you can actually check the guitar out first to make sure it's a good one.

[allthumbs]

Go on ebay and do a search for electric guitars in your price range. This will give you an idea of prices in pawn shops. Before you buy, get back to us and we will find you some reviews and give you some opinions on your choice. There is a lot of junk in this price range, be careful.

[dragon42]

Originally Posted by allthumbs

Go on ebay and do a search for electric guitars in your price range. This will give you an idea of prices in pawn shops. Before you buy, get back to us and we will find you some reviews and give you some opinions on your choice. There is a lot of junk in this price range, be careful.

Yea, I was doing that just now, but I'm just afraid of the fake ones. I'm looking off zzounds right now and I'm looking at the Squier SE100 Electric Guitar Package. I like the Squier Affinity Tele Electric Guitar since it has white, but its sorta pushing it for $170 since it doesn't include an amp.

So my the two I'm looking at right now is either the SE100 pack or Squier Affinity Strat Electric Guitar(whats the differernce between rosewood and maple).
Thanks for helping me so far!

[dragon42]

I'm sorry for double posting, but after a little more research, I found the Ibanez GRX20. I heard that ibanez is also a good brand, does anyone have any info and comparisons between those guitars?
So,
squire se100 pack ($200)
squire affinity strat electric ($150)
Ibanzes grx20 ($150)

those aremy current choces. And and suggestions on a cheap, but good amp. I will be playing mostly rock, but soft because my parents would mind. If I wanted to play loud, I could probably borrow frmo a friend.

How come i can edit on this post but not on my prvious posts? o.O

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by dragon42

How come i can edit on this post but not on my prvious posts? o.O

There is a short time limit for editing posts before they are automatically locked.5 minutes, I think.

[allthumbs]

The common theme in reviews for the grx20 is that it sounds a great deal better with upgraded pick ups. See what you think.
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/r...nez/GRX20/10/1

[dragon42]

I like the look a lot better then the squier affinity strat, and it seems to get better reviews than the squier. I think i'm gonna go to ibanez and buy a new pickup(would the cheapest still be better?) and I also read that the bride(same for this?) was crap. Would I myself be able to change them, or would I have to have a friend/professional do it for me?
thanks for all the help so far.
I'm gonna go to a music store today to have a look around and maybe get a feel of the ibanez.

[Stratrat]

Originally Posted by dragon42

....and suggestions on a cheap, but good amp. I will be playing mostly rock, but soft because my parents would mind. If I wanted to play loud, I could probably borrow frmo a friend.

For a reasonably priced amp, take a good look at the Roland Micro Cube. You can get a lot of varied sounds out of it, it has some built-in effects for you to play with, and sounds good at low volume - you can dial in a really good distorted sound for rock at volumes that won't be heard much beyond the room you're in. On the other hand, if you twist the volume knob it will also crank up loud enough to make your parents scream at you to turn it down! It will play for around 20 hours on 6 AA batteries, which makes it really portable and convenient, and you can also plug a drum machine / CD / mp3 player into it so you can jam along with your favorite songs.

I had (actually, still have) another practice amp, but wasn't happy with the sound I was getting from it.....I spent more time turning knobs and playing with things than I did playing the guitar. I did a lot of research and bought the Micro Cube, and have been really happy with it.

[dragon42]

Originally Posted by Stratrat

For a reasonably priced amp, take a good look at the Roland Micro Cube.

Well, $125 is still sort of a lot for me. I was thinking around the $50 price range for now since I'm just starting. You think I can get a decent used one for about $50?
Also, I just came back from the music store, and they mostly only had fenders, maybe like 1 or 2 other brands, but everything was $350 above so I'm gonna have to go to another one.

[allthumbs]

I doubt you will find an amp for 50 bucks. Maybe on ebay or if your very lucky, something in a pawn shop. You could probably get a micro amp for that.
Here's one for 35 bucks.
http://www.ampuplugnplay.com/

[Stratrat]

Like allthumbs said, about the best you're going to get for around 50 bucks is a micro-amp, unless you find a deal on a used one on e-Bay or in a pawn shop or something.

Both Fender and Marshall make micro-amps that look like their larger amps - "mini-stacks", etc. I've never heard one so I don't know how they sound. A lot of them run on 9V batteries.

Other than those, there are a handful of headphone amps in that price range. I don't know how any of them sound either, but with those you'd be completely "stealth" because the sound only goes into your headphones.

if you want to get an idea of what you're looking at in that price range, go to http://www.musiciansfriend.com and click on "Amps" along the left side of the screen, then the "Mini-Headphone" sub-category. They show a pretty large selection there.

[dragon42]

I actually wouldn't mind using something like the plug-in one for now. I also have a sterosystem at home that I can probably hook it up to(read that it a book) so if I wanted loud, I could use that. Is there a cable to hook it up through usb to my computer though? I want to try that.
But theres also a crate xt15r(discontinued) on ebay for less then $50 right now.
So, I think I decided on the ibanez, now I just have to go find it in a store to get the feel of it and choose a color.