How to pick a well-built electric guitar

theSquid

I'm interested in purchasing a new electric guitar, and since my non-acoustic guitar playing is mostly metal I trend towards guitars with such a look - right now for instance I am eyeing the B.C. Rich guitars. I would like to know however, what specifications indicate a well built electric guitar - obviously the shape doesn't matter too much considering its designed to hang from a strap and isn't acoustic - but I'm unfamiliar with what might be a guitar with a poorly designed neck, for instance, or shoddy pickups. Can anyone share their knowledge on this?

romanqwerty

Best advice would be to bring an experienced guitarist, or as close as you can get. It is a very big advantage.

Some simple things off the top of my head.

Obviously there are blatant things like fret buzz and high action.

Check for dead frets by playing each fret on each string naturally. Remember to do this, tuned up properly and with the string gauge you choose. On cheap guitars high frets have more of a tendency to be dead.

Check neck bend. Push down on the first and last fret strongly and observe how high the string is above frets. Different necks are designed for different amounts of bow (bend) but a general rule is about the width of a quarter at the highest point.

Check that the electronics aren't scratchy at all. Turn knobs and switches all the way at volume.

If the guitar has multiple pickups check that they are all the same volume on both clean and dirty channels.

Test the sound of the pickups with the same or similar amp to what you have at home.

Avoid a tremolo if your aren't buying a high end guitar. They are generally very poor on cheap guitars. If you must get one, try it out for 10 mins or so and check to see if it keeps tune. Use an electronic tuner if you dont have a brilliant ear.

Also if the guitar is anything less than stunning, they to get them to throw in a proper set up. A professional set up (fret dressing etc) can often make a cheap guitar 10x more playable.

Quirk

if you find a guitar you like, and it stands up to scrutiny and whatnot, make sure that that's the one you take home. Don't take one from out the back or whatever

Sir Carcass

Be careful with BC Rich. I've heard the lower end guitars can be questionable.

Jackson used to be my go to guitar for metal, but I've heard their quality has slipped. Not sure if it's true or not.

ESP and Schecter make good guitars. You also might want to check out PRS. The higher end Ibanez's are good, too. There's also always the old standby's like the Gibson Explorer, Flying V, or SG. A lot of people might recommend the various Fenders, but for metal, my personal opinion is :v: .

Really, with any guitar, you tend to get what you pay for, and putting a good bit of money into a guitar will make a big difference on how it plays.

Pheezer

Depends which fender and what kind of tone you want. Mostly they're too bright sounding though.

B.C. Rich does indeed make guitars of frequently very iffy quality and I cannot imagine that you'll still be convinced that it looks awesome after six months. They're gimmicky and they don't really even try to cater to the discerning player.

Peavey also makes awesome guitars, though. I know they're not very fashionable as of late but the fact that they don't have a lot of guys doing endorsements for them and that their brand is less prominent these days will only reduce the degree to which you'll be paying for the brand. The HP Signature line is very, very playable and sounds awesome.

Make sure you play every guitar you can find that falls within your price range before making a purchase though.

Sir Carcass

Pheezer wrote: »

Depends which fender and what kind of tone you want. Mostly they're too bright sounding though.

Yeah, that's my main problem with them. They're okay for shredding a la Yngwie, or leads in general I guess, but I don't like them for much else. Personal preference, though.

I forgot to mention Peavey. They're criminally underrated, guitars and amps, so I'll second them.

flatlinegraphics

go to a store, play everything they have. even if you can't play, pick it up, run your hand up and down the neck, se if there are any snags or sharp frets. wiggle the controls, see if they feel cheap or shitty. plug in, and see if there is any hum, twist the knob and see if there are any crackles or dead spots.

as for bc rich, most of the low end stuff is reaaaaaaaaaaally low end. and a lot of it is gimmicky crap marketed to 14 year old shredder wanna bes. the mockingbirds, eagles, a couple of the more conservatively shaped ones are a lot better, and once you get out of the bronze series or whatever, they are decent to good guitars. i wouldn't expect to be playing twee pop on one, but rock or metal, go for it.

that said, try out everything else too, and bring home the one you like best. your first guitar is not necessarily your last (or only) one.

Quirk

Pheezer wrote: »

Depends which fender and what kind of tone you want. Mostly they're too bright sounding though.

B.C. Rich does indeed make guitars of frequently very iffy quality and I cannot imagine that you'll still be convinced that it looks awesome after six months. They're gimmicky and they don't really even try to cater to the discerning player.

Peavey also makes awesome guitars, though. I know they're not very fashionable as of late but the fact that they don't have a lot of guys doing endorsements for them and that their brand is less prominent these days will only reduce the degree to which you'll be paying for the brand. The HP Signature line is very, very playable and sounds awesome.

Make sure you play every guitar you can find that falls within your price range before making a purchase though.

I'd second peavey. They've never let me down, anyway. Also, second hand can save you a bunch of cash and net you a better guitar, especially if it's been looked after by someone who isn't a fool

Pheezer

The only trick with second hand is that you wanna buy from a music store or a pawnshop with a good returns policy and if you can't actually play, bring someone who does and get them to spend a couple minutes playing with different pickup/tone settings to make sure it's solid. And get em to check for unnatural bowing or what have you too.

Also sort of tangential, peavey makes great guitars but their big amps are even better. If you want a really loud amp, you really want to check out their stuff. Just something to think of for down the road if you need stage gear or whatever.

theSquid

Thanks for the replies people. When I get the next opportunity I'll be heading for the big music shop in the city (Allan's) to try out some guitars. I was mostly looking at B C Rich for the same reason I'm into metal in the first place - I have a sense of humour about myself - but I'm actually a pretty good classical guitarist, so I'm not completely new to guitars, mostly to the electric guitar side of things.

A few other Q's:
- Does the wood/other materials its built from make a difference?
- What's the general price I'd be looking at for a quality guitar?

flatlinegraphics

Pheezer wrote: »

Also sort of tangential, peavey makes great guitars but their big amps are even better. If you want a really loud amp, you really want to check out their stuff.

damn straight. until i can afford a SLO, the 5150 is my amp of choice.

theSquid wrote:

A few other Q's:
- Does the wood/other materials its built from make a difference?
- What's the general price I'd be looking at for a quality guitar?

- everything makes a difference, both in sound and price. what is better/worse is up to you.
- that is a very hard question. my $150 1974 univox LP copy sounds and feels better than a lot of new $500 guitars. budget wise, for a good bcrich (if you are fairly dead set on them), i'd look in the $500 range at the top end. used, the funny shaped ones are going to be a lot less, as they are harder to sell. i was seriously looking at a nj classic mockingbird that was about $400, but other things got in the way.

romanqwerty

theSquid wrote: »

- Does the wood/other materials its built from make a difference?

The type of wood has a large impact on the sound of the guitar. If you're aiming for a particular sound, research what type of wood makes it and aim for that.

Pheezer

The type of wood will impact tone but to a lesser degree than it will affect sustain. Harder woods will allow strings to ring longer. Pickup selection will affect tone to a far greater degree than wood, provided that you're not comparing balsa wood to ebony.

Don't buy something you can't hear, basically. If after playing for a while you hear that one guitar sounds a good deal better than another, buy that one. If you don't hear the difference or you don't prefer the sound of rosewood versus pine, don't buy the one with "better" wood just because you're told it's better. Get the one that sounds right.


Also re the fender discussion up above, the jazzmaster and jaguar are both really cool sounding through a high gain amp. Great metal guitars, but they're way expensive to really recommend solely for that when you can get a similar sound for less, and it won't really matter that unlike those guitars, they won't really do much else.

Space Pickle

The main things that affect tone are your fingers, your amp and your pickups. The important thing to remember is that the guitar doesn't sound good unless you can make it sound good. You're not trying to buy the perfect guitar, you're just trying to buy a decent instrument that can be made to sound good. Since you already know how to play, just try out a bunch until you find one you like. It can always be upgraded later.

theSquid

flatlinegraphics wrote: »

Pheezer wrote: »

Also sort of tangential, peavey makes great guitars but their big amps are even better. If you want a really loud amp, you really want to check out their stuff.

damn straight. until i can afford a SLO, the 5150 is my amp of choice.

theSquid wrote:

A few other Q's:
- Does the wood/other materials its built from make a difference?
- What's the general price I'd be looking at for a quality guitar?

- everything makes a difference, both in sound and price. what is better/worse is up to you.
- that is a very hard question. my $150 1974 univox LP copy sounds and feels better than a lot of new $500 guitars. budget wise, for a good bcrich (if you are fairly dead set on them), i'd look in the $500 range at the top end. used, the funny shaped ones are going to be a lot less, as they are harder to sell. i was seriously looking at a nj classic mockingbird that was about $400, but other things got in the way.

I'm not, I've been looking into all the other brands mentioned here. I like the look of the Schecter guitars, but everything might change once I get an opportunity to actually play some guitars. All the recommendations are very helpful!