I'm looking for a new guitar.
I'm a teacher and I want to be able to teach with the guitar, to either acoustic students or electric. The Suhr Modern Satin is pretty much bang-on as far as specs. But it's going to be hard to find one second-hand at the price I want to
spend (£1200-1500). The Vigier Excalibur also has very similar specs and
there are two I'm interested in, one in the Classifieds section—an
Ultra Blues—and one on eBay that recently didn't sell. I'd say he'd take £1000, but I'd have to fly over from Ireland and pick it up myself.
Essential features:
-25" or longer scale
-Fast neck
-Single coils & humbuckers
-Comfortable while seated
-Loud acoustically
-Versatile
-Lightweight
Favoured specs:
-24 frets (but MIGHT settle for 22)
-10-14" compound radius (or anything between 10" and 16")
-locking floating bridge (but would consider a hard tail)
-Stainless Steel frets (but may accept standard Nickel Silver)
-Fretboard markers (not absolutely essential)
-Locking tuners (same as above)
The Custom 24 is also one I've always been keen on, but even second-hand it's still out of my budget. The S2 Custom 24 doesn't interest me aesthetically, but I'd give one a chance if I were able to try it out beforehand. A Tom Anderson would be fantastic, but the Angel is the only model they offer with 24 frets and it's way out of my budget. A Mayones Setius GTM-6 would be cool as well, but it doesn't have fret markers or SS frets. There is also a Jaden Rose Tachyon 6 in the Classifieds for £900. No tremolo, but I could live without that. And there is a Suhr Pro Series 3 for £1250. Gorgeous finish on that one, but only 22 frets.
Any thoughts or recommendations?
Comments
In all seriousness, I can't play them all. It would cost me a fortune to fly over to England and travel around the country trying out different guitars. I'm sure I'd find one I love that's within my budget, probably something that doesn't posses any of the features I've listed, but I can't do that. That's why I'm trying to decide now and ship it over—and then hope for the best.
And although I do agree with you—specs on an expensive guitar don't always matter—that is in itself a problem. It's like all these awesome guitars are tempting me, but I know it's a compromise. There are thousands of amazing instruments out there, all of them worth owning, but when I can only afford one serious guitar, I hope to make sure it is everything I need it to be. That said, I would be happy to forgo certain features if everything else was right. Finding that 'right one' is the hard part.
I did play a Vigier at World Guitars a couple of years ago, I think it was an Excalibur. The neck on it was just incredible, effortless to play.
My music:- https://soundcloud.com/hubobulous
As a side note, that's something I really don't understand. Why not offer shipping to Northern Ireland and I could drive up to collect it at a friend's place in the North, or I could send it to one of those courier companies that holds your item and then sends it to a designated address that you collect from? I don't understand it. So many great deals I've missed out on.
GuitarGuitar and World Guitars offer what I'm looking for, but there is no guarantee that the Birmingham one (the most local to where I grew up and where my family lives) will even have what I'm looking for. I might still have to travel to find the right one.
I've travelled to try out gear before. I bought my Fryette Memphis from Rich at Stormshadow while I was visiting friends in Yorkshire, and I visited the Matamp factory while I was up there. I've also travelled down South to Manson's in Exeter and World Guitars. And I've been to Birmingham a bunch of times to a couple of guitar shops, maybe one of which was GuitarGuitar. My next trip was either going to be to Coda-Music, Andertons and Vintage and Modern Guitars (all around Luton) or GuitarGuitar again.
This one looks pretty good. Not a fan of the fret markers, but it looks good value considering its US-made.
http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/electric_guitars_detail.asp?stock=12030712285649
My music:- https://soundcloud.com/hubobulous
edit:
I'm not normally a fan of Super Strat style guitars, but this looks really cool:
It's an expensive trip in the end. It can cost £300 and beyond when you're travelling using public transport. It's so easy for your budget for your new guitar to be miniaturized because you went over to try the fuckers out. ) When I could afford a Suhr before, now I can only afford a Schecter.
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i know the edinburgh guitar guitar is on the same road the airport's on, though (corstorphine road IIRC, one of the main roads into central edinburgh... assuming it hasn't moved since I haven't been for several years). I can't remember for sure but I'm guessing it's only a few miles away. And I think it's on a main bus route.
But yeah I mean as I said, it's not like I've ever done this either (as a one errand thing), I always figured it probably wasn't worth it and was a bit of a faff too. And as you rightly said, there's not much point in trying everything you can if that means you then can't afford the guitar in the end!