No I think,Sweetwater is not part of them. I think musicians friend runs either guitar centers or sam ash's online store. Sweetwater is impressive from being assigned a personal rep to sending candy with your order.

A GFY type guitar forum could do very well. I read most of the music forums and participate in a few, and they are (too)HEAVILY moderated. NO POLITICS, NO RELIGEON...And the mods are way to quick on the ban hammer.

A few of guitar forums are huge. A few of them have thousands of people browsing them all the time.

AdenDreams, you are a $9 an hour programmer from India? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Check this thread: https://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=938776

Love it.

a lot of folks think at leat zzounds and sweetwater are the same outfit.

and i did not get any candy with my sweetwater purchased guitar! i did however get the 2nd best set-up guitar i've ever purchased. and a lot of parts at 10% off, going through my sales *engineer*. oh, and a follow-up phone call to make sure i was happy with my purchase.

:)

hey, you strat guys, as mentioned, i just got that traditional mia strat, 3 single coils, but there's a prob-

the dang middle pup gets in the way of my picking and strumming, i found myself adjusting to play in front of or behind it. so i lowered it all the way so it's flush with the pickguard...thoughts?

also, the dang volume knob is right fucking there. i'm always brushing up against it, changing the volume! argh.

do you strat players deal with this?

I thought that zzounds is owned by guitarcenter. Another big online store that I have purchased from is samash.com

i could very well be mixing up sweetwater and one of the other big ones. i can't recall where i came across that, but i was lookign into sw prior to buying from them. they are the only big online center i've purchased from.

i've got an epi black cherry flamed lp on order for them for xmas. carved maple top + '57 gibson humbuckers!

http://www.factorydefect.net/CFM/eptp-7.jpg

Very nice! If it plays and sounds as nice as it looks it's a keeper. :thumbsup And I bet that it will. As much as I like Gibson & Fender I know that they have done a great *marketing* job on us over the years.

it's getting crazy good reviews, looking forward to giving it a good whirl.

maybe one day a gibbie, almost pulled the trigger on a midtown, a tres cool new creation, a flat-top semihollow, it's a 1peice sides and back with single top. you've prolly come across it, good looking guitar and reasonalbly priced for gibson.

So, how many are you up to now? I got one of these last week from Amazon Quik-loc GS-471
It's great! It works on any size guitar and takes less space that 4 did on single stands.

currently at 3. the 2002 mia strat, the 2001 epi mik casino and the epi es-355 project guitar.

i like that stand. been wondering about some interesting ways to store things, that might be the way to go.

what are you playing most these days, the signed lp with the '57s?

they have it in a 5 guitar size too, i like, hmmm, i wonder if i can mount that to the wall........might look kinda cool. take the casters off......................

i like it!

No favorite. Everynight when I practice I play a different one. When I add something new I will play it a couple times before getting it into the rotation. Doing that just works for me.
Keeps it fresh. I am at my worst when I get to comfortable with something.

right on, although keeping track of which guitar got fresh strings when has to be a nightmare! :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

i hear ya about being comfortable, i usually feel the same but since i'm so fresh to learning how to play, i felt like i was learning a new guitar more than learning guitar, so i decided to cull the herd... and after this strat(which plays just amazingly well!), i figured i'd keep just it and sell the ps 72 and tc-90, i never hooked up with the tc-90 anyhoo but the '72 was hard to let go of!! dang.

but not having a lot of choices on which to learn on has me back focused more on learning, not sure if that makes sense.....

It makes perfectly good sense. And most guitar teachers would recommend that. Be able to play every note with the lights off.
I use a real thick pick and keep the strings lubed and do a good cleaning after I finish practicing. It helps with keeping the strings decent. But I can change them with the lights off..:winkwink:

I had to come home and pick up a strat before taking on this question. I suspect you are strumming with your elbow. Guitar is like golf. There are some standard positions that yield the best results for the greatest number of people. But most of the guys on the protour ignore those and just do what works.

Elbow strumming is on my don't list. You don't want to lock the elbow but plant your pinky close the the neck pup. And then use your wrist. If you are just strumming it will giving more tone if you play close to the neck. And if you are combining rhythm and some runs, keeping the pinky planted is the best way to develop and maintain accuracy.

I briefly considered the LPJ, glad I moved on to something better, a PRS SE Bernie Marsden. That non-standard electronics setup would have pissed me off to no end.

hah, when i play my elbow does not budge or move. i was kinda wondering about that because i watched some srv youtubes to see where he picks, and he plays in front of the middle pup. but more importantly, i noticed his elbow was off the guitar entirely.

i think i kinda mumbled "oh shit" to myself when i noticed that. since then i have been trying to anchor to a pup but even so, i've kept my elbow locked on 1 spot.

thanks for checking that out, i think i can correct this easy enough. i play a lot sitting down also, prolly be good to do more learning/practicing standing up.

:thumbsup

What model is this? Plus-top pro?

it's the tribute plus

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ENTPBCNH

Ah ok, that was my next guess, that was one of my options as well. Nice guitar.

This one supposedly kills it, though.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SEBM

With burstbuckers installed, it's even considered a Gibson studio killer, just too bad it looks boring haha. I like the finish and color on yours better.

i don't have any experience with them, but from what i've gathered those prs guitars are real nice. does it come with burstbuckers or you'd have to switch? i like those bb's a lot but if you have to swap, you are coming within a couple hundresd to a used lp studio price right? but if the prs is better, then. and a studio won't have that nice paint scheme.

the top on the black cherry epi is aaa maple, that's pretty impressive for a $525 guitar out the door. the = gibson would be aaaa maple but also the cheapest flamed aaaa maple figure-top gibson lp is, what, $2500, minimum? and i don't think you'll get one at that price with the '57 gibson usa humbuckers, which i am super looking forward to playing and hearing for myself what all the raves are about them.

i'm glad that dude bumped this thread, i can yap guitars!

I would pick any of them, all r good:)

I hate to say this outloud, but earlier this summer I played some PRS & PRS SE's at the local guitar center. The PRS's weren't the very top of the line, but they were still about 4x times the cost of the SE.. I left with a Santana SE.. Amazing quality on such a reasonably priced instrument. And it sounds and plays as good as it looks.

The quality of the PRS SE is much better than on my LP Studio. Not even in the same league.

http://mintesfiles.com/gfy/prs_se.jpg

mik!!!!!!!!!! i'm a big fan......................i think they like guitars in korea as much as we do, this 2001 mik casino fit&finish rival the mia and mij fenders i have and had.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

This last picture settles it. I am going to stop taking pictures of guitars with my cell. The top on the PRS is gorgeous and it looks like crap in this pic. As it's a long weekend I think I am going to add take some pictures with my good camera of the guitars.

Minte, can you get ahold of me on skype.. I want to talk to you something business related..

skype: media311

thanks much!

is the top painted to look flamed or is that flamed maple?

I don't have skype.. mint at jefnet.com

Going to a meeting at 1 but I will check emails this evening.

It looks to good to not be flamed. However, I am not certain 100%,, I just got my good camera out and am taking it home for the weekend. SO i'll post a better shot of this guitar soon.

I just got back from Long n Mcquade checking out some guitars and as much as I hate to say it, the quality on the SE is just as good if not better than gibson (comparable up tot he $2500 range). It was hard to get sales staff to be honest about PRS. They seem to try and make gibson (like the LPJ) seem better than PRS.

I noodled around with the Se Tremonti custom, I really really like it. Fast neck without being Ibanez thin. The thing is heavy as fuck and resonates a long ass time. The tremelo sucks, tuned it 4 times before realizing its useless due to that. Sales guy kept saying it's cause it's not tuned standard.. to me, it shouldn't matter, lightly wobbling tremelo bar should not take it out of tune. So add $300 for a good bridge that the Tremonti is killer.

I'm pretty much stuck in my mind on getting the PRS Se Bernie Marsden but after picking up the Gibson it was based off of, the neck is one huge mutherfucking chunk of wood. Unfortunately, they don't actually have the marsden in stock for me to try and the way dude was talking, its not something they plan to bring in. Decisions decisions....

Feel wise, I totally dig the LPJ, it's fantastic and just the right neck thickness and body thickness for me.. that satin finish just turns me off and the low quality electronics turn me off.

The PRS comes with SE 245 pickups.. kiind of like their version of a 57-59 set. Bit more treble on the bridge position than most would like, though. I'd end up replacing that one.. they are kinda too "new sounding".

It's "real-ish" flamed maple. it has a mohagony body slab with a 1/4 inch maple cap that has maple flame veneer on it, stained, burst and sealed as any normal maple cap would be.

Check this one out:


At local shop for 999... damb... I would even get to pick one that had good craftmanship (since sub $2500 gibsons are hit and miss)

i was interested in the specs on those pickups, it was interesting to read that prs manufactures all of their parts.

this new tribute series caught my eye too, the 60s model is the one i like as well, and the future model, (funny gibson has a "tribute future" guitar) that etuner is super cool and i think that's a fantastic price from all the pricing i've done on it. the tribute also does not have any binding which is a + for some peeps. and that luster finish is tres cool imo, although i do like the binding on a lp.

i would be super very totally tempted if they put the '57s in it, as cool as the bbs are.

In all honesty, Gibson pickups are not all that expensive. $130 or so per pickup.

I think I like the burst for neck position as it keeps it hot enough still to cut through the mix. bridge position.. it's a bit bright IMO unless having only a sold mahogany body (no maple cap) so maybe it'd be worth to throw a 57 in bridge position.

man, i think $130 is crazy expensive for mass-produced pickups!! heck i just bought sd antiquities p-90s for $90, hand scatter wound! i know the boutique ones can get super expensive, $300+, but even those are over-priced imo, and as best i can tell, when it comes to paf, if it's not gibson usa, it's an interpretation of the paf sound, it may be a better interpretation to someone's ears, but nevertheless.

now maybe active pickups like those emg,a $300 price tag makes sense, but i'm not up on that segment of the market, it seems that sort of pickup isn't suited for blues/texas rock type tones which is what i'm heavy into.

speaking of bright, this strat i'm currently playing is maple + maple fingerboard.

holy crap it's bright! it's perfect when needed (dire straits, srv)and the good news is i can simply adjust the tone control on this rig and really hear the difference to bring it around to play tones at the other end of the spectrum, credence clearwater type tones.