A simple question

[bonethug]

It's been over a year since I bought my last guitar and I'm dying for a 7. Whenever I go to guitar center, all i see is mass produced overpriced guitars. They're never set up properly, they all have basic low end quality parts and in my opinion they get way too much business. On the other spectrum there are customs which a poor boy like myself will never afford. I go to bed thinking of the day I might own something made exactly to my specs. A guitar so perfect that I will never buy another. The thought of building my own comes in to mind. Giving birth to a monstrous seven. Where do I start?



Post script. Does anyone actually buy signature guitars? I can understand if the guy is your hero and you want a remake of his or her guitar. I just think that guitar companies have way too much invested in signatures. I can't bring myself to play something with someone else's name... thats coming from someone who ghosts the brand name off....

 

[Jason_Clement]

It's been over a year since I bought my last guitar and I'm dying for a 7. Whenever I go to guitar center, all i see is mass produced overpriced guitars. They're never set up properly, they all have basic low end quality parts and in my opinion they get way too much business. On the other spectrum there are customs which a poor boy like myself will never afford. I go to bed thinking of the day I might own something made exactly to my specs. A guitar so perfect that I will never buy another. The thought of building my own comes in to mind. Giving birth to a monstrous seven. Where do I start?



Post script. Does anyone actually buy signature guitars? I can understand if the guy is your hero and you want a remake of his or her guitar. I just think that guitar companies have way too much invested in signatures. I can't bring myself to play something with someone else's name... thats coming from someone who ghosts the brand name off....

Hm, what low end parts are you referring of? What kind of pick ups are you looking for? Etc

Depending on what you're looking for a custom might be your only option?

 

[niffnoff]

Hey man, if your store is killing your wallet, try looking online, Agile guitars, or Schecs and Ibanez's aren't over kill man. I mean I got my first 7 2 years ago.

Schecter Demon 7FR (practically a cheap c-7) = £250 / $395.77

Added some EMG707's = £80 ea / $126.64 ea (a year later for both)

I mean realistically it looks expensive in the USD convertion, but it's actually still pretty cheap. Plus I've never had a problem with my Schec (though the necks are thick) I'd still go to Schec or Agile personally. But I know people love dem ibanez.

 

[niffnoff]

Oh and on Sig guitars...Long story short, guitars are guitars. If it's a sig it's probably gonna be a remake of another model. I believe the Synyster Gates Custom is pretty much a Hellraiser in a fancy color. So, to be honest it just shows which guitarist you like with some specs they use, but to get their sound then you have spend a lifetime buying their exact gear and then spending another lifetime trying to be as good as them,

 

[bonethug]

When I think of low end its like a comparison of grover tuners to LSR's
To a FR special- to a schaller FR
nasty electronics with "stock" pickups compared to bkp's

You get the picture. These products are very useful when it comes down to cutting price for manufacturers. Then we the consumer are still paying over 500 just for something that can be considered playable but is essentially just a carved piece of wood with some magnets and strings.

 

[Jason_Clement]

When I think of low end its like a comparison of grover tuners to LSR's
To a FR special- to a schaller FR
nasty electronics with "stock" pickups compared to bkp's

You get the picture. These products are very useful when it comes down to cutting price for manufacturers. Then we the consumer are still paying over 500 just for something that can be considered playable but is essentially just a carved piece of wood with some magnets and strings.

Ah. Well try higher end LTD and Schecter models, as well as Ibanez you can get some good guitars for about $1,000 and they'll come with Schaller/Grover tuners, Seymour Duncan/EMG pick ups, etc

*note: some Ibanez still come with shitty stock pick ups regardless.

 

[Jason_Clement]

Also, are you looking for a 7 string guitar with or without a Floyd Rose?

 

[bonethug]

Well I own an agile and I loathe it to the core. It's neck heavy fretwork is horrible, I can complain about it for days, seems like other people had better luck but I really don't want to go down that dark path again. I had looked into the demon but I had set my eyes on the ltd MH-417, it really has all I need for the time being and many mods would come later but 700 is a lot to drop on something mass produced. Maybe I'm just a cheap bastard

 

[Jason_Clement]

Well I own an agile and I loathe it to the core. It's neck heavy fretwork is horrible, I can complain about it for days, seems like other people had better luck but I really don't want to go down that dark path again. I had looked into the demon but I had set my eyes on the ltd MH-417, it really has all I need for the time being and many mods would come later but 700 is a lot to drop on something mass produced. Maybe I'm just a cheap bastard

I have played the MH-417s before, and they're absolutely amazing for the price. I would totally recommend it. LTD is great. Schecter's, too, but if you don't like the necks they're not gunna get any thinner (except their SLS "slim line" series, but most people don't like the fret art). LTD make great guitars and if you like the MH-417 I would totally recommend it until you can afford a custom.

Apparently Agile is very hit and miss, unfortunately.

 

[bonethug]

A FR would be nice, but I had a FR special on my work horse and it broke. Usually when I see a guitar with a FR I say to myself "never again" but if I knew it was one made by schaller or gotoh then ya I'd go for it. Another bad thing about getting a tremelo system with your guitar is that it shoots the price up a bit, so I dont mind sticking with tunomatics and hipshots.

 

[Jason_Clement]

A FR would be nice, but I had a FR special on my work horse and it broke. Usually when I see a guitar with a FR I say to myself "never again" but if I knew it was one made by schaller or gotoh then ya I'd go for it. Another bad thing about getting a tremelo system with your guitar is that it shoots the price up a bit, so I dont mind sticking with tunomatics and hipshots.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of F.R.'s myself. Expensive, lots of work and they fall apart easy. I'll just stick to my T.O.M's

 

[bonethug]

If I bought a 417 it would just be a matter of time before I sanded the paint and thinned the neck myself so its not a big deal, but in that lays the problem. I believe if we spend somewhere of 700-1000 dollars we should be able to get exactly what we want. Not necessarily a custom hand built guitar but one we can be happy with. If guitar companies spent less time trying to promote sigs and tried to appeal to our needs I wouldn't be having such a hard time buying a guitar.

 

[Jason_Clement]

If I bought a 417 it would just be a matter of time before I sanded the paint and thinned the neck myself so its not a big deal, but in that lays the problem. I believe if we spend somewhere of 700-1000 dollars we should be able to get exactly what we want. Not necessarily a custom hand built guitar but one we can be happy with. If guitar companies spent less time trying to promote sigs and tried to appeal to our needs I wouldn't be having such a hard time buying a guitar.

Haha, word. It is hard. I was surprised that I had such a hard time finding "the" guitar for me in mass produced guitars. Almost custom ordered, but then I found Schecter's new SLS series. I just ordered a Schecter SLS C-7 cuz it had everything spec-wise I was looking for in a guitar. Super excited to receive it and plaaay.

Right now I'm using a trem-blocked Ibanez RG7.

Speaking of which, have you tried the used market?

 

[bonethug]

I check out ebay and craigslist daily to see what they have but I have a hard time bringing myself to buy something over the internet. Usually it's because they're asking too much for a banged up guitar and why are they trying to sell it in the first place (something must be wrong with it). Guitar center and other shops usually swindle the guys who sold their stuff and I just won't buy completely out of principle.

 

[Jason_Clement]

And have you looked into Carvin? A lot of people on this site love them. Apparently they're pretty reasonably priced custom guitars? Worth scoping them out

 

[JStraitiff]

Schecters are the way to go. High quality parts and personally i love them. I always recommend the damien elite series because they are like the entry level with good pickups and nice tops. Anything below that will be "designed" pickups and satin finishes lol.

I have been considering agiles personally. I think my next guitar will probably be an agile unless schecter comes out with something really sick that i like.

On the signature guitars.. You apparently havent been hanging around here very much because every other thread is about a John Petrucci signature guitar. I have always wanted to buy a synyster gates signature because he is a really big influence on me. But i dont think ill be doing that until i get to a point where i have comfortably paved my own image. There is definitely a stigma that follows that guitar and avenged sevenfold fans. i would buy a signature guitar if it had the specs i wanted though.

 

[bonethug]

Dude I've been so close to buying a Carvin but my cheap bastardry keeps telling my to make my own or hold out till jackson makes an slsmg seven.

 

[Jason_Clement]

Dude I've been so close to buying a Carvin but my cheap bastardry keeps telling my to make my own or hold out till jackson makes an slsmg seven.

Haha, I'd buy a Carvin just 'cause I wouldn't trust myself enough to make a custom guitar xD I would totally fuck it up.

 

[bonethug]

Well some sigs kind of become a norm like the jp. Take the les paul for example. When I think of a sig its a regular guitar with some gimmicks like a new paint job and inlay. like kirk hammett's sigs.

 

[bonethug]

haha I would too, thats why I keep shopping around.