"Downgrading" Guitar!

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htengz

New member
:eek:
I'm using an epiphone sheraton 2 for almost 6 months now.. While i was really captivated by its clean - low gain overdrive tone, i really wanna play something harder. This guitar is wonderful but it makes a distortion/high gain overdrive sound too hollow.

Combining the above reason with my tight budget, its time for a downgrade.

What are some of the best budget line guitar brands/models you guys can think of? Share it with meh! :p
 
You can try "Swing" Guitars at SV Guitar and the "Bacchus"es at TYMC. Personally prefer the Bacchus but it is best that you go down to try them out! Happy guitar shopping!
 
With regards to charvel, i would only recommend you the mij pro mods they are really value for money compared to their american counterparts but the only downside is that they are discountinued, gotta look around the second hand markets
 
Hey try changing the pickups, that's the most significant upgrade you can do to a guitar. Can go with sometime that never fails like the Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz or JB/59 comb. Or if you have more cash, get a set of Lollar Imperials!
 
its great to see response :D

@ryes i've been wanted to get my hands on swing standard plus before i got my epiphone sheraton 2. SVguitars didnt have the colour i want :( i will try bacchus!

@j.custom i do agree with you. And honestly i'm quite tempted to because by letting it go at 450 ish i will lose about 300 bucks :( couldn't find a seller. But the problem with the sound lies with sheraton being a hollow body. I would put some seymour duncan pups in there if i could!

EDIT: english
 
Hollowbodies will sound like hollowbodies no matter what pickups you throw in them.

The wood ain't neutral enough like basswood bodies in Ibanez / (insert other brand) guitars.
I mean, it's made to play the thick clean and mildly driven stuff.

Suspect you might still end up selling eventually after upgrading to your preferred pickups.

Buy new guitar!
 
zesn said:
Hollowbodies will sound like hollowbodies no matter what pickups you throw in them.

The wood ain't neutral enough like basswood bodies in Ibanez / (insert other brand) guitars.
I mean, it's made to play the thick clean and mildly driven stuff.

Suspect you might still end up selling eventually after upgrading to your preferred pickups.

Buy new guitar!
Click to expand...

yeah thats what i thought! hence i am selling. interested can go buy/sell see :)
 
aria+xl+full+pic.JPG

one of the most worthy budget guitars that i've owned was Aria's XL Standard- for less than $200... :-)
 
zesn said:
I mean, it's made to play the thick clean and mildly driven stuff.
Click to expand...

This I have to disagree with. Check out Paul Gilbert in the early 2000s, he was using an Ibanez Artist series guitar which is a semi hollow. And knowing PG, he uses quite a fair bit of gain to rock out.

Another example I can think of is Neal Schon from Journey. He recently jumped over to PRS and his signature model is a semi hollow PRS with a floyd. (Purists must be thinking: who the hell puts a floyd in a semi hollow?!)

Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters also uses a semi hollow for rock.

The guitarist from Breaking Benjamin also uses a semi hollow PRS with BARITONE tuning. If I'm not wrong that's the last 6 strings of a 7 string guitar.

Anyway, be yourself. Don't always have to follow the stereotypes or preconceived ideas meant for certain guitars eg. semi hollows are meant to play jazz and blues or super strats are only meant for metal and shredding. These may not always been true. Sometimes you don't have to follow what the everyone else is doing. Don't be afraid to experiment with new ideas. It's through these experiments that you learn and grow. Make the guitar work for you, don't work for the guitar
 
well i actually think that semi-hollow guitar can go good with gain too.
a lot of guitarist are doing them as well.
It all depends whether you like it or not. and maybe the pick up used ?
Just like what j.custom mentioned , "Make the guitar work for you, don't work for the guitar".
An awesome quote i think.

Anyway , why not trade your guitar instead of buying a new one ? Save a lot of troubles and the trade value is usually higher then the re-sales value i think.
 
The Sheraton is a different beast from the guitars you've mentioned.

That being said, I have gotten desirable results with high gain applications using a semi-hollow.
 
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Re: "Downgrading" Guitar!

Build wise it's rather similar to PG's ibanez artist and Dave grohl's es335 with the firebird headstock. Sorry bro don't see much of a diff less the obvious: pickups, quality of hardware and of course build quality.

The only downside of using higher gain with semi hollows is that at higher volumes they tend to feedback more

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Build wise it's rather similar to PG's ibanez artist and Dave grohl's es335 with the firebird headstock. Sorry bro don't see much of a diff less the obvious: pickups, quality of hardware and of course build quality.

The only downside of using higher gain with semi hollows is that at higher volumes they tend to feedback more
 
Re: "Downgrading" Guitar!

@subversion not only that, it looks great too! is that your main axe? are you still using it actively? and finally, whats your review of aria?

@j.custom thats true. but atleast for this guitar, i dont feel that it can give me the tone that i want. It's a great guitar that i bought on an impulse. I guess i wasnt thinking it through at that time. after handling 2 different guitars, i guess the next would be my last! atleast, i wanna stay true to one. I will take a long long time to seek the right one haha.

@zesn you're still pretty much spot on about what im going through though haha. i guess i dont really fancy the hollow chunkiness.

have anyone had their hands on a Craftsman before? i heard it is a local brand.
 
Re: "Downgrading" Guitar!

Craftsman is a City Music brand. Their guitars are great for people just starting out or who want to experiment. Check out swing guitars and LTD as well, great value for the price you pay. What's your budget for a new guitar?

- - - Updated - - -

Craftsman is a City Music brand. Their guitars are great for people just starting out or who want to experiment. Check out swing guitars and LTD as well, great value for the price you pay. What's your budget for a new guitar?
 
Re: "Downgrading" Guitar!

i plan to buy a guitar around the 500 dollar mark. anyone wanna introduce brand and model? haha. so far swing strats caught my eye. this weekend gonna go down to penin and try ^^
 
Re: "Downgrading" Guitar!

sgr+c-1.jpg

Schecter's SGR series are also recommended for anyone looking for quality on a budget ($280)...
 
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