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rrobbone

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  1. Thanks again to all for your advice. Now let me provide at least a small bit of advice to you as I wait just one more day until my Tele copy arrives: Pay the extra $12 for faster shipping! Oh well, the wait is almost over. I will let you all know what my initial impressions are as soon as I have some. I researched the guitars suggested by you guys: the Carvin looks great, but is simply out of my price range for a single guitar. I looked in all my usual places for a good used deals, but it seems Carvin's guitars haven't quite migrated as far as Texas yet. Either that, or their owners are so happy with them that they are unwilling to sell them. Either way, Carvin's a no go, nice as they may be. The Ibanez S series was also mentioned. These retail for $400 to $1300 or so and I found a few selling in the neighborhood of $300 used on craigslist, so they are a definite possibility. I am especially intrigued by the redesigned trem systems on the better equipped models. It just looks as though it'll hold tune better. We'll see how they sound next time I go into a music store. What I'll probably end up doing is as Willy and Joob suggest: Cruise pawn shops and local online classifieds and find deals to modify. The whole customization angle appeals to me anyway. Yes, I know you get what you pay for, but I'll learn to fix and mod my own guitars in the process instead of paying someone else to do it. I'll make mistakes I'm sure, but if I ruin a $109 Tele copy, so what? I'll buy another. GregP: I can't find a Pagelli model anywhere. According to Cort's website, the still sell it as a version II. I will ask my favorite local tech/shop if he can get one for me. I think he carries Cort. In any case, I welcome more comments and suggestions... Thanks again...
  2. I agree. You can find something worthwhile without applying for a second mortgage. I looked up that Cort Pagelli Sig and fell in love. I like unique looks like that and am now looking for a dealer in my area. Mind telling me what you paid for it, Greg? I can't find an online seller who has a price posted for the Pagelli II. I'd just love to take a crack at refinishing it. As for the dirt cheap Tele, the idea was to find out how workable a $109 guitar would be. If it's great, I'll keep it and be happy. If not, I'll change it and be happy. At least I'll know if I can trust that dealer again. Actually, I have considered the Variax line of guitars. I went to the only place here in town who still carries them: Sam Ash, as all other stores have sold out their stock and will not be restocking them at present time. The salesman, Nick, who has been straight with me about equipment questions in the past, advised me to avoid the Variax at all costs. He then told me that they would not be carrying them anymore either due to reliablilty issues. They simply had to send too many busted guitars back to Line 6. He offered me a choice of either a 300 or a 500 at $12 over cost price, a price I later verified with a friend who works at a different Sam Ash. Tempted, I went home to research the guitars and found almost nothing but complaints on the Line 6 forums about the durability of the Variax. Most were because the piezo pickups were damaged during a string change. A lot of issues were due to the electronics. Then there were the people (not many) who were having no problems and were fiercely defending their guitars. All users across the board were very dissatisfied with Line 6 cutomer service. And all lamented the great technology being ruined by living in such a crap guitar. Even so, I called Nick back to inquire about the cost of their service policy and he told me that they were no longer offering the extended warranty. So I passed on it. As such, I have patiently been keeping an eye on the local classifieds for a good price on a used model. Depending on price, I may go that way in the future. I'll see one in a pawn shop eventually, I'm sure. However, I am sold on the Line 6 POD X3 Live. Like I said, coming from an electronic music recording background I'm all about options and this bad boy has all I'd want. Which leads me into what Mickguard asked, which amp to use? That's a good question, different amps bring different colors. That being said, I have a two year old child and I'm either tending to her or she's asleep. (Her mom and I work from home). So that renders playing through an amp loudly enough to activate any sort of overdrive impossible. I was thinking of recording straight from the POD, that has plenty of amp models. Remember, I'm not looking for total accuracy, just tones that are interesting (at least to me) and that fit into what I'm writing. I may come even across a few "happy accidents" that way. I do want to record in a very heavy and aggressive style, but I think that by saying "metal," I might imply superfast pummeling beats accompanied by shredding so fast that mere mortal ears cannot deal with the sheer number of notes flying off of the fretboard. I actually am a big fan of more thoughtful melody and song structure in heavy and aggressive music. There's not enough of it being made for my tastes. So, I'm doing something about it. I believe that the more tonal options I have, the better. You're right, though... I don't really need that many guitars. I just want them. The phrase "keep it simple, stupid" applies to music as well, so I won't be using as many effects as you might be used to hearing in metal. There is a time and a place for that, but I want what I play to be heard as plainly as possible, for better or worse. In producing electronic music I've learned that the space in a song is every bit as important as the sounds. Well planned silence can be just as effective in a song as a wall of harmonious noise. And, I can always fix it in the mix. I know a few tricks....
  3. Hello all, I have a home recording studio which I have mainly used to produce electronic music and I've decided to produce an album of heavy rock music for internet distribution. I have a cheap Washburn I picked up for $60 just to use on random electronic tracks when needed in the past, but it does not quite have the versatility I'm used to with my DAW and all of it's software patches and options. So it seems I'll need some new gear. Ideally, I'd like to have a Les Paul, a Tele, a Strat, a JEM, and a baritone guitar to get all of the tones I'd like to play with. I can almost hear all of you saying, "Yeah, I'd like all those guitars too, buddy!" But stay with me here... A little quick and dirty math suggests that even if I bought midrange models, I'd spend about $5,000, give or take. I could build a second DAW studio for that kinda money, and seeing as I now have a two year old girl, I'll probably never see that much money sitting in one spot ever again. This limits my options. So I started researching cheaper instruments, and I'm talking dirt cheap. Brands like SX, Douglas, Agile (from rondomusic.com), Xaviere (from Guitarfetish.com), Axl, Cort, and others. In my research, the models from Rondo Music and Guitarfetish.com got excellent reviews across almost all of their models. These models consist of copies and one-offs of every popular guitar imaginable. I couldn't resist: I bought a Tele copy with a maple neck from rondomusic.com and I'm waiting for it to get to me. It cost $109. With shipping, it was $126 to get it to my door. If the guitar completes an actual electrical circuit when it gets to me, I'll be happy. If it is nice to play and has a Tele-like tone, I'll be ecstatic. Now, going by the old adage: you get out what you put in, I figure that even if the guitar is crap, the parts alone are worth the cost and I can always customize it later (and probably will). I can perform my own setup as well so that won't add to the potential cost. None of the guitars on that site cost more that $650 including some double necks, and some even come equipped with EMG 81/85 pickups. If I bought all of the guitars I want from them, it would cost about $2100. If I changed pickups and tuners on all of them, that adds another $650 or so. Sure beats $5000. I know they wont sound quite the same as the real things, but it's not my intention for my recordings to sound like everyone else's. I might just find a new tonal quality I like from one of these cheap POS's. It always comes down to the player, I know. Do you like this guitar? How does it sound to you? Preference is highly subjective, so I ask you: Do you have one of these cheap knock-offs? Tell me your story about what it is, how you found it and your (mis)adventures getting it to sound like you expected (or not). Should be fun. Cheers.
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