Electric guitar on a budget

[weeksy]

The lad is playing his acoustic a fair bit now... but wants to try an electric.

So... what's/where is the starting point ? He's very much a novice and self-taught, but he's very musically skilled from years of playing instruments at a decent level, so he seems to get on quite well with the guitar.

Budget, well, as little as viable really for now.

e.g
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126202536788 ... R6Dio5CCYw

Is right by us

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155901627821 ... R6Tio5CCYw

not far away.

[JackyJoll]

Stagg is well made and useable. The seller may have a practice amplifier they don’t value highly.

Always worth getting a local luthier to set a guitar up.

[Skub]

What JJ said,plus maybe factor in someone who plays and can do setup. It's the one area that is hit or miss no matter how much you pay for a guitar. You could play half a dozen of the same model and some will feel nicer to play than others,all that it is,is time spent adjusting to suit.

The strat shaped Stagg has a tremolo system which can be fickle to tune and keep in tune. The Les Paul copy has a fixed bridge,so no bother there. The Rockburn also has a shorter scale length,so the strings on the Stagg will have more tension,ie harder to play.

Coming from an acoustic,the electric will feel easier to play anyway due to lower action and lighter gauge strings,but everything is adjustable.

Tell him to keep playing the acoustic too,it keeps the hands fit and anything learned on it will be a doddle on the electric.

[Numnut]

Fender have the squier sonic range, which have been well reviewed. They’re cheap too.

https://www.fender.com/en-GB/squier-electric-guitars/

[DefTrap]

I've got a couple of Harley Bentons (the own brand of German music warehouse thomann.de) For the money they're amazing, and the website is full of reviews, it's hard to make a mistake. And they have a decent returns policy. Obviously these are rebranded guitars from one of the many ginormous guitar factories scattered across China, Korea, Indonesia but thomann seem to go the extra mile when it comes to QC and setup.

But my favourite guitar is another, fairly, cheapy, a Squier Telecaster (yeah with a few modifications). I also bought that from thomann by the way.

[ZRX61]

There's always the Donner clone range. They sell complete kits on Amazon with a mini amp, auto tuner & all the other gubbins.... but they're improved no end by a set of Ernie Ball slinky's & genuine Fender machine heads.

[Bigjawa]

I have one of these.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton ... tallic.htm

It's a nice guitar according to Babyjawa who's got all the talent. He fiddled with it a bit and reckons its as good as his Ibanez. He plays some 7 string thing I paid twice as much for as I did for my car.

It's a slippery slope.

[DefTrap]

I've got an Epiphone SG (a nicer one than that tbh) and it's a beautiful thing but tbh I don't really gel with it. It's like bikes innit? We're not all the same. It's possibly a setup issue, but I've ok at setup now so, in this case, my best guess is it's me.

[Mr. Dazzle]

It's definitely worth trying them, or at least picking them up!, if you can. They feel pretty different in your hands, pretty much by design. Hence why there are so many styles and why artists typically always play the same sort.

If the OP is already playing acoustic guitar and getting along with it he'll have some idea already of what he likes.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yeah I forgot to mention Yamaha.

They're the world's biggest manufacturer of musical instruments aren't they. Solid builder of solid instruments, but they make fancy stuff too.

[Bigjawa]

Yeah I forgot to mention Yamaha.

They're the world's biggest manufacturer of musical instruments aren't they. Solid builder of solid instruments, but they make fancy stuff too.

I used to have a Yamaha bass. Wonderful thing. Really well made.

[weeksy]

It was recommend on t'other forums that i spend a little more..Getting something maybe like this

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton ... _stock.htm

[Skub]

Thomann are good to deal with if you have any bother.

[Slenver]

It was recommend on t'other forums that i spend a little more..Getting something maybe like this

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton ... _stock.htm

Harley Benton stuff getting a lot of good reviews these days and Thomann generally are great. Doubt you can go wrong.

[weeksy]

There's a guy who has a couple of HB that isn't too far away.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305294513213 ... R76xitCEYw

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item= ... ssn=robc71

[Rockburner]

It's definitely worth trying them, or at least picking them up!, if you can. They feel pretty different in your hands, pretty much by design. Hence why there are so many styles and why artists typically always play the same sort.

If the OP is already playing acoustic guitar and getting along with it he'll have some idea already of what he likes.

Would ad to this and suggest that it's worth taking a morning/day trip to a good music shop and letting him try the shapes he thinks look cool, and then progress to the shapes that actually work for him - much like test-riding bikes when all you know is you want a "sports" bike - the choice is huge and each has good and bad aspects for the buyer.

A decent music shop would be able to help with that and should, if their service is any good at all, allow him to try a few different options with an amp etc. Obviously you're never under any obligation to buy - but you may well end up with exactly what he wants/needs.

I'm sure there's a good shop nearer to you (IIRC Oxford isn't far from you?) but Andertons in Guildford have a very good rep.

[weeksy]

It's definitely worth trying them, or at least picking them up!, if you can. They feel pretty different in your hands, pretty much by design. Hence why there are so many styles and why artists typically always play the same sort.

If the OP is already playing acoustic guitar and getting along with it he'll have some idea already of what he likes.

Would ad to this and suggest that it's worth taking a morning/day trip to a good music shop and letting him try the shapes he thinks look cool, and then progress to the shapes that actually work for him - much like test-riding bikes when all you know is you want a "sports" bike - the choice is huge and each has good and bad aspects for the buyer.

A decent music shop would be able to help with that and should, if their service is any good at all, allow him to try a few different options with an amp etc. Obviously you're never under any obligation to buy - but you may well end up with exactly what he wants/needs.

I'm sure there's a good shop nearer to you (IIRC Oxford isn't far from you?) but Andertons in Guildford have a very good rep.

Then it can't be a surprise

Every one of the last 5 years haven't really had the surprise factor, i'd like this to be a complete shock

[Rockburner]

It's definitely worth trying them, or at least picking them up!, if you can. They feel pretty different in your hands, pretty much by design. Hence why there are so many styles and why artists typically always play the same sort.

If the OP is already playing acoustic guitar and getting along with it he'll have some idea already of what he likes.

Would ad to this and suggest that it's worth taking a morning/day trip to a good music shop and letting him try the shapes he thinks look cool, and then progress to the shapes that actually work for him - much like test-riding bikes when all you know is you want a "sports" bike - the choice is huge and each has good and bad aspects for the buyer.

A decent music shop would be able to help with that and should, if their service is any good at all, allow him to try a few different options with an amp etc. Obviously you're never under any obligation to buy - but you may well end up with exactly what he wants/needs.

I'm sure there's a good shop nearer to you (IIRC Oxford isn't far from you?) but Andertons in Guildford have a very good rep.

Then it can't be a surprise

Every one of the last 5 years haven't really had the surprise factor, i'd like this to be a complete shock

Ah - ok - that makes a difference to the situation.

Unless you make the visit to the shop a surprise? (but obviously it's then not a xmas-day surprise)

[weeksy]

IMG-20231201-WA0004 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[DefTrap]

Would ad to this and suggest that it's worth taking a morning/day trip to a good music shop and letting him try the shapes he thinks look cool, and then progress to the shapes that actually work for him

Cool is good! (my Tele is a sort of homage to one of Prince's more familiar blonde Teles, with a tortoiseshell pickguard) - it just makes you feel good. When I was debating getting my first guitar, a guitarist friend described it to me as "it should make you feel like fire is coming out of your cock". I mean maybe not, but you get the idea.

Personally I'd say you can't go too far wrong with a Stratocaster or a Telecaster, they're pretty much the "everyman" of guitars without being too dowdy. And I'd start with one without a tremelo, because it just seems an unnecessary additional complication (and likely source of poor tuning) on cheaper guitars, because they tend to have tuning keys that are "ok" at best.

After that it's how the guitar feels, and this is mainly in the neck. I'd avoid the really cheap guitars because they tend to be a little bit "parts-bin-special" and you could end up with a neck off almost anything that's hanging around or, worse, a real "Friday afternoon" job.

So, at the cheaper end, where you can be reasonably certain you're getting something built to a standard, something like a Squier is a solid choice. Something like this https://www.thomann.de/intl/squier_soni ... _white.htm or this https://www.thomann.de/intl/squier_soni ... a_blue.htm