Guitar No.4?

[Left_Hand_Strat]

I had one. I wasn't that thrilled with it. I ended up trading it for an Ibanez RG 120. I still have the pups out of it and they measure:

-Bridge= 16k ohms
-Neck= 11.6k ohms

many thanks for that.

wowzers, those pups are pretty darn hot!

methinks this one will be a metal axe....

[Left_Hand_Strat]

PLAY BEFORE YOU BUY.

dude, i would and will but its a bit difficult when all the Special II's in my city are right handers

however, I will have the warrenty and I will find a way of getting a good one.

imma stay positive with thinking... there's less lefty's made, therefore less chance of a dud... in many ways....

[Agileguy_101]

imma stay positive with thinking... there's less lefty's made, therefore less chance of a dud... in many ways....

I don't mean you any offense, but I think there's a big difference between thinking positively and deluding yourself. It seems like you're expecting a bottom-of-the-line Epi just as good as the one you played. If the one you played is as good as you say it is, it's probably in the top percentile. There are good Epis out there, but they're very few and far between in that line. If you can't try before you buy, I think your money would be much better spent getting something that's known to be much more consistent. Especially since this guitar isn't at all necessary - you have three others, and I doubt that this one will be any better than them. Why not save up a little more, even if it's only £50, and get a better guitar? From your posts around here it seems like you have, as my mother would call it, Faruka syndrome. (If you don't get it, go and watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.)

[Funkfingers]

I don't mean you any offense but ...

Famous last words.

I agree with the old Stevie Wonder lyric;
"I've always come to
The conclusion
That "but" is a way
Of asking for permission to lay something heavy on one's head."

It seems like you're expecting a bottom-of-the-line Epi just as good as the one you played. If the one you played is as good as you say it is, it's probably in the top percentile. There are good Epis out there, but they're very few and far between in that line. If you can't try before you buy, I think your money would be much better spent getting something that's known to be much more consistent.

+1 This is why I posted earlier that the Epi LP Spl II would be suitable for pickup experiments.

this guitar isn't at all necessary - you have three others, and I doubt that this one will be any better than them. Why not save up a little more, even if it's only £50, and get a better guitar?

LHS, I didn't bribe Agileguy to post these words. Honestly! (I would have insisted on the inclusion of the words, Series, Silver, Squier and Stratocaster.)

It has been said before that one good guitar is worth two, three or four cheap ones. Why should that be?

[Left_Hand_Strat]

well the Epiphone G400's seem pretty consistant, its just i can't mould with SG's in a fantastic way, don't get me wrong I love the things cause Tony Iommi is my Guitar Idol but i just can't gel with the things, they seem to small....

Funk, i am undecided about that strat and its frustrating the **** out of me.... im undecided, i may do or may not, I'm sure we had this debate a few moons ago about whether it was better than an MIM Fender or not but if you think it will give the run for the money then i may well buy it....

Failing that (In mind my new amp is the priority, I may purchase a guitar shortly after and saving 150-300 may be a good idea as one local shop sells plenty of oddities in secondhand lefties, Such as an Alden 'Johnny Ramone' model)

[Funkfingers]

You could play a RH Johnny Ramone model upside down and most of your audience would be none the wiser. Hey, didn't Kurt use Mosrites for a while?

[Left_Hand_Strat]

You could play a RH Johnny Ramone model upside down and most of your audience would be none the wiser. Hey, didn't Kurt use Mosrites for a while?

Yeah He did, i can't remember if he used it once or twice, like the Jag Stang or it was a regular while touring...

[Funkfingers]

Funk, i am undecided about that strat and its frustrating the **** out of me

Wrong. Not having enough money to do everything that you would like to do is frustrating the **** out of you.

Such is life.

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Wrong. Not having enough money to do everything that you would like to do is frustrating the **** out of you.

Such is life.

+1

[Jessie's ghost]

With a guitar like this, it's kind of a crap shoot. Everything about a guitar in this price range is a compromise.

(Unless it's an Agile that's better than a '58 burst, an '86 PRS, and a Custom Shop Hamer combined and sells for 37 cents. )

That said, sometimes you find one that's pretty sweet. You just have to play them before you buy, or at least have a "lossless" way to get rid of them if they're not Ms. Right.

There are going to be obvious weak points. Some of these you can do something about, some you can't. Assuming you're not magically going to turn the entire guitar into a better guitar made from different wood in a different factory, here are some things you can do that might be worth it:

1. Pickups. When I got my LP100 (just a step up the Epiphone food chain from a Special II), I assumed I'd need to replace the pickups, because I was so dissatisfied with the ones in my Epi LPC. Well, it turns out they actually sounded pretty good in that guitar. It was a decent hard rock sound, and I would have kept them if I hadn't wanted A2 Seymours.

So while you can always change them and transform the sound, they might not be as bad as you think they'll be. But it's as cheap and easy to change pickups in one guitar as it is in another.

2. Nut. Christ on a bike. My LP100 was so bad, I couldn't keep it in tune long enough to get it intonated. I kept hearing these "ping" sounds on some of the strings when I'd try to tune it, and that was a big flag that something was wrong besides the tuners.

I took it to a shop and had a bone nut put on -- a handmade one, of hard mottled cow bone, cut for the guitar by a good old tech who knew what he was doing. Tuning problems: Gone. Pinging: Gone. Tone: Much improved.

3. Tuners. If they're really terrible, it's probably easy to replace them. But look at the nut first; it might save you replacing the tuners when there's nothing wrong with them.

4. Neck joint. People have slagged me over this, but I like gluing the necks in some guitars, especially if they're cheap bolt-on ripoffs of set-neck guitars. It's a cheap-ass guitar; it's already ruined. It can only get better. And for me, it does. I make sure the neck is sitting right, rough up the finish of the mating surfaces with some sandpaper, go all Titebond on it, then put the neck plate and screws back in. After the glue sets, it feels and sounds like a different guitar -- in the case of something that's supposed to be a Les Paul, a better guitar.

Sure it's controversial, but I stand by the results. It's an aggressive treatment of a terminal condition, and the patients and their families need to be made aware of their options. Maybe next time I'll take the mating surfaces down to bare wood, at least the bottom of the neck heel and the bottom of the pocket. Assuming it doesn't take the bridge adjustment out of range, it could be pretty cool.

[Left_Hand_Strat]

good pointers.

the tuners are the easy bit really, bet things easily to fit the holes and stuff on it.

the Pickups did sound good to my ear, that's for certain

also, the neck gluing thing, I do agree with, i can see why you did that and I don't understand why i aint done that to my strat yet...

[Benjy_26]

Spend the $ you plan on throwing into that Epi into a better amp. You don't really need another LP, especially a cheap copy of one.

[Left_Hand_Strat]

Spend the $ you plan on throwing into that Epi into a better amp. You don't really need another LP, especially a cheap copy of one.

(the amp is the priority)

true but thing is it's LP Jr. ish and im struggling to find a left handed LP Jr. copy (as in a reasonable bit of kit like and epiphone a sheridan or something like that. mate has a sheridan and it's damn good for the $)

[Mr 9finger]

I agree and disagree on gluing the neck in on a bolt on guitar. For a guitar like the one you're discussing, I could understand. I wouldn't say I'm in the overly biased crowd when it comes to these kinds of mods. I say whatever works, works.

In this case, you'd be taking a 24 3/4 scale bolt on guitar made of Mahogany, and basically joining it into one piece like most other LP type guitars. If everything else is right with the guitar and you want to get it one step closer to the LP sound, then by all means go for it. An LP's tone comes from 3 basic characteristics. The wood, scale, and neck joint. It might not sound exactly like an LP, but it should get you close.

Doing something like this to a Strat, I'd have mixed feelings about. The characteristics that make a Strat are that way for a reason. I would be worried about altering the tone of a Strat and not being able to reverse it if I didn't like it.

The one thing about Strats and LPs is this, Les Paul and Leo Fender somehow got it magically "right" the first time around and they've changed relatively little in the 50+ years they've been around.

[Left_Hand_Strat]

that is very true, all tried and trusted designs...

[Funkfingers]

epiphone - a sheridan or something like that.

Erm, the Epiphone semi-hollow guitar is called a Sheraton (as in the US hotel chain). A Sheridan would look like this.

[Benjy_26]

(the amp is the priority)

true but thing is it's LP Jr. ish and im struggling to find a left handed LP Jr. copy (as in a reasonable bit of kit like and epiphone a sheridan or something like that. mate has a sheridan and it's damn good for the $)

Let me clarify: Instead of tossing 200GBP at a guitar that's most likely going to get thrown out in a short while, spend that extra cash on your amp purchase. Add that money on top of what you have planned for your Vox and you may be able to either get a better amp, or speakers to tune whatever amp you get.

Now, if you have your heart set on another axe, go used guitar hunting. RH double cuts are fair game. Hamer Slammers, Strats, 335 style axes would all be options. That Epi isn't very Jr-ish. It's got a clubby neck with crap hardware and an alder/mahogany plywood body AND a bolt on neck.

[Benjy_26]

Erm, the Epiphone semi-hollow guitar is called a Sheraton (as in the US hotel chain). A Sheridan would look like this.

I'm guessing those can only be found in the VERY used market.

[Left_Hand_Strat]

there is a guitar Brand called Sheridan

[Kam]

Let me clarify: Instead of tossing 200GBP at a guitar that's most likely going to get thrown out in a short while, spend that extra cash on your amp purchase. Add that money on top of what you have planned for your Vox and you may be able to either get a better amp, or speakers to tune whatever amp you get.

Now, if you have your heart set on another axe, go used guitar hunting. RH double cuts are fair game. Hamer Slammers, Strats, 335 style axes would all be options. That Epi isn't very Jr-ish. It's got a clubby neck with crap hardware and an alder/mahogany plywood body AND a bolt on neck.

I really gotta +1 this. Spending that money on another low-priced guitar isn't really going to do much for your sound. Putting an extra £200 into an amp can get you a much better amp, which most certainly will do a lot for your sound. I'd at least think about spending that money on new pickups or hardware for your existing guitars.

If you really want a new guitar then take a look here. They're certainly pricier than the one you're talking about but most of them will be a darn sight better. In fact, most of them would probably be better than any of the guitars you (or I) currently own. Definitely worth the extra time spent saving up. Some really nice Junior-esque beasts in there, too.