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What's Your Best Electric Guitar?


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I have a Fender Strat (just cuz), two Gibson semi-hollow bodies (ES-347 and ES-135) and three Rickenbackers.

 

I like the ES-347 for those fat round crunchy sounds, and its eminent playability, but the electrics I play the most are the Ricks -- a 360 6-string and a 360-12 string. I have a solid body Rick 12 too, a 660/12 Tom Petty model, which I have played a lot, but it is now being replaced by the 360/12 string. (Hence, the Tom Petty model is up for sale now).

 

I had a Les Paul for a while (a short while), and although it was fun to play, and easy to play, it was heavy on the shoulders. If I were to go Les Paul again, I would likely only a version with the chambered body. YMMV.

 

Fred

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My electrics.....Fender CS 63 Relic SB Tele, Fender CS 63 SB Relic Strat, Fender 1977 Natural Hardtail Strat, 2011 Fender "Whitewash Pine" Tele. Just sold off 6 or 7 other CS Teles and Strats this summer since I've gone to playing mostly acoustic. Had to keep these 4 since I enjoy them the most.

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None now, owned several back in the day. Had some good live moments with a Gold Top/P90s. Right mix of cut clarity and phat. No sound worries,just played. Never cared for Pauls with buckers. Also had some good moments with 335s and a Gretsch Nashville but never got used to those wide bodies. Strats? Great chords, pretty high end. Sounded great through my pal Rick's Fender Chorus 3x10. At times, left me wishing for a little more phat. Teles? Verstile and when you hit the sweet spot, great (hit it once, country rockin' through a wound up Bassman 4x10). But that sweet spot is hard to find (it helps to roll back the treble).

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It is going to be an America Standard Strat as soon as I get paid again!

 

Looks like I can get it for $750 new.

 

I'm losing my whole bank account this year due to the incredible price drops on musical equipment for the holiday sales.

 

I had an anniversary start, can't remember what year, but it was dropped and cracked all the way up the body (still played better than any other electric I ever had.)

 

I was thinking about getting a les paul studio, but the American starts have dropped in price and for some reason I've just always liked the fender strat more.

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Give me my American Strat with a maple neck any day. No mods, just plain Jane. I've been playing Strats for over 40 years. I've never been without one that whole time. I've owned two Les Pauls over the years. I liked them both, but they were just too heavy. I've owned a couple of SG Specials and liked them OK, but still prefer my Strat. I gave my oldest son one of my SG Specials and he loves it. I've also owned a Night Hawk, an ES137 and a Blues Hawk. Of the three, the Blues Hawk was fun to play but seemed cheaply made to me. The Night Hawk was solid, but I didn't care for the tone.

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After a couple of years of selling off my electric guitars I'm down to my faves:

 

Gretsch Country Gent 62 style

Gretsch G6120-DSW

 

In the last 18 months I've sold off about half a dozen Tele's, some other Gretsches, Gibsons, the lot..... The wife loved the new space in our house till I filled it with acoustics and a Resonator. I used to be a real hoarder with over 25 pieces at home till it was pointed out there just wasn't the space for this, fair enough... so a huge selling spree ensued. Can't say I had played many of them in a long time so no real heartache and I got to replace it with a Keb Mo, a Woody G and a SJ-200TV, not all bad...

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I would say my favorite is my 25th Anniversary PRS Modern Eagle. However, my '52 AVRI Tele is getting the most playing time right now. Followed by my '08 LP STD, and an Epi LP model I have yet to have identified. It has huge potential, but I'm having trouble bonding with my Epi P-93 Riviera. The list of my electrics is too long to continue going through.

 

My acoustics are for open mic nights, songwriting, and solo instrumental stuff

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I claim to own the world's best example of the world's worst Stratocaster: a minty 1973. About to go off to college, I visited my local music store, politely refused to buy a scratched up, used, 1950s Strat, and proudly invested the additional $75 in the brand, spanking new, large headstock, bullet truss rod, 3-bolt neck wonder that I still own.

 

Sigh.

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Wow, there are some really fine electrics in your lists. RIck's look real sweet, I need to take a look at those.

 

On the maple fret comment, I understand that, my MIM Telecaster is maple and it plays very clean and easy. The new LP Custom Classic has the new baked maple fretboard. It plays like maple and looks like rosewood. They use some new manufacturing technique that addresses the recent rosewood raids and all that. The first round of reviews on this neck material have been rather favorable.

 

Cheers,

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Watch the necks on Ricks. Famously narrow. No doubt lovely for some, but less so for others. Also I've heard that refretting is a bit of a pig, as some (all?)of their fretboards are lacquered after the frets are put on. Apparently refretting a bound neck and having nibs put back on is easier. But let the Rick lovers chime in, for they are the ones with the experience. They do sound very nice and truly unique, I must admit. Whenever I've tried them out, they've felt and sounded fab, but it's not the sound I want from my main electric, and I do want slightly more nut width.

 

My best electric is a 1991 Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III. Somewhere in body size between a fat Les Paul and a thinline ES 175, like those more famous instruments, single cutaway. Semi-hollow, but the centreblock is balsa and only attached to the top, so it's very light for such a guitar, and the whole thing is perhaps a bit airier and woodier and a bit less bright than the average ES 335, but we're talking the law of averages here. It certainly sounds more 175 than LP unless you crank it up with tons of distorsion, but at that point most things sound a bit like an LP through a Marshall. Essentially though, it's trying to do something similar to a 335 by a slightly different route, so the 175 is not really the closest point of comparison (it has a metal tune-o-matic like the 335, rather than a wooden bridge like the 175). The lower bout is an inch or two smaller than on a 335, but the body is somewhat deeper, so it's hard to tell which design has more air inside it. I love the neck on mine, which I assume is a 59 Les Paul profile as advertised on the last models, but given the age of mine, I'm not sure. It's a nice thick neck, but not too thick. It taught me that slim taper is not always faster. I've never played so fast as on this one. Ebony board too. Great for moving around, though a bit slippery for bending perhaps. Really comfy for fingerpicking, but good for flatpicks too. Anyway, they're discontinued now, but some places still seem to have old new stock lying around, and they should be cheaper than a 335 at this stage.

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I have no electrics at all! I'm still kicking myself for letting go of a 1976 Les Paul Black Beauty 2 pick-up Custom that I bought brand new. Back when I was playing in a rock band years ago. That guitar had the best feel and tone of any electric I've ever played. If I were to buy another electric, probably would be a Gretsch White Falcon.

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I claim to own the world's best example of the world's worst Stratocaster: a minty 1973. About to go off to college, I visited my local music store, politely refused to buy a scratched up, used, 1950s Strat, and proudly invested the additional $75 in the brand, spanking new, large headstock, bullet truss rod, 3-bolt neck wonder that I still own.

 

Sigh.

 

Too funny, John!

 

Fred

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Rickenbacker 360/12C63:

IMGP9668.jpg

 

660/12TP:

IMGP4412.jpg

 

360CW:

IMGP7593.jpg

(I don't know if flamed quilted birdseye or otherwise figured maple is supposed to be a biological aberration, signs of stress, or what, but the 360CW has some seriously stressed sick maple in it!)

 

I actually play the 360/6 Carl Wilson a fair bit, and find it quite a versatile guitar. The 2 12s have different sounds, the solid body 660 being a little more brash and biting, while the semi-hollow 360/12 has the typical bright chimey sound, warm almost.

 

Fred

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