Need help, my first electric guitar

The best upgrade for a Bullet series of any of them is the Tuners, they don’t really cost much more than upgrading the Pots if you know what to get. I would always get the tuners before the pots, most people just leave them full up anyway.

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My ā€œbudgetā€ guitar is a Squire Bullet hardtail Strat. I got it brand new on a sale & had some loyalty points so only spent $80 US for it…
The guitar was literally unplayable straight out of the box. Fret sprout was so bad it cut my fingers, neck angle so bad the high e string was on the very edge of the fretboard, fret buzz, intonation issues, bad ā€œpingingā€ when tuning because the strings were binding in the nut… a professional setup cost me $160.
Now, it’s lots of fun to play, sounds pretty good & I really like it! I will probably replace the tuners - only have been told to make sure that I buy tuners for a Squire because Fender replacements don’t fit properly. Overall, I am relatively happy with the Squire… just my experience may provide some food for thought!

Tod

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Great news that you’re happy with the guitar now, with plans for further mods.

You don’t say the value of the loyalty points but $80 + $160 + points + new tuners = not quite a budget guitar.

I don’t wish to diminish your enjoyment of your guitar by saying an equivalent spend could buy a guitar that is better out of the box.

$240 is still a budget guitar to me… if I knew more about how to do my own setups (other than changing strings & adjusting the truss rod) I’d be really happy with the $80 I paid. Loyalty points were about $40 & were about to expire so I had to buy something or lose them.

My point in the context of this thread was basically ā€œcaveat emptorā€ā€¦ paying less up front doesn’t necessarily mean you have gotten a good deal!!! :crazy_face:

Tod

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Tod, I hope you didn’t take any negative or offence from my comments.
I am in agreement with you.
A very low up-front price is not necessarily (I would go so far as to say that it is seldom) a route to guitar happiness and a good deal.
Modern guitar manufacture definitely does have us in a situation where quality control is more consistent and generally better even at the lower end - but there remains a price point below which the guitars are mostly clunkers.

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Richard @Richard_close2u , no offense taken! If my response tasted a bit sour, it was only because I was having a trying day at work & we had foul weather that was causing me to be somewhat grumpy :angry:!!! BTW I agree with your last, I do think there’s a lot of ā€œclunkersā€ out there!

Tod

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Go get the newen stratocaster. For its price it sounds decent. I purchaaed one in 2022 december. It really plays good(if you’re a good guitarist) trust me its better than squier and yamaha pac 012 ive played them in the shop. Hope it helps!

What’s the price point for this?

@Richard_close2u ā€˜bump’

I don’t think it’s been posted on thius thread before, but Justin played the budget Eastcoast guitars at Andertons fairly recently. He seemed pretty impressed at the 100-150GBP mark. However at that price point you can certainly pick up some rubbish too.

It is meant as a general piece of guidance Stuart.
If I had to pick a number I would go with £150 - the approximate proce for the widely bought Squier Bullet and Les Paul Special 100 models.

Yes, I think the point is that it’s a ā€œguide priceā€, not set in stone.

I picked up a very cheap (Ā£40) Dias electric strat copy from a store in Chippenham when I was working there and wanted something cheap to use on my occasional overnight B&B stays. Apparently they were assembled from parts by a local guy in his garage.

Whilst it wasn’t the best guitar in the world, it was decent and, after a setup, played well and sounded good. It wasn’t trash, by any means, and I gave it to a friends kid who, apparently, still uses it occasionally.

But I have tried £200 guitars which have been pretty horrible: sharp fret ends, poor tuners and rubbish tuning stability.

To me, tuning stability is the biggest issue: if you can’t keep the damn thing in tune, how is a beginner going to cope with that?

Cheers,

Keith

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3 posts were split to a new topic: I am looking to buy my first electric guitar, specifically because I want to learn blues licks - any advice please?

Great video, cheers.

I just bought the Yamaha Pacific.

Now I need to know which amp to buy to go with it!

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What’s your budget?

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For an amp? Couple of hundred quid.

It’s only for playing to myself in my spare room and so I’d rather not spend a fortune.

That said, I do want to connect my guitar to my laptop at some point and record some of the songs I’ve wrote.

In the future I’d also like to connect some pedals too - don’t know if that makes a difference.

Can I not connect it to my surround sound amp?

I’d suggest you get a digital modelling amp like Fender Mustang, Positive Grid Spark, Boss Katana etc. They should be within your budget, small and quiet enough to use at home comfortably, have audio interface functionality so you can connect them to the computer and record, and give you a bunch of different amp models and effects without the need to spend more on pedals.

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Not directly, no.

Although they fundamentally do similar things, guitar (and bass) amps are not the same as hifi amps.

Firstly, guitar amps have to amplify the signals from guitar pickups which are much lower than anything your hifi amp has to deal with.

Secondly, a huge part of the guitar tone comes from the guitar amp.

Hifi amps are designed to be ā€œtransparentā€ and to amplify the sound without affecting it.

Guitar amps deliberately do affect the sound; every stage of the guitar amp from the preamps to the cabinet and speaker are designed to colour the sound coming from the guitar.

If you plug a guitar into a neutral sounding amp, it’s going to sound flat and just not right.

You really need a guitar amp or some sort of modelling unit (such as a multifx pedal) that simulates a guitar amp’s character.

Cheers,

Keith

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So I have opted for a Boss Katana 50 but don’t have the money for it until payday.

The new guitar however has arrived. The first time I’ve ever even held an electric guitar. Feels very odd after my ā€˜too big for me’ acoustic.

Do I need to buy the connecting wire/jackplug seperate from the amp or will it come with it?

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Yes, you would need to get an instrumental cable, amps usually don’t come with one.
And congratulations on your new guitar, Pacificas are great instruments and you can hardly go wrong with one.

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