Guitar recommendation for my son

[azasadny]

My son, Daniel wants a guitar for Christmas. He plays the bass and has a Fender Precision bass that he takes excellent care of. I took him to Guitar Center and he liked the feel/look of the Fender Stratocaster and Schecter 6 string electric the best. He thought he liked the SG until he held it, then decided he liked the Schecter the best and he also likes the Parker NiteFly (his guitar teacher plays a Parker).

We're looking at a $500-$700 guitar, not a "student" or "professional" model. Dan is a good, conscientious kid and gets all "A's" and doesn't jump from interest to interest. He has learned the piano, bass and now wants to learn how to play the guitar. He downloads tabs from the Internet and spends at least 1 hour a day, every day practicing.

Anyone here have any opinion of the Schecter guitars? I'm a drummer, so my knowledge of guitars is rudimentary. I'm fond of the Parker Fly myself. Dan will be playing rock and blues and has large hands.

[ErVikingo]

I like the Parker but I "play" a Carvin DC135......

Between the Schecter and the Fender I'd go for the Fender unless if it were a Tele body on which I think that the Schecter's tone is better.

[azasadny]

Juan,

Thanks. Dan liked the way the Schecter felt and we didn't hook any of the guitars we were looking at to an amp to hear them. We concentrated on the way the guitar and fingerboard "felt". Dan really liked a Schecter 12-string electric, but his guitar instructor feels that a 6-string is more practical because he can pick/strum it and the 12-string is really meant for strumming...

[Eric P]

I have an American Stratocaster and really like it. If all things were equal, I'd go with the Fender. The Strat may hold a little better value. BUT in NO WAY would I put that above how the guitar feels. Schecters are generally good guitars in my book. Be sure to plug and play first though.

12 strings are cool but for day in and day out playing, I'd go 6.

[ErVikingo]

6 string; I have a 12 string Takamine which is great but for electric I'd say 6 unless your son can play a 7 string Ibanez like Steve Vai's

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Telecaster, if you can find a good one in that price range. One of the absolute sweetest sounding instruments I've heard. Highly underrated. He'll never outgrow it.

[azasadny]

Guys,

Thanks for the advice. Looks like I'll be going back to Guitar Center a few more times! This gives me an excuse to go to the drum room and play around!!

[RFR]

Buy One of mine

www.ristguitars.com

they start at a very reasonable 3,500.

Just kidding.

The best bang for the buck is a mexican made fender.
it will hold its value, he will never outgrow it. it can be upgraded as he gets better.

Anything asian made ( as in shecter) is will be worthless down the road.

My .o2
Roman
www.ristguitars.com

[scottmandue]

Fender may hold it's value but at this price range I doubt you are concerned with it as an "investment". If he likes the feel of the Shecter get him that (my two cents) you can play twenty Mexican strats and each one will feel different. I also think it is fairly important that he plug the guitar in and see how they sound electronically, eventually he will probably want to play in a group and how it sounds turned up will start to mater at that point.

There is a guitar company called G&L that was founded by Mr. Fender when he came out of retirement that makes some nice strat and tele style guitars (if you can find them).

http://www.glguitars.com/frameset.htm

12 strings are fun specialty guitars but not good as an all around muti purpose guitar.

[bigchillcar]

loved my american-made strats..also had a charvel model 4 that i liked back in the mid-80's. don't know if they're even in business anymore though. i vote strat..he already likes the fender bass..
ryan

[R Wilco]

They have been making Strats for over 52 years for a good reason. My son has started at 8 on decent Peavey and at 10 after I knew he was going to hang in there I got him an American made Strat. Now 8 years later it is still one of his favorites.

[azasadny]

Guys,
Thanks for the advice! Like i said, I'm a drummer so I'm clueless about guitars but I've been to 6 or 7 NAMM shows and I LOVE the Rickenbacker 4003 bass... Does that count? Thanks again!!

Roman, your guitars are beautiful!!

[scottmandue]

Rickenbacker makes some badass guitars also... maybe a little out of your price range...

I think American strats are out of your price range also BTW Fender has strats made in Mexico, America, Korea, and Japan.

[R Wilco]

That Strat my son picked up was on consignment at a guitar store it was perfect. I know Guitar Center has many many used guitars for sell on consignment. Take your time and you'll find an American for less than 600.

[scottmandue]

Pawn shops are a great resource for used guitars also.

If you buy off the rack at Guitar center you are probably paying too much. They do have some good prices on sale items but like buying a new car if they sense you want a specific model that is not on sale they will get top dollar for it.

[azasadny]

Yep, I'm looking at used as well as new guitars and would like a Mexican or US made Fender Strat. I'd love to pickup a Rickenbacker 4003 bass one day (as soon as I have a spare $2000). But my 911 is eating up my "spare" cash right now... Thanks again for the good advice!

[deathpunk dan]

G&L makes some *excellent* guitars. The other guitarist in my band owns a G&L ASAT that smoked my old '52 reissue Telecaster.

The Fender mexico guitars are excellent value/dollar with a proper setup. Also consider an old Tokai Springy Sound (ebay is your best bet for these rare guitars). TSS' are japanese dead-on copies of pre-CBS fenders. *Sometimes* you can find a good deal on ebay on these.

What kind of music does he like/want to play? I mean, I love tele's but I play in a garage rock/punk/hard rock band so it's les pauls and gibson firebirds only for me...

[Rick Lee]

I bought a Mexican Strat about 10 yrs. ago for $300 new. Since then I have sanded down the neck to bare wood, eBay'ed off the guts and put in single coil EMG's that I got from an old Kramer Pacer I basically stole from a shop that didn't know what they had. Now I have less into the Strat than I paid for it and it is a kick-a$s guitar. To me just about all Strats look alike and I can't tell the difference between a $5000, a $700 and my Mex. one. I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a first guitar. No matter what you get, your son will change his tastes eventually, even if he keeps his first guitar forever. I've never met a guitar player who only had one guitar. I have about 10 and they're all great in their own way. And one of my best lessons growing up came from washing dishes at a Ponderosa Steakhouse when I was 15 to pay for my first Kramer.

[RFR]

I have many proffessional studio players as clients who use Mexican Fenders. A good setup, some good pickups, next thing you know they are cutting records with it.

If he loses interest, put the Mexican fender up on ebay with a starting bid of one dollar and chances are it will be bid up to full market value in a one week auction.
You cannot lose.

Art, thanks for the kind words.

Roman
www.ristguitars.com

[Rick Lee]

Mike, you ever see the guitar EVH used to record Hot For Teacher? It cost around $50k in those days.