Wuggis

Sounds like my home town of chesterfield. Pubs are your best bet of playing anywhere. Although pre covid there were a few that did jam nights I've been playing on and off (mainly off tbf) since 1990. Last 18 months or so I've really decided to stop messing about and try and actually learn something.

I love cheap/ bargain guitars personally. If it plays well that's all there is to it for me. If your happy with it and it sings then it's all good. I've yet to pick up the guitar that makes me think spending thousands is something I need to do.

Me too but it has cost me in the past. I remember in the early nineties seeing an explorer shape in a local guitar shop. An epiphone if memory serves. I was still mainly a metal head back then an had to have it. The guy let me buy on a lay away plan. And every week when I got paid I'd go and pay a bit off on it. Play it for ten or fifteen minutes and he'd put it back in the store room. A couple of months later it was paid off and I went and got it. And within a couple of days I knew I wasn't going to keep it

You've probably made a purchase already. But if not I'd recommend taking a look at the "valeton rushead" headphone amp. Has pretty much all the basic effects and they all work fairly well. And far louder than you'll ever need. I've even run it into a portable speaker with an aux input for practicing when away from home. And it sounds way better than it really should. Overdrive is a little underwhelming but passable. Distortion is full on metal at full gain. And with delay/reverb/chorus and flanger all available it's versatile. Just wish it had a noise gate too but that's really nit picking. And at £30 it's not much to lay out

I actually see Harley Benton guitars going on eBay for as much or more than direct from thomann! Baffles me every time I see it. I own the sc500 as I said above. And for the price you really can't knock them. The contoured heel on the single cuts (at least those with the set necks) is great. I suppose the exchange rate has something to do with it. Here in the UK thomanns prices fluctuate quite a bit as the £'s value to the euro changes. And from time to time they update the models but don't change the pictures on the website. The budget end sg clones for example. The site still shows some of them as being basically sg shaped. When in fact the went to an offset viper style body shape a while back. Kind of dissapointing to open something and find it different to what you ordered. With eBay your seeing photos of the actual guitar. And I think your right buying used means some one else will probably sorted out the little niggles you may come across. The nut on my sc500 was awful. And tuning stability was none existent. I was blaming the strings and when I went to change them the nut fell apart. Don't get me wrong once it was replaced with a bone nut the thing is great.

Welcome their a friendly bunch here. I haven't been here long either Severe guitar acquisition syndrome? Me too I returned to playing 18 months ago.So far I've acquired a strat, a Les Paul, a modded super strat,a dreadnought and I'm currently itching for an sg or possibly a Tele maybe a semi hollow. Who am I kidding I'm going to end up owning all three eventually. And I have two projects on the go too.

I've just been through the build on basschat and I'm even more impressed now. That was a very involved build. Some real skills on show there. Puts my tinkering with partscaster's to shame. Maybe one day I'll tackle something like that. Just have to build the workshop to do the work in first. Oh and I have to clear/level the ground for the workshop before that. Maybe one day

That my friends is a beautiful guitar. Oddly enough I came here today looking for recommendations for a budget sg for a modding project. It won't be on the epic scale of that beauty but I'm even more set on the idea now.

3) Angus young not the most technical but you can just see and feel the love of what he does every time he plays and man that energy! 2) David gilmour for his economic playing style. Says more in 3 notes than all the flashy over technical guitar Prodigy's can in an hour. And his solos have been known to bring a tear to my eye! 1) slash. I don't even know why! But I could probably listen to him play nursery rhymes for an hour and still be amazed. Probably helps that he was exactly my era. And his records were what I listened to in my late teens. As everyone seems to be doing it I'll make a few honourable mentions John squire(amazing and vastly underated) Brian may Gary Moore

If you can I'd say go and try guitars in a shop. You may find what you like the look of doesn't actually feel that good in your hands.I'd like to suggest you try the humble Yamaha Pacifica as well. Quality control is usually very good from Yamaha. They're very well made have nice slim comfortable necks. They are also fairly light and comfortable to play. When I returned to playing 18months or so back I was determined to get a Les Paul style So i did. A Harley Benton sc500 to be exact. And it looks great,sounds good, and is really very nice for what it cost. And I hardly ever play it. It's heavy and really awkward to play sitting which is how I mainly play these days. Then just before lockdown I saw a used Pacifica for next to nothing on schpock. I went to see it and came away with it. I bought it to learn setting up guitars. But it just played so nicely that I got a but carried away tbh. And needed something to do whilst in lockdown Custom paint/new pickups warman 12 gauge in the bridge and a cheap hotrail at the neck/new wiring(full size pots) the old ones were scratchy. I did get the guitar for next to nothing but even with what I've spent it cost less than £100 . It's now the guitar I pick up most. It's just easier to play and tbh now the best sounding one I own. Not bad for a 20 year old beater I've gone off the track here a bit. But my point is the entry Pacifica is a really good for the price. And will take you along way down the road before you surpass it's capabilities.

All budget stuff nothing fancy but gets the job done(mostly). I'm only a begginer but like to get close to the sound of the piece I'm trying to play. Have done that way too many times learnt a piece ,practiced for ages just with an unplugged guitar. Then found it sounds all wrong after adding the effects. Kokko compression,mosky noise gate,mosky golden horse overdrive,caline Englishman distortion, and finally my trusty ancient rp55 for anything else. Though mostly as a drum machine to keep me in time All played through an old Peavey blazer 158. Total cost around £160 including the amp(£20 from eBay like new) and a cheap wireless setup. The mosky golden horse is copy of I think a klon centaur? I might be wrong but for the price it's really impressive. So there's my super budget setup. It keeps me out of trouble. Except for with my wife! Oh and the neighbors

Tbh I might like the messing about /customizing bit more than the actual playing to be honest. I'm an engineer by trade so it kind of fits with skills I already have. And I grew up around a car body shop so with a little refreshing hopefully my spray painting should become passable. I've had a little more practice time available this year with the lockdown keeping me off the bankside. So instead of being stressed that the carp eluded me again. I can get stressed at at chord changes and strumming patterns. It's all just for fun as I know I'll never play like gilmour /slash/Gary Moore. But at least I'm making progress(slowly!)

I'm no great shakes as a player but I always find multi FX fiddly. I have an rp55 which I use as a replacement for whatever pedal I'm missing when trying to get a sound. It works well enough for most things. Especially if it's for something you aren't going to use much. I also had a zoom g1 some years ago. Didn't have them at the same time so my comparison is from memory but I'd say the zoom was more to my liking. To second one of the other comments there are lots of cheap pedals that work surprisingly well. Caline,mosky and joyo all spring to mind. Shop around and you might fill the gap in your board for £20/30 . And I've just realised how old this thread is so you've probably solved your problem by now. But I've typed it now so I'm posting it!

The first guitar I bought in 1989 was a postbox red marlin. Not sure what model it was as it doesn't seem to match any of the models from that time. It wasn't a sidewinder as it had a pointy headstock Jackson /charvel style and no pickguard. And I don't think it was a loner as it had a fender style trem and the neck was unpainted maple. I always thought it was called a marlin "nasty" as that was what it said on the fluorescent paper star pushed through the strings as a price tag. But now I think about it that was probably the guitar shops little joke. Basically telling anyone who knew anything that it wasn't good. If it turns out it was actually rare important model please keep that to yourselves! As I seem to remember giving it away covered in dust a few years later. I doubt it though

Hi everyone. I'm an older begginer well 48 so older than most. I've had a love affair with guitar music most of my life. And have had a couple of half hearted attempts at learning over the years. I could struggle through things like nirvana etc in my early twenties. But eventually gave up due to lack of free time and not really progressing very much. Fast forwards twenty odd years and here I am trying again. Something I have to say is how far the gear has moved on in that time! At least in cost to performance value. And this new fangled internet thingy make so many resources available! As a part Scottish Yorkshireman the relatively low investment needed to get started these days warmed my heart lol! If good gear and teaching resources had been this available years ago it might have been a different story. I'm also in to building/ customising so hopefully there will be others here that share that interest. Although as you can see from my cover photo that's more evh make it your own than custom shop. At least up to now.