Guitar recommendations

[drummersaredeaf]

Fernandes guitars

Not Fernandes, but Schecter LPs go cheap. Saw a LP special style go for ~300 last week and would have pulled the trigger myself if not for already having a Gibson influenced Schecter, and a PRS SE special style.  I would assume it's a similar thing - decent guitars that have dreadful used values.

[Shit Good Nose]

Not Fernandes, but Schecter LPs go cheap. Saw a LP special style go for ~300 last week and would have pulled the trigger myself if not for already having a Gibson influenced Schecter, and a PRS SE special style.  I would assume it's a similar thing - decent guitars that have dreadful used values.

Hackett also used a couple of Schecters (Strat styles though) in the late 80s and early 90s, one of them very heavily modded to incorporate guitar synth controllers (sounded abysmal, but then guitar synths generally do).

[Ferris]

I'll be re-working mine in the next few days (probably Monday at this point) and will take a few photos of me butchering the electronics of the fucker.

If I, an idiot, am willing to get stuck into the soldering then I reckon you'd be fine.

[Sherman Krank]

Two of my favourite guitarists - Steve Hackett and Robert Fripp - both play Fernandes Les Pauls and have done for some years having previously been Gibson players (Hackett prefers the sustain on Fernandes guitars, and Fripp's works inline better with his box of tricks than a Gibson).  Pricier custom jobs in both cases (Fripp's heavily so), but I see Fernandes guitars are generally in the "affordable" category.  Any Fernandes opinions/experience?  Used prices for the Les Pauls tend to be £300-600 (depending on model and whether new or used), and I've seen the Strat types go for as little as £200 on eBay.

As far as I know Fernandes have always made their Gibson knock offs under their Burny brand. Back in the 80's and 90's Burny (along with Edwards) were considered to be the best Gibson-a-likes around although they were relatively expensive as they weren't sold outside of Japan so if you wanted a new one you would have to import it which incurred broker fees, fairly hefty shipping costs, VAT and duty.
It looks as though Fernandes have recently retreated back into Japan but I'm not sure if they ever sold the Burnys outside of Japan anyway.
Having a quick look around it seems the old Burny LPs are selling second hand for around the same prices they were going for 30 years ago which would suggest they're no longer as desirable as they once were.

I have a Kent Armstrong super rocker in a super strat and the previous owner has snipped off the lugs and mounted it on a load of cardboard with superglue. This obviously means I can't adjust the height, and that was the reason I went rummaging in the first place. Thinking of making a new base plate of sorts out of plastic and remounting it.

The same guitar has a knackered volume pot. I'm happy enough soldering, but not sure I have the finesse to be handling so many wires in such a tight space and I'm not sure there's enough wire to pull things out. Fair amount of fret wear too. How hard can a refret be?...

There's a bunch of guitar parts places that sell a variety of pickup baseplates, shouldn't cost more than a fiver and probably a lot less.
For humbuckers the two main string spacing sizes are 50mm and 52mm.
Generally Fender use string spacing of 52mm across the saddles while Gibson go with 50mm but it makes little difference in practice. For example my Player strat is 52mm across the saddles but the factory fitted bucker is a 50mm and my LP studio is the standard 50mm but has a factory fitted 52mm in the bridge position.
I mention it as the 2mm difference might matter when fitting the plate to the pickup.
You can find the size of the pickup by measuring from the centre of one E string pole to the centre of the other.

As far a refretting goes the hardest part is usually removing the old frets without taking chunks of the fretboard with it but there are many ways to screw up when doing a DIY refret.
Best left to someone who knows what they're doing.

[drummersaredeaf]

The issue I had last time is needing another hand to keep things steady. Too much heating up of wires and burning bits of plastic.

I'll have a look at baseplates. Does it not involve some high risk disassembly of the pickup?

[Sherman Krank]

The issue I had last time is needing another hand to keep things steady. Too much heating up of wires and burning bits of plastic.

I use one of these.
Helping Hand
It mostly does the job. You can probably get better ones.

I'll have a look at baseplates. Does it not involve some high risk disassembly of the pickup?

It shouldn't but I suppose it depends on the pickup in question. Usually with a standard humbucker the baseplate sits underneath the bobbins and is attached by 2 or more screws that go into the bobbins between the poles.
Worst case scenario you could just superglue it to the bottom like the bloke did with the cardboard. Also, If you get a baseplate with legs it's long legs for Gibson type guitars with deeper routes and short for Fender type guitars. 

[Shit Good Nose]

As far as I know Fernandes have always made their Gibson knock offs under their Burny brand.

Generally correct, however Hackett's and Fripp's main LPs (that they use for about 85-90% of the time) are both custom jobs made specifically for them and their respective requirements and lack the Burny name - if you Google image both you'll see what I mean.  They do both also use "standard" Fernandes Burnys as well (LP Black Beauty - both of them being famous for playing Gibson LP Black Beautys at one time of course).  Hackett also whips out a bright pink Burny Strat whenever he needs to go "hog wild", although in all the times I've seen him live I think I've only seen him use it twice (most recently on a crazy piece called Tubehead).

[Spiteface]

As far as I know Fernandes have always made their Gibson knock offs under their Burny brand. Back in the 80's and 90's Burny (along with Edwards) were considered to be the best Gibson-a-likes around although they were relatively expensive as they weren't sold outside of Japan so if you wanted a new one you would have to import it which incurred broker fees, fairly hefty shipping costs, VAT and duty.
It looks as though Fernandes have recently retreated back into Japan but I'm not sure if they ever sold the Burnys outside of Japan anyway.

I've seen a few, but yeah, those "Lawsuit" brands are hard to get outside of Japan. I fucking love my Edwards though.

I remember around 2002ish Steve Jones was playing Burny over Gibson. Partly because Gibson wouldn't give him a deal, and Fernandes gave him one to try and he really liked it.

http://www.cookandjones.co.uk/fernandes.htm

I have come dangerously close to buying pinup decals for my Edwards. I found the site that printed the ones for the signature Gibson, but it's been down for a while now.

[chutnut]

Well I went for the Jazzmaster in the end, should be arriving tomorrow!
Spoken to a local guy about setup, he's said he hasn't come across one that didn't need a fret redress yet so setup is potentially going to be a bit more expensive than I was expecting but no big deal.
I assume if I play around on it for a few weeks before getting it set up it's not going to exacerbate/cause any further issues? That's assuming it'll even be in a playable state when it arrives which reading around it sounds like it could easily not be.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Sherman Krank]

Hopefully when he says redress he means shaving a slightly high bit off one or two frets rather than a full redress which it definitely won't need as that's only required when the frets are significantly worn and pitted.
Playing it for a while first won't do it any harm also most guitar companies will now do at least the minimum amount of fretwork and setup at the factory as they know it sells more guitars and a lot of retailers will check every guitar over and sort any issues the factory missed before sending it out.
That said, some guitars with issues will still slip through.

[chutnut]

Yeah I think he does mean a full redress, I did think it sounded a bit much as well so I've contacted a few other people too and waiting to hear back

[badaids]

You won't regret getting a jazz master. I've always gone teles for 25 years but about 3 years ago I saw a cheap squire jazzmaster and fell in love with it. Wish I had got one years ago when I was actually playing in bands. Really versatile and fun guitars. I think I was put off by their reputation as fragile and hard to keep in tune and arty guitars for like of thurston Moore and Tom Verlaine. I couldn't ever part with it now.

[chutnut]

You won't regret getting a jazz master. I've always gone teles for 25 years but about 3 years ago I saw a cheap squire jazzmaster and fell in love with it. Wish I had got one years ago when I was actually playing in bands. Really versatile and fun guitars. I think I was put off by their reputation as fragile and hard to keep in tune and arty guitars for like of thurston Moore and Tom Verlaine. I couldn't ever part with it now.

Every time I buy anything that's over about £40 I get really anxious that I've picked the wrong thing so that's very good to hear!

[Spiteface]

You won't regret getting a jazz master. I've always gone teles for 25 years but about 3 years ago I saw a cheap squire jazzmaster and fell in love with it. Wish I had got one years ago when I was actually playing in bands. Really versatile and fun guitars. I think I was put off by their reputation as fragile and hard to keep in tune and arty guitars for like of thurston Moore and Tom Verlaine. I couldn't ever part with it now.

I hate the idea people have that Jazzmasters don't stay in tune.

I have owned Jazzmasters and Jaguars and tuning stability is no better or worse than a typical strat.

Same goes for the alleged "Complicated" switching Jazzmasters and Jaguars have. They're not hard to figure out.

[Ferris]

My Jaguar stayed in tune just fine and the switching takes about 15 minutes to work out and my Mustang is the thing I'd save out the house if it was on fire.

Always wanted a jazzmaster, very jealous! Enjoy.

[Rizla]

I hate the idea people have that jazz masters don't stay in tune.

[Ferris]

This will be Pete Best all over again

[NoSleep]

This one does look nice to be fair! although I know looks don't necessarily mean anything
https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_sc_custom_ii_vintage_black.htm?utm_source=shopzilla&utm_medium=psm&utm_campaign=shopzilla-gb

I'm not sure if that's the same model but I've heard very good things about Harley Benton's recent output of Les Paul SC's (Just checked: it's the Harley Benton SC Custom Plus), which are made at a different factory to their other budget guitars. This guy reckons they play like a guitar worth much more:

https://youtu.be/ZVYyCzClUEg

[Sherman Krank]

Me reading the above post 'bet that links to crazy bald german guy'.
Sure enough...

Yeah I think he does mean a full redress, I did think it sounded a bit much as well so I've contacted a few other people too and waiting to hear back

Best give him a swerve I reckon.
A setup should be around £40-60 and for that they should set the intonation, make sure the neck relief is correct, adjust the action to your preference, set the pickup heights, polish the frets and clean and treat the fretboard (if required), tighten everything that should be tight, check the electrics, make sure the nut is cut correctly and the strings aren't binding, lubricate anything that needs lubrication and restring with new strings.
Some will sort any high frets as part of the service while others wont.

I'd leave it a while before getting it setup so you at least get some use out of the strings that come with the guitar as when you take it for a setup those stings are getting removed and new put on no matter what.

[chutnut]

Arrived this morning and looking very nice!


fretboard is very dry and strings are rattling a lot which I expected but its still fun to play, unfortunately there are a couple of other more annoying issues

There's a bit of a gap inbetween the first fret dot and the board (might not be that obvious from the photo), I'm assuming whoever sets it up can sort this out though, and it doesn't seem to make a difference to how it plays its just a bit annoying to look at to be honest


But now the BIG issue......... the bridge pickup doesn't work!
I know the electrics will all be checked when it's set up too, is it worth just letting them sort it out or should I start kicking off at the shop?

[chutnut]

the pickup seems to have sprung to life now (and before anyone asks - no I didn't have the rhythm circuit enabled before!) but everything is pretty crackly so there must be an issue with the electronics somewhere

[drummersaredeaf]

I'd send it back tbh. Turning up with bits not working is unforgiveable.

[Sherman Krank]

It's probably the 3 way switch. The one they use on the Squiers and Fender players seems to be a bit crap, I've seen a few folk complaining about them and I had the same problem with my Mustang bass when it first arrived but after the bass warmed up to room temperature the pickup started working when selected. It's happened again a couple of times but if I flip the switch up and down a few times it comes back to life.
I was always planning to replace it with a blender pot anyway (just need to find the time).

If you decide to keep the guitar a top quality Switchcraft 3 way (short version for Fender type guitars) costs around £20 (plus about the same for a tech to fit it) and a decent quality Alpha is around a tenner.
Just get someone to make sure it is the switch first.

[TheGingerAlien]

the pickup seems to have sprung to life now (and before anyone asks - no I didn't have the rhythm circuit enabled before!) but everything is pretty crackly so there must be an issue with the electronics somewhere

Get some electrical contact cleaner and spray it on the toggle switches n that.  Probably just needs a clean.  Guitar looks good!

[Ferris]

I'd send it back tbh. Turning up with bits not working is unforgiveable.

This is my opinion too.

[chutnut]

Yeah the pickup has cut out another few times and the crackling hasn't got any better so I guess back it goes!

[drummersaredeaf]

This stuff isn't really difficult to fix yourself if you have the patience and equipment, but the point is that it shouldn't be coming out of the shop like that. It looks like a totally pickguard mounted set up, so you can't easily have a rummage looking for an easy fix. Possibly worth asking the shop if they'll dock cash if you can sort it yourself.

[Ferris]

I'd just get them to sort it - like drummers says an hour or two with some equipment and youtube and you can fix most things yourself (probably) but you shouldn't have to.

In my experience, most physical music stores will fall over themselves to give you decent service lest you return the guitar altogether and buy the same model off a giant guitar warehouse for a slightly cheaper price.

[chutnut]

It's gone back in the post today, I miss it already!
Instead of waiting over a month for them to try and repair I'm getting a replacement in a light blue colour (the only other one they had in stock got flood damaged at the weekend - typical!). It's a bit of a shame cause I much preferred the original colour but the thought of having to wait so long after only just getting it put me off.
I had been watching a lot of youtube videos of people setting up/repairing stuff and yeah it doesn't look too hard but I also don't want to void the warranty by messing around with the electronics (and shouldn't have to like you said).
Oh well, hopefully should have the new one by the end of the week!

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Acoustic guitarists, any of you had much experience with adding a pickup in the sound hole?

I've got an electro acoustic 12-string and have just recorded it with a mic if the sound's really mattered as I don't really like the sound direct out of an electro acoustic. so I'm thinking of maybe popping a pickup in there and hooking that up to the jack out that's already there.

but are there any particular ones to check out/avoid? Does a 12 string need a specific pickup or can I get away with just whatever single coil/humbuckers are for sale?
obviously I'm not expecting it to sound like a straightforward electric or anything but anything that gets away from (in my opinion) the strangely nylon sound from an electro acoustic would be a step up.