Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Dragoneti on December 28, 2009, 12:41:18 AM
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Hello everybody!!
I’m looking for your guitar advice. I have several guitars in my possession (4 electrics + 1 acoustic) but my main ones are a 5 year old Mexican fender HSS (JB /hot rails in parallel /lil59) and a 1.5 year old Japanese RR3 with Super Distortion/Jazz and OFR.
The thing is that I play mostly 80s hard rock/ hair metal and the RR3 is a little awkward in my hands (although after some mods such as repositioning the strap on the neck plate is much better than stock) and can only be played standing up but its neck is wonderful, and the fender has a far more “difficult” neck to play with 9.5’’ radius and vintage fret wire.
So I figured that my options are the following (and at the same time make a Christmas present to myself), either replace the neck on the strat with another that will have a 12’’ radius + jumbo frets which will cost something among the lines of 250 Euros as I have seen on the net (I would like suggestions on where to buy such a neck preferably from inside the EU), or leave the strat alone and buy another Japanese Jackson such as a DK2 or DK2M.
What would you do?
Thank you in advance!!
Stelios
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New neck.
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dunno, a Jackson just screams 1980s hair metal to me
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Thank you for your answers!!
After a series of unexpected events...i'm now the new owner of a MIA Charvel San Dimas Style 1 2H!!
The guitar just screams... :) :) I tested in the store...and i knew that it had to be mine...:)
Thank you all for ypour help!
Stelios
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i was about to suggest you an ibanez (excellent cost/quality ratio and one of the best quality controls at the factory), and i can hardly think at something that's more hair metal than some RGs!
but i see you already bought a charvel... nice one!
enjoy, geia sou!
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Egh Ibanez and Rgs came out right after they had the time to influence. And jacksons were usually used my poser guitar players in the 80s who wanted to be big. The true 80s guitar for a guitar hero was the Charvel 100%.
(speaking from the 80s point of view)(it was the best then)
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+1 to Charvels dominating the 1980s LA rock scene - along with BC Rich, Kramers, Gibsons, etc
Jacksons were common too - look at bands like Armoured Saint, Ratt etc
Vai had been a big Jackson user and modified the inner cutaway to make more room for his big hands
Ibanez had their Roadstar series out during the mid-late 80s heyday
When they got involved with Vai (after all his guitars got stolen during the warm up for Dave Lee Roth's 1986 Eat Em and smile tour) he had them base their RG design on the Jackson soloist he had been using but in a bolt on design like his Green Charvel.
The Jem & RG didn't appear until about 1988 - and in reality the LA glam scene was past it's peak at the time
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Ribboz, you don't make a distinction between the USA made and Japanese made Charvels, are you refering to one or the other or are you lumping them in together?
I agree the RG was a bit late to the party in 1987, but I wouldn't dismiss them as they are very consistent planks.
Note that Jackson and Charvel guitars were made in the same factory from 1978 until the company merged with IMC in 1985 and then we then start to see the mass produced Japanese line of Charvels, which are fantastic guitars in their own rights. With this in mind I'd have to argue that those early Charvels and Jacksons - effectively all being one off custom guitars - were of the same quality. The only real difference is that Jacksons were generally neck through and the Charvels were bolt-ons up until about 1986.
As feline said it's worth noting B.C. Rich and Kramer as well, but funnily enough the early B.C. Rich guitars were made by Jackson.
I've been trying to remember who the main Charvel endorsers were and all I can remember are EVH, Alan Holdsworth, Gary Moore, Jake E. Lee, George Lynch, Warren DeMartini and Steve Vai. There are probably loads more but my memory fails me.
Also I'd hardly call Jackson's endoree list a bunch of wanabees! Randy Roads, Chris Holmes, Robbin Crosby, oh and several of the people I mentioned above as Charvel endorsers.
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If you like the early pre-pro charvels and some of the later ones, have a look at Trace's site, I guarantee you will shiteee yourself at his collection! http://www.usacharvels.com/index.htm.
Also http://www.jacksoncharvelworld.net/Home.html has a nice list, just click on the archive.
For Jacksons have a look at Jani's site at http://www.jacksonguitarpalace.com/ he has some very famous Jacksons.
The JCF has a nice selection of pics as well http://www.jcfonline.com/gallery/
They all remind me of my yoof.
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The USA Charvels are great!
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I was talking about charvel before it was sold to grover. Once he bought it, it went all down hill.
Honestly, kramers were junkie in the 80s. I really dont know what to say, they just were.
All kramers had was a headstock shape that I love, and Eddie behind them.
(headstock shape was the beak shape)(the same one suhr uses now)
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I was talking about charvel before it was sold to grover. Once he bought it, it went all down hill.
Honestly, kramers were junkie in the 80s. I really dont know what to say, they just were.
All kramers had was a headstock shape that I love, and Eddie behind them.
(headstock shape was the beak shape)(the same one suhr uses now)
OK so you're on about the guitars the Charvel company put together from necks and bodies purchased form Fender and Boogie Bodies. Charvel didn't actually manufacture any of their own guitars until after Wayne Charvel had left the company.
The definative Kramer headstock shape for me would be the banana one.
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/SuperChunk426/th05Kramer198441.jpg)
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ugh, you mean the hockey stick headstock XD
Nah see what wayne brought in was a slightly high quality than what existed before hand. (Better setups) Companies like fender were releasing cr@p up until this point. See I said charvel, because the guitarists who used charvels were the ones that really created the dominate technique of the 80. (other than yngwie who use his own idols guitar)(jimmi and Richie)We could argue this endlessly, its just he wanted pinnacle of the 80s and I would think the biggest symbol for 80s lead guitarist is the Charvel. I'm sorry if you didnt use them, and want to justify the worth of the other guitars. But Charvel is a iconic symbol. :\
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I'm not disputing the quality or the dominance of the players or indeed the strat head Charvel's iconic image. A lot of people who I know who are lucky enough to have some of those early Charvels rave about them. However I don't believe there were that many made and certainly not many of them made it to this side of the pond.
As for setups improving you'd have thought a company called Charvel's Guitar Repair would have had their setups sorted before Wayne Jackson arrived. ;)
I'd still argue that Jackson had way more exposure than Charvel from the mid to late 80s. Simply from the fact they stopped making Charvels around 86. It also goes to show how mercenary many of those influential players were when it came to their gear as I believe they almost all jumped ship from Charvel in the early to mid 80s.
Oh BTW, just to be a pedant, those Kramer classic chicken beak headstock necks were made by ESP as were a lot of the subsequent Banana or hockey stick (call it what you will) ones, in fact the majority of them up to 1990 were made by ESP with two other companies called LaSiDo (Godin these days, may not have been then, I can't find out) and Sports.
ESP that's another brand I'd forgotten to mention.
I best shut up now! ;)
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I'm not disputing the quality or the dominance of the players or indeed the strat head Charvel's iconic image. A lot of people who I know who are lucky enough to have some of those early Charvels rave about them. However I don't believe there were that many made and certainly not many of them made it to this side of the pond.
As for setups improving you'd have thought a company called Charvel's Guitar Repair would have had their setups sorted before Wayne Jackson arrived. ;)
I'd still argue that Jackson had way more exposure than Charvel from the mid to late 80s. Simply from the fact they stopped making Charvels around 86. It also goes to show how mercenary many of those influential players were when it came to their gear as I believe they almost all jumped ship from Charvel in the early to mid 80s.
Oh BTW, just to be a pedant, those Kramer classic chicken beak headstock necks were made by ESP as were a lot of the subsequent Banana or hockey stick (call it what you will) ones, in fact the majority of them up to 1990 were made by ESP with two other companies called LaSiDo (Godin these days, may not have been then, I can't find out) and Sports.
ESP that's another brand I'd forgotten to mention.
I best shut up now! ;)
ok? Charvel was still the one company used by a majority of influential artists. The guy asks for 80s that guitar was the most iconic. He asked, I answered. It could be argued that most companies after were influenced from wayne, so one could say I went right to the source. AND even the guy who started this thread GOT ONE XD
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http://www.larrivee-electrics.co.uk/contributors/TL/images/tl3.jpg
Can we give an honourable mention to Larrivee for their cool 80s hair metal guitars? They didn't dominate the scene, but they were great guitars
I love the yellow ones that Kee Marcello used to play - my friend had 2 - one he broke the head stock off 3 times and 1 got run over by a truck - rock and roll
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So weird you mention Larrivee!
I was thinking about the old electrics the other day and did a bit of searching around the net..
Kee's yellow one was great wasn't it? :)
And his greatest solo..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYWQnwVMwUA
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What am I doing on the net. I'm off to to put that on.
80s rock night in my house tonight
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ok? Charvel was still the one company used by a majority of influential artists. The guy asks for 80s that guitar was the most iconic. He asked, I answered. It could be argued that most companies after were influenced from wayne, so one could say I went right to the source. AND even the guy who started this thread GOT ONE XD
Keep you knickers on Dorothy! You keep harking on about this un-named majority of influential artists, can you back that up with facts and figures please?
Also the OP never asked about icons, Stelios asked about a neck replacement. I'm glad he's happy with his new US Charvel.
As for others being brands being derivative of Charvel, this is undoubtedly true to a small extent, but you could also argue the original parts Charvels owe more than a passing nod to the Fender Strat, what with the headstock and vintage type trem found on most of early Charvels.
You make sweeping statements but offer no support for your arguments, unless we're to take your word as gospel? I'm calling you up on what you've said as I disagree with what you're saying. Accept the fact that if you're going to spout on the internet, then people will contradict you if they think you're wrong. It's nothing personal.
I'm also assuming English is not your first language as I have problems reading your posts because of your grammar and I apologise if I'm misinterpreting what you're trying to say.
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I'm saying Kramer were the most influential.
Around 1982, Sir Floyd of Rose cemented an agreement with Kramer Guitars, whereby Kramer became the exclusive distributor of Floyd Rose Locking Tremolos. To me the 80s icon was the Floyd.
Therefore..... Kramer wins and I'm declaring myself king of forum land. Anyone that begs to differ will be forced to clear my empty bottles of booze
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I'm saying Kramer were the most influential.
Around 1982, Sir Floyd of Rose cemented an agreement with Kramer Guitars, whereby Kramer became the exclusive distributor of Floyd Rose Locking Tremolos. To me the 80s icon was the Floyd.
Therefore..... Kramer wins and I'm declaring myself king of forum land. Anyone that begs to differ will be forced to clear my empty bottles of booze
That was a SMOOTH sideways move and a f**king good point!
I think you deserve a gold star & a seat at the top of the class. :D
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So weird you mention Larrivee!
I was thinking about the old electrics the other day and did a bit of searching around the net..
Kee's yellow one was great wasn't it? :)
And his greatest solo..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYWQnwVMwUA
No - I love this one and I was there in the audience at Hammersmith in Feb 1987
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbOE_TG0p4I (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbOE_TG0p4I)
The Larrivee electric guitars were great - I'm amazed they disown them now and pretty much deny all knowledge of them
Wouldn't say they had much exposure on the 80s scene though
I think I had too much exposure to the 1980s though
This was me 20 years ago!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/hussar-1.jpg)
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The shape of that guitar just doesn't seem balanced. Alot of it is visual saturation from seeing strats and les pauls and growing up with guitars with more curve to them. But it still feels odd.
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You'd like it better if it was a Charvel wouldn't you :)
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So weird you mention Larrivee!
I was thinking about the old electrics the other day and did a bit of searching around the net..
Kee's yellow one was great wasn't it? :)
And his greatest solo..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYWQnwVMwUA
No - I love this one and I was there in the audience at Hammersmith in Feb 1987
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbOE_TG0p4I (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbOE_TG0p4I)
The Larrivee electric guitars were great - I'm amazed they disown them now and pretty much deny all knowledge of them
Wouldn't say they had much exposure on the 80s scene though
I think I had too much exposure to the 1980s though
This was me 20 years ago!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/hussar-1.jpg)
Brilliant -You had the same pants and hair as Kee Marcello.
That necklace makes you look silly though
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You'd like it better if it was a Charvel wouldn't you :)
Had the charvel, sold it to build custom. Authentic (pre grover jackson ownership of charvel) parts are priceless now, or atleast they were a year or so ago. I sold it in pieces. The neckplate alone when for 300. AND I think I could have got MORE XD
I just want balance. There's a type of symmetry that goes along with designing a great guitar.
I prefer a variations on soloist shapes and some custom work.
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http://www.larrivee-electrics.co.uk/contributors/TL/images/tl3.jpg
Can we give an honourable mention to Larrivee for their cool 80s hair metal guitars? They didn't dominate the scene, but they were great guitars
I love the yellow ones that Kee Marcello used to play - my friend had 2 - one he broke the head stock off 3 times and 1 got run over by a truck - rock and roll
I can out obscure you!
Try a Rand if you can find one, 77 made originally from what I remember.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/rupe68/Rands-1.jpg)
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/rupe68/Rands2.jpg)
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Sh1t, they're NICE.. Tell me more!!
OK,... I'm reading up on em now!
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So weird you mention Larrivee!
I was thinking about the old electrics the other day and did a bit of searching around the net..
Kee's yellow one was great wasn't it? :)
And his greatest solo..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYWQnwVMwUA
kee marcello rules! ah, my good old europe days!
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http://www.larrivee-electrics.co.uk/contributors/TL/images/tl3.jpg
Can we give an honourable mention to Larrivee for their cool 80s hair metal guitars? They didn't dominate the scene, but they were great guitars
I love the yellow ones that Kee Marcello used to play - my friend had 2 - one he broke the head stock off 3 times and 1 got run over by a truck - rock and roll
I can out obscure you!
Try a Rand if you can find one, 77 made originally from what I remember.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/rupe68/Rands-1.jpg)
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/rupe68/Rands2.jpg)
Nice one Shob -I remember Vivian Campbell using one in a Whitesnake video
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Ah that's what it was in the "Is This Love Video"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujnH4yNqL8E
Adrian had his original Fernandes Puzzle guitar there - never a fan of that.
But this... Mmm
(http://www.maeguitars.com/gallery/PVCfull.jpg)
How cool is this!
(http://gitaris.com/images/guitarists/AdrianVandenberg.jpg)
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Nice one Shob -I remember Vivian Campbell using one in a Whitesnake video
The orange one is that very guitar! VC used two different ones on the 'Still of the Night' and the 'Is this Love' videos. The orange one was also a used on that tour and is a pre-production model with slightly different spec. to the production ones (the white and the two dark blue ones). The light blue one is the original prototype for the model and interestingly has some quirks. For instance have a look at the tuners.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/rupe68/Blue3.jpg)
The guy who own those has subsequently got another two that are not in the group shot.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a379/rupe68/DSC01180.jpg)
I think they made another body shape as well which I believe is even rarer, but I can't find $%&# all out about it.
(http://drabicki2.home.comcast.net/Rand_004.jpg)
Do I win the geek prize yet?
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Do I win the geek prize yet?
You do! Where did you find out all this sh!t? :lol:
I remembered Campbell having some funny orange guitar when he was in Whitesnake, but had no idea what it was.
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Do I win the geek prize yet?
What size fret wire was on those Rands? :lol:
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yeah those are pretty cool!
Just hate Vivian Campbell XD Hes such a puny lead guitarist, he should never play solos XD
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But, I'm bored of guitars now, the Whitesnake vids just reminded me of Tawny Kitaen!
Now there's a plank I'd like to get my mits on. Back then, she's a bit of a munter these days I believe.
Tits in in the pics, don't click if you don't like masturbating! http://desperado.graphicsnxs.com/rokwatch1.html
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She was a MAJOR part of my sexual awakening but now..
(http://inherentpassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/tawny-kitaen.jpg)
(http://wiijzeman.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/tawny_kitaen.jpg)
Only the Peavey Vandenberg holds onto its attraction. :?
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What size fret wire was on those Rands? :lol:
You asked! ;)
The frets on the production ones are quite small with a C shaped neck. The nut widths on the production models are slightly smaller and the bodies not as thick.
Next.
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She was a MAJOR part of my sexual awakening but now..
(http://inherentpassion.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/tawny-kitaen.jpg)
(http://wiijzeman.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/tawny_kitaen.jpg)
Only the Peavey Vandenberg holds onto its attraction. :?
I would! It's like riding a tri-cycle. You want to do it, but it's not something you'd tell your mates you did.
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Yeah, I would as well but only to know that I'd achieved at least one of my childhood ambitions :?
Life's a bitch... it changes this
(http://cm1.theinsider.com/thumbnail/660/443/cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/2/52/Whitesnake_Kitaen.JPG)
to this...
(http://awkwardfamilyphotos.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/car.jpg)
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Urg, that's put me right off, I was nearly at the vinegar stroke. Nice station wagon (estate car you heathen colonials) though.
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Wow this thread went very far... :D Very Nice call on Tawny Kitaen :D
Lots of great guitar suggestions...in essence the best of 80s guitar models... I'm very happy with my new charvel... and of course ibanez, jacksons (as an owner of both of therm, i started playing guitar on an ibanez, a GIO cheap model but solidly made, now i've given it to my sister who wants to learn some guitar playin : ) krammers (older models) are solid choices for such guitar!
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yeah those are pretty cool!
Just hate Vivian Campbell XD Hes such a puny lead guitarist, he should never play solos XD
you mean THAT Vivian Campbell? the guy who played some of my all time favourite solos on a bunch of Dio's albums?
:roll:
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You need one of these
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d29/yellowv/007-22.jpg)
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you mean THAT Vivian Campbell? the guy who played some of my all time favourite solos on a bunch of Dio's albums?
:roll:
Yep! :D Dio is awesome, but Vivian stinks! What Vivian did with Dio was pushed out by Dio. Every other thing he has done has just been puny and lame! XD
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you mean THAT Vivian Campbell? the guy who played some of my all time favourite solos on a bunch of Dio's albums?
:roll:
Yep! :D Dio is awesome, but Vivian stinks! What Vivian did with Dio was pushed out by Dio. Every other thing he has done has just been puny and lame! XD
The Riverdogs album is great, as is the Shadow King album he did with Lou Gramm.
He just lost interest in being a "guitar hero" and wanted to focus more on writing, singing and just being a "band member". I admire him for it, but as it happens I'd rather listen to early Dio than recent Def Leppard! :)
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you mean THAT Vivian Campbell? the guy who played some of my all time favourite solos on a bunch of Dio's albums?
:roll:
Yep! :D Dio is awesome, but Vivian stinks! What Vivian did with Dio was pushed out by Dio. Every other thing he has done has just been puny and lame! XD
well, to be honest i never listened to post-Dio material, so you could be right, of course!
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Hello everybody!!
the fender has a far more “difficult” neck to play with 9.5’’ radius and vintage fret wire.
So I figured that my options are the following (and at the same time make a Christmas present to myself), either replace the neck on the strat with another that will have a 12’’ radius + jumbo frets which will cost something among the lines of 250 Euros as I have seen on the net (I would like suggestions on where to buy such a neck preferably from inside the EU)
You can get the fingerboard re-profiled to 12" or 16" and re-fretted for a lot less than the cost of a new neck. If you buy a new neck it will still need the frets levelling, re-crowning and polishing before it will play well which just adds to the cost.
Cheers,