LP or ES style recommendations

[Kiichi]

Hi guys,
before I finally post a long overdue but finally finished NGD in the next few days I would like to get your input on looking for the next guitar.

While I still have a huge Tele GAS (Squier Classic Vibe), I also have a Mule neck and a MQ neck lying around homeless (also an AM set, but that is more than secondary right now). I also find myself being heavily drawn towards blues right now so my thought is to get a guitar to put the two loose necks in, using the MQ neck in the bridge. I can really see that work I must say. For this application I picture either a LP or an ES style guitar working best.

Now I am on a pretty limited student budget. I am currently leaning towards a Vintage LP.  They are still in my price range and seem to have a good rep from what I see around here. I really canŽt go more expensive than that right now unfortunentally.

So is a Vintage LP the best idea or is there another LP or ES type I should have a look at? Are the Epiphones The Dot any good? Would the Epiphone Lucille be worth saving for?

Cheers,
Kiichi

[PhilKing]

I've heard great things about Vintage guitars.  I have only tried the Lemon Drop but it felt very nice.  I know that Geoff Whitehorn uses one, as last time I saw him with Procul Harum he was using it.  Also John Verity (a great guitarist that I lost touch with many years ago), has a signature too.  I'm also thinking of a Paul Brett or Gordon Giltrap acoustic 12 string.  I would say that they are probably better value than Epiphone, unless you start to spend a bit more on the Epiphone (I have the Jeff Beck model, but it needed a lot of work to make it feel right).

[Telerocker]

I played the Lemon Drop and was impressed. Lot of guitar for the money. For me it's on the heavy side. I would play one before buying, bec the quality is a little inconsistent. Especially pay attention to the fretwork.
I would also look at (used) Indie-gutars. Good stuff for and low priced.
You also can't go wrong with a (used) PRS SE.

[Dave Sloven]

It may be an obvious suggestion, but what about slapping the Mule and MQ into a humbucker Squire Tele like a John 5 sig or similar?

[metale]

Or try both pickups on the neck of the Classic Vibe Tele, keeping the one you like the most, and getting a bridge Flat 50 later down the road :)

[gwEm]

I've tried one of their strats and would buy a guitar from the 'Vintage' range, in fact I'm thinking of one of their SGs at the moment.

[Kiichi]

Thanks so far guys!

So the Vintage continues to go strong. I guess I would best adviced getting one of the ones with a maple top. The Lemon Drop special in any way I am missing or is it just a nicer looking icon?

About the HB tele suggestion: I am mostly after a tele for the pickups. Putting the HBs in there might play nice, but defeat half the purpose for me. Plus I had both in rather bright guitars already and think I personally would like them more in something fatter.
I think the only Tele version that is non classic would be the Jim Adkins one. Semihollow and P90s. Either Bluesnotes or Pig90s for that I recon.

Second hand market is always something I watch but here in Sweden it is not that great. Second hand PRS SE would be swell, but I canŽt count on it at all.

[gwEm]

The Agile range is good, I've got one of their Les Pauls (an AL-2000). Hard to find in Europe, you have to order from the US, though I do sometimes see them on the bay.

[Telerocker]

Kiiichi, did you look at the HSS Squier Telecaster Plus? It's not bad at all.

[metale]

This post is just my opinion, and I won't pass it as a fact.

But... don't overestimate a Tele's neck single coil. There is a good reason why the Telecaster has had so many versions with the traditional bridge single but a neck humbucker, P90, strat single, or even no neck pickup at all. It's not it's strong point IMO.

Some people like them, of course, but for me a strat neck single sounds way better. So don't feel like you are missing something, as long as you have a bridge tele single coil. Think of it as an Esquire with a bonus :D

[Kiichi]

I see the point about different tele pickups, but they mostly just donŽt feel right. Cabronita style has some appeal, but HH or HSS teles...I dunno, there are other guitar kinds for those PU combos for me.
Plus listening to what Keith Urban gets out of his tele in terms of lead sounds is something I really liked listening too, even beat out John Mayers sounds when they played together.

Has anyone ever tried the Epiphone Lucille? I now know that the Vintage are a good option, but I would like to hear more about the semihollow options if anyone got info on those.

[Mr. Air]

You can check out the used market for a Reverend. You might be able to find one that'll fit your budget and they are really nice guitars. The Agile suggestion that GwEm came with is good as well. They might be hard to come by in Europe, but they pop up once in a while.

[Kiichi]

You can check out the used market for a Reverend. You might be able to find one that'll fit your budget and they are really nice guitars. The Agile suggestion that GwEm came with is good as well. They might be hard to come by in Europe, but they pop up once in a while.

Thanks, IŽll check out Reverend and see if I can find something.

Agiles seems nice too, but yeah, hard to come by in Europe and Sweden is even one worse.^^

[Mr. Air]

You can check out the used market for a Reverend. You might be able to find one that'll fit your budget and they are really nice guitars. The Agile suggestion that GwEm came with is good as well. They might be hard to come by in Europe, but they pop up once in a while.

Thanks, IŽll check out Reverend and see if I can find something.

Agiles seems nice too, but yeah, hard to come by in Europe and Sweden is even one worse.^^

There's currently two Agiles on a Danish used gear site and one of them in Copenhagen so if you're located in the southern Sweden, it could be a possibillity.

[Kiichi]

You can check out the used market for a Reverend. You might be able to find one that'll fit your budget and they are really nice guitars. The Agile suggestion that GwEm came with is good as well. They might be hard to come by in Europe, but they pop up once in a while.

Thanks, IŽll check out Reverend and see if I can find something.

Agiles seems nice too, but yeah, hard to come by in Europe and Sweden is even one worse.^^

There's currently two Agiles on a Danish used gear site and one of them in Copenhagen so if you're located in the southern Sweden, it could be a possibillity.

I am very much in southern Sweden. Malmö actually, so just about as south as you can get and just across the water from Copenhagen. What is that site called? It had not even crossed my mind yet to check danish websites. If you got some, IŽd be interrested in any and all!

I also must admit that my interest in the Lucille is growing. I just read the story behind her again yesterday and it did something to me.