what next?

[Slartibartfarst42]

The other guitarist in my band is a mad keen Fender man and he insists the Fender would have a wider market and a better resale value but I'm just not convinced. Fender buyers aren't usually that fussed about fancy tops and aren't usually bothered about Floyd Rose bridges so at £600, it seems to me that I'd have a guitar that's either £200 more than a normal Mexican HSS Strat or a Strat that isn't a kick in the teeth away from the price of an American Strat. As a result, this model would inevitably get squeezed and that's probably why nobody stocks them and they're only brought in by special order but I accept that the EVH is perhaps quite a specialised market. The thing is, try as I might I can't find anything that I'd prefer when I think of the specification I'm after.

1) Around the £600-£700 price bracket, though I'd happily have something a bit cheaper.

2) I'd prefer a trem unit and an OFR would be nice, though not a deal breaker but if it has a locking trem system, it needs to be a good one. I don't want a licensed Floyd or a 'Special' Floyd system. It has to be either OFR or an equivalent that's as good.

3) Either HH or HSH configuration.

4) Not an obviously shredding guitar.

5) A maple fretboard would be nice but again, not a deal breaker.

6) At least one volume and one tone control.

[Dave Sloven]

The wording makes it sound like the trem in the EVH is a original floyd branded as EVH like the old Jackson floyds.  That might be the case.  Even if it is, there are Asian OFRs (Gotoh?) and German OFRs (Schaller).  Not sure which it might be.

Then again it might be a licensed trem but in that case the ad is very misleading.

http://www.evhgear.com/en-AU/gear/subpage/?partno=5107701592

[dave_mc]

^ Nah the Asian OFRs aren't made by Gotoh (at least as far as I'm aware ). I think they're made in Korea. Ping maybe? But don't quote me on that.

There's a good webpage explaining the differences between the Schaller-made one and the Korean one: http://dellus.net/updates/original-floyd-rose-german-vs-korean/

[Slartibartfarst42]

I contacted Fender who were very helpful. The one in the Wolfgang Special is apparently the 02000, which is exactly the same specification as the one made in Germany except that it's made in Korea.

I had four possible guitars selected that I will try at the weekend and with the different deals I can get, there is only £75 between the cheapest one and the most expensive.

Schecter Banshee

I've never played one of these before so it should be interesting. The headstock doesn't scream 'shred' but I think it still looks like a Metal guitar. The one in stock is Vintage Sunburst and unfortunately, I can't see my black/white zebra pickups really suiting that colour but if I like it, that wouldn't be a deal killer. I really know NOTHING about these guitars at all so if anyone can shed some light on them I'd be grateful. As I'd realistically have to sell my existing pups, the net cost of this guitar would be £525 so it would be the cheapest here, though I would probably end up buying new pups eventually, thus pushing the price back up.

Jackson DK2MQ Pro Series

The specification and look of this one is excellent. The main thing that puts me off is that it absolutely screams 'shred' and as I discovered when I sold my Soloist a couple of years ago, guitars with pointy headstocks are a pig to sell. It has a 4A quilted maple top, maple fretboard, decent Floyd, compound radius neck etc. There's no logical reason to knock this guitar and I feel silly saying the headstock puts me off but history suggests that the time will come when I sell this guitar and I suspect this will be the hardest one to shift and lose the most money. This one would come in at £575 and my existing pups would go in it beautifully, though if I did sell the pups this would then come down to £500.

EVH Wolfgang Special

I had a quick play on one of these last week and I'd like to try it again. It felt VERY solidly put together and surprisingly for me, I'd certainly not change the pickups as the stock items are superb. The neck is thicker than I expected but certainly not unpleasant to play and I love the Burnt Cherry Burst finish with the flame maple top, though I wish they offered a quilt option. I also like the fact that it doesn't look as obviously shreddy as the Jackson or Schecter, though it's not the prettiest guitar here and the headstock is fugly in my opinion and while the guitar sports a D-Tuna, it's not a feature I'm likely to use and the trem only goes down as it sits on the body. Even factoring in the sale of my existing pickups, this still comes in as the most expensive option here at £600. I love the build quality and the sound and the fact that it's not obviously shreddy but in terms of looks, I think it's a bit of a Marmite guitar and I'm unsure if I would find the restrictions on the Floyd a pain.

PRS SE Custom 24 Floyd

I feel a little stupid including this one as with the exception of the trem unit, this is EXACTLY the same as the one I just sold, even down to the colour. However, I know it's well built, I love the quilted finish, the Floyd is good and it's probably the least shreddy looking guitar here. It actually looks quite unassuming even with the Floyd. I would certainly put my existing pups in here as I don't like the stock items at all. Having said that, I would end up with a great guitar with great pickups and at £550 it's cheap. To end up with pickups of my choice, this is the cheapest guitar here so there really isn't a lot to find fault with. I would rather have a Maple fretboard or possibly ebony but being rosewood isn't a deal breaker and the only other thing I can think of is that this would be my third PRS SE CU24 so it feels a bit like I've already been there and done that but perhaps I keep coming back to them because they just suit me.

I really hope that something really stands out and grabs me on Saturday because at the moment, I have absolutely no idea at all which one would be best. As usual, experience and opinions would be welcome.

[Dave Sloven]

Well I'd cross the EVH off the list if the Floyd doesn't have the full range.

I'd be looking more closely at that Banshee.

[Slartibartfarst42]

That doesn't bother me much about the EVH as I doubt I'd need the trem to move up much anyway. It also seemed like a VERY solidly built guitar with superb pickups and without looking that shreddy. Despite the fact that I find it quite an unattractive guitar, I do find it very appealing as an instrument. Even though I still know very little about the Banshee or even Schecter guitars in general, I haven't been able to find anything negative about them so I'm really looking forward to giving it a try. I think the Jackson would have to be really special for me to get over my dislike of having a shreddy guitar and the PRS is rapidly taking on the role of the 'safe' option in all this.

[ericsabbath]

how about a "real" PRS?
although the SE ones are good guitars, the USA made ones feel completely different and have quite superior construction and materials

I'm not too fond on the CE bolt-on models, as they seem to have a different neck angle
I had a CE-22 that sounded great, but I didn't enjoy the neck feel

you can still find used Mccarties and Custom 22s for fair prices
totally worth the extra cost if you can buy one under US$1800

[Telerocker]

I think you also should have a look into Reverends. They have bolt-ons and set-necks, bodies made from korina, good stockpickups and some cool features like the basscontourknob. They're put well together.

http://www.reverendguitars.com/category/guitar/

[Slartibartfarst42]

I went to play these guitars today. The more I thought about the PRS, the more I thought that it was perhaps time for a change so I just left that one as a backup. The Schecter was lovely but it was the most expensive option there and the stock pickups (Nazgul and Sentient) were horrible so that was out. The EVH was just as lovely as I remembered with excellent pickups, though I remain surprised at how relatively chunky the neck is on that guitar. I then tried the Jackson and that had a lovely neck and surprisingly, the JB/59 pickups actually worked really well in that guitar. This surprised me a bit as when I had my Soloist, the JB wasn't that impressive. Perhaps it just works better in alder than maple. This was the scenario I'd most dreaded because I liked both of these guitars but the Jackson had the better neck for my tastes and it was £100 cheaper. Eventually I decided that to hell with it having the pointy headstock and I'd just call it another of my mid-life crisis episodes and go for the Jackson. This leads me to my final question in this long saga. The DK2 plays really well and the stock pups work well in it but I'm wondering if paying the extra £55 for the Soloist version would be a better investment. The Soloist seems to be made in Indonesia while the Dinky is made in Mexico and I suspect the Soloist might therefore not be of the same ultimate quality. From what I can gather, the Soloist has a maple veneer top whereas the Dinky has a 4A quilted maple cap, albeit a thin one at 1/8th". There's also the concern that I'd have to upgrade the pickups on the Soloist if my last one is anything to go by and while that's not the end of the world for someone like me, it does mean that the Soloist then becomes at least £80 more expensive. A lot of what I've just written suggests the Dinky is the better option but I thought I'd seek other opinions just in case, for the sake of some pickups, I'd have been better off in the long term with a Soloist.