When you are first starting out, taking some lessons will really help you get going quicker than trying to gut it out on your own. Even good videos won't help you as much as someone showing what to do and also make sure you aren't going down the wrong path.

Learn your major open chords, strum some songs, burn your fingers, finally get some calluses and realize that it actually isn't going to hurt like hell always, figure out how to play the smoke on the water riff, you probably aren't doing it the exact right way but who cares it sounds awesome, spend months trying to make a bar chord, then finally you got it and it is easy and doesn't cramp the shit out of your hand, learn minor chords, plug in and realize what a power chords is, holy shit that is easy!, play the star spangled banner like jimi Hendrix only really badly, learn the chuck berry riffs, the 12 bar blue progression and the pentatonic scale boxes, spend the next 5 years noodling pentatonics, learn how to play stairway to heaven really badly, learn the full minor scale then the major scale, learn the modes, figure out what a mixolydian scale really is, learn finger tapping, unison bends, pick scrapes, volume swells and all of the cheap licks everyone uses over and over, then one day pick up the guitar and realize holy shit I can actually play some cool stuff on this damn thing, learn the solo for over the mountain and touchdown, just spike that thing.

I thought a bit seriously about this deal for a while, but decided to pass. I have a cheap Strat clone already, plus this somewhat obscure Valley Arts Custom Pro which is a sort of super strat I guess. I'm in the mood for a late 80s or early 90s Ibanez MIJ SG520 if anyone has one. I love to shred, that is, pretend I am shredding...

musical_valley arts electric (resized).jpg

Right, then in the 90s they sold out to a Japanese company called Samick, and then it went to Gibson, then died out. The originals made in LA are somewhat collectible apparently. These are often called "pre-Samick" as apparently the ones made by Samick aren't as good. I bought mine used on a total whim as my first guitar for $340 in 93. It's worth at least $1500 now, and I've seen them offered on Ebay for $3,000-5,000 although I don't know if they sell for that.

This one is not going anywhere though, I like it.

Yes, just like those Ibanez, by the time I figured it out it was too late, now everyone knows and the good ones are held close. From what I heard, there was a time when you couldn't give those things away, they just weren't considered to be worth much being "old" guitars.

I do find some good prospects on Ebay now and then, but to me the used guitars are like pinball machines. I don't really like the idea of buying one without actually seeing it first. Since they are old, there are natural possibilities for wear and tear, and also people have a habit of modifying them over the years. Just like pinballs.

OK I did not know they had that, that is pretty cool. I would definitely go for that if I were, like, a real musician Like performing on a stage and all. Just hacking by myself its not a big deal if I break a string, I can take my time to fix it. Which does require a tool with the Floyd Rose so it is a bit of a pain compared to what you described.

Looking forward to your review when you get it if you are kind enough to post it!

While you are waiting for the review, here is a little more Fender action for you. You gotta have one of these to to lay down groove you are going to noodle over Now that I look at it hanging on the wall, that black American Strat would be a good partner for this, wouldn't it? Although I would prefer a black pick guard rather than white. Probably could change it?

musical_fender bass (resized).jpg

The Ibanez prices aren't that high I don't think. There seem to be a lot of them around. The problem is getting that MIJ SG5xx. Any used guitar store usually has a bunch of Ibanez, and some of them seem pretty decent too. I've picked up a few that I liked. But never have I found the one I am looking for, they are never MIJ versions. Nowadays I am at the point where I have decided if I want a particular thing, then that is what I will try to get, and not settle for less. I talked to one guy at a pawn shop with a pretty extensive guitar collection and when I told him what I wanted, he said "well, if I get one you will have to pay more for it". I said, sure, I will pay, no problem, GET ME ONE! I have the $$$$! He shook his head and said, no one ever brings those in. Everyone knows those are the ones everyone wants.

I put all the info from this web page into my phone so I always have it with me. As I travel around, when I get a chance I stop in the shops to see what I can find. No luck yet....

https://www.guitarmasterclass.net/wiki/index.php/Ibanez_guitar_buying_guide

There is just something cool about those older Ibanez guitars (in my mind). But if I can't find one, I'm thinking about this as an alternative.

https://www.amazon.com/ESP-KH602-Hammett-Signature-Guitar/dp/B0002GYI5A

See! This is what happens.... Guitars, Pinball Machines, Lays Potato Chips - you can't stop.

If you want to do it, you can do it. But you have to want to. I'm sure there are some people who have natural talent and it is as easy as can be for them. But for most, what you have to do is practice. A lot. But there is a reward at the end that makes it worth it.

One of the things I love about it is this: When you are presented with something new, it seems impossible at first. You try to do it, your fingers are like giant sausages that you can't control, you can't remember where it is you are supposed to be going even though you just looked at it, and it just doesn't seem like you would ever be able to do it. You go home and practice it, and the most horrible ear-wrenching sounds come out of the guitar. The cats and dogs go running away. People leave the house. You practice it and practice it, starting out real slow, and it seems to go on forever and it still is crap, day in and day out. But you don't give up, every day you try it again. Then, one day, almost as if a light is switched on, you can do it! You can do it as easy as pie as many times in a row as you want, and it sounds great! It is the most awesome feeling. And from that point on, you can do that forever and you are ready to try the next impossible thing. Great fun.

SRV

Did Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Jack White, and many others ever take their guitars and hack them and jack them and try all kinds of different stuff, or give a shot to the latest new technology to see what they could get out of it?

Good advice

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/keith-relf-strange-rock-deaths/

Good point. I'll add this to my list of ways I want to go, which was previously at 3.

Pete maravitch style. After playing a pickup basketball game with your friends.

Bing Crosby style. After a round of golf with your friends.

Nelson Rockefeller style. Like you said.

Keith Relf style. Just after perfectly executing Eruption guitar solo.

Well as far as Rockefeller, it is unknown if it was mid-, or post- or what. But he had the general idea right. Actually, there is one person who knows for sure. But that person is not talking, never has and probably never will.

OK, that purple should look pretty sweet installed on the black Strat!

I do like it. But I think if it were me, I'd finish it off with black instead of white knobs and pickup covers:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/099-1363-000?a

Quick Photoshop hack for a reality check:

vids strat (resized).jpg

It could go either way, depends on taste.

right!

I did see the purple, but I don't know if the colors would match up. It might end up looking a bit strange with 2 mismatched purples, although it could be an artistic effect. But the black looks cool, for me anyway. The knobs would be easy, but I guess it would be off with the strings again to get the pickup covers on.

As this thread continues, it really is aggravating me because it keeps tempting me to buck up and buy one. I like the way you can change that white pick guard to get a different look. But I just bought another guitar already, which is another story....

Maybe Vid's thread has some weird karma. Not long after this was started, I just randomly walked into a local guitar repair store to see if they had any used guitars. I had visited the pawn shops again but there were no older Ibanez in sight. Turns out, they don't sell used guitars, they just fix them. But when I said I was looking for an old MIJ Ibanez RG, it turned out one of the guys in the shop had just gotten one from a friend. It was beat up pretty bad, but hey, I was in a guitar repair shop, so I bought it and had them fix it all up, including a fret job. Just picked it up today.

Thus, the reason I didn't go for this Strat, which really is an awesome deal, but I couldn't justify adding 2 more guitars in 1 month. Although it was a tough fight...

Guitar-Ibanez SG570 (resized).jpg

I've been trying to get one of these for years. Not that they are scarce, I just didn't want to get one off Ebay without having seen it first.

1987 MIJ Ibanez RG570. Wizard neck, jumbo frets, Edge tremolo, Seymour Duncan pickups at the bridge. Low action, 9-43 strings. It has some scars - dings and holes, but plays great.

Haha GOOD ONE on that Jem! Is it that hard nowadays to do a quick bit of research on that thing you wanna sell?

I thought about maybe getting one also and just putting it away. I think you are right, it is a great deal no matter how you look at it. I just feel Strat-heavy already with these 3 things.

3 guitars (resized).jpg

If I finally pull the trigger though, then I would like to ship it to you first so you can put on the roller guide. After you have first perfected the technique on your niece's guitar of course!

Dammit. Please make it go away before I succumb.

Vid, did you change the hardware to black while you had it all apart again? Or did she like the white better?

I'll bet it sounds great. But once again I am coming to the conclusion I came to years ago - when it comes to guitar money, the best money I could spend would be not on more guitars, but on ----- LESSONS. More Lessons. God I suck. I have been playing for years, and practicing and practicing. I can play all sorts of scales forward and backward, all the chords, all that crap. But as far as making anything that actually sounds pleasant come out of the guitar, I just plain suck. And I can't get up to full speed or get the fast sweep picking going for the metal that I want to play. Sometimes I feel like selling them all off and just giving up.

Its worse for me whenever I go and see a real pro play. It makes you realize the gap is a thousand miles wide. I saw Brian Setzer play once and I swear when I got home I wanted to kick my guitars to pieces and light them on fire.

You guys are right, jamming with others is always great. I did that for a while and it was blast but for now I don't have anyone to hang with. So I just play at home with my backing tracks and such, and its OK. I'm just trying to level up and getting the idea that I may be at the max of what I can do. I agree about Yngwie, he is great.

What I really want to do is this:

Or this:

OK its one thing to learn some Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, and Billy Gibbons, but this stuff is at another level. I understand some people don't like this kind of stuff, but I think these guys are really awesome. Especially Buckethead.

Maybe I need to get me a bucket....

That's all true, I've been to bars many times and enjoy it when they rock it. But I would equally enjoy going to see Buckethead play. That's just me. Kind of like Jeff Beck, I saw him once at a small venue and sat right in front of him. I'm not exactly sure that the music was rockin out, but I just sat there in awe watching him make those sounds come out of that trashed Stratocaster. I love that stuff. In some ways it really is the most godawful noise. I can't explain why I like it, I just do.

Was the other one Abba or what? Steve Vai, I can see it, that would get old after a while. Funny enough, just after Jeff Beck played, Carlos Santana came on, and I left that one early. It was soooo boring. He was into some sort of phase playing this music, I'm not even sure what it was, but some boring Brazilian type stuff I guess. Nothing at all like what I would consider Santana music. I just saw a concert on TV where they got a lot of the original band together, and that included Neal Schon, and that was a lot better. Sure they played all the old stuff, but that is what was good! Neal Schon can really play, IMO.

I finally decided to get a pedal board and after a lot of research I decided one from Donner would be good. Amazon has them but a quick search turned up this web page from Donner.

Www.donnerdeal.com

Click the Black Friday banner at the top to see some good deals. They had just what I wanted, the DB-3 pedal board and the DP-1 power supply to go with it, for a fair amount less than Amazon and with free shipping. I ordered those plus the mini blues and chorus pedals, I figured at that price how can you go wrong and they seem to get decent reviews.

They are continuing this sale with new offers in a few days so I might snatch up some more stuff.

A few caveats though.

This web site seems to be straight from Donner in China, and that is where the order goes. The ordering seemed straightforward and secure enough and I wasn't too worried as my credit card company should back me up on anything weird.

The order confirmation came immediately but it took a few days before things started to ship. I was wondering if they were shipping this stuff from China and how that was going to work, but it appears that at least some of it is coming from the USA. My order was all broken up into different shipments and I have received some and still am waiting for the rest.

While I am on the topic of cheaping out and in relation to the amp discussions, after doing a lot of research on low price tube amps for home use, I am seriously thinking about getting this 15 watt amp from Monoprice. It looks like the best deal in that range and gets really good reviews, excepting the reverb which apparently is terrible. But that's ok reverb can come from a pedal, or also it sounds like it could be replaced pretty easily. They've got 15% off right now so at $170 that is a pretty good deal I think.

http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=115&cp_id=11501&cs_id=1150102&p_id=611815&seq=1&format=2

Edit: the 15% off code is expired now. I'm keeping an eye on this for the rest of the week to see if it can be had for <$200.

another-one-bites-the-dust-205x300 (resized).jpg

strat order (resized).jpg

Now that I am waiting for the Strat I finally caved in on I have been thinking about the mod possibilities. I think I might just leave it as it is for a while and give it a workout and see how it goes. But if I can't resist the urge to mod it, here is what has been discussed in this thread so far plus some others to consider. If anyone has more throw them in!

- the roller nut as described in detail by Vid. What it will do from what I understand is to better keep the guitar in tune after use of the whammy bar OR after a lot of string bending. I got a quote from a good shop to do this for $100 which sounds ok. I don't feel like trying that job out on that brand new guitar. I'm going to try the guitar as it comes for a while and see if I have enough issues to want to do it.

- strap locks. Should be easy enough to put on. Such as https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000960KNW/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl

- Graph Tech string saver. This is supposed to reduce string breakage. It sounds iffy to me, it just seems to be teflon coated metal. But some people swear by these. I have snapped a number of high E strings lately bending them, but those were 9s and I'm not sure I would put those on this guitar. Does anyone know what size strings it comes with by the way?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002DUW26/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl

- color change. I'm not a huge fan of the white pick guard, but I could probably live with it. But I think I would rather have everything black - the pick guard, knobs, pickup covers, etc. Its not too hard or expensive to change everything. One thing that is slightly annoying is that the standard black pick guards aren't really all black. They are made of 3 plys and the middle one is white, which means you will see a white edge around it. Some 1 ply all black versions are available but I don't know how good those are.

I've used a Peavey typical solid state amp for years and it has been fine. I just got the Monoprice 15 watt tube amp from their Black Friday sale. It is half the cost of the ones you are looking at. I simply could not believe how nice that thing sounds. Maybe it's because I have never used a tube amp. The difference between it and the solid state Peavey is like night and day. So far I have only played plugged straight into it with no effects. Even without the distortion I usually hide behind I was able to make some actual pleasing sounds come out of that thing. Even my wife said from the other room "wow that didn't sound nearly as bad as usual". There are plenty of reviews and YouTube videos about it if you want to check it out.

If you are playing at home, any of these will be waaay more than loud enough. Unless you live alone on 10 acres maybe. Heck the Monoprice even has an input jack that sets it at 1 watt instead of 15 watts and even going into that I didn't get it much above 3 without it getting too loud for the tolerance of others in the house.

One problem with the tube amp for sure is that the sound gets sweeter the more it is cranked, so it is so tempting to play it loud. When I'm alone in the house I'll be cranking it.

After trying this, I'd have to say even if you don't want to get the Monoprice you should consider a tube amp in your list. There were some good recommendations earlier in this thread.

Noticed today from an email that on the Adorama website it says this deal will end on 11/30.

OK I got a bit of time on it today and tried some things out. I generally get the different sounds I want out of pedals. I did read on one guitar forum that it "loves pedals". With just a bit of testing so far, I would agree.

So, you can get some different sounds by changing the amp knobs for treble, bass, gain, etc, along with whatever pickup switches you have on your guitar. But it isn't a huge variety of sounds (clean). If you want to be able to get all sorts of different sounds, like Marshall amp, Fender amp, and so forth, then probably one of those solid state modeling amps would be better.

I still have only played it a little bit, and I still am very happy. But so far I think it is a good complement to the Peavey solid state (mine is a Peavey Envoy 110 from the 90s). I think -maybe- the Peavey might be a bit better if you want to feed it some distortion and go for a more metal approach with excess palm muting and such. But still, the Monoprice is close and sounds great. I tried some back and forth testing with the main pedal I have used so far which is the much-despised OR much-worshiped (depending on who you talk to) Boss Metal Zone MT-2. If there is a difference between the amps, its pretty small. But the Peavey does seem to sound a bit better for that pedal, especially playing something metal-like. I also tried a fuzz pedal on both, and it seemed about the same. I have a bunch more pedals on the way that I bought on Black Friday sales so I will be experimenting some more.

BUT - if you want to play clean, there is no contest whatsoever. I have rarely done much clean playing, mainly because, well, I suck at guitar pretty much and when I play clean it tends to sound like total garbage. But if you want to try some jangly chords or some blues-type sounds, the clean tone through that Monoprice tube amp is far better than the Peavey solid state. So much so that I actually enjoyed playing it clean and it even sounded pretty nice to my surprise. Its the "warmth" as they say. Or maybe I am finally getting a bit better, who knows.

So, so far I would say, I am glad to have both a solid state and the tube amp to play around with. I think you would be happy either way, but a lot will depend on what you want to do. Want to mess around with modeling a bunch of different sounds and push a lot of metal? A solid state would be good. Want to play clean stuff? Hard to beat the tube amp....

Of course they also make a variety of multifunctional effects boxes that can be used in front of any amp to create all sorts of different sounds, like Line 6 and such. I don't have any experience with those, maybe someone else here does and can comment on that.

On a somewhat-related note, the "word" floating around is that sometime very soon the American Standard from Fender will be discontinued, no longer made, no longer sold new. They are switching to what will be called the "Pro". Not much as far as details yet.

Are you trying to start up pinball guitarguments????

Just another note - the Monoprice amp does not have a headphone jack. Kind of a bummer because I do like to use that quite a bit. Although, that is something that should be used with caution.

Archer Tinnitus (resized).jpg

I don't know about any of those. Hopefully Vid or some of the others might have some ideas there. What I do is Google them up and read reviews on Amazon and other sites like Musicians Friend and also there are usually a bunch of Youtube reviews to get some ideas about the pluses and minuses for the different one. I tend to obsess about all of the details of every choice for weeks or sometimes months before I make a decision. In the end, probably any of them would be good. After all, if EVH comes over and takes your guitar and plays it through your amp, it is going to sound awesome no matter what!

And 100w at home I think would be a monster! I think 40w should be good. In the end it all depends on each person. But these things can get really loud just sitting in a room at home. A lot of people play at home with 5w amps and they are plenty good. However, if you join up with others, particularly a drummer, then you might need more volume to keep up with the mix from what I have read. I've never played with a drummer, but have jammed with other guys and that is easy to do by adjusting everyone's amp levels.

I still like $799 versus $1399.

It does have a real bone nut though. Honestly, does that make a bit of difference in reality? And for a top end guitar at that price, why not put the roller nut on it, and the locking tuners? The parts don't cost that much and the labor would be no different when you are assembling the guitar.

All right you indecisive/procrastinating types: I got an email from Adorama and the deal is still on, now it says through Dec 31.

http://www.adorama.com/fe118110710.html?emailprice=t&utm_medium=display&utm_source=criteo&utm_campaign=email

I just got mine yesterday. Here it is next to its brother the Fender JP-90 bass.

Fender American Deluxe Strat and JP-90 (resized).jpg

And in the lineup. The blue one is the Valley Arts Custom Pro and then the black MIJ 1989 Ibanez SG570. To the right of the $800 Fender Deluxe (which is really $1200 unless you snatch this deal) is the infamous Chinese Spectrum strat, which I got for $63. I got it in 2008 from a Kohls Christmas sale believe it or not. Its basically the same thing as this:

https://www.amazon.com/Spectrum-AIL-94FM-Custom-Electric/dp/B003XJ2SSM

The next thing I will be doing a close inspection and comparison of the Fender and the Spectrum, to see if I can find the differences. Of course, there are a number of pretty good reviews on Youtube of these cheap Chinese knockoffs compared to the real thing, so I will be using some of what I learned there to make my own comparison. Amazingly, these knockoffs generally come out pretty well in these reviews.

If anyone has suggestions or questions about what to look for, let me know.

Custom Pro SG570 Strat Strat clone (resized).jpg

guitar_kohls_63_1108 (resized).jpg

Mine's got some fret buzz on the low E and low A. More so on the E, it is pretty obvious when the open string is played, and less so on the A, but can definitely hear it. The other strings don't seem to have any. It is easy to hear just playing it unplugged, and you can hear it also from an amp when played clean.

Just curious if anyone else has seen this. I can't see anything wrong with the setup or the frets, but I am no luthier. I've got a good shop to go to so I probably will take it in to have them look at it. I don't particularly want to start messing with the truss rod or anything like that.

As always, thanks Vid! OK, that seemed to work fine, although I had to give it some pretty good turns, probably about 3 whole turns on the low E to get it right, and slightly less on the A and the D ( there was just a bit of buzz on the D).

OK, so let's see if I can get intonation right. I have a chromatic tuner to go by. From what I understand, you check this by comparing the fretted note at the 12th fret to the harmonic there in the same position. On mine, all of the fretted notes match up dead on with the tuner against the open string. But the harmonics are all a bit flat compared to the fretted note, except curiously the D string which seems to be right on. So, I if I have this right, I need to loosen the string a bit with the tuner then use a screwdriver to move the screw on the end of the bridge so the bridge is brought back a bit, until those two notes match up? I'm guessing this would be a CCW turn?

Jurassic Park Life Finds A Way (resized).jpg

hendrix (resized).jpg

Heck yeah I'd like to see that! There is also this Plek thing - the shop near me has one of these and I had them run a Plek job on that old Ibanez I got. I'm not sure if that was really necessary, but everything seems great on it and that thing is sure fun to play, I have to admit I play it a lot more than the new Strat from Adorama, for now.

http://www.plek.com/en_US/home/

Agree, I just got one of those, and it works great, so easy compared to the crappy thing I had from the 90s.

I also just got this Monoprice tuner for my pedal board and it works great too. And assuringly, the Snark and the Monoprice match up so I am hoping I am really in tune.

http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=115&cp_id=11501&cs_id=1150108&p_id=611220&seq=1&format=2

I just got done going through the "Cracking the Code" series (12 episodes) on Youtube by a guy named Troy Grady. I think these are great, particularly if you like the EVH/Yngvie etc type of fast playing. I wish I had found those a long time ago. The real meat doesn't start until I think episode 7 where he gets the Yngvie instructional video. But I think they are all worth watching, if not just for the entertaining trip back into the 80s guitar world.

These go into obsessive detail about how the picking works when playing super fast. I just KNEW this instinctively for years. The guitar teachers I had over the years killed it though. When playing a scale, I naturally wanted to make a downstroke to the next string if the last note on the prior string was a downstroke. Its a natural and easy move to do. Every time I did it, my teacher basically said "knock that shit off!". They kept hammering into me, everything has to be all alternate picking all the time. You must always alternate pick otherwise you will get messed up and it will never work right and you will never get better. So I spent years trying to do everything always with alternate picking. They promised me that if I stuck with a metronome and always alternate picking and kept practicing and practicing and incrementally speeding it up, eventually I would be able to play super fast. It never really seemed to work.

This guy shows why that isn't the best way to go if you want to go fast. Guys like Ingvie hardly even know they are doing it, they just naturally do it because it is the most efficient way to go. The close-up camera views of the high-speed picking maneuvers (slowed down) are awesome. I recommend it for wannabee metal players.

That's cool you met him. That's my next plan is to check out the Masters of Mechanics. I will say though that after absorbing what he covered in Cracking the Code, it made so much sense to me that it is as if I advanced a few years in an instant. I hope that guy manages to make some good money from all the great work he does.

Turn the thing over and restring it, you will sound like Hendrix!

Here's some metal-ly stuff for your fix. Latest iteration of the 1989 Ibanez RG570, now with kill switch (red button) and maxed out pedal board.

Guitar-Ibanez RG570 with pedal board (resized).jpg

Here is the black lineup, with the original star of this thread in the middle. You can see why I need to swap out the pick guard for black.

guitars 3 black (resized).jpg

And NO Vid I am not buying any more of your *$*#@ special deals! I can't figure out how I keep ending up with so many guitars, kind of like those dang pinball machines.

Yes I usually run the pedal board through the Peavey. I like to plug the Strat straight into the Monoprice tube amp and get it cranked up enough to get that warm tube-y sound, that's cool too.

Pedals are something like this:

Crybaby wah - tuner - compressor- boss Metal Zone - fuzz 1 - fuzz 2 - blues overdrive - echo - flanger - Whammy 2 with bypass loop - chorus - noise killer- looper with AB switch.

For 20+ years I just had my vintage stuff, the Metal Zone, Crybaby, and the Whammy II I bought years ago. I always thought pedals were cool, but I wasn't into spending hundreds of dollars for each one. Then recently I saw all these new mini pedals from Donner, Monoprice and others, and they are cheap, especially during Black Friday sales when I bought most of them. So for $20-30 or so, the cost of a few cheeseburgers nowadays, I figured what the heck, I'll get some to play around with. Plus they are kind of cool-looking. That let me get all the effects I was missing, like echo, flange, chorus and such at a cheap price. Plus there is the fun of planning and setting up the pedal board. I was happy to find that all of them seem to work fine and they do their thing as I would expect them to.

I know you can get a modeling amp or a single super pedal that can do all of that and more, but I like stomping on the switches to turn things on and off at will. Its all just for fun for me.

As far as the Monoprice amp, I only play it plugged straight in, I never use any pedals for that one. It has a "1 watt" input and a "15 watt" input. The 1 watt is good for practice, but even that one will get pretty loud if you crank the volume and gain up towards 8 or 9. The 15 watt input will definitely put out nice and loud with that tube-y distortion sound. I haven't gone much beyond 7 for fear of hurting my eardrums. I like the sound of it. I doubt if it would be loud enough to do a rock gig with, but it would work for a small venue.

That said, being an amateur my word isn't the best to go by. I've never played on something like a Marshall stack or something like a Fender Blues amp so I can't really compare it to something like that in any meaningful way. But there are several reviews of the Monoprice amp on Youtube that cover it pretty well from a more professional point of view. I did watch those and they gave me the confidence to go ahead and buy it. Anyway, what the heck, the price is so cheap, why not? Current list price is $180 which is about what I paid for it.

You can also find the Monoprice amp "modders" who do things like swap the speaker, swap the tubes, swap out the notoriously crappy reverb box, and such. So far I don't feel the need to do any of that, I am good with it as it is out of the box.

That thing is $1,000 everywhere else. That's a great deal for that American Strat. I think for <$100 you could swap out for the locking tuners like the first one we got here has.

Good. Pretty silly but I liked it

The Chinese knock-offs really are probably much better than a lot of people give credit for. There probably is more variability from one to the other within a specific model and they might need some setup work to be tweaked. I had a super cheap Chinese Strat knock-off and I when I got the Fender Strat deal that Vid originally posted here I did a lot of comparing the two side by side. There is no doubt that the Fender American had better quality in many areas and obviously some of the components are higher quality. But still, the Chinese one really made a pretty good comparison visually side by side. Most people would never see much difference, and you have to look under the plates to see things like sloppy router cutouts. Heck those aren't visible normally anyway.

As far as playing them, I played them back and forth a number of times, with and without distortion. I didn't see any particular difference either in the playability or the sound. Keep in mind I am far from a pro. But I do think that especially for a beginner its a good way to go, especially if you can be sure everything is set up correctly. You can spend some time with a nice guitar and see if you like that style for hardly any money. There always will be a chance to get another fancier guitar later if you get it into it.

I sold the Chinese one off at a garage sale, a young kid was happy to get it and I'm glad to see someone get some fun of it. I still have plenty of guitars, I'm trying to avoid that habit of ending up with a collection of them all over the house.

Here's a few pics I took before I sold off the "Spectrum", which by the way you can still buy off Amazon for about $75 (!). The $75 sunburst Spectrum compared to the $799 American Strat. Like Vid said, the cheap one would be good for taking out to iffy places, lending to people, giving to beginners to try out, etc. I also still believe it would work just fine as a guitar for a beginner to learn on. As far as the Fender one, well, its best to not even look at it, let alone touch it

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Yes, agree. That's how I do it.

Yeah I agree I don't play enough to worry about changing the strings very often, maybe every few years. I do keep a big stack of #9 high E strings cause I tend the break those bending them. I got one of those cool little tools that slides under the strings and cleans up the fretboard nicely with strings on.

Along those lines, I drifted from Paul Gilbert and Troy Grady videos, both of which are great, over to a guy named Ben Eller who has a series called This Is Why You Suck At Guitar. The title tells you a bit about his sense of humor, and he can get a bit off color in some of his side ramblings (although his humor is OK for me), but I really like his lessons. You can focus in on one area like finger tapping, barre chords, sweep picking, etc and in a few minutes you will learn a lot of really good little tidbits you don't normally get unless maybe you are right there with a music teacher. I think these would be good for anyone starting out and for non advanced players who want to learn new things, or better yet, learn how to do some things better. He has tons of videos and each one focuses on one small area which is great. He does a good job explaining and showing exactly how to do things, and of course showing why the wrong way is no good. He also has lots of short little lessons on various cool licks which are fun to learn also. It is all no nonsense (other than the goody side jokes), no hard selling of ads or lessons (he will give lessons of course) and you get everything clearly explained, not like those deals where you get part of it and then have to pay for the rest. Going through his stuff is gonna keep me busy for a while...

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I'm probably out of it, but I never even heard of "Supreme" until just now.

From https://reverb.com/news/fender-collaborates-with-supreme-on-flashy-white-strat

Information about the guitar — beyond two images posted by Supreme — is limited, though it appears that the neck is maple and has been painted to match the body and headstock.

Based on appearances, this is likely intended more as a decorative, collectable item than a primarily functional guitar, but certainly offers a unique spin on the classic Stratocaster template.

I don't think you can ignore the wave of much lower-priced stuff coming out of China. (Some of) those guitars are pretty darn good. If young people don't care about the brands they could do fine with one of those. Check out the Monoprice Indio series they are getting ready to launch very soon. For beginners those guitars would do great. If someone advances and get serious they can start looking at the more expensive stuff with better construction, higher end electronics, better tuners, etc. But what percentage that pick up a guitar advance to that stage?

Also how much did the baby boomers fuel that market for a while? Could that be tailing off? I am in the fat part of the "baby boomer" curve. Like so many others, I am an old man who listened to all of the classics (Led Z, Floyd and on and on) and a few years back suddenly realized "hey I have money now, I can buy those fancy-ass guitars for myself and learn how to play those classics". But I'm with littlecammi - after a while it seems enough is enough. I have 4 and realistically I didn't need to buy that damn black Strat that started this thread, but I couldn't resist. I got my dream guitar (MIJ Ibanez RG) after several years of searching and I'm not buying any more. At some point, you realize you probably should spend some time learning how to actually play something as opposed to buying more and more. And the boomers on the long end of the curve are starting to reach the point in life where they want to start unloading stuff instead of acquiring more.

Too bad Taylor Swift is GONE!!!

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Now that you have once again pointed this out, may I express my opinion once again, using this pic for the second time in this thread!

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I took lessons from several teachers over the years and it was great. But these days if you are motivated there is tons of great stuff on Youtbe. You should be able to get going into any direction you want. Just one example is Ben Eller. There’s enough on there to keep me busy for probably forever.

Welll, thanks to this thread....

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God those two are whores, don't they have enough money? Ok I looked it up, estimated net worth for Stanley is 150 million and for Simmons 350 million.

F yeah.