What kind of guitar do you use?

I got a Korean made Squire Strat. I've played it against the real deal ( American built ) and you can't tell the difference. Especially when you've got it cranked. I play it through a '97 Trace Elliot  Tramp.

I usually just play the guitar that I have in my hands at that moment

Mr ProgFreak wrote: Well, my new Line 6 Variax 700 arrived a few weeks ago, and so far I'm loving it. The model selector knob is giving me some problems, but other than that I'm 100% happy with it. The simulations of the acoustic guitars, banjo, sitar, 12 string etc. are extremely cool to play around with, and for normal use I'm really enjoying the Telecaster and Les Paul models. You can change from Les Paul / bridge humbucker to Telecaster / neck singlecoil just using the 5 position pickup selector ... 10 years ago, if someone had told me that would be possible some day, I wouldn't have believed it. My only complaint with the Variax 700 would be that it doesn't simulate modern guitars ... it's vintage only. Having said that, if they ever build a 7 string Variax with simulations of Ibanez RG, Music Man (Petrucci) and/or active pickups ... I'd be the first in line to buy one!

I suspect it wont happen in your lifetime, and probably not mine either.

Thank you very much.

HughesJB4 wrote: p0mt3 wrote: HughesJB4 wrote: ^To be fair, the X series Jacksons are actually not bad for the price and are good enough to get professional level tones out of them. I haven't played the DX10D per se, but the KVX10, which is a King V shape X, but it has the same specs as the DX10D essentially. The neck is a little bit too thick for my liking, but overall, it's a good guitar, and the Duncan Design pickups are good, if not great like the real deal American made Seymour Duncans are (as you can see in the image above, I use Seymour Duncan). Conklins look stunning, but they aren't cheap, and in Australia, not a chance I'd get one, I can get a custom made guitar done for about half the price locally.   I suppose you're right about the Jackson. Frankly, I've gotten alot of compliments on it when other people have played it, so I guess I was fortunate to get at least what I already have. It would be nice to play some higher-end Jacksons, though. I've always been a fan.   True, custom guitars can be aquired cheaper in some circles, but where I live it's near impossible to get anything done locally that would come anywhere near the quality of a Conklin. I just figure that if I'm wanting to get a custom guitar made anyway, I may as well wait and get what I really want, know what I'm saying?   Btw, I'm sure I've seen top-notch custom guitars for saled internationally on eBay. Alembic and Conklin models have surfaced every once in awhile, so maybe you could get ahold of one that way. Sure, they wouldn't be built-to-order per sey, but they would still be the next best thing, and great quality to boot.   Seymour Duncan has alweays been my favorite pickups, and yes indeed my Duncan Designs suit me fine . . .for now. I think DiMarzios are a little overrated, personally. . . . *hides from Petrucci fans* A friend of mine owns a Pro Series Dinky D2KS and you can definitely feel it's just that bit higher quality, and the tone is just better than the X series really. I've had the pleasure of playing some of the most high end USA made main production Jackson guitars in the past. You just pick up the guitar, and it oozes serious quality. So well made, great attention to detail and playability to die for and with the neck through Soloist models, the sustain is insanely good for a production made guitar. But if truth must be told, I know custom makers in Australia that can make me a custom guitar to my exact specs (and even an 8 string extended scale if I wanted) for cheaper than I can get an off the shelf Jackson Soloist SL2H (the ones with the most expensive finish, don't remember exact model designation). Are you in the US? Believe me, you live in the land of some of the most choices in custom made guitars in the world. There are many custom makers in the US that produce instruments as fine as any Conklin, and you will definitely be able to find custom shops that do ERG (Extended Range Guitars i.e 8 strings and more) extended scale instruments if you look. If you really want (well I'll do it anyway for you since I've got the time) since I'm a member of sevenstring.org, I can find the thread which lists practically every custom maker that can do ERG guitars (and usually these guys can do 6 and 7 string guitars too) and list them here or PM you the list if you want, so can have a look at other websites of other custom shop makers to see what choices you have and email them about prices/questions etc. Ohh yeah, I've always been a Seymour Duncan guy too. Dimarzio's are great too and they have a wide range of pickups, so don't discount all of their stuff, but understandably they might not make the pickups that fit your tonal needs. Some of my favorite players use Dimarzio, some use Seymour Duncan, some use Lundgren, some use Bare Knuckle and some use EMG. And they can get great tone, because pickups are only part of the equation of tone. Personally, once my new 7 string guitar comes in, I'm going to replace the crappy stock pickups with Seymour Duncan active pickups. I honestly don't want to use passive pickups anymore (as much as I like their tone), because actives are just so much quieter and allow me to back off on the noise gate for high gain settings and some actives sound amazing IMO.

HughesJB4 wrote: ^To be fair, the X series Jacksons are actually not bad for the price and are good enough to get professional level tones out of them. I haven't played the DX10D per se, but the KVX10, which is a King V shape X, but it has the same specs as the DX10D essentially. The neck is a little bit too thick for my liking, but overall, it's a good guitar, and the Duncan Design pickups are good, if not great like the real deal American made Seymour Duncans are (as you can see in the image above, I use Seymour Duncan). Conklins look stunning, but they aren't cheap, and in Australia, not a chance I'd get one, I can get a custom made guitar done for about half the price locally.

My current guitar is a lower-end Jackson Dinky. I think it's the DX-10D make.

progrocker2244 wrote: Trust me, you don't want to know what guitar I own.      But you will never know what type of crappy guitar I own.

LOL. I bet mine is 10,000 times crappier than mine.

Trust me, you don't want to know what guitar I own.

HughesJB4 wrote:   I don't have any actual photos of my guitar, but the one above the same model that I have, but the finish on mine is a little different. (I'll post pics, when I take some photos of my actual guitar). In terms of MIK guitars, it is pretty high end, and the neck is unbelievable, it plays even better than a MIA Jackson Soloist. It's not that the actual fingerboard is any faster than the Soloist, but the Brian Moore Guitars I12000 have something about the the shape of the back of the neck that lends itself to you being able to alternate pick like crazy on it. It has locking Sperzel tuners, and a graphtec nut, so it barely goes out of tune, and restringing takes 1/3 of the time of any strat with normal tuners. My plans in the next few months are to get a re fret, Dunlop 6000 frets, and get the fingerboard re radiused out to 17 or more inches, hopefully even 20 inches if my bridge saddles can accommodate the change.

I didn't post actual pictures of my guitar the first time around, so here is real pictures of my guitar to update my original post with:










Well, some more updates.

The guitar is, somewhat regrettably, going up for sale, and the planned refret is no longer going to happen for this guitar.
It's easily the most comfortable 6 string electric guitar I have played in my entire life, no doubt helped by the amazing body contours, and the tone is incredible

But as it happens, I've decided to join the world of playing 7 string guitars and in order to fund the necessary modifications to my relatively soon to be coming 7 string guitar, my beloved 6 string has to go up for sale.
For the style of playing I want to get into, I need 7 strings and 24 frets, plus a deeper cutaway to facilitate sweep picking around the upper frets and unfortunately the lower cutaway on my current guitar is just too small and doesn't allow you to get your hand all the way up there to do extreme upper fret sweep picking patterns without your hand bumping into the cutaway.
And well, frankly, the finish is too nice too sand it down, so that option is out too.

While I love the neck on my Brian Moore Guitars I12000, don't get me wrong, whenever I pick up a 7 string guitar, I just like the size of the neck and the way it feels in my hand as I play, so it's not always just about an extra string when it comes to 7 string, but the feel of the guitar too, which is of utmost importance. And as it is now, no 6 string guitar electric guitar neck can ever feel as good to me as a 7 string neck.

And as much as I love my BMG, honestly, I wouldn't play much at all once I get my 7 string and would rather sell it to someone who is going to play it as much as I did and love it as much as I did, rather than let it sit there in the case, the case collecting dust not being opened.
And I may just end up playing 7 string electric guitars exclusively once the BMG, and I look forward to one day buying a dream custom shop made 7 string a few years down the track

And if it so happens that anyone here on PA may be interested in buying this guitar, feel free to drop me a PM asking about it.


Edit: And yes, that is a Planet Waves Joe Satriani signature series guitar strap.
They are really comfortable and well made, and priced very reasonably. A friend of mine payed for half of it for my birthday about 2 years ago, still can't stop loving this strap, and certainly wont be selling it with my 6 string


Edited by HughesJB4 - December 19 2008 at 05:07