Second Guitar for a Beginner

57Deluxe

Surely, by the time you are on to your 2nd guitar you are no longer a beginner??

Any lack of ability now means your are either shit or better suited to drums...

andyp

I don't know about that mate. I'd definitely class myself as a beginner but not a total beginner. I'm actually really surprised and pleased at the progress I've made since I started compared to where I thought I'd be.

I know I have the potential to get pretty good too (I think) based on my enthusiasm, patience and progress so far. I just want to play all the time and practice practice practice.

I think in all honesty though I just really fancy a LP Junior but am doubting myself as it seems extravagant.

ICBM

andyp said:

I think in all honesty though I just really fancy a LP Junior but am doubting myself as it seems extravagant.

A £400-£500 guitar is hardly extravagant, considering that - unless your taste changes completely (which can happen!) - it will last a lifetime.

stimpsonslostson

It does sound like you REALLY want the Les Paul Junior. IF that's the case, you should put the cash aside & wait till you find the one you want.

They ARE out there, be patient & you'll find one that's right. I bought an almost mint 2006 Junior for under £500 two months ago. Like you, I'd lusted after one some time... It's on my lap now & I have absolutely no regrets about forking out more than I ever had on a guitar before.

WRT the 2015 issue, I'd suggest trying both a 2015 & an older one to see what you prefer- you're the one who'll be playing it.
The resale price issue only matters IF you sell, but getting a second hand one means you're more likely to get your money back should you decide to part with it.

I liked the way the 2015 played, but felt the (admittedly removable) tuners weren't in keeping with my dream stripped back rock n roll guitar.
Only you can decide on the new logo etc, so I'm not going to comment on that.

ennspek

Buy the junior, it'll save you money. It's obviously what you want so you'll buy something else now and still buy the Junior sooner or later anyway because the "want" will eat away at you! This is how it works! Don't worry about justifying it against your ability, I certainly couldn't.

littlegreenman

If you can afford it and want it, just go for it. As has already been said, life is short.

I've got an Ibanez JS1000 and a German-built Warwick Fortress 1 bass. Can I play as well as Joe Satriani or Jonas Hellborg? Can I fook, doesn't mean I can't enjoy owning and playing nice kit though. And nice kit can be very inspiring.

p90fool

The Junior is not an extravagance if it means you can't walk past it without picking it up, and as stated before, simple guitars teach about picking technique and control because you can't just throw a switch to change the sound.

57Deluxe

@andyp

Often a new squeeze will give even greater motivation to push on. If your ear is becoming trained to the finer nuances of tone, then I am afraid, you will be here communing with us lot for a looooong time.... Just don't though, fall into the trap of spending all your guitar time twiddling knobs...

TommyVercetti

57Deluxe said:

@andyp

Often a new squeeze will give even greater motivation to push on. If your ear is becoming trained to the finer nuances of tone, then I am afraid, you will be here communing with us lot for a looooong time.... Just don't though, fall into the trap of spending all your guitar time twiddling knobs...

This makes a lot of sense to me - I've been learning for the same length of time as Andy and have now got 4 guitars - each one is very (very) different and I find the different guitars give me a lot of motivation to try different things - and keep me interested and motivated. 

I imagine it's the same reason that people end up with dozens of pedals - just new things to try! I've not gone down that road yet but I'm sure it will come.

rlw

There's two Gibson Studios for sale on here which. one of which you could probaly get for around £400 if you tried............

andyp

Yeah, I'm not lacking in motivation but I know that having another guitar will increase that even more and also allow me to have one guitar at each end of the road, which is a nice bonus. I do like the idea of learning more on something simple like the Junior too, I'm hoping that would teach me to use the controls on the guitar more and pick out what I want from them rather than just adjusting them for the sake of it.

I am still watching eBay for cheap Pacificas etc. but think I've made my mind up to set some money aside over the next couple of months and get a Junior. A used one is more what I'm after though for the lower cost and 2015 uncertainty mentioned above... but I think I should get myself into one of the shops to play one before I go buying anything.

Andy

Monkeyhands

I was in a similar position to you recently so thought I'd pass on my experience. I started playing a year ago with a very cheap Epiphone SG special and promised myself that if I stuck at it for a year and enjoyed playing then I'd treat myself to a "proper" guitar.

The time came and I was looking around at options, thinking I'd spend a few hundred.  What I really wanted was an American Strat, always have done.  But the price tag was putting me off and I can totally understand what you're saying about does a beginner deserve a quality instrument like that.

But as I was looking around I saw what is probably my dream guitar. A 3 tone sunburst Strat and this one had a special one piece rosewood neck that just felt beautiful in my hands.

I was still undecided because I didnt think I was good enough for it but my girlfriend talked me into buying it, saying that I worked my nuts off for the bonus that paid for it and I should have the guitar I wanted not a compromise.  My heart was thumping in my mouth as I paid for it, but you know what, I haven't regretted it for one second since.

It's given me even more love for my new hobby, I'm almost running home after work every day so I can pick it up.  So my advice would be, if you can afford it, get the guitar that you really want and will make you want to pick it up and play it every day.

*apologies for rambling*

Kuroblack

underdog said:

If you can afford it then that should be your only consideration, you don't have to justify it against your ability. Hell I'd have an Argos acoustic if I had to use those standards

+ 1 here

andyp

Thanks for sharing that experience, I can totally relate to that.

Last night I was hovering over the Buy It Now button on a Pacifica 012 but I decided to hang off for a bit. This morning I woke up and decided to set some money aside for the next couple of months and get something I really want over the summer / early autumn.

My old man is my guitar guru and he suggested a PRS SE (many of which look amazing) and he seemed a bit less enthusiastic about the "cheaper Gibsons" as a lot of their cost is in the name tag I guess so they're not such good value. I've decided to open my brief a bit and look at Strats, PRSs and the LP Junior along with maybe some others in the £400-£700 range. If I'm doing this I can maybe stretch my budget a bit, I'll just wait until I have more money available. My brief really is to have something different to the Epiphone LP... I think the Junior still ticks that box, but so do the others.

In the meantime I'm going to keep an eye out for what's around and try a few options out to see what feels good. It's actually quite exciting to be embarking on this wee mission of researching guitars.

littlegreenman

andyp said:

Thanks for sharing that experience, I can totally relate to that.

Last night I was hovering over the Buy It Now button on a Pacifica 012 but I decided to hang off for a bit. This morning I woke up and decided to set some money aside for the next couple of months and get something I really want over the summer / early autumn.

My old man is my guitar guru and he suggested a PRS SE (many of which look amazing) and he seemed a bit less enthusiastic about the "cheaper Gibsons" as a lot of their cost is in the name tag I guess so they're not such good value. I've decided to open my brief a bit and look at Strats, PRSs and the LP Junior along with maybe some others in the £400-£700 range. If I'm doing this I can maybe stretch my budget a bit, I'll just wait until I have more money available. My brief really is to have something different to the Epiphone LP... I think the Junior still ticks that box, but so do the others.

In the meantime I'm going to keep an eye out for what's around and try a few options out to see what feels good. It's actually quite exciting to be embarking on this wee mission of researching guitars.

And there we go. The GAS has struck another victim!

andyp

Haha! Yeah, I guess so.