Advice for new guitar

[Ahonen]

Hello. I'm currently looking for a new guitar. Preferably suited for Black/Death/Melodic metal music.
I've been looking at Alexi Laiho's different guitars but i don't know if they are also suited for heavier music.
I play kind of a mix of those three genre's which i wrote above.
I'd prefer a good looking guitar also and not a too expensive one. So if you have any suggestions, tell me

 

[Mack Addy]

How about a Paul Allender SE signature PRS? One of the ultimate combinations of beauty, amazing tone, great feel, and it's no more than $650.

I could go on and on about recommendations, though. Just hit your local non-Guitar Center store and check out the selection.

 

[MetalAges]

How about checking out our advertiser up top, Halo Guitars?

I recently received my first Halo (Inverted Kahler) and am loving it.

 

[Ahonen]

That reaper guitar at halo looks kinda nice.
I've kind of been looking for a guitar with floyd rose and preferably not with a usual stratocaster shape.
Maybe som kind of V-shaped guitar, like one as Alexi laiho's or Nergal in Behemoth's.
Preferably one which is looking like a black metal guitar, a really mean one.

 

[waif]

DO NOT! buy a guitar based on it's shape. For example; BC Rich guitars look incredibly fucking sexy. I mean, they are the most brutal, badass looking sex machines you've ever seen. And then you try to play one...they sound like shit and play horribly. Fucking terrible guitars. Their high end stuff seems pretty solid, but I wouldn't touch anything under $1000.

If you want a Rhoads, just get one. Otherwise I recommend you check out some Schecter stuff. Not the most incredibly metal looking, but they look very nice and sound great.

 

[wandering_taco]

I agree, don't get a cheap BC Rich, my brother got one before and it looked sweet but the couple times I played it, it just sounded like.... lifeless.. yes, i think lifeless is a good word to describe it. Dave Suzuki of vital remains usually plays a bc rich I think, it sounds great but he probably has the best fucking one available.

 

[Ahonen]

I wont buy a guitar based on its shape but i would prefer one which looks mean
I'll check schecter and see if i find something interesting. What other manufacturers are good for metal? I've heard that Esp/Ltd is good but I have also heard that they are kinda expensive.

 

[ConnorFromHell]

ESP/LTD do loads, they're all different prices. Some are really cheap but you can get really expensive ones too. There are lots of different shapes, have a look. If you're into black and death metal the pointy stuff like the AX and F series are probably right for you, but check them all out, you never know what you might find.

http://www.espguitars.com/guitars_ltd-standard.html

BC Rich are pretty bad unless you get a high-end one, I'd advise against them.

 

[Ahonen]

Looks good, esp/ltd feels kinda right, but I'm not sure. But with or without Floyd Rose? I've heard that they break easily and is it really necessary to have? Sure, you could do some sweet effects but might good having a guitar without troubling Floyd Rose...

 

[ConnorFromHell]

I'd advise against Floyds if you're looking for something easy to look after. They sound cool and they're fun to play around with, sure, but changing strings takes an age and it's not easy to set one up properly.

The main concern with Floyds for metal is that it takes forever to drop-tune one. You have to unlock the nut, re-tune, lock the nut and then adjust the fine tuners. PAIN IN THE ARSE!

For stuff in standard tuning Floyd Roses are great. If you're drop-tuning I'd advise against one. Depends what you want to play, fairly few metallers I've seen use whammy bars. If you have one the temptation could well be to just wank around with it instead of actually playing solos.

 

[Ahonen]

Yeah, I've previously thouht that Floyd Rose is something that I need but when i thought about how much i actually use it, I don't almost at all. So that makes the whole guitar hunt much easier

 

[waif]

A FR is not worth the trouble it creates unless you plan on doing loads of whammy tricks. They look sweet and let you do all sorts of crowd pleasing stuff, but in terms of maintenance they're a huge pain, and frankly fairly useless once the thrill of doing dive-bombs has worn off (about 2 hours for me).

 

[Chanakya]

I second LTD/ESP guitars. I got myself a Viper w/ 81/85s and it sounds fucking fantastic. It's in black and looks incredibly badass as well, if that actually matters to you? The tone is neat though, I really love the clean tones and as metal as it may look like, it's a really sweet guitar to play bluesy stuff. Though to be honest most of the LTDs and ESPs I've tried out sound better at lower tunings, D or lower.

I was very interested in buying a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser. That's one badass guitar which is quite inexpensive. You might want to try that out.

Anyway, I guess it's essential that you try the guitars out if possible. As cliched as it may sound, you'll know you've chosen the right one when it's in your hands.

 

[EerieVon]

go down to your local music store and play several different models. Just because your favorite player uses a particular guitar doesnt mean its the right one for you

 

[Ahonen]

Of course. I will try out the guitar that I'll buy but now I'm just thinking of what kind of guitar I'll check out. :Spin:
Been thinking of a seven string guitar for a couple of days now with an additional thick B-string and the other strings with common E-tuning. Any thoughts of that? Is it worth any extra expense having an additional string?

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

I have an ESP / LTD F-50 and I like it.

If you want an inexpensive guitar that is good quality and also looks good, you might be interested in an Agile guitar. I've never played one, but a bunch of guys on a guitar tablature forum that I post on have nothing but praise for them.

http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html

 

[ConnorFromHell]

Of course. I will try out the guitar that I'll buy but now I'm just thinking of what kind of guitar I'll check out. :Spin:
Been thinking of a seven string guitar for a couple of days now with an additional thick B-string and the other strings with common E-tuning. Any thoughts of that? Is it worth any extra expense having an additional string?

7 strings are pretty cool, but if you have smaller hands you might not get along with one. Lots of death metal bands use seven strings, because you still get the high notes as well as the extended low range, which gives you a lot more range overall.

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

because you still get the high notes as well as the extended low range, which gives you a lot more range overall.

No way.

 

[waif]

I wonder how much more range. Possibly as much as two and a half steps!

My impression is that most death metal bands prefer to just downtune 6-strings. I think you actually get a heavier sound that way because of something probably involving the reduced string tension or whatever, I dunno.

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

I wonder how much more range. Possibly as much as two and a half steps!

Don't go shouting on horseback through the community just yet, but I heard that you can get another whole extra step if you drop tune that mother fucker

EDIT: Also, legend has it that if you strum the three lowest strings an open power chord will sound. It is said that any man who masters this technique will gain indescribable power, such as the power to command women to kiss his pee pee.