High end guitars

V

vainamoinen

Guest
Hey guys I'm in the market for a good high end guitar that costs around $2,000. I want something with a nice thin neck and a double locking trem.
Some I've been considering are
Ibanez J.Custom (Japanese import)- $1,900
Custom Ran guitars- $2,000+
Caparisons- 1,900+
anyone have experience with any of them/ own any? And I'd be more then happy if you guys can give me any other recommendations.
 
Why spend so much money dude? It's really not gonna make much of a difference in quality/playability, and certainly not in tone - I'd go for a Carvin DC personally
 
Haha, well I've heard mixed things about Madisons so I'm not sure about that, but to rephrase, spend that money on something that'll actually affect the tone! Although of course a nice guitar can sound better, but IMO spending over $1500 on a guitar is purely self-indulgence
 
+1 in everything u said... thats true.. Spend that money in a engl or madison amp... i wouldnt spend so much money on a guitar..

I have a triple rectifier and 4 x 12 MESA cab so Im good in the amp section :)

I just want a guitar with killer playability that's really good quality, I'm fed up with piss poor quality gear. I recently traded in a Dean ML for a jackson SL3 and I like the feel of it but I'm a little concerned about quality.
 
well i think they sound really nice but u have to tweak it a lot actually to get that really nice high gain distortion.. but if u want em for clean ur not looking in the right direction hehe... with 2 gs u can buy a really nice prestige ibanez, change the pickups if u want to, and buy like 100 set of strings, 100 set of picks and still have money for a nice meal..
 
well i think they sound really nice but u have to tweak it a lot actually to get that really nice high gain distortion.. but if u want em for clean ur not looking in the right direction hehe... with 2 gs u can buy a really nice prestige ibanez, change the pickups if u want to, and buy like 100 set of strings, 100 set of picks and still have money for a nice meal..

haha, well Im considering selling the brand new SL3 for about $1k. It has less than half an hour of playing time on it! I was looking at JEMs. The ones I've played in the past have had a really light touch to them but you could still get a killer heavy tone.
 
I'd have anything but quality concerns about a Japan-made Jackson...

Anyway, addressing your original question: I've bought a Caparison Dellinger II SE recently and it's quite possibly the best guitar I've ever owned or played. The neck is a bit bigger and has a different shaping than an Ibanez Wizard neck (which is perfectly fine with me), but is still in shred-territory. The TATs are quite similar to the Dellingers but feature a neck-through construction, which makes em sound brighter than Dellingers (especially if it's an alder body TAT). That's the reason why I chose a Dellinger over a TAT, I love maple necks but I don't want em on a neck-through construction...

The Horus has a shorter scale (24.75") and the famous 27-fret gimmick going on. IIRC it has also a slightly thinner neck than Dellingers and TATs, but don't nail me on that one. Most models are available as special HGS-versions for downtuning/Heavy-Gauge-Strings too, with an adjusted bridge.

The Schaller Floyds you will find on their guitars are of excellent quality.

The Ibanez J-Customs are definitely great axes, too. In the end, with these guitars it isn't that much a question of better quality anymore rather than certain player preferences.

Ran Customs: great and unique, but they're getting more expensive by the minute and the (ever increasing) waiting time is something to consider, too.

You might consider a nice Charvel too and, of course, a Stinnett custom. ;)
 
The TATs are quite similar to the Dellingers but feature a neck-through construction, which makes em sound brighter than Dellingers (especially if it's an alder body TAT). That's the reason why I chose a Dellinger over a TAT, I love maple necks but I don't want em on a neck-through construction...

Couldn't agree more - my old Ibanez was neck-thru maple (well, 5-piece maple/walnut actually :D) and it was the brightest freakin' guitar I've ever played; made it fucking SNARL for soloing, good god I loved that, but sounded pretty awful for rhythm stuff!
 
I'd have anything but quality concerns about a Japan-made Jackson...

Anyway, addressing your original question: I've bought a Caparison Dellinger II SE recently and it's quite possibly the best guitar I've ever owned or played. The neck is a bit bigger and has a different shaping than an Ibanez Wizard neck (which is perfectly fine with me), but is still in shred-territory. The TATs are quite similar to the Dellingers but feature a neck-through construction, which makes em sound brighter than Dellingers (especially if it's an alder body TAT). That's the reason why I chose a Dellinger over a TAT, I love maple necks but I don't want em on a neck-through construction...

The Horus has a shorter scale (24.75") and the famous 27-fret gimmick going on. IIRC it has also a slightly thinner neck than Dellingers and TATs, but don't nail me on that one. Most models are available as special HGS-versions for downtuning/Heavy-Gauge-Strings too, with an adjusted bridge.

The Schaller Floyds you will find on their guitars are of excellent quality.

The Ibanez J-Customs are definitely great axes, too. In the end, with these guitars it isn't that much a question of better quality anymore rather than certain player preferences.

Ran Customs: great and unique, but they're getting more expensive by the minute and the (ever increasing) waiting time is something to consider, too.

You might consider a nice Charvel too and, of course, a Stinnett custom. ;)

Thanks! I'm gonna look at the TAT's then. I don't really like the 24.75 inch scale but the whole 27 fret thing sounds cool so I'll give them a try. I live pretty close to guitar asylum which is one of two caparison dealers in the US so hopefully they'l let me play a few. I've heard so many people saying that they are the best guitars they've ever owned. What's a Stinnett?