Deluxe Strat/GL Legacy/MM Silhouette : Opinions for New Guit

hello there,

Just a few days ago we experienced a break in and I lost a guitar and amp. Thank goodness the insurance is gonna cover everything. I have decided to take a plunge into the world of strat style guitars. I am done quiet a bit of research over the past few days on the following models : carvin bolt-t, fender american deluxe strat, g&l legacy/s-500, musicman silhouette, and the various incarnations such as hss/specials/etc.

Of course i have found many good things about all of these instruments. Except for the carvin they are all priced within $200 of each other. Price not withstanding, which would or did you pick/why? I realize that this is an extremely subjective decision, depending on many factors, and do not wish to excite any flaming / 'my guitar is better' wars but i just don't know how to choose, and this guitar will be with me for a long time.

Following are my needs and uses for the guitar. I lead worship with my wife and need something with a diverse sonic palette, that can do really clean delayed lead/ and arpeggiated chord stuff, to full on rock rhythms with moderate overdrive. Beyond this I play mostly rock/blues/roots-rock based stuff, with the occasional dash of heavier rock, similar to 'stoner rock bands' like sabbath, down, c.o.c, kyuss. I will most likely be playing through a peavey classic 50 or similar fender hot rod line amp. I use a line 6 pod for extra distortion, delay and flange. I am especially picky about necks and generally like something fairly slim and 'fast'. I use a tremolo minimally, for light vibrato but this is not a must, although rock solid tuning stability is. Locking tuners are a plus, but can always be added later.

I guess that is about it. I would greatly appreciate your guys' expertise and input so that i can get a guit that i will not be disappointed with.

Thanks alot!

I wouldnt recommend any of them but MM makes some sweet guitars. Any will get the job done.

hello there,

Just a few days ago we experienced a break in and I lost a guitar and amp. Thank goodness the insurance is gonna cover everything. I have decided to take a plunge into the world of strat style guitars. I am done quiet a bit of research over the past few days on the following models : carvin bolt-t, fender american deluxe strat, g&l legacy/s-500, musicman silhouette, and the various incarnations such as hss/specials/etc.

Of course i have found many good things about all of these instruments. Except for the carvin they are all priced within $200 of each other. Price not withstanding, which would or did you pick/why? I realize that this is an extremely subjective decision, depending on many factors, and do not wish to excite any flaming / 'my guitar is better' wars but i just don't know how to choose, and this guitar will be with me for a long time.

Following are my needs and uses for the guitar. I lead worship with my wife and need something with a diverse sonic palette, that can do really clean delayed lead/ and arpeggiated chord stuff, to full on rock rhythms with moderate overdrive. Beyond this I play mostly rock/blues/roots-rock based stuff, with the occasional dash of heavier rock, similar to 'stoner rock bands' like sabbath, down, c.o.c, kyuss. I will most likely be playing through a peavey classic 50 or similar fender hot rod line amp. I use a line 6 pod for extra distortion, delay and flange. I am especially picky about necks and generally like something fairly slim and 'fast'. I use a tremolo minimally, for light vibrato but this is not a must, although rock solid tuning stability is. Locking tuners are a plus, but can always be added later.

I guess that is about it. I would greatly appreciate your guys' expertise and input so that i can get a guit that i will not be disappointed with.

Thanks alot!

My experience with G&L legacies are to avoid them. They have no sustain and the pickups are mediocre at best. They use bathtub routing. The ones I looked at ALL needed fret leveling to get a decent action. While doing large bends I noticed the guitars fought me quite a bit due to the bridge dropping a LOT. They only use 2 weak springs. I must admit the fit and finish looked very, very nice.

I think the best value today in under $500 guitars are Godins (Canadian made parts and assembled in U.S.) and a relative newcomer to electrics: David Kelly. These are Korean made to keep the cost down (unfortunate, but you have to buy Asian to get a decent price on a full featured guitar nowadays).

I just purchased a Hourglass Q model and the workmanship and sound are just beyond belief for the price I paid. Quilt maple top, set neck, coil split (volume and tone push/pull) zebra PAF style humbuckers, Tonepros bridge, Grover tuners, string through design and highly polished and well dressed frets. The sustain is incredible. Very versatile sound for a variety of genres.

$350

Regards,

? and a relative newcomer

My Bad!

Michael Kelly guitars

(I have a friend named David Kelly)

Regards,

Lol I just looked it up, found the mistake and was about to post a correction when I read this very next post where you'd already saved me the work I just did...

A friend of mine has a Musicman Silhouette Special (similar to a Strat, with 3 single coil pickups.) Beautiful guitar, with one of the nicest- feeling necks on it I've ever played. It's a bit 'polite' sounding on it's own, but you can rough it up with the right ampage.

hey there folks,

First I want thank everyone for their feedback. I really appreciate it. Next, I got a chance to play some guitars, today. A legacy, a couple of Am. standard strats, and some weird musicman guitar : sub series: I did not like it at all but was told that the neck shape was similar to the silhouette.

W/out being to long winded, here are my thoughts. The g&l was maybe 2/3 yrs old, in nice shape. I like the tone in all toggle positions, it had much warmer tones than either of the strats, which sounded a little too bright/snappy for my taste. The g&l neck and one of strats seemed very similar (sort of “blocky” ), and the neck of the other strat felt much better too my hands than the the g&l and the maple neck strat. It had a noticeable different shape. I hate that I am unable too explain the difference any more clearly.

The store that sold the musicmans was kind of small and had a small inventory, w/ no silhouettes in stock. The guy said the mm s.u.b. hh had a neck and body of similar shape. Is this so? Although the guitar was extremely unappealing overall, I did like the size. It is smaller than the strat/g&l and the neck was shaped differently than the others, again I can’t explain how. It felt ok, 2nd to the one strat. Had a heavy black finish, would have felt much smoother with a tung oil type finish.

Well, I guess that is it for now. Hope to go to Atlanta soon and try out some more g&l’s and a real silhouette.

Thanks again,

ones I looked at ALL needed fret leveling to get a decent action.

Yep. I was talking about the Korean Tributes and not the American made G&Ls. I have never checked those out.

Regards,

hey Matt

look forward to your thoughts on the g&l's. I hope to play some more in the next 3 weeks or so myself

i've heard the same.