We all love the classic guitars of the industry, ala Gibson Les Pauls and SG's, also the Fender Strats and Tele's, as well as the superb PRS models.
However those babies will break the wallet of the average middle class jammer, but luckily there have been some great strides in recent years of the foreign subsidiaries of Gibson and Fender, or even the japanese and chinese makers like LTD and ESP models as well.
Years ago finding a comparable guitar setup that sounded as good as the legendary les paul, strats and PRS's of the time was pretty near impossible, in terms of sound quality and build quality, but that's not the case today. Such companies like Epiphone, Squier, and ESP have been cranking out some serious quality guitars in both sound and craftsmanship, and i've tried and bought quite a few in recent years.
My most recent worth while purchase was a new trans black Epiphone Nighthawk custom reissue, this thing is gorgeous to look at, and the variety of sound you get from the neck mini humbucker, single coil middle and bridge humbucker, combined with a coil tap is just phenomenal.
You have a sound nearly identical to a fat standard dual humbucker les paul or a sound equal to a 3 single coil strat, it's truly an amazing guitar and one of my favorites to date, plus for only $400 you can't go wrong.
Moving on Squier has also put out some classic 50's and 60's model strats with the satin smooth C shaped maple necks that, in my opinion surpass any mexican made strat and are right on par with an american standard, and of course it's less than half the price, for beautiful looking and sounding strats at very affordable prices all for a mere $400.
Even ESP quality has greatly improved over the years the best example they have on the market, as far as sound and affordibility is the ESP 256FM, it has the sleek look of a slender les paul with a beveled back, so it's light weight and the humbuckers scream nearly every bit as muddy as the classic les paul's, and again for $400 it's unbeatable.
Let us not forget some sweet sounding Amp's to plug these babies in to, and if your like me, then nothing but a tube will do, and there are some very affordable tube combo amps on the market these days, to just ramble off a few, the Fender Pawn shop Excelsior, the Vox AC4C1 and Vox 4W and the slightly more expensive Fender Blues Junior or Marshall class 5W, but again these are personal preferences of mine, and all items listed here are $500 and under, so for anyone who wants a great setup and can't really spend in excess of $2000 to $4000 on equipment, some of the stuff listed here will please any player.
Then of course there are the much lesser starter kits of both guitar and amp packages which contain a small solid state amp, and a strat or gibson style guitar for under $200, difference being the obvious lesser dense woods used on the guitar and build quality, coupled with the lesser electronics and speaker performance of the inexpensive solid state amp, but nonetheless good for beginning jammers to get started with.
Anyone who has been around long enough to experience music from the 60's, 70's, and 80's knows who the most influencial players have been through the decades, for me it's always been such players like, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Dickey Betts, Duane Allman, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Gary Moore and more recently players like Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, and Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes to name a few.
So needless to say i'm a preferrable student of the blues leads of these masters and enjoy my own jam sessions at home with these guy's screamin' through my speakers while trying to match them lick for lick, and i've been truly moved by there music over the years, and to this day it's my one vice thats kept me going when life's chaotic problems build up the stress.
I've always looked to my guitar to relieve my stress and wash my problems away, and in my opinion there is no greater spiritual release then hitting that perfect note while closing your eyes and temporarily transporting to another place where few others can visit or comprehend it's existance.
Play on blues and rockers alike and i'll be back soon, with some tips on picking some good guitars with quality wood and components at affordable prices.....Later.
