Are offset guitars nothing but hipster junk?
To those not in the know, offset guitar indicates the guitar body is constructed using an offset-waist position; that means the neck sticks out away from the player slightly more compared to a center-waist construction. On most offset guitars, you can see the "lean" in the body where the top is positioned more forward than the bottom.
What is the hipster's goal concerning guitars?
In the guitar realm, the goal of a hipster is to "look indie", as in to look like you shop at a thrift store and only play guitars that nobody else would play that have a well-used look to them.
Being to look indie is the goal, the offset guitar is the hipster axe of choice (specifically the Fender Jaguar).
"But Rich, you play an offset guitar..."
Yes, I do. I play a Squier Jazzmaster. But I didn't buy it for hipster reasons. I bought it because I wanted the sound of those huge single-coil pickups along with the vibrato system that allows for effortless "slow" pitch bending. In other words, I bought it for guitar player reasons.
The fact my guitar is a Squier brand makes hipsters go "Eww!" instantly, because of course they drink the same Kool-Aid other guitar snobs do.
The offset snob
If you've played guitar for more than a year, you know of Strat snobs, Les Paul snobs and so on. But then there's the offset snob, which is populated exclusively by hipsters. Really, really annoying hipsters (as if there's another kind).
Fact: Offset snobs suck at guitar and barely know anything about them
The hipster doesn't even know how to operate a Jaguar properly. All he knows is to turn the volume and tone to 10, take out the vibrato bar since it will never be used anyway, switch to the lead circuit and then set the lead switches so only the rear pickup is heard.
When you hear a hipster play, it's nothing but droning chords and open strings drowned in ratty distortion or drenched in chorus and delay effects. Why? Because the guitar isn't set up properly and is buzzing all over the place, so the hipster drowns all that out with effects.
What the hipster wants is a Telecaster, but he'll never buy one
When you lock the vibrato down, switch to the lead position and use nothing but the rear pickup on a Jag, what do you end up with? Telecaster tone.
Being a hipster never uses vibrato and never uses a Jag's rhythm circuit, it would make total sense for him to junk the Jag and get a Telecaster instead.
But he'll never buy it. Why? Image. A Telecaster simply "doesn't look indie enough".
Actually, that's not true. The Fender Road Worn Telecaster looks indie enough.
Is that an old Tele? No, it's a new one. It's a fast, easy solution to make it look like you're indie when in fact you're not.
Offset guitars aren't junk. Hipsters make guitars junk.
Should you be unfortunate enough to buy a guitar previously owned by a hipster, it will be the cleanest guitar you ever owned, no question about that. A hipster knows how to get a bottle of Windex and use paper towels. But the rest of the guitar will require some major work to make it a good, playable instrument.
Truss rod? A hipster knows nothing about truss rods. The neck will be shaped like a banana.
Properly operating controls? Not happening. A hipster knows nothing about how to use contact cleaner to keep potentiometers and other switchgear operating cleanly. All the controls will be "scratchy", count on that.
Stiff-as-a-board screws? They're everywhere on the hipster axe, because they've never been adjusted.
Stiff-as-a-board tuners? Also common, since the hipster has no idea how to lubricate them because he never bothered to learn how.
When you buy a guitar previously owned by a hipster, it will be a piece of crap. A really nice looking piece of crap, but still a piece of crap.
Don't ever buy a guitar just for image
It's important to have a guitar that you think looks good. But it's more important to have a guitar that's a comfortable player for your playing style.
Hipsters buy Jaguars and Jazzmasters because they're trying to achieve a fake "indie" look. Don't be the douche bag that does this. Play a guitar that your hands agree with best. If you don't, you'll never get any better at the guitar because you'll always be fighting with it. And that's not fun at all.
Flame top guitars are overrated
Some guitars take the flame top too far to the point they start looking not-so good, and the Fender Select Stratocaster in Dark Cherry Burst is one of them. Both the body and neck are flamed on it. Flame, flame, flame and more flame.
Oh, there's more.
Gibson is just as guilty of the flame crapola with their Gibson Les Paul in Tea Burst. That flame is just so wrong. It makes the guitar look like a cheesy zoo exhibit brochure.
One of the biggest offenders is Paul Reed Smith with the SE Paul Allender model. 24 frets! Bats for inlays! Burst! Flame top! And... mother-friggin' PURPLE!
Yeah. Not the best look.
Guitars should not look like furniture
The flame top is kitschy because it makes a guitar look like furniture. Guitars are not furniture; they're instruments.
Even Squier offers a flame maple top guitar these days.
Saying "I have a guitar with a FMT, so it's expensive" doesn't work anymore, as the Squier can be had for well south of $300. Whether the FMT is real or a print, it doesn't matter because anyone who isn't a guitar player doesn't care. Flame is flame whether real or not since it's all about appearance and nothing more.
Why are there so many expensive guitars with flame tops on them?
A flame top is an attempt to make a guitar look more expensive than it is actually worth.
Even using the Squier example above, the regular version without the flame is $20 less. Same guitar? Yes. The only difference is the finish.
With upscale guitars, the same applies, except the cost goes up much higher.
The general rule of thumb with flame tops is that the more the guitar looks like furniture, the more expensive the price point.
More expensive: Flame top.
Even more expensive: Flame top with highly figured maple.
Ridiculously expensive: Flame top with highly figured maple and a really, really shiny clear coat that makes it look like you're staring into a mirror.
Does the flame or how shiny the guitar is do anything at all for sound? No; it's all visual.
Most famous rock guitar players never used a guitar with a flame top
Eric Clapton's most famous Strat was black.
Ritchie Blackmore used olympic white and black Strats.
Tony Iommi played red, black and natural SGs.
Neil Young played black Les Paul guitars.
David Gilmour played black Strats (mostly).
Eddie Van Halen mostly played red guitars with custom white and black stripes.
Keith Richards played mostly natural-color Telecasters.
You'll find it's common that the three guitar colors your guitar heroes used most often were either black, red or white.
It's not that the flame top wasn't available as it was always available. Famous players simply chose to go with solid colors instead. And bear in mind they could have any color or finish style they wanted.
The go-to guitar for many players that was (and for many still is) a plain-jane Fender American Standard Stratocaster in black.
Believe me, if that guitar in that color didn't sell, Fender wouldn't still be offering it.
Why don't you ever see black American Strats in guitar stores? Because they're not eye-popping enough. Guitar stores like to put guitars on display that catch your attention, usually the kind with dopey flame tops...
...but I'd be willing to bet if guitar stores started stocking black American Strats, they'd fly off the racks quick. Why? Because the guitar is the total opposite of a look-at-me axe. It's plain, simple and totally works. The guitar is made to play and not stared at like an idiot. And dare I say, it's a more comfortable purchase. A black Strat can't hide anything. What you see is what you get, and that's a genuinely good feeling.
I'm not even into black guitars. But I totally respect the black Strat.
I once saw some moron state in internet commentary - and this is no joke - that he wouldn't buy an American black Strat because it "looked too much like a Squier". Oh, so you'd rather have kitschy-looking flamed woods everywhere and a more-than-double price tag? I wouldn't. I'd take the black Strat over the dopey flame top any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Does a Jazzmaster pickup work in a Telecaster?
Does a ready-made Telecaster exist that has this configuration?
Indeed it does!
See the Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Special.
I have seen this in the guitar store but didn't try it because I thought there was a P90-style pickup there.
And by the way, yes it is a Jazzmaster neck. Even though this is a Telecaster, it states "Jazzmaster" right on the headstock, so the neck is probably taken right off the Vintage Modified Jazzmaster and put on this guitar...
...and that's not a bad thing because there's only one string tree, meaning far less "kink" noises when bending the G string.
Now that I know there's a Jazzmaster pickup in the front position, I'm hoping that guitar is still at the store so I can try it out.
A Jazz pickup in the front of a Tele doesn't sound Jazzmaster-like, but rather its own unique thing since it's such a huge single-coil that has way more output.
In other words, believe me when I say that a high-output Tele rear pickup + a high-output Jazz front pickup is a damned good combo.
How to build an electric guitar the easy way
The term "build a guitar" is a little bit weird because sometimes it involves actual woodworking and other times it does not, so I'm going to cover several build types here.
Build Type 1: Everything except the paint
A Les Paul style guitar kit is one I could find that contained everything and did not require any wood cutting afterward.
While true the top of the headstock is totally flat-shaped, the point is that you could put this whole thing together as-is without the need to do anything else.
This kit does have every single thing needed to put together a working electric guitar.
Build Type 2: Everything included, but wood cutting required
On a Stratocaster style guitar kit, the first thing you'll notice is that the headstock is a big plank. You could leave that as-is, but that would look stupid, so you're going to have to do some wood cutting here.
The advantage of this kit is that it's cheaper.
With a Telecaster style guitar kit, it's basically the same thing as the Strat kit in a Telecaster style.
A Telecaster-style kit is the easiest to put together because it has the least wiring involved. Two pickups and just two pots to install and wire up instead of 3 or 4. In addition, there is no vibrato/tremolo system to install either. It doesn't get much easier than a Tele.
Build Type 3: Nothing but upgrades
This is where you buy a complete guitar and simply upgrade the parts. The qualifies as a rebuild rather than a build, because you're not really building anything.
So if you bought Squier Surf Stratocaster, then bought a prewired pick guard and installed it, that's technically not a build, but rather just an upgrade/rebuild. And there's nothing wrong with doing just upgrades.
Build Type 4: Sourcing premium parts, prefabricated body and neck
This is the point where things start getting really expensive.
You can source a body and then source a neck, then source all your other hardware and electronics. But by the time you're done, you may have spent 500 bucks for it all.
Or you may spend so much that you ended up spending the same price on your premium woods/parts build as you would for an Fender American Stratocaster.
And I know a bunch of you just said "Screw that!" the moment you realized how much sourcing out premium woods and parts will cost you. That's okay because you have other options to keep it cheap but at the same time keep it good. Keep reading.
Build Type 5: Buying a cheap, used crappy guitar and completely rebuilding it
The thing that truly makes a guitar bad more than anything else is a bad neck. And what I mean by that is a neck with badly cut frets, a bad neck pocket connection where the neck meets the body, and a truss rod that just doesn't work at all.
If you spot a really cheap guitar where the neck is straight and the neck pocket connection is good, you can rebuild it. Yes, you can. It doesn't matter how bad the pickups and the rest of the electronics are, because that can all be replaced. What matters is the neck. If the neck checks out, you can make it better. A lot better.
What kind of crappy used guitar should you get that's the easiest to rebuild?
Used Squier Stratocaster or used Squier Telecaster. Even with the worst of neglect, those guitars can be completely rebuilt easily. Another reason to go Squier is because replacement Strat and Tele parts are widely available.
More often than not, crappy used Squier guitars only need a truss rod adjustment, a fret leveling (get a fret leveler kit for that), a new set of proper tuners, a new nut and a simple gut-and-rewire of the electronics and pickups.
You can, and this is no joke, get yourself a truly great-playing, great-sounding guitar for cheap if you're willing to put the work into it. And there's really not that much work involved.
Build Type 6: Cigar box guitar
I only list this one to answer the question of, "What is the cheapest NEW guitar build there is?" Answer: Cigar box guitar. That's the cheapest it gets.
Build Type 7: Cutting and shaping your own body and neck
This is the last build type I will mention. It's not the most expensive, but it is the most time-consuming.
Cutting a body is actually not that difficult. The body is the larger part of the guitar where you've got room to work and you're allowed to make a few mistakes that you can cover up, should you make any.
Technically, if you wanted to, all you need for a body is a block-of-wood style thing, kind of like a Bo Diddley guitar.
So if you wanted nothing but a big rectangle, yeah, you can do that.
Cutting and shaping a neck is the hard part. It's not easy and never has been. There's a good amount of math involved, a lot of trial-and-error getting the rear and front curves just right, and even if you have the proper machines to shape a guitar neck, it can still come out wrong.
I can't tell you how to shape a neck, because I'm not a luthier. But there are tons of YouTube videos on the subject of how to do that.
What I can say is this concerning guitar neck fabrication: Expect your first one to be totally awful. You will have to build at least 4 necks before you start getting an understanding of how it's done right, but even then it is going to take you a good long while to really get the gist of it.
When it comes to guitar electronics, that you learn quickly. When you know how to do proper soldering, proper shielding, proper wiring and learn the basics of how to read an electrical diagram, it's really not that difficult to figure out because there's really not much to it on simple passive setups.
Luthiery is not something you can learn in a week. Or a month. Or a year. It takes years of practice to really know how to shape a piece of wood correctly from a wood blank. I'm not saying this to scare you. I'm saying it because there is no magic button you can push and them claim "Yep. I'm a luthier now!", because that's just not the way it works.
What's the best build type for most players?
"Nothing but upgrades" listed above is what most players are comfortable with. You stand the most chance of being successful with your mods with the nothing-but-upgrades approach.
The way I suggest going about that is to either buy a crappy used guitar with a good neck on it, or buy a new cheap guitar. I don't suggest modding your existing guitar, because if you break it, then you have no guitar.
Start off with something as cheap as you can get it, hack it up and see what you can do with it. If you're successful, then you can move on to modding your main guitar. If unsuccessful, no big deal because even though you can't get the money back that you spent, you did buy something - knowledge and experience.
The knowledge and experience gained from a failed build is valuable, so don't be afraid to make mistakes.
Now you know it all (or at least have a good idea of where to start)
There are many ways to build and rebuild guitars. Some are really easy and some are really hard.
Most players are "modders" and not builders. And that's fine. You're a guitar player first, so you want playable instruments. If you have to stick to modding-only territory to do that, that's okay.
On a final note, the one thing about guitar building that nobody seems to mention is time. If you were to construct a complete guitar from wood blanks start-to-finish, that's not a weekend project. That's a several-months project. Do you have that kind of time to dedicate to building a guitar? Probably not.
Mods, on the other hand, can be done in a weekend or even just a day. Go do your mods and play happy, but just remember to start your first mods with a "throwaway" guitar. Not only will you be more comfortable modding a throwaway guitar, but you'll also be willing to take more risks and learn more in the process.
Thin vs. thick electric guitar necks
I've talked about scale lengths before. Now it's time to talk about neck thickness.
One of the coolest guitars ever is the Fender '70s Stratocaster in Natural finish. It looks like something Ritchie Blackmore would play. Old-style 21-fret neck, 6-screw bridge, big headstock with big Fender logo and "swoop" STRATOCASTER, and of course the bullet truss rod cover...
...but I'd never own one. Why? The big-ass "U" shape neck.
This is also the reason I'd never want a '59 Les Paul whether it's the real thing or a reproduction. More on that in a moment.
Knowing your letter shapes
In the world of electric guitars, there are 4 types of neck shape designations. C, D, U and V. These are all references to the literal shape of the back of the neck, as in C looks like the shape of a letter C, D looks like the shape of a letter D, and so on.
Which are the thickest?
The two thickest types of electric guitar necks that are chunky in shape where you really notice it are late-1970s-style Fender U and a late-1950s-style Gibson D.
Which are the thinnest?
The thinnest type of electric guitar neck are the kind that are on modern "shredder" guitars (specifically from ESP and Ibanez) which are usually U-shaped, and best described as a very-squashed U where the edges are pronounced and can be seen by the naked eye easily.
Demystifying the Fender shapes
Fender has bounced around a lot over the decades with its neck shapes. While these days the shapes are very consistent from model to model, that wasn't the case for a very long time.
I can't go through all the neck changes because that would take forever to write out, so I'll concentrate on the most-known types.
Most-known Fender thick shapes
The shapes here are V, C and U.
50s-style models will either have a V (pronounced physical centerline on the back of the neck) or a Soft V (centerline is still very pronounced but slightly rounder).
60s-style models will usually have a "Big C", which is a fat neck but significantly rounder than the V is.
70s-style models have the large-and-in-charge U shape. To the best of my knowledge, you can't get any thicker nor chunkier than the 70s U shape on a Fender electric guitar.
Most-known Fender thinner shape
This is fortunately easy to figure out as it's just called the Modern C, which is a flat oval shape. This neck shape as far as I know was standardized in the early 1990s (possibly late 80s), stayed that way for a good long while and is still in use today.
Demystifying the Gibson neck shapes
Gibson shapes are a lot easier to figure out than Fender shapes because there aren't as many - depending on which model you're talking about. I'm going to talk about the Les Paul since that's the most famous Gibson electric.
On Les Pauls you've got basically got 1 neck shape and 3 neck thicknesses. The shape is D. The thicknesses are slim taper, '59, and "early 50s".
The early 50s profile is one seriously chunky piece of wood. The '59 profile is slightly less chunky. The slim taper is the thinner shape that most players today are familiar with.
Modern slim "shredder" U and D
On shredder-style necks made for fast playing, you'll find the slim U shape most of the time. When you play Ibanez or ESP/LTD with the really slim boards, the U is there.
When you want the slim D, which is slightly rounder on the back, very few guitar companies make these. One of these few is Dean and only as a "Dean Custom Run" model.
At the time I write this, a Dean with the slim D is ML Switchblade #8 model. These are available, but will probably sell out quick.
The guitar only comes in transparent blue or transparent black and that's it. But it has the slim D neck shape.
Does that slim D really make a difference compared to a slim U? For many players, including myself, yes it does.
I don't shred. But if I were in the market for a super-slim profile neck, I would take the slim D over the slim U. The slim U to me feels way too paper-thin. The slim D on the other hand is really slim, but has just enough roundness so I'm not pinching the back of the neck all the time, saving a lot of wear and tear on my fret hand.
Should Dean make more guitars with slim D neck profiles on them? Yes, they should. They would convert a lot of hardcore Ibanez and ESP shredder players over to the brand once they experience how much better just a little more roundness on the back of the neck can feel.
Most guys who like vintage electrics prefer big-ass chunky necks
Older Fender electrics are either lightweight guitars with chunky C necks (60s) or ridiculously heavy guitars with chunky U necks (70s).
Older Gibson electrics - specifically the Les Pauls of the 1950s - are ridiculously heavy guitars with chunky necks ('59 profile) or ridiculously chunky necks (early 50s profile).
Note on guitar weight: Most modern guitars are between 7.5 to 8.5 pounds. Many Fenders of the 60s were under the 7.5lb mark at around 7.2 to 7.4lbs. Many Gibsons of the 50s were over 10lbs, as were several Fender guitars of the 70s. When you go over 10lbs, that qualifies as "ridiculously heavy", because the weight of the guitar hurts your leg when playing it sitting, and hurts your shoulder when playing strapped on and standing.
Most players who like shredder guitars prefer paper-thin U-shape necks
I don't mean "paper-thin" literally. But you know those necks are ridiculously slim.
When you go into shredder guitar territory, that's dominated by super-slim necks, and that's a huge reason why shredders hate Fender and Gibson guitars so much.
A slim-taper Gibson or a modern C Fender neck feels like a tree trunk to a shredder, as those guys are totally used to the "crab-claw" way of playing where you're almost pinching to play each note on a neck. And you can't exactly play crab-claw style on modern Fender or Gibson necks. Not without buzzing all over the place, anyway.
Players who are all about the shred simply don't do Fender or Gibson and never will. They are dedicated to brands like Ibanez, ESP and Jackson because they have the super-slim neck profiles shredders prefer.
I'll put it another way. Let's say I dumped a set of active EMG hot-output humbuckers in a Stratocaster. The shredder would still hate it because the guitar has a modern C neck, and his response would be "scallop this neck and then I can play it", because that's usually the only way a shredder can shred on a Strat. That's just how they prefer guitar necks, meaning super-thin or scalloped.
Fender modern C and Gibson slim taper D are what most players prefer
Since the 1990s, the majority of Fender electrics were made with a modern C neck and Gibsons with a slim taper D.
How to get these neck shapes cheap?
The Fender modern C is used on nearly all Squier models, with the only thing to know being the nut width is slightly narrower at 1.650-inch instead of American Standard 1.685-inch.
An advantage with Squier is being able to get a specific look without that big-ass chunky neck, such as the Squier '70s Stratocaster. That has the 70's look with modern feel to it.
On the Gibson side of things, you go Epiphone - but not the Les Paul model. The model that has the slim taper D neck is the Epiphone G-400 PRO, an SG model. If you want to go cheaper, the regular G-400 non-PRO model also has the slim taper D.
Does this mean you prefer modern C or slim taper D?
Not necessarily. Maybe you like the big-ass chunky necks, or maybe you prefer the super-slim type instead. You won't know until you try them out first.
My personal preference is Fender modern C mounted on an offset body (meaning Jazzmaster or Jaguar).
Most players, even if they don't know it yet, want a Telecaster. I wrote about that recently for the metal player crowd, but it applies to any music style. Sometimes just having a plain-jane 2-pickup anti-complicated guitar with a comfy neck is all you need. I owned a Telecaster myself at one point, even if just briefly. But that was before I discovered the Jazzmaster. If I weren't playing a Jazzmaster however, I'd be playing a Telecaster.