Cheap guitar of the week #32 - Epiphone Les Paul Special II Rocksmith Bundle

This is the way people learn guitar these days, so you might as well get off to a good start.

Being that Christmas is just a tick over two months away, now is the time to buy a beginner's guitar, guitar pack or bundle, which is what this post is about.

Take an Epiphone Les Paul Special II. You can buy the guitar alone or as a beginner pack with extras like case, amp, picks and so on. There's also a "Slash" beginner's pack that costs a little more, but I admit does look pretty cool.

When you want to get it all in a single bundle that covers everything, that's where the Rocksmith bundle makes the most sense.

Now before continuing, neither Fender nor Squier has a Rocksmith bundle (and they really should), so when shopping for something like this, it's basically all Epiphone Les Paul. Sure, you could piece together a bundle if you wanted to, but in the end it's better to just get the whole thing all at once.

Here's some of what's out there so you know what this bundle costs.

• Playstation 3: Epiphone LP Special II Player Pack Bundle with Rocksmith
• Playstation 4: Epiphone LP Special II Player Pack Bundle with Rocksmith
• Xbox 360: Epiphone LP Special II Player Pack Bundle with Rocksmith
• Xbox One: Epiphone LP Special II Player Pack Bundle with Rocksmith

Okay. Now that you've seen the price, it is true if you bought the guitar pack itself and then Rocksmith for PS3, for PS4, for the 360 or for the One separately, the price is basically the same when put all together.

However, it's decidedly inconvenient to buy it that way.

The only time I would say to buy the guitar pack and Rocksmith separately is if the person you're buying it for is using a PC or Mac and not a gaming console. In that case, you buy the guitar pack and then buy the PC/Mac version of Rocksmith separate since there is not a Rocksmith bundle for PC/Mac users.

Is this Epiphone Les Paul any good?

Yes, but these are the questions buyers of this guitar bundle really want to know:

Is it an adult-size guitar?

Yes.

Could my kid use this in a band?

Yes.

Is the amplifier the bundle comes with loud enough to play with a band?

No (which to any parent is a blessing,) as this is a starter bundle we're talking about here. For a band, you'll need something louder. A Fender Mustang II V2 40-watt would do the job. And if the kid wants something louder than that, make him or her buy it with their own money.

Would this guitar be good enough for taking lessons with a human guitar teacher?

Yes. If you send your kid to take guitar lessons, this Les Paul is plenty good enough for that.

Is the guitar "upgradeable"?

That's a bit of a loaded question. The simple answer is yes, any guitar can be upgraded with better pickups, better tuners and so on - HOWEVER - if buying this as a first guitar for a kid, I strongly suggest not messing with the instrument. If the kid "gets the bug" for wanting to tear apart a guitar and modify it, the better option is to buy a second cheap guitar (preferably a used one off Craigslist) solely for that purpose.

Why do I recommend that method? Because you never get another first guitar.

I still have my first guitar that my father bought me when I was 15. I'm obviously older now. And the reason the guitar still works properly is because other than replacing things on it that just wore out over time, I was smart enough not to mess with it. Other guitars I've messed with, but not my first one.

My suggestion is to specifically instruct any kid you give this guitar to not to modify it in any way. Don't take off the knobs, don't take out any screws, don't do anything except set up the action (or take it to a guitar store and have a tech do it,) change strings and NOTHING ELSE. That will make the guitar last a long time.

Oh, and one other thing. Again, if it's a first guitar, DON'T let the kid trade it out. Like I said, there's never another first guitar. Keep it.

Is there any other choice besides this bundle?

No. Only Epiphone has the Rocksmith bundle option. Fortunately, it's a good bundle for what it is that isn't missing anything. The bundle is designed to be a no-brainer purchase, so even if you know absolutely nothing about how guitars work, you can still buy with confidence, give it as a gift and not worry about it.

The only thing I would do is something I just mentioned a moment ago. If the kid sticks with the the instrument, it is a good idea to take the guitar to a guitar store for a proper setup, which shouldn't run you more than $25 to $30.

And if you don't want to take your kid into "the danger zone" with all those expensive guitars everywhere in the guitar store to drool over, pick a day to take the guitar to the store while your kid is at school, have the store do the work, then take it back home.

5 things that only guitar players believe (that nobody else does)

If you play guitar, the sooner you get what I'm about to say out of your head, the better off you are.

Being I just featured a vintage Fender Mustang recently, I should also say the best looking Squier Mustang is one in Vintage White. You'll like that one. I'm also saying this for another reason, and you can guess what that is when you read the list below (hint: it's the first reason).

1. "The logo on my headstock matters."

Non-musicians absolutely do not care what brand of guitar you play. In the mind of the guitar player, everyone knows the difference between a Fender and a Squier or a Gibson and an Epiphone. Wrong. Only guitar players care and nobody else.

I've said this before and will say it again. DO NOT play for other guitar players. What other guitar players think of the brand of guitar you play DOES NOT MATTER and never did.

2. "Old, beat-up guitars look cool."

If you're in a restaurant and are handed a dirty, rusted spoon to eat your soup with, do you say, "Hey, thanks! This is the coolest looking spoon ever!" Of course not. You recoil in disgust.

Only guitar players think that dingy, grimy, busted-up, nasty looking guitars actually look good. Everyone else thinks they look like total crap, and in fact, the non-musician would believe that since you own a beat-up guitar, you must be too poor to afford a proper, clean one.

Yes, I am saying that a shiny new under-$300 Squier makes you look like you have money while the $over-3,000 Fender "relic" makes you look poor. Let that sit in your mind for a moment.

3. "People like guitar solos."

People hate guitar solos. In fact, there's a fair amount of people who hate guitar solos so much, that even if you play a single note with the slightest bit of vibrato to it, they wince.

A guitar player thinks a solo sounds great. A non-musician thinks it sounds like a cat in heat. I'm not kidding.

4. "I am the most important musician in the band."

Not unless you're the lead singer.

The lead singer is the frontman. Always. If you're not the one singing the lead vocals, you are never top banana. Get over yourself.

5. "Jimi Hendrix was the greatest guitarist ever."

No, he wasn't.

Aside from that, nobody, and I mean nobody outside of guitar players even know who Hendrix was. You ask any girl under the age of 30 if they know of him, and she'll reply right back with, "Jimmy who?"

The same can be said for any famous guitar player you know. Non-musicians don't know who Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page or Eddie Van Halen are. They do however know a good song when they hear one if it has a catchy beat and good lyrics to it. It's the song that matters most and not the artist.

Vintage guitar of the week #15 - 1971 Fender Mustang in Competition Red

Ah, the Mustang. A weird little guitar. But cool.

Let's talk about the '71 Fender Mustang in "Competition" Red.

The Mustang is one of the most affordable (if not the most affordable) vintage Fender electrics you can buy. You'll see that the price is surprisingly low for a Fender that old. It's not because the guitar has anything wrong with it other than a few minor cosmetic issues. Mustangs just don't command high prices.

Said another way, if you want to collect a vintage Fender electric, check out Mustangs. Believe me, there are always plenty to choose from, even for models made in the late 1960s.

What about new?

There's the Fender Classic Series '65 Mustang on the expensive side, and the Squier Vintage Modified Mustang on the cheap side. I would actually prefer the Squier if buying new because the truss rod adjustment is at the pegboard and not the heel.

How come vintage Mustangs don't command higher prices?

There are several reasons for this.

The "Dynamic Vibrato" system

What you have here is a plate with strings installed on it that rest on saddles that do not have adjustable height (the bridge's height however can be adjusted, thankfully.) This system is like a cross between a Stratocaster and a Jazzmaster, and to be honest, most players find it completely unusable..

..but then again, I've never known anyone to use a Mustang vibrato system, so that's really not a big deal.

Small

The Mustang is a little guitar. It qualifies as adult-sized, but just barely. The neck is a short scale 24.0-inch just like the Jaguar, but it's the body where you really feel the smallness of the instrument.

The advantage of the smallness is that nearly all Mustangs are very lightweight guitars.

"Phase Slider" switches

Some players just don't like these switches. I've wrote about this at length before, but this is how the two switches above the pickups work:

There are 4 possible combinations. Front pickup only, rear pickup only, both pickups in-phase, both pickups out-of-phase.

I'll label these as F, M, R and list below the 4 pickup combinations.

FM or RM: Rear pickup only.
MF or MR: Front pickup only.
FF or RR: Both pickups on, in-phase.
FR or RF: Both pickups on, out-of-phase.

What happens if both switches are in the middle position? That's both pickups off, and you would hear nothing.

The out-of-phase sound is a "nasal" or "honky" type of tone, while in-phase has somewhat of a Telecaster sound to it. I say 'somewhat' because the pickup spacing is different on the Mustang compared to a Telecaster.

I basically describe the Mustang's tone as a mix between a Jaguar and a Telecaster. Yes, it is a very usable sound.

What's a "competition" Mustang color?

To the best of my knowledge, any Mustang labeled as "Competition" means it has the racing stripe on the body. Of the Competition colors, I've seen Dakota Red, White, Lake Placid Blue (which for real-deal vintage sometimes turns to green), and the rarest - and also ugliest of the bunch - yellow (which over time turns to orange).

Now if you take a look at a yellow Competition Mustang and think, "Oh, wow, cool, I like that!" Trust me, you don't. The Competition Yellow Fender Mustang is one of those guitars that looks better in pictures compared to real life. I guarantee that in person you would hate the look of this guitar. While in pictures it looks cool, in person it looks very toy-like. Or go ahead and get one if you want, because I'm not the boss of you.

Think of it like this. The Mustang is already a smaller guitar. Slapping a "wild" color on it doesn't help make the guitar look any better.

Dakota Red and Lake Placid Blue with the stripe are the two best lookers of the bunch.

Does the stripe work on a Squier Mustang?

There are three colors of Squier Mustang. Fiesta Red, Sonic Blue and Vintage White.

Of the three colors that would take to a stripe properly, there's only one. The Vintage White version. That guitar comes with a tortoise shell pick guard. If you swap out the guard from that to parchment ("aged" white,) then apply a dark blue stripe, you've then got the look of an early-1970s Fender Mustang, around 1973 or so. It's a good look for the guitar. Yes, you can get this out of a Squier, but the guard has to be changed out to a solid parchment color first.

In the end, the competition stripe can work on the Mustang, but it all depends on the color choice. Dakota Red + off-white stripe works, Lake Placid Blue + silver or sky blue or off-white stripe works, and Vintage White + dark/navy stripe works. There are probably other color combinations that work too, but those are the three biggies, so to speak.

Is a cutaway acoustic guitar worth the bother?

Not really.

Take two dirt cheap acoustic guitars, the Jasmine S35 and the Jasmine S34C. And when I say dirt cheap, I mean it. (And surprisingly, both guitars get really good reviews.)

The S35 is your standard dreadnought acoustic shape, and the S34C is the cutaway shape.

The only reason the cutaway shape exists is to have fret access above the 13th fret.

On an electric guitar, it makes total sense to use a cutaway shape so you can access all the frets on the neck.

On an acoustic guitar, it makes no sense at all to have access to the high frets since you will never play there anyway.

Now you might think to yourself, "Oh yes, I would play there all the time!" No, you wouldn't. If you own an acoustic now with the cutaway shape, try playing notes on those frets. Yeah, sounds pretty terrible, doesn't it? That's because it's an acoustic and not an electric. There are no pickups compensating for that "bitey", nasty tone that sounds like a kid's toy piano up there.

On the acoustic, it is very unlikely you will ever play anything past the 7th fret, or maybe the 9th fret if you're adventurous. When you want your notes and chords to ring loud and true, you don't play anywhere above the 7th fret so you can keep as much definition out of the sound as possible.

You can't apply electric guitar thinking to an acoustic. Many try, all fail.

Of course, there's always That Famous Acoustic Player someone will mention that plays really high on the fretboard with his cutaway acoustic guitar. Here's a news flash for you. You're not that guy, and you will never be that guy.

The standard full size dreadnought shape always sounds best

Take this beginner's bundle, Yamaha FG700S "Folk" Bundle. While costing more than just the guitar itself (which by the way gets a top 5-star rating even though it's cheap), it's a darned good deal.

Why do cheap full size dreadnoughts get such stellar ratings? Because they're built traditionally. This style of guitar was around way before the electric was, and through literally centuries of building them, companies with modern machining and modern materials are able to build these things so well that even the cheapest models play and sound incredible these days...

...as long as it's a full size. Stick with the full size shape, and yes, it will sound good and project well. With a cutaway shape, you take your chances and usually lose.

"I want something I can plug in to an amp"

No, you don't.

Acoustic guitars always sound better from a microphone and not an on-guitar pickup. Remember, a standalone microphone (or a pair of them) is more close to what your ears hear.

If you absolutely have to have a pickup, get a Seymour Duncan Woody. Yes, I've mentioned this before and will mention it again. The Woody goes right in the sound hole and sounds great - but - I guarantee you will like the miked sound better.

Stick with the full size dreadnought

Sounds the best, plays the best, rests the best on your leg when sitting and it's not any heavier than a cutaway is since an acoustic dreadnought is lightweight to begin with.

You're not going to play solos on high frets with your acoustic. Get that electric guitar thinking out of your head. Stay with the full size shape. It has been proven for longer than you've been alive that it's the best you can use for a steel string 6-string acoustic. What more proof do you need?

Cheap guitar of the week #31 - Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar

This is, believe it or not, the first time I've featured this specific guitar here.

If you follow me on the internet, you know I play a Squier Jazzmaster. But the guitar featured here is the Squier Jaguar. To the untrained eye, the Jazz and the Jag look the same. Trust me, they're not the same.

The first major difference from Jazz to Jag is that the Jazz is a 25.5-inch scale with a 3-way toggle on the bottom horn, and the Jag is a 24.0-inch short scale with individual pickup switches on the bottom horn. The second major difference is that the Jazz has large single-coil pickups while the Jag has skinny ones.

For most people (at least for adult players), playing a Jag is usually their first experience with a short scale guitar.

Are special strings required for the Jag short scale neck?

No. You can use whatever guitar strings you normally use.

Is the string tension different on a Jag neck?

Yes. It will be looser in tension. Typically, what most players do is use strings that are one gauge thicker than what they ordinarily play on a 25.5-inch scale Strat. If for example you're used to a 10-46 set on a Stratocaster but that feels too loose on the Jag, going up one gauge thickness to an 11-48 set is normal.

What does a Jag sound like?

Very bright and twangy, thanks to its skinny single-coil pickups, 1meg linear volume pot and 1meg audio tone pot.

How does the switching work?

Top (rhythm circuit): Thumbwheel volume, thumbwheel tone, rhythm/lead circuit selector switch. When switch is up, top controls are used, front pickup only.

Bottom (lead circuit): Volume knob, tone knob, "Cut" slider switch (traditionally known as a "strangle" switch), off/on rear pickup switch, off/on front pickup switch.

Is the Jag good as a first guitar?

NO. The Jag was never designed to be a student guitar, and in fact was considered, along with the Jazzmaster, to be Fenders flagship guitars back in the early 1960s. Both guitars were designed to have many tonal options for adult players.

Guitars that serve well as first instruments for adults or student guitars for kids (and by "kids" I mean a child who is at least 13 years old) are the Squier Affinity Telecaster, Epiphone Les Paul Special II and the Schecter Omen-6 I just talked about recently. The no-brainer purchase is the Omen-6, especially if buying for a kid.

I would never recommend a Jazzmaster or Jaguar to a first-time player regardless of age because the guitar is simply too complicated.

And no, a "simple" Jag or Jazz does not exist in the Squier lineup, or at least not currently. The last one that existed was the Squier Jagmaster, which was a combination of both the Jaguar and Jazzmaster in a simplified two-humbucker layout with Strat-style vibrato system.

Jags are for the adventurous

The Jaguar (and by association the Jazzmaster) is a weird, quirky guitar. It's not Telecaster-easy and never has been.

I may at some point pick up a Jag just because I like the Jazz so much. Have I ever played a Squier Jag personally? Yes. I get along just fine with one, but my main nitpick is that I don't like the lead circuit slider switches (I greatly prefer the Jazzmaster 3-way toggle.)

I do however like the short scale neck just because it's different, and I also dig the Jag's sound.

Speaking of which, at the end of the day, it all comes down to how a guitar sounds that makes you like it or not.

The Jag sounds amazing. It just does. Even in a cheap Squier flavor, the guitar has loads of tonal character.

The Jag, like the Jazzmaster, was also designed first to be a sit-down guitar. This isn't to say you can't play it standing, because you certainly can (and easily,) but the offset shape along with the fact there is no middle pickup to bash into while playing make the Jag a very comfortable player.

Last, but certainly not least, the Jag is a fun guitar. It's the kind of axe that reminds you why you started playing guitar in the first place. Having fun is what playing guitar is all about. The Jag looks cool, sounds great, plays great. It's weird, sometimes buzzy, sometimes screechy. It has character.

You have to be a bit on the bold side to play a Jag, and it does take a little while to get used to it. But it is a great guitar to go on tonal adventures with. If you're bored with Strats, Teles and Les Pauls, try a Jag.