Anyone know about guitars!?

Howdy all,

I am in the process of looking at guitars as a 60th birthday present for my father. He has decided to join with some of his pals who play in a local band, and us 3 kids are thinking about buying him a new guitar for his b-day.

His influences are mixed from bluegrass, folk and through Clapton, The Stones, Eagles etc, through to more contemporary (but rythmn & rock inspired) stuff.

I've been looking specifically at the acoustic/electric stuff, and it would seem that Martin & Co (www.martinguitar.com) are the best. He has a number of acoutsic's he plays on, but he does not have one with electric pick-ups, and that is what I'm looking for.

Do any of you guys have experience with this kind of stuff?!

Cheers,

Benjj

Get him a Fender Strat they are cool for any style of music.

Checkout Takamine (google it for correct spelling) Acc./Electrics. Also check into the Ibanez Acc/elec. series, they've come a long ways since they've become a serious threat to Fender and Gibson. You might want to also look at the Artcore series by Ibanez. These are Ibanez's take on Gibson's hollow-body electrics ala BB King etc., and they're quite a bit cheaper than Gibson.

Good Luck!

Thanks guys, I'll have a look into these and see what we see.

Merkin

Gretch has some really nice eletric holowbodys also. They are very good!

Merkin...if he is into the type of music you describe I would definitely get him a Fender Telecaster. The Fender Stratocaster is nice, but the Telecaster is the most versatile electric guitar there is. On a Telecaster you get high output from the pickups which means its good for Country, Bluegrass, etc. and produces that all too familiar "Twang". However, Rock musicians from the likes of Jeff Beck and many others have used the Telecaster to get Rock sounds as well. In fact, many Blues musicians prefer the Telecaster, and almost any guitarist would tell you the Tele is the most versatile instrument there is....ie. it can produce smooth buttery tones and Twang screeching tones.

I wouldn't go with a Strat because if he is not used to the Tremolo unit, it can be pretty unpredictable and go out of tune. Stratocasters are fun guitars (I have owned 4 of them...3 that I built myself), but not for everyone.

good luck finding a martin electric/acoustic for under 25,000 dollars

My vote for acoustic/electric (for a decent price, mind you) is Ibanez, all the way. I've been playing for 10 years, and Ibanez is by far my favorite, electric or acoustic. Good price, good sound, lifetime warranty, just a good deal all around.

I'd agree with Jazzerman and reccommend a Fender Telecaster, or maybe a Broadcaster, if you can find one. Both are highly versatile, good looking, and most importantly good sounding.