For the past year I have contemplated to get myself an electric guitar, been strummin around on an accustic fender guitar for the past few years, but newer had an actual lesson yet, however I do enjoy making a bit of noice...
For the past few months I was without my accustic and really missed playing. so started browsing around and desided that the time finally had come for me to get electrified, had my mind set out for a Ephiphone Les Paul Standard guitar in terms of sound tone feel and cost vs quality.. thought this was a good compromise.
Today I went out to have a browse around and ended up in a small guitarshop in Basel>
I was part in luck as the shop did display an Epiphone Les paul, albeit the special... but as I am playing left handed i was not in a position to play it...Instead, The shop had a VGS E- Guitar Select Series Eruption Satin Black as below.
After an hour of me chatting and drinking coffee whilst inducing terminal earache and nausea in the staff and other customers within hearing range due to my crap playing..and quite likely also causing Hendrix and other great already dead guitarists to raise from their graves in schok and horror,
I made a desition to buy the guitar and a small practice AMP, the Yamaha THR 5
I got a combined offer of Guitar + amp & a good quality lead incl. stand, strap and gig bag for 750CHF with warranty and lifetime service and support as well as 1/3 off of on a guitar course package.. The guitar felt good, as far as i can tell it was set up quite nicely and sounded awesome (well atleast to me) I guess this was ok as LH guitars usually are coming at a premium.
As I dont know too much about the VGS brand (or to be honest not much Electric guitars in general) I am hoping someone in the know, on the forum perhaps can tell me if I have bought an ok guitar and amp..
feel free also to pass on any good pointers and ancient wisdom you might have to a new Electrified Viking...
I've got a '61 Gibson Les Paul Standard, a '60 Les Paul Junior, a '64 Fender Jaguar, an '80 Schecter Strat and Tele, and a few acoustics, not familiar with what you bought!
I'm not familiar with this brand either (I like Gibsons and an odd Gretsch myself), but from the website, it looks like a German/Swiss brand, and your axe is in the "top-of-the-line" catagory, so looks like you have something kind of unique, and hopefully well made
PPS- There's also a shop over the Basel-border in Germany (20min or so), tat has probably cheaper prices that Switzerland. They also mail to Switzerland removing German VAT and adding Swiss VAT:
I have a '01 Gibson Les Paul Standard. FYI, Epiphone is known for making what are essentially good quality knock-offs of Gibsons. They use lesser woods, manufacturing processes and components to keep the price down, but still manage to make pretty decent guitars -- especially for beginners. Epiphone manufactures their guitars in China.
I wouldn't worry too much about having an Epiphone -- it is perfectly respectable for practice. Once you've put in the many hours of practice and are really comfortable with the guitar, you can sell these and step up to the best... for guitar nerds/snobs like me I don't think there really is a substitute for genuine Gibson guitars and Marshall amps, but you'll need to shell out a pretty penny for them.
I think considering the cost-to-quality-ratio, you did pretty good with your purchase of your guitar and amp. I have a few friends with Ephiphone gear, and they're not too bad, really -- I think they're about as close as you can get to owning a real Gibson without spending a zillion dollars/francs/etc. Best of luck to you with your practice!
Unless of course you have a collection of Mesa Boogies But I guess a plexi or JTM is acceptable for a certain sound....
Tom you dark horse... Let me know if you want to sell the Schecter Strat at any time
To the OP:
It seems VGS are the Swiss version of say ESP so you could actually have something that has had some care taken to build it. I doubt it will be anything like what I first learnt on and won't slip tune / be generally unplayable! A lot of metal artists seem to be attracted to them and perhaps they are trying to build a name and are infact better than their price point...
That seems like quite a nice guitar. I've been amazed at the quality of some of the cheaper and even really cheap brands in the last 10-15 years; they are giving the old names a real run for their money. Many people with the right Brand who are more interested in the name on the headstock than making music, and many as well with cheapo crap who can tear it up. What matters is that you enjoy playing it!
As far as Art is concerned beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and playing the guitar is art. Not knowing any better is not strickly speaking ignorance but rather part of (in your case) the learning process.
Out of curiousity where in Basel did you buy this guitar and amp? I have found a few shops myself around here since I am new to this country and that seems like a very very good deal!! Most of the guitars I have found were 400-500chf without any of the other stuff mentioned.
I agree with everyone else Gibson is one of the best if not the best to own but with that being said, you have to sell blood siemen and othe organs to afford one! Something told me I should have bought the 2 guitars I wanted in the US before I moved here.... OH WELL!!!
The place is called A Music, its run by an italian guy called Alfie.. its located just down from Heuwage on the left hand side just before the cinema. the adress is Steinentorstrasse no 14, let me know if you need the tel number or email adresse.. Its def worth to pop your head around and have a bit of a browse...