randythoades

As mentioned by @Paolo85 doesn't the device used to amplify the guitar have more of an impact on this than the headphones? You wouldn't just plug headphones into the instrument output surely? So since the amplifier headphones output or the multi effects unit will already be colouring the sound and may also have made appropriate adjustments before it gets to the headphone itself, I would have thought that just a flat response studio headphone would be appropriate, or something like an In Ear monitor headphone. But that wouldn't be an accurate the sound of the amp itself as the speaker has been taken out of the equation, it is just the sound from the headphone socket of whatever device you are using...

My vintage orientated Aria 615 TL (essentially a 69 thinline tele clone) has small skinny frets too (which I actually like) and a flatter radius (which i don't like so much) so you are probably right. The target market was possibly more vintage minded so makes sense. Although I don't really think that either of my old STG necks are that skinny, more medium so it may well have had a fret dress by the previous owner. But well done to @Paolo85 for trying to resurrect it, I hate to see guitars neglected. Treat her well and she should provide more years of use.

They did use better hardware on other models. My Magna series Mac 60 has got the Duncan Designed pickups and Wilkinson hardware and is very nice indeed, but the STG range of this era was very much the beginner series, but excellent versions none the less, if a little bit vanilla and bland. They have done more recent upgrades to the STG series which are supposedly nicer and based on 57 and 62 era strat, but they are designated Pro II (and double the money too compared to the regular base model) but I haven't had the pleasure of trying these as yet. I am a big fan of Aria overall, I have probably had a dozen models from the japanese era through Korean manufacture up to modern Chinese ones and yet to have a real duffer. Most of my basses are Aria (a TSB 350 from 1980, a violin bass from 1969, 1990s Magna bass and P Bass STB from early 2000s - only one pesky Westone bass to muddy the water) and some of my favoured guitars (including my homebuilds) are either Aria or homebuilds using Aria parts (again, only a couple of Vintages and a Tanglewood acoustic to spoil the view on my guitar stands).

Morning and welcome. I have a few Aria's, they are great value. This is a slightly older model but definitely made in China. They reinstated the 'Pro II' moniker about 5 years ago so this is before that. I would suspect from the early 2000's so probably about 20 years old. They are good strat copies, nothing amazing, but nothing bad either. Perfectly decent but would benefit from electronics changing as that is their weak point. The bridge looks like a drop in replacement at some point (a Wilkinson?), they would have been a vintage style bridge with the bent saddles. I really like the necks on these and used the neck off my one on a partscaster home build and then bought another neck off eBay (for as much as it would have been to buy the guitar whole) to do another home build... In fact, my main precision bass is an Aria from this period, and I have a Magna series hot rod HSS strat similar age and I really like both. I also have one of the newer (Pro II) thinline telecasters, but I don't think the feel is as good as the older ones, it needs a bit more playing in.

That's no problem at all. As mentioned, most decent pedals have buffered outputs so shouldn't give any significant signal loss into the normal input if you want to use what you already have. Just plug in and play and experiment. Personally I would just use the GT on it's own and use the excellent onboard effects, or sell it and buy a small amp simulator pedal (Sansamp type, TC Electronic do a series of different amp simulators, smaller multi FX if you wanted) and use your individual pedals. You would most likely end up with a little extra cash in your wallet and a more suitable setup. The GT seems like the unneccessary part of the chain. Boss seem to be releasing their own small format standalone amp and cab simulator pedal which would fit the bill nicely.

If you are just using the GT100 for amp simulation then I would think just having the pedal board going into the guitar input on the multi FX would be the best. Although, being honest, if you need those pedals to go into the GT100, then I would think that you might need an alternative multi FX better suited to your needs, or maybe just a smaller standalone amp modeller so it could just be all on one pedalboard. The FX already on the GT should be the same or better than the behringer ones on your board, and already has a tuner so I don't see why it is needed.

I agree with other comments that these aren't 'usual' choices for home strumming. For the price of each of those you would probably be better off getting a used mid range LP / SG / strat / Tele or similar. The Fender / Squier range has some great mid range guitars, as does Epiphone, Vintage, Fret King and a host of others which may be more suitable for one with varied tastes. But if it has to be these two, you really need to play them and see what is comfortable. I can't get on with the PRS range, the necks are generally flatter and wider than I like, as are many LP copies. But they are excellent guitars, quality is very good and plenty of players use them. I have played several Hagstrom and been very impressed, but I don't know this model. Assuming similar quality, I don't think you would be disappointed with either, but possibly the PRS would be an easier sale in the future should you want to change.

I think this applies to a lot of the 'cheaper' brands. Competition is fierce so the aim is to sell more instruments, albeit at a lower margin, by including half decent hardware and electrics that there isn't any immediate need to uprgrade. Probably costs them 10% more to build. Such a difference compared to the 80s and 90s when a beginner guitar was almost unplayable at times. But interesting also to note that now Vintage have been doing this for a number of years and have a reputation for good quality guitars, that they are no longer actually very cheap just good value and another raft of brands are now the cheaper end. Vintage even have their own cheaper alternative (Coaster series), I wonder if HB will end up gaining market ground and pushing up prices of regular models, just to bring in a more pocket friendly range?

Whilst I have no direct experience with HB, I have had several of the Vintage brand guitars and currently have 3. I have owned two of the V100 and they are great guitars, not just for the money, and at the time was actually better than my band mates genuine Gibson. Too heavy for me though so I moved them on. They already have good quality hardware and I didn't feel the need to upgrade anything.

Might seem a bit dense, but what does a sustainer actually do for the player in the real world? I have read up on them before so I understand the general premise, but how do you fit that into a song?

Eek... I wouldn't go messing around in there and I am generally happy with soldering pickups... Too many circuit boards in there. Yes, take it into a professional. Probably won't cost much as they can isolate the wires and re-solder them.

Very nice. I also like the idea of a classical guitar after a few years of playing and loving the ukulele, but have been put off by the wide nut. This looks like a nice compromise. Enjoy!

Fantastic. Good job.

That's a good point really. At those costs, you can upgrade all the hardware and electronics if you want to, and get some good experience at the same time. I have looked at the HB but don't have one myself. Do you get people turn their noses up when you bring one out or are people a bit more accepting during our times of austerity?

Sounds very familiar! Welcome to the forum. Plenty to discuss here. Sounds like you have a nice collection there too.

I had one of these (just sold it recently on ebay actually). They work really well if you prefer the amp 'feel' but not the weight. The sound great (if you want that tweed Fender tone - and who doesn't?) and will output into PA too for larger gigs. But you do have to treat it like a valve amp. The louder you get, the more gain and adjustment you need etc. It doesn't react like a solid state amp in my opinion. I let it go purely for the reasoning in my previous post. I wanted a consistent sound into PA or active speaker that I could have at any volume with no knob twiddling. Although I don't gig much any more, my home setup is now the same as my live setup, I have a Yamaha active 12" PA speaker and my rack effects that I can use for both bass and guitar (and ukulele etc). I can use this as a standalone, or leave the speaker at home and use IEM as required. So I now only have a small Fender frontman amp for small 'front room' type jams with friends.

As someone that has played digitally live I can say that @ezbass is right. The modelling solutions do lack a little bit of on stage 'feel', they sound too polished almost, as if you were playing a produced guitar track off cd. However, the convenience and consistency really wins the argument for me. Whether I am playing on a reasonable venue (with in ear monitors you can't hear your own amp anyway, you hear the microphone in front of it), or a pub with no foldback, I can always get the same consistent sound by plugging in, no knob twiddling except overall volume in a mix. I don't worry about stereo, you don't really get any stereo effect from a single amp anyway but I can output the stereo feed from my rack mount into 2 channels on the PA if I wanted to (I actually use an old Behringer V-Amp Pro which still does the business live). I set 5 different tones (actually the same tone with various stages of gain and reverb) and just click the appropriate preset button between songs, the rest comes from the volume on the guitar or a boost pedal, but you can get midi switching pedals to control all sorts of things. I would say that if you have the budget the just go with the Kemper. I know that it isn't 'new' tech, but it is well known, reliable and well supported, you can get good value buying used and the resale value is good. My suggestion is to get an older Line 6 pod or similar and give it a go at rehearsals, you might be surprised. If it works for you then get the Kemper and keep the Pod as a backup, if it doesn't just stick with the amp. If you want to keep the modelling even simpler, then just use the Tech 21 FlyRig or Sansamp GT2 straight into the PA, only a few choices, but all fantastic. Put it this way... I can go to rehearsals on a motorcycle with top box. All my cables and the Behringer in the box and guitar on my back. And then live I might take a powered speaker for on stage fold back, so use the car, but if we are IEM then I can do it all on a bike. Can't do that with a valve amp...

I will do a build diary to document this when i get started, but am going to do a neck only p90 build. Going to use a humbucker size p90 so I don't need to increase the size of the rout on the body I have and to keep it flexible for the future. Will keep you updated.

I am now thinking that this might be an interesting build to do. I have come to the conclusion that I just don't really like my strat and have a spare tele and hardtail strat body that I haven't used yet. Rather than do yet another Esquire build I might try this first and see how I like it. Just need to decide whether to use a strat sized humbucker for a little extra body like the photo, or maybe even a p90 instead of a normal strat neck pickup. I have most of the parts and will use the neck of my current 1979 Aria strat so that I can re-instate the original body if required.

Welcome and a nice collection there. I have a real fondness for the Korean Squiers and definitely the best colour...!

Yes, makes a real difference when you get good service and good advice. Goes a long way. And a lovely looking guitar. Good purchase.

I have also heard that. I did have an Encore very similar to the one in the original post and it was very nice, certainly for a beginner guitar. I carried on playing it even after I had progressed onto a Fender, it was just as good to my inexperienced ears. I only sold it because I became embarrassed by playing it instead of my Fender. I am not as worried by that image now and take a great delight in playing my homebuild Strat with Squier neck and a couple of Vintage VZ99 Zip guitars from the mid 2000s, one like a Danelectro with lipstick pickup, and another the same but with a humbucker. Brilliant guitars, irrespective of price and I love it hen people turn their noses up at it and then I play it with the band and you get a grudging shrug of 'it's actually pretty good...'. So to sumarise, the Encore and Vintage brands are good quality overall and perfectly nice guitars.

I agree with @Dad3353, this seems like an overly complex way of switching and definitely a danger of switching everything off by mistake and causing an issue. It would be a much easier job to wire in a fresh decent 5 way switch, or even one of the fancy 7 way 'Gilmour mod' switching options that give ability use bridge and neck pickups together etc with a push pull pot. There will be wiring diagrams online and it can't be that hard to do (or just buy a replacement harness that will also then upgrade the Squier control pots)

Ah, it is a fine balance between looking cool and being comfortable. ... there is a reason that a stratocaster has been around for over 50 years.

That is it exactly. I love the Esquire, much prefer it over a standard Tele. And I love the shape and look of the Strat but struggle to get tones I like from it, so I took apart my Hank Marvin Squier and used the neck on a hardtail strat body which I sprayed satin Fiesta red, no laquer so that it will age more and get dinged. Love it. Although, now I see the prices that the HM squier are up for on eBay, I often think that I might have made a mistake, but I love the neck to pieces, so comfy...!