Hey guys,

I'm looking to pick up the electric guitar, and I need some advices.
So I spent the entire of last week researching and studying electric guitars, from wood choices to body types, tuners, pickups, etc.
Problem is, lots of these forum posts from various sites are 10+ years old and I'm not sure if they're even applicable in today's standard, which is why I'm here for assurance.

Is it generally a better idea to get a mid/high-range guitar as a first guitar instead of the typical cheap beginner's guitar like the Pacifica 012?
Reason is because I've read and researched that a higher quality guitar will play and sound tonally more accurate compared to cheaper variants.
I really dig the Les Paul body type, and would really prefer it on my first guitar if possible.

I was looking at Epiphone LPs and eventually found my way to ESP LTDs, specifically the EC401 and the EC1000 (I know this is expensive, but it IS an option).
Don't know how guitar pricing works nowadays, but the EC401 and EC1000 price gap is just a few hundred off. From what I can tell the EC401 is grossly overpriced compared to prices from overseas.

Also, will there be a "wall" in learning the guitar if I start with a high end model compared to a cheaper one (aside from being too afraid to actually "shred" the guitar during practice).
If it helps, I mostly intend to learn and play J-Rock/Pop.

Guitars work the same way back then and now, so generally the old posts do apply somewhat. the biggest difference 10 years ago and now is price, inflation aside, the jap brands like ibanez and ESP hiked their prices by quite a fair bit over the years.

i divide guitars into 4 levels, low >1.5k, low-mid 1.5k -5k, mid-high 5-10k, and high end (10k++). low is the cheapest of all, Pacifica 012, squire affinity, basically below or at 1k. Personally id recommend anyone to avoid this group cause the guitars are made as cheaply as possible and the QC issues are alarmingly high.

At low-mid, the guitar quality jumps quite a fair bit so a yamaha pacifica 212, Squier CV's. They are made properly with much lower QC issues and can stand the test of time quite well. Often they are MIC or Indonesian Made with the more expensive variants having better branded hardware (like gotoh)

then mid-upper is where you star seeing the jap and american made and as it gets more expensive you get better specs (exotic woods) with more customized options (10k++)\

as far as it goes for a beginner a low-mid Squier CV or an Epi is fine, i often recomend a SSH config so you have the best of both worlds and can experiment. Beginners have yet to develop their sound, so something like an EC1000 can be too specialized especially if the individual does not have a lot of gear to pair with it.

also practice is up to the individual, rightfully an expensive guitar should make you practice more.

This post has been edited by +3kk!: May 9 2021, 03:04 PM

I can resonate with this, me myself I have been playing since 2018 until now on a Squier Strat MIC for 600 and it is really showing its limitations. Better to go for a CV right away.

Also, do invest in a good amp as the difference between a 200 ringgit amp and a 800 ringgit amp is huge.

totally agree with the other 2 post.

stick to a guitar that attracted you to play it in the first place. (body shape, tones, brands or artist you like) get the nearest that you can within your budget.
i dont think guitar have a wall but certain guitar are specialize at certain tones or style.
my opinion is get a rough idea what you want and go to a shop to try it yourself.(i know its a bit hard in current situation)
other than amp save a little bit of money for lesson(online or physical)

Thanks, that was very helpful.
I'm honestly surprised that the Pacifica 012 has QC issues considering its Yamaha and I rarely ever see people complain about them. But again like in my earlier post, a lot of these reviews are somewhat 10+ years ago so alot could have changed.
Since you categorize low-mid as 1.5 - 5k, I can get a pretty good EC1000 with that amount of money. People have said that the guitar can be flexible with clean notes and not just limited to metal/hard rock alone. Would you still say I settle for something less like Squier or an Epi?

Since we're on the subject, I would like to ask a few more questions.
Regarding active and passive pickups, if my guitar comes with passive pups originally and I want to mod them to active pups, are the mods easy enough for a layman to do? From what I gather, they require soldering and some knowledge in electrical. I haven't really looked in-depth into these yet, but I assume you'd also need to wire a 9V battery into the guitar cavity at the back?

How do I check what gauge my guitar strings are? Some models unfortunately don't list the types they use. From the thickest to thinnest (EADGBE), what are the most common gauges for each string? Do I have to purchase each string separately? I assume they come in sets too?

well, the guitar community tends to be tribalist, so good reviews are often rare and hard to come by. over the years i do spot issues with 1k guitars, there are some gems but yea often something you'd grow out of very very fast.

thats the key point, you dont want a guitar that you outgrow very fast (unless you have unlimited cash and can buy whichever and whenever you please)

which comes to the EC1000, any guitar can play anything with the right gear and tools, but not everyone has the right gear or tools. the EC1000, it comes with EMG's Active high outputs, its great for heavier music but less so for lighter stuff. its great to have if you like that configuration, but at this point in time you dont even know what the configuration means. hence my suggestion is for a guitar that covers the most ground, HSS strat or a Epi LP, other brands you might consider are cort/godin.

why soo bothered with actives? you are a beginner, its something waaay above what you should be looking at. technically you can convert a passive to an active, but it takes some amount of work, skill and cost. if the guitar has no cavity a rout needs to be done for the 9v, and if there's a rout you need to refinish it or cover it. its not something a beginner should look at really.

they come in sets, often you have to ask the shop because the guitars arent sold out of a box so at some point the guy would restring it. the common string gauges would be 0.10 and 0.09's, again not something to concern yourself with.

if you interested im selling off my esp eII eclipse fit with emg 81/60. pm if interested.

EC1000 are a good choice, Im a fan.

Take note thou:
-comes with active or passive config
-passive to active conversion needs soldering skills, I have done a few
-used to be made in Korea, i think now all Indonesian??
-Not cheap!!!

Personally if you're determined and has the budget I would just go for it. Get actives if youre the more rocker/metal type, passive if youre more into pop.

LTD EC-401 comes only with active EMG pickups. if you are solely playing metal, it will be a good choice but i personally would go for EC-1000 with Fishman Fluence pickup as it has more versatility on tones. if you are playing classic rock, EC1000T has traditional passive pickups, even EC256 is good for rock.

I'm looking at the EC-1000 Silver Sunburst, the one where the model no. is on the fretboard instead of at the headstock, I think these are Korean made(?) at least from my research.
Not sure if this particular model is only wired for actives though, but nice to know the other EC-1000s have that config.


Problem is the EC-401 is kinda grossly overpriced from what I can find now. An EC-1000 is just a few hundred off and I was thinking I'd rather get that instead of the 401.
Not sure about the Fishman Fluence, I've listened to it alongside the EMG 81/60 and it didn't really impress me over the EMG(or maybe I don't know my tones enough yet as a newbie).
Would you say passive pickups perform poorly if plugged into an audio interface -> PC with amp sims?

hmm.. is it the Andertons comparison video

I also don't like the Fluence sound in that video, but from personal exp with the Fluence classic, i think they're great. Much more versatile and organic than EMGs.

Have you listen to enough EMG clips though? A lot of them out there are under compressed high gain amp tones which is where EMG shines, but plug into a Fender amp with some mild overdrive will sound quite nasty. Even better, try them out or ask someone demo for you in person. It's very different than hearing it through videos where sounds are processed/compressed.

Overall, its a safer choice to go with passives, no problem with audio interface whatsoever. But no harm if your favorite guitarist uses actives and you wanna be like him/her!

(PS: I have an LTD Horizon MH1000 with Duncans that I love a lot!!)

I've listened to a few, not just the Andertons one.
To me the EMG 60 just sounds cleaner? And brighter? Or sterile more like, not dirty. The 81 also has lots of punch and bite to the sound.
The SD ones like the SH4/2 are pretty good, I'd say pretty similar even to the EMGs but I feel like they're abit more "boomy" and less clean-sounding.

Its either I go for the EC1000 or I settle for a Epi Les Paul Modern with the Probuckers, which I see lots of people aren't a fan of.
Reason I'm considering the Modern is because of the coil-splitting that gives me tone options compared to the EC1000 that just locks me down to pretty much one.
Not a huge fan of the Probuckers myself after listening to it (sounds really muddy) but the Modern has Grover tuners, ebony fretboard, graph-nut and full mahogany with maple cap, just seems like a better value if I were to get it.

youtube vids can be a bit, "manufactured" , also a lot of how a guitar/gear sounds has to do with how we play it and the setup we plug it into, do keep that in mind.

guitars arent like computer specs, it doesnt really work that way, 1+1 =/= 2 and often more expensive/more features =/= better. If you like the sound of the EC1000 as you seem to be rather set on it, i dont see why not.

also keep in mind that actives do like to push the front end of a lot of rigs, which is why they suck with low headroom devices.

This post has been edited by +3kk!: May 10 2021, 11:15 PM

Yes, many people are attracted to actives because of the cleanliness and punchy sound. You can see why they are prominent in heavy music because of these characteristics.

But it comes with cons as well, like the sterileness you mentioned.. sure you have read and evaluate based on those.

Majority of pros are not using actives, so its something to think about.

now to think of it, theres a Caparison Angelus for 5.5k in JT, im sure can ask for a better price

its a bit overkill for a beginner (would love to have a Caparison as my first axe) , but damn its a Caparison for 5.5k

yes EC-401 is overpriced, that's why id prefer EC-1000 personally. you said " I mostly intend to learn and play J-Rock/Pop." thus fishman fluence would be a better option over the EMG actives for the different voicing configuration it has etc etc.

and also, since you mentioned you are a newbie and plugging into AI, EC-256 would be good enough. you can trash it how u want and wont get heartache. only when you get better only you upgrade yourself with an EC-1000.

just note that EC1000 has 2 diff neck joints depending on yr...1 typical blocky...another with contoured heel...

as for the Epi LP modern...the contoured heel is a bastard child as it still has that block...
a better option is the Epi Matt Heafy MKH signature...the 2013 model as that has a way better contoured heel aka axcess heel...
the 2021 model is a no for me...has that same blocky modern contoured heel...tho comes with Fluences if thats ur thing...

the neck joint thing also applies to the EC401 depending on yr...
and why not look at the EC256...they used to be cheap...rm1.5k...now dunno la...also has that nice contoured heel...
and u really want a contoured heel especially on a single cut..

anyway another option u can look at that's budget shred friendly is Solar...
https://www.solar-guitars.com/product/gc2-6...on-black-matte/

This post has been edited by Everdying: May 11 2021, 01:58 PM

based on what you are saying here, you are looking at guitars that is not brand new. this is your first guitar. id suggest, dont waste time researching for the one u want now but start playing, cos by the time u found the one u want, you'll prolly lose interest.

start playing while waiting for the one u want becomes available unless u want to bring it in directly from the USA.

https://www.musicbliss.com.my/products/esp-...-ec1001tctmssbs

they carry new models of ESPs and LTDs.

https://www.musicbliss.com.my/pages/search-...=esp+ltd&page=6


unless you would want to pay shipping for this

https://reverb.com/item/1243235-esp-ltd-del...electric-guitar

if coil splitting is what you want, u can consider this too for EC1000. thank God i'm a lefthanded guitar player. dont have much choices for me to consider. unless i go customs.

https://www.musicbliss.com.my/products/esp-...a-ec1000tfmhbsf

Yeah, it's a bad habit of mine unfortunately. Always want the better stuff so I don't have buyer's remorse from stuff like QC, etc.
Its more likely I'll get the EC256 first before anything, since its the closest (and more sensible choice )to the type of music I'm into.


Yeah, the heel on the Epi Modern was one of my main gripes about it, would've pulled the trigger on it otherwise.
I have played a little guitar with blocks like that on the neck before though, and I didn't really mind it at the time, but again, that was just me messing with the guitar mostly rather than actual practice.

I did consider the EC256 a lot though. Lots of praise, but also lots of unfavorable reviews in the QC department from what I read, and its now RM1.9k new from Music Bliss so its making me extra cautious/wary.
But looks even more likely to get that over something like the EC1000 first (just my inner dreamer's high throwing logic right out the window).


Eh, I don't really care what pros do/use tbh. I'm not a loyalist to any type of guitarist even though I do listen to their music.
The whole reason I wanted to pick up the guitar is to play the music I want to, and if my craft of music can get me farther, I'd be all for it.

This post has been edited by Ban-kun: May 11 2021, 04:47 PM