guitar upgrade

[ericag1]

hey so right now i have a pretty sweet acoustic breedlove and a not so sweet squier strat. i'm looking to upgrade the strat but i don't know the right type of guitar to be looking into. i play a variety of stuff mostly blues punk and rock. what would be the best thing to upgrade to? i'm looking at a price range of up to about 800-1000 and don't know if a les paul, tele, sg or whatever would be best...what are they all usually used in? thanks.

[PawelPotapowicz]

Well any of those guitars you mentioned are suited for those styles of music. It all depends on your preference and what you prefer.

For instance:

If you like a guitar that you can really feel out with a bit thicker of a neck and some weight to it, then the Les Paul is the way to go. Les pauls are warm and have a bit fatter of a tone. They also tend to bring out some more low end. There are a few downsides to this guitar. The headstock and neck are known to crack because of the weight distribution ratio on these guitars. However, they are quality guitars that you can buy used for a hell of a good price (I've seen Gibson Les Paul Studios on CraigsList for about 600-800)

A telecaster is your guitar is you like a bright twang sound. They are thin by nature. The necks on these guitars are considerably thinner, but once again, you will like this or not depending on preference. Tele's are used by almost everyone now because of their versatile sound, however you can never really shake that distinct brightness and high end that only a Tele can produce.

Strats are awesome guitars as well. I can't really say much about them because there are about 500 different types of strats. Their bodies are larger than Tele's but smaller that the les pauls. Their necks also feel somewhat in between. I am not a huge lover of the strat, but they are an amazing guitar that you should try out. You can get them in different pickup configurations depending on the style of music being played and preference. I've seen them with Seymour Duncans, fender pickups, in HH, SSH, SSS and other configurations. Just gotta play it out and see what works best for ya.

Try out as many guitars as you can. Feel them all out and make a decision based on what you like and what you feel is right for you. You can find virtually all these guitars for under $1000 depending on the model and where you look.