Grateful Dead Music Forum

Got my cousin some grateful dead CDs during his high school thanksgiving break and just saw him again on Christmas and he kept telling me his favorite songs (Althea, St Stephen, and The Golden Road)

He expressed interest in guitar and now he really wants to play the dead. He really wants an electric rig and I'd like to help his mom out and chip in. What would you guys suggest for maybe around 500 to 700 bucks? Thanks a lot!

Mexican Strat and a used Fender Hot Rod Deville would be my choices.

Used Mexican strat with a maple fretboard or a Squier 50s CV strat, and a used Fender Blues Jr. III.

For an inexpensive amp- I use a Vox Valvetronix ($170). I se it for practice in the house and for hauling to rehearsals- I've even gigged with it when my main rig was in the shop. It is a hybrid solid state/tube amp- but it has some amp models that are surprisingly good sounding. The Cali Clean setting is pretty Jerry like- and it has an decent envelope filter effect (among dozens of others) built in. Then you can spend the money more on the guitar and the amp will get him thru for a long while until he can afford to upgrade.

I'd take him to a guitar store, have him try the cheapest strats and teles and see which he prefers. Also I'd go with a cheap fender modeling amp and throw a real e120 or k120 in it. Same price as a Blues Jr or HRD and I think it'd sound better. Solid state amps sound great these days. And when he wants to upgrade to tube or rack mount he can skip the PCB modern Fender amps entirely and get a nice preamp/power amp or a PTP combo and still have his K or E to use with it.

For proof of that, check out Pat Metheny. He's played for the last 25 years through a $400 Digitech modeling preamp into E120s for all his most organic sounding tones (read: not the guitar synth)... Amps matter but it's the player that makes the amp, and the speakers are colossally important. More than the amp itself in a highly limited price range IMO.

Yeah, it's looking like a used mexican strat and used solid state amp. We'll find out more tomorrow.

Alligator wrote:Yeah, it's looking like a used mexican strat and used solid state amp. We'll find out more tomorrow.

Try an get the maple fretboard.

Now,hold on there! What's wrong with the rosewood fingerboard?

Maple has a bit more snap than rosewood. Rosewood tends to fatten the midrange and mute the top end a bit, which isn't exactly your typical Jerry tone.

Alligator had a solid maple neck, Wolf/Tiger/Rosebud etc. had ebony fretboards, which are also a little brighter than rosewood. Ebony also feels a bit slinkier than either a rosewood or maple fretboard.