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Hello all, I'm Steve near Portland, OR, first time poster here. I'm a drummer in a Beatles & Classic Rock band and rekindling my love-hate relationship with the guitar. I've been listening to a lot more jazz and digging into music theory as it applies to the guitar. I told myself that if I stick with learning jazz for the next few months and I make progress, I'm going to upgrade from my Taylor Big Baby to a hollow body electric, so I'm starting to shop now.
I found a bunch of D'Angelico Premier SS on Reverb for $399 listed as "B-stock" and Musician's Friend as "Blemished" -- 32 of them!? Did the shipping container fall off the boat? Are these good guitars?
That's about my price and I'd consider used, so I'd appreciate any suggestions for a decent starter guitar.
Thanks!
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02-18-2021 01:06 AM
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I think that's a lot of guitar for the money. I had the Excel SS and it was good.
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Originally Posted by Steve V
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Hard to answer. The D'Angelico Excel SS is a very good guitar. Don't know what all you lose in the less expensive models like the Premier. Also don't know what sort of flaws make it a B model. Would like to know those things before going this route.
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I bought my Premier SS from Musician’s Friend as a Stupid Deal of the Day. If I remember correctly, the price was $349.00.
It arrived in a sealed, original D’Angelico shipping box.
When I pulled the guitar out of its really nice gig bag, I discovered that the frets were all tarnished, the strings rusted, and the neck had a major bow to it. I was really disappointed.
I can only imagine that it had spent some time on a cargo ship, then more time in a warehouse somewhere.
I removed the strings, spent a while polishing the frets, oiled the fretboard, then installed new strings and adjusted the truss rod. Total time invested was about 30 minutes.
Other than those issues I mentioned, the guitar was perfect. Of all the guitars I own, this one is my absolute favorite to play.
I ended up with a DC (335-style with no sound holes), and an EXL-1 — all three are matching transparent wine red in color, and each has a low, 4-digit serial number.
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The SS line are undiscovered jems.
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Originally Posted by GNAPPI
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Are you able to do your own basic work? (bridge, nut, truss rod, etc) Can you return it if you want?
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Where is the Premiere SS made?
At this point in life I would say what’s there to lose, only a couple hundred dollars? However I would have felt differently back when money was tight.
The Ibanez offerings get a lot of love here. I have experience with the Godin Kingpin and the Epi Joe Pass, either of which would be a great “starter guitar”. The older JPs made in Korea are particularly nice, while the newer ones have coil splitting pickups and other things that might make it more attractive for you.
Also don’t forget the Epi ES-175. The latest model (Pro I think?) had Gibson Classic 57’s and was quite admired here. You might search for one of those threads. Even the earlier models would be good guitars that could be enhanced with a simple pickup change.
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This price range 350 and under will get you a nice used Ibanez AF series. Rarely report finish, fret or neck problems.
But I like Ibanez)))
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If we're talking used, you can get a D'Angelico Premier SS Boardwalk with US made Seymour Duncan pickups for under $500. On the non-Boardwalk models they are 'SD designed'. I think the low end Ibanez AF models come with Ibanez generic pickups.
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