What guitar is better?

[00stiffy]

Have you tried playing either of them to see what you think yourself?

A lot of it is down to personal taste.

[drbob1]

A single pickup Gibson can be a rock and roll machine, but I'd avoid it for sensitive playing. What bands do you like and what do they tend to play?

[mcgruff]

Don't know anything about Jay Turser.

Epiphone do make some genuinely good guitars for the money, albeit with variable build quality. I wouldn't like to buy one blind but I'd happily buy one that I'd checked over carefully.

Scratchy frets can be polished up quite easily but steer clear of uneven frets (which will manifest as buzzing - although not all buzzing is down to uneven frets) or an action which can't be lowered to a comfortable level. Sticky nuts can be expensive to fix (compared to the cost of the instrument) either because you need to buy the proper tools or pay a luthier for a setup.

Be sure to try out their 335 and 339 models as well as the Les Paul.

[Jeff Hayat]

Epiphone used to make crap way back when. Recently, they have been putting out quality instruments for the money.

Not familiar with Jay Turser guitars in the least.

A guitar is like a woman. It is a very personal thing, that you will grow to love or grow to despise, and nobody can tell you what make and model is best for you; you have to decide that for yourself. Try to make your way to a dealer that has both guitars, so that you can play them and see how they feel to you. If one captures your fancy more than the other, then that's the one you go for. If you find them both equal, then go for whatever will save you a few pennies.

Good luck.

[bugnut]

Epiphone all the way. Every Jay Turser I've played is crap. With Epiphone you have a good shot at getting a quality instrument.

[kneelie]

Of the 2 Epiphone would likely be a better bet. It would be best to get guitars in hand. Even if you are inexperienced holding the guitar in hand to know what kind of neck is more comfortable to you is important.

Guitars come with different neck profiles thicker to thinner, C shaped/ rounded over to U shaped/ more squared and a rare V/ triangle which is usually custom.

Scale lengths also vary 24.75in/ 62.865cm to 25.5in/ 64.77cm are common some are even shorter or longer. The Epiphone you are looking at is 24.75. Scale lengths affect the tone a bit shorter a little warmer, longer a little brighter. Shorter scales are easier to play chords on. For a good stretch try and play a 6 or 7 string bass.

Pickups can always be changed but it is best to know if you want humbuckers or single coils. Most humbuckers can be coil taped to be set with a switch or push/pull pot to only one side of the humbucker for a single coil sound.

Agile guitars are really good at a very reasonable price.

I am partial to Carvin guitars.

[smili]

It's so hard to say without knowing what kind of sound you want out of it. For a very good point on the bang-for-buck scale I'm always going to recommend Yamaha Pacificas. Some of the cheaper guitars I have and I love them. For versatility I like the HSS (humbucker/singlecoil/singlecoil) pickup combinations.

But again - the sound you want may steer you to something different.

[littleeden]

If you're on a tight budget and you like the Les Paul feel and sound, I'd definitely suggest checking out the Vintage V100 (see this, for example Buy Vintage V100 Electric Guitar Cherry Sunburst).

I bought one a while back as a back up guitar for live work (I play a lot of pubs and small clubs), but it has rapidly become my number one guitar - great sounding pickups, mahogany body, maple top and a proper set neck for under £200 is difficult to beat.

[billkahler]

A friend of mine turned me on to Austin guitars. I got a deal on ebay for a chinese les paul. Changed out the tuners and pickups and it beats any Epi I ever played. $160 +. $50 pickups and $40 tuners!

[LoFi_By_Choice]

Tursers are great for customizing. If you aren't looking to dress it up yourself, go with Epiphone.

I've heard some really bad-ass Tursers, namely, Midnight Waterfall. The guitarist had a Turser modded with new pups, tuners, whatever, and it sounded awesome live. It was a Jag look-alike.

[Mikhael]

Never buy one of these cheaper guitars without playing/inspecting it first. I've found quality control for Epiphones and their ilk to be spotty at best.

[magicmike]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hayat

Epiphone used to make crap way back when. Recently, they have been putting out quality instruments for the money.

Not familiar with Jay Turser guitars in the least.

A guitar is like a woman. It is a very personal thing, that you will grow to love or grow to despise, and nobody can tell you what make and model is best for you; you have to decide that for yourself. Try to make your way to a dealer that has both guitars, so that you can play them and see how they feel to you. If one captures your fancy more than the other, then that's the one you go for. If you find them both equal, then go for whatever will save you a few pennies.

Good luck.

actually, Epiphone made awesome instruments way back when. Tursor's are impressive for the money. Try em all out

[Sinner]

If I were issuing grades, I'd say many epiphones of late are b to b+ instruments right off the shelf. Now I've played fewer tursers, but most were Cs. There price difference could justify that for you. But I agree with not buying before u try. Make sure the neck is serviceably straight, especially. The weakest link on the epiphone is the stock, fine but not impressive pickups. I've seen a lot of folks with episode without their standard pickups.