Guitar for Psychedelic Rock

[penelope]

Hi, I play an acoustic guitar currently, but I'd like to be able to play a more psychedelic type sound, maybe like Jefferson Airplane, or The Strawberry Alarm Clock. I don't think just getting pickups for my acoustic would work well, but I can't afford expensive electric guitars either.
Does anyone know what kind of guitar can be acquired cheaply (preferrably well under $1000) to make that kind of psychedelic rock sound, and what kind of effects would help out?
I believe they used hollow body electrics, but most are pretty expensive?

Thanks.

[Dean Roddey]

Plenty of Psychedelic stuff was done with various types of guitars. Lots of Strats, LPs, and semi-hollows, as is the case in all rock music really. Check out Agile guitars. They are priced very reasonably and you get a lot for what you are getting. You can pick up their AS-1000, which is an ES-335 semi-hollow type guitar, for around $500'ish or so.

A lot of it will be in effects. A nice chorus, flanger, delay, and reverb will go a long way, no matter which guitar you get, to allowing you to do this type of music. Can't do good psychedelic music without some of those types of effects. With the other $500 you saved above, you could grab some Electroharmonix pedals, maybe Small Clone chorus, Memory Boy delay, and Holy Grail+ Reverb, maybe a Soul Preacher compressor.

That will be a good starter kit to get you going with this type of music.

[peet]

Gibson SG's were the instruments of choice for a lot of players from the psychedelic era: Jerry Garcia, Jim Gurley, John Cippolina. The Jefferson Airplane's Jorma Kaukonen used a Gibson ES335 if I'm not mistaken. A cranked Fender amp will give you that raw, in your face tone a lot of these guys had. Add wah wah, reverb and vibrato to taste.

A second hand SG would be the way to go.

Peet

[Unclenny]

Originally Posted by peet

Gibson SG's were the instruments of choice for a lot of players from the psychedelic era

[Apprentice]

Originally Posted by Unclenny

Man, that's a hot SG! I have the SG Classic w/ P-90s, and I love the fat neck w/ binding.

To OP: the guitar shouldn't matter too much. Any decent guitar (Mexican Fenders or Epiphones) would be fine.
After getting some of the aforementioned effect boxes, the rest is up to your fingers!

[Kiwi]

Hi Penelope - the Psychadelic period music is my favorite influence. Choice of guitar isn't greatly important for getting there.

Have you considered getting a cheap "woody" magnetic soundhole pickup? Most guitar pickups are piezo, and they sound thin and harsh. Magnetic pickups basically turn your acoustic into an electric, and while it isn't a great "acoustic" sound, it is perfect for many blues and electric styles. You can have a lot of fun mixing the acoustic sound with the amp up sound - e.g. FX on the amp only and put it in an echoey room.

Google Images "ziggy stardust 12 string" and you'll see a famous example.

As far as FX - they didn't have Chorus pedals back in the 60's. That would tend to date you as 80's. Tape-based flanging or phasing was the audio drug of choice back then. A very good substitute is a phaser or flanger pedal - preferably an analog one, not digital. Try a few - very trippy.

As far as distortion, look specifically for a Fuzz pedal. This is very different from Overdrive or Distortion. Try a few - they respond differently to different pickups. Very psychadelic lead tones. I believe that sometimes they didn't even use an amp - just straight into the desk.

If you can afford it - a Line6 POD HD can actually be dialled up to emulate most of these sounds pretty well, and gives a lot of bang for your buck. But it's fairly complex and geeky, and it's very easy to make sounds that aren't relevant to that period. Pschadelic is all about FX - and Line6 stuff is FX heaven on a budget. Not the image you might want, but the sounds are definately in there ... numerous amps, Fuzz boxes, phasers, flangers, tremelo, tape delays, reverbs ...

You can even process your vocals (or do acoustic + electric stuff). Give me a Seymour Duncan humbucking Woody soundhole pickup, and a POD HD and I could get some serious pychadelic stuff out of your existing guitar. It's even got a looper for lots of fun ...

[Kiwi]

Seymour Duncan Woody Series — Seymour Duncan

POD HD Desktop | Studio Quality Recording For Home and Project Studios | Line 6

[peet]

[QUOTE=Unclenny;6839937]
Wow! Very nice.

Peet

[django]

Originally Posted by penelope

Hi, I play an acoustic guitar currently, but I'd like to be able to play a more psychedelic type sound, maybe like Jefferson Airplane, or The Strawberry Alarm Clock. I don't think just getting pickups for my acoustic would work well, but I can't afford expensive electric guitars either.
Does anyone know what kind of guitar can be acquired cheaply (preferrably well under $1000) to make that kind of psychedelic rock sound, and what kind of effects would help out?
I believe they used hollow body electrics, but most are pretty expensive?

Thanks.

It's got to be a sg obviously. A little bit of delay and fuzz wouldn't go amiss aswell.

[needs more 7s]

I see the gibson sg classic with p-90's is back down to $699 if you like the sound of the who or doors, etc.

[FFTT]

For an affordable, GREAT sounding, well balanced, light electric,
it's very difficult to beat the PRS Soap Bar S.E. with P-90 pickups.

I would also take a good look at the Danelectros.

Once you find the guitar that sings to you, do take the extra step
to have the fret work professionally dressed, set the action and the intonation
to perfection.

[old mark]

If you listen to the early Jefferson Airplane-to me, the ESSENTIAL psychedelis guitar sound- Jorma is playing a Gibson 335...You might want to consider the Peavey JF1, a very similar and very good quality instrument, that retails around $300 new...check Google and ebay for used, if there are any-they are pretty recent. FWIW, good playing and sounding used Peavey solid body electric guitars can sometimes be found at Daddy's Junky Music for under $100...I bought one a month ago for $40, plus another $40 for set up, including new strings (my choice) neck set up and shipping. (The guitar is way better than what I expected, a Raptor +, sort of a Stratocaster style with a humbucker at the bridge.)
I love Peavey stuff and you cannot beat them for several times the price.
mark

[dirtyfingers]

Originally Posted by FFTT

For an affordable, GREAT sounding, well balanced, light electric,
it's very difficult to beat the PRS Soap Bar S.E. with P-90 pickups..

I second that. They are great guitars. I love mine.

[skythemusic]

Gibson 335 for the Airplane sound, lots of spring verb.