Looking for a recommendation $700 Budget.

[lilac cape]

Im a fairly intermediate ish guitar player. I have been playing the basic Yamaha Pacifica 012 for 2 years now.
I play mostly rock and john mayer type of stuff. There are no stores near me to try gutiars so im gonna have to just make a decision and buy one.

What im looking for : 24 frets and a flloating tremelo system.

[summer raptor]

Ibanez Jem Jr? You will have to replace the tremolo at some point though, stock one is going to get dull eventually

But for $700 you can buy both the jem jr and a gotoh ge1996 to upgrade it

[lilac cape]

how long we talking, whats eventually like

[lilac cape]

hmmmm i havent really done anything of that sort on my own before and I dont have a guitar shop near me who can do it for me so gotta look into that

the guitar however seems cool man, does look like it has what I need

[summer raptor]

depends on usage and how much you abuse it, I'd say within a year you'll notice if it stops keeping tune

alternatively there's also the Ibanez RG450DXB which has an upgraded tremolo with steel knife edges and it will outlast the one on the Jem Jr

[lilac cape]

Yoo this one works

thanks man

appreciate it a ton!

[summer raptor]

👍

[indigo parrot]

If you want quality i'd do a ESP mh203 q, but if its for design, i would get the JemJr

[shadow dock]

RG450dx if ur thinking of a jemjr

cus theres literally nothing redeeming about a jemjr except its looks

everything else is garbage

Sterling JP60 is also another option for a floating trem that doesnt have the comittment of a floyd rose

[indigo parrot]

no dude, i know a friend who owns a mh203 and its crazy versatile, and sound soooo much better than the ibanez, and, i gotta add, the tremolo feels better, and is floyd rose licensed

[shadow dock]

i didn't say not get the mh203

i just know the jemjr was considered above

also licensed floyd doesn't mean much

cus a lot of cheap floyds are also licensed

all licensed means is "you're allowed to make this"

not that it has to be made to high standards by floyd

[indigo parrot]

yeah sorry, i get you, but like, at that price range, the trem has to be great, and it is, plus, on this esp with a few tweaks you can fit a sustaniac in the neck, and have a guitar equaling the schecter models and that price range

i know it means they are allowed, but i just feel like floyd trems are usually better than the ibanez alternative

plus, the HSS configuration is really versatile

as it is an esp quality control is better aswell, so that why i said, that if you want the jem or any other ibanez, its mostly for the looks, if you want a guitar that can do basically anything you put it to, the mh203 is the go to

[shadow dock]

dont let the price influence how you should expect the trem to be

ill hold my reservations about the trem on that

“ltd by floyd rose” isnt telling me much about what materials its made of

price doesnt translate all too much to how a tremolo’s quality is, like 1000 dollar jacksons still use Floyd Rose Specials

[maiden shore]

It’s shockingly easy to replace a Floyd with another Floyd. Take the strings off, remove the springs, reinstall. The only hard part would be intonation, but the Gotoh comes from the factory pretty well intonated, so you may not even need to do that. If you still don’t want to, look for anything with a Floyd Rose 1000 (if it says special anywhere, it’s pot metal) or above. It’s hard to find Floyd 1000s for less than $700, but it may just require buying used.
You can find 1000 series Floyds on used Jackson Dinky DK2, but you have to know what you’re looking for, so I can’t seriously recommend those, unless you’re willing to nerd out in forums until you know what you’re looking for.

[maiden shore]

Adding onto this, a Floyd Special sells for the same price as a Gotoh 1996T. The Gotoh is arguably as good as the OFR (although my only OFR is 40 years old, so it may not be a good comparison), but with extra features like a push in trem arm. So, pricing seriously is not what you look at when buying a Floyd guitar.

[lilac cape]

that does sound like too much work for me since I just wanna buy and start playing i dont really wanna do a ton of setup since im absolutely not experienced with that.

[lilac cape]

its out of my budget but its a really good guitar, i might just save up more and get this one instead.

[lilac cape]

i dont like the looks on it either lol

[lilac cape]

i have actually heard a lot of negative about ESP LTDs so never really looked at them as a viable option....i might need to ask around more about those before basing my opinion. It would be really helpful if I could fkin play one myself to know but there's no stores near me.

appreciate you guys for the input

[summer raptor]

I'd imagine ltds above $500 are prob good, i only have experience with an M-10 i bought for 200 and the bridge wasn't center so the high E string was sitting on the edge of the fretboard and the nut slots were too shallow

[surreal pine]

steer clear from shit like the 10 series, they look cheap, play cheap and feel cheap.
anything 200 series and beyond is where you begin to get the high quality instruments

not really an LTD thing, just a cheap guitar from a budget brand thing, which is the same with every brand ever