Cheap guitars that cut it. (3 Viewers)

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

Yep,we all love those Gibsons and Fenders etc,but surely some cheap guitars can surprise. And by cheap,I mean the cheaper the better.
There's always tons of guitars being sold cheap,either new or used,and some could be pretty useless. But I'm convinced that getting past the snobbery could provide surprises.
So,what should not be overlooked?

 

[the departed]

Yep,we all love those Gibsons and Fenders etc,but surely some cheap guitars can surprise. And by cheap,I mean the cheaper the better.
There's always tons of guitars being sold cheap,either new or used,and some could be pretty useless. But I'm convinced that getting past the snobbery could provide surprises.
So,what should not be overlooked?

i like early 90's squires. and ive got a stagg which plays real well. and its a total budget guitar. i guess certain danelectros as well. ive played one or two of the really cheap ones, and whilst they feel quite plastically, they play well enough.

i hate SX, rocktone, encore etc.

 

[Psychotic no 2]

i like early 90's squires. and ive got a stagg which plays real well. and its a total budget guitar. i guess certain danelectros as well. ive played one or two of the really cheap ones, and whilst they feel quite plastically, they play well enough.

i hate SX, rocktone, encore etc.

I've got two fenders and I love my Danelectro Hodad as much as these two. I bought it for 500 I think back in the day, which was a bit of a fortune to me. It's got really low action so is super-easy to play and it feeds back like no other. It's obedient and it's black and sparkly and has a huge whammy bar that's very pretty and doesn't make the guitar go out of tune. What more do you want? I suppose it is quite feminine to look but hey so are Mustangs and 335s.

 

[magnetize]

squier vista jagmaster here that cost about 100e. does the job lovely...

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Yeah, them jagmasters are nice little sleepers.
I bet a change of pickups would probably work wonders on one.

 

[Psychotic no 2]

Yeah, them jagmasters are nice little sleepers.
I bet a change of pickups would probably work wonders on one.

Go buy it. Then our family of Fenders will be complete.

 

[mark]

like edel says, some danos offer amazing value for money. a friend has a 12 string dano that sounds class and holds it's tuning really well. the early 90s and late 80s squires are far better then current mexican fenders. ibanez strat and les paul copies can be picked up for a song and are really solid guitars.

in terms of new cheap axes, aren't all the rocker kids playing schaler guitars these days? i recently played one and it was a really nice guitar. i think it cost €5/600. the cheaper epiphones could be ok i guess and the fender are adding shitloads of new squire guitars with various body shapes and pick-up configurations for fuck all money.

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

Go buy it. Then our family of Fenders will be complete.

We don't even have a Tele - priorities!

 

[RSJ]

squier vista jagmaster here that cost about 100e. does the job lovely...

Mate of mine got a squire (i think) jazzmaster about ten years ago for two hundred pounds or so. Went in three months later to trade it in and the dude in the shop gave him four hundred for it as the wood that was used had gone out of production and they had shot up in value. Score!!

 

[Pantone247]

I got a squier strat last year for about 115 and it's really a lot lot better then it has any right to be, into a good amp and kept clean it sounds lovely

course it fell on the floor once and the strings put a dent right into one of the frets... and the first tone knob seems to cut in and out randomly... so you can see where the corners get cut...

 

[Psychotic no 2]

We don't even have a Tele - priorities!

...says the man who went and sold his Toronado AND Strat. Sheesh.

 

[classic seanc]

Any good basses? thx

 

[mark]

the higher end squire p-basses are good solid instruments. my brother is a session bassist and he uses one.

 

[Umfufu]

SX make good CHEAP basses.
You can order them in from Rondo Music for less than Waltons are charging for them.
I'd recommend a pickup change once you get it though.

I was chatting to the guy in the Guitar Workshop about the benefits of forking out big money to buy a quality guitar (our guitarist has about 5 guitars - all chinese!).

He said that none of his were U.S made.
He reckons there's no point spending a lot buying the guitar cos you can change everything on a cheap one (pickups, bridge, nut, tuners) & it'll sound great.

Having said that, I was in Musicmaker & tried out the 2 lefty Tele's (one U.S., one Mexican) & they felt competely different straight away.
Loved the U.S. one, hated the Mexican.

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

...says the man who went and sold his Toronado AND Strat. Sheesh.

I'd sell the Strat again every time.

 

[sparse]

There are a million cheap guitars out there that are really good, the main problem in my opinion would be the pickups and those can be replaced. As you may have seen in another thread I just bought a Jolana Tornado which is a 1960's czechoslovakian semihollow guitar (copy of ES-335). It cost me €172 (incl postage) and on first inspection the build quality seems to be pretty good. I'm going to replace the pickups with Seymour Duncan mini humbuckers (as show here) and the tuners, and hey presto I've got a beautiful guitar that looks and sounds great for under €300.
My regular ebay searches are for
Eko
Ibanez 19**
Goya
Hagstrom
Guild
Gordon Smith
Burns
Shergold
Hayman
Baldwin
Jolana
Meassi
Hofner
Framus

All these brands have amazing guitars but they also have shitty guitars so watch out and do some research. As everyone keeps saying early Squires are great and so are early/mid eighties Japanese Fenders.

 

[sparse]

Having said that, I was in Musicmaker & tried out the 2 lefty Tele's (one U.S., one Mexican) & they felt competely different straight away.
Loved the U.S. one, hated the Mexican.

Were they reissues? They might have been cut differently to represent a classic time in the fender eara, like 60's Fat necks vs 70's thin necks, same guitar totally different feel.

 

[Space]

Any good basses? thx

The Epiphpone sg bass is only 220 , haven't plugged one in but they play really nice. A change of pick up should be fairly cheap seeing as there's only is one.

 

[Pantone247]

He said that none of his were U.S made.
He reckons there's no point spending a lot buying the guitar cos you can change everything on a cheap one (pickups, bridge, nut, tuners) & it'll sound great.

It's worth point out that you can't do nothing about a shitty neck, if it starts warping or anything it's pretty worthless. Same with the frets on cheap guitars, if they start wearing down badly you're looking at forking out $$$ to re-fret the neck...

My Dano was great but it's come to a point when I nearly to put the same ammount of money it cost me back into it to keep it "gig-worthy" (what a harmony centeral user review type of word) and I'm not sure if I want to do that...

 

[RED(tape)MENACE]

The Epiphpone sg bass is only 220 , haven't plugged one in but they play really nice. A change of pick up should be fairly cheap seeing as there's only is one.

Anyone played any of the Epiphone SG basses?