A fettish for cheap guitars

[dg]

+1 about the "more clever" thing. That's the implication I get out of a lot of these posts. I love scoring a great player for cheap as much as anyone. I've done it quite a few times, but I also like to treat myself to something nice that's pricey when I can swing it. Are my $2k+ guitars 10 times as good as the model series I snagged at a pawnshop? No. Are they better? Hell yes, by any objective or subjective measure I can come up with, and I'm willing to spend that extra money.

Some people get really militant about this. I remember a guy on another board who was a fantastic player, and would post great clips that he made with his Fernandes strat into something like a Zoom or a Pandora. That was awesome and we'd compliment him, but then he'd start ranting that we were all idiots for buying nice gear. It happened every couple of months until we just quit taking the bait. He ended up leaving, which kinda sucked because I loved his clips and he had lots of good advice on other stuff. I guess what I'm getting at is that I think we all "get it", but some of us don't make every single buying decision based totally on maximum bang-for-the-buck.

[Jason slsh]

My 500 dolla'' gibson Les Paul special or what ever it is plays better than my sl2h. and it is beat to hell, soloist is mint. I dont get it, maybe the old viking is on to something?? If he is I can get me a epiphone es 335 with a big crazy whammy contraption on it and not feel cheated.

[Bengal]

dg,
Nice post. I'm with you all the way...

We have to define what we are talking about. Good guitars cheap or cheap guitars cheaper. fett has done both. He's scored some nice Kramers and some Pre-RG Ibanez Blazers that are quality instruments. He's also scored some indonesian Squires for cheap too. He posts both usually...

I'm all about the "good guitars cheap" thing. I'm not really backing the "I got a Squire for $79.00 when they sold for $99.00" deals. That just creates clutter thats going to be a pain in the ass for those that come in and clean up after you're dead...

[nhspike]

Fortunately, all of our amps go up to "11"

More than enough elbow room in here for all of us, my brethren...

I don't know about the rest of you, but I come here to get away from the likes of the stale twinkies I have to work with all day.

Here, we know how to be cool to one another, AND have a beer.

We also know how to have an opinion (without taking offense to another brother, just for the sake of typing).

I've personally paid too much for an axe, many times... as well as too little (also many times).

I've mostly sold for too cheap most times.

Still find a way to rock, that's the main thing.



Now, let's get our rock on, shall we?

"Johnny Winter played $80 cort's... TOP THAT!"

[mm2002]

I think to be able to truly judge the quality of a musical instrument, you must at least be able to somewhat play that musical instrument. I'm no guitar god by any means, but I've been playing for over 30 years, and I can hold my own in a jam session. I've played and owned MANY MANY guitars, from cheap, to ridiculously high priced. I can truly tell the difference in a decent player and a piece of crap. I have also reached the point in guitar playing that I have certain likes and dislikes as far as playability and tone. That's not saying that those are consistent with everyone's likes and dislikes, but they're mine, and they've come from many years of playing this instrument.

Fett, no harm intended, but I've never heard anything you've played on the guitar. Can you even play a simple song? I don't know.

I guess what I'm saying is that your reviews on guitar quality and playability vs. price would probably amount to a hill of beans if you were a good musician with at least some knowledge of the actual "playing" of the instrument. It's kinda like buying a car from someone who doesn't even drive, but claims that even though it's cheap, it drives better than all of the "expensive" ones. Know what I mean?

[ozzuk1]

I've played all kind's of guitars to me I tend to look for a few things that make or breaka guitar for me...

The neck has to be nice I prefer rounded ones to square ones my old ltd had a square thin U neck and I found it horrible to play after getting my first Ran.

I've also found many Wizard II's to be like this though one S-520 ex had a nicer rounded neck as did my friends prestige sxxxxxx with the bubinga top...

The bridge also has to be good if it's a locking vibrato, if not a well cut nut and good tuners strung up with no slippage...

Over the past 6 years i've owned Aria STG 004 strat copy with H-s-s config, then my LTD M-202, then the KVX10 that was nice but the jack location cheap pots made me sell it plus it was seldom being used...

Vintage V8 TBS stringtrhough bridge that one was nice had a wicked neck with an excellent satin finish.

Vintage V8 BRQ was nice had the same/similar neck profile but it was porr gloss finish??? both of those have gone didnt help the Floyd was pretty annoying, it was fine for use after I put an extra spring on suprising how much difference that can make but the arm kept coming loose so I Traded it towards my.....

Maverick F1 which came with dimarzio straplocks and pickups, dont know which ones but they were high output had to really drop them down into the body the licensed FR has beena bitch too fine for diving just doesent like pullups, though I think the nut is dodgy......

Ran Custom RR I love the neck on this even though I didnty specify well enough I wanted a Zakk sytle gloss on head front and back with satin on the back of the neck, I made sure that was done right for the second one

Ran Vision I'm still not 100% happy the pickups either need readjusting as my valveking is cleaner than my modeling setup or I need alnico pickups....

Also the neck(final part) its scalloped 20th-24th lightly shape is nice for my superpartscaster came in monday I'll let you know about that when it's drilled and bolted together hopefully tomorrow...

I also have a superstrat made froam mexi body and mighty mite neck the neck si a v profile though so not best suited to me...

And incomplete is a mighty mite body some ungodly neck but i'm going to get a luthier to route it for a floyd and stick the mighty mite FR nut strat neck to it...

Some of the nicest playing guitar's i've tried have been the Ibanez jem 7VSBL and K7, the k7 was probably on a par with my Ran's but I havent played those in a while, I've played A good few gibsons and was really dissapointed with them, i'm sure i'd like the usa select's but i've only ever seen two or three in the uk in total non what i would save for and buy...

So what im getting at is any guitar can be good or bad I let slip an RG 1550 that I immediately gelled with and shouldnt ahve let go of, it swiped the floor with an M-II neck through while a nice guitar was very cold and had nothing that appealed to me the OFR also felt really mechanical compared to the EDGE something I didnt find with my schaller's and even less with my gotoh FR...

Saying that I've never played a squier that blew away a really nice Fender.
Claptons blackie was made from quality parts, ECH used a charvel or was it a boogie body? so it's not like they used some cheapo mass produced chinese made strat bodies.....

With that I shall go to bed as im tired (1am)goodnight all.

[JetFixxxer]

I totally agree with Fett...

[El_Kabong]

Cheap guitars keep you warmer by the cord if ya can't pay your heating bill.