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Junkers and Gems


Elias Graves

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HCEG loves cheap guitars. Me, too...I have a couple.

It took me a few before I found some good cheap guitars, though.

Give an example of what you consider to be a good cheap guitar and an example of a junk guitar.

Personal experience only...something you've owned or played extensively. None of this "I read about" business. :cop:

The main criteria here isn't price tag...it's bang for the buck. A $500 guitar that acts like a $500 guitar is what you expect. A $200 guitar that acts like a $500 guitar is what I'm asking about.

 

For me...

Junk-Epi SG Special II. A bolt on sg. I polished that turd relentlessly but it was a dead hunk of wood. Not worth the price of admission.

Good-My 5th Avenue ($400 with case) and my Epi Alleykat ($369). Both decent quality machines.

 

I suppose the criteria isn't so much the price tag, but whether that guitar is worth more than the price tag indicates.

What you got?

 

EG

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Regarding the moniker of cheap, Squier CV series springs to mind. MIM Fenders, etc. Tons of bang/buck in MIJ Ibanez guitars, too.

 

 

What do you find wrong and junky with MIM Fenders? I have 12 Fenders. 5 of them are MIM. 3 Teles, a Strat Jr and a Pre bass. They seem to have held up well over time. They sound and feel good. So far.

 

I suppose they have cheaper pots and switches, although one is supposed to have all USA parts. Nothing has gone wrong so far. And I haven't modded anything yet.

 

Enlighten me so I can be prepared.

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Most Yamaha beginner guitars are cheap and quality.

Any SX I've tried has been junk, as evidenced by the guys here buying one and changing everything.

 

dead stock and will stay that way.. cept for the nut

 

4608247845_e0dab0c2bc_z.jpg

 

never claimed to be a flash guitarist but its only been two or so years..

sounds like a strat to me...

 

Blue Rooms

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9008779

 

yes i know the SX is the whipping boy of the HC... but i have heard cats with real strats real american ones who dont get tone this nice..

Cheap? Yes

Junk? HELL NO...

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My SX's are junk but my Agile's are true playing guitars that outmatch and outplay and out-sound any fender I've played/played with.

 

I've put my Agile's against any Gibson more than once and the Agile's have held their own and/or had the owner of the Gibson sell it and replace it with an Agile - no kidding!!

 

SX - not so much

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What do you find wrong and junky with MIM Fenders? I have 12 Fenders. 5 of them are MIM. 3 Teles, a Strat Jr and a Pre bass. They seem to have held up well over time. They sound and feel good. So far.


I suppose they have cheaper pots and switches, although one is supposed to have all USA parts. Nothing has gone wrong so far. And I haven't modded anything yet.


Enlighten me so I can be prepared.

 

 

I wasn't calling them junk, but cheap - certainly affordable, anyway - especially in regard to the guitars mentioned in the OP. To echo EG's comments on value, for ~$250, I think MIM Standard Teles and Strats can be a lot of guitar for the dollar.

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Pretty much everything I own. :lol:

 

Right now, for my needs, I have probably 10 that I would say play/feel/sound well better than what I have financially in them.

 

It's not my favorite guitar... probably around number 6 or 7 or so, but I have a total of maybe $160 in this Epiphone Les Paul. Got it for $100 out the door at Guitar Center used. It had a bum switch and neck volume pot. I fixed the switched and replaced the pot... tried a couple different sets of pickups in it and settled on a pair of GFS Alnico IIs I bought used for $40 shipped. Very smooth, very smokey. Great for toned down jazz noodling.

 

I've owned three Gibsons and in terms of feel, weight and sound, I absolutely prefer this one. The Gibsons were all between $600 and $1,000 new so this one is worth four times or more what I have in it by that logic.

 

DSC_3239a1.jpg

 

I have many nicer strats... in fact, every strat I have is nicer than this one, but there is just something about it that I can let it go. This became a sort of test bed for pickups. I bet I've had 6 sets in this guitar until I installed a set of Duncan SSL2s about the same time I got a Vox AC15H1TV. They just complimented each other SOOO well, I eventually put the Duncans in my #1 strat. I gave a forum member $80 for this maybe 4 years ago and it was set up perfectly. I changed the appearance and put in a full size trem block.

 

But there's a lot 'wrong' with it. It's Korean from 1994 which is after the golden years of Asian Fenders/Squiers. Plywood body, but it's very lightweight... might be the lightest weight strat I own and it's VERY resonant. Even Doc Morbius who probably has as many strats as anyone on the forum immediately said, 'Damn, this thing is resonant!' the first time he played it. It still has the crappy tuners... it has a satin neck which is NOT my preference and it has crappy, mismatched saddles.

 

But I love her and she gets plenty attention while many other 'better' guitars are ignored.

 

DSC_5079a1.jpg

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I bought a Squier standard Tele this weekend for $60 (got a Marshall MG-10 thrown in, too, though I doubt I'll use it much). They're usually $250-300 here in Canada. Setup's great, sound's pretty good, and it's heavy enough to crush zombies, too. Very pleased with it.

 

Haven't posted a HNGD thread yet, because I have no pictures, and I know the rules.

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this thread is going to get ugly....

 

it just did.. here's Roadkill. plywood bodied bullet, affinity neck, fender locking tuners, duncan designed hb103b, cts 250k pot. this thing is the absolute best bang for the buck guitar i own. ask Zemmy and diceman1000. total cost......$0.00

 

100_2539.jpg

 

here's a badly done clip

 

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=999410&songID=9273543

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