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What's your favorite cheapie?


thatsbunk

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For me it's this 1996 Squier Strat. It's a full sized body with 22 frets I picked up used for $75. I added a Fender Classic 50's series loaded pick guard I found on Ebay for $70 & a trem assembly from GFS with a solid steel block for about $40.

 

All in all it's turned into a real nice player that I wouldn't hesitate to take on a gig for less than 200 bucks...

 

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That's a tough one.... most of mine were cheap!

Ok, refinished 96 or so Ibanez RG 517/550, $53.00

or my Douglas tele thinline copy. 125 + 30 for new bridge, and time doing the bill Lawrence 5 way switch.

73 Ibanez 2398. Refinish, and cost a whopping 60.00

That's what I am playing at the moment.

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A few years ago I was looking for an inexpensive beater/backup guitar and I bought a used Jay Turser Les Paul goldtop-copy for $80 on Craigs List. After using it for a while, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the way it felt and played. Its also much lighter weight than my Gibson Les Paul. So I eventually upgraded it with some parts I already had laying around, including: Gibson 500T/bridge, Duncan Jazz/neck with series-parallel switching, new pots and wiring, and Sperzel locking tuners.

 

It sounds great now and I play it much more than I ever expected to, even gigging with it. Even though I have about 10 guitars, all considerably more expensive, this "beater" has become one of my favorites and I can take it to a jam or a party and not worry about it getting dinged or scratched. Turser makes some very decent inexpensive guitars for the money.

 

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Yes, the unmarked Ibanez. Fantastic guitar with a wonderful maple fretboard. Only problem with mine, was that the monkey who had it before me, decided to refinish it, and sanded off the binding, then painted it with white house paint primer, complete with brush strokes and hairs.

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By cheapie, I assumed you meant a guitar that didn't cost a lot new and could be obtained cheaply on the used market. I could talk about the MIM Fender Squier Series, made from necks and bodies sourced from the USA - inexpensive on the used market and very solid mod platforms (pretty sweet as is actually, but I'm fussy). My Korean made Washburn P290 sounds so much like a Gibson it's scary, great pickups, solidly built but still not quite my favorite. There's an early Japanese Aria Pro II RS Bobcat I'm pretty fond of, but again more of a mod platform for me, and a top cheapy should be perfect as is IMO. The title of favorite cheapy would have to go to my Korean built Carlo Robelli 335 copy. Fabulous guitar that stays in tune, has a perfect set-up and perfectly leveled frets. Rivals the real deal and I understand that Sam Ash used to blow these things out for around $250 new back about fifteen years ago. Great find on the used market IMO (even at full retail).smiley-wink.png' alt='16x16_smiley-wink.png.ac1518ec0dabe458f31c1303ed9ec588.png' alt='smiley-wink'>.png'>

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Currently, my fave cheapie (all of my guitars are cheapies) is my Fullerton ST-6 which I got from Music123.com for $50 when they were having a blow-out sale of Fullertons (they're house brand).

 

 

 

i put a GFS Made-in-Mexico 6-screw trem with a big steel block on it, Dragonfire Screamer humbuckers (the set cost $25), an SS trem arm from KGC, and a GFS neck. Recently, I replaced the polycarbonate nut on the GFS neck with a pre-slotted unbleached bone nut from Stew-Mac and that also improved the tone.

 

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ST6GFSNeckBack_zpseae7e6ad.jpg

 

 

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The Affinity Tele for $179 is a great buy if you like a slim neck. Modding them up a little is an easy task.

 

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For used, My early 70's Rickenbacker 480 was a great buy for $350 with its case back in the 90's. It (and the Dakota 481, 3 pickup version) were the only Bolt on Neck Ricks I know of. It's resale value was a sleeper for a long time. Last year they were selling in the $1200 range and this year they're between $2000, to $3000 for a good one.

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Nice mods. I got one of those Fullertons as well a few years ago but mine was SSS. Everything about that guitar belied it's meager price, not even a sharp fret end on mine and the pickups were dynamite. I changed out the trem block and the nut just because I'm funny like that. Passed it along to a buddy for what I had into it and he's still rockin it.

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Squier Affinity that came to me as a free pile of parts so I could practice doing a custom paint job (inspired by Brazilian artist Romero Britto)

add-in some cheap black hardware from GFS (new tremolo block, staggered tuners...), so not stock cheapie but I love it:

 

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and my brand new addition from 2 days ago, a $40 CL find (including gigbag and strap)

 

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Koiwoi, if you'd like the details, you can check out my review of the Squier Bass VI right here on HC:

 

http://www.harmonycentral.com/expert-reviews/squier-vintage-modified-bass-vi

 

I loved the thing so much I couldn't let it go and purchased the review unit you see pictured in the review.

 

As DeepEnd said, the Bass VI is tuned an octave lower than a regular guitar - like a four string bass, only with two extra strings that are tuned B and E, like on a guitar, but again, an octave lower. Scale length is 30". I've heard of guys who converted their Bass VI into a baritone, but I am going to leave mine stock in that regard since I also have a Danelectro Baritone which is also 30" scale, but I have it tuned as a true baritone - A to A.

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I've heard of guys who converted their Bass VI into a baritone' date=' but I am going to leave mine stock in that regard since I also have a Danelectro Baritone which is also 30" scale, but I have it tuned as a true baritone - A to A.[/quote']

 

FYI - When Nathan Daniel introduced his new Danelectro Bass 6, he advertised it as a bass with 2 extra strings for free! Needless to say, the idea didn't catch on and his Bass 6 languished for years. Later in the 50's someone tuned it B to B with lighter strings and the baritone "tic-tac" sound was born, invading just about every country song that came out for a while.

 

The point is the only difference between a 30" bass 6 and a 30" baritone are the string guages and tuning. I believe D'addario has a set of Jerry Jones 30" baritone strings as well as Bass VI.

 

When I originally bought the 30" neck for my double-dano, it was for baritone, but I've since restrung it as a Bass VI. Love running it through hi-gain amps - low-end balls to spare.

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