Members liko Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 My very first guitar was a Takamine Jasmine S-35. I got it as part of package deal; buy a 10-pack of D'Addario EXPs for $100 and the guitar is free. It would only have been around $120 if I bought it by itself anyway. I bought it just to learn, and have since started looking at more expensive models with a fuller tone, better projection, more bottom, etc, but there's just something about the sparkly, defined tone of this cheapie little guitar that I keep coming back to. Anyone else here have a similar experience with a guitar that would be considered a "budget" or "learner's" box, but you would take it over a $600-$700 model?
Members Barry_Blink_a_lot Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 I have a cheapo Hohner acoustic that sounds and plays great. I use it for DADGAD stuff.
Members psychobilly451 Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 I have an Epiphone pr350s I bought back in 1998? I love the tone. I have heard better in a few higher priced guitars, but it has a great blues/alt tuning sound $300 well spent!
Members polynices Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 I have a nylon string guitar that I occasionally play. It's an inexpensive all lam model that my mother-in-law had laying around. I like the soft plunky sound. I usually tune it DADGAD and play the one song that I know in DADGAD. I've never actually played a quality nylon string though. Maybe ignorance is bliss.
Members Michael Martin Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 A cheapy sounds better BECAUSE it's a cheapy. Sometimes. Or maybe it's not about sound, exactly. Maybe it's the relationship and the familiarity. It's like my old mountain bike--pretty crappy shape, but it's familiar, predictable and feels right. Another 18-yr old bike that gets left outside year-round (as mine does) would never feel the same to me, or feel as good. My cheapy guitar (an Applause that I take camping) does not in any respect have good sound, but I enjoy playing it because I know it really well. i doubt anyone else would enjoy playing it at all.
Members T0MCAT Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 I am pleasantly surprised by my Epi AJ200, it is a 200 guitar, but this particular one sounds very nice, having a tone all its own, glassy like a strat. That's a cool thing about this forum, I've learned it's OK to like a cheaper guitar, sometimes they sound really good, and for the price--they sound even better! Had I not been visiting this forum, I may have passed on my Epi, and I'd have missed out on a nice sounding, playing and looking guitar, thinking it was junk and not worthy. I was looking to spend a grand, and I walked out with a guitar for 100 bones, and was happy as hell with it, and I play it a lot, I enjoy it.
Members willie the wimp Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 yes, my two acoustics are both "cheap" although i am looking at getting an s&p in a few months. my first acoustic has a great story behind it, i was in italy for 6 weeks and was staying i a very small village. when i took a 7 day tour of italy i began to feel really sad because i had no guitar, it had been the longest time i ever went without a guitar and i was really bumed. so when in rome... buy a guitar. i bought a cheap red acoustic for 80 euros and carried it on my back all around rome till the next morning when i went back to the village where i spent the next 3 weeks playing guitar from when i woke up untill after dinner when i would go out till 4 am. that was the best vacation i ever had and i got to take the guitar as carry on on the plane back to toronto.
Members VengefulTikiGod Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 If you have an old cheap guitar with high action... Put some flatwounds on it, put it on your lap, and use it for slide!You can also put one of these extension nuts on it to raise the action even more http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Golden-Gate-Resonator-Extension-Nut?sku=360460 so you can use it with a nice heavy steel bar. Even better if it's an electric.
Members FourT6and2 Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 My friend's $150 Washburn sounds just as good, if not better, than my Taylor 710 Fall Limited. But, the Taylor plays much better...and looks better...and costs way way way way way way more.
Members Freeman Keller Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 We had a great thread last summer - "I love my plywood cheapie". When I posted some sound clips of an old $100 plywood Yahama some folks here thought it sounded pretty OK. In the event of a fire I'd grab the Yamie over my Taylor without thinking. The hut git on my ski trip last week was an old Seagull with an action like the Golden Gate Bridge. Tuned down to G it became my slide axe for the week (instead of the rattly Taylor that I had brought along).
Members DeepEnd Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 My 12-string is a Sakura S-12-9 all-laminated bubinga dread. I bought it new in 1974 for $150, just before it went up to a whopping $165. The dealer told me he'd just gotten a new price list. Before I bought it, I looked at Alvarez, Epiphone, Harmony, Kay, and Yamaha. It sounds amazing and not just to me apparently. One Gibson owner was blown away by it.
Members Harmonycat Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 Cheapie Guitars do not have to sound terrible. Cheapie means dirt cheap, not sonically challenged. My favorite cheapies fall into three categories. It is a cheapy to me if it is under $150.00. 1) A cheap guitar that sounds really good...a standout specimen, not like the other five in the store, or like any you have ever heard. 2) The End of the Line Blow Out or Bankrupcy guitar. 3) The vaunted "undervalued used guitar". Category three is my absolute favorite and most satisfying. What is not to love about a great sounding guitar at a bargain price? A 1984 Hondo Tradition Model 18 solid spruce over laminated mahogany with grovers made by International Music in Korea. This is also known as a Sigma DM1-ST for those not in the know. $95.00!!( My new Beater). A 2000 S&P6 Mahogany Cedar.....$140.00!! The sweeter the deal.....the better they sound!
Members Stackabones Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 Cheapie means dirt cheap, not sonically challenged. That's so PC!
Members Tony Burns Posted March 19, 2007 Members Posted March 19, 2007 Their are some fantastic Old Harmony's out their - that are considered cheap instruments ( or they were at one time ) Ive got a neat old Stella 12 string Im going to string up ( hopefully this weekend ) and im going to lower the action - how funky is that ?
Members guit30 Posted March 20, 2007 Members Posted March 20, 2007 I am seriously considering a cheapy because I am tired of trying to rehydrate my solid top Alvarez, nobody ever let me get an Alvarez again PLEASE!!!!!!Jim
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