Best budget axe you ever layed hands on

[bee3]

Really digging the looks of that Patriot Custom and the BC Rich. Have to admit that I still have a little stigma against plywood, but I have seen examples that sound really good. Samick SAT-650... $180 with original case. Where? Yours? Looked it up and it does resemble the Robelli that changed my world and perception of just how good a cheap guitar could be. There is no doubt that Samick has the ability to make a world class archtop (hollow or semi) guitar. I've also heard that their more recent Greg Bennett Royale line is also very good and hangs with the real deal. Here's the SAT-650:

Yes, mine. I found it at Sam Ash. Really nice quality.

[Radar-Love]

 

 

...I don't know what it is but they really never caught on. The upper bout is a bit preggy, maybe that's it...

 

 

The upper bout on their Patriots is not a problem, believe me. Name recognition is Michael Kelly's biggest problem, mainly due to a fairly thin dealership count in a crowded electric guitar marketplace. A problem that's a distant second are the "bling haters." Without actually seeing one in person, the bling haters will frequently pan the upper end of the MK Patriot model lineup just from the photos they see. Believe me, the abalone inlay and binding "bling" work on those models is extremely well done and would probably impress many a bling hater if they saw any of these upper end models in person.

 

The MK name recognition problem comes from the fact that Michael Kelly's dealers are mostly smaller or mid-sized independent stores. Guitar Center has only carried MK acoustic-electric basses, mandolins, and the hybrid electric-acoustic guitar (a while back). I suspect Epiphone, ESP/LTD, Dean, and maybe even Gibson didn't want Patriots in GC stores competing against their LPs. Musicians Friend has on occasion, a while back, carried some of the Patriot models.

 

Michael Kelly was originally a mail order acoustic guitar and bass company based in Tampa with a small store front. The original owner of MK did guitar shows and bluegrass festivals selling MK guitars in the late 1990s. MK quickly got a reputation for their relatively inexpensive but high quality acoustic electric guitar, bass, and resonator models. Their push into the electric guitar business began in the early 2000s, a couple of years after MK was bought by its present owners, Hanser Music, who also own and distribute B.C. Rich, Diezel Amplification, Kustom, Powerwerks PA, Premier Percussion, Spector Bass, Tourgrade Cases, and Traben Bass.

 

MK has done quite well over the years with its acoustic-electric basses, and just well enough in the electric guitar business to keep new models coming out. MK has stayed one of the top acoustic-electric bass brands. Lots of people use them. Their electric guitar business came along slowly in the early 2000s and has sort of plateaued during the past 6 years. They discontinued several electric models in 2008/9 and have since brought back some of their earliest models (with some refinements) and a few new models.

 

​

[Richard Guy]

OLP MM-4

[wankdeplank]

^ Great stuff on the MK brand radar. Your posts are very informative.

 

Gretsch 5422 is a great value

 

Those get generally excellent reviews and sound authentic on Youtube, but I have read that you need to change out the bridge for trem use.

 

Yes, mine. I found it at Sam Ash. Really nice quality

 

Lucky you. I felt like I hit the lottery with mine at that price used. Mine is minty mint and basically ten/ten. Still these guitars seem to be appreciating on the used market and rightfully so.

 

OLP MM-4

 

Well not to cast aspersions but I once read that Ed Roman got busted for changing some cosmetics and selling those as Music mans. Must be really really great guitars - never had the chance to try one unfortunately.

[AJ6stringsting]

my SX Liquid from Rondo Music. You can get them new for about $140. Insane deal.

http://www.rondomusic.com/cgi-rondom...1421a8d614cc26

 

 

One of my students brought in a Agile AL-2000, with 24 frets and a Floyd Rose. After the lesson, I wanted to swap him my Epiphone LPC for the Agile

 

The best low budget guitars I have are my Warmoth, Guitar Parts On Line and Las Vegas Profession Guitar Parts home assembled guitars. Those guitars easily go toe to toe with my Jacksons, Kramers or Fenders anytime

[wankdeplank]

^You sound like me with your hodge podge collection of high and low end. As a great man once said, "if it sounds and plays great, it is great".

[batbear]

My friend once told me that a certain fraction of squiers are actually normal Fender quality, so I think that if you get the right one you can actually get a good deal. I'm eager to try out that Patriot though!

[MorganB]

I go with the the OLP EBMM WG Copy too but can't get those new anymore ,these new cheap Squiers feel like they are made in the same Factory...both are from Indonesia and priced under 100.

 

 

 

[iamjethro]

Sorry, distracted.

[RGfretter]

Many great guitars for cheap. Yamaha, Epi sg-310, Squier bullet. On and on.

 

Of course your opinion of "budget" is wide in his thread. Hell, for 6 to 8 hun I can buy a used guitar that's as good as ANYTHING.

 

But for what I interpret as budget...like a few hundred bucks, a squire bullet(for much less) is a very nice guitar. Plywood body, hard tail. Sounds great! I have many compliments from those who have no idea on cost who say it sounds incredible. I agree. Of course, being a player, I need to have some fretwork done to be amazing to me. But still, it does sound great and cost me 10 bucks.!!!

 

My epi sg-310 was a very nice ax, good frets...but needed a pickup upgrade for sure. Still, a bargain for a great sounding guitar with NO NECK DIVE!

 

Yamaha pacifica! Sweet guitars!

[wankdeplank]

Wow took a long time for the Sparkle love to surface. For those that caught that 89.99 value, seems like a no-brainer.

 

Of course your opinion of "budget" is wide in his thread. Hell, for 6 to 8 hun I can buy a used guitar that's as good as ANYTHING.

 

You are correct sir. People that know what to look for used have a tremendous advantage, those that don't end up with an albatross that won't even play. Had to keep the definitions broad - there are some out there that think you need to surpass $2,000 to get a decent guitar. I think it's a little like finding a needle in a haystack regardless how much you pay.

 

[AJ6stringsting]

I recently found a 1984 Kramer American series guitar for two hundred bucks, with an Original Floyd Rose and case , at a pawn shop. I took out the Seymour Duncans, put in a 1980's Bill Lawrence L-250 in the neck, a GFS "Lil" Killer ( 15k ohms version) and a Dimarzio X2N on the bridge.

Only bad part is, I have to remove the Floyd Rose, redrill the holes for the posts, because the low E is practically at the very slope of the frets on the higher and almost falling off the neck. The guitar is a killer.

[wankdeplank]

Some incredible deals to be had if you're lucky enough to run down one of those American Kramers. Another forumite (BG) was recently gushing about these. Not sure that one qualifies as a budget guitar though, maybe just one that was found used at a good price.

[uab9253]

For me it is the RG350. A pickup swap to a used set of V1 and V2 pickups and ¡pow! you've got a 1987 RG550 clone that feels and plays great, and sounds amazing.

Ibanez Rules.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just finished a mod of the 350 I got on Ebay, sub $300, already had a dimarzio in the bridge and I added a pickguard, new nobs and some bobbin toppers/neck decals, and not only does it play like a mofo, it looks cool too!

[wankdeplank]

Alright, seems somebody's missin out on an NGD thread. Dude that's crazy cool, now put it out there for the world to see. No statute of limitations on how long you've had it - as far as I know. Or if you already did and I missed it, there's always NMD (mods).

[gdsmithtx]

Hey gdsmith, good on ya brother. It sounds like you definitely know what you're doing with those mods. I'm a little reluctant to delve into the electronic side too heavily as long as the controls do what they're supposed to. I'm a big fan of the tusq nut mod (use graphite sometimes) which I've done on most of my guits, even US made - I swear it adds to tone (even fretted) and sustain.

 

Truth is that I'd probably own one of those CV's if the neck was just a little meatier. Last time I played one at GC I think it beat out the MIM I compared it to and I definitely dug it's greasy gutbucket tone.

 

Been a little while since I was on -- work has been keeping me busy till all hours of the freaking night and morning this past week -- but for a Strat, you cannot go wrong with the Deaf Eddie switches. They replace the top tone knob with a 6-position rotary switch, convert the bottom tone to master, keep all the standard 1-5 Strat tones, and then add an additional 11 sounds available through various combinations of the Strat's normal switch positions and the rotary switch for a total of 16 sounds. Some sounds are straightforward (including one rotary position that gives three positions of what can only be referred to as super-Strat-quack) and on some, you can get serious humbucker-level thickness. They do various combinations of pickups in series, in parallel, all three pickups, bridge+neck, bridge+neck wired in parallel with the middle, etc.

 

Once of the best things about it is that it costs $30 and can be installed (and uninstalled, returning the guitar back to bone stock) in less than half an hour.

 

And as far as the meatiness of the CV necks goes, I have small hands so its perfect for me.

[Ralph 123]

My vote is for a Squier I got used at a local music store for $60.

I liked it as well as a mim Fender.

I've had several Epis 335s and now a 339, all cost well under $500.

[wankdeplank]

^Wow, thx dude, I'll check that Deaf Eddie thing out. Sounds like a no-brainer. Now quit working so dang hard over there brother.

[Danhedonia]

I have a ProTone Squier Strat with a Deaf Eddie Chromocaster and must enthusiastically second how good it sounds. However, I have not tried to install one, and one look at the schematic made me blanch. But I bet you could figure it out. And it's ... so good. SO good.

 

"once you've imbibed at the spring of eternally good deals, you start wondering what else is out there"

 

Yup. I had a Jay Turser pine strat that was actually nice, and then got a Yamaha SGV800 for $200 (which I sold, and that makes me feel awful these days). Throw in a 90's era US Peavey Predator for $60, and I got hooked.

 

I have a Morris Hurricane strat that I think was a Matsumoku guitar that is exquisite, just phenomenal, and I got it for $102 because it has a few dings and no one in Albuquerque wants a Morris Hurricane.

 

And shall we discuss MIJ Ibanez? DeArmond M-75s?

 

Agree on the Reverends. I got my Manta Ray for $350 w/the case and I like it more than any used Rick I've played in the last 10 years.

 

[Radar-Love]

And shall we discuss... DeArmond M-75s?

 

 

In some ways, I like the M-72 better than the M-75.

 

The M-72 came out after the M-75. It's lighter because it has toan chambers under its flat, not carved, top.

 

Same deal with the M-77, it also has toan chambers, but it has a carved top like the older M-75. The M-77 was introduced with the flat topped M-72 and were both advertised as being lighter in weight than the older models.

 

 

M-72 versus M-75/77-

 

 

 

 

[wankdeplank]

Dan, you're alive!!! Jeesh between you and Radar, you guys know all the sleeper deals the used market has to offer. I think I feel like the hick that just fell off the turnip truck. Morris Hurricane, really? But now I'm on a quest to hunt down a Reverend Manta Ray. GAS, {censored}'s never ending.

[Radar-Love]

Used MantaRays go for $800 ~ $1000. So, these aren't really budget guitars.

 

Some other excellent budget guitars not mentioned so far are models from AXL and the Squier SE model Strat.

 

AXL has some excellent budget guitar models. The Badwater model line are the ones that seem to be the most memorable -- for obvious reasons. They look like they are 200 years old (or older). I like the AXL models with the fat D-profile necks. AXL is a US company with a factory in China. Some models have the pre-manufactured and pre-finished parts shipped to their California headquarters for final assembly, fret polishing, and setup.

 

The Squier SE Strat is, ironically, made by AXL for Fender. It's the only Fender product (to my knowledge) made under contract by AXL. The Squier SE can be differentiated from other Squiers by way of the serial number, which begins with CSX. The Squier SE Strats are what comes in the Strat Pack, along with a small amp. The neck on the Squier SE is noticeably fatter than any other Squier bolt-on model.

 

Any of these AXL or Squier-by-AXL guitars mentioned above can be had for a pittance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Radar-Love]

 

 

 

[Radar-Love]

Squier SE

 

 

[Radar-Love]

OLP MM-4

 

 

Back when OLP existed -- before the MusicMan US-made Sub models and way before the MIC Sterling By MusicMan models -- almost all of the OLP guitars I tried were really not very good. Strangely enough, the basses were almost always problem-free and quite decent. It's generally harder to make a bass.

 

The OLP guitars I test drove often had flaky pickups, hardware made of soft metal, and fit problems -- excessive gap(s) in the neck pocket, usually. The one OLP guitar exception to this was a red Petrucci Signature model, which I only saw one time, that was pretty well made and had ... ehhh.... maybe it was Dimarzio pickups installed.

 

The OLP basses didn't have the active pickup that the MusicMan equivalent model had and they were made from lighter species of wood, otherwise, the OLP was similar enough to the MusicMan and way less expensive. The OLP basses were actually closer to the MusicMan basses of the mid-70s. I played a couple of the orange OLP Tony Levin 5-string StingRay model basses back when they were available.

 

OLP = Officially Licensed Products. They made some other stuff, too. Orange County Chopper clothing and toys, or something along those lines. Hanser Music ran OLP, which is the same company that owns Michael Kelly, BC Rich, etc (mentioned earlier).