Favorite guitar under $200?

[Ahiboa]

I don't see why you guys are arguing over an opinion, everyone's entitled to their own opinion right?

[JRicoC]

People deliberately take threads like these off topic. It's their hobby. Some folks have actually told you about their favorite sub-$200 guitars, some have just decided to talk about anything else ...

[Gitter]

The story about Stevie Ray Vaughn buying #1 is kinda funny. He walks into Hennings "Heart of Texas" playing on various instruments, then sees a beat up flaming bag of **** old Strat. His eyes light up, he starts to play it, asks Ray Henning where it came from. He (Henning) says he was just amazed that Stevie immediately went after the ugliest guitar he had in there (traded in by Christopher Cross) and just totally had to have it. Racks and racks of brand new strats, meh...That one, he went nuts over.

I guess everyone is either a 'brand new' guy or a 'relic' / 'vintage' kinda guy.

[MaxVolume]

 

I'd like to bring this thread back on topic, if you fellas don't mind.

 

I've got 2 in my stable that I snagged for less than $200.

 

My 1994 MIK Ibanez RG270 is a really cool looking guitar. It actually looks like something a bluesman would play. Maple neck and fretboard, teal/turqoise metallic color, and no fancy inlays. It was a Craigslist purchase. I drove 170 miles to get it and bring it home. (Roughly 85 miles each way.) The reason was because the guitar was so different from the other RG's. I had been wanting an RG for quite some time, even though I'm a blues player. (Primarily. I dabble into rock and metal as well.) This RG in particular had me by the balls. I had to have it. I haven't upgraded the pickups, but that doesn't mean I won't. I cleaned the guitar from top to bottom. (The guy was a heavy smoker and it showed on the guitar.) I tightened a couple things, fixed a couple screws, and had a friend craft me a new cavity cover. (Was missing one when I bought it.) I paid $50 for the guitar and then one of the tuning pegs was broken by my own doing. (Fell off of the table onto it.) It actually broke the threaded part that holds the tuning peg in place. I went to the local music store and found a replacement piece. Cost me $2.00. So I'm into the guitar for $52. It plays fantastic, even though the action is a bit high. (1/4" at the 12th.) It sounds OK, but not amazing.

 

The second guitar is my Hondo 740 Deluxe Mark II Les Paul copy. This is a lawsuit guitar if there ever was one. Trapezoid inlays, open book headstock, you name it. It's black with a red burst in the middle, around the pickup areas. It's made in Japan and it's outfitted with DiMarzio pickups. The fretboard is ebonized rosewood. (I think it's ebonized. It's awfully dark and slick for being rosewood...) I bought it from my grandfather with a HSC for $30 and I love that guitar to pieces. Plays good and sounds good. Built like a tank, too.