Junkers and Gems

[Chairborne]

Gonna go arbitrary and say cheap is less than $200. I regularly gig the following:

 

Music Drive MD something-or-other with Mighty Mite P90s. $100.

 

Jay Turser JT45 with Kent Armstrong P90. $140.

 

Sterling AX20, $180.

[=JL=]

I bought a Hofner semi hollow off my neighbour for

[nuclear arsenal]

 

the other is a PRS Soapbar II that i paid $220 for both play and sound way above there price point..

 

 

i had a soapbar 2, and i played the crap out of it, but the neck always felt like a piece of {censored} that was about to snap off. i thought the soapbar 1 was a much better guitar.

 

i paid under $500 for my g&l legacy, used, and it's probably the best sounding guitar i've ever played, with the exception of a old black beauty les paul that was going for about 3 grand.

[Muddslide]

I have an SX P-bass and an SX Tele copy. The Tele is passable, but the P-bass blows me away. I would gig it with no worries and with no mods (okay, I did swap out the strings)--plays and sounds killer and I love the necks on these things.

 

But the one that surprised me the most was a guitar I bought last year just for giggles...it's an Electromatic Gretsch Bo Diddley model...the "red rectangle" guitar. I found it as b-stock at this place in New Jersey...they list for like $425...I got mine for $250 due to a small blemish in the back which is barely noticeable.

 

I was amazed when I got it home and gave it a bit of set up that it felt great. Really dig the neck and was shocked that even though it's just a big rectangle, it's really easy to play standing or sitting.

 

It still feels cheapish in a way, but that's jake with me. It's been my Number One ever since I got it.

[thunder100]

Quality&inexpensive--> XAVIER

Recent Junk-->Squier Bullet CHINA-->OMG

Biggest Junk-->my first guitar an Ibanez Stratocaster copy(1973)

 

non of you today knows what real junk is.Consider a tremolo where you need to retune during a song even as the rythm guitar boy,and a neck which is sideways warped as standard equippment and still this junk at that time was 500 bucks

 

Roland

[chqtarzan]

My Seagull S6, got good deal $300 new,

 

GEM

[vintage clubber]

This bolt neck SX Jr may be considerd junk by some, but it's a gem in my book. Paid $70 for it. It already had a badass style adjustable replacement bridge. I spent another $50 or so upgrading the pickup, tuners, nut, and electronics. It's plays great and is a true rock and roll tone machine!

 

 

 

My other junk to jem is this Squier Bullet series strat I found in a local pawnshop last year for $75. I brought it home and pulled the pickguard and found a set of Fender CS Texas Specials as the pickups. I replaced all the other wiring and electronics - switch, pots, caps, jack; installed new tuners, tusq nut, graph tech saddles and string trees. It's a great player and I decided to keep it vs selling it.

 

 

I don't have any junk guitars in my stable. About 20 years ago I had an asian made Explorer copy that was a true POS, but I am more selective nowadays...

[strtdv]

I got this strat for

[scuzzo]

there are a lot of captains that just blame the ship..

Wagdog plays the hell out of an SX Tele copy.. some of the best stuff i have heard.. there are just folks who can transcend the whole label this and label that and get across... it urps me a bit when i hear some say this is crap or that is crap gear.. but when you hear the cat play... his tone is stale flat.. or what have you.

 

player will always trump gear.. mho..

 

for the record.. i have never called a guitar Junk except for the Martin Stinger... but thats personal...

[Elias Graves]

You make a good point Scuzzo.

I merely did this to bring out what the better bargains are.

 

That Epi SG I had sounds like hell no matter who picked it up. Just awful.

There are tons of inexpensive yet good guitars out there but still some junk floating around.

If we can steer folks towards the gems....

 

EG

[RUExp?]

I'm really into this guitar right now.

 

Korean Squier neck on a Korean Mako with a thin plywood body.

 

[triton76]

G&L S500 Premium TRibute for $200 is my best score. It was even the color I wanted- Trans Yellow

[meandi]

I love this guitar.

40$, a free set of american standard pickups & some work.

[scuzzo]

the Agile 2000 is a wonderfull guitar.. and it cost something like 220 and you can find them used for much less. the fret work is outstanding not to the point of hand finished but still not at all near as bad as some.. the weight is heavy but its such a solid guitar i dont mind the xtra pounds.. finish very good.. hell im even hard pressed to change out the pups i like them so much.. very complex for and overtoney for ceramic..

 

 

clips or its fire wood.. i read that some where...

 

just some Drop D delta kinda thing

Gut Shot

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9157366

[soundcreation]

yes yes yes great music can be made on {censored} guitars...we all know that...but it can also be made on great gear too...

 

My best gem so far is my 79 Aria Pro II strat...

 

 

A 2 piece alder body and a neck that is so amazing it shames everything fender USA I've wrapped my hands around and gives my custom shop level high end japanese guitars a damn good run for their money at least in terms of feel. For around 250 shipped out of japan I think it's pretty amazing. Caked in poly though which is a bit of a downer for it. Still it resonates well and I can't think of any current budget lines that will give you full on 2 piece solid alder.

 

Junk? That would have to go to the Stagg guitar my a buddy gave me to sell for him. It's a lefty and I am not, but just holding the thing you realize what a P. of Crap it is...sounds like poo too. {censored} neck..the whole 9 {censored} yards.

[SuproSuper Man]

my hondo strat copy guitar, paid 70 dollars "used" back in early 90's

 

upside - evey one who tries it is blow away by its pickups tone

downside - its body is made of plywood so it weighs a ton

 

 

 

and my used Profile les paul copy, paid 80 dollars for it ,

 

upside - all solid wood body, awesome wide neck , very stable holds its tune for ever, and fast playing, Also it came with a emg pickup and a regular humbucker, (the emg alone is worth more than i paid for the whole guitar)

 

downside - its the uglyist guitar i own, puke yellow, black neck etc,,, but because it gives me such great tone and is so darn reliable im afraid to repaint it, cause changing its color might mess with its mojo ,,,, it is what it is, and it treats me well so i must respect it as it is ......lol...im such a superstitious nut bar ,,,,,

 

besides i once over heard the guitar tell my bass guitar that it thought i was ugly as hell but it liked the way it was treated it so it said it would stay in tune for me regardless of my looks,,,he is what he is just have put up with supros ugly face

 

guitars gotta love eh

 

 

[Pine Apple Slim]

Cheapo sucesses:

I have an old MF Rogue Tele thats really solid. No mods. Worth every bit of the $90 I paid for it. It could use some better tuners & saddles, but its playable as is.

 

I had a MIK Epi LP Custom for quite a while that was worth every bit of the $300 or so it cost me. Gone now, but it was a good guitar, no mods.

 

I currently have a +/- 10 yr old MIM Ash Strat that I love. I'd buy it again for the same $300 in a heartbeat. I have no desire to mod it, everything works and it sounds great.

 

I still own my old Carvin DC100 I bought new in 1983 for $329.00. Still completely stock, still a wonderful guitar.

 

Amps:

USA Vintage Club 20 watter, $325 new in 94. Still crankin, no mods.

Peavey Artist 240, $200 used in 1981. Still chuggin.

70s Silverface Bassman 50W head, free. Still sound good.

 

 

I bought a Recording King OM sized acoustic(solid top, lam back & sides) last fall for around $300 or so. Its opening up nicely and has no issues. I like it.

 

I have an SX P/J bass, around $120. Sounds and plays great. Could use some better pots, but thats about it.

 

Had a 51 ES125 for 10 yrs or so, great guitar, cost me around $350. Gone now, but I profited handsomely on the deal.

 

Expensive Duds:

Had a Gibson Nighthawk Custom, really nice, just couldnt bond with it for some reason. Sold it for a loss.

Ric Bass: Great player, great feel, just not my sound. Broke even on it.

 

Expensive Keepers:

D28 standard, $900 new in 1985. Still my main acoustic, only gotten better with time.

94 model RB3 Mastertone Banjo $2300, worth every penny.

[d_dave_c]

My problem with a lot of the cheaper guitars is the thick finish and the soft metal. They don't feel like they would hold up well.

 

I've owned a couple sx's - a strat copy and a lp jr copy. Yes, the strat sounded like a strat, but the screws on the bridge were stripping and I felt like I might as well have been playing an acrylic guitar. Traded it straight up for a squier '51, which was a great cheapie. I'd make that trade every day and twice on Sundays.

 

I made an afterthought bid on a Yamaha Pacifica for $50 on ebay and ended up winning it. It's a 521, which is actually a really nice model with the steel plate reinforced neck joint. It's an amazing guitar. Not just for $50 (~$75, shipped). I ended up buying a 921, too ($100). I've owned MIM, and CIJ Fenders, and these are every bit as good. I still own the Yamaha's, but the only Fender I have is a jaguar.

 

Also owned an Xaviere tele. The metal wasn't as bad, but it still had the thick finish that I couldn't get past. Yeah, it sounded like a tele, but it just didn't feel right.

 

My first electric was a Peavey Patriot - made in USA. You can pick those up dirt cheap, too. While I understand that Xaviere's and SX's sound pretty good, I just don't see that they will hold up like some of these other products that you can get for the same coin.

[evh1984]

My Squier Affinity Tele was $169. I replaced the pickups w/ the ones from my Squier 51. Had to buy a new $15 bridge to accomodate the hb. $184 total.

 

I think it plays and sounds like a $500+ guitar.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Pretty much everything I own.

 

Oh yeah, even though I own a couple Gibbies, USA Fenders and other USA (Ric, Ovation, Peavey, Hamer), just about everything I have at this point was bought at a really good price.

 

One example, my beloved DeArmond Jet Star, Ruby. Bought for $225 at the outset of the DeArmond Blowout. Brought it to a 3-day jam up in Georgia a month or so, where everyone was free to play all the gear each person brought. Lots of high-end stuff there. Yet several guys played the Jet Star and it got nothing but positive comments, both from players and listeners. In a post-party thread in another forum (the sponsor of the get-together) several people listed as one of their favorites played. I even like the weird looks.

 

 

[Elias Graves]

Some killer looking cheapies!

Love the Dearmond, Krash. Way cool.

 

EG

[muttznmongrelz]

 

 

 

First Act gets slagged for their former Target/Walmart association, but they build some great custom guitars in Boston and they put out the SFA Series as an attempt to display just that.

 

It's truly a well built guitar that was a solid foundation...excellent feeling/playing neck, great fretwork, flat comfortable radius. A real "sleeper"...a lot of guitar for very little money. Very much worthy of the upgraded w/Rio Grande Genuine Texas/BBQ Humbuckers, Gibson 500k Volume/Fender TBX Tone/Gibson 3 Way/Jack. Shaped very much along the lines OF A Gibson L5S (I think that's the model) but thicker like a LP. Mahogany Body too.

[NinjaModder]

I love this thread already.... I get to post my cheapy good stuff.

 

I love cheap stuff. Cheap old vintage stuff.... The best guitars and amps out there are the cheap old mail order catalog stuff.

 

First off are my Teiscos. They are all from the 60s I believe, though the bass could be the 70s.

I paid about 100 for both of them. They are amazing. And for the price I could never let go of them.

Here is the bass. It plays nice but is in desperate need of a setup. I picked this up for next to nothing.

 

Now the next one is my favorite jem. A 1958 Dano U1. Of course it isn't all original. Someone painted it blue, so then someone stripped it and put laminate wood on it. Still makes it oddly lovable though. Plays and sounds beautfiul. Only costed me a couple hundred. Why settle for new when you can get originals that cheap?

 

Not pictured is a Harmony Bobkat body and neck I got on ebay for under 100 and then got my tech to do work on it that was under 100 as well. P90 goodness in the bridge... but it is still in the shop...

 

Finally... I do have some old awesome amps I use. All tube of course and from those old catalogs.

 

Airline from the 60s. 5 watts and sounds magnificent.

 

And my silvertone from the 60s and my harmony from 1953 Perfect little amps. The harmony gets loud though.

And of course my Harmony Statotone in the middle.

 

 

BUT as far as new gems.. I just got a Douglas LP copy from my guitar tech that has some GFS fat pats in it and it sounds WONDERFUL! I actually posted it here and it started a huge war. Oh well. For 150 it was worth every penny.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Hmm, gotta watch those old Teiscos though. I'd never buy one via ebay or similar. Some are awful crap.

 

Speaking of old amps, though, my '67 Fender Super Reverb, cut into 2 cabs w/'70s Sunn Magna 108 speakers, $300 (bought in early '90's w/original tubes, since replaced), on the right below:

 

 

Also, my pre-'69 Sunn 200S ($300 shipped so ~$250+/- for amp), shown here w/'60's Kustom 1x15 (bought w/matching head c. '79 for $225):

 

 

Same head w/late '70's/early '80's Risson 4x12 cab, cab bought for $100:

 

 

And the Ric 620 in the back above was acquired in a straight trade (both w/ohsc) for a $250 Epi Flying V!

[scuzzo]

my first guitar.. and i still have it.. although its a bit beaten and dragged out..

it is still one of the best guitars i have ever played.. 150 bucks..

 

 

and ofcourse a tone clip..

because

 

if there is no clip it firewood...

 

Kenya

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8213789

 

cut a little slack i was just learning about Digital Audio Workstations...