Hey, I dig banter. I love learning things. Adequation is a word and has a definition which I think is in keeping with my usage of the two words in question; cheap and inexpensive.
Here's the definition of adequation: # equivalence; A change in the meaning of a term depending upon context
That's exactly what I said. Context affords more virtue to inexpensive than cheap.
I will also say that, what I consider inexpensive gear can be the same piece of equipment purchased at a blowout price. If I could get get an SRV strat for, say $999 instead of the going $2000 price tag, I'd be so stoked!!!
Apparently I goofed or something. When I looked up adequation last night on dictionary.com it came up with zero results. Looked it up again this morning and it did come up with a definition from Webster. Weird... Anyhow, it is a word.
Regardless, like you said, "cheap" can refer to price but tends to also infer low quality while "inexpensive" just refers to price.
Saying that, I consider GFS stuff to be inexpensive. Sure, it may not be everybody's cup of tea, but it's not cheap crap. There are some also some Duncans and DiMarzios that I really don't like, either, but I won't call them cheap crap simply because they do not deliver the tone I'm looking for.