Re: Anyone here rocking cheap guitars as main players?
I know I've said this before in other threads, but mid-priced (and even low priced) guitars are SO much better now then they were when guys like me started playing in the late 70s, early 80s. In those days (and you can read this next part with Grandpa Simpson's voice in your head) there were good guitars (Gibson, Fender, and some higher-end Japanese models like Yamaha SBG's and some Ibanez) and crap. Cheap imports had terrible action, awful hardware and gooey wax pickups that wouldn't make it into a First Act toy today. Ironically, the guitars we lusted after from Gibson and Fender were Norlins and CBS', now considered by some (but not all) to be among the worst in their respective companies' histories.
I seem to recall that the real mid-price revolution started with the Japanese Squiers. I got one of those when I was 15 or 16, and thought I was in heaven (should never have sold it, BTW). After that, things seemed to really improve, probably due to manufacturing technology (CNC's and the like).
Many modern 4-600 dollar imports are easily equal to those high-end guitars in the ways that mattered most to us when we were young, mainly action, intonation and basic playability. And with so many after market parts, a good used market and the sheer number of people playing and then selling guitars, there's no reason why a good used Epi and some SD's or Dimarzios wouldn't make for a professional grade guitar.
I now have three electrics, all in what you might call the upper-mid level or lower high end (2 bought used, never paid more that $1800, and that was for my dream lester). And while, yes, there is a noticeable difference between them and the PRS SE I used to own, it's only in a subtle, I'm-an-old-guy-who-finally-got-his-dream-guitars sort of way. And each of them was a self-reward for achieving certain playing/learning goals (gotta keep up the enthusiasm for hard practise somehow.) Interestingly, I achieved most of those playing goals on the SE, so it certainly didn't inhibit my playing or progression in any way.
My only wish would be that budget guitar makers pay a little less attention to the appearance of their guitars, and a little more to the details. Some $500 guitars are nicer looking than my Fender or Gibsons, but I would rather the manufacturers used the effort and money they currently put into the looks by installing better pickups stock, or better tuners. But, hey, they know their market better than I do.
