Best Cheap Shred Machines out there today...

[Inflames626]

Just some thoughts on great shred guitars I have played personally, beginning with Kramer. Perhaps people here whose judgment I really trust like Aceman and Mincer can pitch in.

One of the best guitars I have played for the price is a Kramer Assault 220 Plus. I got it used for $300-400 with EMG 81/85s and a Floyd Rose 1000 stock (supposedly same quality as an OFR just made in Asia). Also set neck. Not easy to find a 25.5" Floyded Les Paul copy with so many features.

I would buy their other Assaults but a Les Paul body with a big ol' reverse Kramer banana headstock just looks butt ugly.

Another great guitar for the money is the Charvel Desolation line. They are probably the first top quality guitar I have seen come out of China.

They are hard to find now but came out around 2008 when Seymour Duncan first launched the Blackouts. The Desolations also came stock with lots of high end features--neck through mahogany bodies and necks, Floyd Rose 1000s, and of course Blackouts. I got a 25.5" Les Paul copy for about $800. It's now one of my B standard chugga chugga guitars.

Great value for the money but upper end Charvel Desolations are very hard to find now. I remember they had a Floyded star shape available at the time that I really wanted. I still keep an eye out for it.

Used LTDs are a good buy depending upon model.

Lastly I'm not a huge Schecter guy but I love the Omen Extreme 6. Its picture is attached. Normally I find Schecters a bit gaudy with their inlays and binding but this is sleek and classy. Just enough to get your attention without overdoing it. You can find these for about $350. My understanding is they need a little shaving on the frets, though.

Mainly the guitars I'm seeing now that are great for the money are coming out of Korea and Indonesia.

So Kramer, Charvel Desolation, many LTDs, and some Schecters I think are killing it in terms of value. Oddly enough, you'll also find fully featured Jackson neck thru Soloists for under $1,000.

Meanwhile, it seems Explorers of any brand are sky high right now.

The used market makes no sense.

 

[Inflames626]

A pic of a Kramer Assault 220 Plus FR. I love this guitar. I just put an EMG 60A/85 in it instead of the factory 81/85.

I wish Kramer had this same headstock and neck on other colors besides gloss black.

Meanwhile the other Assaults are rather ugly. I want to like the purple and red/brown burst ones but it's hard to like them compared to the black.

 

[Inflames626]

Charvel Desolation star I would like to have:

And a Charvel Desolation LP similar to what I have. Notice the AHB1 Blackouts in it stock. Mine just has kind of a gray flamed top on a brown/black mahogany sort of color. Hard to explain but it looks good.

Anyway, if you find these Desolations, go for them! Great value. I have to wonder if Gibson didn't lean on Fender to stopp making them because that is much closer to a Les Paul design than even a Kramer (and Gibson owns Kramer).

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Those look like great guitars but I'm sure by todays prices those would be hitting the $1000+ mark

While these Kramers have a ceiling of $499 for the top-tier model (Flame top Striker)

The bottom of the barrel Barettta Special is $179

The Pacer was about $300 new I think...

Hell of an axe too... after a pup swap :bigthumb:

 

[Inflames626]

Those look like great guitars but I'm sure by todays prices those would be hitting the $1000+ mark

While these Kramers have a ceiling of $499 for the top-tier model (Flame top Striker)

The bottom of the barrel Barettta Special is $179

The Pacer was about $300 new I think...

Hell of an axe too... after a pup swap :bigthumb:

Phantasmagoria , some of these I didn't buy too long ago, but on the Desolation you are right. I might have bought it 10 years ago used.

Sorry. I didn't mean to get off track. I just wanted to reinforce your point by emphasizing that Kramers are good deals right now.

The Nite V is nice and is about $400. I may put a 498t and Dirty Fingers in it.

The SM1 is also a beautiful, but for some reason strangely expensive, guitar. I see them used for about $700-$1000, which is a lot for a Kramer these days. I love the sleek Jackson/ESP/BC Rich Assassin-esque design, though, although I'm not crazy about the inlays.

 

[Inflames626]

I like the Striker but its body seems a little asymmetrical to me--just slightly. This LTD MH 103 is about $300 with shipping. I think it looks very similar to the Striker but has a more symmetrical body shape. Nothing wrong with the Striker. Purely a personal preference thing. And LTD necks are some of the most comfortable necks I've ever played even though Jackson is my favorite brand.

 

[Mincer]

Quick question...how are you defining 'shred machine'? What features are absolutely essential to qualify for that title?

 

[Phantasmagoria]

I guess that would roughly translate to an 80's style superstrat...Jackson's, Charvels, Ibby's, Kramer's and the like, but that could include pointies and V's and other such things that were popular back then. Not really 'features' per say, though they all had "improvements" to make them more ergonomic/play faster (aanj-type neck joints/more frets/slim necks/body cutaways etc)

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Phantasmagoria , some of these I didn't buy too long ago, but on the Desolation you are right. I might have bought it 10 years ago used.

Sorry. I didn't mean to get off track. I just wanted to reinforce your point by emphasizing that Kramers are good deals right now.

The Nite V is nice and is about $400. I may put a 498t and Dirty Fingers in it.

The SM1 is also a beautiful, but for some reason strangely expensive, guitar. I see them used for about $700-$1000, which is a lot for a Kramer these days. I love the sleek Jackson/ESP/BC Rich Assassin-esque design, though, although I'm not crazy about the inlays.

I think the early 2000's was a good time for shred guitars. A lot of good 'bang for the buck" guitars were out back then..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

I like the Striker but its body seems a little asymmetrical to me--just slightly. This LTD MH 103 is about $300 with shipping. I think it looks very similar to the Striker but has a more symmetrical body shape. Nothing wrong with the Striker. Purely a personal preference thing. And LTD necks are some of the most comfortable necks I've ever played even though Jackson is my favorite brand.

Don't know about the Striker..it's pretty much like a Dinky to me..

The Pacer on the other hand definitely has an asymetrical body (Purple Sparkle up there)...I like it though, it's comfortable/effortless to play...

 

[Inflames626]

Don't know about the Striker..it's pretty much like a Dinky to me..

The Pacer on the other hand definitely has an asymetrical body (Purple Sparkle up there)...I like it though, it's comfortable/effortless to play...

Sorry, I meant the Pacer, but I wrote Striker. The Pacer is a little too chunky and round for me, but if you dig it, that's what matters. I have a Hamer Scarab that I love and that's not a shape for everyone.

I do wish Kramer would bring back their old school pointy Voyagers, but they are huge and so easy to chip the corners on.

I like how they are taking chances like with this Jersey Star. 3 pickups on a Strat.

 

[El Dunco]

My absolute, ultimate favourite shred stick is the first proper guitar my Dad (RIP) bought me. It’s a Washburn BT-4QL Bantam. Wasn’t easy to find comprehensive information about, but I did eventually. The Bantam series would eventually become the Maverick. I read somewhere the change had to do with something about the Bantams cutting into the deal they had with Grover Jackson or something. It’s one of very few of that model that has a real maple top (or veneer or whatever but it’s real wood. The earlier ones used plastic which could come away from the body if they got chipped.) and not just a graphic of one printed on.

I ditched the 6 screw trem and installed an OFR.



It has smaller frets than usual, I’m pretty sure it’s Gibson 24.7” scale instead of the 25.5 you would expect from a superstrat which makes it incredibly comfortable and easy to play fast on. It’s got a Duncan Distortion in it right now. I left the singles alone because there’s something very special about the neck pickup, it does amazing, warm, jazzy sounding cleans.



Oh but what’s this?? Yep, that’s the man himself signing it back in the ‘06 User Group Day after I got to jam with him! I lacquered over it for posterity so even after 17 years of shredding, it’s still there to this day, fresh as the day he signed it.

 

[Joelski144]

This would be mid 80s, maybe 83-86. Unless you got top of the line, they were pretty awful.

Kramer actually had a range of models just like any other manufacturer did/still does. Yes, the "American" series were expensive, but you couldn't get an Original Floyd anywhere else, not that anybody cares about that today. They also came stock with SD pickups and Schaller tuners and strap locks. Everything on those guitars was state of the art shred and has stood the test of time. Yes, they flooded the beginner and intermediate market with cheap guitars, but the Focus series, that was one step down from the top, was and is still a very nice guitar with the same hardware as it's American brothers. The Strikers appealed to beginners who wanted to look like their favorite axe slinger, but couldn't swing the $900 to $1,400 price tag of the higher quality guitars. That still works today, BTW. It's the Aerostar line that really was pitiful and it shared plywood body construction with the Striker, the difference was that the Strikers quit using plywood around '87 and you still see those pop up now and then. What hurt Kramer was its management and somebody's mental illness of needing everybody on the planet to endorse the brand. That need for approval and the massive flood of guitars they gave away, combined with poor money management and a couple of crappy low end models was it's undoing.

 

[Mincer]

They didn't crank out American Kramers. The lowest series was what you were most likely to find in any music store. As a result, towards the end of the 80s, stores were flooded with cheap trade in import Kramers. I am sure the American series was great (like the one Eddie was holding in the ad), but that wasn't what most people encountered.

 

[Joelski144]

Stores got what they ordered. That's how it worked for us. It wasn't like Gibson where you had so many Epiphones crammed down your throat to get a few Lesters. They were popular around here, and you could find anything you wanted, or the local shop could order it in for you. The Strikers and Aerostars had their place, but that wasn't the bulk of what we carried.

 

[Aceman]

OMG...seriously? Jackson JS32 series FTMFW!!!!!
- Cheap ($299 new)
- Neck is awesome
- Distortion style pickups
- Decals optional

 

[Top-L]

^
I recently got one of these, but one of the floyd posts was at a sideways angle and the trem wouldn't return to zero. I thought it was an amazing guitar for the price, returned, debating whether to get another one. If they are hand drilling the floyd posts then I don't have much confidence that another one would return to zero.

Aceman- Can you check to see if your posts are all perpendicular to the body? When I put the allen key in the top, it was easy to see how much one post was leaning to the side. The posts weren't centered in the floyd cutouts.

 

[Aceman]

They are good on both of mine. I'd say that the term on the orange one works well, the one on the V is a little more particular. But again...At $299....which I didn't pay for either....excellent price -performance.

 

[maug2122]

Kramers in the 80s really ended up being flooded with cheap imported plywood models that ended up in most music stores. Most stores didn't have the nice ones back then. I am certain most Kramers these days are better than the average ones back then.

I have a few home assembled Kramer guitars / partcasters, that I bought from Victor Litz back in the late 1990's; necks, bodies, tuning keys, Floyd Roses ( both ,with the Kramer logo) and a Kramer American Series .
And I tried some of the Gibson made Kramers .... the 1980's Kramers blow away the Gibson made Kramers , by a long shot .
Not at all impressed by the Gibson made Kramers .

 

[Securb]

Do you only use the milk crates to decorate the music area, or are they throughout the entire double-wide?