Budget guitars.

[sufferinrewind]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum. I suppose I'll start with a little about myself and then get to my inquiry.

I'm an 18 year old a guitarist, and I've been playing for 9 years (10 this August) and love just about all styles of music... well, what most people would consider music, and would consider myself to be pretty well rounded in all styles. I guess that's about enough about me, now onto my question.

I'm a guitarist on a budget (as I'm sure a lot of us are), and I'm looking to get some new gear, but here's where I run into a big problem:

I'm looking for guitars below $300 bucks that have crisp, vintage tone but also have full bodied sound. I've been looking into Squier and Epiphone, because I know those are the cheaper brands of the vintage standard guitars of Fender and Gibson, but I'm unsure exactly which to get, and if that's the right direction I should be looking in. I've heard mixed reviews about the guitars of both Squier and Epiphone, and I'm not quite sure what to believe. I know it would probably be best if I just went to my local music store and played different models of these guitars, but my local music store only handles high end Fender and Gibson models, no Squiers or Epiphones. This pretty much forces me to take in the criticism from online users who've had experience with the instruments, and I've found mixed decisions.

Another problem that I find when making my decision is, when I look to the Musician's Friend website for reviews, I hear a lot of "It sounds great!," but no one ever describes the sound. Does it give off a warm, fat sound; or crispy, vintage tone? I hear a lot about playability though, which is nice because I am concerned about that, but moreso with capturing my sound.

So, to sum it up: What would be the best choices in terms of vintage tone and great playability for under $300 bucks?

 

[aleclee]

Re: Budget guitars.

Something used.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Budget guitars.

First of all, welcome to the forum!

A great option for under $300 is the Ibanez RG321. It can be had with a mahogany body, and could deliver a great variety of tones depending on what pickups you drop in it. The stock units aren't bad, but like most stock pickups they're just sort of sterile. Not sure if the neck would be to your liking however, and that's where the "play before you buy" problem comes in.

There are starting to be more and more options in that price range though, good luck!

 

[Artie]

Re: Budget guitars.

Hi sufferin; Welcome to the forum. You'll get a lot of different answers on this one.

For me, I'd suggest one of the older mid 80's Peavey Patriots. The dual-humbucker model. They go for $75 - $150 in pawn shops and on eBay, which leaves enough in the budget for a pair of the Duncan humbuckers of your choice.

Its a well built, solid workhorse, that'll sound great. (They come with a "rails" version of Phat Cats.)

Artie

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Budget guitars.

Warm and fat sound will be a lot easier to get with a epiphone humbucker equipped guitar (LP, Semihollow Body, etc.) and you can change out pickups or whatever you want in the future to sorta fine tune your tone . . . a squire (or see if you can find a cheap made in mexico fender) with single coils will give you a brighter, crisp sound. Again, you can fine tune your guitar by choosing pickups in the future. I am inclined to agree with aleclee however, your best bet is to hit up the local pawnshops and play a whole bunch of guitars to find one that feels and sounds good to you. Used guitars are almost always 25-50% less than you would pay for them new, so they're a really good deal as long as they play well and sound the way you want them to.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Budget guitars.

I'd definitely go for used. Maybe a Mexi-strat?

I'll go with artie and recommend the old 80s peaveys. A local pawnshop has a peavey strat with a great neck for 100 bucks, made in USA and everything.

For new

A often overlooked company is Godin, they make some nice guitars that are right around 300 dollars.

Luke

 

[FretFire]

Re: Budget guitars.

A often overlooked company is Godin, they make some nice guitars that are right around 300 dollars.

+1. Also, I've heard positive remarks about Dean's budget axes.

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Budget guitars.

Thanks for the input, and thanks for welcoming me. I really appreciate it.

There are so many guitars in this price range and it's hard to really find anything particularly special with any particular model.

I guess I should've said this in my initial post, but I was talking about the best guitar with everything being stock, and then make the upgrades later to fine tune it to the precise sound that I'm trying to achieve. I guess what I'm saying is a guitar with everything that'll be good enough for now that I can fix up later.

I was thinking of the Squier Standard strats, particularly for the alnico pickups which I know are good for vintage.

I was also looking at the Brian Moore i81 and i21 guitars because they also have alnico pickups, but Musician's Friend discontenued them and I can't find them anywhere else for the price that Musician's Friend were selling them for.

I was also looking into Peavey Generation EXP (the cheaper model without the piezo electronics) because of the ceramic pickups, which I know are used in a lot of high grade pickups, as Seymour himself uses in a lot of his pickups. The thing with those are they're quite versatile, depending on how they're installed, I'd guess. That being said, it's hard to know exactly what kind of sound they'd produce, whether it be fat and warm or crisp.

Maybe with this being said, it would clear up a few things that may have been a little unclear before.

 

[nahfuten]

Re: Budget guitars.

Used and old.
These two words would sound bad in any business other than guitar gear. New guitars are pretty: that extra $$ is spent on cosmetics. A lot of loved, cared for guitars are from the late 80's, mid 90's and can be gotten for little cash and sound good too.

I love a brand new shiny flamed maple top as much as the next guy, but you can't deny a guitar that has the finish worn off from use has more character!

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Budget guitars.

+1. Also, I've heard positive remarks about Dean's budget axes.

I have a Dean Playmate acoustic. Sounds astonishing for a $120 guitar, espeically with Dean Markleys or Elixers on it. But, it's acoustic, and I haven't played or heard any of the Dean Budget electrics.

I've seen the Dean Custom Zone and have had my eye on it, but wasn't sure if it'd produce the type of sound I wanted, and with humbuckers such as Gibson's Classic '57s being 100 bucks a pop, I'd be looking at $400+ into it, and that's a little too far out of my range.

I've also heard a lot about Godin guitars, as I've seen a few posts for, and I've been a bit skeptical because I've never heard Godin electric guitars. I've heard their acoustic models though, and they sound phenominal.

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Budget guitars.

Used and old.
These two words would sound bad in any business other than guitar gear. New guitars are pretty: that extra $$ is spent on cosmetics. A lot of loved, cared for guitars are from the late 80's, mid 90's and can be gotten for little cash and sound good too.

I love a brand new shiny flamed maple top as much as the next guy, but you can't deny a guitar that has the finish worn off from use has more character!

I agree. I'm all for looks, but personally, sound is far more important. I'll play a beat up old vintage to get my sound.

Any guitar could look fancy, but it needs to shine inside before it can shine outside.

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Budget guitars.

Looks like this place is dead now.

Thanks a lot for your input, I really appreciate it. I'll look further into everyone's suggestions, and hopefully I'll find something that suits me for the time being and upgrade later when the funds aren't so tight.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Budget guitars.

There are so many guitars in this price range and it's hard to really find anything particularly special with any particular model.

To be blunt, there's nothing special about any model that sells in that price range. You can find some very impressive individual instruments for very little money but you're probably going to have to kiss a few frogs along the way. Finding a great guitar for few dollars is all about finding an instrument that is exceptional for its model. I have a very nice Squier Strat that cost me all of $70. I wouldn't say that Squier Strats are necessarily nice guitars. Some are less than mediocre and some are quite good. I had to go through a lot of Squiers to find one that I wanted to take home.

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Budget guitars.

To be blunt, there's nothing special about any model that sells in that price range. You can find some very impressive individual instruments for very little money but you're probably going to have to kiss a few frogs along the way. Finding a great guitar for few dollars is all about finding an instrument that is exceptional for its model. I have a very nice Squier Strat that cost me all of $70. I wouldn't say that Squier Strats are necessarily nice guitars. Some are less than mediocre and some are quite good. I had to go through a lot of Squiers to find one that I wanted to take home.

I've read a lot of reviews that say the same thing. Some people get lucky and find a great cheap guitar out of a bunch, most find a heap of crap.

I've heard that about a lot of guitars, particularly those made in China.

 

[Artie]

Re: Budget guitars.

I was also looking into Peavey Generation EXP (the cheaper model without the piezo electronics) because of the ceramic pickups, which I know are used in a lot of high grade pickups, as Seymour himself uses in a lot of his pickups. The thing with those are they're quite versatile, depending on how they're installed, I'd guess. That being said, it's hard to know exactly what kind of sound they'd produce, whether it be fat and warm or crisp.

I've got one. (See sig.) I have an up/down relationship with it, that has ended up "up". The neck and middle singles are not bad. Classic chimey single-coil tone. The bridge humbucker was pretty anemic though. Either way, the guitar feels nice, and responds well to pickup upgrades.

The body binding is surprisingly nice for a guitar that cost around $170 new.

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Budget guitars.

I've got one. (See sig.) I have an up/down relationship with it, that has ended up "up". The neck and middle singles are not bad. Classic chimey single-coil tone. The bridge humbucker was pretty anemic though. Either way, the guitar feels nice, and responds well to pickup upgrades.

The body binding is surprisingly nice for a guitar that cost around $170 new.

Thanks for the info. One thing, though: with the humbucker being "anemic," did you mean it kind of sounded like a single coil, or that it just sounded like a weak humbucker?

 

[Artie]

Re: Budget guitars.

Its hard to describe. It was just "uninspiring". Right up there with an Ibby Powersound. :laugh2: It produced sound.

However, the two single coils were decent. Pop an SD humbucker in the bridge, and you'ld have a nice sounding guitar. If you wanted to change the singles later, you could. You can snag some pretty good deals on SD's in the Trading Post. I love the Custom 5 in mine. I had a JB in there for awhile that was nice too. I just liked the "twang" of the C5 better.

Also, if you decide to choose one of those, I like my little 5-way mod. Swap the neck and middle hot wires on the 5-way so that you can use the neck/bridge combo - just like a Tele.

 

[TheJangus]

Re: Budget guitars.

used 80's japanese copies.
Fernandes
Burny
Greco
Tokai
Edwards

I have an 80's Fernandes strat copy and it blows away my MIM Fender Strat. The sustain block is full size, the neck fits my hand perfectly, and I've yet to play a guitar with as resonant a body. I love playing it acoustically. Replace the pups and you've got a top notch strat. I bought mine on ebay for $200.

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Budget guitars.

Its hard to describe. It was just "uninspiring". Right up there with an Ibby Powersound. :laugh2: It produced sound.

However, the two single coils were decent. Pop an SD humbucker in the bridge, and you'ld have a nice sounding guitar. If you wanted to change the singles later, you could. You can snag some pretty good deals on SD's in the Trading Post. I love the Custom 5 in mine. I had a JB in there for awhile that was nice too. I just liked the "twang" of the C5 better.

Also, if you decide to choose one of those, I like my little 5-way mod. Swap the neck and middle hot wires on the 5-way so that you can use the neck/bridge combo - just like a Tele.

That's neat.

If I can find a good deal on it, I'll add a Livewire humbucker in the bridge. If not, I'll go with a Gibson Classic '57 for the time being, and then maybe upgrade it to the Livewire later. And, if I'm really tight on cash, I'll just shell 14 or so bucks an get a Gibson pot with tap feature, and see if that helps with the sound of it at all.

No offense to Seymour, but his humbuckers don't particularly have a good vintage sound. The closest I've heard is his Livewire humbucker. Other than that, the Pearly Gates is the best, that I've found anyway.

I'm big on vintage tone, but I also know that humbuckers aren't exactly the best for that, though.

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: Budget guitars.

used 80's japanese copies.
Fernandes
Burny
Greco
Tokai
Edwards

I have an 80's Fernandes strat copy and it blows away my MIM Fender Strat. The sustain block is full size, the neck fits my hand perfectly, and I've yet to play a guitar with as resonant a body. I love playing it acoustically. Replace the pups and you've got a top notch strat. I bought mine on ebay for $200.

I also had my eye on the Fernandes Retrorocket (for obvious reasons).

I've also been looking at semi-hollow and hollowbody guitars to get vintage tone.

I've looked at the Oscar Schmidt OE30 (Semi-hollow) and the OE40 (Hollowbody), plus Washburn's HB15 Hollowbody.

The thing is, there's just so many options. It's brainracking.

Also, what kind of woods are your Fernandes guitar made of (body, neck, etc., if you know)?