Cheapest guitar you actually play
- Thread starter firebirdV
- Start date
KeeperOS
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
well, my cheapest guitar is also my most expensive guitar which is also my no.1 guitar which, against common deductive logic is NOT my only guitar.
Just a simple matter of whether by cheap you count after-market upgrades too:
Bought for 300€, after all was said and done, it cost me a whopping 1500€ (give or take).
If it does count then my cheapest isn't a cheap guitar by any stretch of the word (not expensive either though) and is my Michael Kelly Patriot Limited which I bought for 550€:
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well, my cheapest guitar is also my most expensive guitar which is also my no.1 guitar which, against common deductive logic is NOT my only guitar.
Just a simple matter of whether by cheap you count after-market upgrades too:
Bought for 300€, after all was said and done, it cost me a whopping 1500€ (give or take).
If it does count then my cheapest isn't a cheap guitar by any stretch of the word (not expensive either though) and is my Michael Kelly Patriot Limited which I bought for 550€:
80's_Metal
Underglazed Hair Metalologist
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
$199 BC Rich Bich bronze series in blue.
$199 BC Rich Bich bronze series in blue.
kmcguitars
GuitarArtologist
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
I must be the ultimate Guitar frugalmiester .:1: I don't currently own a guitar that cost me over $500. My main Guitar is my 84' SQ Squier Strat I got brand new in 84' for $369.
I must be the ultimate Guitar frugalmiester .:1: I don't currently own a guitar that cost me over $500. My main Guitar is my 84' SQ Squier Strat I got brand new in 84' for $369.
ImmortalSix
John Mayer's Mankini
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
I don't know man!
I don't know man!
Budget!
I have had so much budget gear that it'll make your head spin!
I embrace cheepnis, wholeheartedly.
As Frank Zappa said, "Cheepnis has nothing to do with the budget... although it helps"
$109 SX STL50
$269 Epiphone Dot Studio (with $100 worth of upgrades)
$99 Squier '51 (with approx. $250 in upgrades)
$250 PRS SE Soapbar
$150 Blackheart Little Giant (now gone) + $140 1x12" (now gone)
$180 VOX AD15VT
I have had more budget gear in my life than nice stuff, although, to be fair, I have always had 2 really nice guitars (not specifically pictured), and I can still play better than half the geeks with the $3000 guitars and the $2000 amps.
I had fun with my budget gearhounding ways, a lot of fun --- I got to try out a buttload of stuff at very little cost to me (I sold and traded a lot, so most of these deals were break-even or close).
Now I am settled in with a boring American-made Fender tube amp and a pile of guitars with pricetags from 4 digits to 2, but I honestly love my budget gear. Every piece in my collection needed to be upgraded in some way, and I got to do it, on my terms, with my skills.
As I always ask, what's the reason for the price difference on most cheap guitars vs. the higher end guitars?
Answer: skilled American labor, and good hardware.
I have skilled American labor right here in these hands, and I can order the nut / bridge / pots / caps / knobs / pickups / switches for chump change from online shops or through trading with forum bros.
Every guitar I buy, I put the best parts money can buy and tens of hours of skilled American labor into it - who cares if that happens in a factory or in my basement?
-Hunter
soundgardener75
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
Fernandes Retrorocket X-1 - $100 with a rare Fender fitted case
My co-worker got this as a gift when she wanted to play guitar. She got bored with it and gave up, and it had been in their garage since. She needed some money, so she asked me if I was interested. It just needed a new nut, so I had a bone nut installed with a full setup, and it plays nice. The stock pickups, especially the middle, sounds great actually.
SX GG1 JRS - $115
This dude that sold me still has a Jay Turser Rosewood Tele and an SX GG1 STD (a rare setneck version) on hold for me. This needs a new nut and an entirely new wiring. But this one rawks! I have no need to even upgrade the stock P-90's, it sounds awesome!
Fernandes Retrorocket X-1 - $100 with a rare Fender fitted case
My co-worker got this as a gift when she wanted to play guitar. She got bored with it and gave up, and it had been in their garage since. She needed some money, so she asked me if I was interested. It just needed a new nut, so I had a bone nut installed with a full setup, and it plays nice. The stock pickups, especially the middle, sounds great actually.
SX GG1 JRS - $115
This dude that sold me still has a Jay Turser Rosewood Tele and an SX GG1 STD (a rare setneck version) on hold for me. This needs a new nut and an entirely new wiring. But this one rawks! I have no need to even upgrade the stock P-90's, it sounds awesome!
guitarkid4143
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
I've got an RG style rear routed Gio I picked up at GC for $45! (Sorry no pics, gettin' Photobucket worked out!)
I've got an RG style rear routed Gio I picked up at GC for $45! (Sorry no pics, gettin' Photobucket worked out!)
elscorcho
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
Lotsa cool stuff here.....
Here's my beater that I play regularly
View attachment 16778
Its not as pretty as some of the newer Tempests I've owned but it plays awesome and the DuncanDesigned blade is a real monster!......prolly never get rid of this one.....
Lotsa cool stuff here.....
Here's my beater that I play regularly
View attachment 16778
Its not as pretty as some of the newer Tempests I've owned but it plays awesome and the DuncanDesigned blade is a real monster!......prolly never get rid of this one.....
SirJackdeFuzz
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
A Brownsville-something-or-the-other electric.
A Brownsville-something-or-the-other electric.
ehdwuld
A Ficus
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
hows the neck on that
I've been looking at the predator plus
I have an RG2EX1
<<<< over there:cool2:
and was wondering if it compared to the ibanez neck?
hows the neck on that
I've been looking at the predator plus
I have an RG2EX1
<<<< over there:cool2:
and was wondering if it compared to the ibanez neck?
Cakeman
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
'86 Ibanez PL-1770 bought for about $450, but with price differences taken into account more like $280. Antiquity texas hot neck and JB bridge (traded a rubbish RG for them), and soon lace gold middle. Easily my favorite guitar, and built the month before I was born which makes it extra special to me.
'86 Ibanez PL-1770 bought for about $450, but with price differences taken into account more like $280. Antiquity texas hot neck and JB bridge (traded a rubbish RG for them), and soon lace gold middle. Easily my favorite guitar, and built the month before I was born which makes it extra special to me.
Captain Tightpants
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
Toss up between this one, ebay pinecaster, less than $75 total, Kinda homely, but fun to play. Sounds great, too.
Or my old Harmony, $35 shipped on Ebay. Had a badly bowed neck, and no truss rod. Strung it with nylons for a long time. Played ok, but never wowed me. Decided to try backbowing the neck a bit using a steel beam and 150 dgrees in the oven for 20 minutes. Left it clamped onto the beam for a week, then srung it up with 8 gauge electric strings, this thing has the most amazingly SWEET blues tone. I really just love this old beater!!!
Toss up between this one, ebay pinecaster, less than $75 total, Kinda homely, but fun to play. Sounds great, too.
Or my old Harmony, $35 shipped on Ebay. Had a badly bowed neck, and no truss rod. Strung it with nylons for a long time. Played ok, but never wowed me. Decided to try backbowing the neck a bit using a steel beam and 150 dgrees in the oven for 20 minutes. Left it clamped onto the beam for a week, then srung it up with 8 gauge electric strings, this thing has the most amazingly SWEET blues tone. I really just love this old beater!!!
Diego
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
Squier Affinity Strat. Cost me like $80.
Put a new trem (much clearer, fatter sound, better sustain and lotsa TWANG now), a SSL1 in the neck an a Ibanez S1 pickup on the bridge. Sounds amazing, I play it more than my Ibanez which is many times more expensive.
Squier Affinity Strat. Cost me like $80.
Put a new trem (much clearer, fatter sound, better sustain and lotsa TWANG now), a SSL1 in the neck an a Ibanez S1 pickup on the bridge. Sounds amazing, I play it more than my Ibanez which is many times more expensive.
Laughing Kookaburra
New member
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
PV's version of a Tele (don't remember the model name). $100. It got serious play time in one band; it was a decent axe. A DMZ Chopper in the bridge helped...
PV's version of a Tele (don't remember the model name). $100. It got serious play time in one band; it was a decent axe. A DMZ Chopper in the bridge helped...
Diocletian
BrandNewGlossologist
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
The one in my avatar. Cost me £30. Yeah I've upgraded it a LOT since I originally got it, with DMZ and Fender pups, Wilkinson tuners, CTS wiring kit, different neck etc (probably £140 worth of upgrades).
But it was still only £30 for the guitar!
I don't have any "beater" guitars, I try to take care of them as well as I can, no matter how cheap they might have been.
The one in my avatar. Cost me £30. Yeah I've upgraded it a LOT since I originally got it, with DMZ and Fender pups, Wilkinson tuners, CTS wiring kit, different neck etc (probably £140 worth of upgrades).
But it was still only £30 for the guitar!
I don't have any "beater" guitars, I try to take care of them as well as I can, no matter how cheap they might have been.
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bluesbend
Lovely BIG Starologist
Re: Cheapest guitar you actually play
View attachment 16888Actually I think this is the cheapest guitar that I play....The Scabb It's a '70s Epi Crestwood that was a basket case when I bought it for $45. I put a 1/4 maple cap on it, went form 4 to 2 pots, moved the switch, installed a new truss rod and new tuners. She looks like a$S but play and sounds good. Oh, that's a Epi dual blade from a Del Ray at the bridge, it now has a JB, and a Duncan Performer Buckshot (soon to be a Gibson 490) at the neck.
View attachment 16888Actually I think this is the cheapest guitar that I play....The Scabb It's a '70s Epi Crestwood that was a basket case when I bought it for $45. I put a 1/4 maple cap on it, went form 4 to 2 pots, moved the switch, installed a new truss rod and new tuners. She looks like a$S but play and sounds good. Oh, that's a Epi dual blade from a Del Ray at the bridge, it now has a JB, and a Duncan Performer Buckshot (soon to be a Gibson 490) at the neck.
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