Pleasant gear surprises??

[BloodRose]

We often talk about our disappointments with gear, but ever bought something that just continues to impress you? Years ago, I bought a Michael Kelly Patriot Custom and it always impresses me when I play it, especially at the price.. Most recently, I bought an Epiphone Les Paul 60s Tribute.. I've had good luck with Epiphones and really liked the feature set of this one.. flame top, push pull coil taps, orange drop caps, Gibson 57 pickups.. I bought it on Reverb, and originally planned to toss some hotter pickups in it as I usually don't care for Gibson pickups,plus, I have a WLH set in my Gibson LP,so I figured something hot in this one... But, the damn thing plays great, and sounds great.. I am loving the stock pups.. I think it's a 57 neck and 57 plus in the bridge..
Anyhow, every time I play it, I come away more impressed.. plus, I got a great deal!!

 

[toowrongfoo]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

Yeah, just recently (and documented here)

A "sterling" sub 5 for about 300 usd. Yeah, I had to josh a Nordstrand kit into it, but the neck is TIGHT! I've been playing bass for 200 years, (not saying I'm good, just saying) and it's the best feeling neck ever.

No, I can't explain it.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

My little Firebird Zero that takes so much **** on the web, just kills. The pickups are outstanding, so gritty and P-90 like, the neck is fantastic too. Once you get away from the stock bridge it is a fantastic guitar.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

Just before Christmas of 2015 the wife and I were at Guitar Center and I was looking for guitars with P-90s because I had been wanting a P-90 guitar. As is typical for a GC, the selection sucked and I wound up picking up an Epiphone Les Paul Special II P-90 that had a price tag of $99 (I had been avoiding it because I figured it had to be a piece of crap). To my surprise, it felt pretty good and the pickups sounded really great.

My wife was with me because she was picking out some smaller items that the girls could give to dad for Christmas, but she ended up getting me a gift too!

I upgraded the bridge and tuners (after all, it was only a $99 guitar new) and now this thing is a great little instrument to play. It's not fancy, but it's fun, lightweight, and those P-90s really do sound like a dream. Every time I pick this guitar up I end up shaking my head at the fact that it's just a $99 guitar.

Oh yeah, my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, named this one for me... her name is "Scarlet Overkill."

 

[Darg1911]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

This kind of thing changes like the tides but lately, it's my "lowly" 2013 70's Tribute LP. It ain't fancy but, the damned thing just stays in tune. It was never especially bad with tuning stability but lately it's been close to rock solid. Tuning stability aside, it's just a great sample of one of the sub 1K LP's. Really like the guitar.

 

[Synapsys]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

My most pleasant gear surprises have been my three "budget" guitars (all now loaded with SD's and with some mods done). Each cost me €250 new from a renowned european online store:

-Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster,
-ESP LTD TE-212 (Tele clone);
-ESP LTD ST-213 Ash (Strat clone).

My tech tells me I've got an eye for deals. When I got my Strat clone back from being modded, another client of his were at his workshop, joking about my guitar, saying it it looked good but wouldn't sound as his American Strat. My tech then asked me if his client could play it, and I said yes. It was awesome as his jaw dropped, and then told my tech he would sell his American Strat and buy 5 LTDs and mod them all.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

Just before Christmas of 2015 the wife and I were at Guitar Center and I was looking for guitars with P-90s because I had been wanting a P-90 guitar. As is typical for a GC, the selection sucked and I wound up picking up an Epiphone Les Paul Special II P-90 that had a price tag of $99 (I had been avoiding it because I figured it had to be a piece of crap). To my surprise, it felt pretty good and the pickups sounded really great.

My wife was with me because she was picking out some smaller items that the girls could give to dad for Christmas, but she ended up getting me a gift too!

I upgraded the bridge and tuners (after all, it was only a $99 guitar new) and now this thing is a great little instrument to play. It's not fancy, but it's fun, lightweight, and those P-90s really do sound like a dream. Every time I pick this guitar up I end up shaking my head at the fact that it's just a $99 guitar.

Oh yeah, my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, named this one for me... her name is "Scarlet Overkill."

Coolio! We have one of the Epi Jr's at the office to kick around and it is a fantastic guitar. Keep trying to find another that's as good but no luck.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

My Line 6 DL4 and the Music Man SUB1 guitar still impress me. The Duncan 805 still makes me smile, as do the Five Two pickups.

 

[chadd]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

My most pleasant gear surprises have been my three "budget" guitars (all now loaded with SD's and with some mods done). Each cost me €250 new from a renowned european online store:

-Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster,
-ESP LTD TE-212 (Tele clone);
-ESP LTD ST-213 Ash (Strat clone).

My tech tells me I've got an eye for deals. When I got my Strat clone back from being modded, another client of his were at his workshop, joking about my guitar, saying it it looked good but wouldn't sound as his American Strat. My tech then asked me if his client could play it, and I said yes. It was awesome as his jaw dropped, and then told my tech he would sell his American Strat and buy 5 LTDs and mod them all.

I really like my ST203, but my two favorite budget purchases were my PRS SE One (now with antiquity P90) and my Toby IV bass. None of them cost more than $200 and they are all great instruments.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

...and then told my tech he would sell his American Strat and buy 5 LTDs and mod them all.

That guy has a dog of a USA Fender and you have an exceptional LTD. As a former connoisseur of budget gear, I had a bunch of LTDs, and they're great for the money. A couple years ago, I stumbled onto an '87 USA Strat for a song, and it cured me of my budget guitar habit.

That said, maybe 10 years ago I bought a USA Peavey Predator strat copy for $100. The hardware is junk, but the body and neck are solid and can hang with the aforementioned Fender.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

My very first guitar was a $100 accoustic. I wanted to buy it in a hideous, poorly done cherry burst (it looked good to me at the time). Luckily they didn't have any in stock and offered to mail me one in the right color. Luckily, they messed up the order and got me a decent natural finish.

If I got the cherry burst way back when, I hate to say it, but their is a legitimate chance I would have quit the guitar. Back then I was way too concerned about aesthetics over tone.

 

[StoRMiE]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

My Classic Vibe Squier J bass still forces me to play it for 6 hours at a time when I take it out of the case, I've played several just like it and none of them feel quite like that one. 12.5lbs and sounds beautiful. It was the first fretted instrument I bought from a shop, I walked in to get strings and for no reason at all I'm staring at it and decided I had to play it. I tunnel visioned it, picked it up and then spent the next hour and a half comparing every J bass in the store to it. Ended up buying it right then and there. It was ironic because they had 1 just like it, and a Fiesta red CV P bass next to it and I thought both of them felt like crap and sounded worse. They were both super light, felt awful from sharp fret ends to uneven frets and had dead sounding pickups. It still weirds me out that I paid that much for a Squier, but I can't say I stare at the name on the headstock when I'm enjoying playing it.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

I found a Godin LG 90 for $175, and I like it more than most LP Jr's. It came stock with Duncan P-90's.
It's the best guitar I've ever bought for low dollars.

 

[Diego]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I was expecting the Seymour Duncan Invader bridge to be a barely contained sludge machine.
Instead, it's a very strong pickup with solid definition and lots of everything across the EQ range. It sounds absolutely fantastic.

I won't call it versatile, jazzy or a jack of all trades, but it's good at what it does and it's a one trick pony that learned a couple more, so to speak.

 

[daan]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

I got an "Austin" brand P bass at a yard sale (along with an amp, a tuner, a case, some cords, an lesson book and a couple CD's!) All for less than $50. Its light, the neck feels great, and has EMG pups (or is it one pup? Y'know, the split P style pup) so it sounds great. I've actually sold my other basses because I picked this one every time to play over the others.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

I found a Godin LG 90 for $175, and I like it more than most LP Jr's. It came stock with Duncan P-90's.
It's the best guitar I've ever bought for low dollars.

View attachment 83492

Every Godin I have played has been exquisite. I will own one one day.

 

[saladin]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

I recently scored one of these on CL for a price I couldn't refuse.....

I wanted new pickups for it to match my Strat which has a 59/SSL-5/SSL-5 set.
As I've already tried QP's, I wanted something different. I took a shot and went with
a "Hot" Tele bridge pickup(STL-2)and a "Hot" Jazzmaster neck.(SJM-2N).
I couldn't have chosen any better! Sounds great on their own and mixed, they both still
retain the basic characteristics of the vintage tone but at a volume level that my amps prefer.
Happy Days!!!

 

[muttznmongrelz]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

Three come to mind immediately; the '87/'91 Ibanez Franken-Swirl that I put together a few years ago and unfortunately let go - '87 Swirled Body with a '91 Lazer Blue Headstock Fully Scalloped RG565 Flame Maple Neck, my current '87/'91 Ibanez RG with '87 DIY Yellow HS Maple RG550M Neck/Blue Flame RG570FM Body and my 2013 USACG Maple Neck/Mahogany Bodied Iceman...all three went together effortlessly, fit and set up flawlessly and feel, play and sound incredible.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

Funny, I just posted about this axe on another forum. Got a korina Epiphone Firebird Studio a few years ago. It had hung neglected in the store rack for years- an '010 model, I bought it in '14. I literally had to brush off the dust to try the guitar. In fact it sat out for so long that its pickguard faded to pale cream, with a circle of perfect white where there was a round logo on the protective vinyl. Manager was eager to sell since it'd been up there so long and gave me a pretty good deal, $325 brand new, including a hard case. Unlike most Epi "Limited Editions" they didn't make many korina 'Birds and they're rare. Ebay prices on these are ridiculous now.

I love korina. The guitar is lively at volume and feels nice and elastic; Studios aren't neck-through and don't have the slight stiffness that characterizes most Firebirds. It has funny looking banjo tuners (that work perfectly, brilliant design) and the neck plays great. What surprised me most, though, was the tone. Korina's crisp upper mids & slightly snappy nature add the perfect amount of extra definition to the stock Epi humbuckers, which I totally was prepared not to like. I have a mahogany one in Pelham Blue too, and the same Epi humbuckers sounded kind of dull in that; they were soon replaced with a Custom5 and a Demon. But in this korina the Alnico Classics are pretty sweet.

Even so, I think my happiest surprise was an Eko Kadett that I got for $99 new, as an add-on to another purchase. This is a pseudo-Strat with a slightly odd body shape and it turned out to have a really nice feeling neck and a body that sings at volume. The stock Chinese pickups weren't great but a Pinktone set from Onamac and a TusQ nut fixed it right up. Now it sounds great, and it plays better than some of my Fenders. I'm still not sure whether these are great guitars or if I just lucked out and got an exceptionally good one.

 

[allbutromeo]

Re: Pleasant gear surprises??

^Nice 'bird, makes me miss my korina G-400
As to what continues to impress...
My Mesa MkV, obviously a great amp, but anytime I step back from it and use one of my other amps for a while when I go back to the Mk I'm always impressed and wonder why I stepped away in the first place.
Also my L.P. Traditional Pro II, I hadn't played it at all in almost a year, and then for my band's most recent gig I pulled it out slapped some new strings on it and remembered why I fell in love with it in the first place. The neck feels perfect, and it sounds awesome, even with the stock 57/Super 57 pickups.