The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

Xeromus

Xeromus

Tone Ninja
This is a spin on LLL's post of a similar name. I'll start:

I bought a used Jackson JS22 (made in China) for $120 just for something to tinker with, play with electronics and a test bed for pickups. Surprisingly, I could not find a single thing to complain about. The switch and pots were good and functioned well, the neck feels great, fretwork and construction were all good, and it sounds quite good. Even the stock ceramic pickups were really not that bad at all. I put in a better set of pickups and I really enjoy playing it. I am completely shocked that a guitar this good can be had for $200 new right now. I wish guitars like this existed when I was younger. In the past I had paid way more for guitars that sounded like wet poop.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

G&L Tribute Rampage.

I thought it would be pretty cheesy, and would need your typical work that import guitars often need: pickup, pot, fret dressing, tuners, etc. But I wanted a Kahler equipped guitar, and it was $300 with original very decent quality gig bag.

Turns out it didn't need a damned thing. The finish is perfect. It plays great. The frets don't need any work. It sounds incredible. The gig bag is really good quality. And hell, it even has some figuring on the neck. The only bad thing about it is the poor print quality of the decal. All I will ever need to do is plug the thing in and play it...and maybe replace the frets some day because I will wear them out with how fun it is to play.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

ItsaBass said:
G&L Tribute Rampage.

I thought it would be pretty cheesy, and would need your typical work that import guitars often need: pickup, pot, fret dressing, tuners, etc. But I wanted a Kahler equipped guitar, and it was $300 with original very decent quality gig bag.

Turns out it didn't need a damned thing. The finish is perfect. It plays great. The frets don't need any work. It sounds incredible. The gig bag is really good quality. And hell, it even has some figuring on the neck. The only bad thing about it is the poor print quality of the decal. All I will ever need to do is plug the thing in and play it...and maybe replace the frets some day because I will wear them out with how fun it is to play.
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Those look really cool.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

A bolt-on aria II pro les paul custom copy. It was a 1978 and it had a slim taper profile neck.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

Ibanez RG270.

Received as partial payment for a G&L I sold. New pickups and it sounds lovely. The 2 and 4 positions sound like a Strat with some extra compression. Plays great, the trem is cheap but reliable. Nothing wrong with it at all for peanuts.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

Gretsch Honey Dipper Resonator. Got it for free, and figured it would sit on my wall as art.... but damn, I play and record it all the time. Love it.

Even added a Humbucker for gigs.

images.jpeg
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

The Squier Mini I bought my oldest son about 10 years ago is a monster. Neck feels great, the pickups sound good... it’s super nice for under $100. He didn’t stick with it, so i wound up painting it pink for my daughter.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

JB_From_Hell said:
The Squier Mini I bought my oldest son about 10 years ago is a monster. Neck feels great, the pickups sound good... it’s super nice for under $100. He didn’t stick with it, so i wound up painting it pink for my daughter.
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Good thing you painted it pink. I'm pretty sure if girls play a non-pink guitar their fingers immediately fall off.





:P
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

Bought a beat to hell Ibanez GAX 50 at the pawn shop for $42 just to get the "Duncan Designed" Invaders, which I immediately sold for a profit to a pal for one of his projects. I put some used Lace Sensors in it, and strung it up with the bottom 6 strings of an 8 string set. Damned if it didn't play great and sound awesome! I figured I'd give the husk away to some kid, but now it play it often when I want to get heavy.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

The Westone Concord III :

I spend an afternoon with a guy who selling several guitars froim its huge Matsumoku collection. That Concord III was hanging on the wall in front of me and I never looked at it, except when I was leaving. I just asked to complete my knowledge what was that kitsch glittery red guitar. He said "This is a superstrat !" I wonder "A superstrat with 3 single coils what does He means ?".

Then when I touched its neck (like an old Fender) I totally changed my mind... And came back later to buy it and called it the Ugly Duckling.

Currently this is my favorite neck : like a Strat with a little wider fretboard which is great for bends (single piece of hard maple + rosewood FB).

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Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

The Westone Concord III
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I've had several of those cross my bench through the decades and those Westone's are GREAT guitars, despite being a little ugly. I have client here in Wichita who collects them and gigs with them.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

ICTGoober said:
I've had several of those cross my bench through the decades and those Westone's are GREAT guitars, despite being a little ugly. I have client here in Wichita who collects them and gigs with them.
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They've grown on me. -probably because Strats are sooooo ubiquitous -They look kind of badass IMO.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

A friend gave me a FirstAct GarageMaster. The original pickups were crap, but it’s a nice playing guitar. So I made new pickups for it.

I removed the preamp/overdrive circuit because I was trying to track down some hum. But that wasn’t the cause, and the distortion circuit actually sounded pretty good.

I added the tremolo recently.

e0daa6748bf03eece23f521e2e868969.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

DavidRavenMoon said:
A friend gave me a FirstAct GarageMaster. The original pickups were crap, but it’s a nice playing guitar. So I made new pickups for it.

I removed the preamp/overdrive circuit because I was trying to track down some hum. But that wasn’t the cause, and the distortion circuit actually sounded pretty good.

I added the tremolo recently.

e0daa6748bf03eece23f521e2e868969.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I ****ing love that thing.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

Squier '51, black, 2005-ish. X < $100

I re-joined a band around 2005-6 where I was the LP tone guy during the mid-'90s. When I re-joined I was supposed to replace the Strat tone guy who left and I needed a Strat to compliment the overall band sound. Well, I'm not a Strat guy at all.

So I bought this little supercheap odd Strat-Tele hybrid thing because it was cheap. The salesguy knew me and suggested to try it saying he knows that Strats and me won't gel but he is sure that I will like this one. It felt okay but, Strat is Strat, meh. I remained uninspired even to unbox it, thinking I just give it a try even if I will surely sell it soon and suggest switching roles in the band. Finally, at home I plugged it anyway in and - BANG! - I was completely blown away. I still have it and I still love it even after leaving the band years ago.
 
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Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

Carvin AE 185. That acoustic bridge I couldn't get past at first but these play like butter and shred like crazy.
Really loving some of the blended piezio and electric tones with it also through an amp.
 
Re: The guitar you thought would be a turd, but you ended up loving.

I forgot to mention that one :

VANTAGE X-88 (MIJ nov. 1982). At first sight I thought it looks like a stag beetle / Lucanus Cervus. But I ended up loving it.

very strong mids (even unplugged)
3 positions mini toggles for each pickup (not bad for 1982... And long before the Triple Shot I suppose)
2 pieces ash body set up symetrically making a rorschach image
wide neck (screwed)
clever ergonomy for jumping around on stage without strap locks
rare (surprisely few pics in Google)

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