What's your sleeper pick?

Mojoe01

Mojoe01

New member
Have you ever had to completely change the way you looked at the guitar world? Find that one guitar that just makes you question all you've held true?

I recently picked up a Squier Esprit off ebay for extremely cheap, because I thought it looked cool. I was anticipating it being just another one to add to my collection of beaters that I basically have around just to customize the heck out of. I ripped everything out and wired in all new everything, and I have been absolutely floored.

Now, there's still some fret buzz that needs to be addressed on the lower strings in the lower frets, but this guitar is amazing. I can't believe how well it plays. The chambering is a huge bonus, since I'm used to my LP slung over my shoulder. The neck feels perfect in my hand. I was reluctant to drop a JB in the all-mahogany body, but I am so glad I did. I really can't believe a guitar with the name Squier on it plays so well. I've played a lot of guitars, and once the electronics have been upgraded, I honestly think it's on par with anything Gibson puts out on it's low end (studios, etc). Since all the parts I put in it were left overs from other guitars, my only expense was for the guitar itself, a whopping $175 with shipping included!


So that got me wondering about what other hidden gems there are out there. Have you guys had any experiences with bargain-basement priced guitars that just blow you away? I'm seriously thinking about seeking out another one of these. Maybe I just happened to get an exceptionally good one, or maybe they were all just a little TLC away from greatness!
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

2006 First Act SFA Edition Lola CE140, although it is awaiting a "pickup transplant" at present...either the Gibson HB-R/HB-L Humbuckers or the EMG 85/81 Set...whichever ones don't end up in the Kramer Ash Tele Project...

2006FirstActLolaJMP1-1.jpg

2006FirstActLolaJMP2-1.jpg


FAR AND AWAY A WELL ASSEMBLED/QUALITY:PRICE BANG FOR THE BUCK WINNER!!!

REPLACE THE PICKUPS AND IT'S GOLDEN....really undervalued/underrated guitars...

First Act SFA Edition Lola CE140

Product: First Act SFA Edition Lola CE140
Price Paid: USD 199.00
Submitted 01/25/2008 at 12:51pm by muttznmongrelz

Features : 10
2006 SFA Edition Lola CE140

Sweet lines and a big rock bite.

Beveled, single cutaway body shape designed in First Act's Studio For Artists.

Features solid balance and great high fret access.

Solid mahogany body for rich, warm sound.

Two Alnico V magnet, vintage-style chrome, bikini-clad humbucking pickups with crisp, clean sound and warm distortion.

North American Maple set neck, rosewood fingerboard with pearloid I-line inlays.

Chrome die-cast tuning machines.

Chrome-dome volume and tone knobs with 3-way toggle, for quick and easy access to sound tweaks.

Available in translucent black, midnight blue, and cabernet red. (MINE IS CABARNET RUBY RED...A BEAUTIFUL COLOR/FINISH I MIGHT ADD!)

FIRST ACT SAID IT BEST...BUT I'LL ADD THE BELOW...

24 3/4" Scale (GIBSON LP)
1 11/16" Nute Width (GIBSON

*** A GREAT PLATFORM UPON WHICH TO BUILD A SWEET PLAYING GUITAR....CHANGE THE PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS AND IT'S A **** FINE Gibson L6-S Styled GUITAR.

Sound : 10
Versatile instrument...

***NOTE: I WILL RATE THIS CATEGORY BASED UPON MY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS GUITAR....AFTER I UPGRADED THE PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS...

The original pickups were pretty bad...really cheap looking and sounding...as were the electronics...pickups were microphonic and the pots were small and shoddy looking as well as the jack being shoddy and coming loose...

Replaced the pickups with a pair of Epiphone "Ultra Hot" Pickups from the "E" Series and upgraded electronics (I only went wityh a Volume and 3 Way Toggle Switch...Tone is a dummy pot basically on my guitar), as I had one of the Epi Slashers a couple of years back and it had some really cool pickups...neck was heavy and high output w/o being muddy and the bridge was agressive but still musical w/o being a "spike in the ears"...so I had a pair installed in this guitar after I removed the "E" Logoed Chrome Metal Covers, got all the wax off and wrapped the windings w/some new tape. As stated these pickups KICK ASS!

I have a pair of EMG 81/85 that I am contemplating putting in this but I really like the Epis so I'll probably keep the EMGs for something else. 10 after the upgrade...5 before the pickup change...

*** REPLACE THE PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS...TRULY THE ONLY WEAK SPOT ON THIS GUITAR.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
Here is where this baby shines...

I walked into a Music-Go-Round and it caught my eye hanging on the wall...really beautiful CABERNET RUBY RED SEE THROUGH FINISH...then I picked it up and was shocked by the weight of it...heavy like a LP...NO BASSWOOD HERE...then I played it w/o plugging it in...neck felt really comfy, the fretboard was flat and the frets were med jumbo and really well finished...neck was bound nicely...couldn't find any flaws w/construction...body appeared to be one piece mahogany...WOW...and all for $199.00!!!

As I was missing a LP Style Guitar from my guitar collection...this was a dream to find.

*** STRAIGHT OUT 10 ON THIS CATEGORY...HIGH LEVEL WORKMANSHIP AND A TRULY NICELY PUT TOGETHER GUITAR. KUDOS TO FIRST ACT FOR AN OUTSTANDING FIRST INTRODUCTION TO WHAT THEY CAN TURN OUT OTHER THAN WHAT YOU SEE AT WALMART OR TOYS R US!

Reliability/Durability : 9
Absolutely a fine instrument...you are no doubt "getting the point"...CHANGE THE PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS AND THIS THING ROCKS!!! NO QUALMS WHATSOEVER W/IT OTHERWISE. STONE SOLID INSTRUMENT.

9 UNTIL YOU CHANGE THE PICKUPS.

Overall Rating : 10
If you can't tell...I really am impressed by this guitar...love it and play it most of the time since I got it...even though I have 6 other electrics (see below) and an Alvarez Yairi DY53...this guitar is just a joy to pickup and put through my 1979 Marshall JMP 2104 50W Combo...goes great w/all my pedals...Keeley Midnight Zone, Boss SD-1 MIJ, Ibanez SM9 Super Metal MIJ, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer MIJ, Tech21 SansAmp GT & Tech21 Double Drive...there's just no issues when I pick up this guitar!

RECOMMENDATION: If you find one cheap like I did...BUY THE **** THING AND REPLACE THE PICKUPS. It's really a sleeper that you'll love!
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

All guitars are great...whether you're playing a $25 pawn shop prize or a $25000 vintage Les Paul...it's more about the notes you're playing than the instrument in your hands.

If i had pix of my $25 pawn shop prize i'd post 'em up...it came as a neck bolted to a body with a baggie of parts attached to it...now it's a sweet li'l stylized Mustang copy with two of the three vintage mini humbucker-style pickups belting out some sweet tones.

it came with a Led Zeppelin sticker on it so i wrote the secret hidden message in "Stairway" all over it and set it up in open E so i could learn "When the Levee Breaks".
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

Squier '51 --- Laugh all you want at the Squier name, but I dare you to F with this '51.

n6201882_40948462_1538.jpg
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

Squier Strat. Alder body I think, natural finish.

Bought it for the equivalent of $80. Dropped a Guitar Fetish steel trem and block, and a Duncan Designed humbucker.

I play it much more than my japanese Ibanez, which was well over 6 times more than what I paid for the Squier. Plus it looks much more cool. :D

The neck feels fantastic, the body has a terrific, lively resonance and it's just a great instrument to play. A very clear, singing tone. The stock single coils are junk as you'd expect, but eventually I'll take them out.
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

The '51 has been a guitar I've contemplated buying for years now, and that one is just fueling the fire! Is that a Phat Cat and a Lil '59 in there? And is the back knob (tone I'm guessing) a push/pull?
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

It's not a new revelation but the old 1981-1985 Ibanez Blazer and Roadstars are really good. You'll have to live with some oddities and know what to buy, but yes that's my recommendation for a sleeper. Very basically, for $300 you gets something that has the potential to kill any other Strat-like guitar. The years 1982-1988 have been mixed for U.S. Fenders and only selected few of the early MIJ Squier or Fender are good.
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

The squier jagmaster that I got for cheap is a pretty decent guitar.
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

Mojoe01 said:
The '51 has been a guitar I've contemplated buying for years now, and that one is just fueling the fire! Is that a Phat Cat and a Lil '59 in there? And is the back knob (tone I'm guessing) a push/pull?
Click to expand...

Yep, a Little '59 in the neck and it's actually a GFS Mean 90 in the bridge, but it's the same concept --- Alnico 5 P90 in a humbucker housing.

It's wired with the "neck" knob as Master Tone with a push-pull to split the Little '59 to get a Strat tone.

The mini toggle should be wired "neck-both-bridge" but it's wired "bridge-neck-neck" because of a mistake I made when I was wiring it.

The "bridge" knob is Master Volume

Kind of a "backwards" control layout, but the whole point of the guitar was to build it exactly how I wanted it!
 
Last edited:
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

That sounds awesome! And yeah, that's what makes these guitars so great... when you aren't breaking the bank on them, you aren't afraid to experiment and make it whatever you want it to be.
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

Mojoe01 said:
That sounds awesome! And yeah, that's what makes these guitars so great... when you aren't breaking the bank on them, you aren't afraid to experiment and make it whatever you want it to be.
Click to expand...

I am looking forward to rewiring the switch to be neck-both-bridge so I can get

Little '59
SPLIT Little '59
Little '59 and Mean 90
SPLIT Little '59 and Mean 90
Mean 90

I bet both on at once will sound thickkkkkkkkkk!

I also imagine SPLIT Little '59 and Mean 90 will sound awesome.
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

My love and all-time-favorite, my no.1, Izzy:
dsc00016qi5.jpg

Further background info can be found HERE but the short version is that this is one of the cheapest models of a quality Korean company, Swing, a Swing EZ-10.
Bought her for a mere 300€ and ended up paying about an extra 1100€ now (after also installing a Big Brass Block at the Floyd Rose) and she's one of the baddest and sweetest guitars I've ever seen/heard/played.
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

My 1985 Fender Contemporay Tele w/ 2 humbuckers. Totally overlooked in the 80's. The trem isn't the best but I don't use it anyway. The stock pickups are really nice sounding and sound great split. I ended up tossing in a Super Distortion/PAF combo. The mini toggle that normally splits the stock pickups I used to put the SuperD in parallel.

contemptele.jpg
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

my epiphone SG special. it's got a crooked and jacked up neck pocket, but the neck feels good in my hands and i setup the electonics to my liking-a3/a3 jb/jazz, dual volume/master tone with coil swap, series, and phase switches.
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

i'll never do a real gig without my Godin Solidac... it will be there one way or another
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

I used to think I was a Strat man and that all I needed was different kind of Strats. While I still like and own a Strat, after buying a Tele my whole perspective on "my kind of guitar" changed, as did my technique and use of the volume, tone and switch (for the better I think).
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

90's Washburn USA Customs. I will put my USA Washburns up against any Hamer,PRS, Grosh, Anderson ect I have played. True boutique guitars but because few know what these are the USA will go for giveaway prices.
I paid $400 for my 99 WM-4 for example and then promptly sold my $2400 Ibanez Artist 2000 Prestige as it was gathering dust in the case!! These guitars are the most overlooked big name guitar killers on the market right now. Spend some time playing with a USA Washburn Idol and then pickup a new Les Paul or PRS sometime might surprise the heck outta you!
 
Re: What's your sleeper pick?

I got my Hamer Standard for about $350. One of the best guitars I have ever played. The stock pickups blew me away, but I probably will change them.
m.jpg


Sorry for the sideways-ness of it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top