Your best and most consistent "Bang for the buck" brand that you own & dig

Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria

watch where you point that sabre
Your best and most consistent "Bang for the buck" brand that you own & dig

And a fitting group pic with my cheap 10yr old Redmi phone :lmao:

Brands that you own more than a couple of which in your experience have always been consistently good (before or after modding them to your taste)...let's say $500 & below new.

For me it's always been CORT. Though lately my Kramer's are right up there too.:bigthumb:..

All-Corts-Default-V2.jpg


OK, the ^^ X700 Duality II w/Fishman pups in the front/centre is'nt particularly cheap (though still great bang for the buck), but the rest are all around the $350-500 mark or below. I have one more oldie that I'm currently working on that is'nt in the pic and that's a sweet axe too..)

Group pics welcome :bigthumb:
 
^^^^^

Front L-R: Cort X300 BRB with EMG Hot 70 Retro Actives, X700 Duality II With Fishman Open Core Classic's, G290 FAT II with stock Cort pup's

Back L-R: Cort X11 QM GRB with EMG Fat 55 Retro Actives, X6 SA with SD Blackouts Metal bridge/Blackouts Single middle/Blackouts neck
 
Cool guitars!

For me, it's going to have to be LTD. Those have always played, looked, and sounded the best out of the mid-priced tier of guitars I've owned. Way more consistent than anything else I've tried. I always look for the Korean ones, TBH. Never ventured into the Indonesian ones.

It's funny, because I've had several PRS SE's, a Chapman, and Ibanez made in the same World factory, and while some of they were good, they've never been as cosistent as LTD. Especially with the fretwork.

Honestly, on that note, PRS SE's have been consistently the worst bang-for-the-buck mid-priced guitars for me. I have not tried any of the new Cort ones, but the Korean ones, while some of them were good, most of them have had very underwhelming tops, cheap tuners, plastic nuts cut only to fit fucking 9's, only OK-ish hardware, and cheap pickups. I honestly feel like, for a company as picky with the stuff they use on their high-end models, on PRS SE's, they pretty much cut every corner than can be cut to get these at a pricepoint that's not even that low, considering the features (or more like lack of) they come with.
 
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I don't have a large enough sample size to say. It changes so much over the years.

For instance, I used to be a fan of Ibanez guitars in the 90s, when you could get mid range guitars with Edge and LoPro trems. Now they are reserved for $2500 MIK models (generally). Now their mid range guitars have underenginered trems without any parts compatibility, and they use Ibanez brand pickups. I dont shop Ibanez any more.

Two new guitars purchased in recent past: A LTD M400 and LTD M1000. These guitars are good in different ways

The M400 is Indonesian and was perfect in every way except for two things: Pau Ferro fretboard not as nice as Rosewood, and 24th fret access is not the greatest. It came with direct mount seymour duncan pickups, the finish is flawless, frets were level, everything else great.

The M1000 is WMI MIK and the appointments are excellent, but there were some flaws. There was what looked like a file shaving in the neck binding finish which I was able to sand out. The frets are stainless but they were not leveled at all and it required spot level. The burl top is nice but not amazing, but overall a very attractive guitar and the neck feels wonderful. These guitars are now made in Indonesia and the tops are not as nice. It came with EMG 57/66tw set and FR1000, which was pretty great for a 1200 guitar. But it needed fretwork out of the gate, so that would be frustrating for many buyers.

At this point I evaluate each model on a case by case basis. Ibanez are disqualified because of the trem, I'm open to other brands, but my preference is for LTD because they have a solid history with identifyable models, and they come with stainless frets. Schecter is probably same quality but I don't prefer the aestethics.
 
I like Pau Ferro, myself. But it's luck of the draw. I had an LTD EX-401 that I had to sell when I moved, but that guitar was the absolute best LTD I've ever owned (I think I've owned like 10). That one had a pretty dark Pau Ferro fretboard that had a shade very similar to rosewood, just less porous, and hence, smoother. I've seen some very pale sickly-looking Pau Ferro boards, though, but based on my very limited experience with Pau Ferro, I much prefer it to Ebony. I mean, yeah, Ebony looks pretty. But If I had to choose, I'd have rosewood, because on all LTD's I've had (and guitars in general), the ones with ebony boards have never been the best-sounding ones.
 
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Rex_Rocker said:
I like Pau Ferro, myself. But it's luck of the draw. I had an LTD EX-401 that I had to sell when I moved, but that guitar was the absolute best LTD I've ever owned (I think I've owned like 10). That one had a pretty dark Pau Ferro fretboard that had a shade very similar to rosewood, just less porous, and hence, smoother. I've seen some very pale sickly-looking Pau Ferro boards, though, but based on my very limited experience with Pau Ferro, I much prefer it to Ebony. I mean, yeah, Ebony looks pretty. But If I had to choose, I'd have rosewood, because on all LTD's I've had (and guitars in general), the ones with ebony boards have never been the best-sounding ones.
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The Pau Ferro is dark and uniform, but it doesn't have the richness of Rosewood. The grain seems to be smaller and I just don't like it as much as rosewood. Minor nitpick, but I mentioned it because that is one area where they skimped a bit. I think the Rosewood ban must be within past decade as I have a 10 year old Chinese guitar with Rosewood neck.

The ebony board on my M1000 is my new preference if you cant get Rosewood. It is dark but has a rich look with some depth.
 
Yeah, I don't think they really *skimped* so much as they probably had a bunch of Pau Ferro left over from the Rosewood ban. I mean, after all, I'm like you, I prefer Rosewood as well. But Pau Ferro is not really inferior, just not our preferrence.

Or wait, maybe I'm speaking out of ignorance. Is Pau Ferro actually cheaper to source than Rosewood? Because I do know Ebony is more espensive, so they reserve it to the higher end guitars.
 
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I dont know. I thought the Rosewood ban was ongoing and there were limits set on how much could be harvested, reserving it for high end instruments.

It seems majority of mid range $1000ish guitars have Ebony now, which I am fine with.
 
Phantasmagoria said:
^^^^^

Front L-R: Cort X300 BRB with EMG Hot 70 Retro Actives, X700 Duality II With Fishman Open Core Classic's, G290 FAT II with stock Cort pup's

Back L-R: Cort X11 QM GRB with EMG Fat 55 Retro Actives, X6 SA with SD Blackouts Metal bridge/Blackouts Single middle/Blackouts neck
Click to expand...

We can't get Cort brand guitars in the USA, even though they manufacture many of the ones sent here.
 
I don't own enough of only one brand to say, but I will say all of my pickups are SDs.
 
I like d'addario / planet waves cables and have been pretty using them exclusively for more than fifteen years. Visual sound makes my favorite power supplies - always well made, quiet, and work well.
 
I would say for me it would have to be Gretsch. I have a couple if there electromatic (mid priced) guitars and they are excellent quality guitars right out of the box. I've heard the same thing about there cheaper streamliner models too. Good sounding pickups, solid hardwood and excellent craftsmanship. It makes me wonder what there high priced japanese models would be like...
 
id say hamer usa guitars but the prices have risen a lot since i got my first two, they were each less than $500 used if i remember correctly
 
Mincer said:
I don't own enough of only one brand to say, but I will say all of my pickups are SDs.
Click to expand...

Is that brand loyalty or do you actually only like the way SD pup's sound vs. everything else out there? Personally I do prefer (some) SD's over most other pickups, but eh, a nice sounding pup is a nice sounding pup and it often happens they are'nt SD's :bigthumb:
 
Peavey, Ibanez, Jackson, Randall, Line6 and Zoom. Oh, and Shecter.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
Rex_Rocker said:
Cool guitars!

For me, it's going to have to be LTD. Those have always played, looked, and sounded the best out of the mid-priced tier of guitars I've owned. Way more consistent than anything else I've tried. I always look for the Korean ones, TBH. Never ventured into the Indonesian ones.

It's funny, because I've had several PRS SE's, a Chapman, and Ibanez made in the same World factory, and while some of they were good, they've never been as cosistent as LTD. Especially with the fretwork.

Honestly, on that note, PRS SE's have been consistently the worst bang-for-the-buck mid-priced guitars for me. I have not tried any of the new Cort ones, but the Korean ones, while some of them were good, most of them have had very underwhelming tops, cheap tuners, plastic nuts cut only to fit ****ing 9's, only OK-ish hardware, and cheap pickups. I honestly feel like, for a company as picky with the stuff they use on their high-end models, on PRS SE's, they pretty much cut every corner than can be cut to get these at a pricepoint that's not even that low, considering the features (or more like lack of) they come with.
Click to expand...

Thanks! You know , despite the fact that LTD always has cool looking guitars /great specs/finishes etc, I've never bought one, because (of all things) the logo.

I don't know why , but I'm extremely put off by that.The font or something, which is weird ' cause the CORT logo is nothing to write home about either (though they've finally changed it to the new one on the X700 up there) . And Funnily enough, while the 'ESP' logo uses the same font it actually looks cool and works with those letters (ESP) unlike with LTD which has always looked off-putting & tacky (to me). So much so that I can't get past it and buy the goddamn guitar's :laugh2: . And there's no denying they're sweet guitars.. :bigthumb:

I've never actually had an axe with anything but the traditional fretboard woods (Rosewood, maple, ebony). I'm curious about pao ferro, jacoba, laurel etc...
 
Top-L said:
I don't have a large enough sample size to say. It changes so much over the years.

For instance, I used to be a fan of Ibanez guitars in the 90s, when you could get mid range guitars with Edge and LoPro trems. Now they are reserved for $2500 MIK models (generally). Now their mid range guitars have underenginered trems without any parts compatibility, and they use Ibanez brand pickups. I dont shop Ibanez any more.


At this point I evaluate each model on a case by case basis. Ibanez are disqualified because of the trem, .
Click to expand...


Ibanez has been putting Edges/Lo-Pro's on a few of their $700-1000 Guitars lately. The Genesis ones and some of the Premium's. Those seem like pretty good bang for the buck imo...
 
My Jackson came with a JT580LP. Not the best, but not the worst. At some point I recall the judicious use of a round file on the knife edges to true them up. Other than that, it works great.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
Phantasmagoria said:
Thanks! You know , despite the fact that LTD always has cool looking guitars /great specs/finishes etc, I've never bought one, because (of all things) the logo.

I don't know why , but I'm extremely put off by that.The font or something, which is weird ' cause the CORT logo is nothing to write home about either (though they've finally changed it to the new one on the X700 up there) . And Funnily enough, while the 'ESP' logo uses the same font it actually looks cool and works with those letters (ESP) unlike with LTD which has always looked off-putting & tacky (to me). So much so that I can't get past it and buy the goddamn guitar's :laugh2: . And there's no denying they're sweet guitars.. :bigthumb:

I've never actually had an axe with anything but the traditional fretboard woods (Rosewood, maple, ebony). I'm curious about pao ferro, jacoba, laurel etc...
Click to expand...

I think its because on some brands, like Jackson, you can get a $250 guitar with the same headstock logo as the expensive USA guitars.

With LTD, you are paying 1200+ and the guitar doesn't even have the ESP logo! It is a little reminiscent of "Squire" and "Epiphone", even though the LTD guitars are expensive.

I have two of them and I agree its a bit odd, but I got over it. In fact, my next guitar will probably also be a LTD.
 
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