Tempted by cheap guitars, what are your thoughts?

[Bombadil]

This is my first (well, second) electric guitar. I paid 237€ CAD for it in April, 1981. It is a ST-55, I think. Made at the Terada plant in Japan. Served me well until I got my first MiM Strat in 1997, and continued to do so. The pic was taken almost 2 years ago. It is a fantastic instrument that needs an overhaul. I've seen them on fleabay going for 700€ + these days.
So, I was very pleased to have this instrument after not having an electric guitar since I was about 16. I didn't have the money at the time for anything fancy.

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[ghettosynth]

I'm in a similar situation re: needing fret work on a cheap guitar. The difference is that it's my first guitar from 15 years ago

A full set of tools for fret-levelling costs about the same as having it done for you in an expensive area, which in turn is similar to the cost of the cheapest tolerable instruments.

So when weighing up a cheap instrument you have to ask where the money was saved and whether that works for you. Cheap pickups are easy to upgrade later, cheap hardware only slightly harder. A bad body or neck is a waste of time and money, unless you're going to salvage some amazing hardware...

My first guitar has reasonable hardware, a good body/neck and lousy fretwork. In retrospect that's not ideal, but it has still been through a lot of gigs and earned some battle scars.

Exactly. My first guitar was junk, I still have most of it, I should just throw it in the trash it's so bad, but you know, sentiment. My second guitar would have been worth fixing, I sold it long ago. I regret it a little bit, but not much because I traded it for synthesizers and that's what got me started with them. If I still had it, I'd pay someone qualified to do a refret. The thing is, I tried paying people to work on it and I never found anyone who knew what they were doing. It's like trying to find an auto mechanic that you can trust.

I think a few tools are probably worth my time. However, the cheapie Grote is going back. I still have other cheapies that I can't return and that aren't worth selling, so I don't mind working on those.

I'm willing to do some woodwork on guitars that aren't worth anything. I routed the body of my nashville ghetto-caster so that I could give it the third pickup. It has a terrible finish as it was someone else's partscaster. So stripping the finish isn't any great loss and I do have a garage and basic wood working tools. Essentially, I draw the line at complex precision work. I'm not going to refret a guitar or do a full fret job, I'd screw that up. I'm not going to do a real finish on an expensive guitar, I'd mess that up as well. But I don't mind experimenting on cheaper junk. If I mess it up too much I'll just get a new body from guitar fetish. So, my ghetto-caster is going to get a belly cut, but at the moment it's my only fully functional (electric) guitar, so not yet.

[Loop Six]

I found some of the Korean and Japanese built guitars to be exceptional, but it's been hit or miss with other Asian builders.

[Uncle E]

A full set of tools for fret-levelling costs about the same as having it done for you in an expensive area, which in turn is similar to the cost of the cheapest tolerable instruments.

The tech you'd be paying would do a better job than someone doing it for the first time. Sometimes you can get lucky and find techs selling their own guitars, those are usually well maintained and ready to play.

I've had good luck buying used Epiphone Elitist models. They used to be quite cheap, people have figured out how good they are and now the prices are over inflated but you can still get lucky sometimes. All the ones I've seen have had exceptional fretwork, even the beaters.

[ghettosynth]

A full set of tools for fret-levelling costs about the same as having it done for you in an expensive area, which in turn is similar to the cost of the cheapest tolerable instruments.

The tech you'd be paying would do a better job than someone doing it for the first time. Sometimes you can get lucky and find techs selling their own guitars, those are usually well maintained and ready to play.

Absolutely, but, everyone has to do it the first time at some point unless you want to pay people over and over again. I try to learn with simple jobs on low cost guitars.

[Uncle E]

Absolutely, but, everyone has to do it the first time at some point unless you want to pay people over and over again. I try to learn with simple jobs on low cost guitars.

True, and the extra love you'd put into can go a long way, too. I'll do just about everything except fretwork, more power to you if you're willing to put in that effort.

[ghettosynth]

Absolutely, but, everyone has to do it the first time at some point unless you want to pay people over and over again. I try to learn with simple jobs on low cost guitars.

True, and the extra love you'd put into can go a long way, too. I'll do just about everything except fretwork, more power to you if you're willing to put in that effort.

Well, I've only done desperate minimal fretwork to this point. I had a gouged fret on a Peave T style that needed to be patched so I used solder to patch it up based on some online guides. Keep in mind though that I have decades of experience soldering, so I knew what to expect from that side of things.

I'm not going to tackle leveling all frets on a guitar yet, but, I'd use a StewMac fret kisser to tackle one or two standouts if I otherwise liked the guitar.



I haven't bought one yet, I probably will. I'm not tackling the Grote because I can just send the Grote back.

[ghettosynth]

Well, work annoyed me today so I took the afternoon off and went guitar shopping. I almost came home with multiple guitars, but exercised restraint. I did not restrict myself to only T/S style guitars and ended up bringing home a Gretsch budget guitar that was on sale at $299. The neck felt fine, but jamming at home brought home why I don't like glossy necks, they feel clammy when my hands sweat. Fortunately for me, I don't gig anymore so it's not that bad. When you gig, the show must go on, at home, I can just stop, wipe the neck down, have a glass of "tea" and get back to work.



The Grote is boxed up ready to go back.

I will say that none of the Fenders that I played had an action as nice as the Gretsch. Sure, I can adjust it, but, I like it better when it feels right out of the box. It's a fantastic noodler guitar, I can see myself sitting on the couch for hours playing the same six riffs, much to everyone else's annoyance.

[Bombadil]

[Uncle E]

That looks killer

[Uncle E]

This is a quality instrument at a budget price. Epiphone Elitist SG with a repaired headstock for $500:

https://reverb.com/item/77975180-epipho ... t=77975180

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[anttimaatteri]

all harley bentons i bought the last years stay in tune for very long time. the build quality is in its worst case: some finish failures, not so well rounded frets and a bad tuner knob one time. the newer hb ones are in higher quality now, hence to the higher prices. my hartwood has probably the worst pickup build in ever ^^, but if this gets fixed its a great guitar. so on the really cheap end , under 200eu, things can get really bad. so a 250 bucks hb should be ok or at least customizable to a good guitar

[tapper mike]

When I was younger cheap guitars were a constant source of inspiration. They'd always lead to heartache. Expensive guitars seemed out of worldly. It's the moderate ones that for the most part delved the goods.

Once I've had the taste of a really good moderately priced one that moves on I always want it again.
Such is the case with my Guitar Research (Sam Ash not Schecter) Eddie Durham JX 17


I have a D'angelico EXL and honestly the jx 17 looked better, played better and sounded better.

I'd never get a Harley Benton.
Simply because for a little more I could have a Sire. They are far superior to HB and Fender Players. Looks, hardware, tone and workmanship.

[The Noodlist]

But things do change, I read nothing but "crazy value for money" on eg Harley Benton (sold by thomannmusic.com) guitars.

I got a Harley Benton TE-52 a few years back, It had several high frets. Like, so many budget guitars, they may need some fretwork. A good deal though, great for upgrading.

[The Noodlist]

I have a cheap grote T-Style in my Amazon cart. Stainless steel frets, maple fingerboard/neck, satin finish, tummy cut, and shit pickups. But, I don't care because my parts-box has a few tele pickups, and moreover, I want to try humbuckers in a T-style, especially if I can get some kind of five way going with it.

With a contoured body and a headstock that isn't too ugly, seems like it's worth a gamble. It's below what I've purchased in the past in terms of cost/market value, but, I'm having a tough time figuring out where guitar manufacturing is at the moment.

The last guitar that I bought/built was a cheap parts-caster that cost me more in parts than the cheap donor guitar did second hand. All in it was still less than $300. I haven't spent more than $500 on a guitar since the mid 90s when I was playing in bands.

Budget guitars are good base to to start modding these days are widely available. Manufacturing tech, along with repeatable quality and accuracy, has come along way with computers, machinery, etc.

I'm a big advocate of modding and tweaking .