the best cheap rare guitar you ever had

Best cheap rare guitar.

Hands down, my '59 Les Paul Junior. Found it on the street, walking home from band practice when I was 14. That was 1972. Someone through it out like trash. Took a few years to put parts on it (none of them correct, knowing what I know now).

Free is a very good price.

 

+1 on the Korean Danelectros, I have a U2 which is a really sweet sounding guitar.

If you want cheap, but good quality and originality, look at some of the Matsumoku output from Japan from the late 70s, early 80s.

Things such as Westburys, Quest, Electra, and Westone. Even the stuff like the igher end Satellite and Hondo Professional is pretty good.

I had quite a collection of Westones at one time, but I have thinned down my collection recently.


Al I have left now is the battered Thunder 1A second from the right.

I picked up an oddball Squier the other week, which is not your usual "Fender"

 

!970 ? Hagstrom VIN only 200 made sold in Canada only, if memory is still working.

 

1963 airline, humbucker single pick up is a cool machine, $75, needs a volume pot!

 

Bought a 1963ish Firebird I, new old stock, for $110 with case, back in 1968 after seeing Eric Clapton play one in concert.

Of course, I also had a $200 1965ish ice blue strat and a $125 sunburst '61ish strat back in the days when a gallon of gas cost a quarter (which is also true).

I also had a 1970 Hemi Cuda that I paid $2400 for in 1974, sold for $4200 later that same year (nice profit for a broke and married college kid), and saw one sell on the Barrett Auto Auction for half a mil a few years ago.

When you're old, everything used to be cheap

George

 

I have a few Linderts, which are hard to find and very cool. The Korean ones tend to go for around $300-400, but the US-made ones anywhere from around $500 to a lot. I had an old Harmony Mars for awhile, and it was fabulous. Didn't know you could un-twist a neck. Sadly, it's long gone -- really miss that pickup.

 

Still have it. This one...



Mid 70's Penco (Ibanez) lawsuit guitar, given to me in non-working condition. I had to replace the pots, switch and jack. Lots of nice flame, and the original pickups sound great! Currently on loan to a friend.

 

Just to put it in perspective, your 1968 $110 Firebird with case purchase would cost you about $716 in today's dollars, so you weren't too cheap in your guitar tastes back in the day.

 

The Kent 700 (solid body) and 800 (hollow body) series guitars were made by Kawai a little after they bought Teisco. Pretty well-made, strong pickups, thin neck, and 25-inch scale. Also had 12-strings and basses in those series'. I have a couple of the hollow bodies. Best with a hard tail, if you can find one.

 

The best cheap and very rare guitar I ever had
is my 1972 National SG. Made in Japan. It
seems that you can push down the E string
with a feather at the 12th fret. Tiny frets.
The add says virtually fretless. You can tell
there is some string rattle on the lower strings
but the pickups do not pick it up. It sounds
great. Even the cheap tremolo keeps good
tune on this one.

There was also a Tele, a Les Paul and some
other models made by the same Japanese
company for Strum and Drum,









I picked mine up for $100. It's the only one
I have seen that is still stock.

It's really rare,

Tabdog

 

I thought my $50 '57 Les Paul Jr. was a pretty good deal. I guess I paid too much.

 

Originally Posted by nixdad
Hands down, my '59 Les Paul Junior. Found it on the street, walking home from band practice when I was 14. That was 1972. Someone through it out like trash. Took a few years to put parts on it (none of them correct, knowing what I know now).

Free is a very good price.


I thought my $50 '57 Les Paul Jr. was a pretty good deal. I guess I paid too much.


Yaw, but are those really cheap guitars?

http://wurlitzerboston.myshopify.co...ic-guitar?utm_source=googlepla&utm_medium=cpc

Tabdog

 

I have had this one since about 1971 or '72? Electra.

 

'60s Danelectro Sharkfin and Longhorn basses. Today they'd be worth 3 or 4 times what the Fenders I replaced them them with cost me then. Wish I still had at least one of them.

 

I saw a thing about these recently on another forum. The pickups, the the Black Widow bass at least, were very weird in design. They were stuffed out with newspaper and bondo, with the pole pieces being decorative only.

 

I have a maison sg. I paid 70 quid for it second hand about 17 years ago. The wood and neck are ok so I stuck a Duncan 59 in the bridge and it's an ok guitar. I've even used it a couple of times at gigs.

 

Yeah, funny stuff. Considering the guitar (and bass) was only in production for a short time, it passed through three manufacturers... Bartell of California, Matsumoku and then Mosrite. It also had at least three different kinds of pickups... I believe mine had the Maxon humbuckers, but there were other HBs and single-coils as well.
Black Widow History

It was a cool punk rock guitar for sure... no one else ever showed up with one.

 

It'd have to be my old............

middle seventies "Univox" Les Paul clone. I've seen these guitars with other names on the headstock but they're all the same. I worked in a band with another guitarist at one point who had one with the name "Aims" on the headstock but it was identical to mine. I've had this one rewired with only the top two controls working as masters for both pickups as I'm mainly a Tele player and that's what I like. I also have an Epiphone EZ bender on the B string.... This guitar is a quality instrument and plays smooth as butter with very low action which is buzz free..... Here's a couple of shots of it....JH in Va.

 

I have late '70's early '80s Aria Pro II Cardinal series. I bought a CS250 "87 ish for $50. These aren't very rare, but this is the only 1 pickup version I've seen. I got this one for $100 and is my favorite guitar ATM. The guy threw in a basket case CS 400, that looked like he found it in abarn, for $50. Matsumoko goodness in the middle of my 1 pickup possee

 

Got my Electra around '73-'74 maybe. The pickups finally went south so I replaced all the guts with the stuff I had pulled from an Epi Dot. Plays and sounds sweet! Pic is pre-updated electronics.