Your most-surprisingly-good cheap(est) guitar?

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trev333

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I think that guitar is awesome! It has real personality if that makes any sense.

Thanks mate...:cool:

some pics from today at the town fair..... adding to the guitars mojo....

this gr5 girl gets to play most of my builds and my Mustang at times....

fortunate for her as the other kids parents went out and bought guitars... an SX strat , a HSS affinity strat, the acoustic.. they all sound great ...

I always ask her which one she wants to play at gigs/practice...she mostly says, I don't care, with a shrug....:rolleyes:

Today as I zipped this one out to tune it, I said, I brought this one as it's the lightest....and it had played this stage before....

she just said.. I love this guitar...:oops:.:cool:
 

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Troubleandahalf

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Cost me like one good trip to the supermarket. Displaced my Tele for a good couple months. (The CV has since reasserted herself into the #1 grab slot) Great fun that Junior.
 

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telexander

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From the sublime a couple of days ago-
NOzROrb.jpg


To the ridiculous(ly excellent playing little POS)-
GWpvEtb.jpg


So yeah, over the weekend I bought that Super 400; while I got a screaming deal, it IS from smack dab in the middle of the Norlin period so the binding was $hi++y before it even left the factory in '74-'75. After I did some rocket surgery it almost plays itself and sound just... Super! :rolleyes:

On the Douglas, somebody did a decent amateur job installing two P90s and ripping out the tone circuit but that chicken-head knob has GOT to go! Lol
I love 'em both but I won't cry if the Douglas falls into a campfire.
 

ReaL Madras

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My Weir Poorboy, my other half had it hand made for me and it is really rather cool.(link removed)ImageUploadedByTDPRI1442559926.103534.jpgImageUploadedByTDPRI1442559970.527472.jpgImageUploadedByTDPRI1442560032.254879.jpg
 

24 track

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last weekend I picked up a white squire strat rosewood neck tagged at 99.00 cdn with 40% off, 66.00 taxes in. the guy had 3 of them all for the same price I almost bought all 3 , problem is they were all right handed , the one I did buy I gave to a friend of mine. Hence no pics

I did get the Peavey Predator Plus EXP (red guitar on left) for 100.00 taxes in needed a set up but a good guitar to kick around with.
 

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nielsk

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Samick dreadnaught style I got when I was 11. Plays and sounds great for a 20 year old indonesian POS....even with all the stickers, some of which would get me banned so no pics! :)wink:)

I love that guitar though!

ditto... Samick LW015 made in Indonesia. Recently I came across its brother, a 12 string, saved it from scrapping. Don't know which one I love better.
 

RevMike

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Two at the moment.

1) Epiphone LP Traditional Pro. Cheap to me, but only because it'd had a neck break. Neck repair and lots of mods. $50. I love playing this guitar. I've owned Gibsons and other Epiphones and they were nice, but this one is "My Les Paul." Can't explain why, it just does it for me.

2) Epiphone DR212. Plain Jane 12 string acoustic. $149 on sale. Looks like a much more expensive guitar. Plays beautifully and holds tune very well.
 

sk25

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I've had several...

1) Washburn Maverick BT4 - paid a little more for it than they were usually going for used at the time, but it was the one I found myself picking up first for a long, long time. Something about it just felt right.

2) My crappy little '66 Stella Acoustic - Got it for free from my dad, it sounded half decent, and was more comfortable to me (with my preference for electrics) than a larger bodied acoustic would have been. Looks like its been beat to hell and back, but that only adds character! Or something. First guitar I performed a repair on...I had to glue the back piece back into place when it separated from the sides up at the neck.

3) My Ibanez GSR200 bass - paid about $80 for it a few years back, it benched my MIM P-bass for quite a while, and is still the bass I usually go to first...so light, so comfortable to sit and play!

Others are threatening to dethrone these...a Dean Skull Crusher bass ($75) is on the verge of upsetting the Ibanez, while the Washburn has already been knocked down by a combination of a Danelectro Innuendo (Danoblaster, I think?) ($50), an amazing red Austin strat ($60), and a cheap little single-humbucker Squier 20th Anniversary strat ($45). I got the Dean and the Danelectro both from a thrift store that was preparing to go out of business, along with another guitar, a filing cabinet, and some other odds and ends. The owners, being friends of my girlfriend, gave me a pretty good discount on everything, so I got everything I could afford...still missed out on some great stuff; they had almost two dozen guitars and basses, all marked down to around $100 and maintained by the owner, who had been a musician at one time. If I'd had the money, I would have picked up every guitar they had.
 

Sky King

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Yamaha SJ-550HR - Japanese Telecaster Type guitar with 2 coil tapped humbuckers.
Found it in a Pawn Shop in middle of nowhere Texas for $200
Was my main guitar for years. Actually tracked down another to have as a backup, and gladly paid $350 for it.
 

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nomadh

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Good cheap guitars? Thats my wheelhouse. Heres my $1000 guitar collection.
1000%252520dollar%252520guitar%252520collectionB%252520101_9296%252520%252520.JPG

Now I think I should eliminate my $200 mia strat because I got that used 25 years ago even though its great and was my exclusive electric for almost 20 years. Or my SG for $160 even though its excellent even with the neck repair. My Sigma acoustic was only $90 but that was 35+ years ago and although very good my wifes sigma is even better. The silver creek solid rosewood parlor guitar for $66 is certainly in the running. I also got a horrible looking pbass where the frets were ripped out and the pickguard is cardboard. It was only $20 but it plays and sounds like a million. These are all amazing deals and highlight what you may find if you look or buy and hold until it becomes a deal. I think its more helpful to point out the great deals that were more readily available in case someone else wants to get a similar one. In that case 1 think I have a tie. One is the dean vendetta. Sold and sells for about $100 and all of the dozen I've played have been outstanding. With a great playing neck and decent tone this is a guitar thats easy to buy and get into the hands of a beginner. The second is my Rondomusic SX callisto jr, all mahogany, fixed neck, dual P90 LP Jr style guitar. This thing is amazing with an excellent feel and killer p90 tone. Sold for <$150 and a big step up from the epiphone although they can also play excellent. The SX is out of stock but hopefully will be imported again or perhaps is available used.
There are so many great deal guitars out right now it is truly an embarrassment of "inexpensive" riches.
 

nomadh

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I too am a big fan of Rondo Music & their Agile/SX guitars. I have no experience with their Douglas line or the newer lines they have. The gold top was one of the first guitars I purchased when I got back into playing about 10 years ago. It is the Agile AL2000 with humbuckers. The cherry burst is also an Agile AL2000 but with P90's which sound surprisingly nice (the bridge pickup can get ice picky when clean unless you tweak the tone control)

The baby blue strat is an SX right after they changed the headstock from the Fender look-a-like to this one. The pickups on this one are VERY nice and chimey!!! Position 4 is just so sweet clean!

I don't play these guys much anymore since I got the 2015 Fender HSH Strat...plus I play my Fender MIM Tele. But I just can't sell these cheap guitars. They have their place in my collection and there they will stay. Funny, I used to have a Squier '51 in tobacco burst which has a huge following but I sold it. I just couldn't bond with it & get a good tone. However, I was still a newb at the time.

I want to move up to one of Rondo's Agile AL3100 or AL3200 Les Paul copies one of these days. I always like the Alnico pickups...much warmer tone than the ceramic...

View attachment 299591
YUP
 

nomadh

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My Silver Creek T-170, purchased 6 years ago during a MF closeout for $200. Put some $25 Wilkinson (Waverly clone) open back tuners on it (the stock Kluson knockoffs were junk), and if I could only have one guitar, I'd be happy with just this (I am not kidding). A virtual 000-28EC clone, all specs the same, including the 1 3/4" nut, fat 24.9" V neck, all solid rosewood/engelmann spruce, and IMHO sounds better than the ECs I've played in GC & Sam Ash.

I value it far above the original MSRP of $800, and would never sell.
T-170, same as me YUP!
 

nomadh

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The Squire Affinity BSB Tele I just bought. I've always heard that when you find "the" guitar you just want to play and play but I didn't believe it. Now I understand.
YUP, forgot about this one. Mine needs better pots and the neck pup squeals but the bridge pup has a killer twang and a killer neck.
 

tonyj

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A 'used' 2010 Gibby Les Paul Junior that I bought whilst on holiday a couple of years back as something to keep me occupied when the sun didn't shine. Played without an amp, but still a lot of fun. Liked it so much it has remained one of my go to guitars but now with an amp ...;)
 

Bruxist

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I paid $150 for a Squier Cyclone that punched WAY above it's weight class. Wish I still had it.

But I traded it plus $100 for this Epiphone Custom Shop TV Pelham SG with Maestro which is also amazing.



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Platefire

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My two latest El-Cheapo's:

ION Strat, Red Sunburst for $20.00 at thrift shop. Had a few problems--Maple body was cracked, trem arm broke off in block, every screw was loose but it was all intact.

Repaired crack, installed new squire Trem assembly, Re-wired it and installed Fender Hwy 1 strat pickups in it. Set it up to my taste and adjusted the neck. It's now a great player!

Next is a iAxe393 White Strat from pawn shop for $40.00. Rewired with Fender USA wiring kit and installed some new Artech Alnico V pickups. Set up to my taste and adjusted neck. Another great player.
 

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