best electric guitar under 200?

[oh_the_blood]

i know you all will laugh, but i just need a guitar to get me by.
i want it to kinda sound ilke hot hot heat or other dancey bands.

anything at all i could get?

[kq300325]

Are hot hot heat a dance act? they werent last time i heard em? maybe they changed direction?

anyway thats beside the point. the guitar:

i recently purchased a greg bennet Torrino which is a SG copy.
Cost me £199 dunno how much this is in US money.

i love it and play it more than my mexican telecaster. although i would go and try some as quality can vary quite a bit between guitars qwhen you are buying cheap.

http://www.gregbennettguitars.com/el...al_torino.html

[scottboyher]

Squire Affinity Series $169

[seismetr0n]

theres a whole group of guitars, almost 1 from every brand from $130-160.

ive played the

1. "WI14C Idol Series Electric Guitar Pack" the guitar plays alright pickups sound good.

and 2. "Les Paul Special II Electric Guitar"(epiphone)

I actually like the les paul special II better... has better playability, and also a good sound. It also came very nicely setup out of the box. I had to tweak the washburn because the action was a little high.

and I personnaly dont like fenders, especially a squire.

the amp and the pickups will make the greatest difference in guitar sound (of similiar body styles, ie. solid, semi-hollow, or hollow).

so.. cheap guitar, probably an epiphone.... pick a style you like... and 9 times out of 10, you get what you pay for.

gl

[uncle_j73]

I was looking at the Oscar Schmidt OE30 and OE40 models at musicians friend. OE30 is semi-hollow and OE40 is hollow body. They look like the best guitars under $200. I read lots of good reviews of those and plan on giving one a try. Right now I'm working on a custom built guitar, so I'll see how that goes first.

[uncle_j73]

Actually I just remembered my first electric was a Kramer Focus from musicyo.com ($80) -- not bad. I've done some minor work to it, it has a heavy solid body, but I still play it.

I wouldn't recommend Squire guitars-- they sound horrible.

[studiowebx]

Originally Posted by uncle_j73

I wouldn't recommend Squire guitars-- they sound horrible.

They would sound fine if you knew how to play.

[oh_the_blood]

im thinking an epiphone as well

haha well hot hot heat always makes me wanna dance!

[scottboyher]

An Epiphone is a good choice too.

[Hard2Hear]

This website has a large selection of cheap guitars, as well as very good customer service. Check out some of the Agile and SX guitars here:
http://www.rondomusic.net/electricguitar-ss2.html

H2H

[Buck62]

Yamaha Pacifica PAC-012

It's a no-brainer.

[Gidge]

Originally Posted by Buck62

Yamaha Pacifica PAC-012

It's a no-brainer.

agreed......

[Sloan]

The Squier Black & Chrome Telecaster is one of the best cheap guitars I've ever played. I'm thinking about picking up two and installing a bigsby on one of them.

[gvarko]

Originally Posted by uncle_j73

I read lots of good reviews of those and plan on giving one a try.

Please do review the Oscar when you get one.. I have been looking at them for quite some time. I wonder how they compare to a Dot.

[reshp1]

Squire Strat. I know why people slam them too, they're all over the place as far as quality. If you take the time to pick between a few (or have a guitar playing friend pick) and find a good one, they can rival american strats in playability. The pickups and electronics aren't anything to write home about, but the strat design makes them infinitely upgradeable. Most of the Squire bodies are completely routed out under the pickguard so you can drop in a new pickguard with any combo of humbucker or single coil. I started on a Squire 10 years ago and it's still one of my favorites.

[apl]

The Carvin Bolt Kit is the best $350 guitar in the world!

www.carvin.com

[ez_willis]

Originally Posted by reshp1

Squire Strat. The pickups and electronics aren't anything to write home about, but the strat design makes them infinitely upgradeable. Most of the Squire bodies are completely routed out under the pickguard so you can drop in a new pickguard with any combo of humbucker or single coil. .

I agree %100. If you shield it and switch the bridge single coil for a humbucker, you will be amazed at the difference. You can read up on shielding here. Read thru it a couple of times, the mod is not difficult.

[oh_the_blood]

alright time to get a little more specific...

http://www.music123.com/Squier--51-i146016.music

or

http://www.music123.com/Epiphone-Spe...I-i27931.music

or any other suggestions/links?

[Buck62]

About 2% of Squire's seem to be decent, meaning that you have to sift through 50 of them to find a good one. The wiring and pots are total poop in a Squire. too.

The Yamaha's have better quality control and it's rare that you'll ever have a problem with one.

[seismetr0n]

with those 2 choices... definately the epiphone. like i said before, I played one straight out of the box and it was sweet, even the fender sponsors out there say you'll prob need to mod the squire to get it to sound decent. we pitched in and got one (special II) for a friends b-day, it made me a little jealous, since i've been playing a crappier guitar for 10 years (which i payed more for, used, back then).

i looked around too, and its pretty much a straight price for them everywhere, unless you can find a blem/open box.

gl

[undrgrnd studio]

No mention of a Danelectro? I love mine. I have an old 70's epiphone that I never use because I can't put down my Danelectro. Its got a good mid sound. Perfect for me. I paid like $270 used I think, but that was like 3 or 4 years ago, I'm sure you could get one for $200 easy.

[Dani Pace]

If you like "SG style" guitars, check out an Ibanez GAX70 (about $200) orGAX140 (about $50 more but has jumbo frets) Also Washburn is now producing several models for under $200 which are surprisingly good guitars for the money. (Guess I'm hung up on electrics)

[the edzell]

I concur with the choice of Epiphone Special II. I like the feel of the neck and the sound is pretty decent coming out of the box.

Then again I've switched out pick ups and tuning pegs so it isn't the same as I bought it at the store. I also "customized" it with some stickers. That is the nice thing about a lower priced guitar. You don't feel guilty putting your own touches on it.

[the edzell]

Music Man has a fairly new lower priced guitar that looks like the EVH model they had. Nice feeling neck, decent finish and decent pickups. The frets are a little small for my taste on the higher end but if you near a Guitar Center or want to log onto musican's friend it might be worth it to check one out.

[junplugged]

I got an oe-30 and I like it a lot. I did do a lot of set up on it tho.