Best budget guitars

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Axxotekk

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Hey folks this post is about the best budget guitars in your opinion. Right now I dont have the money to go out and buy a real expensive name brand guitar so I've been looking at the potential of cheaper end guitars. My last guitar was a White Ibanez Flying V that I bought from Guitar Center for 250$. It was the worst guitar Ive ever owned, maybe it was just a lemon or something but I dont know(it was made in Indonesia). After about a month of playing it the sound went out. Everytime I plugged it into a amp there would be no sound so I took the back plate off to see what was wrong and the wires that connect to the toggle switch were all ripped off. The thing would never stay in tune either. Then for a year I was without a electric guitar until recently I sold some stuff and I found a Blue Hohner doublecut Les Paul copy type guitar for 150$ and I bought that. It was ok at first but now it has problems. too many to mention. So now I am looking for something else that I can afford that is decent quality. I've been thinking about either Epiphone Les Paul or a Jay Turser Les Paul copy. If you dont know who Jay Turser is you should check them out by going to jayturser.com Ive heard a lot of good things about them and they make pretty nice guitars that are affordable. They are not as well know as the other major brands but i think they underrated.

What are some budget guitars that you think are good?
 
Squier Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified series guitars. Perfectly serviceable.

Look at Rondo Music, too. Those Agiles have a pretty good reputation.

Having played a lot of inexpensive guitars, I must say I find it hard to believe that soldering joints just all ripped apart with no trauma.

You know, if the guitars you have feel good and sound OK when they are working, they would benefit a lot from being taken to a good luthier for a setup and repair. It might cost you $100, but you'd be where you'd be with a brand-new budget guitar that might need similar attention.
 
what's your budget? $500 is still considered budget to guys who play $1500-2000 LPs. can't tell you what to buy, but in this biz, you (almost) ALWAYS get what you pay for.

some things to consider, tho
-if you buy new, ALWAYS spring the extra $$$ for the warranty. even Parkers can get warped in shipping
-you can find some great guitars for ridiculously cheap, if you're patient and scour craigslist and ebay and the ilk
-(parroting Brent) get your current guitar checked out. you should have done that the day you bought it, or very shortly after. ANY guitar you buy, from ANYONE, ANYWHERE should be set-up properly. this will probably be the cheapest route, and possibly the most fulfilling

Epiphone, Squier, LTD, Washburn, some other stuff that escapes me, make some AMAZING guitars in tons of price ranges...and then they make GARBAGE in the same range. 2 identical Strats that have serial #s 1 digit apart can be as different as night and day.
 
I personally like to get old shells and put great pickups in them. Other than that I think allot of squire products get a bad rap. My squire thinline telecaster (300$) with duncan pickups or my girlfriends squire j-bass(200$). Both of these sound great for being budget instruments.
 
I just got an Arbor as350 and it's one of the best budget guitars I've played, I had a $500 ibanez and the arbor sounds and plays better and it cost $120 used, new I don't think they cost $200 I was extremely surprised I'll be buying more guitars from them too.
 
If you can do a little soldering and follow wiring diagrams (sounds daunting at first, but it's not too hard), I'll second getting something used that has a nice body and a straight neck. Good pickups, pots, and caps make a world of difference.

If you don't wanna tinker, or it just seems like too much work, I'd go for a cheapy fender or squire. Some of them are real gems, just play as many as you can, look for good solid feel and a tone you like. I'll bet you can find one of those in your range. Other cheapys are just to crappy feeling to me, and I have never really found any that I thought was worth the money.

My favorite, and most used guitar is a bottom of the line MIM 1992 strat that I rewired and put some nice P90 pickups in and set up perfectly. For a total of $550 it is one of the nicest guitars in my collection.
 
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