cheap guitars are better?

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simple : how many of you play a 200$ or less guitar that they prefer to the 1200$ strat standing in the corner collecting dust.
i play a pacifica that i payed 80$ (!) on all my gigs, even though i have 10 other guitars.
 
I bought my first decent acoustic guitar (late 60's Martin D-18) for about $450 in 1977. I loved that guitar until I heard a friend play his cheap plywood Yamaha and it sounded better. He wasn't a particularly good player but that old Yamaha sounded wonderful to my ear! I hate cheap guitars!
 
Alot of the cheap(inexpensive) guitars of today are certainly of much better quality than the cheap guitars of yesteryear.
 
faderbug said:
simple : how many of you play a 200$ or less guitar that they prefer to the 1200$ strat standing in the corner collecting dust.
i play a pacifica that i payed 80$ (!) on all my gigs, even though i have 10 other guitars.
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I have a thirty year old yamaha classical guitar that was 200 when it was bought, and would probably go for under 100 now, that i prefer over any of my other guitars (and i have several, the cheapest being $600)
 
faderbug said:
simple : how many of you play a 200$ or less guitar that they prefer to the 1200$ strat standing in the corner collecting dust.
i play a pacifica that i payed 80$ (!) on all my gigs, even though i have 10 other guitars.
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I'm in this club. I got a $179.00 Rogue because the finish mesmorized me,..I didnt even want to play it first,..bought it totally for looks.
I have better looking guitars and yes they are WAY more expensive then that Rogue I bought so many years ago. But that thing ends up on a good 90% of everything I write/record.

Take 'er easy,...
Calwood

here's a pic of me a few years back with the Rogue.
 

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Calwood - that's a very nice picture.

(I mean you're shoe gazing and your thumb is in a strange place, but it's still a nice picture)

Nice one :)
 
I think cheap guitars can play really really well, better than a lot of expensive guitars, but when it comes to sound I think you get what you pay for. Theres cheap RG's which for $200 play unbelievably better than $2000 Les Pauls, but sound no where near as good. At the same time though, most of the sound comes from the amp, so a cheap guitar isnt that far off from an expensive one, but at the same time theres plenty of expensive guitars as well that play better than Les Pauls.


p.s. I dont mean to knock les pauls, but to me they dont play well, although I'm in love with their sound.
 
I have a $100 carlorobelli acoustic/electric that i got for free with one of samash's deal.

I've certainly played better acoustics, but i sure as hell wouldn't gig with them considering their price tags.
 
I have quite a collection of cheap instruments that I love. My cutoff tends to be around $200. I'm suurrounded by Corts, Epiphones and (my fave brand) Samicks. My current fave is a Lotus Strat that my brother in law pulled out of a dumpster. And that's just the guitars.

Banjo's, mandolins, bouzouki's etc are Fender, Kentucky & Trinity College etc. Don't get me wrong, I have a couple of higher end guitars (67 Guild D-25 and a Jose Ramirez) that I love & play- but they rarely leave the house.

My dad always said that all you needed was an instrument that played in tune and sounded halfway decent- the rest is up to you!
 
Cheap guitars ROCK! Besides, that leaves more money for booze and whores. ;)
 
Bassman Brad said:
Cheap guitars ROCK! Besides, that leaves more money for booze and whores. ;)
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Finally someone comes up with something not subjective
 
I just started playing about 2 months ago. I have a $99 First Act (Tele body) and a little PigNose (which kicks ass!). You're not going to believe this, but I just bought a DigiTech Turbo Flange to help keep me interested in playing everyday :D

I'm sure I don't know any better, but I like the sounds I'm getting. It's making me want to be more disciplined in my practice. I've already written 2 songs with the 2 1/2 chords I know. If after 9 months or so I can play a little rock & roll, I think I'll buy a better cheap guitar. I was thinking the Epiphone SG.

The only thing I don't like about the First Act is it doesn't stay in tune. It also came with some extra thin and cheap looking strings. I can't believe I haven't put new strings on!?
 
My best acoustic is a Sigma....... I'm told Martin made them in Japan in the 70's and they were a budget model, but after 20+ years of aging it sounds nicer than most anything under $1000 that I've played, mostly Taylors and Martins. Not bad for a guitar that probably cost a couple hundred bucks new, and my father found at a pawn shop for less than 100. (if i remember correctly)

Electrics are another matter for me though. I'm content playing my Fernandes because I know its better than most of the crap available for under 200-300 bucks, but I pine for the bowel-loosening low end crunch of a real Les Paul or the buttery sound of a PRS. I know that side by side my axe would pale in comparison.
And I would kill to get my hands on an old Fender jazz bass, or old Rickenbacher. My Ibanez would run for the hills then....
 
I've got a couple of pretty nice guitars but for comfort and ease of playing I have to put in a plug for my Ibanez GAX70, it's small, light, great action and with the right amp sounds good. Best of all it was only $200 brand new. In fact I like it so much that I recently bought a second one and set it up a little differently, one for heavy/dirty and one for crisp/clean yet they both feel about the same. I got the second one used with a hardshell case for $120.
 
I've got a 64' Gibson SG Standard, 94' Jackson Custom Shop Soloist, 50th Ann. Strat w/ Lindy Fralin Vintage hots, and a 84 Kramer Striker 300st w/ plywood body.

All of these guitars play great, and sound very different from one another........but 90% of the time you'll find the Kramer in my hands....Go figure!

Rick
 
MY J. Reynolds Telecaster plays and sounds better than the name brand Telecasters in it's price range...
 
This is like the forum for coming out of the closet that you like a "bad" guitar.

OK...here it is. I have a 1980'ish Harmony strat copy that plays better than my American. Lower action, great tone, and nice feel. It has had 4 paint jobs (currently gold), and been with who knows how many owners until I bought it in the 80's. It is ugly, it says Harmony on the headstock, the pickups are rusting, the knobs are busted, what a piece of junk. Yet...I will never part ways with it.
 
I keep buying new guitars and I keep going back to my Epiphone Special II. I have put S.D. EVH pickups in it and new tuners so it isn't stock. But I do get looks when I'm playing that guitar and leaving the Les Paul, Strat and Charvel sitting behind me on the guitar rack. What can I say, I love the feel.
 
i currently have a danelectro mod 6 as my only electric guitar. it was in the $300 range. i'm thinking of getting a mexi-telecaster, which is also in the $300 range. i used to have a les paul, which was unreal, and an epiphone joe pass, which was also great, but not the right electric for me.

does anyone on here have any experience with mexican telecasters? i'm not really a guitarist, so i don't require amazing sound or professional features...i just want a solid, fun to play guitar that sounds decent. i remember playing around on a friend's telecaster, which i think was mexican made, and really liking it, but that was 10 years ago. how are they these days?
 
my2cents said:
does anyone on here have any experience with mexican telecasters?
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They're nice guitars. A friend of mine has one. Plays and sounds great. I prefer my American Ash Tele, but that was like 3x the price. I also really like my Epiphone Dot, but you have to upgrade the tuners and the nut. With those upgrades, it gets played just as much as any of my more expensive guitars.
 
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