Cheap, but not nasty

TheMarlin

I’ve played a lot of cheap guitars over the years, most were rubbish, some good, some great...such as Classic Vibe teles. 

A few have really floated my boat though.  Right now, I’m playing through @dazzajl’s Supro Belmont that he picked up very lightly used for £250, and it’s a lovely thing. Sounds great, loads of fun to play, very engaging. 

I’ve tried to cajole and guilt-trip him into selling it to me, but no joy.  So keeping an eye on eBay. 
I also miss my old butterscotch Classic Vibe Tele. I did try to buy it back, but the buyer striped it for parts, and sold on the bits he didn’t need.  Found that kind of heartbreaking....

What cheapies are you lot enjoying at the moment?

ps. By cheapie, I mean around £250 used, or less. 

Schnozz

I like the Cort G Series, but it's worth looking at their collaboration with Manson if you like Teles. I don't think you can go wrong with Cort stuff and then G&L Tribute.

I was looking into Acoustics, but it's hard to choose between Faith, Tanglewood and Eastman etc...Especially when you've never had an Acoustic.

dazzajl

Actually, it was £200. It really is a properly wonderful guitar,  I LOVE that Visatone pickup and the trem is even more subtle than a good Bigsby. 

And if none of that is enough to make a bod want one, KT Tunstall playing one surely makes its cool factor unquestionable!

mbe

My limit is £100 cash for new electric guitars this year.

Cheap but involves a degree of nastiness that's usually overcome by fitting some parts from other guitars which I have upgraded and from the helpful Chinese traders on ebay. I suppose you could call it 'upcycling', which I believe is all the rage now in Hipster circles.

Tenebrous

That's pretty much strictly Yamaha Pacifica money for me. You can get a good 311/decent condition 611 for that near that price, and the latter would just blow you away.

HAL9000

Tenebrous said:

That's pretty much strictly Yamaha Pacifica money for me. You can get a good 311/decent condition 611 for that near that price, and the latter would just blow you away.

^ This. Recently bought me a 611 and it is really is an excellent guitar - and not just ‘good for its price’ but genuinely a very nice instrument.

stimpsonslostson

Squier have form here:
Anyone else recall the £150 Trohman Tele deal? That was a bargain. 


Jazzmaster Deluxe- basically a JMascis sig  in red. Exceptional build quality, sounds great & the neck is a joy. 

https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--4F05JCSr--/a_exif,c_limit,e_unsharp_mask:80,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_south,h_620,q_90,w_620/v1487966695/uwqhtuseoginrokmxzys.jpg

jonnyburgo

I have a Silvertone reissue, not an exact reissue but bloody lovely bang on £250 new, actually they were less recently on gear4music . If you like your retro, quality is excellent

roberty

That Belmont was mine :-) played a few gigs with it last year in a ska band. Great value (end of line reduction) just the neck was a bit skinny for my tendonitis. The pickup works really well with fuzz

roberty

Glad you're still enjoying it @dazzajl ;

munckee

My 335 a like is a Harley Benton e35 with Gibson tuners and Seymour Duncan vintage blues pickups. Sounds fantastic and is really nice to play. 

Total cost £250. 

guitars4you

The 'low end ' price point of the market is better today than ever before, regarding build quality and as such how they play, feel and sound - Granted if you look at some entry level products they can be poor - But you can find some good used guitars for £250ish - Supro's are very under ratted - I'm having fun playing one at the moment 

baldy

Washburn XM STD2.
Swapped an LP copy that had cost  me £40 for it.
Spent another £35 having a fret level, crown, polish & set up so the Washburn owes me £75 in total.
I like the neck & the stock Seymour Duncan USM pups sound ok so for now it is staying stock bar I am going to re-position the top strap button as it is on the rear of the upper horn & I am going to put it on the top of the horn.

Th4fonz

I dont own a cheapie although If i did It would have to be a used classic vibe tele for me.  Or maybe also a epiphone black beauty as that was my first electric many years ago. 

mikeyrob73

i have 3 " cheapies" , all cost under £250 second hand 
CV Tele, J Mascis JM and this which has just been finished being painted, cost £140 plus the cost of the painting and the new pots , pickups etc 

zepp76

I paid £250 for an Olympic white MIM Strat and it's great, I think it's a fantastic guitar for the money but I am going to upgrade it with steel trem block, locking tuners and a loaded pickguard with the "Gilmour" pickups (neck= CS Fat 50's, middle= CS '69 and bridge= SD SSL5) I've had the parts for quite a while but have been a bit lazy and not installed them! I'm hoping it'll turn a great player into an even better player.

TheMarlin

guitars4you said:

The 'low end ' price point of the market is better today than ever before, regarding build quality and as such how they play, feel and sound - Granted if you look at some entry level products they can be poor - But you can find some good used guitars for £250ish - Supro's are very under ratted - I'm having fun playing one at the moment 

Agreed. My first electric was a Marlin Sidewinder SSH, a terrible heap of junk. Played badly, didn’t hold tune well, didn’t sound great, but I loved it. 

A used Classic Vibe strat is a significantly better guitar, in every conceivable way. Solid woods, great pickups, fantastic built quality, decent hardware. 
Even those Revelations @notanon is selling are incredible guitars for the money. A fried of mine has a few of them, and they are great guitars for not much money. 

We really are spoiled for choice at all ends of the market. And there has never been a better time to get into electric guitars. 

roberty

I remember the plywood Squiers of the 90s, toneless dead-weights with squealing ceramic pickups. Paired with a Peavey Bandit they were properly nasty. Some of the kids at school were lucky enough to supplement this with a Zoom 505. It's a wonder anyone managed to learn back then!

MagicPigDetective

Really enjoying my Vintage V100 Lemon Drop. It’s so playable. I’ve played the tribute Les Pauls in stores and there doesn’t seem much of a difference in terms of playing. It’s heavy though, with a lot of sustain, the wilkinson pickups sound great.  

https://i.imgur.com/GVeAhbk.jpg

Matt_McG

The G&L Tribute ASAT I have will standup against anything under 1000 quid. I’ve tried a lot recently, and there are things I might prefer in the MIM price range, but they aren’t better guitars — in terms of fit and finish — just different. Ditto the CVs and Yamaha Pacificas. Excellent instruments.

stimpsonslostson

MagicPigDetective said:

Really enjoying my Vintage V100 Lemon Drop. It’s so playable. I’ve played the tribute Les Pauls in stores and there doesn’t seem much of a difference in terms of playing. It’s heavy though, with a lot of sustain, the wilkinson pickups sound great.  

https://i.imgur.com/GVeAhbk.jpg

I had one of those. Sounded & looked great, but the neck was too thin for me... And it weighed about the same as I do!