Worst guitar you've owned

Nerine

I’ve only ever bought 3 guitars without playing them. 2 of them went back. 

One was a Gibson Les Paul Classic. 

The other was a Gibson SG. 

I sit here typing this in my Gibson T Shirt. Not even joking... 

Having said that, my ‘08 Custom is the best Les Paul I’ve ever played and is going nowhere. 

lustycourtier

Late 60s Jag. You could fit stubby picks between body and neck. Last seen on Denmark st for about £4K 

Gulliver

thegummy said:

Gulliver said:

Chinese-made Chapman Guitars ML-1


Wood combination isn't to my taste (as it turned out, had a Gibson that was mahogany and ebony and had similar issues) neither was the stupid mismatched hardware (chrome bridge with black knobs and tuners...)

bridge humbucker sounded terrible - coupled with the stupidest pickup selection from the factory (who puts a 3-way toggle on a HSS guitar?!?)

stupid fucking branding 

You didn't know it was going to have all that before you bought it?

At the time I'd not owned something with a mahogany body and ebony fingerboard (this would be about 8 years ago and I'd played pretty much exclusively maple-necked strat style guitars) - it turns out that's not a wood combination that works for me.

the mis-matched hardware at the time didn't bother me but did irritate me after a while when I stopped being a student and could afford to care about things like that!

I don't really care much about pickups in guitars as they're easy enough to swap out.  The wiring was the worst issue as it wasn't wired correctly from the factory - to get the pickup selections advertised you had to alter the stock wiring.


Also it was insanely heavy - worse than the Les Paul I bought after it... 

artiebear

Schnozz said:

Gassage said:

For the price- a Martin EC signature. Stiff, lifeless, dull.

Just like the artist

mark123

sattellite les paul , black bolt on neck ,i begged my mam and dad to buy from whites music in sunderland, £75.
 Got a set of pitch pipes and a box with vol / tone for a amp ..
must have crippled my parents at the time moneywise,action was like a cheese grater ,got rid 9 months later and went to a kay strat copy,
( out of the frying pan into the fire ! kids today don't know they are born)
Equally  as bad ,gave up for a few years then got a ibanez studio with cream dimarzio pick ups from a shop at the bottom of hylton road ...wow i could play it ! it stayed in tune! low action!, even through a shitty amp i knew it was great.

rico

I’ve never had a truly shit guitar but the Amazon special 2015 Les Paul DC was pretty crap, to me anyway. Ended up trading it for a modern LP junior that I traded again. I miss that one! 

bgmartinsbridge

@rico - yep, I bought a 2015 traditional off amazon in the black Friday frenzy.
Has those mechanical tuners and the neck binding nearly cut my hands it was that bad. 

Neil

The worst guitar I have played is a Squier Strat my son bought me to use when I'm at his place in Florida.

It was a kind thought so I have to play it when I'm out there with him but it's just horrible. 

It feels like a wretched toy and everything feels cheap. 

DrJazzTap

Burns marquee korean reissue. I wanted a strat in white with a tortoiseshell pickguard. I couldn't afford what I wanted and the burns was the cheaper option.

I just never bonded with it, the weird scroll headstock. The guitar came with a terrible set up (choking all over the neck) and I could never get it quite right. I ended up selling it at crack convertors for £80 (yeah I know).

Teyeplayer

Rickenbacker 425. I had always wanted a Ric, Peter Cooks (god I miss that place) was knocking them out cheap, it was beyond average and I went with the name on the headstock. I’ve realised with many subsequent guitars and years that it had none of the sounds or nuances I love about Rickenbackers. It put me off getting another Ric for 17-18 years, even then I went on the guitar merry-go-round a bit longer. This year I accepted what had been haunting me for so long and purchased two.

The other was an electro-acoustic a mate gave me in my teens. With hindsight it needed the truss rod adjusting, the action was ridiculous, but I had no understanding of that at the time. I think it went to a car boot or similar. 

Parker

Good thread. I think the most disappointing for sound was an Ibanez Prestige (can't remember the model). The overall design promised so much. But it was dull to play and mediocre sounding. 

AndyJP

The Gibson Les Paul studio I owned was bloody awful.  This must have been a 1998/99 model.  I was young as when I bought it and just wanted the brand I guess.

IntoTheRough

Epiphone SG bought for about £80 in 95ish.

Absolutely terrible - neck dive, the pickups would come out and hit the strings if at the wrong angle (I didn't really know how to fix it back then), the bolt on neck was so wobbly I thought it would snap off. Also horrendous pots that went from normal to muffled and nothing else. Just a piece of shit that I somehow managed to sell, though for less than I paid. Still hurts!

sammysaber

jeztone2 said:

Washburn Mercury MG40. The neck moved while you were playing and the Floyd was made out of the metal they use for those cheap pub ashtrays. 

+1, think mine was an MG30, the only thing I remember is the quality of the metal on that Floyd - can't think of a worst guitar I've bought.

RedFalcon

BC Rich Mockingbird platinum. The early 2000s Korean made model. I was young and silly and was lured in by the shape. the guitar was actually difficult to play. Sounded bland. Wide neck, Awful neck dive too. 

However it did teach a valuable lesson. I can’t believe I chose that over a 550. 

wellsyboy

Sassafras said:

Gassage said:

For the price- a Martin EC signature. Stiff, lifeless, dull.

I found the same.
Maybe you have to play them hard for 30 years or so for the wood to loosen up a bit.

Did you try a Tonerite to work the top a bit? 

mikem8634

White Les Paul Studio around '95. Couldn't get it to stay in tune, weighed more than the expected ton, and was so dull and lifeless. Tried to make it work for about a week or so in rehearsals then took it back to the big shop on Oxford Rd in Manchester that used to be A1. Swapped it for the liveliest gibsonesque thing I could find on their walls. Turned out to be an Epiphone Sheraton. So used the credit to grab one of those little JTM30 Marshall combos plus an extension cab. Turned out to quite the good deal.

HarrySeven

DB1 said:

merlin said:

Woolies "Audition" made by Teisco. My first guitar. Swapped it fairly quickly for a Columbus 335 a-like. Also terrible. 

Oh yes, the Columbus 335. I placed a sales ad for it on here a while ago and, surprisingly it didn't sell. I still have the bloody thing. We place it outside the front door every Hallowe'en to scare the kids away.

For anyone interested in these vile piles of old tat carefully crafted fine Japanese vintage guitars, here it is.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/153423/1960s-70s-columbus-es-335-style-guitar-needs-sympathetic-weird-new-owner#latest

By rights, this should grace the H7 Museum of Tat...

ICBM

HarrySeven said:

By rights, this should grace the H7 Museum of Tat...

It’s too far away for me, so I will nobly stand aside .

I actually like these. Although I did once shoot a quite similar one with a high-powered air rifle... the neck joint had collapsed and it wasn’t really fixable, and I’d been reading about Elvis shooting a car he didn’t like for some reason. Alcohol may have been involved.

HarrySeven

ICBM said:

HarrySeven said:

By rights, this should grace the H7 Museum of Tat...

It’s too far away for me, so I will nobly stand aside .

I actually like these.

Talking of ‘project’ semi-acoustics, how’s that nice-looking Maya 335-thing coming along?