Cool guitars

stimpsonslostson

In a world of SG/Les Paul/telecaster/Stratocaster derivatives, what are the "coolest" budget guitars?
I don't mean best (that's a Squier CV 50s tele & a debate for another thread) I mean COOLEST- Danelectro Wild Thing, Squier Jaguar etc?
What say you O wise denizens of the Fretboard?

For the sake of argument, "budget" means an instrument available for under £250, new or second hand. We can open it up to other price ranges later.

Octahedron

Couldn't go wrong with a Gretsch, and at this price it's an absolute steal.

https://new.andertons.co.uk/p/2519010516/solid-body-electric-guitars/gretsch-electromatic-g5421-jet-club-guitar-in-firebird-red

Yes, it's kinda in the Les Paul vain, but with some distinguishing features. 

tabbycat

surely cool is in the eye of the beholder. relying on other people's ideas about cool is the thin end of the fashion wedge, and fashion is where originality goes to die.
why don't you think the things you have mentioned are cool?

in terms of 'not obvious' cool, the jaguar and jazzmaster are probably still most popular with 'the kids'. but so much so that they have just become the alternative obvious. an obligatory part of the alt scene uniform. which isn't that cool really.
and perversely, within that scene (which probably considers itself 'cool') something like a peachy sg with choice upgrades will stand out as cool and 'not obvious' while jags and jazzes blend right into the background.
ultimately you end up chasing your tail and staring in your rear view mirror watching for uncool to catch up with you.

if you like sgs go for it. same thing les pauls. confidence makes things cool. it's about owning it and making it yours.

if you don't believe me look at all the crazy shit keith richards used to wear in the sixties. floppy hats, frock coats, crazy boots. you can say that those things were cool then, but even now they still look cool. it's not what he's wearing, but how.

'i've made my decision and i've decided i look the fucking bees. now deal with it.' that's cool.

stimpsonslostson

Whilst I agree with you: in the same way that a new guitar doesn't make me a good player (my own guitars are an SG & telecaster) a cool guitar isn't going to help much if the guy playing it is balding, middle aged & a mediocre player (IE me!)

However, this doesn't help generate a thread of reasonably priced guitar porn!

starwarsnosebleed

Ive always liked the look of those Squier supersonic offsets, especially the blue glitter version.

olafgarten

There is a whole range of Eastwood/Airline guitars.

timhulio

Agreed about the ubiquity of Jags and Jazzers. This offset guitar is from East Germany and is pretty much the same as a both a Jaguar and Jazzmaster, which are both the same as each other. Musima Elgitas, they cost me a hundred pounds each.

The coolest guitar I own is a Hagstrom III. Maybe a tad over the £250 budget.

HAL9000

As @Tabbycat correctly points out it's not what you wear, but how.

For instance, a friend of mine always wears a hat (from his considerable collection of hats) and always looks, well I hate to say it but 'cool'. If I wear a hat I look faintly ridiculous. I don't know if it's a confidence thing or an 'I don't really give a rat's what you think' attitude, but some people have it and some don't.

Now think of guitars in the same way - if I had a pointy guitar it would look ridiculous and several kinds of wrong, while Keef could hang a ukulele around his neck and the bloody thing would somehow become 'cool' by association.

Edit - the answer to the original question is, of course, a Squier VM Mustang in Sonic Blue.

Bucket

Raygun Relics DC Junior for £325. Try to argue.

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/Raygun LP Junior/IMG_20150529_165133_zpssexm5wrs.jpg

tabbycat

stimpsonslostson said:

Whilst I agree with you: in the same way that a new guitar doesn't make me a good player (my own guitars are an SG & telecaster) a cool guitar isn't going to help much if the guy playing it is balding, middle aged & a mediocre player (IE me!)

However, this doesn't help generate a thread of reasonably priced guitar porn!

hey stimpsonlostson, was just trying to build you up. anything like 'cool' has to come from inside to mean anything, or you end up an insecure wreck wasting all your time and energy looking for approval from people who can't really tell you anyway, because it has to come from you. and deep down you know what you like and you don't. you don't get to middle age without having made a million decisions about what is good and bad. even if you keep your decisions secret and go with the flow on the surface. so that hard-won wisdom should work in your favour re deciding.
re appearances, look at black francis and the pixies. seminal band, reference-point sound, bald accountant-looking front man. if he'd sat in dressing rooms afraid to go on because someone might have said his arse-looked big compared to that telecaster we'd be missing a lot.

re "help generate a thread of reasonably priced guitar porn! "

that's the one.

tabbycat

ignore (double post of above).

Moss

Lots of the Squier VM Range - especially the Tele custom/deluxe/72 thinline

Eastwood/Airline

Basically any Danelectro

johnonguitar

You could get a Fender Coronado for around £300-ish

goat

Pooping in the sink? Sheeeeit, if this gonna be that type of party I'm gonna stick my dick in the mashed potatoes!

underdog

Stupid candles.

tabbycat

timhulio said:

Agreed about the ubiquity of Jags and Jazzers. This offset guitar is from East Germany and is pretty much the same as a both a Jaguar and Jazzmaster, which are both the same as each other. Musima Elgitas, they cost me a hundred pounds each.

The coolest guitar I own is a Hagstrom III. Maybe a tad over the £250 budget.

i've seen a few of those musimas on ebay recently. they look good but i have always suspected they were in the teisco bracket. interesting freaky-kooky looks but egg-slicers re playability. i've got a half-finished (no pickups or electrics) project teisco et200 and that needed a shim in the neck and a tunomatic bridge and stop bar just to be remotely playable. fretting is also a little out high up but it is basically just a toy for bumping around with so not worried. but the musimas are £200 which is a lot of money if they don't play.

re the hags, have always loved the look of those. the guitarist in swedish band 'love is all' plays one which is fitting. i play a brit built hayman through a brit built laney for the same reason. not profoundly nationalistic in any way, i just think it's nice to go native as a kind of gesture.
the necks are supposed to be a dream. superskinny and fast. the hayman (became shergold) necks are famous for the same thing, which is why i think i might get on with a hag. can't do gibbo shovel handles. are the pickups useful or do you have to work around them to avoid modding vintage?

WezV

tabbycat;1050698" said:

stimpsonslostson said:

Whilst I agree with you: in the same way that a new guitar doesn't make me a good player (my own guitars are an SG & telecaster) a cool guitar isn't going to help much if the guy playing it is balding, middle aged & a mediocre player (IE me!)



However, this doesn't help generate a thread of reasonably priced guitar porn!





hey stimpsonlostson, was just trying to build you up. anything like 'cool' has to come from inside to mean anything, or you end up an insecure wreck wasting all your time and energy looking for approval from people who can't really tell you anyway, because it has to come from you. and deep down you know what you like and you don't. you don't get to middle age without having made a million decisions about what is good and bad. even if you keep your decisions secret and go with the flow on the surface. so that hard-won wisdom should work in your favour re deciding.

re appearances, look at black francis and the pixies. seminal band, reference-point sound, bald accountant-looking front man. if he'd sat in dressing rooms afraid to go on because someone might have said his arse-looked big compared to that telecaster we'd be missing a lot.



re "help generate a thread of reasonably priced guitar porn! "



that's the one.

Its alright, most of us are over 14, we probably understand "cool" is a subjective term.

You could just post a guitar you consider cool. Promise we wont send you to Coventry.

WezV

starwarsnosebleed;1050200" said:

Ive always liked the look of those Squier supersonic offsets, especially the blue glitter version.

I had one for years, never should have sold I really but the short scale and didly feeling MIJ neck never really did it for me.

Sambostar

For that money or less used a thru neck BCRich Exotic Classic Mockingbird or Bitch is pretty cool.  Loads of lacquer unfortunately, but a nice chunky neck, Nato body (Basically mahogany), maple neck with stringers and nice veneer and well balanced and you can always upgrade to old school selector knobs, although you are stuck with the Les Paul type TOM bridge and tail piece rather than the USA one piece TOM bridge unless you want to do some veneer filling.  Nice playable guitar all round and responsive too because of the TOM bridge.  Amongst the historic BC Rich crap pile there are some really nice and under rated Korean guitars about that are a useful and lighter alternative to a Les Paul.

Cloud inlays and the Rockfield pickups aren't too bad either.

tabbycat

WezV said:

Its alright, most of us are over 14, we probably understand "cool" is a subjective term.

You could just post a guitar you consider cool. Promise we wont send you to Coventry.

hey wv, if it sounded patronising not my intent at the outset. perhaps felt there was more mileage in discussing the nature of cool than another gas thread. as to gas...

new: squire jags, jazzmasters and mustangs (also the bass vi) are a lot of guitar for the money and not strat-tele-paul-obvious mainstream (i think they are  cool regardless of their increasing ubiquity in some quarters, am kind of immune to fashion). you may also scrape a fender blackface jazz for £300ish.
gretsch electromatic jet club (or duo jet double cut-away version of same thing) nice if you like that sort of thing. they represent a step sideways from a paul (sounds nothing like as they are severely chambered, virtually semis, and pickups are very microphonic).
upper range vintage and epiphone sg’s both a lot of guitar for the money and sg’s always cool.
the coronado someone posted above sweet.

used so many things it’s impossible to choose. it depends on what sound you are aiming for and what feels comfortable to you.

dearmond did some nice affordable knock-off of classic 60s and 70s guild things in the 90s that come up around that price. jetstar clone covers the jag side of things. they also do some 7 string variants of the jetstar and the polara (polara is pretty sg flavoured).

m77t (amazing flake finishes) covers the gretsch side above.

sometimes haymans 1010 and shergold masqueraders come up around the £300, might get a serviceable project under that if you watch and wait. best necks ever. pickups swap-out-able.

some teiscos are rubbish. probably most, but the spectrums were better than average and with a good set up can be made to sound very useable for vintage single coil tones. mint teiscos are stupidly overpriced for what they are but £250 should get you something. spectrum 4 here.

revelation do some vox phantom copies. they are kind of evergreen re interesting shape. not sure how the revelations play. probably comparable to a squier, but not hard to find new or good as for £250.

etc.

WezV

Now you are talking my language. I had a teisco spectrum bass I got as my first bass instead of a mint 60's musicmaster bass.

The fender was red and boring, like the shadows, massively uncool.

The teisco was offset, weird and resprayed gold. The same as a guitar played by James Iha. It was cool.

The fender would have been the better guitar and investment