Yep, me again..... This is a follow on from my questions about kit builds.
Since looking at the second hand market for guitars and successfully fixing the jack socket on my Epi my mind has wandered to the possibility of modding. Now to be clear I do not expect to increase the value and 'flip' anything for a profit. I'm more wondering about just having some fun and learning the pitfalls of modding on something that, if it all goes horribly wrong, will not leave me heartbroken. My concern is that the ultra cheap end of the market might simply be too cheap to really learn anything from. I guess if all goes well I'd like the thing to end up playable.
I've assumed that all that really matters is the wood used in the construction and the basic build quality in terms of neck straightness and fret work. Not sure if that is a correct assumption or not.
Is there a quality bottom line that if you go below it's all pointless?
Given that the G4M kits start at £70 and they seem to be ok is it better just to grab that?
Are there particular brands/models to look out for that make a good base for modding and tinkering? (Again I assume something known to have reasonable build quality but ultra cheap hardware)
Again to be clear, I don't expect to increase the value of the guitar and I don't expect to end up with some super high quality instrument. I'd just like to end up with something that is playable, unique and learn some things along the way.
Comments
The other approach is to buy a kit and assemble it yourself. You’ll learn more about guitar building, but it’s likely to cost you more because the kit will contain components which you don’t want.
From a pure financial standpoint I'm thinking:
Cheap kit roughly £70 (Based on G4M kits) probably not use much if any of the hardware.
Advantage : clean base to add a personal finish.
Disadvantage : Possibly more prone to error in needing to actually build it.
Second Hand 'named' guitar roughly £80 (based on a Squire Affinity Strat locally)
Advantage : already built and working
Disadvantage : Doing a personal finish will require stripping the existing one
Second Hand 'cheap' guitar £30 (based on an old 1994 Gear 4 Music fender look alike locally)
Advantage : Cheaper than a few beers on a night out, doesn't matter if I wreck it completely.
Disadvantage : Can it be worth doing anything to something that started life so cheap?
Mind you as problems go this is pretty trivial!
EDIT: Just thought of another option. Go and buy a nice new expensive guitar and then use my Epiphone SG for modding. Yeah I'm sure that idea will go down well at home.
Don't know about a kit, you can certainly strip them and repaint them.
For example, at the dirt cheap end of the electric guitar and bass guitar market, you will learn how much hinges (excuse the pun) on decent quality steel screws.
I'm a beginner and they're worth the money
Don't know if it helps, but their clearance section includes stuff down to the price of a kit. (£87)
So you get an assembled guitar for the price.
https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Squier-By-Fender-Bullet-Stratocaster-HT-Black-B-Stock/2R5P
Then it occurred to me that if you do that and stuff it up you'll know you stuffed it up, whereas if you start with a cheapo kit you go in knowing it's going to be shoddy at best.
This is probably no help, but on balance I think I favour the Squier/Yamaha/Cort approach. Relatively easy to do electrics work on, possibly a new nut, some tidying and polishing of frets, basic setup... that sort of thing.
Partly, of course, it depends on what particular aspect(s) you want to learn (first).
I don't expect to end up with anything that is particularly good afterwards it's just a way to learn without the fear of a mistake being a disaster.
This makes far more sense. What you are trying to do is acquire skills, if you end up with a half decent guitar at the end of it then consider that a bonus. I suggest something with a bolt-on neck to begin with.