What is your non-Gibson cheap guitar ? ;-)

sonar · Feb 24, 2018

This one has given me the most mileage. 2009 Gretsch 5120 with JimmyC pinstripes. Bought for $500 online during a model blow-out. Added TV Jones Filtertrons shortly after buying her.

whitzmusic · Feb 25, 2018

I use an Epiphone LP Standard as a backup to my standard Gibson LP. This model specifically.

jwguitar · Mar 1, 2018

renderit said:
Why, my Hohoner of course! Beautiful mix of solid maple, thick paint and a sparseness that would make an Amish person blush.

I believe Hohner discontinued this guitar a few years back. They used to have a really good lineup of guitars. I especially liked the Hohner "steinbergers"

jwguitar · Mar 1, 2018

Don said:
2008 Carvin DC150. I paid $425 for it. Mahogany body and thru neck, maple top, ebony fretboard, stainless steel frets. Great sound and playability with incredible ergonomics. I won't say how I feel that it compares to a Les Paul except to say that I sold my Les Paul after buying this guitar 8 years ago (and it still has no fret wear).

Do stainless steel frets affect the tonality of the guitar or is that not as big of a deal as people make it?

The Shifter · Mar 4, 2018

Hands down, my Squire J. Mascis Jazzmasters.

Great guitars out of the box. Even better as a modding platform.
I've recorded with them. I've toured with them. Straight up pro instrument.

DrRobert · Mar 7, 2018

I've owned a couple of guitars with stainless frets, and for whatever reason, they've been on the bright side of the equation-even a little clattery in hammer-ons. I've gotten better with them (a NightFly was my gigging guitar for a decade, and I'm mostly playing a Carvin HH with SS frets in church now).

Bestest cheap guitars I'm aware of right now are the Sam Ash blowout Supros. Not the fiberglass ones, those tend to have nasty, sharp frets and need a different bridge if you bend a lot or have the tremolo. But the solid wood ones (Island series) are rock solid, with interesting P90ish pickups designed in the USA, great fretwork, nice paint-they fall down a little in the switch and pot department, but not enough that I'd kick a $400 guitar out of bed!

MeHereNow · Mar 8, 2018

I have my Epi lucille, modified with BKP stormy mondays, Gretsch toneswitch in place of the varitone, mono wiring, all nickel hardware, Mapleflame mod with Gibson abr and a brass nut.
Unplugged the most resonant guitar i own actually, it chimes beautifully.
Plugged in it's a typical semi sound with sweet mids.
This the guitar i get out when i'm in Bluesmode.

deytookerjaabs · Mar 8, 2018

Big Al said:
There are two I swear by and one might be my favorite all time guitar. Both are Fenders and stupid high bang for the buck fully pro quality. Both are first run early issue as I grabbed 'em up as soon as they hit the HOG.

I love 50's maple neck Fenders. Blackguard Teles and two color burst Strats. I like bigger soft V profiles, 9 1/2 radius and med jumbos and little modern improvements like 5 way switching rwrp middle pup and tone connected to bridge so the Jimmy Vaughn Strat is perfect.

The Classic Player Baja 50's Tele is my favorite though, same perfect chunky soft V neck and the most versitile and simple control scheme that is genius. My go to.

I had a Baja 50's for two days. Awesome guitar, the finish on the neck started peeling off after just a few hours of practice, really odd. I was conflicted about returning it but the problem was getting worse. They didn't have another in the shop either but down the line I can see myself replacing it. Wonderful Tele through and through.

rockabilly69 · Mar 15, 2018

My cheap Silvertone that I put the stock pickups from my 2010 Firebird in...

Cogswell · Mar 15, 2018

This is a pretty good guitar for what it is: A USACG Strat-style neck on an alder body I literally carved from a block of wood. Lacquer finish that is now extremely worn, & Fender Custom '54 pickups:

John Catto · Mar 19, 2018

Well, I’ve got loads of non Gibson guitars but non of them are exactly what I would call cheap, but this one was and really is fantastic. I'd had a 70's Japanese copy back 20 years ago and always kind of regretted getting rid of it so when I saw that the Chinese had started doing these I was just too tempted.

From a playing point of view I just buffed out the frets, touched up the nut and that was that. Thanks to the generosity of Melvyn Hiscock I got hold of a late 70's Schaller bridge which was the perfect upgrade for this, not only is it the same dimensions as the original Dan Armstrong bridge but it's saddles sit in the right place relative to the studs to intonate properly and it strings from the back which is advantageous with the front of the bridge close to the pickup. The pickup is now replaced with a Gibson 498T and the ring replaced with a taller one.

What else did I do, kill switch instead of the dopey single/parallel/single switch it came with, brown pearl Grover style buttons on the tuners, and I still had the original Rosewood topped knobs from my 70's copy (why?!). Of yeah replaced the pots as well!

Speaking of Rosewood, anyone who knows this model will remember that they came with a "woodgrain effect" formica pickguard, trussrod cover etc. Well, apparently these resources are never ending in China, the pickguard (trussrod cover etc.) on this is a solid slab of rosewood. I kid you not. This is a slamming guitar, it's WAY nicer than the 70's copy I had before and weighs a totally dealable 9.5 pounds.

I have a suspicion that when they started producing the reissue guitars in the east the CNC code kind of entered the public domain there. The body and neck are identical to a real one (other than the removed pickup scoop). In fact the dimensions (checked with a calliper) and feel of the neck are identical to an early 70's example. Anyway, loads of fun!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154357386870771.1073741867.712590770&type=1&l=6ba4959317

Don · Mar 19, 2018

jwguitar said:
Do stainless steel frets affect the tonality of the guitar or is that not as big of a deal as people make it?

I don't think it's that big a deal, though I feel like I'd have to play the same guitar with nickel and stainless frets to really compare.

I have two Carvins with stainless steel frets and neither guitar is all that bright. This guitar has a mahogany through neck and body with a 3/4 thick maple top and an ebony fretboard. The Carvin pickups are low to medium output (7.6k neck and 8.6k bridge, if I recall). The guitar is nice and warm sounding unplugged and plugged in. When I tried out a Gries 15 amp, Dave Gries commented on how nice it sounded and asked what it was. I had other guitars with me and he didn't comment on them. I get that often with this guitar.

This guitar plays really, really nice! And there's no neck angle. You can lay it on a table and the end of the headstock doesn't touch the table. The bridge is recessed. It's like a Fender and a Gibson had a baby!

It's proportions are a little odd in pics, but that isn't as apparent in person. Anyway, I bought it for its playability and tone.

Don · Mar 19, 2018

John Catto said:
Well, I’ve got loads of non Gibson guitars but non of them are exactly what I would call cheap, but this one was and really is fantastic. I'd had a 70's Japanese copy back 20 years ago and always kind of regretted getting rid of it so when I saw that the Chinese had started doing these I was just too tempted.

From a playing point of view I just buffed out the frets, touched up the nut and that was that. Thanks to the generosity of Melvyn Hiscock I got hold of a late 70's Schaller bridge which was the perfect upgrade for this, not only is it the same dimensions as the original Dan Armstrong bridge but it's saddles sit in the right place relative to the studs to intonate properly and it strings from the back which is advantageous with the front of the bridge close to the pickup. The pickup is now replaced with a Gibson 498T and the ring replaced with a taller one.

What else did I do, kill switch instead of the dopey single/parallel/single switch it came with, brown pearl Grover style buttons on the tuners, and I still had the original Rosewood topped knobs from my 70's copy (why?!). Of yeah replaced the pots as well!

Speaking of Rosewood, anyone who knows this model will remember that they came with a "woodgrain effect" formica pickguard, trussrod cover etc. Well, apparently these resources are never ending in China, the pickguard (trussrod cover etc.) on this is a solid slab of rosewood. I kid you not. This is a slamming guitar, it's WAY nicer than the 70's copy I had before and weighs a totally dealable 9.5 pounds.

I have a suspicion that when they started producing the reissue guitars in the east the CNC code kind of entered the public domain there. The body and neck are identical to a real one (other than the removed pickup scoop). In fact the dimensions (checked with a calliper) and feel of the neck are identical to an early 70's example. Anyway, loads of fun!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154357386870771.1073741867.712590770&type=1&l=6ba4959317

This is so cool!!! The music store that I took lessons at in 1971 (I was 8) had an Ampeg Dan Armstrong guitar on the wall.

montesada · Mar 20, 2018

'65 Kay Swingmaster. Incredible sounding guitar.

'66 Harmony Bobkat H-15, like brand new.

Billy Porter · Mar 24, 2018

This is my go to guitar and Wilco Johnson (ish) replica. Home made Tele body using 2 pieces of Alder. Neck is cheap Chinese which I added abalone dots and re-profiled the frets and added bone nut. Pickups are Sonic Monkeys hand wound by Joe Dobson wired 50's style. Wilkinson compensated Bridge and paint is cheap Aldi rattle-can. It's quite heavy for a Tele.

It's a bit of a dog finish wise but great fun to play. I have a better Tele but this one I can use and abuse and often do:laugh2:.

<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/133669061@N08/40936151912/in/dateposted-public/" title="DSC_0020_C"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/785/40936151912_66a6103683_c.jpg" width="800" height="534" alt="DSC_0020_C"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Don · Apr 4, 2018

I just picked this up cheap last Thursday. It's a PRS SE Bernie Marsden. I was looking for a cheap Les Paul-ish guitar and hadn't considered this until I stumbled upon it. It's "mahogany" with a maple top under the flamed maple veneer. 24.5" scale. It cost well below the $500-600 limit mentioned in the title of the thread and was in like new condition. The seller called it "mint". It was. It really appeared to have not been played. I played two jam sessions with it on Friday, one with my Avatar 45 and i really liked it.
Good Les Paul-ish sounds with my great JTM45-ish amp.:hank

cincyguitar · May 8, 2018

I am wanting tha Danelectro 59 xt that is just out....it looks so cool and sounds great....cant wait to get my hands on it...:jim

Dave P · May 11, 2018

This old Yamaha Image Std gets a lot of use

DESERTRAT · May 22, 2018

Ibanez Artist AR325

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Telechamp · May 28, 2018

My two Squier Classic Vibe Teles. Great bang for the buck.

What is your non-Gibson cheap guitar ? ;-)

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