Do you own a "budget" vintage electric guitar?

[Jamolay]

I have an ‘87 Westone I bought for $35.
I needed new electronics and I replaced all the frets myself as a first time home tools only adventure.

Plays great now, although I rarely play it, learning on acoustic steel and nylon right now. Nice little guitar. Friends who play well like it a lot.

[FrankHudson]

Several of my acoustic guitars are from the 20th century and would be in the range of being as vintage pre-war Martins where when they first started being sought out. Not claiming my '93 Seagull Folk is that level of guitar, but there you go.

Now this post is in the electric section and in other threads I've talked about a couple of 20th century made in Japan electrics that gave me a lot of pleasure.

But when I think of "budget" and "vintage" there I first think of my Kay slimline archtop with a single "speed bump" pickup that I bought in 1976 at a flea market for something less than $50 (I don't recall how much less, might have been less than $30, $50 was a considerable expense for my budget then). Some pictures of similar models I see online identify it as a K571 Speed Demon. Similar to this one I grabbed a link to from a long-ago-ended Reverb listing, except my headstock in entirely plain and has no pickguard and I replaced the tuners decades ago.




Nice sounding older guitar with a lot of character (meaning no super low modern action and feedback prone at higher volumes).

[Bob from Brooklyn]

I have a Guild X50 like the one pictured below. It was built in 1959 in Hoboken, NJ. I bought it from the kid across the street sometime in the 70's along with an Ampeg Rocket amp that has inputs for guitar, mike and accordian.

[Gitfiddlemann]

This is probably my most vintage electric piece. A '55 LP Junior I picked up many years ago on eBay.

The tuners aren't original. The previous owner swapped out the Klusons for some Gotohs, which are actually better quality. And the jack has to be a replacement as well. But the pots and electrical parts, as well as the P-90 pickup are original. Hard to believe it's almost 70 years old!
Even though it's single coil, I find that the P-90 is a lot "dirtier" or noisier sounding than my Fender strat single wound/coil pickups.
That's why it's nice to have both around to compare.

[guitararmy]

I have a 70’s Hagstrom Swede.
Boy is it heavy!

[alexevans917]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

Does my early ‘80s Hondo Pro count? I bought this in England around 1982 - left it with a friend in 1984 when I came to the US, and it found its way back to me about 8 years ago when he passed away unexpectedly.

It’s a Fender Lead II copy. I rewired it a couple of years ago, and used a couple of GFS lipstick pickups, and a simple 3-way switch, on a new pickguard from WD Music. It plays great, and is a killer slide guitar. I’ll never part with it again - just too many memories.

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This is so cool! I came to this thread to talk about my all-black 1980 Lead II, which I got in high school and still count among my absolute favorite instruments. I had no clue any brands made copies of these relatively short-lived budget Fenders. Mine is all original but looks like it was gigged hard before I got it - lots of wear on the body and what looks like a cigarette burn on the headstock along with a big worn circle on the back, I think from a giant belt buckle.

I don't know about the Hondo copy, but the Fender versions are great guitars--I'd put my Lead II up against pretty much any Strat or Tele, and they're still more affordable than most new Japanese Fenders, let alone American Fenders.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by alexevans917

This is so cool! I came to this thread to talk about my all-black 1980 Lead II, which I got in high school and still count among my absolute favorite instruments. I had no clue any brands made copies of these relatively short-lived budget Fenders. Mine is all original but looks like it was gigged hard before I got it - lots of wear on the body and what looks like a cigarette burn on the headstock along with a big worn circle on the back, I think from a giant belt buckle.

I don't know about the Hondo copy, but the Fender versions are great guitars--I'd put my Lead II up against pretty much any Strat or Tele, and they're still more affordable than most new Japanese Fenders, let alone American Fenders.

Cool indeed - I’ve never ‘met’ anyone else with a Fender Lead - I, II or III. To the best of my knowledge, Hondo was the only copy ever made - they did a I and a II. Mine was made in Japan (probably by Matsumoku), and has a great neck. It weighs a ton, though…

Soon after I bought mine, I modified it to add a Mighty Mite humbucker in the bridge position, along with a push-pull switch on the tone control for hum/single switching. When it came back to me, I wanted to put it back into original condition, but finding new switches of the correct type proved challenging, so I went for its current layout. I still have the old electronics/pickguard - I can’t bring myself to throw it out.

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[printer2]

I do not know about the new price but I picked up a couple of Peavey Stratocaster copies for under $100 and when set up plays just fine. Do not like the humbucker in the bridge position but others may.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by printer2

I do not know about the new price but I picked up a couple of Peavey Stratocaster copies for under $100 and when set up plays just fine. Do not like the humbucker in the bridge position but others may.

Peavey Predator? Dumb name, but pretty good guitars. I recall mine having rather a nice neck. It was SSS, so no bridge humbucker to object to - it ended up with two DiMarzio SDS1s salvaged from another project in the neck and bridge positions, and it was a great sounding and playing guitar.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

Peavey Predator? Dumb name, but pretty good guitars. I recall mine having rather a nice neck. It was SSS, so no bridge humbucker to object to - it ended up with two DiMarzio SDS1s salvaged from another project in the neck and bridge positions, and it was a great sounding and playing guitar.

Yes that is it. I actually picked up three (one for $35, broken wiring which I fixed), after doing a setup on them they played great. If it were not for health issues I would love to play one, in my case too heavy.