In praise of cheap guitars
 

I am a guitar aficionado and a bit of a brand loyalist. I've had (and have) nice guitars.

Over the past decade, I've noticed that the low end of the market has become amazingly good.

With manufacturing improvements and expanding competition, the quality at the low end has really elevated.

I would hazard that the cheap guitars of today rival or exceed the best guitars from 50 years ago.

And, I'm sorry but, the quality of manufacturing of things like pickups and switches is so much better now and our ability to control and dial in specific tone is infinitely better. So this mystique around "vintage sounds" is all myth.

There is no magic about original PAF pickups or 57 single coils. If you like that sound, you can reproduce it now with a better quality pickup.

I read a fantastic history of Fender and they were bargain basement, working-class guitars. They became popular, not because they were great, but because they were affordable and durable and serviceable. I am not knocking Fender - I am knocking misplaced reverence because something is an iconic brand.


Now, with an acoustic guitar I think there is that diminishing returns and you can pay a lot more for that tiny improvement in tone. Acoustics are more build and material dependent. But even the low end acoustics now rival the best acoustics from decade ago.

But an electric is about more the quality of the modular electro-mechanical parts.

And there are a lot of iconic (electric) guitar players who became iconic with home-modded cheaper guitars.

I agree entirely Fazool. It's best to remember that the original greats like Robert Johnson etc played what they could get their hands on. I love it when people buy expensive add-ons in order to get that vintage, lo-fi sound.

Although I must say I'm a bit guilty of it myself...

I agree too.

Comparing some of the Epiphone guitars from the 90s to what's out today, you can't help but see they are very much improved.

I have a Sheraton pro II that's 5 years old. I have never owned a 335, but I can't really imagine it being 5x the guitar as it is at least 5x the cost.

I also bought a Guild Westerly Series 12 string, (F1512). I wanted another 12 string acoustic but I didn't want to drop a ton of dough on a Taylor or other USA made guitar, hard to justify the expense with the amount of use I anticipated

This was the best value I could find for the money. It plays great and it is a total canon.

I'll agree too. There's a lot of great music that can be made with good guitars, and good guitars are available today for remarkable prices.

With electric guitars I'm not sure how much the multi-thousand dollar examples get you, at least talking the popular solid and semi-solid electric designs. With acoustics I believe there are some timbral subtleties that reward spending in the upper range, but for my usages (keeping myself entertained, realizing varied compositions and styles for my project) I've been happy with some inexpensive guitars.

Something to be thankful for!

Having taken my first lessons on a US Strad jobber special, followed in short order by a pre-trussrod Harmony Broadway whose dovetail joint and neck went south (thanks to the cumulative effects of New Brunswick Black Diamond strings), I'll be the first to agree - with some minor qualifications:

Most players who are old enough to remember the Nixon-Kennedy debates will recall that the first wave of high-quality Japanese imports hit the market around 1970 - a time when American guitars had, with few exceptions, hit their low-tide mark in terms of overall quality - kicking off the "lawsuit era" as, practically speaking, the big names found it cheaper to respond through legal channels rather than raise their collective quality-control standards (FYI I've encountered more factory-second and "IMPERFECT-BGN" '70s Gibsons than from any other period). As the imports garnered increasing respect - and increasing prices as they began to take on the American companies heads-up - Korean, Taiwanese, and most recently Chinese, Indonesian, and Vietnamese guitars stepped into the void left by the decline of the entry-level American/European manufacturers...

Although there's still a certain cachet to the major American marques, in practical terms this six-decade player sees little real need to shell out deep four-figure sums when a fully professional-quality electric instrument - and, with the emergence of companies like Eastman, Blueridge, and the Godin lines, acoustic as well - can often be had for under $1K in today's money; indeed, all my in-the-trenches working instruments over the last 40 years reflect this paradigm shift: Yamaha SSC-500, Fender/Squier Strat (the MIJ imports that kept the name alive in the mid-80's), Godin CW II, and Gretsch G5622T-CB, with my sole concession to American heritage being a Gibson LP Studio Tribute goldtop/P-90 (which I also picked up for well under $1K). While certain iconic models will always be in demand - for this hardcore Gretsch player there's no substitute for a White Falcon or Country Gent - the repeatability factor brought about by technological advances takes the old hit-or-miss factor attached to low-/low-midprice gear largely out of the equation...

Similarly, extensive individual and corporate research has long since cracked the code of those Holy Grail pickups/circuits, such that only the most golden ears can tell the difference with any consistency. Were it not for the non-availability of the high-quality air-dried woods used in the originals, any given model of any year could be readily replicated/reissued - at a price well within reach of the average Working Joe/Jane (are you listening, Gibson/Fender...?); completing the circle, sourcing of tubes from Eastern Europe and China has allowed a resurgence of tube amplifiers as a significant force in the market, and at favorable prices when compared dollar-for-dollar against their vintage-era counterparts when new - a state of affairs that would have been thought impossible a quarter-century ago, as manufacturers released the first generation of modeling amps in preparation for the depletion of existing tube stock...

I've been in this game since 1962, and IMO it's a better time to be an electric player than at any time since the mid-60's - even on a fixed income, I can afford to assemble a studio players' arsenal of instruments and ancillary equipment without breaking the bank - and with new high-quality reissues coming to market on a regular basis, those of us who revere the classic looks/tones of our youth will be able to use them on the job without the need for either extraordinary safety precautions or heavy-duty personal armament... :eek:

Hey Fazool - I think there are some very nice inexpensive guitars available today. I also think; however, that the electronics on some of those guitars are lacking. Cheap switches don't last as long as quality ones and some pickups on inexpensive guitars don't sound nearly as good as a quality pickup such as Seymour Duncan (a '59 is just $99 and is a great pickup).

What's your definition of "cheap" pricewise? My thoughts above are based on sub $300 US guitars.

I found a few ten year old Epiphone Les Pauls out there that I was trying to decide if I wanted one so I was comparing those to the Gibsons and there were lots of difference between them as far as components and details such as the fretboard inlays and such. But then I started looking at the new ones on Sweetwater and the new ones are much more comparable. To me the differences between the newer ones were minor.

Yes but things like switches can be upgrade for $10 each.

I have a Slick SL 50 Aged Sunburst coming in any day now..350 range with hard case and shipping... supposed to be a fine axe according to many YouTubes and writeups,.. we shall see... Have a used in perfect shape PRS Santana SE that is awesome . But then I am a piano player.

I like to say that because of all the really nice low cost choices, there has never been a better time to start playing guitar. It wasn't this way when I started playing in 1970. At least not in my home town.

Bob

I was working in music stores in the 90's and anything under $500 bucks was total junk and even the stuff above that was not so great. Now it's amazing what you can get for $400 bucks. It's kind of like TV's and computers too.

In praise of cheap guitars
 

I had a $600 MIM Tele (bought it new) that needed the input jack re-soldered, the pickup selector switch went bad after a few months, the bridge had the wrong string spacing (which I fixed by installing an American Tele hard tail bridge) and even the string tree was not lined up properly. For those who say that the difference between a MIM Fender and an American Fender is about 300 miles and $1000, they’re full of crap. I’ve never seen such manufacturing inconsistencies with a MIA Fender.

*edit

Flip side of that import coin is how great Asian imports have become. I also have a Korean made Squier strat, and another Korean made Kramer. They were made with the cheapest materials possible. Plywood body, crap electronics and hardware. But they do have great necks with above decent fret work. That’s why both those guitars are heavily modded and can stand neck to neck in tone and playability with American made guitars.

In 2014 I bought an Indonesia-made Sterling (Music Man budget line) and it was a great instrument other than the crappy factory pickups. My latest guitar is another Indonesia made Ibanez, and the quality is top notch too for just $500

My first decent guitar and amp, was a used 1959 Fender Musicmaster guitar and a Dan Electro Cadet amp that I bought for $400 in 1974. That would be over $2000 in today's money!

I would think consistency is something money CAN buy - I have noticed with cheaper guitars you will find a wider range from duds to gems.

Your money can definitely go a longer way on the electric side. Squier, G and L and Epiphone have some impressive guitars and even in the 5-700 range there’s some really nice stuff like the MIM Players series and PRS SE line. Gretsch and Reverend have some nice stuff in that price range too. I’m highly impressed with my player series Tele that I payed around $600 for.

Even amp wise, my main amp since 2011 has been a $100 Vox Valvetronix that has served me well and I really enjoy even though it’s not some fancy tube amp.