I've never found a pawn shop guitar that was truly a "great" deal. Most of the guitars I've encountered were either crappy to begin with, had something wrong with them, or were priced too high. My friends who used to cruise the pawns weekly have given it up; they say that with guitar values so easy to compare online, the shops are wise to any "bargains" and won't haggle like they used to.

I did once score a killer fretless bass that I still own, but it required some additional expense to get it up to par.