Which guitar disappointed you the most?

[Rev Roy]

Only guitar that has truly disappointed me was a cheapy that didn't even meet my low expectations. A Yamaha FG700S that I bought on an Amazon blowout for $99 w/free shipping. Everywhere I looked it got great reviews as the best among starter guitars. Figured it would make a great beater/ranch guitar. And at that price how could I lose, right? WRONG!

Good build quality and great right-out-of-the-box playability. But the tone...yikes! Thin and shrill no matter what strings I put on it. Just a bummer to play. Even good playing sounded bad...and believe me, I don't need any help to sound bad.

Good news that I was quickly able to sell it on Reverb and got more than my $99 back. The guy who bought it seemed to love it. Go figure.

[Looburst]

The one guitar that truly was a let down to me is the current line of Epiphone Master built series. My local GC, which I hardly ever go in, had some of these so I thought I would go see what they sounded like. They looked really good hanging on the wall but when I pulled one down and began to play it,,,YUCK! It felt fake in every way and didn't even sound like music. So I took a different one down, it sucked too. I was finished with those silly so called guitars by then. All eye candy no tone or balance at all. Not really sure why they even bothered building them.

[383roller]

Originally Posted by Jambi

Played a used lefty Taylor 4 series (forgot the specifics but it was a cutaway) at Guitar Center that they were still asking 9 bills for.

45 seconds in and I was relieved and overjoyed with the fact that I had 2 guitars at home which both blew it away.

The name on the headstock don't mean much to me anymore.

I like going to guitar center when I feel like I may need something else, I always leave underwhelmed and feeling very blessed for the instruments I have. I get a renewed appreciation.

[Long Jon]

The only brand new guitar I've ever bought was a Recording King deep bodied 00 ,( 13 fretter, their take on a Gibson Nick Lucas.)
Bought on line, untested by me. Looked nice, all solid wood, nice 'burst, decent set up.... Plank.

Several weeks of ToneRite (not kidding), various different strings, still a plank.

Almost as bad as the Gibby it was trying to copy !
(Couldn't resist, given some previous posts, never actually played a small body Gibson myself, maybe it was spot on.)

EDIT: To be fair, I am probably spoiled by my customary rich-sounding dreads, not got the right chops for a blues box.

[ocmcook]

i have found all guitars sound good but some sound better.

[Moocheng]

it was a Furch / Stonebridge I tried. It looked a million dollars but sounded terrible. I've played several other Furch guitars and they have all been good.

Also Gibson, there must be good ones out there, just have never found one I liked enough to buy

[cke]

I have been disappointed by almost every Taylor I have ever tried.
The only exceptions were the Big Baby and the GS Mini both of which cost twice what they should have

[Hurricane Bob]

Bought a Santa Cruz D pre-war for $1700.00 on ebay that absolutely sucked. No bass, piercing trebles, overly responsive, dumped it with a loss of $200.00

[Rudals]

All of the Gibsons that I played...except for the Songwriter, which sounded great.

[Steve DeRosa]

Had a few:

• Gibson Mark 35
• Ovation Ultra GP
• Gibson ES-135 ('90s)
• Garrison G-50

Should've kept that Ovation - played well/didn't sound half-bad (BTW those are factory-installed early DiMarzio Humbucker from Hell PU's in there) but just couldn't bond with it, traded it on a new Rick 360 a couple years later; I understand they're rare as brontosaurus turds these days (and selling for around $2500 if you can find one) - here's some photos of one that's almost identical to mine (the top on mine was way nicer):

[sakar12]

My Martin D-18GE until I realized I was over-humidifying it. Now it's the dream guitar I was hoping for. Edit: It was AGF that helped me with the realization. Thanks, all.

[Rosewood99]

I must have been very lucky that both of Gibson's are awesome.

[AHill]

Any Gibson Hummingbird I've ever played. The $99 Fenders sounded better. My J-45 was disappointing. About average sounding, but the workmanship was really horrible. No excuse for a guitar that cost that much.

[zmf]

There's a lot of love for Eastmans here, but every one I've tried has been a disappointment. Not sure what I was expecting -- maybe they have too "modern" a sound for my ears. I've had shop owners and other players hand me one, saying it's fantastic. And they are -- in build and playability. Not sure what the deal is.

[RP]

The only one that comes to mind was an 0-model that Wayne Henderson had built as a special order. I prefer larger bodies but I had high hopes for this one because of the builder....