Favorite “cheap” electric?

[Steel and wood]

MIM Fender Stratocasters and my Samick Greg Bennett designed Royale semi. (Can't begin to tell you how good this guitar is for what I paid).

[#GoKingsGo]

Hands down, I picked up a used PRS Zach Myers in Trampas Green that I snagged for $400 bucks that is mind blowing. It gives my ES335 a run for it’s money and frankly I play the PRS more........very 335ish into a Fender, Orange, Blackstar and Tone King amps.....

[aknow]

Danelectro U-2's
Gibson Les Paul Juniors.....older one's especially
Older G and L ASAT's
PRS SE series electrics.....

[harpspitfire]

my favorite cheaps are what currently own, a fender strat partscaster, and a squier vintage modified 51- both were free

[Dru Edwards]

A used Gibson Faded/Tribute Les Paul or an SGJ with the Gibson '61 pickups.

[C-ville Brent]

I have three that I bought earlier this year, with the intention of setting up and modding. Prices ranged from $119 to $149: Squier Bullet Strat, Epi LP Special II, and Ibanez GRG120BDX. They all played and sounded pretty good but needed varying degrees of set up. I added SD and DiMarzio pickups to the Epi and Ibanez. I liked the sea foam green Bullet Strat so much I kept it stock and bought a second one which got a DiMarzio Area prewired pickguard. Even with the additional cost of pick ups, I think these are very nice playing and sounding guitars for not a lot of cash. I leave them out to play when the spirit hits. While I would hate them to be stolen while I'm at work, it would not be as upsetting as losing my US made guitars.

[Johnny K]

Any G&L Tribute.

I have a ASAT Classic Bluesboy Thinline and it is awesome. I paid a whopping $225 dollars for it. It was used but in never played condition. I paid that much for a used Zildjian K Custom ride cymbal. Its insane what's out there if you look hard enough.

I played a Legacy Tribute the other day and I think It might be on my list for my next electric.

[MIGAS79]

I will throw my other electrics in... Guild S-100 (2017) in mint condition for around $420 and my Baja Tele (2012 I think) for around $500 in excellent shape. Both are steals at their price. Guild’s fit and finish on the Korean S-100 is spectacular. Their pickups are pure rock and the SG-like scale/overall extreme comfortability make it a blast to play. You just want to play every riff you can think of when you pick it up. And I find it to be a great looking instrument as well.

And the Tele is just phenomenal. Mexican made with USA pickups. It is by far the easiest guitar to make sound good I have played. It fits into everything, rather than trying to fit it in like with some others, if that makes any sense. I can see myself spending bigger bucks on guitars in the future, but likely not on a Telecaster. They don’t need it! They are Teles at any price. I think there is a raw, simplistic greatness they possess that I find endearing.

I have less than $1,300 into the 3 and can get almost anything accomplished. I am happy.

Really enjoying everyone’s contributions thus far!

[rwmct]

I have a mid-90s MIM Tele that I bought new. My guess is I paid under $300 for it, but I can't recall. It has the toploader bridge. I assume this was a "standard" model but I was a complete novice at the time and did no research. I just knew I wanted a Tele.

[muscmp]

epiphone casino. mine is a 94 or 95 korean made and it really sounds like a casino. i've played newer ones and mine is pretty cool sounding.

play music!

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Johnny K

Any G&L Tribute.

I have a ASAT Classic Bluesboy Thinline and it is awesome. I paid a whopping $225 dollars for it. It was used but in never played condition. I paid that much for a used Zildjian K Custom ride cymbal. Its insane what's out there if you look hard enough.

I played a Legacy Tribute the other day and I think It might be on my list for my next electric.

I've read nothing but great things about the G&L Tributes. MusiciansFriend has them as SDOTD often.

[gimme789]

Here is a link to the Firefly ES335 … the most bang for the buck in a guitar I have ever come across in my life.

I got a Red one and it is really nice right out of the box, with very little tweaking needed

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...0?ie=UTF8&th=1

[maxtheaxe]

I've got an earlier 'Nashville' MIM Telecaster that is just about the most guitar for the least amount of money I ever spent (about $425.00 with one of the nicer Fender gig-bags). This one is in 'transparent honey blonde' color, which was the only one in the entire line at that time that was made with an ash body (the others were alder, not too shabby either), and maple neck/board. It has the Tex-Mex Tele pups in the neck & bridge, with a RWRP Texas Special Strat pup in the middle and a five-way switch.

This was a return/open box type deal but could not distinguish from brand new...still had plastic cover & stickers on the guard. I made a couple of changes based on personal preference; the vintage-style tuners were very good & held tuning just fine, but I hate slotted posts on guitars, so switched to a set of German Schaller minis I had laying around. I also got rid of the six-saddle vintage-style ashtray bridge & put on a Gotoh Modern Tele bridge...much more solid, precise and comfy under the hand.

This thing not only gets that Tele TWANG, but also gets hotter-midrange rock worthy tones. I use it a lot for Stones & Zeppelin covers and slide, tuned to open G with the saddles set slightly flatter than the 9.5" radius of the neck.

BTW, if you have a Tele, sooner or later you will probably need to change out the jack cup...a famously sketchy part of this seventy-year-old design. I did, once this started shorting out & squawking at me...the "Electrosocket" from StewMac is the ticket here.