Do you own a "budget" vintage electric guitar?

[cka73]

Personally, I have a sunburst 1972 Fender Mustang in closet kept, hardly played condition in original case. I purchased it many years ago on ebay for around $600 back when it was an actual auction site. Super clean and resonant, lightweight thing of beauty with amazing tone. Anyone else have a non Strat, tele, Les Paul kinda thing that's just freakin cool even if you won't make a killing if you sold it?

[mo6020]

This probably doesn't count, because it's a Tele, but I have a Telecaster Custom from '77 (with a wide range humbucker in the neck).

They were only made for a few years during the 70s so are tarred with the stigma of that era, but you can find some nice ones and the WRH is a real thing of beauty.

[warfrat73]

I have an '82 or '83 G&L F-100 that has the electronics all swapped out. Traded a Samick ES-335 knock off plus about $50 for it.

First guitar that Leo designed for G&L, supposedly.

Pretty sure that counts.

Not in the greatest shape.

[catdaddy]

Well, it's definitely budget and old, whether it's considered vintage I'm not really sure. It's an early 60s Sears Silvertone single coil made by Danelectro. I still use it for slide work on occasion. Note: The lizard is not standard equipment for this model

[rockabilly69]

I have two vintage guitars that are non terribly expensive instruments. They might be worth a bit more than I paid for them but they still aren't like the biggies

One is a 1960 Fender Musicmaster. I bought it for just under $1500 and I found it on ebay. So not really a blue chip vintage guitar, but I bought it to fill a hole in my heart. When I was a kid, I worked a summer of caddying to buy my first good guitar, which was a 1959 Musicmaster. I also got a Danelectro Cadet amplifier with it. When I went into the service, my family fell on hard times, and my mom sold these at a garage sale. Since I had another guitar (a Gibson Melody Maker), she thought I left the guitar behind because I didn't like it. Well that crushed me, because I loved it, I was just waiting to get a permanent home before I brought it along.

It took many years to find one just like it. My 1960 looks and feels exactly like my 1959 did. Actually I couldn't tell them apart if I had to. I never really bonded with the DanElectro amp when I was a kid, and the first really decent amp I had was a '69 Vibrochamp which I bought new before I went into the service. I took that with me with the Melody Maker I had, but eventually traded it for a bigger amp to gig with. So recently, I found a '69 Vibrochamp and bought that too to go with the Musicmaster...



This is what they sound like (the lap steel part is my '56 Oahu, and the acoustic is a Gibson J-100 Xtra)...



I also have a 1965 Gibson ES-125 that I got from a guy in Plano Texas when I started getting seriously into playing blues slide guitar. I think I paid $900 from sometime around 2004. It's a great instrument and really makes a rumble when playing through a gained up amp. My friend Jeremy nicknamed it the '69 Chevelle from the rumble it makes. And like the Musicmaster, surely not a blue chip vintage guitar.



Here I am playing it in a ZU Audio speaker commercial...

[fpuhan]

I'm not quite sure how you define your terms. "Vintage" and "budget" together suggest an older guitar that didn't cost much. Is that your question? You also eliminate Strats, Teles and LPs from consideration, so that speaks of guitars that don't fit a specific mold.

So, I don't know if this counts, but for me, it's both "vintage" as well as "budget:" I traded a pair of stereo speakers for this 1957 Gibson ES-225.

[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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[Steve DeRosa]

Had a few over the years:

• Bought my Gretsch Double Annie (w/OHSC) and top-panel/no 'verb Ampeg Rocket brand-new for $250 in May '64 - kept both in excellent condition over the last 60 years, worth $3000-3500 as a set today;
• Scored a near-mint cherry-red '67 Epiphone Rivoli bass w/OSSC for $150 at Manny's in '75 - netted $1250 in '96, could easily fetch $2500+ now;
• Picked up a burgundy Yamaha SSC-500 w/OHSC in '82, $199 brand-new @ Sam Ash - I've seen comparable excellent-condition examples in the $1600-2100 range over the last couple years;
• Paid $600 for my floor-model Pedulla bass (w/Bartolini P/J PU's and OHSC) in 1990 - given Mike P.'s retirement a few years ago I'll just wait and see where the market goes...

There have been others, including acoustic instruments of various kinds - I live for stuff like this - but these'll do for now...

[Glennwillow]

I have an Eart Strat-type guitar that I bought from Amazon for less than $250. I then put a new pickguard on it, put in a set of Fender Fat 50s pickups I had, and polished up the finish to make it glow a little more, and I'm really happy with this el-cheapo guitar.

Here it is in a video I made recently where I am playing it totally clean so you can hear the pickups:



- Glenn

[K20C]

1967 Epiphone Casino in exc. condition.

[edward993]

Originally Posted by cka73

Personally, I have a sunburst 1972 Fender Mustang in closet kept, hardly played condition in original case. I purchased it many years ago on ebay for around $600 back when it was an actual auction site. Super clean and resonant, lightweight thing of beauty with amazing tone. Anyone else have a non Strat, tele, Les Paul kinda thing that's just freakin cool even if you won't make a killing if you sold it?

When I was learning guit looonnnng ago, a Mustang was in my hands, I dug it, and it was cheap! But back in the day that was a mere "student guitar" (and I was learning so that should have been good, right? But a strat (or LP) was the "real" guitar so I passed. Dumb!!! These days I think of finding a decent old Mustang if only for nostalgia. Bummer the market has realized that these were genuinely cool guitars.

Edward

[Charlie Bernstein]

Heh heh. I do indeed. One day my boss said her son had moved out and left a couple of guitars behind. Did I want 'em?

Well, sure! I passed along the pointy one and kept the old Harmony Marquis. With its DiMarzio humbuckers, it's great for slide. Mick Taylor, watch your back!

Here's a link to one on Reverb: Marquis. Check out the maple neck. And that body: at least six pieces of maple glued together!

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by fpuhan

I'm not quite sure how you define your terms. "Vintage" and "budget" together suggest an older guitar that didn't cost much. Is that your question? You also eliminate Strats, Teles and LPs from consideration, so that speaks of guitars that don't fit a specific mold.

So, I don't know if this counts, but for me, it's both "vintage" as well as "budget:" I traded a pair of stereo speakers for this 1957 Gibson ES-225.

Heh heh. I used to have a forties ES-150 that looked a lot like it. Don't remember what I paid, but it wasn't much.

[Stonesolo]

I have a 1979 Fender lead ii...black...paint is all cracked but sounds good for a budget USA Fender. I paid $200 bucks back in the day. The band Loverboy was the reason I had to have it.

[reeve21]

Does anyone else have one of these?

Sorry about the sideways pics.

It's a Yamaha Pacifica. I don't know its age or cost, it was given to me by a friend whose son lost interest in it when he acquired a Les Paul (the Black Sabbath sticker was there when I got it!). Not sure if I should be worried about frying myself due to the exposed wires on the back....

This is my only electric, so I have no basis for comparison, but I like it