Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Discuss your workplace, instruments, amps, and any other gear.

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

Aleks
Established Member
Posts: 295
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:36 pm
Been thanked: 1 time

Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by Aleks »

Do you have a guitar like that? I have this guitar that is cheap Les Paul copy, but yet the action is great on it, it has chunky neck, chunky body, the neck is really tight fit, well constructed and it has full dark sound even with those cheap pickups and hardware. The things I hate about it - it's black! And also, I hate the fact that I like it. I've put it like three times in the ads, and when people would call to buy it, I would change my mind :lol:
Frank Carvalho
Established Member
Posts: 363
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 3:36 pm

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by Frank Carvalho »

Yeah. I have developed a fondness for old japanese copy guitars. I also have a black "jedson" LP copy just like that.
And even worse, my first guitar was a japanese copy of a Melody Maker D, bought new in 1978. I sold it and later regretted it. Found one just like it, in terrible shape. It needs a fret job, and someone did something terrible to the bridge. But it sounds fantastic and some things are easier to play on that instrument than on any other guitar. It's like my fingers grew up on that fretboard, and just know their way around.

/Frank
Vox, Selmer, Yamaha and Leslie amplifiers. Rickenbacker, Epiphone, Ibanez, Washburn, Segovia, Yamaha and Fender guitars. Hammond, Moog, Roland, Korg, Yamaha, Crumar, Ensoniq and Mellotron keyboards. Xubuntu+KXStudio recording setup.
apathity
Established Member
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2014 12:15 pm
Location: Austria
Contact:

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by apathity »

I have an Epiphone Goth Explorer (only 350$ or something) and I love it a lot. It looks quite used after 3 years of heavy usage. It even has the original mediocre pickups in it but it sounds great. I have played several very expensive vintage Gibson Explorers from 78 at some guys house once but somehow I prefer this very Epiphone model I have. Then there are days where I hate the shape and weight of the Explorer and then somehow I begin to like it again.
lazyklimm
Established Member
Posts: 250
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 4:59 pm
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by lazyklimm »

I don't have any, but there's a Carvin DC135 which is least loved one, since I'm a headless fan now(though it's very-very nice sounding and looking guitar anyway).
bluetypea
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:28 pm
Location: Indonesia
Contact:

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by bluetypea »

:lol: hahaha

i hate my guitar too coz i cant play it well, but i'll always practice so i love it :mrgreen:
bluetypea
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:28 pm
Location: Indonesia
Contact:

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by bluetypea »

i hate my cheap guitar coz cant play it well, but i love it too coz everyday i only play with him. :mrgreen:
User avatar
GMaq
Established Member
Posts: 2774
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:42 pm
Has thanked: 520 times
Been thanked: 555 times

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by GMaq »

Hi,

Cool stories so far, That Epi Explorer sounds killer in your guitarix video! And Carvin!? are they still in business?

I bought a yellow "butterscotch" Fender Squier Telecaster in 1984, at that time the Squiers were built in Japan and reportedly the factory had better machining facilities than the American factories at the time. Anyway over the years I've pretty much replaced everything in it including putting a Les Paul mini humbucker in the neck position. Sadly I play a lot tuned down a whole step to D and even C and despite numerous experiments with string guages and tuner heads this guitar has never been able to hold those tunings reliably for gigs so I replaced it with a longer scale baritone Tele which is now my main axe, I'll always have a soft spot for "old yeller" though, we've travelled a lot of years and miles together..
mongrol
Established Member
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri May 01, 2015 4:23 am

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by mongrol »

I have an Epiphone acoustic. Cost me 100 pounds brand new in 1989. It was absolutely rubbish straight out of the shop but oddly, has never changed in 25 years, infact, it might actually play better now since I "know it" intimately. You have to tune it for a 3 fret range. Tune at fret 5 and its out at fret 8 or open. It goes camping with me, gets thrown around, sounds like crap and I can whap it like a crazed mutha and it still keeps going. Hate it, will never leave it. :)

My good box is a Tanglewood. Not "Martin" costly but sounds and plays awesome.
ssj71
Established Member
Posts: 1294
Joined: Tue Sep 25, 2012 6:36 pm
Has thanked: 1 time

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by ssj71 »

My first electric was a $35 second hand GTX 23 strat copy. It plays pretty well and I've always loved it, but I've since got a second electric that made me realize the pickups are terrible in the gtx. I'm trying to save up now to put in some lace alumitones. I think it will breathe new life into the ol' girl.
_ssj71

music: https://soundcloud.com/ssj71
My plugins are Infamous! http://ssj71.github.io/infamousPlugins
I just want to get back to making music!
User avatar
sadko4u
Established Member
Posts: 987
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 9:03 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 359 times

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by sadko4u »

I've got an ESP LTD M-100FM Guitar made in 2008 (that time it was about $350). This was my second one after the really bad chinese one (that cutted new strings with a bad bridge, had very bad frets and so on).
The original saddles of the bridge have died after 1.5 year of usage and I've replaced them with good ones.
Then I've replaced original pickups with DiMarzio D-Activator X and wired a push-pull mechanism to the tone control.
After some time I've removed the neck, covered the heel of the neck with rosin and bolt-on neck again.
It has very good frets and the licensed ESP floyd good (not perfectly, but good) holds the tune, the playing is very comfortable. The sound is a bit bassy, but when you switch to the clean tone and single mode...
Currently I still use guitar for playing and recording (one man noticed that my basswood guitar sounded for him like mahogany in the mix) and I really like it.
LSP (Linux Studio Plugins) Developer and Maintainer.
Broomy
Established Member
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:36 am
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by Broomy »

I think the biggest problem with cheap guitars is the setup, the days that frets are out of tune, hardware malfunctions are past times.
I've recently bought the cheapest acoustic baritone guitar out there (Alvarez ABT-60) and converted it to my liking:
- Flatwound strings
- All Fifths Tuning (Low C (one step above low B of five string bass) to B of a regular guitar)
And made a simple pickup to electrify it.

Besides these modification I had to lower the nut and bridge. The bridge is set a hair to far away from the fretboard (probably to compensate the high action, which results in sharp notes when a string is fretted), which is something to be dealt with in time (for now I've put two sewing needles on the right spot to act as a bridge...).
I've made two soundclips, here and here

All and all I'm happy with the result and love playing it.

Hans
The Quintar Project:
- Popularizing an all fifths tuning for guitarlike instruments
- Youtube: Playing and Building
- Files: Sourceforge
User avatar
GMaq
Established Member
Posts: 2774
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:42 pm
Has thanked: 520 times
Been thanked: 555 times

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by GMaq »

Hi Broomy,

I missed this post before, glad I found it!

Love the soundclips, you are a very impressive player and that combo of the Guitar, C 5ths Tuning and your homespun pickup sound great! Very cool! The walking bass with your thumb really swings and in that tuning it actually sounds like a bass.. :D

I'm a Baritone player also and play tuned to B and C (regular intervals), and I've often wondered about the quality of ABT-60 as it would be nice to have an acoustic baritone as well. Can you comment more on your impressions of the ABT-60 now that you've had it for a while?
Broomy
Established Member
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:36 am
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by Broomy »

GMaq wrote:Hi Broomy,

I missed this post before, glad I found it!

Love the soundclips, you are a very impressive player and that combo of the Guitar, C 5ths Tuning and your homespun pickup sound great! Very cool! The walking bass with your thumb really swings and in that tuning it actually sounds like a bass.. :D

I'm a Baritone player also and play tuned to B and C (regular intervals), and I've often wondered about the quality of ABT-60 as it would be nice to have an acoustic baritone as well. Can you comment more on your impressions of the ABT-60 now that you've had it for a while?
Thanks Gmaq for you kind response.

Regarding the ABT-60: I think you get a good value for the money, the sound is good and technically it's a fine instrument. There where four things which I have to note:
1. the frets were a bit rough on the beveled sides, but this was more a visual thing.
2. The action was too high, both at the nut and at the bridge, so you have to be willing to sand both down a bit
3. The bridge was set a bit too far off, resulting in a slightly flat intonation. I made a brand new custom build bridge saddle out of a, well ehh... a piece of string and bamboo skewer. Bit rough and dirty but it works fine. :roll:
4. The body is a kind of heavily braced. Advantage is that the instrument is strong, downside is that the tone may lack a bit "life" (this is always the fine equilibrium of an ideal instrument: strong enough to hold the tension, light enough to resonate). For me this was an advantage because for the All Fifths Tuning needs a bit more tension to work because of the low string.

I bought the fully-acoustic version, because I build the pickup myself, which is good sounding and cheap (around 10 dollars all in), this saved about $120,-.

If needed, I happily provide more info.

Do you have some Bariton recordings on the net?

Hans
The Quintar Project:
- Popularizing an all fifths tuning for guitarlike instruments
- Youtube: Playing and Building
- Files: Sourceforge
User avatar
GMaq
Established Member
Posts: 2774
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:42 pm
Has thanked: 520 times
Been thanked: 555 times

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by GMaq »

Broomy wrote:
GMaq wrote:Hi Broomy,

I missed this post before, glad I found it!

Love the soundclips, you are a very impressive player and that combo of the Guitar, C 5ths Tuning and your homespun pickup sound great! Very cool! The walking bass with your thumb really swings and in that tuning it actually sounds like a bass.. :D

I'm a Baritone player also and play tuned to B and C (regular intervals), and I've often wondered about the quality of ABT-60 as it would be nice to have an acoustic baritone as well. Can you comment more on your impressions of the ABT-60 now that you've had it for a while?
Thanks Gmaq for you kind response.

Regarding the ABT-60: I think you get a good value for the money, the sound is good and technically it's a fine instrument. There where four things which I have to note:
1. the frets were a bit rough on the beveled sides, but this was more a visual thing.
2. The action was too high, both at the nut and at the bridge, so you have to be willing to sand both down a bit
3. The bridge was set a bit too far off, resulting in a slightly flat intonation. I made a brand new custom build bridge saddle out of a, well ehh... a piece of string and bamboo skewer. Bit rough and dirty but it works fine. :roll:
4. The body is a kind of heavily braced. Advantage is that the instrument is strong, downside is that the tone may lack a bit "life" (this is always the fine equilibrium of an ideal instrument: strong enough to hold the tension, light enough to resonate). For me this was an advantage because for the All Fifths Tuning needs a bit more tension to work because of the low string.

I bought the fully-acoustic version, because I build the pickup myself, which is good sounding and cheap (around 10 dollars all in), this saved about $120,-.

If needed, I happily provide more info.

Do you have some Bariton recordings on the net?

Hans
Hi!

Thanks for the info, it pretty much is what I expected and echoes what some online reviews also say. It is quite reasonably priced so I'm glad to hear that it is well braced . As you said the tension of larger gauge strings has to be taken into account..
I'm curious what are the gauges of the strings you've chosen?

As far as baritone stuff on the net. I just released an EP this past November and the whole EP was done with a baritone Fender telecaster tuned to C . My guess is it may not be your kind of music but here it is FWIW:
https://soundcloud.com/rated-blue/sets
Broomy
Established Member
Posts: 163
Joined: Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:36 am
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Your cheap guitar that you love and hate

Post by Broomy »

GMaq wrote: As far as baritone stuff on the net. I just released an EP this past November and the whole EP was done with a baritone Fender telecaster tuned to C . My guess is it may not be your kind of music but here it is FWIW:
https://soundcloud.com/rated-blue/sets
All right, first things first: You can call me any moment for some go' ol' blues. :o
I like it man!

About stringlengths:
Theoretical between two strings tuned a fifth apart the highest string should have a gauge of 2/3 of the lowest string gauge.
Practical the strings should decrease a bit faster because bass strings need more tension then treble strings to get an even feel.
As a rule of thumb I use the golden ratio (0,618) as the factor between two strings.
On my acoustic I start with the thickest roundwound available (0.135 I think it is) and then downwards. The highest string is 0.013.
The instrument is tuned a low C (one octave lower then a bariton C) up to a b (same as a guitar b).

Hans
The Quintar Project:
- Popularizing an all fifths tuning for guitarlike instruments
- Youtube: Playing and Building
- Files: Sourceforge
Post Reply