Cheap v expensive guitars - your real world experiences!

[Nork]

I've never really been concerned with the price of the guitar. before i got given my parker nitefly, had an epi lp standard that i loved. got the parker, sold the epi for a ring. recently bought a tribute ASAT that is quickly becoming a favourite. paid 300$ for it used.

while i'd love a decent lp, prs or something of the like, my current setup is really rocking and sitting well in a band.

[Le Chat Noir]

I can't see the pic Billy.

He used a page url instead of an image url, I copied it into my browser and here's the image from the page he tried to link!

[bclaire]

Whoops! It worked in the preview - fixed it now...



and here's a few more:
http://www.shotdeadinthehead.com/Default.aspx?cat=30" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[a.hun]

I thought I'd ask how everyone on here feels about the practical differences between budget guitars and expensive ones they've owned, based on real life experience rather than internet hearsay and country of origin prejudice. I'd love to hear from the people of the Orange forum as I respect your opinions, hopefully it could be an interesting area of debate! Please read my post in the friendly way it is intended

Personally I've never been particularly snobby about who built my guitars or where they were made.

Great thread idea Teddy!

I'm pretty much right with you on the inexpensive guitar (/ bass) front. (I prefer to call them 'inexpensive' rather than 'cheap' though!!! Most of mine aren't that expensive at all, but 'cheap' has a kinda different slant to it...) Two of the very nicest Strats I've played (though sadly not owned) were a Tokai and a Fenix. Both of those would murder 99%+ of the Strats out there in terms of being great players guitars.

My most expensive guitar (by a fair bit) is a Marleaux 'Nyelectric' solid body nylon stringer. Bit of a specialist guitar and very nice quality - Marleaux is a small very high end German bass company and AFAIK the 'Nyelectric' is the only guitar they ever made - now sadly discontinued. Despite the great quality it is a basic no frills guitar. It cost me about (GBP) £900 new about 10 years back. Totally worth it to me as it is my favourite single guitar of any type.

My next most expensive guitars are my Gordon Smith 'LP-alike' and Gibson LP Junior Special, each around £600 new roughly around 10 - 12 years back. My MIJ Strat bought new in '94 was around the £400 mark, Big Baby acoustic around £300, and my Squier CV Tele was a mere EUR €320 odd 18 months back. Guess what - that is the electric I've been playing most since grabbing it.

the factory in china making squier CV's (and now fender modern player?) series is the tits

Damn right!!!

I'm mainly a bassist of course, but my basses are pretty similar in that my most expensive to date are my Fender CIJ '51 and MIK Deluxe Jazz 24, both around the €800 mark a couple of years back. My main live bass since '93, a fretless Aria, cost me around £400 new. The others were all around £300 or under - a (bargain new in '98) CIJ '50s P, my (MIK) Danelectro Longhorn, and a £150 s/h Fenix Jazz (Young Chang - Korea) which have all been gigged a fair bit.

Point about all these instruments is that they all play extremely well. In each case I selected them carefully for good resonace and feel. With good setups I am quite happy to use whichever best fits any particular gig or session.

I'm definitely not blinkered by never having played more expensive instruments. When you spend the best part of a decade living on site at a commercial recording / rehearsal studio you get the chance to try most things. Sometimes the more expensive ones were very nice, but often I handed them back to the owner with a diplomatically kind comment because they were just expensive junk and I didn't want to hurt their feelings.

Many of the best ones I've played were being looked after by my old tech in Scotland, including Custom Shop Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker, Gretch, PRS etc guitars and many vintage examples. I've also enjoyed using some really nice Warwick, Music Man, Wal and other high end basses. In only two cases did I ever feel I would have even considered losing any of my own instruments to be able to keep the one I was handing back. One was when I picked up my Big Baby Taylor in a shop. I sold my own previous acoustic and grabbed it the very next day. The other was an astonishingly nice genuine '56 Black Beauty LP my tech brought out to the studio. It was for sale for about 3 1/2 grand, which back then would have literally cost me all my gear - amps and everything, plus quite a bit extra. So regrettably no go!

Wild Generalization Coming! I think you are better off with a cheap guitar and good amp, than a good guitar an cheap amp. Well you're really better off with good both, but you know what I mean...

If you substitute 'good but inexpensive' for 'cheap' I'd have to agree totally!
A well set up decent budget instrument through great amplification will sound way better than the other way round. The pickups in my humble old Fenix Jazz are pretty rubbish, but because I've always had a great sounding bass rig I've still never replaced them in 15 odd years. Though I did just order some really nice p/ups for it so thats about to change. I think they will turn it into a giant killer sonically too. Total cost with a £15 fret job and setup years back still under 300 quid. 'Nuff said?

Teddy, if you want to start a parallel thread on budget v expensive amps I'll see you there!


Andy.

[a.hun]

I copied it into my browser and here's the image from the page he tried to link!

Teddy I think you must be using the same browser as Randy B!


Andy.

[Randy Bass]

On my browser it actually says "Take your knickers off, you're not leaving."

[Tango]

I had an Epi LPC, it was good. I have a Gibson LPC, it's THE best guitar in the world, I'll never sell it.

It does matter to me what name's on the head stock.

I'm a Gibson gal through and through.

[Borderline Productions]

If Gibson had the same QC as the Japanese guitar makers, would we be having this conversation?

I have an old Yamaha SGB 200 that you can get for about $300 on e-bay. Everyone who plays it wants to steal it. Finally took the plunge and put better pickup in it. Wow! For under $500 it sounds and plays better than a $2000 Gibson.

When I looked at doing a Warmouth tele, it was going to be still less than a Custom Shop or an American tele from Fender, but I would be getting better components all around and exactly what I wanted. If one part gets damages on stage, you replace it.

[Le Chat Noir]

If Gibson had the same QC as the Japanese guitar makers, would we be having this conversation?

You get a higher specced MIJ than an MIA Gibson at whatever price point you choose, so I'd still say yes!

[Stainboy]

Heh. I need that. I'm 'aavin 'oops!