Budget Guitars? on Wall of Mouths

Budget Guitars?

Started by Misanthropologist (d) in Musicians (Gear, Tabs & Lyrics)

My brother has been making vague threats to buy and learn to play a guitar. I’m not sure how serious he is, but he’d likely only willingly spend a pittance on it, so does anyone have any recommendations for tolerably good budget guitars? The cheaper the better. ;)

Posted on Sun, 22 May 2005 at 10:56

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Rico wrote:

probably the best place to start is encore or squire as they come really cheap some of them come in packs with starter videos. When you first start playing all you really need is somthing thats gunna stay in tune.

Posted on Wed, 25 May 2005 at 15:50

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

Well, my brother can borrow my Marshall, since I don’t really use it anymore, and I’ve still got my old instructional stuff, too, so that’s not really an issue.
I still have my first guitar (a secondhand encore with one humbucker I got for fifty quid), and that’s still great. :o
Do Squire do any humbucker models?

There’s a pretty nice-looking Dean I found online at my local guitar shop, my brother likes the look of it, though I don’t know if it’s actually any good.
http://www.nevadamusic.co.uk/acatalog/Dean_Guitars.html
It’s the first one. Not, thank fuck, the second one. :D

Thanks for your input.

Posted on Wed, 25 May 2005 at 16:35

Simon (Simon) wrote:

The Yamaha Percificers (thats not how to spell it but i don’t care) are very good for the price. And sound great.

Posted on Wed, 25 May 2005 at 17:18

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

I honestly can’t figure out what it’s actually called…
Pacifier?
:(

Posted on Wed, 25 May 2005 at 18:53

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

Oh! Pacifica? A Sort of ‘fat-strat’? (with humbuckers and single coils?). I’ll let him know, cheers. (Though to be honest, I don’t think he’s keen on the strat shape.)

Posted on Wed, 25 May 2005 at 18:56

tgE wrote:

Tokai aren’t bad if you can find em. Do nice Les Paul models. I know what you mean about the shape of a strat, they do look like shit imho, but it’s not something you really should be worrying about aesthetically when buying a guitar. it’s what it feels like, how comfortable it is, what sound you want, what you wanna play that dictates it. i hate to say it but strat is best if you don’t know any of the above for it’s all-round capabilities.

Posted on Thu, 26 May 2005 at 06:18

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

Yeah, that’s true enough. You’ve got to bear in mind that my brother has never played before (well, I taught him Smoke On The Water when he was about ten, but I’m not counting that. :)). He’s not going to pick up a guitar, run through a couple of licks, sneer and complain about the action, the radius of the fingerboard, and the poor pickup output. ;) He’s more likely going to learn a few chords and bash out the same song over and over again for months. :D I reckon that the main difference he (or any completely novice player) is going to notice is whether the pickups are humbuckers or not (I had a mate with a squire who was reduced close to tears because he thought it was crap in comparison with my old Encore I mentioned earlier… I had to tell him, ‘no, mate, you’ve got singlecoils, it’s _supposed_ to sound like that.’ ;)
I’ll have a look out for Tokai, though, thanks!

Posted on Thu, 26 May 2005 at 07:19

30seconds wrote:

Definately get a cheap squier, you can’t go wrong starting out with that

Posted on Thu, 26 May 2005 at 17:20

GreenThing wrote:

My first guitar was a Squire strat, and even though there are cheaper guitars, this one was the best value. It is so good that it has been my only guitar for 15 years. I have reciently bought a fender telecaster, which does sound different and very nice, but as for a strat, I wouldn’t trade my Squire for another one!

Posted on Thu, 26 May 2005 at 17:20

#10

Simon (Simon) wrote:

Misanthropologist wrote:
I honestly can’t figure out what it’s actually called…
Pacifier?
:(

sorry about that as you know I’m shit!

Posted on Thu, 26 May 2005 at 18:37

#11

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

No problem, I figured it out in the end. I think I’m going window shopping for guitars with my brother today, though.
Which probably means he’ll have a guitar by tonight. :)

Posted on Fri, 27 May 2005 at 09:02

#12

Simon (Simon) wrote:

Let us know what he gets in the end it would be interesting to know.

Posted on Fri, 27 May 2005 at 20:14

#13

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

Divers wrote:
Let us know what he gets in the end it would be interesting to know.

Well, we went and looked and at the moment it’s a toss up between the Dean that I mentioned, and a Peavey (not sure of the actual model, though). The peavey was black, with a white ‘border’ (Not sure what you’d call it, but like the Fender Aerodyne Bass), locking tremolo and two humbuckers.
He says he’s going to go back tomorrow and buy one (he was favouring the Dean when we last spoke), but knowing my brother he’s going to come out of the shop with some maracas and a casio keyboard. Fucking fickle bastard. :D

Posted on Fri, 27 May 2005 at 23:27

#14

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

Meh, turns out he’s a tad too short of cash this month, so he’s going to wait until next payday :rolleyes: By which time he’ll have changed his mind. :)
His girlfriend is going to America for a few months, so he says next month he’ll have plenty of spare cash. ;)

Posted on Sat, 28 May 2005 at 11:57

#15

Simon (Simon) wrote:

Misanthropologist wrote:
knowing my brother he’s going to come out of the shop with some maracas and a casio keyboard. Fucking fickle bastard. :D

What make of maracas? ;)

Posted on Sat, 28 May 2005 at 12:00

#16

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

:D
Probably whatever ones _look_ nicest.
We were wandering round the shop yesterday, and we came to a rack of straps. He found one that he liked, and when we got to the actual guitars that he liked he said (seriously), ‘well, either is good, they would both go well with that strap.’ :rolleyes: Maybe I’m adopted?

Posted on Sat, 28 May 2005 at 12:14

#17

JSar666 wrote:

Maybe he is?

Posted on Sat, 28 May 2005 at 15:38

#18

Simon (Simon) wrote:

Misanthropologist wrote:
:D
Probably whatever ones _look_ nicest.
We were wandering round the shop yesterday, and we came to a rack of straps. He found one that he liked, and when we got to the actual guitars that he liked he said (seriously), ‘well, either is good, they would both go well with that strap.’ :rolleyes: Maybe I’m adopted?

Are you sure that he isn’t a woman?:)

Posted on Sat, 28 May 2005 at 19:32

#19

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

:D (to both comments)

Posted on Sat, 28 May 2005 at 19:48

#20

davefromoverthere wrote:

Title: whee guitars

forgive me as I realize 99.9% of people reading this aren’t in the states, but I know values by US-Dollars.. so ..er. sorry.

But..

For new guitars on the cheap that’re decent…

Epiphone’s “Les paul Special II“‘s are decent. They require a bit of set-up and the pickups could use something a bit thicker, but they feel nice in the hands and with the proper distortion/overdrive, they sound nice. Bought one that I play regularly about 2 yrs ago for $150 USD if memory serves. And it was 10 or 20 more expensive since it had a sorta red-laquer finish on wood, instead of flat black paint. Those guys ran like $130 or what not.

Now.. don’t laugh. I bought it on a whim for $200 about 5 yrs ago. It’s red (obviously not a requirement), it’s semi-hollow body, it has those wierd looking “lipstick” pickups, it’s neck feels like someone sawed a baseball bat in half… but once you get over that realization, plug it into a good distortion pedal.. it growls like an f’in beast.. the danelectro u2 re-issue. I’m sure they’re available on the cheap used.

for the used market, look into older Fender Strats NOT MADE IN AMERICA, NOT SAYING “SQUIRE” IN LARGE LETTERS!!. Let me clarify this. There was a stretch of time that they made their cheaper/foreign-made line, the squires.. but some (namely the Mexican ones) were really *VERY VERY* nice guitars. Needed a bit of set-up/modification, but for the price + a bit of “sweat-equipty” you could find yourself w/ a guitar for $150 that played like a dream.

Mind you if you have the cash, splurge on a nice american made Gibson Les Paul or Fender Strat, depending on your taste in guitars.. obviously alot of us don’t have the money for that!! (thankfully I saved it up for a 79 strat before I decided to get all adult and buy a house and that sort of garbage!)

and again, as I realize anyone reading this likely lives in the UK, perhaps just keep these guitar names in mind if you’re at a used shop. I know shipping and import taxes/fees can really ramp up the cost on stuff, if they’re not available locally.. but the new guiatrs I mentioned likely are… hopefully via a regular distribution situation, so their prices aren’t jacked up…

Posted on Mon, 30 May 2005 at 04:02

#21

Idlevice2 wrote:

If you’re looking to scrape the barrel here, go for eBay, they have cheap-ass guitars on there all the time.

Squire do indeed make strats with humbuckers. I have one- put a DiMarzio pickup in it, stuck .12 strings on and tuned to C. Terrible fret-buzz on the Low C-String, but you can’t hear it through the amp. They’re not bad guitars. I think they’re called ‘Double Fat Strats’.

Posted on Mon, 30 May 2005 at 12:41

#22

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

Thanks everyone. My brother did consider one of the squiers the other day, but I think he’s made his mind up to go with the Dean. I _think_…

(By the way, I have a Danelectro bass, and I love it. ;) But Danelectro aren’t making instruments anymore, apparently, and the prices for them are rising. In case you’re interested.)

Posted on Mon, 30 May 2005 at 22:22

#23

Idlevice2 wrote:

Yeah, Deans are good for beginners. I thought Danelectro were re-issueing a lot of their old models guitars and basses this/next year? I’m sure I read that somewhere.

Posted on Thu, 2 June 2005 at 21:56

#24

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

I hope that’s true, I’d love to get another one.
(I know I need help, but I honestly really like mine. ;))

Posted on Thu, 2 June 2005 at 23:10

#25

Idlevice2 wrote:

Hey, if its good enough for Jimmy Page…

Posted on Fri, 3 June 2005 at 21:09

#26

Misanthropologist (d) wrote:

Really? Didn’t know that…