Guitarists: Anyone else have a soft spot for cheap guitars?

[vi5]

I've been playing guitar for 23 years now. I own and have owned telecasters, strats, les paul's, custom built guitars with gorgeous wood/fretboards, several different beautiful acoustics, etc.

But I also have a love of playing cheapo, low end brand, knock off guitars as well. My daughter got a mini acoustic that by all acounts was and is garbage. But I have actually ended up using this thing in recording because it gets a sound I can't get from any of my high end guitars. Similarly I just bought a craptacular semi-hollow body from Musician's Friend that cost me $119 and plays like a charm. It feels great and it gives me a sound that my tele or my custom just cannot give me.

Anyone else able to appreciate this phenomenon?

[davidinalameda]

1. I like cheap guitarists

does that count for anything

[jus_the_facts]

6. s'what I was gonna say...gotta love 'em geetarists.......

:headbang: :loveya: :9

[davidinalameda]

8. hehehe

they have talented fingers

[jus_the_facts]

9. with rhythm....

:evilgrin:

[FreepFryer]

2. Not unless I'm buying them to break 'em on stage.

I hate the sound of a shitty guitar.

[Paganini]

3. Jimmy Page used Danelectro

I think these guitars were made of formica and foam with those cheepo lipstick pickups. They have a distinct sound but they were super cheap at the time. I think they were sold at Sears or someplace like that. I also use a little junky mini acoustic for recording. It has a horrible tinny sound when mixed right sounds great for color.

[yorgatron]

4. you want cheap?

a friend of mine picked up a Guya Tone at a flea market.he doesn't play guitar,but the kids at the booth were about to do a Pete Townshend on it,so he offered them $10.he gave it to me because i kept borrowing it.it sounds pretty cool,some day i might even fix the whammy bar,if i can find the right spring.
ialso have a Danelectro double neck,same cheap funky construction as the originals,same great sound.
the top neck was baritone,that i converted to 6 string bass.the bottom neck i added a Bigsby Tremolo to.

[tridim]

5. All my electrics are pawn shop/garage sale purchases

I don't think I've ever spent more than $50 for an electric. My Acoustic is a different story, I had to have a Martin. :)

I like to do weird things with my electrics, like sticking metal bars under the strings and wanging it with drumsticks. Not something that should be done with an expensive guitar.

[Elidor]

7. One of the best guitars I ever had was a $50 Sigma

Nice cherrywood body, rich sound. I was a fool to ever let it go. It sounded as good as any of my Les Pauls.

[ben_thayer]

10. I have a vintage Les Paul that I

used to use on stage, but when the value started climbing I looked around for something else to abuse on the road. I wound up with a Crestwood copy of a Gibson L-6S that was and is one of the best guitars I ever played. I still have it and it plays better than any of the "real" L6s I ever tried. LOVE IT!!!

[jpgray]

11. My favorite guitar is a $90 (new) Lotus

The sound is just unbelievably nasty. :D

[tigereye]

12. we have had several Harmony guitars -

my brother had one when he took guitar lessons and I played that one for years when I was allowed to play guitar in the band I was in. ( usually I play drums) But we also had 2 hollow body Harmonys ( I don't remember where we got them) that looked and sounded pretty cool. One of my buddies played one of them for years. He also painted it ( he's an artist) and it looked great. I still have a soft spot for those.

[jpgray]

13. Cool--I have a Harmony Sovereign acoustic from the sixties

That's a favorite of mine too.

[tigereye]

20. I'm not sure what the model was

I'll have to look and see if I can find a picture.

[KitchenWitch]

14. hmmm, interesting

My son decided he wanted to play electric guitar, so I bought him a cheepo strat copy ($180 including amplifier). The pickups are total shit. He got real good at the guitar, so for a combination Xmas and birthday gift, we got him a Gibson SG Special Faded. This guitar sounds so much better than the cheepo strat copy. But, if one wanted a rougher and tinnier sound for recording, the strat copy is the way to go.

He will probably upgrade the pickups on the cheepo guitar, so he can have both the strat copy and the Gibson!

[Magrittes Pipe]

15. I collect Harmony, U.S.A. guitars.

Up until '74 when the name was sold off to some people making crappy Asiatic strat copies.

I've culled my collection somewhat over the past year, but I still have my Sovereign flat-top, my Strato-Tone Jupiter hollowbody sans-holes electric, my H-62 Rebel, and my Slihouette.

They're beautiful instruments; and although the hollow-bodies are a little fragile, they sound great. Their old slogan still rings true: "the best you'll find for the money you'll spend."

I HIGHLY recommend the H-74 through H-78 lines. They compare quite well to ES-335s. Not the same, true, but they're $750 in mint condition vs. $3K or so for the 335. The 335 only has a slightly better sound (though it is quite a bit more durable).

[tigereye]

21. really? Kind of a pre-CBS Fender thing going on?

Who knew there was an interest. I'll have to look and see what the models are. They were perfectly serviceable, good looking guitars. Is there a website with pix somewhere, al?

My brother had one in the early 70s.

[Redstone]

16. I used to make clocks out of cheap yard-sale guitars.

They were actually pretty neat, motor mounted behind the soundhole, with picks glued on to mark the 12, 3, 6, and 9 hours.

Redstone

[immoderate]

17. Not me.

I don't play that well, I can use all the guitar I can get. I have a Taylor acoustic, and when I play it I always get compliments on the sound, never on my playing.

--IMM

[Squeech]

18. Me too

I love cheesy guitars purchased at yard sales. I have a 12 string made by the same people responsible for the Teisco Del Ray, but this one they put some sort of fake English name on it-- St. Somebody. It's a true piece of shit, goes out of tune before the end of the song, plus the guy who owned it used it as a project guitar, so the pickups are mismatched and one of them is hanging by its wires.

I also have a six string of similar vintage, which I want to turn into an electric bouzouki (eight string).

The acoustic I play out with is also a 12-string purchased at a yard sale. The headstock is damaged, so I only have six strings on it. The reason I use it so often is the paint job-- deluxe airbrush art of a dragon coiling around a death's head holding a spliff. But it sounds decent too.

Old Harmonies could be really solid instruments. I used to have a Harmony mandolin, and it was more playable than the 80 year old Gibson model A I have now. It walked off some time in the '70s :-(

I like name brand guitars too; my pride and joy is a 1969 SG Custom, with whammy bar.

[Der Engel der Katzen]

19. my only guitar is a real cheapy, the name on it is "Vantage"

It sounds okay. It's the only one I have.