ReGuitar Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Hello everyone, Have you ever played or had an underrated guitar? A guitar that made you think that more people should be aware of her qualities? Well, here's my Cort KX Custom. PROS: Mahogany body, Maple top, rosewood fingerboard, Canadian maple neck, A pair of Duncan pups - 59 N, JB B, Locking tuners, String-thru body CONS: 1 - 3-piece neck - kinda general rule for Asian guitars 2 - cheap metalic hardware. Started getting rusty within a year. I changed the pickup frames for plastic ones and the licensed Tonepros bridge for a roller bridge which works great with locking tuners to keep the guitar in tune. Next I'll change the knobs. Here's a little extract of a solo and harmony I was working on. No professional recording just messing around at home. Cort KX Custom > Boss DD-3 > Fender HotRod Deluxe > SM57 > M Audio Fast Track Ultra > Notebook - No Plugins https://soundcloud.com/haynahtoe/1-1 Such a good guitar at an affordable price. Being a great guitar manufacturer allows Cort to sell its own brand for low prices as they have plenty of guitar parts. And, we all know, Asian workers don't get paid that much. "Cort Guitars is a guitar manufacturer centered in South Korea. The company is one of the largest guitar makers in the world, and produces instruments for many other companies. Generally, large companies contract Cort to build lower-priced guitars that have that company’s brand on them. Ibanez, Parkwood, Squier, G&L Tribute series line of guitars are among the most well-known brands that Cort produces." (Wikipedia) Yep, but not a bed of roses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cort_Guitars#Controversy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I tend to think of the Yamaha SG2000 as vastly underrated. IMO it is as good as any Gibson Les Paul I have played(I will except Historics as I have no experience of them and accept what people say about them) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmis Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Ibanez Artist guitars from late 70s to mid 80s, solids, semis and hollows, but i don´t know if they are so underestimated anymore, well, money wise they still are. I have 5 of them and they surely play in the same league as my Gibbys. I have 2 pro tone Squiers that is pretty impressive, i traded of my MIJ, JV and Silver series strats and held on to the pro tones since i think they are as good, can be acquired for coffee-money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hall Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Yes, one The Paul which I maintain to this day and an old Ibanez SG look alike I did part with long ago (should have kept it also!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I've kept my beat up old c1983 Aria RS Standard for many years. Well built (Matsumoku in Japan), nice slim neck and sounds Stratier than the Stratiest Strat! it might have only cost me $100 but has saved me at least $1000 as I don't need to buy the aforementioned USA Fender The Japanese electric guitars of c1980 -1986 generally from what I've seen, heard and read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretplay Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 We all seem to agree here. Made in Japan 70s 80s, Ibanez made wonderful guitars but the best for me is an Epiphone Casino made in the Matsumoku factory in Japan, as good if not better than a made in USA sixtys and a fraction of the price. If you can find one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8_4thesh0w Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 A 197? or 198? Gibson The Paul was my first electric guitar. Wish I still had it. I got one. It's a GIBSON L6-S. Something is very wrong when the Reissues are worth double the Original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I tend to think of the Yamaha SG2000 as vastly underrated.... Seriously, Pin?...... I presumed everyone else thought (like I do) that they are - and always have been - one of the finest solid-body electrics ever made. Not quite the right 'shape' for me - the edges (its and mine) all seemed to be in just the wrong places somehow - but craftsmanship and quality of the highest order. A very good mate had a slightly earlier and lower-in-the-range version and in terms of build quality and attention to detail it put all my Strats, Teles and my Music Man Sabre II to shame. Amazing guitars. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Underrated guitars seem to be my specialty. I have a Westbury Standard made by the Matsumoku factory in Japan; over 30 years old and still plays great. A Squier Anniversary M-70, a flat top LP style guitar with Duncan Design pickups, dead silent electronics, nice fretwork and neck; didn't need a thing done to it to improve it IMO. Washburn Idol Pro WI67, USA Duncan pickups stock, 18:1 Grover tuners. They're a strange looking guitar, probably why they seem underrated. Semi Hollow Jay Turser. Okay, it needed pickups and electronics replacement, but the bones were really great for an ES-335 style project guitar. I shopped around for a low cost alternative to an ES-335 for a long time and played Ibanez, Epiphone Dots, Douglass, Galveston, Oscar Schmidt and so on. I found the JT-133 online for a song (half the price of a Dot) so I took a chance. Plenty of finish faults, but it just has something about it's sound. It's just so darned musical. And a Yamaha AC3M, fantastic fully solid wood acoustic/electric, gaining in popularity, but still not considered on a level with Gibson, or Taylor or Martin. I think it compares extremely well to those three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Laugh at this if you will, but I'd say almost anything Epi is far underrated not just at its price point, but if properly set up and strung for what a player wants, at significantly more than price point. The exception at times has been in some of the electronics that have been hit and miss. The mag pup equipped Epis seem to be as good or better than most similar instruments regardless of price tag, but some of the AE guitars seem to have week pup and/or electronics - although I expect that to see the same change as with the Epi electrics. Another "batch" would include many, but not all, Japanese "patent infringement" guitars of the '70s. The old Guilds don't have the degree of "cult following" as some, but I'd match my Guild S100c from the early '70s against any other humbucker-equipped solidbody. Pretty, too, with the original carved acorns and oak leaves. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Epis, Gretsch 5120 and G100CE, Ibanez Artcore series... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Ziggy... You have a Gretsch G100ce too? Ain't a bad guitar at all. Works especially good for material like San Francisco Bay Blues. <grin> Like this little session a year and a half ago. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 You have a Gretsch G100ce too? No, but I've played one. In fact, I think I actually saw the exact one that you bought on line. Nice fiddle. I was in the market for a jazzzbox, and though Gretsches are not normally considered for that, I saw a youtube on it and decided I wanted one. Never pulled the trigger and ended up buying an Ibanez Artcore AFJ91. Played it next to an Epi Joe Pass, and had I not been worried about possible neck issues with the JP, I may have come home with it. All three great guitars, all three Chinese, and I, no doubt, would be happy with any of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Dunno about the Ibanez, but in ways I'd have preferred the Joe Pass. The longer scale Gretsch brings a slightly different approach in technique - and so it is played for more specific kinds of music and technique than my shorter-scale archtops. OTOH, as my wife suggests, it may not be bad to have guitars that are different instead of a stable of 20 of the same design. Still... soon after getting the Gretsch, I got an Eastman AR371CE that's pretty much a one-pup clone of an es175 - and it's a marvelous little guitar I'd recommend to anyone as a playing machine. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Forgot to mention my Ibanez AF55. The AF55 has been looked down on because of its flat finish, low cost, and did I mention its flat finish? It plays great, sounds really surprisingly good to me even with the stock ceramic pickups and I like the low luster satin finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmis Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Yeah, i forgot to mension the Ibanez artcore guitars, seriously underated guitars, they compare to my old artists really good maybe except pickups but that´s a matter of taste more than a quality issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I had an Ibanez AF75. It was a great guitar. But I wasn't using it so I sold it. I wish I hadn't now. I played a friend's guitar a while back and it was superb to play. It was a Yamaha RGX TT Ty Tabor (Kings X) Signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 i've had a few..... '68 Univox Deluxe Rosewood thinline '71 Electra SG '8? Series 10 Strat copy still have a few.... 1st yr. DeArmond by Guild X155 jazzbox '08 Agile AL3000 '08 SX SJM '57 '13 Fender Mexico Classic Player '60s Strat they play and sound great, w/o breaking my wallet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 i'm not sure how under rated it is/was, but in the 80's i had a BC Rico ( pre-BC Rich) Mockingbird. neck thu body, mahoghany ... really liked that guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReGuitar Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 I've kept my beat up old c1983 Aria RS Standard for many years. Well built (Matsumoku in Japan), nice slim neck and sounds Stratier than the Stratiest Strat! it might have only cost me $100 but has saved me at least $1000 as I don't need to buy the aforementioned USA Fender The Japanese electric guitars of c1980 -1986 generally from what I've seen, heard and read. Yep, Aria guitars made at Matsumoku Plant were nothing but beasts. We all seem to agree here. Made in Japan 70s 80s, Ibanez made wonderful guitars but the best for me is an Epiphone Casino made in the Matsumoku factory in Japan, as good if not better than a made in USA sixtys and a fraction of the price. If you can find one. Epi Casino's a classic. I played one that belonged to a friend of mine (1983 I believe). I found a 1966 for sale. So expensive. BR$ 21,000.00 = US$ 10,000.00 http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-577154335-epiphone-casino-1966-usa-original-da-epoca-beatles-lennon-_JM Forgot to mention my Ibanez AF55. The AF55 has been looked down on because of its flat finish, low cost, and did I mention its flat finish? It plays great, sounds really surprisingly good to me even with the stock ceramic pickups and I like the low luster satin finish. I'll have one of them someday... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Seriously, Pin?...... I presumed everyone else thought (like I do) that they are - and always have been - one of the finest solid-body electrics ever made. Not quite the right 'shape' for me - the edges (its and mine) all seemed to be in just the wrong places somehow - but craftsmanship and quality of the highest order. A very good mate had a slightly earlier and lower-in-the-range version and in terms of build quality and attention to detail it put all my Strats, Teles and my Music Man Sabre II to shame. Amazing guitars. P. I agree with you Pippy but the reason I say what say is that you never see anyone play them! I know Santana played an SG2000 is his early days before he was seduced by the "Dark Side" (PRS) but leaving aside Santana I have hardly ever seen anyone with one and that includes Pub bands. They seem strangely absent from the scene to me. The shape is fine for me - just like an extra thick SG - which I find makes the guitar almost as easily playable as an SG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hall Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 A 197? or 198? Gibson The Paul was my first electric guitar. Wish I still had it. The 197? . Purchased it new and I still love it today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buliwyf Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I've had a few I really liked that were underated and this one under $500.00 this Dillion birds in flight model.I was told they made under 10 of them and only a few with P90's.I did send the pu's out to be rewound to make them incredable sounding and I loved the birds on the set mahog neck especially for not being a PRS.The body was Swamp ash and it was a killer axe but dumb arse me sold it(I want it back bad). #2 is a $199.00 OLP MM1 a copy of a music man or a peavey wolfgang,I love the bolt on maple neck feels great and with the cheap bridge it stays in tune well.Not a bad photo flame top I wanted a gold one but after trying out the 9 they had in the store this one was the best in the bunch by far so purple it was.Definatly a hard rock guitar with just a volume knob and two pretty hot pu's.Good sound but compaired to my Peavey Wolfgang hardtailI had it was not as full a bit thin but still it could scream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReGuitar Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 Yes, one The Paul which I maintain to this day and an old Ibanez SG look alike I did part with long ago (should have kept it also!). A 197? or 198? Gibson The Paul was my first electric guitar. Wish I still had it. I had an Ibanez AF75. It was a great guitar. But I wasn't using it so I sold it. I wish I hadn't now. I played a friend's guitar a while back and it was superb to play. It was a Yamaha RGX TT Ty Tabor (Kings X) Signature. I've had a few I really liked that were underated and this one under $500.00 this Dillion birds in flight model.I was told they made under 10 of them and only a few with P90's.I did send the pu's out to be rewound to make them incredable sounding and I loved the birds on the set mahog neck especially for not being a PRS.The body was Swamp ash and it was a killer axe but dumb arse me sold it(I want it back bad). It seems like a lot of people regret selling their guitars. I myself sold a Fender Southern Cross that I wish I hadn't. Maybe we were not so experienced to realise how good they are without taking all our money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, a guy was being very grouchy about losing this or that guitar in trades over the years. Whereupon his lady wife suggested that she would grouch even worse if he traded even one more time: "If we can't afford to buy it outright, we can't afford it," she said. "I can't afford having to listen to you complain." In the many years following that conversation... there never again was a trade-in made. I have no idea, of course, who might have been involved in such a conversation. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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