Cheesy Guitars

[Izzy]

When you finally decide you're gonna play out, you want gear that is dependable (I figure). A guitar that goes out of tune, for example, is fail.

 

You'd think professional peeps would invest in something a little more...better.

Maybe they have upgraded the cheapos to the point that they are now playable, but why bother? o.O

Yes, I heard that tall pale dude from the White Stripes go on about getting a cheap guitar and picking a fight with it.

I've also seen him play really nice gear

 

Anyways, opinions and examples welcomed. Here's mine:

 

St Vincent with her Harmony Bobkat

[ksdaddy]

Sometimes junk just gets the sound they're after.

 

In 1986 a friend bought a Holiday electric at a yard sale for 25 cents. It was the same model as marketed under many names, but I believe it's birth name was the Harmony H45. It had been stored in the garage and had cat poop on the headstock. The finish was flaking off and looked like it had been through a fire. The tuners were solid blocks of rust, as were the pots. I repainted it black, gave it working pots and tuners, and sold it for $69.99 in my shop.

 

The tone of that hollow chunk of plywood and the one weak pickup in the neck position...I've never quite gotten over it.

 

Of course now H45s are friggin' collectors items and I can't touch one under $400.

[Dub-T-123]

Some of the Harmony guitars are actually really badass. My friend has a Stratotone exactly like this one, and it is one of the best sounding guitars I've ever played. It has to be the early version with the set neck, which had a really thick neck with no trussrod and just sounds glorious. These are not cheap at all either. They look hideous, but strum one chord and it's so loud and resonant with lots of sweet harmonics, it just sounds really good

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/112044877214

 

There are lots of artists using Harmony guitars. Harmony actually made more instruments than Gibson or Fender back in the day

[ksdaddy]

I can remember seeing a refinished Stratotone at a yard sale for $80 and I turned my nose up.

 

*sigh*

[glp2012]

Yeah, some guitars are pure junk. Just because someone can play guitar, doesn't mean they know how to pick, uh, I mean choose, a guitar.

[rct]

We couldn't wait to not have to use those things. Hip and cool and edge-y as it may be, there is no going back to Night Train once you've become accustomed to Clicquot.

 

rct

[charlie brown]

Well, it's all relative. Some folks think Squier and Epiphone are "Junk" gutiars, and wouldn't be

caught dead, with anything other than CS Gibson, Fender, Gretsch, Rickenbacker, and/or other "boutique"

guitars. Other's can't get "their sound," from those, but only from their favorite "junk" gear.

Whatever works!

 

I have (so far) 2 "junk" guitars, a Dano 12-string, and Squier Bass VI, that are both not only fun,

and easy to play, but sound Great! The only "mod" I've done (for personal preference) was to add

concentric pots, to the Dano 12-string, to have both volume and tone on each pickup. It came "stock"

with only one volume and one tone control. So, I did change that, but that's all. The "lipstick"

pickups are quite "chimey!" And no, it's not the quality of my Ric's...but, it's somewhat easier to

play in the respect that it has a bit wider neck, so fingering is easier, than on the Ric's...even

though I'm "used to," and don't mind, the Ric's and their idiosyncrasies.

 

The Squier Bass VI, is a DREAM, especially at it's (current) price point! Nearly unbelievable!

 

IMHO, as always...

 

 

CB

[merciful-evans]

Where I come from cheesey doesnt mean cheap. It means...

 

 

 

 

[sparquelito]

I must confess, one of my favorite guitars is an Austin strat-copy that I picked up for $79 used.

 

It stays in tune, it plays and sounds great, and it travels well to and from gigs.

It's ideal for adverse weather gigs and load-ins/load-outs where you don't want to risk damaging the actual Gibson or Fenders.

 

 

This all reminds me of Daryl Hall's current musical director on Live From Dary's House, Shane Theriot.

 

He could afford just about any top-of-the-line guitar, but he loves playing old Hamers instead.

:)

 

[surfpup]

I have absolutely nothing but love for cheap guitars as long as they play and sound good. Some do. Some don't. One could say the same about expensive guitars I imagine (though I would not know).

 

Yesterday I played a buddy's Korean-made Dean Cadillac, and it was pretty sweet. Cost him $200.

 

I personally find the sweet spot is between the low and high priced offerings. I don't own a single guitar worth more than $1000 (ish). But I also don't own any worth less than $400 (ish). This is the price point in which I seem to find the most bang for the buck.

 

Of course some of this is just economics. If money was no option, would I be loaded up with high-end, custom shop and signature models? Maybe. Couldn't say, since money is an object.

[merciful-evans]

I have absolutely nothing but love for cheap guitars as long as they play and sound good. Some do. Some don't. One could say the same about expensive guitars I imagine (though I would not know).

 

 

Cost by itself doesn't make any difference. My modified Korean(wiring, pickups, and switch) Squier Esprit cost £375 + £200 for mods. It plays better than most +1k guitars at music shops near me such as PMT, Guitar Village & Andertons. It sounds better than one of my own Gibsons.

 

The Hagstrom Deuce cost even less. I had pots, switch, pots and jack socket upgraded on it. Its pickups are the original cheap Chinese ones. It sounds sweeter than all but one of my solid bodies.

 

I wouldn't use either of them at a really important gig. Not because they're not good enough, but just to pander to peoples preconceptions.

 

Resale values would be poor, but it doesn't matter because I'm not going to sell them.

[charlie brown]

Well, I never "pander" to people's expectations, anyway. Especially, these days! Too "old and cranky" to

worry about such. The only people (in my humble experience) that ever knew the difference in what I was,

or still am using, were the "musician" types. The bulk of the audience, or dance crowds couldn't have cared

less, or even would have known the difference.

 

Besides, I can make my (now) 7000 dollar "Lucille" sound like a POS guitar, by virtue of my (still) less than

awesome playing! LOL So, every one of my guitars, regardless of price, is still better than I deserve!

 

CB

[rct]

It stays in tune, it plays and sounds great, and it travels well to and from gigs.

 

That's all of my guitars, no matter the cost.

 

It's ideal for adverse weather gigs and load-ins/load-outs where you don't want to risk damaging the actual Gibson or Fenders.

 

Why would I have guitars I wouldn't use? Bad weather and load-ins/load-outs(whatever danger that is) are the least of my guitars worries.

 

rct

[Izzy]

I can remember seeing a refinished Stratotone at a yard sale for $80 and I turned my nose up.

 

*sigh*

 

Man, talk about a regret thread for you This and the collector guitar you sold for cheap...smh.

 

I know Kurt Cobain recorded Polly, I heard in an interview, with a horrible acoustic that hardly kept in tune. Any other examples of guitars that seem unworthy of their players?

[sparquelito]

 

Why would I have guitars I wouldn't use? Bad weather and load-ins/load-outs(whatever danger that is) are the least of my guitars worries.

 

 

 

Eh, I'm just weird I guess.

 

If it might rain or storm, I'm less likely to bring the pricier guitars to a job.

 

We played a nice sunny afternoon wedding gig at Ditto Landing two years ago, for instance.

The weather forecast didn't include rain, and we were happy about that.

(The set up was in front of a huge stone fireplace under a covered pavilion, but there were no walls to keep wind and rain out, should a storm happen to roll in.)

 

I had my Les Paul and my Telecaster along, and wasn't much worried about anything.

 

Then two things happened during the course of the afternoon/evening;

* Some strange dude who (as it turned out) wasn't even part of the wedding party tried to make off with the Les Paul when my back was turned. Luckily one of the guests caught him at it, and scared him away.

and

* Right in the middle of our last set, an unexpected thunderstorm appeared and there ensued much wind and rain.

We had to scoop up everything on the outer edges of the stage and relocate a lot of our gear to the middle of the dance floor.

 

The gully-washer only lasted about a half hour, but everything got wet from all the mist and rain spatters.

I spent an extra hour that evening drying everything off and setting fans to aerate all my gear overnight.

 

Anyway, that's how it is for me.

I'm just finicky about such things I guess.

 

[jdgm]

For many years the late J.J. Cale used this Harmony which he...uh...extensively modded -

 

 

 

[Izzy]

For many years the late J.J. Cale used this Harmony which he...uh...extensively modded -

 

 

 

Wow! That thing was all kinds of messed with.

[MichaelT]

In 1983, I couldn't afford a real Gibson Flying V and a store where I was giving guitar lessons had a Dixon Flying V for 200 dollars. It had some dings and some ugly hardware on it and the whammy bar would take it out of tune every time I used it. I put a DiMarzio Double Whammy pickup in it, had some neck and fret work done and put a Kahler whammy on it. It has a big chunky neck on it but it's solid. I put 300 dollars of hardware on it and it played great. That guitar was my go to guitar for until I got my Gibson V the next year. It went on the road with me and I'd use it for songs where I needed a whammy bar and didn't need the 22nd fret, since it only had 21. It stayed in tune perfectly, played as well as my Gibson and sounded amazing. It was always on stage with me and was a great backup if I happened to break a string while on stage, which was only a couple of times. It's beat up, has a few dings, and has seen some wear but it still plays as well as it did 34 years ago. My friend had a Dixon Les Paul and it was pretty awesome. It had a glued on neck, arch top, looked like a real Les Paul and the neck felt like a Les Paul. The pickups were junk but he replaced those with DiMarzio's and got a great sound out of it.

 

I've had a couple other cheap guitars, including a couple of Series 10 guitars that were cheap, looked pretty but played like crap, and were hardly used. I had a generic Fender strat one time that was my slide playing guitar since it had that sound and the strings were high enough to use it and had heavier strings. My Gibson always had a fuller tone but when put through a Randall stack, both sounded pretty good.

 

I played with quite a few people in the 80's and 90's that used various BC Rich guitars and that just wasn't what I was looking for. I liked my V's back in the day, which some people might say where cheesy. I knew a few people around here that were looking for the old Silvertone guitars, just for that look and sound. The ones I've played, I didn't care much for but with a little work, some might be playable. I had a few students with Harmony guitars and the ones I've experienced didn't stay in tune very well.