cheap electric guitar advice thread

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any recommendations for cheap (under $200) gibson knockoffs? i want something short-scale and sustainy and easy-to-play that will last forever. it has to look good too.

i just bid on this. it has nothing to do with what i'm looking for and i have no idea what i'll do with it. i was seduced by the "clean lines".

― dan (dan), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

Are we talking lespaulish or SGish?

― John Justen, the archetypal shit head generation (johnjusten), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

sgish or lpjrish

― dan (dan), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

The Gibson-Baldwin slave labor Les Pauls and SGs are what you want. They're shit but they're right on your price point. And they do look very good if you don't know what a real one looks like up close. That's as far as it goes. Since you don't spend a lot of money for them, it doesn't hurt as much after you've queered your desire to play electric guitar with a crappy beginner's instrument made by the coolies.

Hey, hey, how are the slave labor guitars: Gibson-Baldwin Signatures and SX/Agiles

― George 'the Animal' Steele, Wednesday, 31 May 2006 00:28 (nineteen years ago)

i don't want a cheap, poorly made les paul or sg. i want a twenty or thirty year old japanese guitar with that's gibson inspired as opposed to strat inspired.

― dan (dan), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 04:48 (nineteen years ago)

unfortunately quality stuff from japan around the time generally falls into the 'vintage lawsuit' category- the Ibanez stuff especially. you're not going to find anything that fits that description for under two hundred bucks.

― b mulvey, Wednesday, 31 May 2006 07:09 (nineteen years ago)

Yup. Might be searching for the impossible, along with, well, everybody else who plays guitar.

― John Justen, the archetypal shit head generation (johnjusten), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

JJ HOW DO I MAGICK CHEAP LAP STEEL INTO MY LIFE???

― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 16:43 (nineteen years ago)

BUY MINE. NOT KIDDING.

― John Justen, the archetypal shit head generation (johnjusten), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

We might want to define cheap, I suppose.

― John Justen, the archetypal shit head generation (johnjusten), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

i want a twenty or thirty year old japanese guitar with that's gibson inspired

Eighteen years ago I would have sold you my old Kent which was a Japanese (Teisco-rebrand) Les Paul Black Beauty with "gold" hardware for $35. It was the right vintage for you, cheap and poorly made.
Like the Gibson-Baldwins, it was good for queering the desire to pick up the axe and play for long periods of time.

The next Gibson Jap knockoff I had was a bolt-on Hondo Pro II. It was workmanlike but didn't come in under $200 new. And lawsuit-bait Yamaha SBG's (cut like SG's with Les Paul thickness, endorsed by Carlos Santan for awhile) are definitely going to be nowhere near $200, by contrast. I have one and they're extremely well made and now legitimately vintage.

― George 'the Animal' Steele, Wednesday, 31 May 2006 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

Guitar Center also has some Epiphone Les Paul Jr bolt-on one pickup hybrids well under $200. I've seen them and similarly designed and built "SGs" in the local pawn shops. They fit the bill as wooden rubbish nicely although maybe not quite as rubbishy as the Gibson-Baldwins, for some reason.

― George 'the Animal' Steele, Wednesday, 31 May 2006 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

HOW MUCH?

― gbx (skowly), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 21:24 (nineteen years ago)

like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-KENT-SG-GIBSON-BODY-TYPE-6strg-ELECTRIC-GUITAR_W0QQitemZ7419427994QQcategoryZ47073QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

― 6335, Wednesday, 31 May 2006 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, that looks about the quality of old Kents. My friend had one that was similar -- it hurt your hands to play it -- although his may have had no name on the headstock. Either that or the name decal wore off.

The switches sure look familiar although my LP Kent actually had a Gibson-type toggle. I believe the Kent name on mine was a decal. Brrr, brings back the bad old days of guitar lessons while wrestling a craptastic axe.

― George 'the Animal' Steele, Wednesday, 31 May 2006 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/6/2/1/338621.jpg

This is the limited set-neck, not to be confused with the no good very bad GC-special bolt-on. A stretch at $299, but tempting. (For those keeping score, it's a P100 in there).

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 1 June 2006 01:26 (nineteen years ago)

Anyone know anything about the Hofner Colorama? Would seem to fit the bill at $199 (inc. gig bag!) Available in black or cherry with P90s or mini-buckers...

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbase/pics/products/0/2/6/403026.jpg

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 1 June 2006 01:42 (nineteen years ago)

and for a hundred dollars more than the epiphone, you can pick up a real-deal, usa made, gibson melody maker. (around say 350-4 on ebay regularly). not pretty- crap finish/no pickguard/narrow headstock etc- but one real p-90 = the rock machine. if you insist on prettiness, the best LP knockoffs are supposedly the Agiles, and are cheaper than epiphones.

honestly, even with the proliferation/total assimilation of import guitars these days, you'd be hard pressed to find something that plays great, has tons of sustain, and lasts forever for anything under a thousand bucks. and even then, it's down to finding 'the one.'

― b mulvey, Thursday, 1 June 2006 05:13 (nineteen years ago)

I will respectfully disagree. The mid-price stuff available right now is the best it has ever been.

― John Justen, Penis-melting Zionist robot combs (johnjusten), Thursday, 1 June 2006 05:41 (nineteen years ago)

what kind of bass amps are you looking at for this guitar?

― Q('.'Q) (eman), Thursday, 1 June 2006 11:19 (nineteen years ago)

oh, mos def, cheap to mid stuff is the best it's ever been. i simply caught a bit of a vibe from the OP that he/she was looking for THE ONE, which rarely happens (IMO) in the sub-$500, even sub-$1000 range.

and i dunno, maybe this makes me sound like a snob, but wouldn't a grand be mid-price? if thats what american std teles and strats are going for new and all.

― b mulvey, Friday, 2 June 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

JJ i still wanna lap steel. but i think we have different concepts of cheap.

― gbx (skowly), Friday, 2 June 2006 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

NAME YOUR CHEAP.

You are talking lap, not pedal steel here, right?

― John Justen, Penis-melting Zionist robot combs (johnjusten), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

Under $200, over $100 is what I'm talking about here.

― John Justen, Penis-melting Zionist robot combs (johnjusten), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

Anybody want to buy a Farfisa Mini-compact? An accordian?

Moving sucks.

― John Justen, Penis-melting Zionist robot combs (johnjusten), Friday, 2 June 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, lap. and that cheap might be my kind of cheap!

also: plz to rate lil smokeys. tho, maybe those should get their own thread

― gbx (skowly), Friday, 2 June 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

plz to rate lil smokeys. tho, maybe those should get their own thread

Love mine. Definitely deserves own thread.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Friday, 2 June 2006 21:05 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, hey Dan, congrats on the Westone :)

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 3 June 2006 00:12 (nineteen years ago)

First review I've seen of Gibson-Baldwin Signature SG. Ouch.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Baldwin/Signature_SG_SESGWRCH-1.html

― Urnst Kouch (Urnst Kouch), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

thanks for the congrats on the westone. maybe it will play as nice as it looks.

i've decided that i want something like a les paul jr (dbl cutaway, p90), that i need to double my budget to $400, and that i'm looking for a tokai "love rock junior tv".

― dan (dan), Tuesday, 6 June 2006 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

Why anyone would buy anything other than a Subway guitar blows my mind. They're cheap. They're better than any $2000 Gibson. Call Fatdog and get one.

http://www.fatdawg.com/creations.html

― Hot Hot Heat (Hot Hot Heat), Monday, 12 June 2006 05:08 (nineteen years ago)

under 200 = for shame.

under 500 = not lame.

you buy cheap you buy twice (or more) but then also "cheap" varies I spoze

― not not eat (aWESome), Saturday, 17 June 2006 03:08 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

cheap can be good, depending. If you want to emulate classic sounds, that's one type or value of guitar, if you're simply happy to invent noise (a la sonic youth), pretty much anything will do. I'm a sucker for supposed past-it keyboards, be they farfisa, bontempi, casio or yamaha! Obscure mid-late 80s stuff is the best value at the moment.

― Mike Fibes, Monday, 28 August 2006 11:28 (nineteen years ago)

Pawn shops in my area almost always have a dizzying array of knockoff guitars of various sorts.

That said, if under $200 is the threshold, I'd probably rather have a new, clean Yamaha Anything than a dusty No-name Mystery from 1982. The cheap new guitar might sound generic and have substandard components, but that can be helped. Pickups and tuning machines can be changed. The sustain and whatnot can come from ye pedalboard. Least I know it won't be irreparably warped or full of termites or smell like Slash's ass.

― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Monday, 28 August 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

Squire.

― The GZeus (The GZeus), Monday, 28 August 2006 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

Well, the original poster wanted a Gibson knockoff. Ain't no Squier SG copy.

(And, FWIW, the price delta between a Squier Tele and a MIM Standard Strat or Tele is small enough that I'm not sure I'd recommend a Squier anymore. Another 75 bucks and you can have "Fender" on the headstock.)

― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Monday, 28 August 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

Um. Squier tele - $169.99. Mex Tele $369.99. Pretty significant if you ask me.

― John Justen, All Dude Dual Groom Swordfight Revue (johnjusten), Monday, 28 August 2006 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

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