Cheap guitars...why not?

[Bruno]

What do you think about cheap guitars?
Browsing through a shop and another I found a 6-string certainly not bad: Ibanez SA360 (http://www.75x.eu/url/=aftrzb ). Low price (340euro), SSH, mahogany body with flame top (I don't know the tickness), 3piece maple neck.

I have two fender american strat sc pup, a used JB and a black TUSQ XL nut costs less than 6 euro. I have half a mind...or not?

 

[Just Another Smith]

Ibanez makes a really good guitar.  I really like the SA360, nice looking instrument.

 

[stubhead]

I saw a lot of the sub-$800 guitars giving lessons, and the Ibanez and Schecter/ESP guitars were far and away the best. Ibanez has been following the Ronald McDonald business plan for 25 years or so - get 'em young with the Happy Meals, they'll be hooked for life. A lot of younger guitarists don't even lust for Gibsons or Fenders anymore - they want custom shop Ibeni, instead.

 

[Bruno]

A guy who plays guitar for a few months, told me the other day: "Hey Bruno, tell me where you bought your Suhr. My teacher says I'm learning well, so I guess it's time to change guitar"

In any case better spending money buying guitars than in various junk that can hurt...

 

[Graffiti62]

While the world of inexpensive guitars has produced much better products than it ever has in the past, there's really only one argument that I have with cheap stuff. I always have a hard time finding anything cheap with some neck on it. Ibanez has always been known for skinny necks and skinny nuts, and many follow course, mainly to make life a little easier on young hands, and I can understand that. Personally, I like a neck that requires you to execute a little effort to wrap your thumb around to do a barre chord.

 

[duosonic]

if it feels good and stays in tune I say go for it.  If not pass.

 

[stubhead]

I usually play my Schecter 7-strings because they have a nice meaty neck - Warmoth only offers their 7's in standard thin, and while I made one of those, the neck is just too small for my 54-year-old hands. Warmoth's objection to offering any options on the 7-string line is that they don't hardly sell any; I would posit that they don't hardly sell any because they don't offer any options! If you spend a little time over at the seven string forum, you see that there are only two kinds of guitars in the world: Ibanez and all those who copy the Wizard neck; and Schecters. Well, three, but the third kind is the fat hollow body custom jazz 7-strings, starting around $2,000 and going up. The idea that seven strings are only useful for screaming death metal and mellow fingerpicked jazz is firmly entrenched. Clearly there's no style in between worth bothering with. :icon_scratch:

 

[vic108]

those Fender Squire '51 were great...

second best $99 I ever spent

 

[swarfrat]

While I concurr with your opinion of thick meaty necks, you hit the nail on the head about the public perception of 7 string guitars and neck profile preferences. Having worked in a shop where programs were parametrically generated though, it makes me wonder though... Neck profile differences are so slight that it can't possibly be blank size.

 

[Johnfv]

You can find great deals out there. I have an Epiphone LP Special (set neck 2 x P90 in TV Yellow) that I paid less than $300 for new - the thing is fantastic. I played a lot of budget Gibsons back in the day and this Epi nails it.  I recently got a new ESP EC1000 MGO for about $500, again excellent.  The ESP came with a Tonepros bridge and Duncan Alnico Pro II pups, top quality gear on a "budget" guitar.

 

[Just Another Smith]

I tried out a Charvel Desolation (a production guitar with a compound radius neck).  If I wasn't on a budget (with a Warmoth build in the works) I would've bought it.  What a great guitar.

 

[DangerousR6]

I tried out a Charvel Desolation (a production guitar with a compound radius neck).  If I wasn't on a budget (with a Warmoth build in the works) I would've bought it.  What a great guitar.

Those are made in China, I looked at buying one to until I found out they were made in China...

 

[Tempest]

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/squier-classic-vibe-telecaster-custom-electric-guitar/584389000064000?src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=453618826

^ a friend bought one of these....I was veeeerrrryyy impressed.  Really nice instrument.  Most squiers I've played felt they were gonna fall apart in my hands but this thing is solid