Cheap no name stuff

Alfang

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Having put together 4 warmoths using all good hardware, and ending up with 4 awesome guitars. I have an addiction that needs to be fed.

I have considered buying a few of warmoths cheapest neck and bodies, and finding the cheapest pickups and hardware to install in them.
Afterall, the quality of a $150.00 warmoth neck is the exact same as a $500.00 warmoth neck right?  Both made with pride and passion by skilled craftsmen

I bet I could still have a great guitar and save a few hundred bucks in the process.

I found a few websites, and there are more like these      http://www.guitarpartsusa.com/cat--Pickguards-Assemblies--MAIN8:30
                                                                                  http://www.guitarpartscentral.com/electronics-guitar-humbuckers-c-26_63.html?cat=Guitar_Parts_Guitar%20Humbuckers

I am wondering if anyone has tried any of this so called low end hardware, and how do they perform?   

for $30.00 bucks for a prewired 3 pickup pickguard, it might not satisfy some hardcore " Tone Chasers"  but, it also might not sound so bad,  Gotta be worth a try huh?

Fellas, I gotta fever, and the only perscription, is more warmoth guitars.

 
To paraphrase the famous saying:  Its not good to spend too much money, but far worse to spend too little.  If you spend too much all you're out is a bit of money.  But, if you spend too little, you're out the money and you still don't have what you really want.

There is such a thing as good economy.  There is another being a cheap bas'tid.  And yet another just being plain ol' foolish.

Which category will describe you?
 
If you check the Hot Sale items, they usually have a neck or two with a slight cosmetic blemish for $125; if you're going to paint the body anyway, you can pickup a poplar body for around the same price, or get a

If you buy one of those $30 dollar prewired pickguards, you can expect the same tone as those "first guitars" in a pile at the exit at Walmart.

If you're looking for a deal on pickups, check the GFS pickups at guitarfetish.com; the cheap stuff there IS cheap stuff, but their more expensive pickups are decent. The '64 stagger grey bottoms are nearly as good as Fender CS and are $70 a set. For humbuckers, the Tele Deluxe style split humbuckers are OK, but buy 2 bridge PUs, avoid the neck version, it's a different pickup. I just bought a set of the Vintage '59s and they're OK as well; both those humbuckers are under $80 a set. The humbuckers aren't as good as a $200 set, but they're decent. AVOID anything cheap on that website like the plague.

So... $250-325 for Warmoth body/sale neck, $80 for pickups, $70 for a Gotoh bridge/tuners, another $50 or so for the rest of the hardware and you've got a decent axe for around $500. Buy a std. alder/ash body and you can stain/dye and tung oil it for about $25 worth of supplies...
 
-CB- said:
To paraphrase the famous saying:  Its not good to spend too much money, but far worse to spend too little.  If you spend too much all you're out is a bit of money.  But, if you spend too little, you're out the money and you still don't have what you really want.

There is such a thing as good economy.  There is another being a cheap bas'tid.  And yet another just being plain ol' foolish.

Which category will describe you?

CB- excuse me, I'm not sure what your trying to say, I will have to have my wife interpret for me in the morning , as I am a guy who needs straight answers and statements, I cant take a hint well.

Cheap bastard is not it, money is not the issue at all. I figure thers plenty of products out there that are priced the way they are because of an attached name.
If I have the major components ie..the body and neck of good warmoth quality,and a 30 dollar prewired pickguard assembly sucks, all is not lost, throw it away and try something else.

I really was just wondering if anyone has tried any of the low dollar stuff, and whats their thought. I wasn't looking for Dr.Phil

thanks Jack for your NICE to the point reply
 
I don't think he was trying to be a dick Alfgang. I think I would use the cheap stuff when it came to the tuners (when using a floyd rose locking nut), pickguard, pots, hardware nuts and bolts but when it came to the pickups I'd go ahead and spend more of my money. I'd rather spend more money on something I'll stick with than cheap stuff I'll toss to replace with the expensive stuff. :icon_scratch:
 
Cd  Ok, thanks for that, much appreciated, I always value your input, but some people dont have to try.

I wasn't asking about just pickups by the way, I was asking about all parts beyond a good warmoth neck and body.

I was hoping for some replies from anyone who has tried any of that stuff, Not really for someones guessing what the performance of a part MIGHT be based on its price.

Nor was I looking for what catagory of cheap bastard or foolish economist I am

I've got nearly 200 posts here, and Never have I attacked a persons character based on any post or reply they have made here, I am not a know it all, nor am I any better than the newest guitar building nut here. And evidently based on the replies so far, no one has ever bought a $12.00 locking nut instead of the normal $34.00
No One has bought a set of tuners for 15 bucks.
No one has tried the floyd locking trem for 50 bucks instead of 170
Time to put this thread to rest
 
Alfang said:
-CB- said:
To paraphrase the famous saying:  Its not good to spend too much money, but far worse to spend too little.  If you spend too much all you're out is a bit of money.  But, if you spend too little, you're out the money and you still don't have what you really want.

There is such a thing as good economy.  There is another being a cheap bas'tid.  And yet another just being plain ol' foolish.

Which category will describe you?

CB- excuse me, I'm not sure what your trying to say,

I'm trying to say, its ok to pinch a penny, but dont throw yer money away on crap.

Yes, your basic straight grained black dot maple neck from Warmoth is as good as the fanciest ones.... thats being economically efficient, and a good thing indeed!~

Yes, you might wait forever and a day to see if what you're interested in ever goes on sale, or otherwise becomes price-reduced.... doing without because you dont want to spend the regular going price.  Thats the cheap bas'tid part....

But, if you buy crap, all you got is less money and crap.  Even FREE garbage is still GARBAGE, dont use it, because even if its free, GARBAGE still stinks and tends to make everything close to it smell bad too.  So if you use GARBAGE  <--- thats being foolhardy.

Again, which will you be?

Thanks for allusion to Dr Phil!~

As Thomas Tusser said - A fool and his money are soon parted.  Choose the right stuff, get the right gear, but also pay the right price.
 
i don't think ~CB~ was attacking YOU.....

he was voicing his opinions on CHEAP GEAR
and the mindset that wants to pinch pennies ALL THE TIME.....

Do yah thing, it's yer nickle, but me, I like the good stuff!

 
Why not try it. Myself I would google and see what comes up about guitar parts. Then I would select what I think might suit my tastes if that doesn't work I would sell it to someone that is beginning to play guitar. What a treat with that great Warmoth neck. :headbang1:

:doh: You know that's not a bad idea, feed the habit to build, and make a little cash to keep feeding your habit. :redflag:
 
CB you havent got a clue do you?  Why don't you go back to the beginning and start over.

All I asked was , has anyone tried some of the no name hardwaer on the market, and do they have ant input as to its performance
 
I have to back CB and Vic on this, I made those kinda mistakes when I was younger and never had a guitar that sounded like I wanted, as I got older I learned, its better to bide your time and get the Real Deal than to try and get a steal of a deal, because if your guitar really is an extension of you and your expressions, .....well what does it say if it only sounds OK or isn't the best but is still functional?????

Did ya wanna see Stevie Ray Vaughan, .....or did ya wanna see Timmy give me that Bong, who sounds alot like him, but isn't...not really???

Sorry guys, but if Truth is spoken, ya can't ignore it because your mad at the messenger................ :dontknow:

Cheap is Cheap; plain and simple, and usually for a reason...........
 
I agree and disagree with the guys above..
On some things you shouldn't cut costs, but I think that you can make really nice 'budget' guitars.
2 of my projects were like that - an example:

the red strat that I builtfor my friend in Holland :
- both the (swamp ash) body and the (lighly flamed) maple neck were a little below 150$ each from the showcase
- roller string trees from warmoth - can't remember how much, can't be a lot
- a mildly used Gotoh Wilkinson Trem on ebay - below 50$
- Planet wave auto trim tuners on Ebay - 50$
- lsr nut on ebay - $ 20
- a pick-up assembly with 1 Motherbucker and 2 MM hotrails for 100$
- bottle of red stain from woodburst - $8
- bottle of birchwood casy gunstock oil - $6
- I still had the other hardware (strap holders, jack plate, etc) lying around the house

that is about $534, and I am not kidding, that thing sounds and pays better than your higher end HSS american Strats..or actually most 'off the shelf' guitars!
I know that the motherbucker is a kind of a low budget pick-up, but when I saw him at a gig trying it out for the first time, he got a lot of great comments on his new tone!
 
I totally forgot about something.. I actually had the same thought a while ago, and built a strat for about 60-70 $..
all parts where new and from the type of stores you mentioned... I believe the pu assembly was from guitarparts central
It just started out because I bought a  real cheap neck, just to try out the tru-oil process (before I ruined a warmoth)
the neck turned out so nice and straight, so I decided to use it for a cheap low budget project.
and surprise surprise, it turned out really nice... I would say quite a bit better than an affinity squier strat.

oh and it is called... 'the fecker' (my favorite word while I was living in Ireland for 7 years)
http://feckerstrat.blogspot.com/
 
Budget is good!  Cheap... is cheap!

I've found used bridges and tuners.  Good stuff, just used.  I've found "pulled" parts (all my Tele bridges were gotten when owners "upgraded" to better stuff, leaving the Fender items in the case, go figure).

You can find used OEM pickups (just got some burstbuckers that way... less than half price)

You can go with a satin finish - Warmoth or self applied - its cheaper

You can go with less frills.

You can have a SOLID tone machine for little money....

I'll not post the picture again, but consider that BFG Les Paul I just got.  The guitar was $700 to me (yes folks, small dealers will sell way below the prices of those "big box" online rip off places that go by the initials of MF or M123 or ZZ ... etc etc).  Did some minor finish work, rewired it (hated the kill switch) but there you have a solid instrument (well, its hollow, but solidly made), good pickups, good hardware, hard case... less than $850.  Budget it was.  Cheap it was not.
 
Cheap tuners are frustrating, you know you don't want that hassle. You could maybe find some nicer, used tuners on ebay-- I'm sure they still work fine, and how dinged up can a tuner really get?

I seriously recommend against cheap pots, I had to completely rewire a friend's mid-80s peavy cheapo bass because he decided to "fix" it up with new electronics, thinking clean-looking meant better, but they crackled as much as the originals.

I completely support the idea of grabbing the cheapest warmoth necks and bodies though. Then, you can do whatever you want to them, and you won't feel as badly if a finish or routing job goes awry.
 
There are cheeeeeeeep tuners out there too.  Like 9.99 per set of six!  Better to stick with mid level (pricewise) or better.

How dinged can used ones get?  PLENTY!  They get bent shafts!  They get corrosion, they get busted housings... gotta watch for all that.

Cheap pots 99c or less.  CTS pots from Warmoth... what... under $6 each as I recall.  Not a huge savings for quality (although ya gotta really sand those Warmoth pot bodies to get solder to stick... )
 
i was skeptical but i checked out the sites. i think that much of this stuff is useable and worth it. the prewired pickguard has 500k pots so it should sound bright. if they don't krackle you can go to radio shack and get a 500k resistor and wire it across the #1 and 3 eyelets on the pot to make it 250k. ofcorse this will alter the taper a bit. if you don't like the electrics change them for $30 you don't lose much and you still have a pickguard. i don't think one pickup is supirior to another. just have different sound and there are many easy ways to alter a pickup to different that don't cost an arm and a leg. so i say go for it.
 
I think you can have cheap and nasty and you can have extremely good value and these are 2 different things.

I'm soon to embark on a telecaster 12 string project using Warmoth parts. I'll be going for a standard swap ash tele body for $170 and a stock Maple/maple 12 string neck. It won't look a million dollars but I only care about tone so...

I'll use the stock fender strat neck pickup I have lying around from a recent pickup  upgrade (it’s a decent pickup). As I've saved cash here my bridge pickup will be a Seymour duncan (you can't cut corners here in my opinion.

Bridge will be gotoh and tuning heads the cheaper gotoh ones from warmoth. Electronics wil just be from axesrus in england (cheap but quality stuff).

PS. I recently tried a Peavey Valveking 112, has anyone tried one of these? Yes its made in China but it blows away the Marshall TSL in my opinion for half the price, just goes to show price isn't everything.
 
i bought one of the strat three pup pickguards for a friend to put on a partsocaster for him from guitar parts usa and they were about like a strat affinity set noisy thin and not verry pleasing to the ears. you can find great deals on good hardwear if you spend some time looking you can pickup genuine fender stuff on ebay (ie tuners bridges and such) its the way i can buy good stuff cheep alot of guys ther have real parts stores where you can pick up good parts cheep i bought a wilky trem new for $40.00 alot better than retail price and i got sperzel tuners for 43.00  so i was happy with this deal
 
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