I feel bad for the kids who got these for Christmas...

[Graffiti62]

I was at Sam's Club a couple of weeks ago with the Mrs. and I stumbled upon one of these for a little over $100 I believe:

http://www.fender.com/starcaster/

The price didn't lead me to believe that this was going to be anything grand, but I'm open minded. I played a couple of chords on it, and was suprised that the last person who handled it must have tuned it. The electronics sounded okay for a first guitar--tinny, but I've heard worse. The thing that got to me was after about 30 seconds of playing, I looked at my left hand and saw my skin all scratched and scraped up. I should have taken a picture to show you guys how bad it was. the fret ends were left razor sharp!

I feel sad for the kids who received these serrated knives under the tree earlier today. These guitars are normally not bought by those who do are familiar with music stores and really just see that they can scratch something off of the wish list during a Sam's Club visit. To make matters worse, these are the same people who won't know where to go to get the problem remedied, and if they do find out where to do it, the price of the repair may be nearly as much as the cost of the instrument to begin with.

I guess that this is the same rule that applies for everything Wal-Mart stands for:  Never buy a musical instrument/computer/firearm from the same place you buy your undies and socks at.

 

[Alfang]

I have seen those guitars out there, I believe , but I may be wrong, they come with an amp, cord and electronic tuner for 100-150 bucks

Think about this, it might be some future Guitar god that gets his start on one of those, so 30 years from now hes gonna pay $30,000 to find an old starcaster in like new condition because that's what his first guitar was,

 

[dbw]

That's a hell of a price... still you gotta round over those fret ends   I agree that that's pretty irresponsible of the manufacturer/distributor/store.

 

[dmraco]

Actually Fender...SQUIER...makes a really cool 1st time guitar...a 3/4 size strat...about $100 bucks.  My 9 year old son has one and the frets and tone are great for a 100 guitar.  He has been playing it for about a year.  The only real weak spot are the machine heads....they suck.

For christmas he did step up...to a WARMOTH LP!!! :rock-on:

 

[dbw]

You are the best dad ever.

 

[Ang3lus]

Actually Fender...SQUIER...makes a really cool 1st time guitar...a 3/4 size strat...about $100 bucks.  My 9 year old son has one and the frets and tone are great for a 100 guitar.  He has been playing it for about a year.  The only real weak spot are the machine heads....they suck.

For christmas he did step up...to a WARMOTH LP!!! :rock-on:

you destroyed any notion for him of ever getting a gibson :[]
I have to admit, ever since i got my warmoth LP, I kinda step away from gibsons, they feel so akward to me, can't believe I wanted one so bad.

 

[dbw]

Actually Fender...SQUIER...makes a really cool 1st time guitar...a 3/4 size strat...about $100 bucks.  My 9 year old son has one and the frets and tone are great for a 100 guitar.  He has been playing it for about a year.  The only real weak spot are the machine heads....they suck.

For christmas he did step up...to a WARMOTH LP!!! :rock-on:

you destroyed any notion for him of ever getting a gibson :[]
I have to admit, ever since i got my warmoth LP, I kinda step away from gibsons, they feel so akward to me, can't believe I wanted one so bad.

Most Gibsons sound awesome, of course, and a lot of them are good players, but also a lot of them are crappy players.  But for the raw neck alone I'll take my LP over any Les Paul

 

[taez555]

Could be worse, at least it was a real guitar, it could have been guitar hero.

 

[dmraco]

As a long time Gibson fan, I just do not see the price that they are currently commanding.  Epiphone has come so close is it really worht the extra $$ a "real" Les Paul costs?  Maybe I have too been jaded with all my warmoths...nothing even comes close.  I however do like the new Epiphone prophecy series guitars...the quilting is far from AAAA, but they are nice playing guitars...

 

[Superlizard]

The thing that got to me was after about 30 seconds of playing, I looked at my left hand and saw my skin all scratched and scraped up. I should have taken a picture to show you guys how bad it was. the fret ends were left razor sharp!

(not referring to you of course)

I believe the Guitar Rulebook states thusly:

- all guitar noobs gotta pay their dues on a crappy axe.

 

[blue313]

I worked on an Epiphone LP-100's last spring, brand new in the box.  The frets had multiple gouges in frets 5 through 11 that were pretty deep, running in the direction of the strings.  If it wasn't for the list price of the guitar it would have needed a refret (or one hell of a leveling).  I had my buddy return it to the store for another....and this one had the sharp ends like above but at least the frets and board were level.  30 minutes total work on the new one and it played nice actually.  I can see how this sort of thing could turn off a lot of kids to playing. 

If they have to learn on a crappy axe, at least make them buy our used but infinitely playable crap.

 

[stubhead]

Every now and then a company or factory will luck into a nice batch of wood and put together some pretty good guitars that may have skroinky fret ends as the only big flaw.... there have been people doing backflips over the recent Chinese Squier "Classic Vibe" series - $300 a pop. Soon enough, Fender's gonna figure out that they're better than the recent Fender Mexicans and mess it up, I'm sure. Remember the Japanese Strats? They were munching the mid-price American ones for quality in the 80's and early 90's till Fender found a way to fudge* it up.

(Oh fudge! The fudging spell-checker fucked up my profanity!) :blob7:

 

[dbw]

Yeah, fudge Fender.

Anyway there are some good cheapies out there.  Even a crappy guitar like my old Peavey Raptor was good enough for me to play for 5 years.  A reasonable fret dress is an absolute must, though.  A cheesy tremolo or cheap tuners are a pain but at least you can learn to play if the frets are all right!

 

[rounce55]

haha its a guitar/knife

 

[SlingBass]

I've been on a song writing kick, and dug out the Casio keyboard from the basement and added one of these in white:

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Squier-Deluxe-Strat-Electric-Guitar?sku=517231

Rounded fingerboard, well finished frets (better than some Fenders I've played), decent duncans, and solid trem.

When I get around to it......a maple SRV will be installed - but good bang for the buck (and my immediate needs) 

 

[guitlouie]

I believe the Guitar Rulebook states thusly:

- all guitar noobs gotta pay their dues on a crappy axe.

HELL yeah to that.  It is what sorts those who will fight to continue to learn to play from those who will give up over the first sign that it will not be as easy as they thought! 

 

[rounce55]

ya that rule is good. my friend started on his dads 57 les paul custom...he sucks at guitar

 

[Volitions Advocate]

heheh. the vindication comes someday too for those who stick it out.

I just dismantled my first electric (squier) because I"m using some parts from it for my new warmoth that is replacing it.  I've had that guitar for 8 years and its been a POS the entire time.

 

[jimh]

heheh. the vindication comes someday too for those who stick it out.

I just dismantled my first electric (squier) because I"m using some parts from it for my new warmoth that is replacing it.  I've had that guitar for 8 years and its been a POS the entire time.

Amen to that.  Thats how my '8-Ball' strat came about.  Took the scratch plate and controls off my Squier and stuck them on my Warmoth (I'd already upgraded the pups)

Ha,  the yoof of today.  They dunno they're born!

 

[theklanch]

Could be worse, at least it was a real guitar, it could have been guitar hero.

Amen to that.  I think even a crappy guitar that draws blood is better than guitar hero.  I keep asking my boy if he wants to play a REAL guitar (although you should see him "shred" on the "hero")  he really wanted the whole rock band setup for christmas, my wife and I couldn't find it anywhere which was actually good for us in the long run as fast as my kid beats these games, and I know we would always be getting bugged to play with him.  I like playing the game with him it does frustrate me to no end though, there are songs on it I know how to play and still I can't do good on the game.  Anyway he told us that he wanted the rock band game with the drums cause he wants to learn how to play the drums!!!!  So that is perfectly ok with me.  I'd rather put the $200 we would have spent on the game into a drum kit for him.  Even if I buy him a shitee drum kit, I think he will be better off in the long run than buying some plastic crap that has no use other than a video game controller.

But think about it when you were a kid and didn't know any better about a guitar, wasn't a shitee guitar better than no guitar?  I know if I didn't have a guitar and I found one of these under the tree, I'd be pretty excited even if it was a piece of junk.  We all gotta start somewhere and some people can't afford anything more than $100 for a guitar.  So a $100 guitar amp combo setup is a pretty good gift for a kid wanting to get into playing.......