The Cheap Guitars Thread

[foal30]

Had a go on a students Tobias Toby IV deluxe. It’s his first ‘proper’ instrument
$500(?) new.

A big upgrade on the instruments of budget I grew up with.

[Molly]

I'll kick off with this Chinese Gretsch Electromatic. I can't find anything wrong with the build quality. Nothing feels cheap (actually, ok, the control cavity covers are a bit flimsy). It's been professionally set up and plays as well as anything. Came with a good gig bag for $600NZ (used).

Lee Anderton gets excited about one here - though I appreciate he sells them... https://youtu.be/GRPTy21FDvU


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One just popped up on TM, I hope you collect your influencer fee Brian

https://www.trademe.co.nz/3983758276

That's also got a nice dark fretboard. Makes a the difference.

[Slowy]

Right, this one is a visitior but I hope robthemac will be ok with me posting it.
Cheapo partscaster. The body is really light which is nice. The setup could do with a finesse and the pickups don't pass my snob test but the individual parts combine really well into a whole. I can imagine this thing playing community halls and shearing sheds the length and breadth of the West Coast.

There is a rumour that Liberace has designs on this poor beast; something about sparkles... The blue has grown on me over time and I now rather like it as is.

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[StrummersOfThunder]

Right, this one is a visitior but I hope robthemac will be ok with me posting it.
Cheapo partscaster. The body is really light which is nice. The setup could do with a finesse and the pickups don't pass my snob test but the individual parts combine really well into a whole. I can imagine this thing playing community halls and shearing sheds the length and breadth of the West Coast.

There is a rumour that Liberace has designs on this poor beast; something about sparkles... The blue has grown on me over time and I now rather like it as is.




20221204_112020 (1).jpg

There's my Jansen again
Nice wiggly cord

[Slowy]

Right, this one is a visitior but I hope robthemac will be ok with me posting it.
Cheapo partscaster. The body is really light which is nice. The setup could do with a finesse and the pickups don't pass my snob test but the individual parts combine really well into a whole. I can imagine this thing playing community halls and shearing sheds the length and breadth of the West Coast.

There is a rumour that Liberace has designs on this poor beast; something about sparkles... The blue has grown on me over time and I now rather like it as is.




20221204_112020 (1).jpg

There's my Jansen again
Nice wiggly cord

You like the Jansen huh? In the fullness if time it will need a good home.
The cord is from Conway. It's big and heavy but unlike straight cables, it doesn't try to wrap around my leg. Also the colour clashes with absolutely everything.
I thought that was very even handed of me.

[StrummersOfThunder]

Right, this one is a visitior but I hope robthemac will be ok with me posting it.
Cheapo partscaster. The body is really light which is nice. The setup could do with a finesse and the pickups don't pass my snob test but the individual parts combine really well into a whole. I can imagine this thing playing community halls and shearing sheds the length and breadth of the West Coast.

There is a rumour that Liberace has designs on this poor beast; something about sparkles... The blue has grown on me over time and I now rather like it as is.




20221204_112020 (1).jpg

There's my Jansen again
Nice wiggly cord

You like the Jansen huh? In the fullness if time it will need a good home.
The cord is from Conway. It's big and heavy but unlike straight cables, it doesn't try to wrap around my leg. Also the colour clashes with absolutely everything else.
I thought was very even handed of me.

I think everyone likes that Jansen
Curly cords are fun

[Slowy]

There's my Jansen again
Nice wiggly cord

You like the Jansen huh? In the fullness if time it will need a good home.
The cord is from Conway. It's big and heavy but unlike straight cables, it doesn't try to wrap around my leg. Also the colour clashes with absolutely everything else.
I thought was very even handed of me.

I think everyone likes that Jansen
Curly cords are fun

I must dig up the albums it made during its career as a studio Bass amp.

[StrummersOfThunder]

You like the Jansen huh? In the fullness if time it will need a good home.
The cord is from Conway. It's big and heavy but unlike straight cables, it doesn't try to wrap around my leg. Also the colour clashes with absolutely everything else.
I thought was very even handed of me.

I think everyone likes that Jansen
Curly cords are fun

I must dig up the albums it made during its career as a studio Bass amp.

I'd really love to hear that Bruce.
My old man was a bass player in the 60s around Auckland. I have an LP featuring him playing with the Rebel Tones.
He recalls or the trials and tribulations of gigging with jansens.

[Molly]

Hang on. I think we've lost the idea here, Molly will tell me if I'm wrong but shouldnt this be genuinely guitars that retailed cheap rather than expensive guitars you scored for a bargain?
Because if not we should just change the thread title to 'guitars'.

Yeah, that was the idea. Indonesian Squiers that are cheap as hell but perfectly functional guitars. That sort of thing.

[H671]

Bought new for $250 then about another $200 with Mr Gyn for his mods.

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I play in two different worship teams, one in which there is me and the piano player. To add some variety, I started taking along a bass & would switch from guitar to bass, the only problem was that it was all or nothing with one or the other until the song finished. This got me started in thinking about a doubleneck Bass/Guitar. I searched online & quickly realised that I would have to spend about 2 grand to get anything worthwhile and at this stage, I had no idea if I would like or if I could even play one!

This is where it gets hilarious! - There is a music shop called the "MusicBook" in Pakuranga and they had a no name doubleneck in stock that they had been trying to flog off on TradeMe. When I tried to play it, I found that the bass neck was strung as a righthand & the guitar neck was setup & strung as a lefthand! and to cap it off, the bunny that served me seriously thought that you had to turn the instrument over 180 degrees to play the other neck - I just about wet myself from laughing so much. Fortunately, the shop owner arrived & quickly realised that he had a problem - we negotiated a very good deal & I left as the proud owner of a piece of junk that was unplayable plus a few extras tossed in - strings etc.

I turned the guitar nut around and restrung it then did a quick setup. It played but I quickly realised that it was a problem to get both necks to sound good through a single output.

Mr Gyn to the rescue - There was a single switch between the necks for selecting pickups but it selected both necks at once, so I had it changed to be a neck selector instead - up for bass, middle for both & down for guitar. He then fitted 2 mini toggle switches between the volume and tone knobs for pickup selectors. The most important mod was fitting a second output jack which meant that each neck is seperate. All of the electrics - pots & switches were replaced with quality components. The tuners have a lot of backlash but suprisingly, the necks stay in tune very well. The pickups arn't great but work ok for church music, I might upgrade them in the future. I play it through my SWR California Blonde which makes anything sound good. I have used two seperate amps but the single amp is a lot more convenient.

[StrummersOfThunder]

Wow this thread has it all !

[lukewillasick]

I think this is about a cheap as can be. It’s a pitbull guitars kit that I ordered and built over lockdown.
Upgraded the pickups to I think a rio-grande set from memory and it absolutely screams now, holds its own compared to my American elite Tele.
Recently refinished it with a good old can of spray paint from the art store, because let’s just say my first attempt at finishing it was a shambles. It’s rough as but works a treat.

[Slowy]

I think everyone likes that Jansen
Curly cords are fun

I must dig up the albums it made during its career as a studio Bass amp.

I'd really love to hear that Bruce.
My old man was a bass player in the 60s around Auckland. I have an LP featuring him playing with the Rebel Tones.
He recalls or the trials and tribulations of gigging with jansens.

Well here's one. The video showed a Musicman but the bass here is the wee Jansen.

[kdawg2a]

I think if you can get them cheap, epiphone dots are great budget guitars. I got this one for $250.

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It came with a great Epiphone Hardcase (gotta be $100 right?) which I transferred over to another guitar so I'm calling this a $150 job! Fun to modify until you decide to replace the wiring harness. Then they're possessed by Satan himself.

[jeremyb]

Had a go on a students Tobias Toby IV deluxe. It’s his first ‘proper’ instrument
$500(?) new.

A big upgrade on the instruments of budget I grew up with.

Back in your day you cut down your own tree and stole some number 8 wire off the neighbours fence and made do!