Cheap Electrics that play and sound good

[Platefire]

I did try it with a WD40 and small screwdriver and couldn't get it to budge. It's not rusty. I'll look for the Kroil. Plate

[John]

Just curious, did you manage to get it out, and if so how? (always looking for new tips)

[Platefire]

Nope! can't get it to budge!

[Platefire]

Well I have to come back and say I am still amazed at the feel of the neck, action and tone of this ION strat copy. It's just a pleasure to play. I decided to leave the original ceramic pickups in there because they just convey what I would consider a great strat tone and I don't want to change it. And when it comes to "Quack", it has my other two strat type guitars beat. So inspired me to proclaim this guitar the "Quack Master". Plate

[Slimtim]

Awhile back i posted that my roomy purchased a peavey predator on the cheap.Well as it turns out the seller's mother went off over him selling and made him get it back.When he took it back the mother gave him $20 extra over the refund for the trouble.So he got payed for buying a guitar that was never really for sell lol.So i started looking at craigslist and found a Stagg tele copy for $65 and he went and bought it that day.The nicest neck i've ever felt on a guitar and sounds great for the money.Could use some upgraded electrics,tuners and a new pro cut nut.For no more than he has in it i'm very impressed with it's sound and feel.Alder sunburst body with a white pickguard and a maple neck and board.

[Platefire]

Well Mama knows best! 

I had a Stagg White Les Paul Custom copy that I really liked that I picked up from a pawn shop for $150 just like brand new. Liked it so much I bought a hard case for it. Understand I had a Gibson Black LP custom back in the 70's and was kinda amazed that from what I could remember, it played as good or better than the gibson. In fact I had a lot of problems with the gibson. A professional musician friend of mine did a concert at our church and ask me if he could play on the stagg, he loved it and made off with the stagg and sent me one of his teles for a trade. Of course I agreed to that but my wife didn't like it one little bit, because she liked the stagg too. So they are OK guitars for their price from my experiance. Platefire

[Platefire]

Am Excited about the transformation of my Epi LP Special after I changed the pickups to Duncan Design 102 Humbucker set plus changed the trim to cream. I like the way it looks a whole lot better plus I love the way the new humbuckers sound and respond. Having owned several Gibson and Epi LP's in my time, I can say this little buddy had great LP operation to be the lowest of the lowest in the LP line. Platefire

[tubeswell]

I just got one of these cheapie electromatics made in Korea.
Quality of the build is pretty good and heaps of binding everywhere.
Pups are brightish which is good for surf. Whammy is excellent too.

[Willabe]

Ooooooo....... nice!!!!!!!


             Brad     

[Platefire]

Man! Dats a goodun! nice

[Tom_Hull]

hi


so looking at cheap guitars . well .........i found this .....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFyQXy74xz4

[Platefire]

Awesome! The guy totally proved his point! That pickup will sound good in anything.

[Platefire]

Well I picked up another ax today---kind of an odd one--A 1984 Electra/Westone Spectrum LX Model X189. It was made at the famous Matsumoku Plant in Japan. The body and neck is  maple. The color is call "Pearl Burst". The three knobs are pull switches with a lot of pickup combinations with the H/S/H pickups in conjunction with the 3 way pickup switch on the upper horn. The appearance in person is the body looks like a big slab of marble and it feels like it to, it weighs 8 3/4 Pounds. It came with a hard case which was an old Peavey T-60 case. I traded my Peavey Predator and Fender case for it.  Here is some pixs. Platefire

[Platefire]

Rear Views:

[Platefire]

Had this Electra/Westone/Spectrum a month or so now and the only thing I can find wrong with it is some of the original tuning keys had a little slack. I learned from "Thorney" on the Electra Forum that GFS had a black set of staggered locking tuners that would fit the same existing screw holes and didn't require reaming out the tuning key holes, so I picked them up and installed them. Installed without a hitch, fit like a glove and are solid feeling tuners. I can now report that my tuning stability situation on the guitar in now stable  . Go home now, relax and rest in peace. Platefire   

[Platefire]

Well here we go again. I won a solid white Squire Deluxe strat on e-bay and is on its way. Every since I was a Hendrix fan back in the 70's I've had the desire for a solid white strat with maple fingerboard. Now in my old age I'm not so much a Hendrix fan but still a fan of the white strat/blonde neck. Don't get me wrong, Hendrix was a super talented musician that the Lord blessed him with a super playing innovative ability. I just think he made some very bad choices that we all do when we are young that eventually did himself in. I often wonder if he could have withdrew himself out of all the hype, drugs, insanity and survived, how a old man Hendrix might have played and lived. Regardless his guitar playing influence has had its effect on me where sometimes I play a certain passage and think, that's Hendrix influenced!

So this is my first deposit at the bottom of the white strat chain to fulfill that desire and hopefully I will get a usable instrument before I reach an Am Std. I will post some pixs when it shows up. Platefire

[Platefire]

My Squier Deluxe Strat came in today. The seller said it was like new, I was glad to find it was true. No dings, scratches or flaws that I can find. Here is some pixs:

[Ritchie200]

Dear Plate,


See I always told people you were a good guy!!!


Yer pal,
Jim

[Willabe]

I like white Strats!

Looks real good.


            Brad   

[Platefire]

Thanks! Sure Good Guys Play White Strats!!!

[Willabe]

Yeah.     

[Platefire]

Seriously Guys, I've always wanted a white strat being an old Hendrix fan and he seemed to favor white strats even though he played a lot of other stuff. In my old age I see where he squandered a lot of his God given talent and life with foolishness IMHO. Nevertheless his talent is undeniable and the appearance of the solid white strat with the maple/blonde fingerboard always remained something I had a desire for. I thought I would start at the bottom of the white strat with maple fingerboard chain and work my way up since I'm a cheapskate and skinflint! 

First problem I encountered was tough action. i couldn't seem to do what I normally do with my other axes and was looking down the neck and other stuff trying to figure it out. Finally I got to comparing the strings that came on it and discovered it had 10's and I normally play 9's. So when I install some of my fav EB Super Slinkeys the great transformation to the action happened. I wouldn't have thought that just going from 10's to 9's would have made that much difference, but for me it did. My whole style of playing was developed using 9's and every attempt to move to heavier always derailed that ability. So I don't even go there anymore.

With the actions/playablity solved it was time to jam and get a real feel of it. The whammy feels really good to me with two springs but it kept going out of tune. I doctored the string trees and nut with a combination of lite WD40 and Graphite and finally played about a two hour session of my tunes and held tuning very well(with a lot of mild whammy).

It's got Duncan Design Alnico 5 pickups. Been trying to decide about them. One thing I have noticed, they have what I would consider a classic tone, yet a little hot but to my amazement seem to have that glassy hendrix tone like you hear on "The Wind Cries Mary" or "Little Wing" especially on the neck position. So I guess that's a plus. So I'm generally pretty happy so far and looking forward to playing it with my Praise Band Group Sunday. Platefire

[Toxophilite]

Wow lot's of cool guitars!!
Nice!
I'm a hollowbody fan normally but some of those solidbodies were pretty damn cool


Here's my Cheapo Gibson 400/Gretsch Country Club Mockup
Aria FA-71 cheap Jazz Guitar(17" lower bought ,3.75" deep, long scale neck) Bought used and tricked out with surface mounted Dearmond Pickups(new ones Dearmond 200s or Dearmond lites)
This is a BIG guitar! Yeah!


Tried old harmony Dearmond mustache pickups originally, cool sounding pretty pickups but I like a little more clarity


Made a custom ebony bridge with bone saddle (pinned on the bass side but still floating)  and a bound pearl pickguard, added a Bigsby, Grover Imperials, and cause i didn't want to make any holes I mounted the pickup selector switch in the bass side F-hole




Cute rose decals courtesy of my mom 

[Toxophilite]

And the 2008 Gretsch electromatic i souped up to essentially the same as my 64 double anniversary
Also a picture next to each other
bound the F-holes, painted the pickguard, made a one piece ebony bridge with bone saddle, hilotron pickups etc etc

[Platefire]

Nice Hollow bodies! The electromatic looks just like the 64. You must be somewhat a guitar tech/craftsman to do all that!
I've always drooled over the White Falcon. I seem to have a thing for white guitars 

The ARIA really had a 50's vintage look. Being an old codger I recall in  the 50's the natural blone hollow-bodies was really popular. Mostly old Silvertones around my hometown. Only a few had Fenders like a duosonic or musicmaster and a deluxe reverb amp. Some dano's here and there. Never a Gretsch of Gibson to be found. Only thing Gretsch I ever had was a Gretsch Variety Amp in the 60's.

I've got an ARIA TA-50 335 copy that I like a lot. Just recently upgraded the electronics and pickups since I decided it was a keeper. That's the only semi-hollow body I got. Once had a Guild Starfire. Platefire

[supro66]

I played the white falcon but I settled on the  Chet Atkins Tennessee Rose

[Toxophilite]

My favourite Guitar is my 1964 Gretsch Tennesean (both my gretsch's are 1964 by fluke)
Lovely guitars the Tennesean!
I applaud your choice!

[Platefire]

Got a musician friend and amp/guitar tinkerer in the next town about 30 miles away. We talk a couple times a week by phone. He just got a Tennessee Rose lately and every time he calls he is raving about that guitar--he's an old strat man too! So it must be something to those Gretsches. Maybe some day when I grow up I can have one Platefire 

[Ritchie200]

Got a musician friend and amp/guitar tinkerer in the next town about 30 miles away. We talk a couple times a week by phone. He just got a Tennessee Rose lately and every time he calls he is raving about that guitar--he's an old strat man too! So it must be something to those Gretsches. Maybe some day when I grow up I can have one Platefire

Geez Plate, if you sell a few dozen of the guitars you own now, you could buy a couple!!!


But you really have no need.....


Jim

[Toxophilite]

The Tennessean is a lovely, oft under-appreciated guitar, They play nice and the low output pickups sound really pretty.
And there aren't that many wine coloured/brown hollowbodies out there
My battered but well loved guitar



Okay back to the regular scheduled programming!

[Willabe]

Toxophilite, which style Bigsby wammy bar do you like better, the flat style or the round?

I would think the flat style is less comfortable and harder to work with?



                 Brad     

[Toxophilite]

I've used that Tennesean for about 25 years so I was pretty used to the flat bar(I don't think I was aware there was another)
Then I had a two  tone single Anniversary from the 50s with a Dearmond, I found another Dearmond and then i saw a wiggly Chet style bigsby and I had to have one cause it looked so cool!! (In fact when I bought my Tennessean in Seattle a million years ago it was $700, had five strings on it and one pickup was on upside down, but I looked at it(I had driven from Vancouver to buy it) and went oooo ahhhh coool, played a a couple of gimpy 5 string chords and bought it!)
 When I got that blk double anniversary(I think someone refinished a sunburst) I bought the bendy arm for the stock bigsby


I would say I'm more used to the flat arm and fine it quite handy, it's certainly less prone to coming loose, rotating etc


The round arms, look amazing!, are quite handy as well, round to get your pinky around nicely, but a little thicker.
The main thing I don't like about the modern ones is the stupid set screws into the aluminum frame. The one on my Anniversary needs to be attended to every once in a while, I should put some lock-tite on it. I think it only has one screw right now and that's not original as the tiny gimpy original one stripped quite easily

[Willabe]

Ok, thanks.

I'm used to the round bar on my strat. The few times I've tried a Bigsby, while I liked the Bigsby itself I didn't like the flat bar in my hand.


                   Brad     

[Platefire]

Bottom line--its a wiggle stick--grab that thing an wiggle the daylights out of it!

Ah Ha! and on that statement about my mocho guitars, I'm holding to my limit of 14. It appears 14 of my guitars=one Gretsch The tele stays!

[Toxophilite]

MY Gretschs are easily worth 50 normal guitars each! and I'm not talking about money!


I didn't know Willabe was referring to the round bar used in the strats
That's a much smaller unit and they're way more sensitive too, you can't dive bomb on a bigsby


I think strats and tele's are very cool sounding instruments and I owned one of each at one point or another
I just can't get used to playing small solidbody guitars, I tried!,just my personal preference, probably from starting on acoustic.

[Willabe]

I didn't know Willabe was referring to the round bar used in the strats
That's a much smaller unit and they're way more sensitive too,

No, I was not referring to a strat type sized bar. Just that the flat Bigsby bar is uncomfortable in my hand. I find the round Bigsby bar more comfortable to grab ahold of.

you can't dive bomb on a bigsby

Me, divebomb? No, no, no, no, haha, no.      

I'm more of a blues and roots music player, I just like to shake the cord a little.


              Brad      

[Platefire]

I really like a variety of guitars. No matter how good one is sounding, after so long of continuous playing, I'm ready to switch to another for a while. Same with amps. That keeps it interesting for me. Platefire

[Toxophilite]

 
I wasn't suggesting that you'd dive bomb..or even plain 'bomb'
just that you couldn't with a bigsby, it's not that sort of tremelo, which I now know you know...no?
I barely even bend notes for crying out loud
I just like to bend chords on the bigsby , with a flat bar it's something you give a push occasionally and once in a while play with it in your hand, though as you suggest it's not ideal for that.

[Platefire]

Here is another addition--Pawn Shop find. I found this marked $39.99. Didn't plug it into an amp, played real easy, no buzzes, neck straight, no dings and seemed OK and everything was intact. No whammy bar or case.

I offered $30 and they said they couldn't but would let me have it for $39.99 including tax. So it was $36.69 before tax.

Got it home and pickups/electronics worked ok. The intonation had never been set and the trem springs where tightened up all the way where it wouldn't even move. Did my setup to it setting the trem to floating, had to remove some of the bridge saddle springs to get them back far enough to get a perfect 12th fret octive but got intonation right on all the strings. Lubed the nut and string trees with WD40. Cleaned it, waxed it & put a new set of string on. The pickups are a little weak but do have a sweet straty sound. What can I say, couldn't resist a solid white strat for $40 bucks. Platefire

BTW-it also has a usb connection module and headphone jack.

[Willabe]

Huh, $40? Yeah I'd buy it too!
 
Looks real nice, how's the neck?

             Brad   

[Platefire]

Hay Brad

The neck has got a little flatter radius than I'm use to---probably 12"R but it has the small frets like the vintage fenders which is kind of nice because you can even feel them---no fret drag. I just discovered a fret buz while ago on the big E string on the 1st fret F note--kinda aggravated about that. I going to try to raise the bridge saddle to see if that will help---I really don't want the string any higher. Everything else is working fine. Platefire

[Willabe]

I just discovered a fret buz while ago on the big E string on the 1st fret F note--kinda aggravated about that.

Then don't play that note!         (Come to think about it, unless I was play'in in the key of F, I can't think of a reason or time of needing that low fretted F? Unless I was walking down a bass line over a cord.)

Really, for ~$40, you have plenty of room to work with.

Heck, for that price you could give it to a young'n at church to give him/her a leg up.   

Free lesson's optional.   


                 Brad     

[Platefire]

Yeah! I was thinking about that myself. I've actually got two strat clones I could let go, the IAxe and an ION. We don't have many youngsters going to out church, mostly old folks like me! I'll keep my eyes open though. I have given lessons before and not crazy about it. If you' get a dedicated student that works hard at it, it's fun but most I've found are not that way. If you have a good student, you can just spend 30 minuets with him a week. Show him a few new things and he has it mastered by the next week ready for more. I don't mind teaching those kinds but haven't got much patience with the others. One guy I tried to teach just wanted to sit and watch me play--I finally played hooky on him permanently. Platefire 

BTW-I really enjoy the challenge of setting up these cheap electrics to see if I can make them perform correctly. I'm convinced that I can take the cheapest classic strat type trem and set it up for floating where it will return to pitch. You can actually live without the string trees if they cause too much of a problem. I read where Eric Johnson removed his string trees. On this strat copy I tried a new lube mixture of Vaseline & graphite on the nut slots and string trees. So far it's working well. My last frontier is learning to dress frets. So the entertainment factor in these cheap copies is also a draw for me.

[Platefire]

Just had good success at upgrading my ION strat copy. As preveiously mentioned in this thread the trem arm was broke off in the block when I bought it. Never had any success in trying to extract the old nub out. I recently bought a new affinity Squier trem assembly off e-bay and installed it. It fit perfectly(2 1/16" Spacing) and I set it up for floating. I used all three springs that came with it and it has just the feel I like--not to soft/loose and not too firm eigher--just right! With a little Vaseline/graphite combo lubrication on the nut and string trees--it returns to pitch well.

Also I just purchased some new white fender PU covers, springs and screws for a set of used Highway 1 Fender strat pickups that I've had on hand and installed those. While I was at it I installed some used CST 250K pots for the vol and neck pu tone along with a 150 Mallory .0475 tone cap. I left the mid pu original midi 250K pot in there but transferred tone operation to the bridge pu on the pickup selector.

The body has a couple of cracks--from inside lower horn cut out to trem spring cut out and also from just under rear strap button to bottom of trem spring housing. I drilled two pilot holes through each crack and installed a 2" drywall screw along with some wood glue which pulled the cracks together taut--what I hoped it would do! I covered the entry holes with some dark wood filler. Sanded it off smooth and darkened it up with a sharpie to match the black finish.

I am so happy with the results, I'm just beside myself. Back in 1994 I sold a 1965 Sunburst Stratocaster with rosewood fingerboard to a collector because I needed money to buy a new pickup truck. I actually regretted that I sold it after the fact, but it was a done deal. As I begin to jam on this upgraded ION, I was amazed that the sound reminds me of that 65 strat. The guitar even looks like the old 65 with the exception of headstock and the sunburst had some yellow in it. So in a way I've got my old 65 back if not in actuality but in function and spirit. Platefire

BTW-I love messing with this stuff;>)

[Platefire]

This is another El Cheapo strat rework! New Artec Alnico 5 pickups and Re-wire. Platefire

[Ed_Chambley]

I just discovered a fret buz while ago on the big E string on the 1st fret F note--kinda aggravated about that.

Then don't play that note!         (Come to think about it, unless I was play'in in the key of F, I can't think of a reason or time of needing that low fretted F? Unless I was walking down a bass line over a cord.)

If'n you picked hillbilly geetar you might us it a tad more cause it is all over the key of C and F and makes a nice half step bend in A minor.  Keith Richards probably wouldn't mind at all if he fretted out all over the 6th.

Tune it to G and use it for playing The Stones.  I always wanted to do that, now this cheap guitar thread got me thinking.

[Willabe]

Keith Richards probably wouldn't mind at all if he fretted out all over the 6th.

Yeah, he has a custom 5 string (no low E) for playing tuned up for slide.   

[Platefire]

Well that's just the problem---I'm a classic guy playing classic notes Not so much hill billy but Dwain Eddie or Ventures. I'm allays looking for an opportunity to switch on a Tremolo pedal and play on those low notes---twang-warble-twang-warble--you know what I mean. Don't need twang-warble-buzz     

[Willabe]

Don't need twang-warble-buzz 

 

[sluckey]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABKE9lDPQX4