Do you have a cheaper guitar that you like as much or more?

After getting fed up with trying to find a new Gibson Les Paul standard that didn't have obvious flaws from the factory, I ordered an Edwards Les Paul clone for about $650 shipped from Japan. The Yen was very weak at the time, so I made out like a bandit in the exchange. Edwards is a sub-brand of ESP guitars for the Japan market. Finish and fretwork were flawless, Duncan pickups from the factory, and even the setup was good. Been a fantastic guitar at any price.
 
mr_fender said:
After getting fed up with trying to find a new Gibson Les Paul standard that didn't have obvious flaws from the factory, I ordered an Edwards Les Paul clone for about $650 shipped from Japan. The Yen was very weak at the time, so I made out like a bandit in the exchange. Edwards is a sub-brand of ESP guitars for the Japan market. Finish and fretwork were flawless, Duncan pickups from the factory, and even the setup was good. Been a fantastic guitar at any price.
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Hard to beat a modern japanese made guitar. Impeccable craftsmanship.
 
All my guitars are sub-$1000 including upgrades. My current favorite Strat is a MIM that I bought used (and somewhat dinged up) at Guitar Center for less than $200. I swapped out the pickups for another $200 or so. I have four other MIM Strats that I bought used for more money, but this one plays and sounds the best. And my current favorite among the guitars I've bought new is a PRS SE 245 that was under $400 when I bought it. It's the only SE I have out of four that I've not replaced the pickups in. It worked and sounded great as-is.
 
I had a few guitars over the years, from 200-500 Euros, all have been resold, and 2 Schecters round 1000 euros, still waiting to be explored in band situation with this covid shit. But I have to admit that those that have stayed over the decades happen to be the other 2 that are in the 1500-2000 euro range, they just seem to have a more "solid" sound and grip on the neck, the fretting is better, the Schecters have excellent fretwork done also.
 
Best Tele I ever had was a Chinese made London City Comet. Nice thin neck, just the way I like it, dug its sound with cheap ceramic pickups too. Used it exclusively for drop-D songs for a long time. And here in the Netherlands (as London City used to be a Dutch brand from the 70's and 80's) they have quite a good reputation for being good value for money guitars, despite being made in China. I think I bought mine used for €150 and I sold it for as much.
 
On a side note, Tom Anderson of Anderson Guitars worked at Schecter building guitars for 15 years before he ventured out on his own. He mentioned that on his forum.
 
Cave Man said:
On a side note, Tom Anderson of Anderson Guitars worked at Schecter building guitars for 15 years before he ventured out on his own. He mentioned that on his forum.
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Fairly sure original USA schecters were all Anderson made, right down to the two strap pins at the bridge end.
 
Budda said:
Fairly sure original USA schecters were all Anderson made, right down to the two strap pins at the bridge end.
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Yes, I've seen USA Schecters with the two strap pins at the bottom. What is the purpose?

BTW: I've read that John Suhr also worked at Schecter, though not together
 
Piing said:
What is the purpose?
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Keeps it from falling over when you place it on end. It's not balancing on a single strap pin.

Edit: I totally forgot to get my Schecter out and hang it up! That one has been in its case for a long time now. Good reminder.
 
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I have a Charvel Fusion Special that’s pretty old but one of my favs. I paid $350 for it. The neck has not moved in years. Quarter sawn maple. JB in the bridge, super low action. A blast to play!
 
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This Ibanez SZ320. I bought it new for $500 back in 2005-2006 as a backup to my JEM and wanting something barebones/fixed bridge. The thing is built like a tank and never needs to be setup. I’ve touched the truss rod maybe twice and that was after moving to Mass from Florida then back to Florida from Mass.

It was originally a reddish/mahogany color, but I sanded it all down to the bare wood and took a blow torch to it. It also did not have
a contour cut for the forearm originally, so I took a chisel and a hammer and added one. I thought I was going to break my arm on that angle playing live before that.
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One night, in a bit of a drunken stupor, I angrily threw it about 25 feet from the kitchen to my bedroom in a disagreement with my roommate/best friend. The only thing that happened was the bottom tone knob pushed into the control cavity a bit and there’s a hole right under it now. I think the low E was out of tune when I picked it up but the rest of it was fine.

I see these going for as low as $125 these days and always kick myself for not scooping them up. The stock pickups (Duncan Custom) weren’t terrible, I made them work for 15 years, but putting the Devin Townsend Fishman set in this thing turned it into 3 different guitars. This has been on every rhythm track I’ve recorded in the last 15 years. I pick it up a hell of a lot more than my JEM, which was selling for, literally, 5x more when the SZ’s came out. I LOVE that Gibraltar III bridge, those saddles are so smooth and comfortable and I don’t have to worry about cutting my hand to shit like a normal Top-O-Magic
 
I have an old Charvel Predator that I probably pick up from a wall of guitars at least half the time. It's just super comfortable and easy to play.
 
Very hard to beat a model series Charvel. I have many USA Charvels (standard, custom, limited run) and always play the models.
 
My two favorites these days are a '97 US Lonestar Strat and a MIM Charvel Pro Mod San Dimas. Both were used finds online in the $600-700 range, cheap by my standards (see other instruments in pic.)

The Charvel was kind of an impulse buy, I wanted to try something Strat-ish but with humbuckers AND it's purple. The jumbo frets and flat radius took some getting used to but man what a great guitar this is, just love it.

The Strat is actually my spouse's but he never quite bonded with it so it was laying around the house being neglected. I upgraded the tuners and bridge to the nicer ones you find on Fender's Deluxe models, and replaced the neck pickup - now it's like a HSH super strat. And it's MINE now. :p

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