My favorite cheap guitar

deebeewhy

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I have an Epic Dove (2012) with about 500 hours of play on it. It is a strikingly convincing (well, sort of) copy of the real thing, though it is a real clunker build-wise. (My Keb Mo is 3.5 lbs., this is 5.5 lbs.) I paid $268 with a GC coupon, then another $100 or so for a hard bone saddle. It has always intonated well, but like the Gibson dreads it emulates, has long had a way of sounding like there is a pillow stuffed in the sound hole. But very recently it has begun to open up, and I am delighted with how much fuller and cleaner it sounds, projecting in a way I thought it never could. Made in Indonesia, never out of tune! It's a keeper now, though I'd intended it for my son (as in, go ahead, ding it up). My insistence on solid back and sides and light builds is now under reconsideration. Go Epiphone. P.S. I recall a youtube video review of an Epic jumbo, which the reviewer called "the worst guitar ever." Maybe so, but mine is really coming around.
 

Rayk

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That's great . Epi's are great at there price . But I'm all solid wood just can't do any other way lol
My go to semi cost effective guitars are Blueridge though I did love my Epi masterbilt Dr500 it just didn't have enough volume .
;)
 

Cougar

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I have an Epic Dove (2012)....

You had me thrown saying "Epic." But yeah, I started with Epiphones, which are darn impressive for the small cash outlay. When I found myself with too many to play, I had the bright idea of cashing in a few and getting a more 'substantial' guitar, which was first the JF30-12, then the F50R. These were good moves! Still got some of my fave Epiphones, though.
 

Westerly Wood

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My 1971 Guild D25 Br. $225 in '71. Got about a grand into it.
 

Neal

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Here's mine. A '71 Guild F-20 only a mother could love, purchased for $300.

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deebeewhy

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Sorry. I meant Epi (autocorrect). One good thing about maple laminate S/B is they will still look the same in 3000 years, unlike Neal's "epic" Guild above!
 

griehund

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Yamaha FG331 found in a flea market for $52 with chip board case. Cleaned up and set up looks and plays like new.
yamaha.JPG
 

Quantum Strummer

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My fav cheapie is also in part Indonesian. It's a c. 1980 Goya GA25 electric with a through-neck and body wings from Indonesia, most hardware & electronics probably from Korea and unbranded Sperzel tuners. Assembled by Martin at their Nazareth facilities. The Goya was the inexpensive version of Martin's E series guitars, their final foray (so far) into the electric world. (I think Martin still owns the Goya brand…)

The irony of this is that the Goya pretty much wipes the floor with its Martin-branded siblings. It's lighter (about 2 lbs worth) and more acoustically resonant, with a comfy C neck (the Martins have a very chunky D) and a 24.9" scale rather than the 25.4" of the Martins. The HB pickups are lower wind and less strident/scorchy than the Mighty Mites & DiMarzios in the Martins. Nice clarity too. The bridge p'up can be split and its coils can be put out of phase with each other. The OOP setting is very thin on its own but sounds cool combined with the neck p'up. I got it a few years ago from an estate sale for the cost of a couple months worth of overpriced coffee at my favorite shop.

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-Dave-
 

Hobbesickles

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My first acoustic guitar is my Epiphone Masterbilt AJ500M. I think I paid $300 for it from the county sheriff. It has been my favorite over both the Martin and Taylor guitars I had. The Martin was very nice I will say, but I was too worried about dinging it up. The Epiphone is very loud with no pickups, and it plays effortlessly.
 

jeffcoop

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My first acoustic guitar is my Epiphone Masterbilt AJ500M. I think I paid $300 for it from the county sheriff. It has been my favorite over both the Martin and Taylor guitars I had. The Martin was very nice I will say, but I was too worried about dinging it up. The Epiphone is very loud with no pickups, and it plays effortlessly.

Wow, a Masterbilt is one heck of a nice thing to have as a "cheap" guitar. And at $300, I guess it actually was cheap!

My cheapie is a Samick OM-5, which I leave out in my living room. The top is solid (though not the back and sides), the neck is very comfortable, and if it sounds a bit thinner than a Guild, and lacks some nuance, well, what do you expect for a bit over $200 new? I got it as a Father's Day present in 2006, when my then-18-month-old daughter was endangering my D25 whenever I played it around her.

SamickOM5.jpg
 
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mad dog

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Here's mine: Dearmond T400

I owned 5 or 6 Dearmond guitars. This was the one I wanted most, never saw or played one until last month:



Found the listing on a local CL. Went over hoping to find a guitar that could be used for jazz (been taking lessons awhile now) and more. That's exactly what I found. It's easily the best of Dearmonds I've had, at this point the best cheaper guitar I've had. A near perfect neck shape. Solid build, quality look and feel. Wonderful sound, stiff but precise Bigsby action. The owner had done this guitar right. Put on a bone nut, had it setup, had new string slots cut in the Bigsby aluminum bridge, which clearly had come to him on this guitar from another one with narrower string spacing. I suspect he also swapped in better pots.

Only change I made was to pull the plastic spacer from under the Bigsby spring, slightly adjust polepieces. I'm playing this guitar a lot now for jazz practice, just as much as two Heritage archtops which cost three times as much.
 

InvisibleWren

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I'm resurrecting this thread cuz I think its interesting.

I've had two "cheap" guitars that I loved. The first was the first guitar I bought with my own money. It was a 70s Takamine "Lawsuit" guitar. Sounded great, but always needed work. And, boy, did I ever beat that thing up. It's been sitting in my parents basement in a case for a few years now because I fell with it on stage and now it needs some serious neck work (the fretboard started coming away from the neck for starters).

The second is what I spend most of my time at home playing. It's a Simon and Patrick folk guitar. I picked it up for like $350 on a pretty good deal at my local shop. It's not a really amazing sounding guitar by any means, but there's something very pleasant about its tone and it is short scale and plays like a dream. I do most of my songwriting on it.
 

dougdnh

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I'm a sucker for under the radar inexpensive but good quality guitars. I currently have a Cort Matt Guitar Murphy which I got on Ebay several years ago for $225. It's an amazing PRS type solid body, a great gigging guitar. I also have a 70's vintage Conn folk guitar, made in Japan - sounds great, a PRS SE EG, And a sweedish Hagstrom 335. In the past I've owned several DeArmonds (all great), A Peavey T-60, A Yamaha 102s, a Samick Ray Benson tele, etc. One dog I regretted buying was a G&L Tribute ASAT - awful neck, cheesy sound - nothing close to a real G&L.
 

Brad Little

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My cheap guitar is a Harmony Sovereign, late 50s/early 60s. Cost about $100, had a neck reset that didn't cost anything-luthier owed me a favor. I've had several of them over the years, used to see them at tag sales for $15-20, I'd play them for a while and then give away to a student or someone wanting to learn by themselves.
Brad
 
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my cheapest guitar is my Del Vecchio Dinamico ($35), but it's no cheap guitar ....

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ut my favorite cheap, cheap guitar is my '79 Ibanez M-340 ... sweet maple dread
 

InvisibleWren

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Steve, those are awesome guitars! Th at Del Vecchio looks like a really interesting instrument in general.
 

Opsimath

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When my son and I started lessons his blue Yamaha was on backorder so I went to a locally owned music shop and got a Recording King Dirty Thirties to use until his arrived. It was $200 new and they threw in a gig bag. It has a very nice sound for a cheapie, even our teacher was impressed with it and was surprised that it was so inexpensive. I am not concerned should it get dinged up, but so far it hasn't. It stays in tune very well and I was not afraid to order a cheapie pick guard that I trimmed to fit and stuck on. The only problem is the end pin won't stay put so can't use a strap with it. Not a big issue, I'm generally sitting when I torture a guitar.
 

beecee

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I own 2 guitars that are laminated and imported. Neither was all that cheap to me in the late 70's early 80's

My Madeira A-2 has somehow improved over the years, much more than I.

It sits out all year, plays like an electric and really has a great, deep sound for an F-20 copy, very resonant and can handle a strum.

The other is an Ibanez V 302 series 12 string I bought used around 1984. Still sits out but doesn't hold a candle to the Guild 12's
 
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