Finding The Perfect BUDGET Electric Guitar | Are Cheap Guitars Good?

so today I've got something pretty cool in mind for a video back down here at dojo guitar repair my good friend Dave Onorato so what we're gonna do today is talk about how to find the perfect budget guitar the reality is there's a lot of killer guitars out there in that like 3 to $600 range that you can get your hands on that are solid giga ball reliable great sounding great playing instruments but i think there is a method and a process to finding those guitars those sort of diamond in the rough guitars if you will and dave is an expert when it comes to all things buying selling trading used vintage guitars because you've bought what you've owned how many guitars you said honestly just one I've lost count but I know it's it's well over probably 3000 guitars and and that been the same numbers amps so it's it's a lot and it's a lot of vintage stuff for you know last since the mid eighties so where do we start what's a good place to start when you're looking at this stuff well first of all um you know it used to be a little different I just have a different opinion about it you know I'd go on eBay and buy things but I know so many people have had nothing but nightmare experiences on eBay I kind of tell people you know if you can get it in your hands and and see it firsthand go that route at all costs going through the hassle buying the guitar waiting for getting the guitar opening it up sitting with it for a day and then going yeah I really don't like this you know you just wasted like basically two weeks your life trying to you know figure out if this guitar is gonna work for you or not so we'll just go to your local shop go to go and and I always tell people buy local anyways because it keeps the economy localized and keeps stores in business and you can go talk to somebody physically talk to somebody that you bought the guitar from then that that's a big thing you know you definitely trying to hunt somebody down on the Internet because you got a problem well you know how that goes yeah if I'm looking on reverb and I'm just looking at pictures here so like here's an 84 85 mij Squier these are usually pretty good good yeah I was right yeah so what should I be looking for the glaziers typically in pictures which you look for if they tell you that the guitar has been modified at all you want to see the modifications that are done up close so like a lot of times especially with strats they'll modify the bridges or they'll you know especially around the bridge area look first you know if you can get good enough pictures to blow them up to see how the string angle is over the neck over the fretboard you know because like guys who do mods if it's professionally done you can see where the strings fall over the edge of the fingerboard so if you've got strings that are falling off the edge you know you've got this you don't want that right you want it to where you've got some space on both sides of the e strings and that kind of shows you that they're actually the bridge is in alignment right that's the first thing I look for in pictures just and especially if you're buying any kind of what they call parts casters people put stuff together you know body in a neck and they put it all together the first thing I look I look for right off the bat is to see if these string alignment isn't in correctly done I also have this weird thing with reading descriptions and this is just a superstitious thing that I have but if this description is like way too detailed in terms of like this thing is a ringer tinit and they're trying to see this all the times like that guitar it's probably sucks right typically that I've found they're hiding something that's are or they're trying to get more money for the guitar than it's worth yeah they're trying to play it up so they're hard selling it's all right there you know and then also look at their history you know you go back and see if you can how much stuff they've sold the more stuff somebody's sold typically I kind of look at that as like a plus because it means that they've they're probably kind of know what they're talking about at least you know and they're gonna be able to package it right yeah so it gets to your house and oh yes that is one nice thing about things like reverb is you can see the sellers rating and write reviews on them so you can kind of get an idea and I've even gone as far as to figure out where the shop is I'll just call the shop direct it and be like hey can you take that guitar off the wall and look at it in hand for me and describe exactly you know what you know what it is so what are some common characteristics that in your experience all great guitars have that you can just you know when you're walking into your shop you pick up a $500 telly for example what should you be looking for what I first look for is any kind of structural damage it has the guitar neck ever been repaired especially in a glutton neck guitar if it has any heel damage has any headstock brakes anything like that where it was compromised at one time I'm not totally avoiding guitars that were fixed but it depends on how they were fixed and who fixed them and how big the damage was like say like perfect example like on an SG like this these guitars are so prone to be broken usually at the heel or at the headstock so the first thing I do when I pick up an SG I don't even you know once a lookout well yeah this is called the first thing I do is say okay has it been cracked yeah look along the fingerboard here see if it's got the Gibson smiley face crack here with a volute or and sometimes no volute is look at the heel around the front and see how the neck angle is you know see how the bridge is compared to the the heel and see how much room you've got if the bridge is all the way smashed down to the body and you've still got high action it's got bad neck angle so right then and there I pass on it or especially like on an acoustic what I look for is any kind of cracks in the top any kind of cracks on the sides that the heel if there's any kind of space happening and he'll weather this it's pulling away from the body there again headstock cracks any kind of structural damage would damage is the first thing I look for on any kind of use guitar I try to buy guitars that are out of favor a lot of times you know guitars have cycles so you know like if okay s G's are hot right now I'm not gonna go buy an SG right now because I know they're all gonna be inflated and whoever's playing them on stage right now it's the hot thing everybody wants one that's when the mass hysteria of like yeah I'll pay an extra thousand dollars just to get this guitar because I want it now well you know way to hear when they're out of favor and people are dumping them off because some XYZ overhears now playing at tele and bellies are go buy the SG that you were looking for a year later if you're serious about buying that guitar so with all that in mind you want to go do some guitar hunting sure are you buying uh yeah ok let's do it alright so the place we're going is Atlanta discount music it's been one of my go-to stores basically as long as I've been playing guitar it's been here since the 70s it's like a staple of the Atlanta guitar scene so we're gonna head over there and see what they have because they have probably the best used selection in all of Atlanta we got Jimmy over there who runs the place is very cool and very knowledgeable so yeah if you ever the Atlanta area Atlanta discount is one of the places to check out [Applause] [Music] it's not the skinniest it's not [Music] around I know is it a good one yeah I've worked on a lot of these he's actually really decently built straight ahead guitar and an entre humbucker p90 Barrington 3-way switch the thing I like about the GL stuff that I was look for on any on any guitar is how the front works down you know how well the ends are finished however polished high whether seated the way the nuts cut you know that kind of stuff and all the import G&L stuffs been really good for the money I've been really surprised with it heavy-duty bridge that stuff doesn't move yeah nice bass play you know this is a great guitar and there's a perfect guitar for you you know it's not sell for basically 425 bucks this is cool - yeah Squire Tony wants get wide ranges what do you have things to do I like to look for on yeah speaking of the fret work is frets prowl yeah right exactly so where the frets a lot of times in it if the fretboard or the neck kind of shrinks it drives up a little finish shrinks or yeah and they stick out and they're at a sharp yeah just run your fingers down the edge of the neck there and feel like the frets like grabbing your fingers but yeah yeah these are these are great guitars for the money and they're there again very straight ahead and I strength through the body the fret works good this one action is pretty high needs some adjustment it's got too much bone in it and probably could use a shim in the neck but that's easy to do so these are cold for very low money I really like these guitars with you Gretch siga Matic stuff okay these are Indonesian made but they're basically a bolt-on Les Paul style really good gears decent pickups real decent bridge wraparound bridge for the money these are hard to beat they got really nice for at work really well finished they play great actions really good on you I really like these guitars in there they're very inexpensive but play really well staying tuned really well and they're cool lookin they got a lot of cool features and that's yeah you know we're talking a guitar this 500 bucks you know 450 right there you don't if you look at the fret ends the binding work the nut work good set of gears you know even the pickup sent good on these they're not you know it's not like it's hard that you've got to rip them out because they don't sound good so small details like in the binding how the nut is you know sitting in the in the slot here there's no space between the bottom of the headstock and the nut itself it's a cool guitar dude yeah like I said for 450 bucks man you can't beat these guitars I mean there and that's a humbucker out yeah so you could just drop any any one if I placed a bunch of those out for people you can put a even a better style neck nationalists all tune-o-matic on this where they're skimping on stuff is typically the electronics so you know that's easy easy upgrades you know but the husk of the guitar is actually what's really cool in these that you're ltd yes yeah that's right so the you know do some neck pick up a news [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] I'm genuinely impressed with this yeah all right cool this clerks in good shape I mean it's used but it's it's really never been used so you can tell so this is like a no three so whoa it's in great shape it's a really good shape yeah three or 50 bucks you know I mean the colors unique right to think it's a thing but for a few 30 50 bucks you know next nice and straight it's not all screwy frat work it's probably got typically Epiphone has frets that pop up I do a lot of reclaiming of frets on Epiphone but that's not a big deal it runs about a hundred bucks and basically I just go back and I call these down and then level it Epiphone doesn't like to glue their fret their frets in because it's an extra process it's more money so you know you go back and you do it but but yeah great guitar for the money and I mean this is probably yes I'll tell it's a no-no chambering really no it's good it's got some way to something you know oh yeah it feels like a poem yeah it's actually not too bad yeah I think they do one chamber and yeah it's gonna say it's a lighter than I thought it would be but you know if like said the neck angle is good the strings are right where they should be which is it 350 play it [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] it's actually not bad no they're not you know specially there's your stock pickup so if you put something else in yeah dude for 350 bucks if you want or need a Les Paul yeah this does the Paul thing they are hard to beat they really are I mean the front works decent on them and fit and finish is good I mean you can look at the binding like the top on them it's you know well done you know you got to keep it realistic I mean of course it's not gonna be a $2,500 you know traditional butts but think about that difference in price 350 to $2,500 right so even if you put you know three or four dollars worth of parts on this guitar yeah you're still looking at seven eight hundred bucks and you're still looking that's less than even a studio model amazing so I always suggest the Epiphone stuff is a great usually a great bargain especially used yeah I mean used you can't beat him you know so because this was what probably fire six what about the new that one actually would have been warm at that top on it so probably if that would have been about seven dollars maybe 657 yeah man so this one is a classic series three bolt mexican-made strat third of all you know it's let's talk Mexican vendors for a second the Mexican fender stuff is is probably one of the most popular guitars out for the price range we're talking about and quality wise I think they're probably one of the best typically the front works really good the edge of the fingerboard is always typically pretty pretty well finished off yes so typically these the quality control on these is really good the bodies and necks are basically the same necks you get in most of all the upper mid-range American stuff so comes out of the same factory honestly it's as good as any 70 strat you would find in a vintage shop where these kind of skip that is typically the bridge or some of the electronics but they're not bad they're just not quite as maybe as good as the American stuff but here again what I'm looking for in this guitar like you know the e high E string the low E string isn't hanging off the neck is it is it centered right this one's in good shape I mean this particular one needs a little setup work the bridge is a little out of whack and the radius is a little off so the good thing about the three bolt is you have a micro tilt adjustment in this so you won't have to take the neck off to adjust it you just basically loosen these three up take an Allen wrench in here there's a little plate down there with a screw you can tighten it and it'll actually change the pitch of the neck here that happened take the whole thing apart you have to shim the neck or anything no and that's one of Leo's that was one of his final designs that he did for profounder but as far as a guitar you know a really good strat for five hundred bucks used or you can find him even last I've seen him for three four hours these are hard to beat and the good thing about a strat much like the Epiphone Paul we saw you know you can buy every part for this guitar so you can change out on this everything on this guitar if you want if you find one that you pick up that you really like the way the guitar sounds acoustically which is another thing I always look forward Attar's if you just go in don't plug it in just hit it acoustically on like on a solid body and see how loud it is the louder they are the bad they're gonna sound typically somebody able fall if they're dead you can't reverse that so don't think that oh well if I put some other pickups in this it's gonna help this dead guitar it won't but this is a great guitar it does all the Jimi stuff in here again you know for 500 bucks or less this is a great place to start a good platform to modify or just tweak out and leave it alone and it's just a great banger you know something you have to worry about it's this debt these guitars all of these guitars that we've seen today so far definitely giggle bubble guitars that you can just take to the gig basically set them up a little bit and you can go play gigs alone yep you know there's nothing here that we're showing you that isn't that ready you know I gotta admit dude this actually you want that guitar this is surprising I'm telling you man I really like the stretch stuff I really do so moral of the story is you can absolutely get a ringer guitar for young bucks yeah you know what you're looking for yeah you got a reputable shop or you know what you're looking for online right it should be good to go this video is kind of geared towards finding use guitars cos generally you can get more bang for your buck with a used guitar yeah but this is a new guitar yeah right you don't have to go used to sitting I should punish it above its weight class yeah I'm not like affiliated or sponsored right now that's it oh my god we just pulled this off yeah this is also I just walked in or shopping yeah dude for 450 bucks I think people are sleeping oh he's yeah so to me what I'm feeling is the next video we have to do is taking a bunch of guitar and making it great with with some upgrades sure work yeah both know in the comments yeah that's something you'd be interested in seeing thanks to Dave at dojo guitar repair follow him on instagram at dojo guitar repair and then this is Atlanta discount music they didn't know we were coming by today we just yeah we just you know let's started filming but these guys are really cool I think they have an Instagram as well Atlanta discount music yeah during the atlanta area come by the shop say hello these guys are awesome yeah follow me on instagram at red shawl subscribe down below if you haven't done so already and let me know in the comments what you want to see next on this finding perfect series we've done finding the perfect electric acoustic amp and we need to get into pedals oh yeah yeah awesome parts thanks everyone hope you enjoyed the video and I'll catch you guys on the next one

Channel: Rhett Shull

Views: 666,257

Keywords: budget electric guitar, cheap guitar vs expensive, cheap guitar upgrade, cheap guitar review, cheap guitar pickups, Rhett Shull, Dave Onorato, Atlanta Discount Music, Perfect Guitar, gretsch electromatic, epiphone les paul standard, epiphone les paul, mexican stratocaster, mexican strat upgrades

Id: UVcty1uT484

Length: 20min 31sec (1231 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 16 2020