Yep.
And yeah, if you spend time over at the Acoustic Guitar Forum, there are a bunch of players who discuss stuff like “Sinker Redwood” and the like (refers to wood recovered from sunken logging boats transporting their load back in the day).
…seems a bit much 
Just came in to say that 2 of my favorite guitars cost me less than $500: an Epihone SG knockoff I got for $180 when Sam Ash first opened here in Vegas, and a Hohner-made Steinberger that I got for $450.
It is possible to find a good guitar for under $500, but you gotta shop around and play a lot of guitars first.
OTOH, I think it’s idiotic to buy any instrument sight unseen and unplayed. Instruments are a bit more delicate than a wrench, eh.
I’m late to the thread, and haven’t read it yet. Also, I’m not a great guitar player. I can strum and keep rhythm, but need lessons to play lead. So take this from that standpoint.
I did read where someone said it’s better to have a cheap guitar than no guitar. I do have a couple of Fenders, but the one that sits in the living room is a Squier Telecaster that I bought for $160 new. It sounded OK, and I like it. Some reviews I’ve read liked the Squier, and some hated it. Mine was good enough. I’ve shielded the cavities, and have put upgraded Fender pickups and a four-position console in it; so it sounds a lot better. Except for the wood, it really is a Fender. I guess it cost about $400 with the upgrades.
Another guitar I have is an Epiphone Les Paul (Cherry Sunburst). Nice guitar, good sound, about $479.
Better than you think. Dig this.
Yep, drop-ins for the slant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s1Jk8nd-6E - video of said Nighthawk.
Note that there is now a Gibson Nighthawk. It does not have the slant pickups and I am mildly confused by it.
I’m also wondering ‘what if’ you routed out some of the plate and stuck this slant in a Tele.
Epiphone was a manufacturer in its own right, starting with fiddles and lutes in 1873. They made their first guitars in 1928. They were bought by their rival Gibson in 1957. Squier, originally a string manufacturer, was bought by Fender and is their ‘El Cheapo’ label.
I didn’t know that about Epis – grant clemency, because even though I’m a friend to guitarists, I don’t know much about the instrument beyond what anybody else knows. I know even less about drums, but I’m proud I can talk to both kinds of musicians without them beating me in the head with rocks, or whatever you people do for fun.
ETA I’ll be out writing some charts and head arrangements, oh, n/m y’all caint read none of that city talk! (Sorry – it was too funny, I couldn’t pass up the chance!).
I think that, outside of the real premium brands, you shouldn’t pay too much attention to the name on the headstock. In the case of Epiphone, for example, Gibson have contracted out manufacture of guitars under that brand to manufacturers in Korea, China, Indonesia and no doubt other countries. The only thing these guitars have in common is the Epiphone logo. Some are cheap, some not so so cheap; some are good, some not so good. The former does not necessarily correlate with the latter.
The most important thing to know is the factory in which the guitar was made. Of course, the brand-owner doesn’t tell you that. But the country of origin is often a clue, and thanks to the internet that kind of industry information is available if you hang out long enough on the appropriate forums.
All right, it’s a slow Sunday, so I’ll ask. Is that for real that a Mexican-made Strat is the bomb, or is that all bullshit, mutatis mutandis for other factories and legendary countries of origin?
My $179 Made In China Squier Affinity Precision Bass has a better-playing neck than either my old 1998 Made In Japan Fender Geddy Lee Signature Jazz Bass ($699 list price when new, I think; current list is $1399) or my current 2008 Made In Mexico Fender Classic Series 1960s Jazz Bass ($1049 current list price). I bought the Geddy Lee Jazz used from a friend, and it was fine when I got it, but then I took off the Dean Markley strings he’d put on it and replaced them with a set of RotoSound Swing Bass strings — of exactly the same gauges — and the neck promptly lost its mind and troubled me with an overabundance of major fret buzz that I was never able to adjust away. I bought the 1960s Jazz new, and for one reason or another I haven’t been able to adjust the action as low as I’d like without a lot of fret buzz. Not to mention Fender’s continuing pig-headed insistence on placing the trussrod adjustment screw at the heel of the neck and hiding it under the pickguard, forcing you to essentially disassemble the entire instrument just to perform a 1/4 turn of the trussrod screw. The Squier has the screw located sensibly at the headstock end of the neck, like every other manufacturer that isn’t Fender does it.
That said, the electronics in the Squier can’t even touch the electronics in those two Fenders.
Repeating conventional wisdom I’ve heard: MIM (Made in Mexico) Fenders can be great, although inconsistent; you may have to pick through several to find a golden one, but they’re reportedly in there. I’ve heard better things about the MIM Telecasters than Strats, but again this is all stuff I’ve picked up rather than direct experience.
Don’t know about the Strats, but I’ve got a Mexican Telecaster. It’s everything I could want it to be. It plays and sounds like a Telecaster should.
I think the general rule with guitars is that you should try before you buy. Because every now and then you’ll come across one that’s a real dog (and it doesn’t seem to matter where it’s made or how much it nominally costs). If you’re buying on the internet, that’s just the risk you’re going to have to take.
When I go guitar shopping, I always try out more than just one, and I keep an open mind about what I’m going to come home with at the end of the day. Because I usually find that when I play a whole bunch of guitars in the shop, there’s usually one that stands out against all the others, and sometimes it’s not something I would have contemplated.
For example, the last time I went guitar shopping I was contemplating buying a Fender Blacktop Jaguar, but I wasn’t that impressed when I actually played it (it’s a very dark sounding guitar, which wasn’t at all what I was looking for). I also tried a Blacktop Strat, which sounded and played quite like another guitar I already owned – so nope, not that one either. In the end, I walked out of the store with an Ibanez Artcore AMF, which is a different beast altogether. But on the day, that was the guitar that really stood out.
I reckon that’s the absolute best way to go about it. You don’t choose the guitar, you let the guitar choose you.
Yep - and I’ve been one of the ones saying that. Mexi Strats and Teles can be great; a perfect gigging guitar due to the lack of guilt over value.
As Dr. John might say, I get a little glow behind hearing about good guitars. If I were going to buy one to have fun with, it’d be a Tele, for sure. The action on my SG was low, and no fret buzz, but since I know how to play scales on keys, I’d probably get the action high and start playing slide. [/Hijack Over]
The thing is, they’re owned by Gibson, but they’re… not quite the same company. Gibson’s quality has gone to crap in their sub two-grand guitars, and their design decisions have become bizarre.
It’s also a miserable place to work.
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?2517197-Gibson-1-in-Poll-…-of-worst-companies-to-work-for
Epi’s quality, on the other hand, has gotten steadily better, to the point where it’s an even call on if you prefer a real 335 from Gibson or an Epi Dot.
Now you did it – if I could play, I’d have a 335 for sure, plywood top and all. I’d stick with Gibson for an L7, like my man Grant Green. 
If only I knew how to play it. That’s why I liked jazz on guitar – you didn’t have to learn a bunch of campfire chords that messed with my fret hand, you could just play and work on your tone.
Viva Raney!
I have a MIM Tele that is just a great guitar for the price. I bought it from a shop in Montana where the guy who runs it is a Fender Gold Tech. He swapped out the bridge pieces and the bridge pickup for a Nocaster reissue, plus a setup, and it sounds and plays great. The whole deal was about 2/3 of the cost of a butterscotch 1952 reissue, although I haven’t gone back to try the re-ish since I bought mine so I’m not sure I can compare them. But I will say that the workmanship on my MIM is very good in all respects, not a cheesy second-best by any stretch, and tons of axe for the dollar.
You have decidedly not heard me play.
The point I’ve picked up from this thread is “Maybe I should take those dozens of hours I’d have to spend talking to guitar gurus and researching the issues and and trying out guitars… and spend that time practicing.”
Hey, I resemble that remark. Besides, when you’re a regular Liberace at another instrument, you don’t need to practice – just tweak the kids a little bit. :smack: [thinking about starting a new thread about getting a fiddle – on the cheap]]
hehe
Have you seen my sig?