Doing up a cheap guitar - waste of money?

aerobot

Yeah, as long as the guitar feels good to you and it fits your way of playing, that is good enough. and if you want to enhance the tone, you can always exchange the pickups.  I fixed up this cheap esp, lowered the action the way i like it, cleaned it , oiled it and exchanged the pickups with some emg`s i had from another axe i had. Perfect. A lot of times you will pay extra just cause of the name that is on it.

Donnacha

That's the sort of thing I'm thinking about. All good advice. I think it needs all of what you mention above, including the frets as some do look worn. It is a bolt-on neck and the guitar has been in the wars with plenty of knocks and bangs so could well be out of shape !! New machine heads are a definite as the ones on it have been banged about, the g-string head is bent and does not hold its tuning. I plugged it in yesterday for the first time in years. The jack is faulty as there was buzzing noise when plugged in. The pickups just about work, but they'd also need replacing as i'm sure some second hand Duncans or Dimarzios would be a huge improvement !

Would be nice to get it into a playable shape with good sound !

Thanks for that. I'm in York, and I'd probably drop it into Mor Music in town for them to do it. They're currently doing up my Ibanez Js100 - giving it a good clean, set-up etc. It also needs a new bridge pickup as the current one has corrded over the years due to sweaty gigging!! They're putting in a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck....guy is shop had a second hand one for a good price and said it was a cracking pick up....got to be better than a dead pickup in there already !!! Once I go in to collect that I'll see if they fancy the challenge of the Global LP copy !!?

That's the idea....I don't gig too much these days so if I can get this into a reasonabvle shape that plays and sounds decent then why not ? Its a bit of fun really !!

KelvinS1965

Didn't know you played until I came across this thread. What did you do in the end?

I bought a cheap Squier Telecaster about 11-12 years ago to take with me when I was working away from home, as I figured it wouldn't be the end of the world if it got damaged or stolen. I used to play it in hotel rooms on with a modeling headphone amp.

Anyway I changed jobs and didn't travel so much and I came across a set of proper Fender pickups for a bargain price (still nearly as much as the whole guitar had cost). They really changed the sound and therefore my enjoyment of the guitar, which being a very basic model otherwise and is well set up is good enough for my abilities anyway. I'm really not worthy of my other guitars but have owned them for so long I couldn't bare to sell them as they were 18th and 30th birthday presents (1982 '57 reissue Squier Strat and a 1995 Epiphone Les Paul). Rather neatly they are both 18 and 30 years old respectively at the moment.

I just started at a local college evening for rock guitar lessons to try to get myself out of a rut. After over 40 years of playing I just seem to keep doing the same things over and over and not improving, but I felt like I turned a corner last night even if it wasn't a song I would normally have bothered learning.

Donnacha

Hi mate, didn't know you played as well !! In the end I did......nothing !! I actually got my Ibanez tarted up a little, gave it a good service and put a new pickup on it (Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck), as the original pickup had corroded due to years of sweat....rock n' roll !!

Now I'm thinking about getting a new guitar and my attention has been brought to the Variax guitars by Line 6. They sound too good to be true, i.e as well as being excellent guitars in their own right, when you engage the digital modelling you can change the tuning at the touch of a dial without touching the strings, or you can change teh sound to model a Les Paul, a Strat, a Rickenbacker, a 12-string, an acoustic, a sitar, a banjo... you get the picture !! Looking at the You Tube vids and reviews they look great! So I want to try one out.

I also got Rocksmith for Xmas. Its an Xbox "game" that allows me to play and learn using the xbox...its great! If you have a games console its worth checking out. What sort of stuff do you play?

KelvinS1965

If my Line 6 amp is anything to go by then the guitar must be worth a try. I like the idea of a 12 string sound as I've got the Les Paul, Telecaster and Strat sounds covered already (though a Ricky would be good too for those 'Birds' songs or Beatles stuff too).

I used to have an Ibanez loosely based on a Les Paul shape. It had a beautifully low action and endless sustain but I had to trade it in so I could get the Strat (well I was 18 at the time, so it was one or the other). Seymour Duncan always used to be the pickups I'd drool over in the catalogues and magazines, though I never sweated enough to wear one out.

My lad has an XBox 360, but I don't game myself; I don't want to encourage him to connect it to my X35 either.

I used to play a lot of '50/60s rock and roll, but progressed onto heavy rock/Hendrix/Clapton, etc, then stuff like Dire Straits, The Eagles, Sheryll Crow. I used to jam with a colleague years ago and he taught me a lot of big band type songs (Sinatra and similar stuff too) which helped me get out of a rut at the time as it was stuff I'd never normally listen to let alone learn to play. He even taught me an original 'Les Paul' song 'How high the Moon'. Trouble is I've forgotten most of these songs now, bar the few old standards that I play everytime the guitar comes out.

On my own I do tend to just work out the first verse or maybe the solo and then just blag the rest when I play along with CD/DVDs. That's why I started going to this college evening class as it makes me focus on learning one song, properly and all the way through. This week it was Doobie Brothers Long train Running, which I knew of, but had never tried to play before but I got on well with it. We learn and practice unplugged, then they make us get up and play with the band, you get a go at rhythm then lead, so you hear the song a lot of times. Then an 'all star' players at the end. I even pulled a solo out of nowhere which went down well (trouble is I'll have to come up with something different next week now to keep up with expectations ).

It got me so enthused that I finally got round to restringing my Epiphone Les Paul last night so I can take it next week (for T-Rex 'Get it on'). There might be someone there who can help me get my Strat refinished as I resprayed it a few times over the years, but I'd like it redone back in the original '57 two tone sunburst.

Let me know how you get on with the Line 6 guitar.

Goooner

I can thoroughly recommend the Variax, I bought a JTV59 in August and I love it. It's a really nice guitar in it's own right, even without the fancy stuff.

There's a few of us in the Learning To Play For Real thread in the Xbox music games forum that have them.

They're certainly great for Rocksmith, alternate tunings at the turn of a knob

Bought an HD500X earlier this month to pair with the Variax and next up will be a Line 6 DT25 to complete the Dream Rig.

If only I had the ability to do the gear justice

RBZ5416

Might be cheaper to keep an eye on Ebay for another body in the right finish.

Donnacha

Kelvin that college evening class sounds great ! Is it unique to your college or is it the norm? I play in a covers band - we are good, but rehearse and gig so seldomnly. They are based in Nottingham and I'm up in York so its a special effort to meet up to play ! Something more local would be good...and that evening college sounds like great fun !

Stay away from that Learning to Play for Real thread..those guys buy all the fancy gear and will give you serious GAS !!! Just need to find somewhere local(ish) that stocks the Variax. i think PMT in Leeds does them.

KelvinS1965

There are a few 'branches' of the 'Rock Project' ('Encore' as it's for the older players) at least in my area (Berkshire), not sure about further North though. I heard about it through my neighbour so I don't know too much else about it other than I found a few when I searched on Facebook for 'my' branch.

I'll stay away from that other thread though as I don't need any more gear; I've got more guitars than I really need anyway, plus various bits of recording gear. I need to make more use of it all really rather than get sucked into the hardware side (as I've done with AV of course ).

I saw a 'new' '57 body for about £100 or so recently and had the same initial thought, but it's not a question of being cheaper: It was my 18th birthday present and changing the body means it won't be the same guitar. If it cost me £200-300 to get it done properly then so be it...either that or I'll respray it in a solid colour.

Petebobkat

Hi, came across this topic and felt compulsed to post!! First of all I will point out I have my own Guitar, and Amp repair business.
Okay, I have some great guitars all south paw, Am Tele, MIM, Gordon Smith Thinline, Reverend etc but nothing OTT price wise.
My favourite giging guitar is my classic vibe Tele, Why? I bought the guitar to leave at rehearsal to save time after work. When I got the guitar I fret dressed it,new bone nut,  added some Tone rider pups from pre owned from ebay, Alnico V. All new CTS pots orange drop cap etc, mil spec wiring. It's the grab and go gig, special, light, reponsive and plays like a dream, certainly holds it own.
Now a real cheapo, a 1980 Antoria L/H Tele, Telstar, Plywood body (Aint even one piece!!), skunk stripe maple neck, cost £140 with hard case, I made some Alnico lll pups for a project so they went in it, along with new electrics as per Classic Vibe, this guitar is awesome, no choke outs with the 12'' rad, very bend friendly for Country, Rockabilly, and  Blues which is my musical genre. Tonight it got a really good thrashing at rehearsal, very enjoyable, fast and fun to play, held it's tune, and sounded pretty genuine, through and comp/delay into my Deluxe.
I get to repair and set up some expensive used and brand new instruments from Suhr to Knaggs, Fender,  Ric, and Gibson etc, with sh*tty fret work, bad nuts/nut actions, Gibson neck joint heights, and some Fender custom shop relics are terrible to get right,  and I would say all that glitters isn't always gold, and I have had fun and games with many a Gibson LP some serious quality control going on with many new ones I get on the bench, as for Suhr???? I  really dont see the quality vs the price tag.
Spend wisely Grasshopper                                                                               

Best Guitars for your buck? Reverend... Superb imho