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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | The lower priced guitars are gaining on sales, and their quality is improving. The import lines of Fender, Ibanez, and all Epiphones, put out decent guitars for the price. When these kids upgrade to a Gibson, PRS or other expensive guitars, at 3 times the price, will the quality be 3 times better? |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | The quality of the lower end ovations looks like it's improving. I had a few minutes to kill this morning at a guitar shop that actually has ovations (even a Ute!) and played the Chinese made Celebrity CC44. It was much nicer to play than every other guitar I tried (the Ute was out of reach) and the neck grain looked quite attractive (my 12 string celebrity has a black neck, which looks cheap).
In terms of action and slickness of play, it was just as good as my W597 (shock horror!) although the tone was not up there, but was not bad - a bit dead for my liking. This would make a great practice guitar or one to take somewhere where you would worry about what might happen to a high end guitar. I think the blue top looks a bit cheap (I'm trying to be an Adamas) and would be better in natural (I'm trying to look like an elite). |
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Joined:
March 2007
Posts: 843
Location: CA | My parents — bless 'em — bought me a cheapo Kay guitar as my first electric. It looked dumb, played worse and sounded terrible. My interest waned, even in the cheapo nylon acoustic I'd learned on. Luckily for me, some friends had nicer instruments, and through them I got my first 'real' guitar, a '62 Strat. Still kick myself for selling that for $150 (made $50 over what I paid), but the lesson was obvious — nicer instruments do inspire budding players to keep at it. So I second the advice to buy as much guitar as you can right out of the starting gate.
And just to clarify, those Squires you're talking about are the new ones, right? Because I have an '89 Squire Strat that (IMHO) can stand up to any 'Murcan made one. It's made in Japan, has incredible action, lively pickups and, well, just a really nice ax. Plus it's endured a lot. Boss got it for his kid who lost interest. Sat in the corner of the office for years then the ex-wife's house, then — tremble — the trunk of her car. For YEARS. When I asked one day whatever became of that guitar, she said "You want it?" She marched me outside, opened the trunk, dug through a bunch of crap and handed me the dustiest gig bag I've ever seen. I thought the strat would be a pretzel from the heat, but opened it up and wow, it looked nice. She just handed it over and for the price of a pro setup and new strings, I've had a sweet electric for years now. FWIW I have noodled a few new Squire teles and strats and they seem like clunky toys compared with the real deal. |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | It's true that the older Squires are better than the new. Same for Epiphone. I at one time had two Epi SG's in the store. The older one had Gibson on the truss rod cover, the new one did not. (I have heard that Epi's are now being made by Sammick.) The older SG was MUCH better than the new one. I guess that pretty much holds true for most guitars.So many companies are changing where their guitars are made, lowering costs by saving on labor, and I believe, materials. It's no wonder quality has gone down.
That being said, it is still possible to get a good starter guitar at a low price if you shop with reputable used dealer, and don't be too concerned with looks. (If the kid cares more about how a guitar looks than how it plays and sounds, he doesn't really want to learn anyway.) I have found (and given) good deals on guitars with scratches and dings that have no effect on sound or playability. As a matter of fact, I at one time had a Washburn electric that a guy sold me for 20 bucks. He owns an apartment building and some tenant left it there after trashing the place. It was banana yellow with a black binding. It had dents, scratches, cigarette burns, writing, and any other aesthetic defect you could think of. Without a doubt, the ugliest guitar I've ever seen. BUT, it also had replacement pick-ups (P90's), a replacement bridge, and was the best sounding and playing electric guitar I've ever met. I sold it to one of my students for a REALLY low price, AFTER I made him bring his parents in to see/hear it. They agreed it was ugly, but when they heard it they were blown away. They let the kid buy it with their hearty blessing. A year and 1/2 later the kid still loves his guitar and he's playing very well. |
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New guitars must not be selling well
