If you want to play a Strat-style guitar, a "Partscaster" is the smartest way to go, to me, if you don't mind doing a little work. (Although used Partcasters are easy to find too, so that you can probably find one you like already built) You get to pick your neck, color, pickups, etc. and you can put your money where you want. Do you want US pickups, but a Mexican neck is fine? Or maybe you want a Japanese neck, but you want a humbucker on the bridge? I love a good HSS Strat. You can literally build yourself a fully Fender-made Strat with the neck you want with the fretboard you want, with the tuners you want, and pickups you want, for less than $500. You can even build vintage. If you found a 70's neck that felt really good, you could make yourself a modern Strat with a 70s neck and put 90's pickups
My advice, learn to work on them yourself. Also just a note. I bought a FF and an IYV from Amazon, the Firefly required a good basic setup,(truss rod adj, fret level and crown, and set action and intonation. The IYV required only setting the action. P.s. i agree with your assessment of the guitars and the reviewers
Squier bodies are thinner than Fenders so a Fender bridge block will fit but it'll poke out the back of the guitar or rub on the back plate. I have an Indonesian Squier Strat and the bridge block cracked- turned out it was die cast. Luckily I was able to by a milled steel block for an Indonesian Squire from Ebay that is the same dimensions as the old bridge block. Cheap guitars use cheap parts for a reason.
Excellent video, that needs way more views. Alot of youtubers complain about the prices of great quality guitars, but they'll have a room full of these budget guitars. 10 $200 guitars would have been one killer $2,000 guitar, or 2 excellent 1,000 guitars
Exactly, budget guitars have their place. They are great for folks who work almost every night playing songs they don't like to folks we dont care for.🤕 They are great for that . But you can't hardly " spoil" yourself or even " treat " yourself with an 89$ Grote. Lol...I use one for work. But it is sure nice to have something that is a bit special for playing at home in a safe place.
@@rustyshackleford9557 exactly. I was watching Roberts guitar dungeon, unbox his dream Gibson Les Paul custom last night, and he almost cried lol. I got to thinking, nobody dreams of owning these budget guitars, at last not like that. They have their place, but they'll never replace someone's dream guitar
Upgrading an already built guitar is stupidly simple. The most technical skill needed is soldering. Unless you’re incapable of using basic tools, anyone should be able to build a kit guitar today. There are a plethora of tutorial/demonstration videos, that will give you the data you need. From finish, to setting the neck, to electronics, to set-up. Google is your friend. The hardest part, of building a guitar is finding a good set of “bones” (neck & body). If you spend less than $400 for those, expect to do some more extensive fitting. I taught myself, some 45 years ago, when I was 12, (before the internet made everything accessible). I spent time, at the library, (there were no luthiers where I lived), reading and learning. If you buy from Temu, Amazon, or eBay, you shouldn’t be building your first guitar. You get what you pay for. As for the cheap all-in-one pedal; you get what you pay for. The content makers are doing what they do for views. They wh*re themselves for a buck. You have to take what they say, with a large grain of salt.
Scar My Guitar is a spaz. He lost his shit on me in the comments for saying his no name kit tele clone build didn't look like the "$1000 Fender" he said it did 😂
Scar taught me that I don't need to spend a lot of money to have a great guitar. I learned a lot from Sean. When I first found his channel it was about what to do and how to make your cheap guitars play well. Now it's all about his ego. I left his channel.
I just reviewed a Tease guitar for $145 its $5 cheaper than my first guitar in 97. I just got back into playing, but I wish I had a guitar like that as my 1st.
The only way to get experience is by doing. If you are on a budget, buy a cheap guitar and do some work to it. Most of what you need doesn't cost anything. Watch videos about adjusting your action height, truss rod adjustment (if its even needed), leveling frets (you dont need special tools but if you want them you can find some for very cheap), if its acoustic replace the plastic saddle with a tusq for under $15. You will not only have it setup exactly as you want, but you will also have some new skills and confidence. Even if you f*ck it up, its almost always reversible.
yeah, I have picked up some good inexpensive tools off Temu..Good advice of course and watch some videos to get familiar with what your trying to achieve
I have bought Harley Bentons that are super cheap and they are great for the money. My ST HB was flawless, and it only cost £85. Some guitars that iv spent 3-4 times the price on have had issues that this didn't have.
I agree, if you want to focus on playing more than fixing and tweaking, spend a lil more. If you can afford it, id recommend something round the $500 range new. You can generally pick these up round $300 used. Im not saying there are some perfectly good cheap guitars, but it's definitely not all of them, and those that are got there via someones tlc.
45 years of makin' a livin with guitars. Including being a liscensed repair center for Hoshino, SLM and C. Bruno. Every guitar no matter the price point at my Guitar Center will require a set up especially at the nut. Period! Yep even that 3400$ Gibby. I have used s 89$ Grote with 33$ of Chinese Alnicos and a Grote 335 for almost all my recent work for the last 3 years. Folks who literally can't make a livin' playing, obsess about gear.
in my humble opinion used carvins and kiesels are an amazing bang for your buck. every one i have played has been great. you just need to find one with your preferred specs.
I have a harley benton guitar. It's my main guitar, plays and sounds great straight out of the box. Spends much more time out of the case than my gibsob
Bought a new Baton Rouge for 140 euros three years ago. Never held an acoustic with such an effortless playability before. It instantly became my first choice so I bought a second one for my working place. My Martin I bought in 2010 for 2900 euros remained in the case ever since so I sold it last year. Never looked back.
thanks for the feedback.. yeah sometimes that's very possible unfortunately for me, that wasn't the case with my HB 25th ann model.. I think it is a hit and miss kinda thing
Thomann of Germany has the Harley Benton line. Made in China, quality control in Germany, with a good return policy. Turns out that it works like the chocolate and the peanut butter.😉
Just don't buy cheap unbranded/unknown guitar branded guitars off amazon, Temu and eBay. Buying cheap guitars as a beginner is perfectly fine and there's no issue with it, not everybody has a good income to splash out on a £600+ guitar and that's the majority. Brands like Harley Benton, Squire, Ibanez with their GIO line, Solar with their S line, and many more sell cheap and affordable guitars that give people the ability to learn the instrument, Most guitar players would't be around if it wasn't for the accessibility of cheap guitars.
I bought a Westcreek Revenge off Amazon. I was stunned how well put together it is. I changed the pickups and put locking tuners on it, but it’s very well worth the price.
@@saltyassassin Amazon, ebay guitars can be Good, just never worth it as a beginner because you could get a bad instrument and jot new since you are new
Jackson, Squire, LTD, Ibanez, Epiphone. Don't polish turds. Resale value its part of it and time is money. I LOVE cheap guitars. Cheap doesn't mean bad. Cheap means you got what you need for less than you thought. Time is money. If you want to add value make sure the machine you are working on is worth your time. Partscasters make sense to play with, old or new if you need your jollies but bottom end off brands are for kids to destroy. AMz i'm sure you know has a lot of 'used good' or 'used like new' items. There are also good sale once in a while. Also when they screw up it is possible to negotiate further discount rather than messing with a return if you know what you are doing. IMO Jackson is an Incredible value. I got a JS22 hardtail 7 string for $155 on sale a year ago. I have a JS 11 i just got but need to return because someone cut all the wires but the neck feel amazing. Good-used i got it for $135. They didn't test it so I am going to push them a big discount and hang on to it. It's cosmetically perfect. I have a squire Affinity that plays like a dream and the pickups sound pretty good. I paid $170 used acceptible with a large paint chip on the lower edge. I love it but not crazy about the sparkly pickguard and am thinking about going for an HH. I started having so idea of swapping some stuff around ---- replace the picguard? Finded a loaded HH affinity picguard on ebay? Buy a loaded/cheap pickguard on amz or ebay? amz selling one with black, HHS, coil splitting and a kill switch for $26 and people say it's not bad. Turns out I can buy, on sale same arctic white affinity but with HH for $200 on sale and an 'new' item. So, it's not worth it. I can spend $30 more and save how much time and plus no more paint chip. There is also value a lot of times (depending) of keeping things original. The bottom line is spend a little more to get what makes sense. The used market can pay off. I got an LTD viper 256p (sg w/p90s), never played for $200 and a $100 bullet strat--- reall nice but a little heavy. Bottom line, your best sticking with the bigger brands. Jackson is owned by Fender. ESP is great, Ibanez is great, You can get Epiphone SGs for $200 starting. These will hold value better than off brand and if you have a problem or don't like it then send it back, no big deal.
Old bandmate had a Jackson 7 string that was AWFUL. The pickups were sooo muddy and the tuning hardware was worse; he had to retune every ten minutes. Those pickups were sooo bad it was almost impossible to hear myself and the bassist.
@@R0mbVs --they are the leader of value for money in the low cost segment IMO --- i mean for people who like chap guitars, why guy some expensive knock when you can buy a mid range jackson, LTD, Ibanez, Squire or Epiphone and have something legit. There are always sales and deals on stuff with damage or just open box. A lot of stuff on AMZ is sold as used but it really new and they just want to sell more stuff. With AMZ, if you buy a used item and they misrepresent it ---- push for a big discount to amz CS. These are big companies. They sent me a a used bottom end jackson and didn't even test it --- i found all the wires cut off the switch ---- ended up getting$80 back so net $60ish worst case needs a switch but probably only solder. I told them it wasted my time and i was saving everyone time and doing them a favor so it doesn't happen again and waste money shipping. I said it was unacceptable because if they sell a used instrument the first thing you do is test if it even works. I don't know how it happen but probably someone did it and returned it out of spite or maybe was modding and change his mind......i just told them the market value as is was honestly about 70 which is was --- time is money --- i don't mind tinkering occasionally with something but I need to get vale for my time. These people that collect and work on all kinds of cheap guitars just have a fetish -- i get it -- guitars are fun and cool --- but for them it's more about playing around with them not on them..... i say FINE, but why not play with ones yhou can make money on instead of just some wierd shit --- like maybe just order a custom and totally original concept or buy a real gibson carcas and do it right ----
Cheap or budget guitars are great for kids. But if you take your playing seriously you’ll want the best. Trust me if Squiers were better than Fender then why did I sell all my Squiers and now own seven USA Fenders? And while I don’t own a Gibson yet, an Epiphone is no substitute for the real deal in my mind.
Are you paying rent and buying groceries playing music? That isn't a jab. I am just curious. Often touring players look at this stuff quite differently.
Fun to learn on a cheap guitar.
Fun to use one on the road playing for drunks with a house P.A. so cruddy it wouldn't matter if you had a Sadowsky or a First Act.
If you want to play a Strat-style guitar, a "Partscaster" is the smartest way to go, to me, if you don't mind doing a little work. (Although used Partcasters are easy to find too, so that you can probably find one you like already built)
You get to pick your neck, color, pickups, etc. and you can put your money where you want. Do you want US pickups, but a Mexican neck is fine? Or maybe you want a Japanese neck, but you want a humbucker on the bridge? I love a good HSS Strat.
You can literally build yourself a fully Fender-made Strat with the neck you want with the fretboard you want, with the tuners you want, and pickups you want, for less than $500. You can even build vintage. If you found a 70's neck that felt really good, you could make yourself a modern Strat with a 70s neck and put 90's pickups
Thanks for all your comments guys..all the information shared is appreciated for all..thanks
My advice, learn to work on them yourself. Also just a note. I bought a FF and an IYV from Amazon, the Firefly required a good basic setup,(truss rod adj, fret level and crown, and set action and intonation. The IYV required only setting the action. P.s. i agree with your assessment of the guitars and the reviewers
Squier bodies are thinner than Fenders so a Fender bridge block will fit but it'll poke out the back of the guitar or rub on the back plate. I have an Indonesian Squier Strat and the bridge block cracked- turned out it was die cast. Luckily I was able to by a milled steel block for an Indonesian Squire from Ebay that is the same dimensions as the old bridge block. Cheap guitars use cheap parts for a reason.
Excellent video, that needs way more views. Alot of youtubers complain about the prices of great quality guitars, but they'll have a room full of these budget guitars. 10 $200 guitars would have been one killer $2,000 guitar, or 2 excellent 1,000 guitars
Exactly, budget guitars have their place.
They are great for folks who work almost every night playing songs they don't like to folks we dont care for.🤕
They are great for that
. But you can't hardly " spoil" yourself or even " treat " yourself with an 89$ Grote. Lol...I use one for work. But it is sure nice to have something that is a bit special for playing at home in a safe place.
@@rustyshackleford9557 exactly. I was watching Roberts guitar dungeon, unbox his dream Gibson Les Paul custom last night, and he almost cried lol. I got to thinking, nobody dreams of owning these budget guitars, at last not like that. They have their place, but they'll never replace someone's dream guitar
Upgrading an already built guitar is stupidly simple. The most technical skill needed is soldering.
Unless you’re incapable of using basic tools, anyone should be able to build a kit guitar today.
There are a plethora of tutorial/demonstration videos, that will give you the data you need. From finish, to setting the neck, to electronics, to set-up. Google is your friend.
The hardest part, of building a guitar is finding a good set of “bones” (neck & body). If you spend less than $400 for those, expect to do some more extensive fitting.
I taught myself, some 45 years ago, when I was 12, (before the internet made everything accessible).
I spent time, at the library, (there were no luthiers where I lived), reading and learning.
If you buy from Temu, Amazon, or eBay, you shouldn’t be building your first guitar. You get what you pay for.
As for the cheap all-in-one pedal; you get what you pay for.
The content makers are doing what they do for views. They wh*re themselves for a buck. You have to take what they say, with a large grain of salt.
Scar My Guitar is a spaz. He lost his shit on me in the comments for saying his no name kit tele clone build didn't look like the "$1000 Fender" he said it did 😂
Scar taught me that I don't need to spend a lot of money to have a great guitar. I learned a lot from Sean. When I first found his channel it was about what to do and how to make your cheap guitars play well. Now it's all about his ego. I left his channel.
I just reviewed a Tease guitar for $145 its $5 cheaper than my first guitar in 97. I just got back into playing, but I wish I had a guitar like that as my 1st.
The only way to get experience is by doing. If you are on a budget, buy a cheap guitar and do some work to it. Most of what you need doesn't cost anything. Watch videos about adjusting your action height, truss rod adjustment (if its even needed), leveling frets (you dont need special tools but if you want them you can find some for very cheap), if its acoustic replace the plastic saddle with a tusq for under $15. You will not only have it setup exactly as you want, but you will also have some new skills and confidence. Even if you f*ck it up, its almost always reversible.
yeah, I have picked up some good inexpensive tools off Temu..Good advice of course and watch some videos to get familiar with what your trying to achieve
Yes, imagine a dirt bike guy who couldn't work on his own bike. .....
have friends who own 12 overdrives but not a single set of nut files.
I have bought Harley Bentons that are super cheap and they are great for the money. My ST HB was flawless, and it only cost £85. Some guitars that iv spent 3-4 times the price on have had issues that this didn't have.
Thanks finally truth, scar is another one truth. Get what you can afford have it set up
I agree, if you want to focus on playing more than fixing and tweaking, spend a lil more. If you can afford it, id recommend something round the $500 range new. You can generally pick these up round $300 used. Im not saying there are some perfectly good cheap guitars, but it's definitely not all of them, and those that are got there via someones tlc.
We’re lucky to have Pitbull Audio here in San Diego. I try not to go too much, because I end up buying too much! 😂
I try to avoid necks with alot of figuring, they tend to be less stable ...neck shifting could be causing the fret sprout in your partscaster
45 years of makin' a livin with guitars.
Including being a liscensed repair center for Hoshino, SLM and C. Bruno.
Every guitar no matter the price point at my Guitar Center will require a set up especially at the nut. Period! Yep even that 3400$ Gibby.
I have used s 89$ Grote with 33$ of Chinese Alnicos and a Grote 335 for almost all my recent work for the last 3 years.
Folks who literally can't make a livin' playing, obsess about gear.
in my humble opinion used carvins and kiesels are an amazing bang for your buck. every one i have played has been great. you just need to find one with your preferred specs.
I have had at one time and still, today, have a used Carvins.. but even used ones can be more than 600 plus..
I have a harley benton guitar. It's my main guitar, plays and sounds great straight out of the box. Spends much more time out of the case than my gibsob
Bought a new Baton Rouge for 140 euros three years ago. Never held an acoustic with such an effortless playability before. It instantly became my first choice so I bought a second one for my working place. My Martin I bought in 2010 for 2900 euros remained in the case ever since so I sold it last year. Never looked back.
@@friskoflash5701 I also have a friend who swapped his pricey Martin for my 140 euro Takamine because it plays so much better.
thanks for the feedback.. yeah sometimes that's very possible unfortunately for me, that wasn't the case with my HB 25th ann model.. I think it is a hit and miss kinda thing
Thomann of Germany has the Harley Benton line. Made in China, quality control in Germany, with a good return policy. Turns out that it works like the chocolate and the peanut butter.😉
Just don't buy cheap unbranded/unknown guitar branded guitars off amazon, Temu and eBay. Buying cheap guitars as a beginner is perfectly fine and there's no issue with it, not everybody has a good income to splash out on a £600+ guitar and that's the majority. Brands like Harley Benton, Squire, Ibanez with their GIO line, Solar with their S line, and many more sell cheap and affordable guitars that give people the ability to learn the instrument, Most guitar players would't be around if it wasn't for the accessibility of cheap guitars.
I bought a Westcreek Revenge off Amazon. I was stunned how well put together it is. I changed the pickups and put locking tuners on it, but it’s very well worth the price.
@@saltyassassin Amazon, ebay guitars can be Good, just never worth it as a beginner because you could get a bad instrument and jot new since you are new
Jackson, Squire, LTD, Ibanez, Epiphone. Don't polish turds. Resale value its part of it and time is money. I LOVE cheap guitars. Cheap doesn't mean bad. Cheap means you got what you need for less than you thought. Time is money. If you want to add value make sure the machine you are working on is worth your time. Partscasters make sense to play with, old or new if you need your jollies but bottom end off brands are for kids to destroy. AMz i'm sure you know has a lot of 'used good' or 'used like new' items. There are also good sale once in a while. Also when they screw up it is possible to negotiate further discount rather than messing with a return if you know what you are doing. IMO Jackson is an Incredible value. I got a JS22 hardtail 7 string for $155 on sale a year ago. I have a JS 11 i just got but need to return because someone cut all the wires but the neck feel amazing. Good-used i got it for $135. They didn't test it so I am going to push them a big discount and hang on to it. It's cosmetically perfect. I have a squire Affinity that plays like a dream and the pickups sound pretty good. I paid $170 used acceptible with a large paint chip on the lower edge. I love it but not crazy about the sparkly pickguard and am thinking about going for an HH. I started having so idea of swapping some stuff around ---- replace the picguard? Finded a loaded HH affinity picguard on ebay? Buy a loaded/cheap pickguard on amz or ebay? amz selling one with black, HHS, coil splitting and a kill switch for $26 and people say it's not bad. Turns out I can buy, on sale same arctic white affinity but with HH for $200 on sale and an 'new' item. So, it's not worth it. I can spend $30 more and save how much time and plus no more paint chip. There is also value a lot of times (depending) of keeping things original. The bottom line is spend a little more to get what makes sense. The used market can pay off. I got an LTD viper 256p (sg w/p90s), never played for $200 and a $100 bullet strat--- reall nice but a little heavy. Bottom line, your best sticking with the bigger brands. Jackson is owned by Fender. ESP is great, Ibanez is great, You can get Epiphone SGs for $200 starting. These will hold value better than off brand and if you have a problem or don't like it then send it back, no big deal.
Old bandmate had a Jackson 7 string that was AWFUL. The pickups were sooo muddy and the tuning hardware was worse; he had to retune every ten minutes. Those pickups were sooo bad it was almost impossible to hear myself and the bassist.
@@R0mbVs --they are the leader of value for money in the low cost segment IMO --- i mean for people who like chap guitars, why guy some expensive knock when you can buy a mid range jackson, LTD, Ibanez, Squire or Epiphone and have something legit. There are always sales and deals on stuff with damage or just open box. A lot of stuff on AMZ is sold as used but it really new and they just want to sell more stuff. With AMZ, if you buy a used item and they misrepresent it ---- push for a big discount to amz CS. These are big companies. They sent me a a used bottom end jackson and didn't even test it --- i found all the wires cut off the switch ---- ended up getting$80 back so net $60ish worst case needs a switch but probably only solder. I told them it wasted my time and i was saving everyone time and doing them a favor so it doesn't happen again and waste money shipping. I said it was unacceptable because if they sell a used instrument the first thing you do is test if it even works. I don't know how it happen but probably someone did it and returned it out of spite or maybe was modding and change his mind......i just told them the market value as is was honestly about 70 which is was --- time is money --- i don't mind tinkering occasionally with something but I need to get vale for my time. These people that collect and work on all kinds of cheap guitars just have a fetish -- i get it -- guitars are fun and cool --- but for them it's more about playing around with them not on them..... i say FINE, but why not play with ones yhou can make money on instead of just some wierd shit --- like maybe just order a custom and totally original concept or buy a real gibson carcas and do it right ----
Cheap or budget guitars are great for kids. But if you take your playing seriously you’ll want the best. Trust me if Squiers were better than Fender then why did I sell all my Squiers and now own seven USA Fenders?
And while I don’t own a Gibson yet, an Epiphone is no substitute for the real deal in my mind.
except when buying an Epiphone Casino of course! :)
My Epiphone Tbird bass imo out performs the Gibson. I know because I had one of both. Those signature JJN Epiphones are killer as well.
Are you paying rent and buying groceries playing music?
That isn't a jab.
I am just curious.
Often touring players look at this stuff quite differently.
@@rustyshackleford9557 Yes. I work my butt off and pay my way!
Ace, love this video, really instrucive and helpful, leaving a sub!!