😂😂😂 Dat Cat 😂😂😂 Dude comes off with a likable vibe, very well spoken about his obvious geek obsession with stuff that's pretty interesting. Got onset carpel tunnel, so not even playing right now (not that I was that great), but vids are so well done, just cool to watch. But Cat just goes and steals the show. 😂😂😂
Exactly, 2021 I bought a couple of Monoprice Retro Teles in 2 of the flavors I was on the fence about. The Chinese guitars are coming in closer to Squier for both Indonesian & Chinese made instruments.
Sprung on this when Ebay was running a 15% off coupon so the guitar was shipped to my door for $42. I leveled, crowned, and polished the frets. Lemon oiled life into the fret board that was really dry upon arrival and lightly steel wooled it like Max said. I lightly sanded the neck and any rough patches and now it's super smooth and fast. Dropped in the standard Dragonfire single coils and replaced the really crappy plastic nut with a cheap $5.99 graphite one. I tried the trick where you loosen the neck screws a quarter turn and allow the string tension to pull the neck into the body as close as possible for sustain and then retighten and it seemed to really help. I keep shredding on this thing and saying "THIS SHOULDN'T SOUND SO GOOD." All in all I have 70 bucks and some elbow grease in it and I can't put it down.
May i ask how long it took for it to get to delivered to your house? I’m a beginner and just ordered my first guitar. My friend showed me some strumming patterns on it and taught me and i’ve been wanting to play it for a long time and finally ordered one. I’m so excited i can’t wait!
@@anujrimal9630 I hope this guitar worked out for you. If it didn't, don't abandon guitar playing. Good guitars feel better and play better than cheaper ones. The extra money isn't just about name brand and looks. There are things that aren't cosmetic and aren't marketing that makers do to make better guitars.
Max is a magician. Whether it's $40 or 40 grand guitar, he makes them all sounds beautiful. It makes me strongly believe gear itself doesn't matter. It's the player that makes difference.
Yes, I agree... I only just started watching his videos but all the guitars sound good. Great tone and awesome playing. Which brings me to my point, he has the amps and guitars toned just right... that along with his great playing makes them all sound good. I have about 20 - 30 guitars so if I sit down and compare them one after another I know that some by default amp settings, everything in the middle sound better than the others. Some can be tweaked to sound as good as the best ones. Some are just ok and and are just not there. But even the ones that are not even close to my good guitars can still sound good on their own if there is nothing to compare them to and with all the right settings (no boxes just guitar and amp I mean).
Hi Max - I just wanted to say thank you. As a person of "limited" means it is really quite refreshing to see an open and honest review of equipment that is in the price range of us mortals. I get that Knight, and TTK and others are reviewing what they like and can afford, but watching reviews of items WAY north of $800 or more is of no use to me, and you don't dog off brands like other youtubers out there. Thanks again from the 505!
There's an old poem called "The Touch of the Master's Hand" where an auctioneer is selling off this beat up old shit violin for a couple bucks, and everybody's laughing at it, but then this master violinist comes up out of the crowd and starts playing it and blows everybody away because it sounds so beautiful. That master musician is you, my friend.
Yeah, we all knew this before you wrote it.... thanks for pointing out the obvious. We come here to get his opinion on it, as we all know he can play...
Got one for my son. We are adding hot rails, splitting them, adding tone caps on push pull pots and making them independently switchable. It plays and sounds great and is making a fun little project. Thanks for the video!
I love your professionalism and demeanor. You do a great job on the reviews and it seems honest instead of bashing the items for not being a big brand name. I have an American Fender Strat that I paid $1400 for because I thought I had to have it. After seeing your videos I feel like I don't have to be embarrassed to buy something cheaper that is functional and I like. You don't always need a super great guitar. Sometimes a $50 one will do. Keep up the awesome reviews.
I bought this guitar on your recommendation. $49 bucks +tax/ shipping = $54. I got it in 2 days. Unbranded. Looks great. Plays great. I'm totally blown away. Like stated in the video the strings are a little high and the pick ups are weak but this is a playable instrument right out of the box. It was even pretty close to in tune though a half step down. It's light weight (which is good) and feels sturdy enough. No screws falling out or loose parts. It doesn't look or feel "slap together". Up until now my idea of a $49 guitar was something you'd get from a supermarket. The quality at this price point is ridiculous. Will this replace an American Strat? No. But for the price of a decent pre-wired pick guard and some locking tuners you'll have a playable/giggable guitar.
Just bought one of these in translucent red, and I see nothing to complain about for the price. The overall finish of the body & neck is better than just functional...the guitar is pretty! Frets, as you said, are not sharp, but the ends could use some polishing I guess. A few more bucks and some setup effort will yield an "ax" that will definitely hold its own against much more expensive guitars. There are $8 Aliexpress humbucker pickups that can fit in the same openings as the single coil ones that come with the guitar and, while they are not locking units, the generic tuners work very smoothly. Even good "pots", if you wanted to swap them out, are also quite cheap. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this guitar, especially if one is willing to put a couple of hours of fine-tuning into it, and few dollars more. For, say, under $100 total, and that bit of labor, I think you would be hard-pressed to argue that the result is not as good as a $400 guitar. BTW, I often see comments that Basswood (American Linden) is soft and basswood is easily dinged. People make it sound like basswood is as soft as balsawood. That's ridiculous, It's not much softer than some mahogany, that people have no gripes about. That's not to say that it is a good tonewood for an acoustic guitar. But, for a solid body electric, I wouldn't complain. If you are rough enough that are dinging a guitar like this, you shouldn't be spending more money anyway!.
I got to say I ordered this guitar after Max did the video in 2018. I wanted to check it out so I ordered one. I got to says it's probably one of Max's best picks for a low end guitar. It actually plays pretty nice, the blue finish is excellent and looks beautiful up close. This is a great guitar for someone starting out on guitar where you don't want to sink a bunch of money into it until you know that you want to play guitar. Great instrument for learning! Mine was invoiced at $49.50 delivered within the USA and that included freight. Pretty much unheard of in terms of guitar deals. 100% as represented in this video. I love it. I call it my weekender. I can pack it with me anywhere I go and practice without worrying about it even if it were to get run over by a bus. I mean what are you out? A pizza dinner for 4? Although that would be tragic because I love it for practice and learning. Great Value and sounds great with a Spark Amp! If you can find one, grab it! As always, Max does some of the greatest reviews on guitar! Mark Held (former Purchasing Manager at Fender Scottdale)
Remember guys to always invest strongly on amps, pedals and all that stuff. This kind of guitars that are actually super cheap are great! However, a good amp and a good pedalboard set always makes a difference 🤘🏻 Nice video, man!!
Everyone wants to do reviews on big dollar guitars. I'm glad you review more affordable models. For that you have a new subscriber. Thanks for helping out the beginners like myself. I can only hope that someday I can make these cheaper guitars sound as good as you do.
+1 for Harley Benton. You know I've spent 4 times the money and got less guitar so this is a great value. One of the skills I think we all struggle with is guitar maintenance and this is a great way to expand those skills. 50 bucks on the guitar, some 0000 steel wool, a set of pickups, bridge and tuners..you would learn a lot about guitars .... It would pay for itself year after year
Mark Shields I agree with that,my friend gave me a guitar and I used it to practice set ups and other maintenance skills. Really helped me become comfortable with working on my other guitars.
Exactly this, I was glad when my HB Tele arrived with issues. Learned to shim the neck, replace pickups, tuners and level and crown frets. I'm waayyy more comfortable working on guitars now, with the added bonus that the HB Tele now rips!
even the best, most expensive guitars accrue wear and tear as you play them day in and day out. steel strings are harder and wear down that factory perfect fret job over the years, switches and pots can get dirt and stuff in them, can wear out and the easiest way to change the tone of your guitar if you don't like something is the pickups so learning basic wiring is essential if you want to be able to do those mods to your instrument. having a 50 dollar guitar with decent bones to just screw all the hell as you learn would be a great investment to teach you to maintain all your instruments. fretwork is NOT cheap...and that's assuming you can even find a someone in your general vicinity with the skills.
Mark Shields EXCELLENT POINT....I repair bikes for fun and guitars along the same li ne: Simple, inexpensive-though speci qa lized(NOT like the bike brand!) tools. And with Utube one doesnt have to open up a 5'×5' bike maintenance schematic....same applies to guitars.
GLad I found your page. Really helpful stuff. I remember when I started playing 35-ish years ago, a cheap guitar was more or less nothing more than a poorly made, unplayable junk box. Things have come a long way for new players ( and old) to find something they like without taking out a mortgage or losing interest.
Holy cow! Thank you so much Max. I ordered the cherry burst for 49. free shipping. It actually showed up today, and it's a one piece body, one piece maple neck. The pups are rather vintage sounding, and not muddy at all. The pots don't work well, and the fret ends are kind of prickley. Over all though it's amazing. So thanks again. Keep up the great work.
I bought one of these as my first guitar and played the hell out of the thing. My only complaint is the cheap fretwire wore out quick when I got into bending. But, for the money I'd recommend it to anyone. If you like it, you'll end up with more guitars. If not, you're only out $50.
I did the same thing, i got a $100 Ibanez GSX 20 FB. Plays well and stays in tune. I've had it 2 weeks and still it's in tune. My babie however is my 1979 Martin E-18 electric guitar. Good video
I checked out several of these on Ebay. Get a good look at the bridges on several of them. A bunch of them have the saddle plate skewed, so the individual saddles are pointing every which way but straight. The prices are up a little bit, but not much considering the import tariffs. Great review Max!!!! Thanks!!!!
Jason Bowman I was so excited when I got it man I couldn't believe I got it so cheap. I bought another 2006 60th anniversary mim strat two years ago with Seymour Duncan hotrails for $120 and thought that would be the lowest I'd ever find a Fender
74dart man the guy was like "it's broken and you might be able to get a certified guitar tech to fix it but it might cost you an arm and a leg" so I just acted the part like "oh dang well I hope I can get it fixed" luckily we met outside a guitar center so I just walked inside, bought a nut, got home and shaved it down a bit and got the guitar playing like a beauty haha
Great review as always brother and of course your playing rocks as always . It's awesome that you find these deals and share them . As well as taking time out of your busy schedule !
First two sold out sold out. Tried the red one and it worked. Thanks Max of all the links I have followed they are always sold out so I was glad when I got this one. I'm going to give it to a guy who plays guitar at or church yet doesn't have a guitar super stoked he will love it
Let me know bro. Of it's ok. Getting an read up on them by reviews. Hot or miss but hell. One day I'll upgrade my MIM pups and just try to swap the pups to one of these and see ..or wall hanger worse case. You have to watch out though on eBay alot of sellers are buying these and naming off name and relic them asking way more. Lol. Read article.
Just received and setup the Blackstar Amp. My daughter was so impressed with the guitar with this amp that she went on EBay and bought the guitar right away. Thank you for the review. The price and quality of this guitar is simply amazing even with an amp for under $100.
Haha !!!! I just bought it ... But I bought the "sunset" and it's "unbranded" ..!! Both my choice ... But price went up to 49.00$ .. with all the case , trem bar ect. I also own and use Blackstar I Core 10 and for my jeep ,Blackstar fly3 battery powered .. I have and own 10's of thousands of dollars in guitars alone and do almost all my own work so looking forward to "working this axe Over" thanx for the link ..!!! Lol
And it came today... A quick set proved just what I knew was coming , it's all coming apart soon , sounds great for probably the cheapest hardware on the planet , new tremlo , tuners soon , news pickups and harness after , but it set right up fine plays really surprisingly well ,, thanx again Max for the link , even came Fedex ..!! Sounds just like your video ...
I recently discovered your videos and love them. You don't talk down to your viewers by telling them they shouldn't buy inexpensive guitars, the only way you can sound good is if you drop over $1000 on a guitar, etc. I subscribed and look forward to seeing the things you do in the future, as well as checking out your older ones. I have the Blackstar ID Core V2 Stereo 20, and would love to see you do a video on how you setup to record your guitars using an audio interface to your pc. Amp settings, software, etc. Keep up the great videos!
Oh yeah! I laughed at first when I saw this video. I bought THREE of these guitars few months ago to practice setups, painting, and fret leveling. They do actually play and sound pretty good for $50!! These are definitely great throw away guitars. One thing to note is they are super lightweight. But I kind of like it, they feel like a toy. Also on one of them the action was super high but Frets were okay. Another one the action was perfect with super Sharp frets. So it's hit or miss. I recommend the white color if you can find them. Easier to paint the body if you want to have some fun with it! 😁 After setting these up properly and polishing the Frets and fret ends they play really amazing. Yeah one thing you could do is drop in some upgraded pickups for a better sound, and maybe a steel block to give it some weight. Make great Wall hangings or a guitar to take on vacation! Thanks for the review! -JP
For anyone curious, the seller "yallstore" does respond quickly to a customer concern. After sending them a picture of my damaged guitar they offered to refund $8 (lol) rather than the hassle of return/exchange. I said fine, I'll look at it as a project guitar to refinish or maybe relic. I would still recommend these as there's fun to be had with them for very little cost.
I have one of these in a nice dark green but can still see the wood grain underneath the paint, black pick guard and pickups n knobs, and I love it. I also have a real fender jazz master, fender black paisley telecaster a fender top hat dobro and others, but yea I got one of these and an Amoon Jazz Bass in blue with red tortoiseshell pickguard, Love em!!!
I received the DG tribute strat a couple of days ago. An excellent guitar after I set it up and replaced the rusting strings. I claimed new strings from Thomann who basically called me a criminal. Be careful with Thomann they are are not the Thomann of old, they prefer to lose a customer than just send replacement strings.
I've bought a bunch of Harley Benton guitars and the problems that some have had are pretty minor really. Easy fixes except one that had a broken off headstock.
They're up to about 75.00 now... but still a GREAT way to learn guitar and if it's right for you. Also many professional musicians buy them as practice guitars. Thanks for the great vids!
Seems to make NO diiference which guitar you play, Max. I CANNOT tell the difference in sound between a more expensive guitar and this cheap one: it's all great sounding. You either get a good model from amoungst the stock and/or your talent is adjusted to make the poor guitar sound as fantastic as the more expensive guitar WELL DONE!.
My parents gave me an electric guitar and amp for Christmas when I was about 12, Strat style, with a weird whammy bar set up.Never had a guitar before that. I was playing the Ventures Wipe Out, Walk Don’t Run , Walk the line ,etc, in no time. Don’t recall the make but it was awesome. Didn’t stay in tune for proper chords , but I was all over the power chords and blues riffs,( Smoke on the Water etc.) I eventually took it apart and brought the body to wood shop in school, and added about an inch in thickness to it, ( as it seemed pretty thin) then I painted it black and put different thicknesses of yellow pinstripes on it resembling Eddy Van Hales signature axe. Man that thing sounded and looked amazing. After a while I wanted to upgrade, thinking I could get something that would take things to the next level,( stays in tune, better quality pickups , etc.) I traded it in for a “Mann” Les Paul style guitar. It was a great guitar, ( I think Mann guitars are now worth something), but after a week I realized this new guitar was no better than the one I traded in ,and I’d made a big mistake. I went back to the guitar shop hoping they still had my guitar, but no they sold it, The dealer said it was a really amazing sounding and looking guitar and they sold it the same day I traded it in. I still regret that to this day. It was a really,really cheap guitar, probably a used Sears Special,. But I would pay $$$$$$$$ to have it back. Also, if you are a good musician, you can make a one string tub with a mop handle neck sound good. So, if your an aspiring guitar hero, buy a cheap piece of crap and see what you can do with it. If you can make a cheap ass guitar sound good, then move on. Keep in mind acoustic is a whole other monster.
I also got one. No logo. But it looks cool/black, sounds ok. Lightweight. Playable outta d box. Later, changed its strings. Changed its tree strings and bridge saddles to those with rollers on them. Thanks
Oh man, your cat stole the show before the review even started! LOL Here's an idea, make a tshirt of that Head Banging Cat and I can bet it sells out in a week.
I got the exact same one same price and color. Box was marked Tomtop, they do make all of the other cheap Chinese stuff. "pickups" are 2.5K about half of a real one, the sound was fine just quite your results will vary. This one also had a router error. The control cavity broke through to the spring area in back. It's covered so no big deal, for less than $50 it's amazing
the wood grain that shows through the clear coat is a laminate from what I have been told. My company Glarry Music Canada sells that same body . It is on their tele and ST styles. The tele style is my favorite because of the old school bridge. ash tray with dowel 2 string bridge and it has the old style "LIP STICK" NECK PICK UP. GLARRY HAS UPED THEIR GAME...MIKE
That is cool being that cheap and functioning that well. It gives beginning guitar players a chance to afford something. And a lot of times a person may be interested in playing but can't afford something. That's just awesome.
I would love to hear your professional opinion on the Harley Benton guitars. They have Gibson, Fender, PRS styles and more exotic type things such as fan frets and 7 and 8 strings. I have heard many good things about the quality of these guitars but would really love to hear your take. Be Well
When ordering an Ammoon on Amazon for a partscaster, I got one of these instead. There were no issues at all with the frets. Mine were even in height, well polished, and there were no sharp ends. I did replace the entire pickguard assembly with an Aliexpress hotrails setup, and I plan on adding some Wilkinson tuners. I may also add some roller string trees. Also, the routing is for an HHH setup, but very sloppy. It's not a bad guitar for the price, but I wouldn't spend much more on it.
The reason is CNC machines are highly precise, the value of old guitars had also to do with how the frame is well built- the cheapest guitar today has the same precision
I bought one of these and had it shipped to the place I was headed for vacation, just so I’d have a guitar. It was ready to go out of the box. It was cheaper than having my own guitar fly with me. Somebody’s going to bring it to me when they come my way in a few months. I’ll probably do some mods to it, but I was very impressed given what I paid. Thanks for this review!
Max, bought one of the Glarry guitars for just the reason you said about the frets and neck, to practice working on fret ends and polishing etc. The pickups are horrible, but re-sold it after I worked it over and is one of the nicest $50 guitars out there.
There s a lot if ebay sellers , listing the irin guitars just type in strat copy or double cut guitar and youll find tons of them .they also come in every color in the rainbow .
I can confirm (April 2020) they still have them. Just ordered one for 50$ and change (with tax)...same blue finish. Should be here later this week or early next week. Strangely, with 18 guitars already on hand, I can hardly wait to get this in.
@@NJP76 I hear ya ... I have 10 other guitars and was really happy with mine ...even bought a fake p-bass ...they are pretty great guitars ...next I'm getting the cheapo tele
@@gilwood7530 Ooh, a "P" type bass! Man those things can growl! I had mine tuned to B E A D for a long time and man that thing just tore it up. Made me almost look like I could actually play the thing, LOL. These days I gig pretty much with my ole reliable #7 White Jazz bass (Actual Fender American Std.) It is pretty much bullet proof, and has been on every gig with me since 2000. My kid had one of those Tele-copy guitars about 10 years ago. It was a basket case when he got it. We had sooo much fun working on that guitar, and when it was finally ready to play, the look on his face was priceless! He even wrote a song on that red Tele-copy. So yeah, a Tele will always have a special place in my heart. Anyways, it sounds like you are going to enjoy messing with the less expensive guitars. I always went for the brand names (Carvin, Fender, etc ...). If these guitars had been around back in the day, I might have gone for them. But then back in those days we didn't have UA-cam to show us just what these inexpensive guitars could actually sound like. Sorry 'bout the long reply. Got a little carried away with story telling here, LOL. Story time is over now. It is time to kick back and enjoy playing some guitars. :)
I have one of these as my first guitar. Really can't complain about it too much except for one dead note due to a misshapen fret. This guitar and an Irig and you're good to go.
It's not that amazing that they can build it at that pricepoint. Guitar business is a huge ripoff, especially electrical guitar. There's hardly any engineering to it. Stuff like pickups, knobs, it's all super simple stuff. It's just that idiots are willing to pay way more. Sure if you buy a real brand guitar, the quality will be higher, but even that 1000$ electric guitar, does not really cost more than about 100$ to produce.
It's supposed to be the handwork that makes the price so high because it's not easy to do all that cutting, sanding and assembling, but they still exploit their workers so what the heck.
yup-yup. I've set up several super cheapo guitars like that. as a machine overall for the price, can't complain too much. typical to need to drop the action down, we used to play games with magnets on the backs of the pickups, tone caps... solder 2 wires for out from under the pick guard to twist caps onto and see what you get, find what you like, put it inside. just takes a little time.
Bought this in Red - no doubt, parts are really cheap (pickups, pots and switch) - 3 piece body .. but real rosewood board and the neck is amazing - straight, no dead frets, frets are level and no sharp edges, decently low action - the bridge / tremelo sucks but .. who cares for $48 - I bought it to just go out and play some songs out so if it gets damaged/stolen no big deal - head stock is blank so I'm tempted to stain it and the neck. It needs the intonation adjusted slightly - I've spent way more of squires that were totally unplayable. Amazing value for a first guitar - it actually looks great and is super light too!
I wanna hear you run that cheap guitar through the every day man's amp lol. Plug it into 40 watt Line 6 or something and let's hear it then. I mean we all know that the right amp can make the nastiest sounding guitar sound good. I am actually gonna run over to ebay and look at a couple of those myself. I look for cheap guitars that I can customize then resell for a profit, hmm $50 a pop? I can customize those all day long lol. Great video..Oh and at first I thought your cat there at the 22 second mark was just some bobble head thing until it started to clean itself! lol
Actually i feel like i should point out that the blackstar id core series has a usb line in and software to go along with it. You can record directly into a pc. Edit: a lot of reviewers use a great sounding amp because then if the guitar sucks you can actually blame it on the guitar not sounding good. If the amp sucks, everything will suck. Even the best guitar through the cheapest amp.
I actually didn't get to watch all of the video so I guess I have egg on my face lol. However, that guitar sounds pretty darn good for a cheap guitar going through a cheap amp, too good. I've bought cheap guitars, they sound nothing like this one. But I am gonna buy a couple of these to customize, so I will find out won't I? Lol
That's the 2nd guitar I bought at your recommendation!! Love my Grote Les Paul too. Put Alnicos, Locking Tuners, fret leveled, graphtech nut, and roller bridge and it sings! I've about $350 into it and it's a really sweet guitar. Plan on doing this with the strat.
Hi Max, big thanks for the content, it's fun watching your demos. I actually got this in the mail today, and even better, it cost me $40 (had an ebay coupon!). I've had a cheap starcaster acoustic for awhile (surprisingly decent) but haven't had electrics since I sold off my epi les paul and strat years ago to fund some photo gear (another expensive hobby!). Looking forward to using this with something like amplitube and mess around with different sounds.
Actually it was funny and totally deserving of your original comment...either dont post anything anywhere ever again or grow some spine and roll with the punches.
I know that you set the specs a tad better and it's a shame that some guys that get these guitars don't have someone to set it up then get discouraged at it's sound but it's great guys like you can show them what they "can" sound like thanks dude!
I bought one from the same company off a different listing. It is much better than I expected. Light body is great. Sharp Frets need some work and the hi E string is dead near the pickups. New strings and a bit of attention its a great buy...
Doesn't matter what video ,what review,or what guitar I'm watching you play they all sound awesome because you kick a** !!! Proof most is in the player and not the guitar....
This guitar cost me $68 bucks this week with free shipping.. Got it on the bench, ripped the guts out, ripped off the terrible tuners, scotch padded the body, waiting for some dragonfire humbuckers, new pots, pickguard, speed knobs and tuners.. it RIDICULOUSLY light, Ive got an extra MIM bridge I could throw in or i could risk breaking the body and put on a floyd rose copy.. gonna sand off IRIN and make some custom headstock logo... it was so funny, the block was SOOOOO thin, needs a fret job and leveling. I put some oil on the rosewood and it soaked it up like a sponge but really smoothed up the neck.. reminded me of PINE for the neck it was almost green. overall, its a really fun project gitty and it got here really fast.
I got one of these guitars off branded strats when i was 8 , 11 years later i sanded the neck, and frets. (That where buzzing). I set the neck & intianation. And it played great . The pick ups Suck clean but have a great slappy strat sound with high or medium gain. I played a strat @ guitar center and liked mine better.
So good your cat is headbanging at 0:27 🤘🏻
I was gonna say it, but you beat me too it.
That's awesome! The cat was really gettin into it!👍😎🐱
Thomas Roulet A Rock and Roll Kittie.. 😊
And then again at 4:42 and later
Hes throwing downs some hardcore metal licks
0:27 ridiculus headbagging
Metal cat is metal
Banging*
Metal cat!
😂😂😂 Dat Cat 😂😂😂
Dude comes off with a likable vibe, very well spoken about his obvious geek obsession with stuff that's pretty interesting.
Got onset carpel tunnel, so not even playing right now (not that I was that great), but vids are so well done, just cool to watch.
But Cat just goes and steals the show. 😂😂😂
I would say catastrophic
I like the fact that you respect an instrument regardless of it's being cheap or whatever
Exactly, 2021 I bought a couple of Monoprice Retro Teles in 2 of the flavors I was on the fence about. The Chinese guitars are coming in closer to Squier for both Indonesian & Chinese made instruments.
Sprung on this when Ebay was running a 15% off coupon so the guitar was shipped to my door for $42. I leveled, crowned, and polished the frets. Lemon oiled life into the fret board that was really dry upon arrival and lightly steel wooled it like Max said. I lightly sanded the neck and any rough patches and now it's super smooth and fast. Dropped in the standard Dragonfire single coils and replaced the really crappy plastic nut with a cheap $5.99 graphite one. I tried the trick where you loosen the neck screws a quarter turn and allow the string tension to pull the neck into the body as close as possible for sustain and then retighten and it seemed to really help. I keep shredding on this thing and saying "THIS SHOULDN'T SOUND SO GOOD." All in all I have 70 bucks and some elbow grease in it and I can't put it down.
wish you did a tutorial vid
May i ask how long it took for it to get to delivered to your house? I’m a beginner and just ordered my first guitar. My friend showed me some strumming patterns on it and taught me and i’ve been wanting to play it for a long time and finally ordered one. I’m so excited i can’t wait!
@@anujrimal9630 I hope this guitar worked out for you. If it didn't, don't abandon guitar playing. Good guitars feel better and play better than cheaper ones. The extra money isn't just about name brand and looks. There are things that aren't cosmetic and aren't marketing that makers do to make better guitars.
Wait, what trick about loosening the neck screws?
I never heard that one before. Do tell 😁👍
If you do that work to any guitar it would sound good
I think the prices get raised whenever you post a video about how good they are 🤷♂️🎸
That sounds true
Makes sense..
He’s payed to do so , that’s the game man
Prices are raised by the algorithm at Amazon based on the more one views it, the higher the price. Sneaky.
They must've liked the review. Price has doubled.
Max is a magician. Whether it's $40 or 40 grand guitar, he makes them all sounds beautiful. It makes me strongly believe gear itself doesn't matter. It's the player that makes difference.
I'm convinced Maxx could make a plank of wood with rubber bands sound good
livinglandmine 😂😂😂😂
I bought a 50 dollar guitar and I can't play a note. He is a master!
was about to comment something very similar. this guy is crazy talented.
Of course he can. That's why we watch. To see an accomplished musician with a whatever guitar do stuff we only wish we could do :)
Yes, I agree... I only just started watching his videos but all the guitars sound good. Great tone and awesome playing. Which brings me to my point, he has the amps and guitars toned just right... that along with his great playing makes them all sound good. I have about 20 - 30 guitars so if I sit down and compare them one after another I know that some by default amp settings, everything in the middle sound better than the others. Some can be tweaked to sound as good as the best ones. Some are just ok and and are just not there. But even the ones that are not even close to my good guitars can still sound good on their own if there is nothing to compare them to and with all the right settings (no boxes just guitar and amp I mean).
Hi Max - I just wanted to say thank you. As a person of "limited" means it is really quite refreshing to see an open and honest review of equipment that is in the price range of us mortals. I get that Knight, and TTK and others are reviewing what they like and can afford, but watching reviews of items WAY north of $800 or more is of no use to me, and you don't dog off brands like other youtubers out there. Thanks again from the 505!
There's an old poem called "The Touch of the Master's Hand" where an auctioneer is selling off this beat up old shit violin for a couple bucks, and everybody's laughing at it, but then this master violinist comes up out of the crowd and starts playing it and blows everybody away because it sounds so beautiful. That master musician is you, my friend.
No doubt!
100 % correct....this is one of those guys who could make a Hello Kitty guitar from Walmart sound awesome
@@007specops ua-cam.com/video/rwhvFLHIlBs/v-deo.html
Was it Aretha Franklin that sang,I got the music in me?Take care.
Yeah, we all knew this before you wrote it.... thanks for pointing out the obvious. We come here to get his opinion on it, as we all know he can play...
Got one for my son. We are adding hot rails, splitting them, adding tone caps on push pull pots and making them independently switchable. It plays and sounds great and is making a fun little project. Thanks for the video!
Robert Price cool father!
Very nice
Guitar sound:
80% guitarist
15% amp
5% guitar
60% guitarist
35% amp
5% guitar
20% Guitarist
75% amp
5% Guitar
AnonRocks yeah that’s more accurate lmao
@@OriginalKingRichTv but his videos are great tho
En todo caso hay consenso que la guitarra tiene un % muy bajo en importancia 😅
I love your professionalism and demeanor. You do a great job on the reviews and it seems honest instead of bashing the items for not being a big brand name. I have an American Fender Strat that I paid $1400 for because I thought I had to have it. After seeing your videos I feel like I don't have to be embarrassed to buy something cheaper that is functional and I like. You don't always need a super great guitar. Sometimes a $50 one will do. Keep up the awesome reviews.
Thank you!
I bought this guitar on your recommendation. $49 bucks +tax/ shipping = $54. I got it in 2 days. Unbranded. Looks great. Plays great. I'm totally blown away. Like stated in the video the strings are a little high and the pick ups are weak but this is a playable instrument right out of the box. It was even pretty close to in tune though a half step down. It's light weight (which is good) and feels sturdy enough. No screws falling out or loose parts. It doesn't look or feel "slap together".
Up until now my idea of a $49 guitar was something you'd get from a supermarket. The quality at this price point is ridiculous. Will this replace an American Strat? No. But for the price of a decent pre-wired pick guard and some locking tuners you'll have a playable/giggable guitar.
Awesome! Rock on with it!
Just bought one of these in translucent red, and I see nothing to complain about for the price. The overall finish of the body & neck is better than just functional...the guitar is pretty! Frets, as you said, are not sharp, but the ends could use some polishing I guess. A few more bucks and some setup effort will yield an "ax" that will definitely hold its own against much more expensive guitars. There are $8 Aliexpress humbucker pickups that can fit in the same openings as the single coil ones that come with the guitar and, while they are not locking units, the generic tuners work very smoothly. Even good "pots", if you wanted to swap them out, are also quite cheap. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this guitar, especially if one is willing to put a couple of hours of fine-tuning into it, and few dollars more. For, say, under $100 total, and that bit of labor, I think you would be hard-pressed to argue that the result is not as good as a $400 guitar. BTW, I often see comments that Basswood (American Linden) is soft and basswood is easily dinged. People make it sound like basswood is as soft as balsawood. That's ridiculous, It's not much softer than some mahogany, that people have no gripes about. That's not to say that it is a good tonewood for an acoustic guitar. But, for a solid body electric, I wouldn't complain. If you are rough enough that are dinging a guitar like this, you shouldn't be spending more money anyway!.
I got to say I ordered this guitar after Max did the video in 2018. I wanted to check it out so I ordered one. I got to says it's probably one of Max's best picks for a low end guitar. It actually plays pretty nice, the blue finish is excellent and looks beautiful up close. This is a great guitar for someone starting out on guitar where you don't want to sink a bunch of money into it until you know that you want to play guitar. Great instrument for learning! Mine was invoiced at $49.50 delivered within the USA and that included freight. Pretty much unheard of in terms of guitar deals. 100% as represented in this video. I love it. I call it my weekender. I can pack it with me anywhere I go and practice without worrying about it even if it were to get run over by a bus. I mean what are you out? A pizza dinner for 4? Although that would be tragic because I love it for practice and learning. Great Value and sounds great with a Spark Amp! If you can find one, grab it! As always, Max does some of the greatest reviews on guitar! Mark Held (former Purchasing Manager at Fender Scottdale)
Proof once again that it's not the guitar but the person playing it.
You must be totally deaf or a beginner
plus the amp
Or also the amp
and the mixing..duh!
@@omomahauzel4997 yep, Im pretty sure that the guitar makes noises if you don't edit the parts where he's not playing
Remember guys to always invest strongly on amps, pedals and all that stuff. This kind of guitars that are actually super cheap are great! However, a good amp and a good pedalboard set always makes a difference 🤘🏻 Nice video, man!!
As the video stated, he's using a basic amp this time rather than what everyone points out of expensive amp. $100 or less.
And remember you can always upgrade the pick ups. If you want that higher end guitar sound. Imho
@@ws8080yep, speakers and microphone matter more when it comes to recording
Everyone wants to do reviews on big dollar guitars. I'm glad you review more affordable models. For that you have a new subscriber. Thanks for helping out the beginners like myself. I can only hope that someday I can make these cheaper guitars sound as good as you do.
+1 for Harley Benton. You know I've spent 4 times the money and got less guitar so this is a great value. One of the skills I think we all struggle with is guitar maintenance and this is a great way to expand those skills. 50 bucks on the guitar, some 0000 steel wool, a set of pickups, bridge and tuners..you would learn a lot about guitars .... It would pay for itself year after year
Mark Shields I agree with that,my friend gave me a guitar and I used it to practice set ups and other maintenance skills. Really helped me become comfortable with working on my other guitars.
Exactly this, I was glad when my HB Tele arrived with issues. Learned to shim the neck, replace pickups, tuners and level and crown frets. I'm waayyy more comfortable working on guitars now, with the added bonus that the HB Tele now rips!
even the best, most expensive guitars accrue wear and tear as you play them day in and day out. steel strings are harder and wear down that factory perfect fret job over the years, switches and pots can get dirt and stuff in them, can wear out and the easiest way to change the tone of your guitar if you don't like something is the pickups so learning basic wiring is essential if you want to be able to do those mods to your instrument. having a 50 dollar guitar with decent bones to just screw all the hell as you learn would be a great investment to teach you to maintain all your instruments. fretwork is NOT cheap...and that's assuming you can even find a someone in your general vicinity with the skills.
Mark Shields EXCELLENT POINT....I repair bikes for fun and guitars along the same li ne: Simple, inexpensive-though speci qa lized(NOT like the bike brand!) tools.
And with Utube one doesnt have to open up a 5'×5' bike maintenance schematic....same applies to guitars.
GLad I found your page. Really helpful stuff. I remember when I started playing 35-ish years ago, a cheap guitar was more or less nothing more than a poorly made, unplayable junk box. Things have come a long way for new players ( and old) to find something they like without taking out a mortgage or losing interest.
When a real hero is holding it, every kind of weapon is deadly. Thx for this video. 👍🏻
Holy cow! Thank you so much Max. I ordered the cherry burst for 49. free shipping. It actually showed up today, and it's a one piece body, one piece maple neck. The pups are rather vintage sounding, and not muddy at all. The pots don't work well, and the fret ends are kind of prickley. Over all though it's amazing. So thanks again. Keep up the great work.
Thanks Carl! Rock on!
I bought one of these as my first guitar and played the hell out of the thing. My only complaint is the cheap fretwire wore out quick when I got into bending. But, for the money I'd recommend it to anyone. If you like it, you'll end up with more guitars. If not, you're only out $50.
There's something special about you I have to mention because you make every budget guitar play like beast
A good player can make ANYTHING sound awesome ... Thanks for inspiration bro !!!
I did the same thing, i got a $100 Ibanez GSX 20 FB. Plays well and stays in tune. I've had it 2 weeks and still it's in tune. My babie however is my 1979 Martin E-18 electric guitar. Good video
I checked out several of these on Ebay. Get a good look at the bridges on several of them. A bunch of them have the saddle plate skewed, so the individual saddles are pointing every which way but straight. The prices are up a little bit, but not much considering the import tariffs. Great review Max!!!! Thanks!!!!
Thanks Max, I just bought 2 of them. I have loaded pickguards ready to go when I find deals like this!
I just scored a 1999 Fender standard MIM strat for $45 because the dude thought the guitar was no longer able to work due to a missing nut.
Ben Asslick now that's a bargain. Over here in australia mim strata are $900-$1100 depending on where you go cheers
Ben Asslick sorry strats apologies for the spelling mistake
Jason Bowman I was so excited when I got it man I couldn't believe I got it so cheap. I bought another 2006 60th anniversary mim strat two years ago with Seymour Duncan hotrails for $120 and thought that would be the lowest I'd ever find a Fender
People never cease to amaze me these days! I guess the guy was too lazy to look up on UA-cam..."how to replace a guitar nut". Crazy!😂
74dart man the guy was like "it's broken and you might be able to get a certified guitar tech to fix it but it might cost you an arm and a leg" so I just acted the part like "oh dang well I hope I can get it fixed" luckily we met outside a guitar center so I just walked inside, bought a nut, got home and shaved it down a bit and got the guitar playing like a beauty haha
SWEET playing at about 5:15.....WOW!. Such great tone!!
Great review as always brother and of course your playing rocks as always . It's awesome that you find these deals and share them . As well as taking time out of your busy schedule !
First two sold out sold out. Tried the red one and it worked. Thanks Max of all the links I have followed they are always sold out so I was glad when I got this one. I'm going to give it to a guy who plays guitar at or church yet doesn't have a guitar super stoked he will love it
My wife and I just ordered the red one. Thanks for the heads up on this deal Guitar MAX, wish me luck lol
Good luck!
Let me know bro. Of it's ok. Getting an read up on them by reviews. Hot or miss but hell. One day I'll upgrade my MIM pups and just try to swap the pups to one of these and see ..or wall hanger worse case. You have to watch out though on eBay alot of sellers are buying these and naming off name and relic them asking way more. Lol. Read article.
Just received and setup the Blackstar Amp. My daughter was so impressed with the guitar with this amp that she went on EBay and bought the guitar right away. Thank you for the review. The price and quality of this guitar is simply amazing even with an amp for under $100.
Excellent!
This is my new favorite channel now
It is amazing to me at how you can pick up any guitar no matter what the price and play them like a pro. You are talented ,Thanks
Haha !!!! I just bought it ... But I bought the "sunset" and it's "unbranded" ..!! Both my choice ... But price went up to 49.00$ .. with all the case , trem bar ect. I also own and use Blackstar I Core 10 and for my jeep ,Blackstar fly3 battery powered .. I have and own 10's of thousands of dollars in guitars alone and do almost all my own work so looking forward to "working this axe Over" thanx for the link ..!!! Lol
And it came today... A quick set proved just what I knew was coming , it's all coming apart soon , sounds great for probably the cheapest hardware on the planet , new tremlo , tuners soon , news pickups and harness after , but it set right up fine plays really surprisingly well ,, thanx again Max for the link , even came Fedex ..!! Sounds just like your video ...
I recently discovered your videos and love them. You don't talk down to your viewers by telling them they shouldn't buy inexpensive guitars, the only way you can sound good is if you drop over $1000 on a guitar, etc. I subscribed and look forward to seeing the things you do in the future, as well as checking out your older ones. I have the Blackstar ID Core V2 Stereo 20, and would love to see you do a video on how you setup to record your guitars using an audio interface to your pc. Amp settings, software, etc. Keep up the great videos!
Oh yeah! I laughed at first when I saw this video. I bought THREE of these guitars few months ago to practice setups, painting, and fret leveling.
They do actually play and sound pretty good for $50!! These are definitely great throw away guitars. One thing to note is they are super lightweight. But I kind of like it, they feel like a toy. Also on one of them the action was super high but Frets were okay. Another one the action was perfect with super Sharp frets. So it's hit or miss. I recommend the white color if you can find them. Easier to paint the body if you want to have some fun with it! 😁
After setting these up properly and polishing the Frets and fret ends they play really amazing. Yeah one thing you could do is drop in some upgraded pickups for a better sound, and maybe a steel block to give it some weight.
Make great Wall hangings or a guitar to take on vacation! Thanks for the review! -JP
Great playing. Good to see you know the value of these things and you're not snobbish like some other reviewers.
Stayin up late Max? Great video as always!
Look at that cat feeling the music 0:26
For anyone curious, the seller "yallstore" does respond quickly to a customer concern. After sending them a picture of my damaged guitar they offered to refund $8 (lol) rather than the hassle of return/exchange. I said fine, I'll look at it as a project guitar to refinish or maybe relic. I would still recommend these as there's fun to be had with them for very little cost.
I have one of these in a nice dark green but can still see the wood grain underneath the paint, black pick guard and pickups n knobs, and I love it. I also have a real fender jazz master, fender black paisley telecaster a fender top hat dobro and others, but yea I got one of these and an Amoon Jazz Bass in blue with red tortoiseshell pickguard, Love em!!!
How about some of the new Harley Benton guitars.
They are nice but you have to wait quite a while for them and I've seen a lot of mixed reviews about them...Gary
For 200$ Sterling Silo 3 are the best ones
Amen Blen Salinas. Sterling are the best budget axes.
I received the DG tribute strat a couple of days ago. An excellent guitar after I set it up and replaced the rusting strings. I claimed new strings from Thomann who basically called me a criminal. Be careful with Thomann they are are not the Thomann of old, they prefer to lose a customer than just send replacement strings.
I've bought a bunch of Harley Benton guitars and the problems that some have had are pretty minor really. Easy fixes except one that had a broken off headstock.
They're up to about 75.00 now... but still a GREAT way to learn guitar and if it's right for you. Also many professional musicians buy them as practice guitars. Thanks for the great vids!
Seems to make NO diiference which guitar you play, Max.
I CANNOT tell the difference in sound between a more expensive guitar and this cheap one: it's all great sounding.
You either get a good model from amoungst the stock and/or your talent is adjusted to make the poor guitar sound as fantastic as the more expensive guitar
WELL DONE!.
My parents gave me an electric guitar and amp for Christmas when I was about 12, Strat style, with a weird whammy bar set up.Never had a guitar before that. I was playing the Ventures Wipe Out, Walk Don’t Run , Walk the line ,etc, in no time. Don’t recall the make but it was awesome. Didn’t stay in tune for proper chords , but I was all over the power chords and blues riffs,( Smoke on the Water etc.)
I eventually took it apart and brought the body to wood shop in school, and added about an inch in thickness to it, ( as it seemed pretty thin) then I painted it black and put different thicknesses of yellow pinstripes on it resembling Eddy Van Hales signature axe. Man that thing sounded and looked amazing. After a while I wanted to upgrade, thinking I could get something that would take things to the next level,( stays in tune, better quality pickups , etc.) I traded it in for a “Mann” Les Paul style guitar. It was a great guitar, ( I think Mann guitars are now worth something), but after a week I realized this new guitar was no better than the one I traded in ,and I’d made a big mistake. I went back to the guitar shop hoping they still had my guitar, but no they sold it, The dealer said it was a really amazing sounding and looking guitar and they sold it the same day I traded it in. I still regret that to this day.
It was a really,really cheap guitar, probably a used Sears Special,. But I would pay $$$$$$$$ to have it back.
Also, if you are a good musician, you can make a one string tub with a mop handle neck sound good.
So, if your an aspiring guitar hero, buy a cheap piece of crap and see what you can do with it.
If you can make a cheap ass guitar sound good, then move on.
Keep in mind acoustic is a whole other monster.
since when does Vincent from pulp fiction do guitar reviews
Tee fact you had to say from pulp fiction makes the joke miss
LMAO 🤣🤣🤣
Omg right i got Vincent vibes
I also got one. No logo. But it looks cool/black, sounds ok. Lightweight. Playable outta d box. Later, changed its strings. Changed its tree strings and bridge saddles to those with rollers on them. Thanks
Picked up a Made in Indonesia Squire Stratocaster (not Affinity) for $45
Thanks for the heads up. I grabbed one off eBay. And as you pointed out, surprisingly nice for less than $50.
Oh man, your cat stole the show before the review even started! LOL Here's an idea, make a tshirt of that Head Banging Cat and I can bet it sells out in a week.
Leonard Shelby I'd buy THAT for a dollar.
The cat was definitely grooming itself but the rest was cut off so it looked like he or she was headbanging 😂
That sounds like an awesome idea btw
I got the exact same one same price and color. Box was marked Tomtop, they do make all of the other cheap Chinese stuff. "pickups" are 2.5K about half of a real one, the sound was fine just quite your results will vary. This one also had a router error. The control cavity broke through to the spring area in back. It's covered so no big deal, for less than $50 it's amazing
I feel bad for the people who have to make these guitars ☹️
I think it'll be automated. Robots and CNC machines doing all the cutting and majority of everything else.
Why?
Slave labor for sure
@@lordofthestings - Made in China, perhaps?
@@thespeez,
Yes, by chinese who are below poverty level.
the wood grain that shows through the clear coat is a laminate from what I have been told. My company Glarry Music Canada sells that same body . It is on their tele and ST styles. The tele style is my favorite because of the old school bridge. ash tray with dowel 2 string bridge and it has the old style "LIP STICK" NECK PICK UP. GLARRY HAS UPED THEIR GAME...MIKE
5:40 Are you playing the yousician ad
lol Am I?!
Guitar MAX yes
Price is up to $49.89. Still under 50 bucks! Had to have one. I'm a newbie so I'm sure sure it will be just great for me!!
Thanks Max!!
They're still out there. What a deal LOL
That is cool being that cheap and functioning that well. It gives beginning guitar players a chance to afford something. And a lot of times a person may be interested in playing but can't afford something. That's just awesome.
I would love to hear your professional opinion on the Harley Benton guitars. They have Gibson, Fender, PRS styles and more exotic type things such as fan frets and 7 and 8 strings. I have heard many good things about the quality of these guitars but would really love to hear your take. Be Well
Jess! I'm doing a Harley Benton review very soon!
Looking forward to the HB review and all your other content. Best!!
When ordering an Ammoon on Amazon for a partscaster, I got one of these instead. There were no issues at all with the frets. Mine were even in height, well polished, and there were no sharp ends. I did replace the entire pickguard assembly with an Aliexpress hotrails setup, and I plan on adding some Wilkinson tuners. I may also add some roller string trees. Also, the routing is for an HHH setup, but very sloppy. It's not a bad guitar for the price, but I wouldn't spend much more on it.
Please review a budget headless guitar
I've had one for a while now. Modded it, love it
If they can make a guitar for $15 then $40-$50 is about right . Fender Stratocasters are made for $75.00 the rest is “ Marketing “
The reason is CNC machines are highly precise, the value of old guitars had also to do with how the frame is well built- the cheapest guitar today has the same precision
+25 for Hail Sagan, +50 for tuxedo kitty
If this was pre-2012 UA-cam where comments got 1-5 stars, yours would have got 'millions and millions' of stars!
I bought one of these and had it shipped to the place I was headed for vacation, just so I’d have a guitar. It was ready to go out of the box. It was cheaper than having my own guitar fly with me. Somebody’s going to bring it to me when they come my way in a few months. I’ll probably do some mods to it, but I was very impressed given what I paid. Thanks for this review!
Mine was unbranded. It came with everything you got. The action was a trifle high. $50 and it showed up in a few days.
$46??? Okay if your the Rockafellers. I shelled out $31.50 for my 2002 China Strat. Still making payments on it.
It just don't worth the investment unless you play professionally
Max, bought one of the Glarry guitars for just the reason you said about the frets and neck, to practice working on fret ends and polishing etc. The pickups are horrible, but re-sold it after I worked it over and is one of the nicest $50 guitars out there.
Carl Sagan is my hero.
Hail Sagan!
I actually just got one in that same blue but with a black pick guard. Should be here tomorrow! Can’t wait to rebuild it
Nice! Have fun with it!
i've never see john trovolta playing guitar before..
John Travolta should look so good
Chris Daykin he does.. well the real one doesn’t until after he did too much Botox 😐
I like that he uses that Blackstar amp. So many reviews of affordable guitars are done on amps that would make anything sound good.
Could I add Diamond Guitars? They aren’t dirt cheap, but they look amazing for the price.
I'm getting a diamond Renegade this year
0:26 its so good that the cat is headbanging
Hi. Could you please say "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!"
Oh HI MARK
LMAO
Imagine if max uploaded a video where tommy takes his place
There s a lot if ebay sellers , listing the irin guitars just type in strat copy or double cut guitar and youll find tons of them .they also come in every color in the rainbow .
Theres still a 49$ one on there ...Damn I wish 45 years ago they had deals like that
I can confirm (April 2020) they still have them. Just ordered one for 50$ and change (with tax)...same blue finish. Should be here later this week or early next week. Strangely, with 18 guitars already on hand, I can hardly wait to get this in.
@@NJP76 I hear ya ... I have 10 other guitars and was really happy with mine ...even bought a fake p-bass ...they are pretty great guitars ...next I'm getting the cheapo tele
@@gilwood7530 Ooh, a "P" type bass! Man those things can growl! I had mine tuned to B E A D for a long time and man that thing just tore it up. Made me almost look like I could actually play the thing, LOL.
These days I gig pretty much with my ole reliable #7 White Jazz bass (Actual Fender American Std.) It is pretty much bullet proof, and has been on every gig with me since 2000.
My kid had one of those Tele-copy guitars about 10 years ago. It was a basket case when he got it. We had sooo much fun working on that guitar, and when it was finally ready to play, the look on his face was priceless! He even wrote a song on that red Tele-copy. So yeah, a Tele will always have a special place in my heart.
Anyways, it sounds like you are going to enjoy messing with the less expensive guitars. I always went for the brand names (Carvin, Fender, etc ...). If these guitars had been around back in the day, I might have gone for them. But then back in those days we didn't have UA-cam to show us just what these inexpensive guitars could actually sound like.
Sorry 'bout the long reply. Got a little carried away with story telling here, LOL. Story time is over now. It is time to kick back and enjoy playing some guitars. :)
@@NJP76 This one I got recently is one of these cheap GLARRYs (65 bucks shipped) ...Its not only a great looking guitar , IT PLAYS AWESOME
Ive seen alot of your videos now and Im convinced that your guitar skills make most of those cheap guitars sound alot better than they really are
Just imagine how much this would be in 1960 dollars.
$6.99 mail order from an ad in the back of a Batman comic.
I have one of these as my first guitar. Really can't complain about it too much except for one dead note due to a misshapen fret. This guitar and an Irig and you're good to go.
It's not that amazing that they can build it at that pricepoint. Guitar business is a huge ripoff, especially electrical guitar. There's hardly any engineering to it. Stuff like pickups, knobs, it's all super simple stuff. It's just that idiots are willing to pay way more.
Sure if you buy a real brand guitar, the quality will be higher, but even that 1000$ electric guitar, does not really cost more than about 100$ to produce.
Jan Klas agreed. Its different with acoustic/classical guitars
yeah for electric Guitar don't go over 600 or 700 beyond that they are milking you hard
It's supposed to be the handwork that makes the price so high because it's not easy to do all that cutting, sanding and assembling, but they still exploit their workers so what the heck.
yup-yup. I've set up several super cheapo guitars like that. as a machine overall for the price, can't complain too much. typical to need to drop the action down, we used to play games with magnets on the backs of the pickups, tone caps... solder 2 wires for out from under the pick guard to twist caps onto and see what you get, find what you like, put it inside. just takes a little time.
Do a video, and the price just rose. $49.89, but still a steal.
Jeff Costello 55 now
Backpackfanatic cool
Walmart is selling the exact same guitar now for $53
Bought this in Red - no doubt, parts are really cheap (pickups, pots and switch) - 3 piece body .. but real rosewood board and the neck is amazing - straight, no dead frets, frets are level and no sharp edges, decently low action - the bridge / tremelo sucks but .. who cares for $48 - I bought it to just go out and play some songs out so if it gets damaged/stolen no big deal - head stock is blank so I'm tempted to stain it and the neck. It needs the intonation adjusted slightly - I've spent way more of squires that were totally unplayable. Amazing value for a first guitar - it actually looks great and is super light too!
I wanna hear you run that cheap guitar through the every day man's amp lol. Plug it into 40 watt Line 6 or something and let's hear it then. I mean we all know that the right amp can make the nastiest sounding guitar sound good. I am actually gonna run over to ebay and look at a couple of those myself. I look for cheap guitars that I can customize then resell for a profit, hmm $50 a pop? I can customize those all day long lol. Great video..Oh and at first I thought your cat there at the 22 second mark was just some bobble head thing until it started to clean itself! lol
Check the video at the 9:00 minute mark :)
He already is running through a cheap amp. He's using a blackstar id core 10. These amps cost $100
ItzBacon is right. Line 6 is the low end of the low end. Max also uses a $100 microphone to record his cab.
Actually i feel like i should point out that the blackstar id core series has a usb line in and software to go along with it. You can record directly into a pc.
Edit: a lot of reviewers use a great sounding amp because then if the guitar sucks you can actually blame it on the guitar not sounding good. If the amp sucks, everything will suck. Even the best guitar through the cheapest amp.
I actually didn't get to watch all of the video so I guess I have egg on my face lol. However, that guitar sounds pretty darn good for a cheap guitar going through a cheap amp, too good. I've bought cheap guitars, they sound nothing like this one. But I am gonna buy a couple of these to customize, so I will find out won't I? Lol
That's the 2nd guitar I bought at your recommendation!! Love my Grote Les Paul too. Put Alnicos, Locking Tuners, fret leveled, graphtech nut, and roller bridge and it sings! I've about $350 into it and it's a really sweet guitar. Plan on doing this with the strat.
Excellent!
0:28 I see a cat rocker
Hi Max, big thanks for the content, it's fun watching your demos. I actually got this in the mail today, and even better, it cost me $40 (had an ebay coupon!). I've had a cheap starcaster acoustic for awhile (surprisingly decent) but haven't had electrics since I sold off my epi les paul and strat years ago to fund some photo gear (another expensive hobby!). Looking forward to using this with something like amplitube and mess around with different sounds.
Awesome! 40 bucks! What a deal!
More cat in your videos please!
You Sir play well!!! Back then I remember my first guitar was a tiesco and it was crap compared to these new guitars!!! And it cost 100 back in 1978!
A guitar for someone who may not totally commit to guitar ???
AnnaAnnaYes you should wait for the $5 model.
Audfile If you are trying to be funny.You aren't.$5 is probably your range!!
john jones I'm just making a comment.I gave my guitars to my Nephew years ago and he still plays them.
Actually it was funny and totally deserving of your original comment...either dont post anything anywhere ever again or grow some spine and roll with the punches.
@@Dreamdancer11 ?????
I know that you set the specs a tad better and it's a shame that some guys that get these guitars don't have someone to set it up then get discouraged at it's sound but it's great guys like you can show them what they "can" sound like thanks dude!
FENDER doesn't even use rosewood for fretboards anymore...!
Fender is overpriced
@@dannyh7557 for the quality of instrument, no it's not. The Squier series is also very good for the money. I picked up a mexican strat for 300
I bought one from the same company off a different listing. It is much better than I expected. Light body is great. Sharp Frets need some work and the hi E string is dead near the pickups. New strings and a bit of attention its a great buy...
A little late to the video but i just ordered and I'm really excited. It's expected to arrive by Friday and I can't wait!
Doesn't matter what video ,what review,or what guitar I'm watching you play they all sound awesome because you kick a** !!! Proof most is in the player and not the guitar....
This guitar cost me $68 bucks this week with free shipping.. Got it on the bench, ripped the guts out, ripped off the terrible tuners, scotch padded the body, waiting for some dragonfire humbuckers, new pots, pickguard, speed knobs and tuners.. it RIDICULOUSLY light, Ive got an extra MIM bridge I could throw in or i could risk breaking the body and put on a floyd rose copy.. gonna sand off IRIN and make some custom headstock logo... it was so funny, the block was SOOOOO thin, needs a fret job and leveling. I put some oil on the rosewood and it soaked it up like a sponge but really smoothed up the neck.. reminded me of PINE for the neck it was almost green. overall, its a really fun project gitty and it got here really fast.
I got one of these guitars off branded strats when i was 8 , 11 years later i sanded the neck, and frets. (That where buzzing). I set the neck & intianation. And it played great . The pick ups Suck clean but have a great slappy strat sound with high or medium gain. I played a strat @ guitar center and liked mine better.