Budget guitar

[peterbower]

Hi all, I would be interested in hearing your views on a budget guitar, lets say under £400, not necessarily a Fender but 3 single coils and a trem are essential, also scope for upgrading. There seems to be quite a few guitars on the market in the Strat configuration but of other makes,
Peter

[Deleted]

Squier vintage vib. Seems pretty good.

[peterbower]

Agreed Koss, however, looking at some of the other brands in Strat configuration, Tokai, Cort, Harley Benton, Peavey, Sterling Cutlass by Music Man, Vintage Reissued V6, I'm sure there are more, I already have a Simon Neal Squire and as nice as it is, I would prefer to look at other options,

[Deleted]

Peter

You know more than me.

Good luck with your search. I know a member that uses a cheapish harley benton as a practice guitar. He says it's OK.

Koss.

[peterbower]

Thank's Koss, the Harley Benton is on the list to research

[glyderslead]

Hello Peter

I had an advert come through from Andertons. It seems that PRS have got a budget range and I’m sure the prices were sub 400. In addition you might want to take a look at Burns Marquee’s. These are well made and have ResoMatiC pickups and a tremolo that is knife edge but works on the same principle as a Strat.

Cheers

Mick

[glyderslead]

Hello Peter,

I was wrong about the PRS offerings. They only have two pickups and you specified three. Despite that I think they are worth a look.

Cheers

Mick

[Stu's Dad]

Peter,

You can't go wrong with a Squier Classic Vibe, I've got a Strat and a Jaguar and they're both excellent workmanship. The only thing I've upgraded on the Strat is the bridge, I've fitted a Wilkinson with a better block and push-in tremolo arm. There's one in top condition on another forum for £300. It's had the bridge upgrade and has got CS 54 pickups fitted (although I think the original Toneriders are great), and comes in a tweed case.

I wouldn't look any further, but that's your choice.

Good luck in your search,

Len

[Steve Reynolds]

Plus 1 for the classic vibe. One of the best guitars I own. Done over a 100 gigs with it and it sounds fantastic plays fantastic and a bargain price too

[Deleted]

I meant Classic vibe. Not vintage vibe.

[sixchannel]

Sept 16, 2019 12:03:58 GMT peterbower said:

Thank's Koss, the Harley Benton is on the list to research

Koss2 is possibly referring to my H-B ST62, a bargain at not much more than £130 or so ex-Thomann.
I love the neck - suits me perfectly, the pickups were very nice and twangy although Bridge is a bit 'bright' sounding.
The let down IMO is the dreadful threading on my vibrato arm socket. Using PTFE from Day 1.
It stays in tune pretty well,even with lots of bar waggling.
At that price its perfect for upgrading bits and bobs. I recently acquired a set of G&L Legacy pickups for a great price and they are now in it.
HTH
Ian

[didier]

Sept 16, 2019 12:03:58 GMT peterbower said:

Thank's Koss, the Harley Benton is on the list to research

Comments are rather good : www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_st_59hm_fiesta_red_tribute.htm

Didier

[peterbower]

sixchannel, thanks for the heads up on the HB ST-62, can you remember what the finger board radius is, I find the very early 7-1/2" a tad too curved, but I like the current Fender 9-1/2" with medium Jumbo frets very nice to play, I find some of these modern fret boards i.E. 11" to flat. I would probably drop a Wilkinson Trem in as part of the upgrade

Thanks Didier, for the heads up on the HB-59 HM although I was not looking for a HM specifically, A Fiesta red with Rose Wood fret board would be good, Hank played this type the longest in the earlier days.

Hi Steve, totally agree, I have the Simon Neal like you have, but I wanted to look at other brands possibly cheaper as a upgrade project

Thanks

Pete

[bor64]

Pete,

I've several cheaper strats in my collection, just to check these out.
3 Harley Benton and 3 Jack&Danny the later are also a "shop brand".... they are of the Music Store Professional of Cologne in GBthey are called DV 247 store.
The guitars are lighter the necks are slimmer...more along the original contours of Fender and Squier.
I favour the J&D strats above the HB's .
The J&D come in 3 price classes from 70 to 127 GBP.
Worth to try !!!


Cheers Rob

[sixchannel]

Sept 17, 2019 9:49:24 GMT peterbower said:

sixchannel, thanks for the heads up on the HB ST-62, can you remember what the finger board radius is, I find the very early 7-1/2" a tad too curved, but I like the current Fender 9-1/2" with medium Jumbo frets very nice to play, I find some of these modern fret boards i.E. 11" to flat. I would probably drop a Wilkinson Trem in as part of the upgrade

Thanks Didier, for the heads up on the HB-59 HM although I was not looking for a HM specifically, A Fiesta red with Rose Wood fret board would be good, Hank played this type the longest in the earlier days.

Hi Steve, totally agree, I have the Simon Neal like you have, but I wanted to look at other brands possibly cheaper as a upgrade project

Thanks

Pete

13.1/2" radius. Its quite flattish compared to others. My Brason has similar neck and I find them easy to play.
HTH
Ian

[Stu's Dad]

Sept 17, 2019 16:06:51 GMT bor64 said:

Pete,

I've several cheaper strats in my collection, just to check these out.
3 Harley Benton and 3 Jack&Danny the later are also a "shop brand".... they are of the Music Store Professional of Cologne in GBthey are called DV 247 store.
The guitars are lighter the necks are slimmer...more along the original contours of Fender and Squier.
I favour the J&D strats above the HB's .
The J&D come in 3 price classes from 70 to 127 GBP.
Worth to try !!!


Cheers Rob


Rob,

What's the build quality like on the J & D guitars? I'm not too concerned about the elctrics, they can be changed, more with the body. Are the frets properly dressed? Are the machine heads any good? etc. After reading your post I looked at them on line, and they look almost too good to be true. I'd be interested in your opinion.

Cheers, Len

[peterbower]

The Video of the guy playing a black J&D Strat, looked pretty good, the close ups of the guitar looked amazing for the price, as Len said what's the build quality like and what wood is used, are they Chinese etc

Ian that 13-1/2" radius would be too flat for me

Cheers, Peter

[glyderslead]

Hello Peter,

Try looking up “Benson” guitars. My son retrieved one of their guitars from a skip for me, a sunburst Stratocaster copy. I have Searched for them and they can be found for something like £50.00. The freebie that I have is really very good and plays really well. I call it my skiptocaster.

Their website seems to be focusing on various styles but not Stratocaster at present, so you will need to search for a second hand one.

Cheers

[Ed Cornish]

J&D guitars - I was looking at the specs on a sunburst model and it was stated that the fretboard was a "composite". So, not real wood! From what I could see in the picture, it reminded me of that thin pressed (composite) board backing you used to get on the back of old wardrobes!

There's been some raves about the Firefly but I am not sure if they do strats!

Edit:

Actually I was also going to suggest an Indian Made Encore - the very early ones, not the "Coaster" They have a solid wood body - the one that I had was very heavy for a cheap guitar. Neck was good. Tuners and electrics rubbish. Look out for one - you won't be disappointed. Wish I had never got rid of mine!

[peterbower]

Every one has given some good suggestions and lots for me to look at, so far I'm getting interested in the Squire 70's vintage modified series, hopefully second hand, Fiesta red is not high on the list

Pete

[bor64]

I've had 20+ HB guitars on my bench(4 of myself others for friends) for a setup or some little customizing.
The later ones have fretboards of roseacer which is a fancy/fantasy word for composite rosewood...or blackwood and I can't detect if it's real wood either.
On the HB's I find (apart of lousy setups) protruding frets,really awful filed nuts ,crocked tuners and worst of all, little spots where the coloured lacker(below the topcoat of the neck) is not covering the wood properly. So you see little whiter wood.
On the J&D's that passed my hands (3 of myself and others for friends) I've find a few sharp fret ends,but better setups as on HB's.
The wood of the bodies have the correct proper thickness, necks are way slimmer, more kinda the JV Squiers of begin 80's.
Tuning-keys are better then on most of the HB's.
Keep in mind we are talking lower budget guitars, so don't expect 20+ years of smooth running tuners.
I've stated on lots of sites, if these J&D's/HB's guitars would be upgraded from factory with Wilkinson's tremelo's and tuning-keys and/or better pu's for a little higher price...the MIM and MIJ would get a run for their money...
If you take the J&D higher priced strat as a base and you upgrade the guitar with your fav pu's and a Wilkinson trem....you've have a guitar that cost 5 times more from other brands.
I've no problem to do a pub-gig with my HB's and J&D's!
Pity we in Holland haven't any local shad meetings like in the UK. I would happily demoed my lower budget strats in compare with my pre-cbs
and a sample of every HM signature series guitar that's brought out.

Cheers Rob


Cheers Rob

[peterbower]

Thanks Rob, very interesting, you mention Wilkinson parts such as trem and tuners, even their pickups, it reminds me of one guitar with all those parts for under £300, the Vintage Reissued V6 which Trev Wilkinson designed,

I have not considered these before but some are now on deals below £250, I saw a Firenza ( not Fiesta ) red with maple finger board for £220, yes a bit more money than the HB & J&D, but might be worth a look
Form your own Shads club with friends

I have an early production Jap HM signature Fender Strat but it needed decent pickups and electrics plus a decent trem block before it sounded any good, I eventually up graded the tuners to Gotoh Klusons as the originals were imprecise and sloppy, budget parts I guess

Pete

[glyderslead]

Hello Peter, I think you have just summarised the problem with budget instruments. You can spend more than the body and neck are worthy of bringing the various parts up to an acceptable level to make the guitar suitable.

Rob mentioned some of the issues with cheaper guitars, rough fret ends and cheaper electronics, but if the frets can be smoothed and the if the electronics work ok and more importantly sound ok, well, that’s great. Personally there are times when I can’t hear such a great difference, if any, between cheap pickups and expensive ones. As for little pots and old fashioned big ones is there really such a difference in use?

Seems to me the way to go is to try out a guitar and if it suits and you can afford it buy it.

But wHat do I know.

Cheers

Mick

[peterbower]

Mick you know a lot and you make sense, upgraded parts are possibly and collectively going to cost more than the guitar was worth in the first place and I doubt you would ever get your money back if you sold it, the sum of the parts as they. As for pots, I agree, I have never heard any difference between the little or large pots, I would however, replace the switch, very cheap switches work but for how long before they play up, For £8 you can get a decent switch.

Cheers

Pete

[glyderslead]

Peter,

One more to look at, GLARRY musical instruments. They make many styles of budget instruments including Strats. I think you will find them well worth a look.

I almost forgot about this company. I had never heard of them before, took a chance and ordered a Jazz Bass. When it arrived it had a small amount of damage on the lower edge. I asked for it to be replaced and they suggested I keep it and accept half of my money back. It cost £44.80 less £22.40 refund.

It plays ok, sounds ok and I am quite happy. I call it my 22 40. and I don't care how long the Tuners or pots last!!!!

The bass is Black, so I pushed the boat out and spent a few pounds on a replacement torti scratch plate and despite the knock It really looks quite good.

Cheers

Mick

[peterbower]

Mick, that's a new name to me, they seem awfully cheap, one wonders the quality of the components and build, I think this would be too cheap. My new price is around £250 give or take

Pete

[jimimac]

Hi everyone new to the forum and first post, I have recently started learning the guitar, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on my first guitar so went for a Harley Benton vt first thing I did was to send it off for a setup at reloved guitars which includes fret leveling as I suspected it would have some high frets as it wasn't a expensive guitar, however they got back to me and said the frets where all level and it was the best Harley Benton he has had in his workshop regarding the level of the frets and no work was needed there so we decided the guitar would benefit from changing the tremelo block to a steel one also replace the nut with a bone one and set the action lower overall I am happy with the guitar and certainly would recommend a Harley Benton as a starter guitar or just to practice on.

Thanks, jim

[sixchannel]

Sept 26, 2019 19:27:32 GMT jimimac said:

Hi everyone new to the forum and first post, I have recently started learning the guitar, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on my first guitar so went for a Harley Benton vt first thing I did was to send it off for a setup at reloved guitars which includes fret leveling as I suspected it would have some high frets as it wasn't a expensive guitar, however they got back to me and said the frets where all level and it was the best Harley Benton he has had in his workshop regarding the level of the frets and no work was needed there so we decided the guitar would benefit from changing the tremelo block to a steel one also replace the nut with a bone one and set the action lower overall I am happy with the guitar and certainly would recommend a Harley Benton as a starter guitar or just to practice on.

Thanks, jim

Jim, did you actually replace the bridge or trem block? IMHO its the Achilles heel of this otherwise decent guitar for the money.
Like you, the frets, as delivered,were level and dressed.
Cheers
Ian

[glyderslead]

Hello Pete,

Would you believe it. Had a marketing email from Glarry today. The headline is “ make a £40 guitar play like a £400 guitar”. In this instance they were referring to an acoustic.

It seems there are u tube videos showing how it’s done on various other instruments they produce too.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Yamaha Pacifica’s, after all, that company make quality motor cycles as a side line so they ought to be able to knock out machine heads and bridges, in fact all the metal bits without effort.

Cheers

Mick

[Tone]

Peter

Have a listen to Ian's (Sixchannel) track he's recently posted in the Sound Files section. He's using his Harley Benton and got a great sound from it.

I'm drawing your attention to it here because I'm sure Ian's far too modest to do so himself!

Cheers.

Tony