I have no idea why I clicked on this video - I've failed for years to put the time I ought to in to learning the piano, but now I'm morbidly curious about how this guitar stands up to being used repeatedly for say two weeks, and what this could mean for someone who wants to learn guitar!
omg 10:11 that guitar has a sweet twang sound and it's perfect for some solid jazz/blues. I love that twang and the sweet notes it plays when you make it talk :D
The difference between being able to afford a guitar vs having no guitar is priceless. As a child i never owned a guitar, could not afford it. Missed a lifetime of learning music. Starting to learn now in my 40s. 😊 This is cheap guitar, the value is in the fact that it help to create future superstar musicians by making guitars affordable to talented youngsters.
The music gear industry is a racket. they've convinced everyone they need concert level performance gear when you can technically practice on a rainbow toy xylophone
I got an epiphone les paul i paid £100 for ,and you would have to have an unbelievable ear to pick it out blindfolded in a line up of Gibson les pauls.
@@davehoward22 i had several guitars and my cheapest was a second hand squire strat that played better than all the rest.i giged with it over much more expesive and so called better ones. image costs but finding a gem that just fits is priceless no mater what name is on it
One easy tip for those who might find it helpful: I got a decent Amazon guitar that also had a really dry fretboard. I lightly rubbed some lemon oil on it and it completely fixed the issue.
We really encourage these companies to make more guitars like this so that kids who like to play guitar can save their pocket money to fulfil their dream.
I wish we could have bought guitars at these sort of prices when I was younger! It is great for just €75. I am so glad you were positive about the guitar; it will encourage youngsters to maybe get one, form a band with their mates and bring us some fantastic rock!
The cheapest guitar when I bought my first electric was £30. But that was 1962, so equivalent to about £800 today (€950). But it was a Teisco SSL-4, look it up, they are very interesting. If I still had it, in reasonable condition, it would be worth £1500 to £2000. Unfortunately, I sold it in 1968 for about £25 to buy an acoustic guitar. Which I still have.
CNC routers really helped guitar players on that front- the first "modern" (made after 2010) guitar I got was a hundred-dollar Takamine Jasmine that played like a much more expensive one and was all set up like the one in the video right out of the box. I wore it out because the materials weren't great, and it started to bow below the neck after about five years, but I had been wanting one of theirs since I was a young teen, and their entire lineup was $800-900 each. Of course, I know this, and yet I still spent extra to get a Martin that was US made in their Pennsylvania factory- but that's my main squeeze... the others are just for variety, really- and it's fantastic that I can finally afford more than one or two acoustics that aren't awful!
agreed I would of been playing for 30 ish years by now should it have been in my price range to even try but glad I can still have the option to start at 37 xD
I don't play guitar, but I gratulate to this purchase. (German company: You will get a proper product quality, even if it is imported and "cheap" - what it isn't, it is preiswert (good value for money?)).
The pick ups sound naff on cheap guitars and you can't play some types of harmonics so easily. If cheap guitars were good, then they would be used by professionals - wouldn't they?
@@michaelmac1798 what? that makes absolutely no sense, obviously a cheaper guitar is going to be of worse quality than something thats much more expensive, however, that doesn't mean its necessarily awful, cheap guitars can be DECENT and is good for people on a budget. obviously professionals will use higher end guitars that sound and play good, often times they'll modify them themselves.
Man, for a 75 euro, that's a really cool guitar. Love the finish and the headstock is actually nice for a change. It's insane comparing what is available now to what was available just some 30-ish years ago when I was learning to play guitar and looking for a Strat-like that's affordable and not crap.
I baught my first electric guitar (a Japanese knockoff Gibson L6S called "Morris") already end of the sixties, sure they were a bit more expensive than 75 Euro's in todays money but they were already very playable, only the non Japanese cheap brands were mostly horrible; the Japanese guitars then were already as good as this one.
Chinese manufacturing has come a long way. The rest otlf the world will completely forget how to manufacture, due to nobody being able to beat them on price for anything. They are using child labor, unfortunately.
Hey mate i just wanted to ask i have heard cheap guitars can sound best on expensive amps but cheaper amps can sound really bad with cheap guitars would that be the amp in fault of the situation or the cheap guitar
Agreed. I am surprised at the pricing of guitars anymore. I know this is on the extreme low end, but that is a fantastic price for what you get. Brass and woodwind instruments have skyrocketed.
Man, for a 75 euro, that's a really cool guitar. Love the finish and the headstock is actually nice for a change. It's insane comparing what is available now to what was available just some 30-ish years ago when I was learning to play guitar and looking for a Strat-like that's affordable and not crap.
I would go as far as saying even 12-13 years ago! The only decent guitar I could find at a reasonable price was a Squier Stratocaster, which was about 200€ if memory serves correct.
@@johnnybuetiI can't tell you how many $300 guitars I played that played and sounded so much better than a $5,000 guitar, if you find the right 2 or $300 guitar and it's just got "that feel" to it, you can spend just a few more dollars and have that thing playing right. Guitars are like humans every single one is different, you could buy 10 Squier stratocasters or regular strat's and every single one of them will play differently and maybe 1 of those 10 will have "that feel". I've been playing for 30 + years and I've had this argument with so many people, do you know the guys that have more money than skill and go out and spend $10,000 on gear and still sound like crap. Dude I've played an $8,000 PRS one time and it played like complete garbage I wouldn't have paid $8 for it. But anyways yeah it's definitely true I mean if you've been playing long enough you know what I'm talkin about.
My first guitar was a Teisco. Paid $25 for it, a case, a cord, a strap and an amp. My brother and cousin both learned on this guitar. Wish I still had it. This was around 1970.
@sinchrotron did a quick search on Google, and apparently $25 in 1970 is worth about $203 in 2024. Not cheap but not terribly expensive either considering he got all the essentials
I'm also a sucker for a cheap guitar. They all sound different from one another. I come from the time of Hondo, Ames, Vantage, Tiesco, Harmony, Vox, etc. I could make incredible sounds with the junk guitars I found in those days. No pedals necessary, just experiment with cheap pickups, lol. Well done sir.
I lived in the Netherlands for 4y for my PhD, and having to come back to my home one of the biggest punches in the gut I had was having to part ways with a Hondo II double cutaway and a Vantage superstrat that I had salvaged and restored from Marktplaats... Such great guitars for so cheap, and the Hondo had a woodwork job that many $ 1000 guitars don't have today.
Yep, new strings, check fret levels and maybe a fret level, crown, polish. Oil the board and take a nut file to the nut and clean it out and set slots to correct height (I'd swap out for a Tusq but that's me and at £10.99 something to consider if going full on mod crazy and changing pickups as well 😎). It's definitely not a bad guitar for a silly cheap price. Pity not available in the UK as would probably grab one to have some fun modding - it looks well enough put together to be a perfect modding guitar 👍
@@martin-1965 yeah, I just got done doing a full on set up including tons of fret work and Tusq nut on a squier affinity, and the guitar on this vid looks like it would require far less work and cost a fraction of the price. And I'm surprised to say, I don't even think I'd swap out the pups.. really unique and fun sounds there! I'm impressed and would like to see more.
A video showing some of your work and seeing and hearing the difference would also help others decide wether or not to dive into a purchase. This was a very informative video showing how expectations can be misplaced. Although this is not a model I would prefer, nonetheless it is very well done. I am now subscribed to your channel. 👍
Hi Andy, I bought the guitar based on your TH-cam review. I'm really impressed with the quality for 70 bugs. Awesome😀😀, I've been looking for a small, light guitar for every day for a while. Many thanks for the great tip 🥰🥰
Some of these budget instruments are actually pretty impressive. I saw one a few months back, a $100 bass. I'm not super familiar with bass models, but it was shaped like Lemmy's bass. It needed setting up, but had excellent tone and played like any nice bass out there. It's encouraging, I haven't had a guitar in years now, and lately I've had the itch to play. I may be able to pick up a decent guitar without having to starve for a week.
@@ja3a12wohnnevada2 My first guitar was an actual old Gibson SG. In my memory it was a '62, but I can't remember why I thought that. It was in a foreclosed storage unit my uncle got at auction. He gave it to me. None of us had any idea it was relatively rare and valuable. I bought an Ibanez a few years later, and traded the SG to the music store for a used Marshall half stack. Dude ripped me off hard. Live and learn. From that experience, I often check resale value on lots of things, just in case. For example, I discovered a few of the Gundam kits a bought some years ago and haven't got to yet are worth hundreds of dollars now.
Thanks, that was a blast! I used to buy used guitars in the late '60s, then tinker them up for resale to earn some string/beer money. The Woolworth 'Audition' semi-acoustic was a favourite of mine... Lots of them about, usually in need of care. Ended up in a small music shop for a while, and one of my 'Audition' refurbs came through for an upgrade every three or four months! A kid would choose it, parents would buy it, and it would come back for part-ex on something the kid had earned - one of them was unbelievably good, and all self-taught. The pickups on those Auditions were microphonous, so I 'd pot them in wax - do a batch of them one weekend. Got hired by a wholesaler/importer in '72, spent 5 years tinkering up their guitars and other stuff, Great fun! Long time ago, been retired over 20 years now...
I love how good affordable gear is becoming ^^ I got a squier classic vibe which is still around 500, but not expensive, and that guitar kicks ass. Sounds almost just as good as my dads custom shop, and it stays in tune forever
the squier classic vibe stuff has honestly been blowing me away, bought some as project guitars and really haven't needed to do much to em hell, initially planned on getting new necks to get rid of the squier logo but after a while it kinda became a point of pride
MSA actually builds quite decent instruments. I've got more of them (the same guitar as you have here, some basses and some other stuff) and I can't complain about the overall quality. For the price you can't go wrong really. Very recommendable for beginners.
I bought a $40 Vizcaya concert ukulele kit from Amazon and was very pleased. I expected the sound/tone to not be the best, but the volume, feel and intonation were great! It's a great starter uke for anyone! I'm glad instruments are so accessible nowadays. Music is Life!
As much as I enjoy seeing and hearing guitars I'll never be able to afford, it's nice to see a guitar in the beginner's price range. I have two guitars from the Squier FSR Bullet range as I'm a beginner and they suit my needs.
I got a real cheap guitar years ago, around £40-50 "made by Encore", and just after a change of strings to some Pink Slinks, I fell in love with it, and still have it, has a tremolo bar, only a single pickup slot but easily interchangeable and mainly - it's a very solid construction, sounds nice, and more importantly, FEELS nice in my massive clown hands. It was brand new at that price too, if you know where to look, you don't need to spend a lot to make something your own and have it work for you - ESPECIALLY if you're just starting out, in fact MORE IMPORTANTLY if you're just starting out, like I was, find somehing you like the look of, something playable, and work from there, and if you choose wisely, you'll have that guitar for life - no matter how many come afterwards :)
When you use the tremelo on a non locking guitar, try giving it a pull up as the last part of the bend so it travels down to the resting point instead of just letting it pull itself back up to pitch with the springs. They usually stay in tune better with just a little practice on how you release the bend.
Something I've noticed in the age of internet is how people prioritize the quality of their gear over the quality of their own playing. When I started guitar in the mid 1980's (yes, I am that old), everything was about how well you can actually play the guitar, nowadays it is "my amp will blow your amp away". I love this channel because I also love finding good deals, and the satisfaction of having a great guitar without spending so much unnecessary money on the name on the headstock. Keep up the good work, I always look forward to your videos because I know I can get the real, actual quality without being biased or seduced by name brands
@@dirusj4006 your are right...amps and pedals makes these new brands of guitar that are cheap sound like a high dollar fender or Gibson Les Paul...I love Ibanez guitars I have several but guitars off wish or Amazon that are cheap but look great can sound like my Ibanez...I have one that's 3200 and I traded a fender starcaster guitar for it...a 30 dollar guitar and I come out with a very rare RG which was only made in 2013...he just wanted a guitar that he could string cause the one that I got from him had a Floyd Rose...I have one epiphone and its a SG... other than that the rest I have were just over a hundred dollars but if you put it through a great Amp and pedals it sounds amazing...so yes you are right technology has come along way...
funny how this also happen in the classical guitar world. A lot of people taking fotos of their expensive guitars, the most expensive yamahas and other brands and most of them zero actual videos playing it
It's amazing that we can get guitars that play at all for that price. It would be interesting to see how it plays after a little setup time put into it.
Just goes to show how much of the cost of a big name guitar goes to marketing etc. The bad part is big name guitars can be pretty be low quality as well.
I'm not that surprised. Technology improves with time and that affects everything. Not so long ago 55 inch TVs were considered a luxury. Nowadays you can get one new for about 300 euros. Studio monitors used to be insanely expensive. Nowadays there are low-end monitors for like 100 euros a pair - and even if they're not that great for a professional studio, they still blow most commercial speakers out of the water.
When I started playing 45 years ago, electric guitars were a luxury item. I saved up for quite a while to buy a squire strat for 250 Deutschmarks. I loved that guitar and I wish I hadn't sold it twelve years ago for double of what I paid for it. Now I could buy one guitar a day at those prices, lol.
I agree with the others to do a part two. I remember my Vintage Modified Squier with Duncan Designed pickups. I knew that I needed a real Fender so I bought one and was disappointed in the overbright pickups. Wound up buying some Duncan Designed's off eBay and putting them on my Fenders. I recall professional guitarists who were stunned at the quality of the Vintage Modified series. Getting quality in an inexpensive istrument is a real buzz, but tweaking the quality with the help of videos is uber rewarding.
Fender is in between a rock and hard place. Vintage strat pickups tend towards bright, microphonic and extremely touch sensitive and that's not what most modern players actually want.
@@davidmckean955 I have never actually played a vintage pickup so i assumed they were warm, but your point is a good one. The closest I got was a buddy's vintage Musicmaster; however, his pickup had a broken wire, so we substituted a modern pickup.
I got a Chinese made squire classic vibe s tele that played better than some guitars costing 3x as much I was impressed with that guitar but I gave it to my grandson he plays it constantly never puts it down because it's such a pleasure to play I'm getting another CV tele because it was such a great deal for under 500usd.
@@fabianvasquezjr8852 Sorry you lost the Classic Vibe, but you are a wonderful grandpa. Watching your grandson actually playing the instrument must be pretty nice.
Hum , i 've tried two Squiers Classic Vibe , the sound was atrocious , i could hear the mediums and the trebles separately , i don't know if the pick'ups were too high but it was the first time that i could hear two different sounds while playing a note ....Then , in the same shop i've tried a US Strat with Texas special pick-ups : way better but my heavy personal one with its massive neck was better : i've bought it after several tests , i lowered the volume knob after two seconds , i was afraid that the seller might raise the price lol , when a Strat is good on the neck pick-up , your jaw drops , the sound is fantastic .... Then i ended my " find a not too expensive guitar and swap the necks " day in an other shop , and i 've tried a Vintage Modifier Squier , ohh the Classic vibes are beautifull , gold finish , very shiny , the Vintage Modifiers are ugly in comparison , that one had a very high action , the neck was huge , BUT : the Fender Stratocaster sound ,i guess that this guitar was better than the US Strat with Texas specials , easily .... The Duncan designed pick-ups are very very good , these are what one can find on a Cort G260 , a guitar with a solid rep .... I even wonder if they aren't better than the originals , i've played with some , on a Cort special serie , and they were neutral , maybe the wood wasn't dry enough i don't know ... I don't own these guitars anymore , i have a Strat copy and i honestly don't have to complain ... I find your story amusing but logical .... I would never buy a Fender Strat if it isn't the one i'm testing at that very moment , if they want me to buy its sister , brand new in its box , they can keep it , i would never buy one online , and maybe i would never buy one eventually because you can be satisfied with the many cheap clones available .... That's a fact , you try 10 US Fender Stratocasters , you find one gem , the others are just normal ..... Yup , the Duncan Designs , single coils : cheap and good , i'm not surprised but reassured , my ears didn't lie to me ....! I'm not the only one lol .!..^^
Tried the same on Aliexpress years ago.A bassguitar,for 57 bucks.Which included the delivery!!So..that could NEVER be ANY good.Right?🙄🤨😯Unexpectedly,it was just great .And IT CAME OUT OF CHINA,AND WAS STILL PERFECTLY IN TUNE!!! Plugged it in.And started playing. Still goes,played it yesterday.Who needs a real Fender Precision,if you can buy a Chinese one(with strings on it) for the price of 3 packs of strings??
I walked into a Guitar Center about 5 years ago to buy a Fender fretless bass - an American Standard Jazz was what I was looking for - and I was blown away by the sheer number of 5 & 6 string (and 4s) that were "entry level" in price. I mean, they were maybe $275 for a 6 string with some name pickups! And the variety! It was crazy. I was told that manufacturing has gotten so good that even "cheap" basses (and presumably guitars and other instruments as well) are of pretty good quality. Gone are the warped necks and the tuners that look & feel like they're punched out of sheet metal. The downside: they stock all these instruments because they fly off the shelves at those prices, but a decent, higher-end instrument was not in stock. Indeed, they didn't have any fretless basses. I asked the clerk if they could bring one in for me to try out and he says, "sure, if you buy one." This, by the way, was the GC right near Berklee College of Music, where you might expect them to sell a few higher end instruments. It wasn't that they were sold out; they didn't stock them. It's great that you found a decently-made instrument that sounds pretty good but it's a shame that the variety & customer service for brick & mortar store sales isn't there anymore. I don't like purchasing instruments by mail.
"hey why is this guitar store around the corner from a music college not buying in expensive guitars and only reasonably priced ones? WTF!!" maybe cause big names are over priced status symbols and the off brands are pretty much the same standard now apart from the outragous prices?
@@random_an0n Let me be clear: these were decent but BEGINNER models. In the $199-$500 range. Decent but nothing an aspiring professional musician who is spending 4 years at a college to learn a craft would or should be buying.
@@random_an0n entry level instruments can sound great all things considered, but that's precisely the issue: they sound great **all things considered**. If you have to contextualize what is considered a great sound, then perhaps it is not all that great. If you're going to college to study music as your primary focus, then please for the love of God don't buy a $200 guitar as your main instrument. It's great for what it is, but it is not good enough for what you need as a professional musician.
I think you are referring to DADDY'S JUNKY MUSIC, which was directly across the street from Berklee. Guitar Center was down a bit past Boston University on Commonwealth. Guitar Center was never near Berklee. That employee does sound like those from Daddy's. Remember that Ron Wood wannabe that worked there? Or maybe he thought he was Johnny Thunders.
I cane across your channel for the first time. Completely blown away by the quality of this guitar - would love to see a follow up after your cartying out some minor adjustments on it. You have a new fan 😀
You've earned a sub, mate! I don't play guitar, but seeing how the industry is progressing for entry level equipment with a fellow that knows his gear is always great entertainment. Your enthusiasm and choice of equipment has drawn me in, so I am eager to see your future vids :)
You've NO idea how insanely happy I am to see a company giving you what you paid for, instead of thrown and badly glued together crap with fishing lines for snares, with "components" made out of the worst ever plastics and metals that oxydise the moment you look at them. For once, I feel heart-warmed seeing a company that CARES for it's customers, and delivers something decent for a change. Which says EVERYTHING about all other companies (read: thieves guilds). Truly happy for you, GuitarGeek!!! Not kidding. And I am not the most of happy person around, especially lately. Also, to that guitar company: I am so gratyeful, you are one of the extremely few that gives good materials out. My sincere!!! gratitude. Keep up the good works, your honour and goodwill will be your advertisement.
I would absolutely LOVE to see a part two for this one! I’m teaching myself guitar (been playing cello for 7 years) and I’d like to have one of my own that’s not out of my price range
I bought a cheap donner acoustic on amazon (should have gotten the A/E though). Paid like $150 US for it. Came with a gig bag, tuner, etc. It's fantastic. Stays in tune like a champ. I was really surprised at how nice it was for the price. The worst thing about it is it sounds like crap, but that's only because I suck at playing it LOL. Seriously though, the sound on it is really nice. Obviously you can't compare it to like a $1500 guitar, but it's a really great cheap guitar.
Cool find, my main concern with any budget electric would be the electronics failing shortly after purchase. You can slap guitar strings on pretty much anything and have a good time so the overall structure is really a secondary concern IMO for the budget guitarist.
I like that guitar you bought. The head stock is sweet looking. Sounds pretty goos also. You did a pretty cool video here. I have played more than 60 years and sometimes I look back at all the money I have spent on brand name guitars and amplifiers buying, selling, and trading, over more than 55 years. Not to count the time and effort involved in working on them to play and sound the way I wanted, sometimes costing even more money. Fender Stratocasters, Telecasters, and Jazzmasters, Gibson Les Pauls, SGs Explorers and other top brands. When I think about it, it really bums me out. I still have my 1977 sunburst Strat with a white pearl pick guard and my 1988 silver gray Strat with a black pickguard that I do like very well. About 6 or 7 years ago I found this black off brand "BAJA" brand cheeze master guitar in someone's trash and picked it out. It wasn't in too bad of shape, more dirty than anything. I gave it allot of TLC, and made several minor repairs and adjustments and installed new tuners new knobs and new strings. It's a Stratocaster copy with one Humbucker pickup, one volume pod and one tone pod, which has a wide range from easily playing hard rock to soft country. It weighs about 1/3 of my real Fender Stratocasters too, in which I can stand longer with it strapped over my shoulder. I wish I could post pics of it also. I also have had this small 30 watt Marshall practice amp that has sat in a corner for years and years that someone gave many years ago. Together with that trash picked guitar these two are the best sounding and playing pair I have ever had. I can't believe it. If I want it louder and more power, I can just plug it into one or both of my Fender 100 watt twin 12 amps to make louder noise with tone set on the Fenders to a clean clear sound. I have had more questions and compliments on this trash picked guitar that couldn't have cost more than 80-90 bucks new. Oh yeah, I renamed it the "Lil' Fucker" in Fenders trademark lettering on the head stock too... I love it to the max... 😜🤪🥰 Money and name don't mean it's better!!!
On the other hand, a good friend paid $265.00 for a Strat copy in a beautiful metallic mid blue. It has a maple colored neck and is really beautiful. But about all it's good for is to hang on the wall for decoration. It will not stay in tune long enough for one song, it has a constant buzz to it, you can almost feel the neck warping as you try to play it, and you can not get the tonation set on it. Three people with more than 50 years experience playing and working on guitars, including myself have tried and tried to work with and play this guitar. I think it's possesed somehow. My friend has bought and tried two different new sets of tuners and several gauges of strings also. All in all he has over $400.00 wrapped up in this Micky Mouse beautiful guitar that can't be played.
To be even fairer, a whole new set of strings should be left at least overnight to let them settle. Also the neck needs time to settle to the tension of the string tension so I'd expect 2 to 3 days for this new instrument to settle. Yes you can hyper-stretch a new string during a gig but that's for one string out of 6 and you'll have to retune it frequently. Still I really like that you gave this an honest review. I've had so much fun buying various budget instruments from Amazon which given the advances in production technology are all absolutely fine for learning purposes 👍
I love all these new budget guitars coming out. I bought a $100 guitar about 3 years ago, and I've played it every day, and gotten pretty good. I've played a lot of more expensive guitars, and haven't found one that I like any better than my $100 baby.
Flashback 45 years and my first guitar was a nasty Strat copy….but what really took me back was the Small Clone and the DS-1 😊 ….my first two pedals….still going strong now. New CNC machines mean budget guitars are sooooo much better than when I first started playing. Great video….thanks.
I'm lovin' the headstock design. It reminds me of D'Angelico steps for some reason. I'm going to watch part 2 now to see if you can improve the wiggle stick. Great video.
I have the same guitar and it´s truly awesome! Bought it as a prop for an underwater shoot - but soon decided: this is way too good to trash. Now it is a practice guitar. By the way: it came in tune and nothing had to be fixed, it was perfectly intonated (which a 1500 € guitar I bought earlier was not)
I had bought cheaps Ibaneze Gio guitar starter pack 1year ago, thanks to tons of video on TH-cam showing how to upgrade guitar from fret leveling to pickup electronic setting I got new knowledge from it. Now I know how to look for good quality cheap guitar.
That guitar looked awesome! Great video. I have owned cheap strat copies and they vary a lot. Best result I had was when I gave a cheap strat to my old boss, when he retired he gave it back to me having upgraded the pickups!
This is such a great reminder that you don't have to play $1000 for a good sounding and well made guitar. So many people get caught up on the name on the headstock, but that doesn't necessarily translate into solid workmanship or precision. Awesome.
It really depends on what you want. A Squier is perfect if it never leaves your home, but you do need something better if you are performing with it. There are a lot of things that were not discussed such as tuning stability which is extremely important and extremely rare in a cheap guitar.
@@michaelstanley5215 Agreed, but I didn't get the impression he was trying to convince people that you can go into the studio with this thing. The thing is, you can upgrade components like tuners, nut, bridge, and pickups and end up with an extremely good guitar with a low end name on it for a fraction of what you would pay for a "high end" guitar. But back to the point of the video, for a starter guitar that a guy could play for years without complaint? You can't beat that price.
I'm finishing a raw guitar I gifted my late brother who committed suicide. I got it back after his demise. I'm going to finish it in his honor. You have helped immensely in what I need to work on.🤘🏾👍🏾
I bought a crappy Amazon guitar for about the same price but was in a set which also included a case, extra strings, tuner, stand, amp, and more. Thing is, I’m no guitar geek so I have no idea if it’s good or not, and am pretty much a beginner and didn’t want anything better until I improve. So, this was fun and motivating. I will take a better look at the guitar I’ve hardly touched and try giving it a whirl again. I’ve also subscribed. So, Danke schön!!
The main thing to remember about price is that it's about the quality of the material. If you played a Squier Stratocaster ($200) and then played a Fender Telecaster ($800+), you could definitely hear a difference. But you might think, "I'm not hearing this extra $600." There are a ton of things to consider when buying a guitar. Sorry, I've been playing for 22 years and only recently did I start to get into the technical side of it so I like talking about it.
Iirc, mine was 80 euro and came with a bag, strings, and tuning flute. I'm pretty tone deaf so it took until Rocksmith and its expensive USB cable to give it a try, but i hate the swerving camera in that game. The fret ends are sharp and knobs crackle, but i don't think i'll be using it without tuning for hours, so probably don't need to spend more before being able to play.
Got a bass once from MSA which was 10€ more. Had no issues at all, played well and even kept the tuning great. There's definitely far worse Instruments out there a beginner could buy!
I bought a cheap $100 electric acoustic guitar to just mess around with. It sounds amazing, has a tuner built in, and the intonation and action aren’t bad. It is not nearly as good as my Les Paul, but it is viable for simple practicing every night.
I do a lot of product reviews for a wide variety of goods and was recently offered an inexpensive generic Strat like this one to review. I was similarly shocked at the quality. Like you, I was expecting to do a "this was as bad as I thought it would be at this price" review but instead wrote one praising it for being an incredible value. Not just a "beginner" guitar, this is decent enough to play a gig and a great choice if you are going to be busking or going places where you are worried about damaging your guitar - you can afford to replace this one if anything happens to it. I really like the bright sound and sharp, crisp tones I'm able to get from the pickups. The only concern about it I ended up having was: how many workers were exploited at ridiculously low wages and/or poor working conditions for the price to be so low? And, yes, would love to see a "Part 2" with a greater in-depth examination of it.
most common cheap issues are: 1) filed off fret ends making them feel like razors when you slide your hand down the neck 2) uneven fret height for whatever reasons 3) non-rounded fret tops cuz they couldn't be bothered to do more than file them flat to level them 4) bad sounding pickups 5) nut positioned either too far or too close to fret 1 which means you will never intonate it properly. always out of tune if that's the case. 6) neck is either warped or cannot be brought into a proper bow and without a dual bending truss rod.... hang it up. So, most of these issues seem to not be there on this one except the pickups are a bit thin sounding to me. But not horrible. For $75, I'd say that's a good buy instead of goodbye! hehe
Wow... I'm surprised...It sounds a lot better than I expected... Especially at this price... I'm getting one 🙂🙂 I already own 167 guitars including very old ones but damn...At this price 😁😁 I will give it the full treatment : Level the frets, tusq nut, probably locking tuners, shielding, upgrade electronics, etc... I really don't mind putting in all that work on such a cheap guitar... It's always a fun thing to do... Thanks for the video 🙂🙂
I play my cheap , modified guitars more than i do the expensive ones...although i have to say....i spend quite some money on Pickups and tuners...always medling with them...
@@fellowshade At the end of the day modifying cheap affordable guitars is so much fun 🙂🙂 There's been times when I spent more on pickups and parts than the price of the guitar itself...But it's fun to do and very rewarding...Not to mention ending up with something that's completely unique and original...
@@apegrasshoplizard I've seen worse : Rumor has it Billy Gibbons owns more than 800 guitars and they're kept in a hangar at the Houston airport... I'm pretty sure Joe Bonamassa's collection would put mine to shame too...
Yes, more. Loved this video. I have many great and expensive guitars but spent so many years broke that I am always fascinated to see how good a really inexpensive guitar can be. Great video, I very much enjoyed it.
The moment you started it was awesome!! I’m just starting out and picked up a Fender Squire, great job on your video, thank you for the demo as it’s helping my research into guitar 👍🏻
Honestly good to see that someone cared to set up the instrument. More often than not a really bad unplayable guitar will make most young (or older) aspiring guitarist turn away from the instrument, or develop bad habits due to the uncomfortable ergonomics of the guitar.
For 75 quid you can't go wrong, it looks nice and sounds nice, that head stock is sort of odd looking but I like it. Id like to see more of this 75 quid little gem
I haven't "stretched" strings in 20 years. I haven't done scientific testing, but here's the reason why I stopped. I used to play classical guitar in my teens. I was restringing one day and stretching them very similar to how you did in this video. While I was trimming ends and cleaning up and re-tuning, I notice there were spots on a couple of the higher strings that were thinner. To me this was clearly because of the pressure I was putting on them in those particular spots with my fingers while stretching. I have no proof that this would happen regularly, or even happen at all to metal strings. But I honestly don't see the need to stretch strings at all. Especially if you use elixir. They go into tune almost immediately. I also think just overall, that over tightening strings while tuning them is a bad thing. They're designed to be pulled at a certain tension. If you go past that I'm sure it cannot be good at the fastening points on either end. And yes I know that you stretch the shit out of them when bending notes. I'm not sure this is quite the same as pulling the strings perpendicularly away from the fretboard. Anyways, watching you stretch the strings just made me remember all this because I haven't even thought about it in over a decade probably. No harm or negative intentions here. Just sharing thoughts. Love from Canada xoxo
Just wanted to mention that nut slot height is something that is often overlooked on inexpensive guitars for a setup. You can get an intonation perfect but if your nut is too high chords at the top of the neck will always sound sour even if you have super delicate fingers and ears to correct that it can still be super difficult and generally just annoying to play.
Oh, The joy never fades. Each guitar is a whole new world of possibility! Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I like the finish. It looks like the matte black finish of my Kramer. The guitar looks and sounds very nice for the price. If I were a beginner, I'd be happy with it. Strings probably getting snagged on the nut when you use the whammy. A bit of graphite or oil might fix that.
Yeah I like saving my Hard earned money instead of just throwing it away Just for a name plate on my Guitars. I have 3 Squires one is 30 years old and still plays like new it's a start. One is a tele 10 years old plays great and a cheaper strat dual humbucker in it. One Harley Benton and one Leo Jaymz and. They all are great guitars. Now when I first started playing they didn't make guitars this cheap that play like these do Lol. Back then you got 6 strings on a plywood board and you couldn't push the strings down without cutting your hands. They have come along way. Lolo
I’d love to see a part 2 about this guitar. I’ve been thinking about getting a beginner’s electric guitar, but I can’t spend a lot on one. If this one can be made to hold in tune and is playable, could be my search is over. I’d like to see what you do to polish this diamond in the rough. Instant subscription!
When I was younger and getting into music, guitars that cheap were unplayable garbage. It's super cool to see that you can get something that is usable for that price... the increase in quality at the entry level over the years is really quite remarkable.
I remember the cheap Japanese beginner guitars from the mid 60's. My God, your fingers would bleed just looking at them from across the room. Action high enough for a clothesline.
This reminds me of the Fesley guitar I bought off of Amazon. Just finished the upgrades. I leave the bar off and slammed the springs with tension. Some of these brands are putting out stuff that just needs some work and you off to rock. Nice surprise, Andy.
Definitely do a follow-up on this! I'd love to hear all the pickup configurations through your different amps + clean, overdriven, and distorted after you've finished setting this up. Surprisingly good find straight out of box. PS: Just discovered your channel with this video and - from one guitar geek to another - am looking forward to watching more of your content. Also, I too love bargain hunting and modding the pickups & hardware over buying something much more expensive that sounds great with no work. One of my favorite guitars is a $130usd (second hand; $300usd retail) ES-335 semi-hollowbody copy that I was able to set up with amazingly low action; it is better than any Epiphone 335 I have ever played.
Swap all the chrome parts including the strap buttons and scratchplate screws for black anodised and it'd look like several times its cost. Love the headstock.
Yes and yes, you should give it some TLC so we can check the results! It seems it's getting to the point now that neck and body on cheap guitars are just good out of the box nowadays and that hardware is the deciding factor. I've had better fretwork on my cheapest models than ones twice their price. This can only be good for beginners and modders.
Yeah, tune it up for sure. I have watched a few "I bought the cheapest guitar" videos and the expert guitarest usually makes the guitar seem terrible and their favorite brand is so much better... I appreciate your candid review... it doesn't seem bad at all. Greetings from down under
When you grow up poor to poor folks, you learn a valuable lesson. If I ever come into money, I will without question make people living in poverty, lives better. Blessings to you all.
Pretty excellent review, thank you for posting ! It would be interesting to see a comparison of critical parts like the pots, 5 way switch, etc., they had to save money somewhere ! Best regards, Bill P.
Considering that this is a guitar that will most likely end up in the hands of a 13 years old as a gift from their grand parents, it sounds great and actually looks fun to play, I really enjoyed that "house of the rising sun" 60's angry tone myself. That sort of stuff is what could get people into music and expose us to more musical ideas/creativity in the future. ♥
Yes. Which is really what you want with a kid. Even if they don't continue, its a minor investment with great potential return. The only thing I wish he would have done is connect it to a cheaper, smaller simple amp. Lets get real... those who are buying these guitars don't have the luxury of the "extras" this dude has and makes it sound a lot better.
@@joshg72826 First page of Google shows a tc electronic Rusty Fuzz for 48 euro. How different does that sound from the one in the video? And aren't bigger amps just louder? My boombox's 10cm speakers have enough bass for me.
@@CTimmerman I don't think the guy can reply to that randomly like that, you can probably do your own research ie: check on youtube if someone has made a review that you can hear the sound in yourself. Also, I don't think josh really meant what you think. Like, I have 250$ beyerdynamics studio headphones and they sound a lot thinner (but a lot clearer/better) than most of the headphones I ever bought. It's less about bigger amp sounding bassier and more about better quality amp sounding generally better. Has nothing to do with the size of the amp either, though yeah, different size amps will sound differently. I think josh was essentially saying "If you plug a 60$ guitar on a 10,000$ setup, it's gonna sound better than most people who actually buy this guitar." There's also another dimension to this: I didn't know how much better my beyerdynamics headphones would sound until I actually bought these headphones. There's tones and sounds in the music I commonly listen to that I never heard before I bought these.
@@FlavorsomeMusic Andy himself said price doesn't always correlate with quality, these videos being proof. Studio-grade stuff probably lasts way longer with less maintenance, but that's what you pay for. My work's MacBook Pro has amazing speakers for their size, so the small cheap ones i've had sucked because they were cheap. I have Logitech 2.1 as well but that's too bassy compared to my old Target TRG-S 120s imo. I agree that objective tests (flat frequency response is best) are best to compare things, but my fuzz question was kind of rhetorical as i bet all of them can make your electric guitar sound metal, which most teens probably buy them for.
@@CTimmerman there's a point where price does correlate with quality. This guitar may sound good for 60$, but it can't rival a guitar made with superior materials and craftsmanship and that is costly. There's a reason a pro guitarist won't play on this guitar, and there's a reason I bought my dt770's to make music. x) The point of this video wasn't to tell everyone that this guitar is the best in the world, it was to tell the world that it isn't as bad as he thought, that doesn't mean it's better than a 2000$ guitar, same with setup, you can't expect the same from a 60$ setup vs a 10,000$ setup. You're kinda arguing in bad faith here.
That's a pretty sweet guitar. As a rule, I tend to swap out the strings and tuners on the more "economically friendly" guitars. But this seems to be holding its own.
Absolutely a great deal for someone to get into music at an affordable price!! One of my best guitars is an acoustic Aria that is 40 years old that I paid an even 100.00 bucks at Strings and Things in Memphis, TN. It just gets better w age and makes me happy every time I pick it up!!! Max’s comment is dead on perfect!!!
you nailed it brother, rolling the edges and oiling the fretboard can make a cheap guitar play like most expensive one. Thank God for that sanpaper sponge thing, I can make any Squire feel better than the most expensive Fender 🤘
manufacturing techniques have improved greatly in recent years. Budget guitars of the 90's are not the same as budget guitars of the 2020's. Barrier to entry for good instruments is drastically lowered, which is great for new musicians getting started.
Great video, I was equally surprised by this review and I have already forwarded it onto a friend of mine who may end up being interested in this instrument. As for myself: I'm really curious to see how much better it gets with some TLC, so please show us that.
i want to comment here too. I have a VISION guitar, exactly this one in the video, only that mine is in snowwhite. I have the Guitar now for 7 years, and its extremely well build. And i need to say this, it is in the same quality class as the ones you can buy for like 250-350 euro, no joke. It is so pleasent to play, holds tune for long play sessions, never really have to retune it. Yes the pickups are not the best, But i can really really encourage people to buy this guitar. ( i am also one of the people, that think musical instruments should not cost so much. Standart Eguitar for 400 euro??? why?? )
Awesome! I've been a fan of Squiers for some time and I'm really impressed how a lot of manufacturers are pumping out great guitars that are so affordable. When I was a kid, it was a huge struggle to get a guitar because of the price. My first bass was a budget brand that would be comparable to this and it was around $300. To get a decent Strat for under a hundred is absolutely unreal! With guitar prices this low, and the ability to learn just about anything guitar-related on TH-cam, people really have it made these days.
I agree so much. Especially if you enjoy doing a little bit of custom setup. Sometimes I think I actually enjoy upgrading guitars more than playing them
@@trailerparkstudios7938 agreed 110%. Gimme an ‘affordable’ guitar that needs 20 minutes of work and I’ll have it playing as good or better than a perfect playing guitar worth 3 times as much. When I invest that time into a guitar, playing it and using it, for me at least, is a much more personal and richer experience. Anybody can buy an expensive guitar off the shelf that looks and plays perfectly. But, cost notwithstanding, how invested are they in that axe? Just my 2 cents.
I love the line "I'm really shocked with how not crap this is!" He could have went more positive and said he was surprised at how good it is but, nope! He us shocked with how "not crap it is." That's funny😂
Click here to SUBSCRIBE for part 2 - bit.ly/3Wsvpff
I have no idea why I clicked on this video - I've failed for years to put the time I ought to in to learning the piano, but now I'm morbidly curious about how this guitar stands up to being used repeatedly for say two weeks, and what this could mean for someone who wants to learn guitar!
500,000 views compared to your regular 10,000 views.
It would be a travesty of you did not make a part 2.
This is like Delia Smith's effect on cranberries - but with guitars: *_"Currently unavailable"!_* 🎸
More please!
omg 10:11 that guitar has a sweet twang sound and it's perfect for some solid jazz/blues. I love that twang and the sweet notes it plays when you make it talk :D
The difference between being able to afford a guitar vs having no guitar is priceless. As a child i never owned a guitar, could not afford it. Missed a lifetime of learning music. Starting to learn now in my 40s. 😊 This is cheap guitar, the value is in the fact that it help to create future superstar musicians by making guitars affordable to talented youngsters.
The music gear industry is a racket. they've convinced everyone they need concert level performance gear when you can technically practice on a rainbow toy xylophone
on the head.
I got an epiphone les paul i paid £100 for ,and you would have to have an unbelievable ear to pick it out blindfolded in a line up of Gibson les pauls.
@@davehoward22 i had several guitars and my cheapest was a second hand squire strat that played better than all the rest.i giged with it over much more expesive and so called better ones. image costs but finding a gem that just fits is priceless no mater what name is on it
my favourite guitar i ever had my mom bought for me for 100CAD. Still miss it. Love u momma!
One easy tip for those who might find it helpful: I got a decent Amazon guitar that also had a really dry fretboard. I lightly rubbed some lemon oil on it and it completely fixed the issue.
We really encourage these companies to make more guitars like this so that kids who like to play guitar can save their pocket money to fulfil their dream.
Yes, dreams that cost money, that is the pinnacle of capitalist thinking! This is beyond cynical. 😮
You got really lucky with this one so more if you would with new strings
@@sanjithraveendran6386 kids don't save to get things nowadays, parents bow to most wishes, unlike my childhood in my 50s 60s.
@@seltaeb9691this is a very broad generalisation, i had to save money to get my squier (i bought it like 2 days ago)
@@seltaeb9691 not for me
I wish we could have bought guitars at these sort of prices when I was younger! It is great for just €75. I am so glad you were positive about the guitar; it will encourage youngsters to maybe get one, form a band with their mates and bring us some fantastic rock!
The cheapest guitar when I bought my first electric was £30. But that was 1962, so equivalent to about £800 today (€950). But it was a Teisco SSL-4, look it up, they are very interesting. If I still had it, in reasonable condition, it would be worth £1500 to £2000. Unfortunately, I sold it in 1968 for about £25 to buy an acoustic guitar. Which I still have.
CNC routers really helped guitar players on that front- the first "modern" (made after 2010) guitar I got was a hundred-dollar Takamine Jasmine that played like a much more expensive one and was all set up like the one in the video right out of the box. I wore it out because the materials weren't great, and it started to bow below the neck after about five years, but I had been wanting one of theirs since I was a young teen, and their entire lineup was $800-900 each.
Of course, I know this, and yet I still spent extra to get a Martin that was US made in their Pennsylvania factory- but that's my main squeeze... the others are just for variety, really- and it's fantastic that I can finally afford more than one or two acoustics that aren't awful!
agreed I would of been playing for 30 ish years by now should it have been in my price range to even try but glad I can still have the option to start at 37 xD
As a kid I begged for my first bass and my folks got ripped off
They lowered it below 70
I don't even play guitar but I love seeing something cheap turn out to be much better than expected. Hope you do a follow-up on this guitar. 👍
Same here. It is just a very wholesome thing!
I don't play guitar, but I gratulate to this purchase. (German company: You will get a proper product quality, even if it is imported and "cheap" - what it isn't, it is preiswert (good value for money?)).
Me too! Thanks for watching - Part 2 is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
The pick ups sound naff on cheap guitars and you can't play some types of harmonics so easily. If cheap guitars were good, then they would be used by professionals - wouldn't they?
@@michaelmac1798 what? that makes absolutely no sense, obviously a cheaper guitar is going to be of worse quality than something thats much more expensive, however, that doesn't mean its necessarily awful, cheap guitars can be DECENT and is good for people on a budget. obviously professionals will use higher end guitars that sound and play good, often times they'll modify them themselves.
Man, for a 75 euro, that's a really cool guitar. Love the finish and the headstock is actually nice for a change. It's insane comparing what is available now to what was available just some 30-ish years ago when I was learning to play guitar and looking for a Strat-like that's affordable and not crap.
Yamaha Pacifica was available back then
not this cheap tho
I baught my first electric guitar (a Japanese knockoff Gibson L6S called "Morris") already end of the sixties, sure they were a bit more expensive than 75 Euro's in todays money but they were already very playable, only the non Japanese cheap brands were mostly horrible; the Japanese guitars then were already as good as this one.
Yup, guitars at this price 30 years ago were trash. Way worse than this one.
Chinese manufacturing has come a long way. The rest otlf the world will completely forget how to manufacture, due to nobody being able to beat them on price for anything. They are using child labor, unfortunately.
It's 120 euros now they must've seen this video 😂
Yes, please do a part II on this one, it deserves it having got through the “I expect this cheap guitar to be crap” test.....
I agree.
Hey mate i just wanted to ask i have heard cheap guitars can sound best on expensive amps but cheaper amps can sound really bad with cheap guitars would that be the amp in fault of the situation or the cheap guitar
@@Nickgaming-sy5og really depends on your setup but if you're gonna invest in one invest in the amp
It deserves being pitched into the fireplace
Agreed. I am surprised at the pricing of guitars anymore. I know this is on the extreme low end, but that is a fantastic price for what you get. Brass and woodwind instruments have skyrocketed.
Man, for a 75 euro, that's a really cool guitar. Love the finish and the headstock is actually nice for a change. It's insane comparing what is available now to what was available just some 30-ish years ago when I was learning to play guitar and looking for a Strat-like that's affordable and not crap.
I would go as far as saying even 12-13 years ago! The only decent guitar I could find at a reasonable price was a Squier Stratocaster, which was about 200€ if memory serves correct.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Well now, that's quite a find .
You done us broke fellows a huge favor by taking all the risk out of a possible purchase. Thanks, man.
@@johnnybuetiI can't tell you how many $300 guitars I played that played and sounded so much better than a $5,000 guitar, if you find the right 2 or $300 guitar and it's just got "that feel" to it, you can spend just a few more dollars and have that thing playing right. Guitars are like humans every single one is different, you could buy 10 Squier stratocasters or regular strat's and every single one of them will play differently and maybe 1 of those 10 will have "that feel". I've been playing for 30 + years and I've had this argument with so many people, do you know the guys that have more money than skill and go out and spend $10,000 on gear and still sound like crap. Dude I've played an $8,000 PRS one time and it played like complete garbage I wouldn't have paid $8 for it. But anyways yeah it's definitely true I mean if you've been playing long enough you know what I'm talkin about.
@@johnnybueti actually €150 - €180 depending on the model ( you might’ve got it from a reseller so more pricier)
My first guitar was a Teisco. Paid $25 for it, a case, a cord, a strap and an amp. My brother and cousin both learned on this guitar. Wish I still had it. This was around 1970.
Probably wish you still had most possessions from 1970
$25 in 1970 seems to be a lot of money
mine too in 1966 my dad got me one for Christmas from Sears
@sinchrotron did a quick search on Google, and apparently $25 in 1970 is worth about $203 in 2024. Not cheap but not terribly expensive either considering he got all the essentials
A car in 1970 was $200
I'm also a sucker for a cheap guitar. They all sound different from one another. I come from the time of Hondo, Ames, Vantage, Tiesco, Harmony, Vox, etc. I could make incredible sounds with the junk guitars I found in those days. No pedals necessary, just experiment with cheap pickups, lol. Well done sir.
Vox are quality guitars
My first electric was a Hondo
mine was a custom, japanese copy.
Remember the Tiesco well! I had one and my brother had one. He still has has his. Sears used to sell them...
I lived in the Netherlands for 4y for my PhD, and having to come back to my home one of the biggest punches in the gut I had was having to part ways with a Hondo II double cutaway and a Vantage superstrat that I had salvaged and restored from Marktplaats... Such great guitars for so cheap, and the Hondo had a woodwork job that many $ 1000 guitars don't have today.
Get it on the bench! Really enjoyed this one, dirt cheap guitars are fun. Those pickups actually sound miles ahead of something like a Squier Bullet
Yep, new strings, check fret levels and maybe a fret level, crown, polish. Oil the board and take a nut file to the nut and clean it out and set slots to correct height (I'd swap out for a Tusq but that's me and at £10.99 something to consider if going full on mod crazy and changing pickups as well 😎). It's definitely not a bad guitar for a silly cheap price. Pity not available in the UK as would probably grab one to have some fun modding - it looks well enough put together to be a perfect modding guitar 👍
@@martin-1965 yeah, I just got done doing a full on set up including tons of fret work and Tusq nut on a squier affinity, and the guitar on this vid looks like it would require far less work and cost a fraction of the price. And I'm surprised to say, I don't even think I'd swap out the pups.. really unique and fun sounds there! I'm impressed and would like to see more.
A video showing some of your work and seeing and hearing the difference would also help others decide wether or not
to dive into a purchase. This was a very informative video showing how expectations can be misplaced. Although this is not a model I would prefer, nonetheless it is very well done. I am now subscribed to your channel. 👍
@@kentravitz7395 yep the p/u are great if that is the sound you want
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Hi Andy, I bought the guitar based on your TH-cam review. I'm really impressed with the quality for 70 bugs. Awesome😀😀, I've been looking for a small, light guitar for every day for a while. Many thanks for the great tip 🥰🥰
For me the headstock is where a lot of strat styles fail but I genuinely love this guitars take on it
I do too, I really dig the look.
@@blazeandcyrus ME too
It's a standard strat shape with a chuck cut out of it
Some of these budget instruments are actually pretty impressive. I saw one a few months back, a $100 bass. I'm not super familiar with bass models, but it was shaped like Lemmy's bass. It needed setting up, but had excellent tone and played like any nice bass out there. It's encouraging, I haven't had a guitar in years now, and lately I've had the itch to play. I may be able to pick up a decent guitar without having to starve for a week.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I have a Jay Turser jt50. Sg copy. Great guitar. Plays and sounds great. They go for a low price. It's a older one. Ar least 12 to 15 years old.
@@ja3a12wohnnevada2 My first guitar was an actual old Gibson SG. In my memory it was a '62, but I can't remember why I thought that. It was in a foreclosed storage unit my uncle got at auction. He gave it to me. None of us had any idea it was relatively rare and valuable. I bought an Ibanez a few years later, and traded the SG to the music store for a used Marshall half stack. Dude ripped me off hard. Live and learn. From that experience, I often check resale value on lots of things, just in case. For example, I discovered a few of the Gundam kits a bought some years ago and haven't got to yet are worth hundreds of dollars now.
I think Lemmy played a Rickenbacker, which are known for their unique tone. Maybe you had an imitation Rick
I just got free bass that came from a budget company it's nice just need an amp
Thanks, that was a blast! I used to buy used guitars in the late '60s, then tinker them up for resale to earn some string/beer money. The Woolworth 'Audition' semi-acoustic was a favourite of mine... Lots of them about, usually in need of care. Ended up in a small music shop for a while, and one of my 'Audition' refurbs came through for an upgrade every three or four months! A kid would choose it, parents would buy it, and it would come back for part-ex on something the kid had earned - one of them was unbelievably good, and all self-taught. The pickups on those Auditions were microphonous, so I 'd pot them in wax - do a batch of them one weekend.
Got hired by a wholesaler/importer in '72, spent 5 years tinkering up their guitars and other stuff, Great fun!
Long time ago, been retired over 20 years now...
I love how good affordable gear is becoming ^^ I got a squier classic vibe which is still around 500, but not expensive, and that guitar kicks ass. Sounds almost just as good as my dads custom shop, and it stays in tune forever
the squier classic vibe stuff has honestly been blowing me away, bought some as project guitars and really haven't needed to do much to em
hell, initially planned on getting new necks to get rid of the squier logo but after a while it kinda became a point of pride
All levels of Squier are these days up there,,,especially the classic vibe and paranormal models...
I managed to get my hands on a brand new B.C. Rich Warlock for 450 euro and it's easily the best guitar I have ever had, an absolute dream to play
@@ZoophileHeggieI remember the days of picking up the local radio stations at practice many moons ago. ahahahaha.
Ditto. My CV Jazzmaster is a great guitar and easy on the wallet to boot.@@igooog
MSA actually builds quite decent instruments. I've got more of them (the same guitar as you have here, some basses and some other stuff) and I can't complain about the overall quality. For the price you can't go wrong really. Very recommendable for beginners.
Where are the MSA made? I can't find that info anywhere. I don't want to just assume and say China. I'd really like to know.
I bought a $40 Vizcaya concert ukulele kit from Amazon and was very pleased. I expected the sound/tone to not be the best, but the volume, feel and intonation were great! It's a great starter uke for anyone! I'm glad instruments are so accessible nowadays. Music is Life!
As much as I enjoy seeing and hearing guitars I'll never be able to afford, it's nice to see a guitar in the beginner's price range. I have two guitars from the Squier FSR Bullet range as I'm a beginner and they suit my needs.
Well I have a bullet squire Tele and it's not bad
@@chuckyoneill9029 Why does a beginner think he needs two guitars?
@@BroodingCharisma I don't have a good answer 😂
Bullet is fine guitar
Open tuning and standard what else
I got a real cheap guitar years ago, around £40-50 "made by Encore", and just after a change of strings to some Pink Slinks, I fell in love with it, and still have it, has a tremolo bar, only a single pickup slot but easily interchangeable and mainly - it's a very solid construction, sounds nice, and more importantly, FEELS nice in my massive clown hands. It was brand new at that price too, if you know where to look, you don't need to spend a lot to make something your own and have it work for you - ESPECIALLY if you're just starting out, in fact MORE IMPORTANTLY if you're just starting out, like I was, find somehing you like the look of, something playable, and work from there, and if you choose wisely, you'll have that guitar for life - no matter how many come afterwards :)
Bassoon players are quietly sobbing in the corner. Even the $5000 models are "budget".
I remember Encore!!! Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Encore was my first guitar when I was 15 in the 1990s, red strat. That served me well for 2 years.
Without a doubt a cheap guitar that you play is better than an expensive one you don't
When you use the tremelo on a non locking guitar, try giving it a pull up as the last part of the bend so it travels down to the resting point instead of just letting it pull itself back up to pitch with the springs. They usually stay in tune better with just a little practice on how you release the bend.
Why did i just watch a nearly 20 minute guitar review - and enjoyed it - when i don't even play the guitar? 😀
You watched it because your mind wants to play electric guitar 🎸 🔥
This comment is awesome! 😊
Because you want to learn! It's something that's been missing from your life. Go on, you know you want to🙂
Am learning rn with a classic one, idk either
Me too!
I don't play guitar, and I enjoyed this.
Something I've noticed in the age of internet is how people prioritize the quality of their gear over the quality of their own playing. When I started guitar in the mid 1980's (yes, I am that old), everything was about how well you can actually play the guitar, nowadays it is "my amp will blow your amp away". I love this channel because I also love finding good deals, and the satisfaction of having a great guitar without spending so much unnecessary money on the name on the headstock. Keep up the good work, I always look forward to your videos because I know I can get the real, actual quality without being biased or seduced by name brands
Well said...
Give me any guitar and I will play it unless sharp frets rip off my finger tips.
Something I have noticed in the age of the internet is amps and pedals are far more important than guitars.
@@dirusj4006 your are right...amps and pedals makes these new brands of guitar that are cheap sound like a high dollar fender or Gibson Les Paul...I love Ibanez guitars I have several but guitars off wish or Amazon that are cheap but look great can sound like my Ibanez...I have one that's 3200 and I traded a fender starcaster guitar for it...a 30 dollar guitar and I come out with a very rare RG which was only made in 2013...he just wanted a guitar that he could string cause the one that I got from him had a Floyd Rose...I have one epiphone and its a SG... other than that the rest I have were just over a hundred dollars but if you put it through a great Amp and pedals it sounds amazing...so yes you are right technology has come along way...
funny how this also happen in the classical guitar world. A lot of people taking fotos of their expensive guitars, the most expensive yamahas and other brands and most of them zero actual videos playing it
Love to see this guitar fully checked out with new strings and buffed frets
It's amazing that we can get guitars that play at all for that price. It would be interesting to see how it plays after a little setup time put into it.
Agreed and under a hundo so there should be some left over for set ups
Just goes to show how much of the cost of a big name guitar goes to marketing etc. The bad part is big name guitars can be pretty be low quality as well.
I'm not that surprised. Technology improves with time and that affects everything. Not so long ago 55 inch TVs were considered a luxury. Nowadays you can get one new for about 300 euros. Studio monitors used to be insanely expensive. Nowadays there are low-end monitors for like 100 euros a pair - and even if they're not that great for a professional studio, they still blow most commercial speakers out of the water.
When I started playing 45 years ago, electric guitars were a luxury item. I saved up for quite a while to buy a squire strat for 250 Deutschmarks. I loved that guitar and I wish I hadn't sold it twelve years ago for double of what I paid for it. Now I could buy one guitar a day at those prices, lol.
It’s amazing how cheap they can sell them for when they’re made with slave labor.
I agree with the others to do a part two. I remember my Vintage Modified Squier with Duncan Designed pickups. I knew that I needed a real Fender so I bought one and was disappointed in the overbright pickups. Wound up buying some Duncan Designed's off eBay and putting them on my Fenders. I recall professional guitarists who were stunned at the quality of the Vintage Modified series. Getting quality in an inexpensive istrument is a real buzz, but tweaking the quality with the help of videos is uber rewarding.
Fender is in between a rock and hard place. Vintage strat pickups tend towards bright, microphonic and extremely touch sensitive and that's not what most modern players actually want.
@@davidmckean955 I have never actually played a vintage pickup so i assumed they were warm, but your point is a good one. The closest I got was a buddy's vintage Musicmaster; however, his pickup had a broken wire, so we substituted a modern pickup.
I got a Chinese made squire classic vibe s tele that played better than some guitars costing 3x as much I was impressed with that guitar but I gave it to my grandson he plays it constantly never puts it down because it's such a pleasure to play I'm getting another CV tele because it was such a great deal for under 500usd.
@@fabianvasquezjr8852 Sorry you lost the Classic Vibe, but you are a wonderful grandpa. Watching your grandson actually playing the instrument must be pretty nice.
Hum , i 've tried two Squiers Classic Vibe , the sound was atrocious , i could hear the mediums and the trebles separately , i don't know if the pick'ups were too high but it was the first time that i could hear two different sounds while playing a note ....Then , in the same shop i've tried a US Strat with Texas special pick-ups : way better but my heavy personal one with its massive neck was better : i've bought it after several tests , i lowered the volume knob after two seconds , i was afraid that the seller might raise the price lol , when a Strat is good on the neck pick-up , your jaw drops , the sound is fantastic ....
Then i ended my " find a not too expensive guitar and swap the necks " day in an other shop , and i 've tried a Vintage Modifier Squier , ohh the Classic vibes are beautifull , gold finish , very shiny , the Vintage Modifiers are ugly in comparison , that one had a very high action , the neck was huge , BUT : the Fender Stratocaster sound ,i guess that this guitar was better than the US Strat with Texas specials , easily ....
The Duncan designed pick-ups are very very good , these are what one can find on a Cort G260 , a guitar with a solid rep ....
I even wonder if they aren't better than the originals , i've played with some , on a Cort special serie , and they were neutral , maybe the wood wasn't dry enough i don't know ...
I don't own these guitars anymore , i have a Strat copy and i honestly don't have to complain ...
I find your story amusing but logical ....
I would never buy a Fender Strat if it isn't the one i'm testing at that very moment , if they want me to buy its sister , brand new in its box , they can keep it , i would never buy one online , and maybe i would never buy one eventually because you can be satisfied with the many cheap clones available ....
That's a fact , you try 10 US Fender Stratocasters , you find one gem , the others are just normal .....
Yup , the Duncan Designs , single coils : cheap and good , i'm not surprised but reassured , my ears didn't lie to me ....! I'm not the only one lol .!..^^
Tried the same on Aliexpress years ago.A bassguitar,for 57 bucks.Which included the delivery!!So..that could NEVER be ANY good.Right?🙄🤨😯Unexpectedly,it was just great .And IT CAME OUT OF CHINA,AND WAS STILL PERFECTLY IN TUNE!!! Plugged it in.And started playing. Still goes,played it yesterday.Who needs a real Fender Precision,if you can buy a Chinese one(with strings on it) for the price of 3 packs of strings??
Surprisingly good for something so cheap. And yes, please continue to make it better!
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I walked into a Guitar Center about 5 years ago to buy a Fender fretless bass - an American Standard Jazz was what I was looking for - and I was blown away by the sheer number of 5 & 6 string (and 4s) that were "entry level" in price. I mean, they were maybe $275 for a 6 string with some name pickups! And the variety! It was crazy. I was told that manufacturing has gotten so good that even "cheap" basses (and presumably guitars and other instruments as well) are of pretty good quality. Gone are the warped necks and the tuners that look & feel like they're punched out of sheet metal. The downside: they stock all these instruments because they fly off the shelves at those prices, but a decent, higher-end instrument was not in stock. Indeed, they didn't have any fretless basses. I asked the clerk if they could bring one in for me to try out and he says, "sure, if you buy one." This, by the way, was the GC right near Berklee College of Music, where you might expect them to sell a few higher end instruments. It wasn't that they were sold out; they didn't stock them.
It's great that you found a decently-made instrument that sounds pretty good but it's a shame that the variety & customer service for brick & mortar store sales isn't there anymore. I don't like purchasing instruments by mail.
"hey why is this guitar store around the corner from a music college not buying in expensive guitars and only reasonably priced ones? WTF!!"
maybe cause big names are over priced status symbols and the off brands are pretty much the same standard now apart from the outragous prices?
@@random_an0n Let me be clear: these were decent but BEGINNER models. In the $199-$500 range. Decent but nothing an aspiring professional musician who is spending 4 years at a college to learn a craft would or should be buying.
@@random_an0n entry level instruments can sound great all things considered, but that's precisely the issue: they sound great **all things considered**. If you have to contextualize what is considered a great sound, then perhaps it is not all that great. If you're going to college to study music as your primary focus, then please for the love of God don't buy a $200 guitar as your main instrument. It's great for what it is, but it is not good enough for what you need as a professional musician.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I think you are referring to DADDY'S JUNKY MUSIC, which was directly across the street from Berklee. Guitar Center was down a bit past Boston University on Commonwealth. Guitar Center was never near Berklee. That employee does sound like those from Daddy's. Remember that Ron Wood wannabe that worked there? Or maybe he thought he was Johnny Thunders.
I cane across your channel for the first time. Completely blown away by the quality of this guitar - would love to see a follow up after your cartying out some minor adjustments on it. You have a new fan 😀
You've earned a sub, mate! I don't play guitar, but seeing how the industry is progressing for entry level equipment with a fellow that knows his gear is always great entertainment. Your enthusiasm and choice of equipment has drawn me in, so I am eager to see your future vids :)
Welcome! You SHOULD learn to play, it’s amazing fun
You've NO idea how insanely happy I am to see a company giving you what you paid for, instead of thrown and badly glued together crap with fishing lines for snares, with "components" made out of the worst ever plastics and metals that oxydise the moment you look at them.
For once, I feel heart-warmed seeing a company that CARES for it's customers, and delivers something decent for a change.
Which says EVERYTHING about all other companies (read: thieves guilds).
Truly happy for you, GuitarGeek!!!
Not kidding.
And I am not the most of happy person around, especially lately.
Also, to that guitar company:
I am so gratyeful, you are one of the extremely few that gives good materials out.
My sincere!!! gratitude.
Keep up the good works, your honour and goodwill will be your advertisement.
I would absolutely LOVE to see a part two for this one! I’m teaching myself guitar (been playing cello for 7 years) and I’d like to have one of my own that’s not out of my price range
I bought a cheap donner acoustic on amazon (should have gotten the A/E though). Paid like $150 US for it. Came with a gig bag, tuner, etc. It's fantastic. Stays in tune like a champ. I was really surprised at how nice it was for the price. The worst thing about it is it sounds like crap, but that's only because I suck at playing it LOL. Seriously though, the sound on it is really nice. Obviously you can't compare it to like a $1500 guitar, but it's a really great cheap guitar.
the cheapest guitars have gotten so much better in the past 30 years.
Cool find, my main concern with any budget electric would be the electronics failing shortly after purchase. You can slap guitar strings on pretty much anything and have a good time so the overall structure is really a secondary concern IMO for the budget guitarist.
luckily, there is no "electronic" in this kind of guitar ...
I like that guitar you bought. The head stock is sweet looking. Sounds pretty goos also. You did a pretty cool video here.
I have played more than 60 years and sometimes I look back at all the money I have spent on brand name guitars and amplifiers buying, selling, and trading, over more than 55 years. Not to count the time and effort involved in working on them to play and sound the way I wanted, sometimes costing even more money. Fender Stratocasters, Telecasters, and Jazzmasters, Gibson Les Pauls, SGs Explorers and other top brands. When I think about it, it really bums me out. I still have my 1977 sunburst Strat with a white pearl pick guard and my 1988 silver gray Strat with a black pickguard that I do like very well.
About 6 or 7 years ago I found this black off brand "BAJA" brand cheeze master guitar in someone's trash and picked it out. It wasn't in too bad of shape, more dirty than anything. I gave it allot of TLC, and made several minor repairs and adjustments and installed new tuners new knobs and new strings. It's a Stratocaster copy with one Humbucker pickup, one volume pod and one tone pod, which has a wide range from easily playing hard rock to soft country. It weighs about 1/3 of my real Fender Stratocasters too, in which I can stand longer with it strapped over my shoulder. I wish I could post pics of it also.
I also have had this small 30 watt Marshall practice amp that has sat in a corner for years and years that someone gave many years ago. Together with that trash picked guitar these two are the best sounding and playing pair I have ever had. I can't believe it. If I want it louder and more power, I can just plug it into one or both of my Fender 100 watt twin 12 amps to make louder noise with tone set on the Fenders to a clean clear sound. I have had more questions and compliments on this trash picked guitar that couldn't have cost more than 80-90 bucks new. Oh yeah, I renamed it the "Lil' Fucker" in Fenders trademark lettering on the head stock too... I love it to the max... 😜🤪🥰
Money and name don't mean it's better!!!
On the other hand, a good friend paid $265.00 for a Strat copy in a beautiful metallic mid blue. It has a maple colored neck and is really beautiful. But about all it's good for is to hang on the wall for decoration. It will not stay in tune long enough for one song, it has a constant buzz to it, you can almost feel the neck warping as you try to play it, and you can not get the tonation set on it. Three people with more than 50 years experience playing and working on guitars, including myself have tried and tried to work with and play this guitar. I think it's possesed somehow. My friend has bought and tried two different new sets of tuners and several gauges of strings also. All in all he has over $400.00 wrapped up in this Micky Mouse beautiful guitar that can't be played.
I would 100% love to see this guitar post set-up and with a new set of strings. I was mind-blown at the tone.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
To be even fairer, a whole new set of strings should be left at least overnight to let them settle. Also the neck needs time to settle to the tension of the string tension so I'd expect 2 to 3 days for this new instrument to settle. Yes you can hyper-stretch a new string during a gig but that's for one string out of 6 and you'll have to retune it frequently. Still I really like that you gave this an honest review. I've had so much fun buying various budget instruments from Amazon which given the advances in production technology are all absolutely fine for learning purposes 👍
Thanks but If your guitars need 24 hours to settle after restringing then there’s something wrong with your guitar or your technique
I love all these new budget guitars coming out. I bought a $100 guitar about 3 years ago, and I've played it every day, and gotten pretty good. I've played a lot of more expensive guitars, and haven't found one that I like any better than my $100 baby.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Try a Ibanez fella
Whered u get ur guitar from
Where did u get it from?
Almost all famous guitar players have a cheap guitar that they play, fix, modify and thrive on. Like Mr. Brett's Red Rocker
Flashback 45 years and my first guitar was a nasty Strat copy….but what really took me back was the Small Clone and the DS-1 😊 ….my first two pedals….still going strong now. New CNC machines mean budget guitars are sooooo much better than when I first started playing. Great video….thanks.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I'm lovin' the headstock design. It reminds me of D'Angelico steps for some reason. I'm going to watch part 2 now to see if you can improve the wiggle stick. Great video.
Im genuinely impressed for 75 bucks. That's a good buy. It sounds good for right out of the box.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I have the same guitar and it´s truly awesome! Bought it as a prop for an underwater shoot - but soon decided: this is way too good to trash. Now it is a practice guitar.
By the way: it came in tune and nothing had to be fixed, it was perfectly intonated (which a 1500 € guitar I bought earlier was not)
What scale is the guitar?
@@ibberman I have not measured it, yet. But it feels like the standard Stratocaster scale - and I am pretty sure that´s it!
I had bought cheaps Ibaneze Gio guitar starter pack 1year ago, thanks to tons of video on TH-cam showing how to upgrade guitar from fret leveling to pickup electronic setting I got new knowledge from it. Now I know how to look for good quality cheap guitar.
That guitar looked awesome! Great video. I have owned cheap strat copies and they vary a lot. Best result I had was when I gave a cheap strat to my old boss, when he retired he gave it back to me having upgraded the pickups!
This is such a great reminder that you don't have to play $1000 for a good sounding and well made guitar. So many people get caught up on the name on the headstock, but that doesn't necessarily translate into solid workmanship or precision. Awesome.
Ya it’s not the name it’s the quality. I spent $2500 on my PRS. Just a beautiful guitar to play. I don’t regret a thing.
It really depends on what you want. A Squier is perfect if it never leaves your home, but you do need something better if you are performing with it. There are a lot of things that were not discussed such as tuning stability which is extremely important and extremely rare in a cheap guitar.
No, if you spend 5000 quid on amps and pedals anything will sound awesome
@@SirPrizeMF This guitar sounded awful, no amount of technical wizardry is going to make it good.
@@michaelstanley5215 Agreed, but I didn't get the impression he was trying to convince people that you can go into the studio with this thing. The thing is, you can upgrade components like tuners, nut, bridge, and pickups and end up with an extremely good guitar with a low end name on it for a fraction of what you would pay for a "high end" guitar. But back to the point of the video, for a starter guitar that a guy could play for years without complaint? You can't beat that price.
I'm finishing a raw guitar I gifted my late brother who committed suicide. I got it back after his demise. I'm going to finish it in his honor. You have helped immensely in what I need to work on.🤘🏾👍🏾
I bought a crappy Amazon guitar for about the same price but was in a set which also included a case, extra strings, tuner, stand, amp, and more. Thing is, I’m no guitar geek so I have no idea if it’s good or not, and am pretty much a beginner and didn’t want anything better until I improve. So, this was fun and motivating. I will take a better look at the guitar I’ve hardly touched and try giving it a whirl again. I’ve also subscribed. So, Danke schön!!
You are welcome! Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
The main thing to remember about price is that it's about the quality of the material. If you played a Squier Stratocaster ($200) and then played a Fender Telecaster ($800+), you could definitely hear a difference. But you might think, "I'm not hearing this extra $600." There are a ton of things to consider when buying a guitar.
Sorry, I've been playing for 22 years and only recently did I start to get into the technical side of it so I like talking about it.
Iirc, mine was 80 euro and came with a bag, strings, and tuning flute. I'm pretty tone deaf so it took until Rocksmith and its expensive USB cable to give it a try, but i hate the swerving camera in that game. The fret ends are sharp and knobs crackle, but i don't think i'll be using it without tuning for hours, so probably don't need to spend more before being able to play.
Got a bass once from MSA which was 10€ more. Had no issues at all, played well and even kept the tuning great. There's definitely far worse Instruments out there a beginner could buy!
I bought a cheap $100 electric acoustic guitar to just mess around with. It sounds amazing, has a tuner built in, and the intonation and action aren’t bad. It is not nearly as good as my Les Paul, but it is viable for simple practicing every night.
I do a lot of product reviews for a wide variety of goods and was recently offered an inexpensive generic Strat like this one to review. I was similarly shocked at the quality. Like you, I was expecting to do a "this was as bad as I thought it would be at this price" review but instead wrote one praising it for being an incredible value. Not just a "beginner" guitar, this is decent enough to play a gig and a great choice if you are going to be busking or going places where you are worried about damaging your guitar - you can afford to replace this one if anything happens to it. I really like the bright sound and sharp, crisp tones I'm able to get from the pickups. The only concern about it I ended up having was: how many workers were exploited at ridiculously low wages and/or poor working conditions for the price to be so low?
And, yes, would love to see a "Part 2" with a greater in-depth examination of it.
I loved this, especially since you were so surprised. I'd love to see how you tuned and improved this guitar.
most common cheap issues are: 1) filed off fret ends making them feel like razors when you slide your hand down the neck 2) uneven fret height for whatever reasons 3) non-rounded fret tops cuz they couldn't be bothered to do more than file them flat to level them 4) bad sounding pickups 5) nut positioned either too far or too close to fret 1 which means you will never intonate it properly. always out of tune if that's the case. 6) neck is either warped or cannot be brought into a proper bow and without a dual bending truss rod.... hang it up. So, most of these issues seem to not be there on this one except the pickups are a bit thin sounding to me. But not horrible. For $75, I'd say that's a good buy instead of goodbye! hehe
Wow... I'm surprised...It sounds a lot better than I expected...
Especially at this price...
I'm getting one 🙂🙂
I already own 167 guitars including very old ones but damn...At this price 😁😁
I will give it the full treatment :
Level the frets, tusq nut, probably locking tuners, shielding, upgrade electronics, etc...
I really don't mind putting in all that work on such a cheap guitar... It's always a fun thing to do...
Thanks for the video 🙂🙂
I play my cheap , modified guitars more than i do the expensive ones...although i have to say....i spend quite some money on Pickups and tuners...always medling with them...
@@fellowshade At the end of the day modifying cheap affordable guitars is so much fun 🙂🙂
There's been times when I spent more on pickups and parts than the price of the guitar itself...But it's fun to do and very rewarding...Not to mention ending up with something that's completely unique and original...
@@apegrasshoplizard I've seen worse : Rumor has it Billy Gibbons owns more than 800 guitars and they're kept in a hangar at the Houston airport...
I'm pretty sure Joe Bonamassa's collection would put mine to shame too...
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Yes, more. Loved this video. I have many great and expensive guitars but spent so many years broke that I am always fascinated to see how good a really inexpensive guitar can be. Great video, I very much enjoyed it.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
The moment you started it was awesome!! I’m just starting out and picked up a Fender Squire, great job on your video, thank you for the demo as it’s helping my research into guitar 👍🏻
Honestly good to see that someone cared to set up the instrument. More often than not a really bad unplayable guitar will make most young (or older) aspiring guitarist turn away from the instrument, or develop bad habits due to the uncomfortable ergonomics of the guitar.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
For 75 quid you can't go wrong, it looks nice and sounds nice, that head stock is sort of odd looking but I like it. Id like to see more of this 75 quid little gem
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
We need to support budget kings like these. Not just to help companies that are worth helping, but also to save our wallets in the future.
I haven't "stretched" strings in 20 years. I haven't done scientific testing, but here's the reason why I stopped. I used to play classical guitar in my teens. I was restringing one day and stretching them very similar to how you did in this video. While I was trimming ends and cleaning up and re-tuning, I notice there were spots on a couple of the higher strings that were thinner. To me this was clearly because of the pressure I was putting on them in those particular spots with my fingers while stretching. I have no proof that this would happen regularly, or even happen at all to metal strings. But I honestly don't see the need to stretch strings at all. Especially if you use elixir. They go into tune almost immediately. I also think just overall, that over tightening strings while tuning them is a bad thing. They're designed to be pulled at a certain tension. If you go past that I'm sure it cannot be good at the fastening points on either end. And yes I know that you stretch the shit out of them when bending notes. I'm not sure this is quite the same as pulling the strings perpendicularly away from the fretboard. Anyways, watching you stretch the strings just made me remember all this because I haven't even thought about it in over a decade probably. No harm or negative intentions here. Just sharing thoughts.
Love from Canada
xoxo
Just wanted to mention that nut slot height is something that is often overlooked on inexpensive guitars for a setup. You can get an intonation perfect but if your nut is too high chords at the top of the neck will always sound sour even if you have super delicate fingers and ears to correct that it can still be super difficult and generally just annoying to play.
If you don’t realize the importance of stretching steel strings on an electric guitar I’ll assume you have little to no experience playing them
I like the look of pure, unbridled joy on Andy's face every time he opens a box. We all know that feeling.
Oh, The joy never fades. Each guitar is a whole new world of possibility!
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
6:26 you got a leak bro
Absolutely do the part 2. I would love to see this thing be given the best fighting chance to really show what it can do.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I like the finish. It looks like the matte black finish of my Kramer. The guitar looks and sounds very nice for the price. If I were a beginner, I'd be happy with it. Strings probably getting snagged on the nut when you use the whammy. A bit of graphite or oil might fix that.
Check out the update - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Yeah I like saving my Hard earned money instead of just throwing it away
Just for a name plate on my Guitars. I have 3 Squires one is 30 years old and still plays like new it's a start. One is a tele 10 years old plays great and a cheaper strat dual humbucker in it. One Harley Benton and one Leo Jaymz and. They all are great guitars. Now when I first started playing they didn't make guitars this cheap that play like these do
Lol. Back then you got 6 strings on a plywood board and you couldn't push the strings down without cutting your hands. They have come along way. Lolo
I’d love to see a part 2 about this guitar. I’ve been thinking about getting a beginner’s electric guitar, but I can’t spend a lot on one. If this one can be made to hold in tune and is playable, could be my search is over. I’d like to see what you do to polish this diamond in the rough. Instant subscription!
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
When I was younger and getting into music, guitars that cheap were unplayable garbage. It's super cool to see that you can get something that is usable for that price... the increase in quality at the entry level over the years is really quite remarkable.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I remember the cheap Japanese beginner guitars from the mid 60's. My God, your fingers would bleed just looking at them from across the room. Action high enough for a clothesline.
Thank you so much for speeding up the boring parts. It makes all the difference in the world as to my decision to continue watching
This reminds me of the Fesley guitar I bought off of Amazon. Just finished the upgrades. I leave the bar off and slammed the springs with tension. Some of these brands are putting out stuff that just needs some work and you off to rock. Nice surprise, Andy.
Hello mate! Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Definitely do a follow-up on this! I'd love to hear all the pickup configurations through your different amps + clean, overdriven, and distorted after you've finished setting this up. Surprisingly good find straight out of box.
PS: Just discovered your channel with this video and - from one guitar geek to another - am looking forward to watching more of your content. Also, I too love bargain hunting and modding the pickups & hardware over buying something much more expensive that sounds great with no work. One of my favorite guitars is a $130usd (second hand; $300usd retail) ES-335 semi-hollowbody copy that I was able to set up with amazingly low action; it is better than any Epiphone 335 I have ever played.
I have a guitar worth like60
It was my first guitar
I sanddd the neck down and painted the body and headstock white
If there isn't already a part 2, please do one. I like a cheap and chearful guitar for a lot of what I do and this looks like it could be a winner!
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Swap all the chrome parts including the strap buttons and scratchplate screws for black anodised and it'd look like several times its cost. Love the headstock.
That will more than double the cost of the guitar, even with the cheapest black anodized parts available. But I get it, it would look a lot better.
that is actually a GREAT idea. I did upgrade it - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Yes and yes, you should give it some TLC so we can check the results!
It seems it's getting to the point now that neck and body on cheap guitars are just good out of the box nowadays and that hardware is the deciding factor. I've had better fretwork on my cheapest models than ones twice their price. This can only be good for beginners and modders.
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Yeah, tune it up for sure. I have watched a few "I bought the cheapest guitar" videos and the expert guitarest usually makes the guitar seem terrible and their favorite brand is so much better... I appreciate your candid review... it doesn't seem bad at all. Greetings from down under
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When you grow up poor to poor folks, you learn a valuable lesson. If I ever come into money, I will without question make people living in poverty, lives better. Blessings to you all.
Pretty excellent review, thank you for posting !
It would be interesting to see a comparison of critical parts like the pots, 5 way switch, etc., they had to save money somewhere !
Best regards,
Bill P.
I'm amazed it's as good as it sounds. And best yet, it looks cool... love the matt black finish!
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
I’d love to see you do more on this guitar!! I love your honesty!!!!
Considering that this is a guitar that will most likely end up in the hands of a 13 years old as a gift from their grand parents, it sounds great and actually looks fun to play, I really enjoyed that "house of the rising sun" 60's angry tone myself. That sort of stuff is what could get people into music and expose us to more musical ideas/creativity in the future. ♥
Yes. Which is really what you want with a kid. Even if they don't continue, its a minor investment with great potential return. The only thing I wish he would have done is connect it to a cheaper, smaller simple amp. Lets get real... those who are buying these guitars don't have the luxury of the "extras" this dude has and makes it sound a lot better.
@@joshg72826 First page of Google shows a tc electronic Rusty Fuzz for 48 euro. How different does that sound from the one in the video? And aren't bigger amps just louder? My boombox's 10cm speakers have enough bass for me.
@@CTimmerman I don't think the guy can reply to that randomly like that, you can probably do your own research ie: check on youtube if someone has made a review that you can hear the sound in yourself.
Also, I don't think josh really meant what you think. Like, I have 250$ beyerdynamics studio headphones and they sound a lot thinner (but a lot clearer/better) than most of the headphones I ever bought. It's less about bigger amp sounding bassier and more about better quality amp sounding generally better. Has nothing to do with the size of the amp either, though yeah, different size amps will sound differently.
I think josh was essentially saying "If you plug a 60$ guitar on a 10,000$ setup, it's gonna sound better than most people who actually buy this guitar."
There's also another dimension to this: I didn't know how much better my beyerdynamics headphones would sound until I actually bought these headphones. There's tones and sounds in the music I commonly listen to that I never heard before I bought these.
@@FlavorsomeMusic Andy himself said price doesn't always correlate with quality, these videos being proof. Studio-grade stuff probably lasts way longer with less maintenance, but that's what you pay for.
My work's MacBook Pro has amazing speakers for their size, so the small cheap ones i've had sucked because they were cheap. I have Logitech 2.1 as well but that's too bassy compared to my old Target TRG-S 120s imo.
I agree that objective tests (flat frequency response is best) are best to compare things, but my fuzz question was kind of rhetorical as i bet all of them can make your electric guitar sound metal, which most teens probably buy them for.
@@CTimmerman there's a point where price does correlate with quality. This guitar may sound good for 60$, but it can't rival a guitar made with superior materials and craftsmanship and that is costly. There's a reason a pro guitarist won't play on this guitar, and there's a reason I bought my dt770's to make music. x)
The point of this video wasn't to tell everyone that this guitar is the best in the world, it was to tell the world that it isn't as bad as he thought, that doesn't mean it's better than a 2000$ guitar, same with setup, you can't expect the same from a 60$ setup vs a 10,000$ setup. You're kinda arguing in bad faith here.
That's a pretty sweet guitar. As a rule, I tend to swap out the strings and tuners on the more "economically friendly" guitars. But this seems to be holding its own.
You should definitely watch this then - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Absolutely a great deal for someone to get into music at an affordable price!! One of my best guitars is an acoustic Aria that is 40 years old that I paid an even 100.00 bucks at Strings and Things in Memphis, TN. It just gets better w age and makes me happy every time I pick it up!!! Max’s comment is dead on perfect!!!
Yes on the TLC, considering how a lot of cheaper guitars are at purchase I think this one deserves a bit of love.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Looks and sounds good. I would like to see you making it better, roll the edges, oil the fretboard and slap on new strings etc. 🤘
you nailed it brother, rolling the edges and oiling the fretboard can make a cheap guitar play like most expensive one. Thank God for that sanpaper sponge thing, I can make any Squire feel better than the most expensive Fender 🤘
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for teaching me how little I know about guitars.
Honestly, looks like a pretty decent guitar, especially for a beginner looking for a bargain.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Yes, part two please 👍
Love these vids. Also love the cheapo-guitar and/or second hand ones.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
manufacturing techniques have improved greatly in recent years. Budget guitars of the 90's are not the same as budget guitars of the 2020's. Barrier to entry for good instruments is drastically lowered, which is great for new musicians getting started.
Isnt it amazing that we are living in a time when a brand new *playable* guitar can be bought for £70, truly amazing.
truly is - Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
Great video, I was equally surprised by this review and I have already forwarded it onto a friend of mine who may end up being interested in this instrument. As for myself: I'm really curious to see how much better it gets with some TLC, so please show us that.
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
@@TheGuitarGeek Awesome sauce, I'll check it out when I get home from work.
i want to comment here too. I have a VISION guitar, exactly this one in the video, only that mine is in snowwhite.
I have the Guitar now for 7 years, and its extremely well build. And i need to say this, it is in the same quality class as the ones you can buy for like 250-350 euro, no joke.
It is so pleasent to play, holds tune for long play sessions, never really have to retune it.
Yes the pickups are not the best,
But i can really really encourage people to buy this guitar.
( i am also one of the people, that think musical instruments should not cost so much. Standart Eguitar for 400 euro??? why?? )
That's not a bad sounding guitar at all for that price and looks great! It would be good for anyone especially beginners.
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Awesome! I've been a fan of Squiers for some time and I'm really impressed how a lot of manufacturers are pumping out great guitars that are so affordable. When I was a kid, it was a huge struggle to get a guitar because of the price. My first bass was a budget brand that would be comparable to this and it was around $300. To get a decent Strat for under a hundred is absolutely unreal! With guitar prices this low, and the ability to learn just about anything guitar-related on TH-cam, people really have it made these days.
My first guitar was a squire :)......... it actually looked similar to stats :)
I had a Squire Standard Fat Strat in metallic green. I miss that guitar.
Lmao...."whuuut!, is the sheckter lyghta than my telleee?!!".
Ha!!! Your wordage came out British!! Ha!!!!! That’s great!!!!
Great work. More proof that you don’t need to spend several hundred or thousands of dollars to have a great playing and sounding guitar.
I agree so much. Especially if you enjoy doing a little bit of custom setup. Sometimes I think I actually enjoy upgrading guitars more than playing them
@@trailerparkstudios7938 agreed 110%. Gimme an ‘affordable’ guitar that needs 20 minutes of work and I’ll have it playing as good or better than a perfect playing guitar worth 3 times as much. When I invest that time into a guitar, playing it and using it, for me at least, is a much more personal and richer experience. Anybody can buy an expensive guitar off the shelf that looks and plays perfectly. But, cost notwithstanding, how invested are they in that axe? Just my 2 cents.
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It's like Kurt said... " junk always works the best." Although this isn't actually junk, you get what I mean. And yes... a part 2 please.
teen spirit on a squire 👌
@@leso204 or a Tele
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html
So when you compare this real instrument to that $500 Kickstarter plastic toy it's an absolute no-brainer.
I love the line "I'm really shocked with how not crap this is!" He could have went more positive and said he was surprised at how good it is but, nope! He us shocked with how "not crap it is." That's funny😂
Thanks for watching - Part 2 (Where I upgrade it) is now online - th-cam.com/video/xIODheqVEwo/w-d-xo.html