list 'em!
First real guitar I had was a big, blue Rickenbacker, like a 330 but with three pickups. Bought it in 1978 for 300 bucks. Got destroyed in a house fire. Want it back. 
Let’s hear about your non-fender/gibson joys. 
Hamer Echotone! (ES-335 copy)
Looks good, plays good, sounds good, stays in tune, and only cost $350 (with hard case!) 
http://www.hamerguitars.com/?fa=detail&mid=402&sid=188
I have a Westone (1980’s) that, as far as I can tell, is completely made of particle board, the body is completely flat, absolutely no features whatsoever. We laughingly refer to it as “The Plank” which really describes it well. Two generic dual-coil pickups, volume and tone, weighing in at about 3 pounds. a complete piece-o-crappola. The irony is that it plays really well, the action is really low, no fret buzz, and it mutes at the tail piece perfectly, with nice soaring harmonics. I traded an old Marshall 8X10(with 4 dead speakers) and a Lab Series L-11 amp (blown) for it in 1992 and the guy set it up for me. I’ve been totally unable to part with it since.
Although now from too many years in the basement, the particle board body is actually starting to disintegrate due to the moisture. One day, it will disappear in a cloud of wood chips. It’s the perfect guitar to lend to Mister Metal Thrasher when he shows up.
It’s funny, but there are some guitars that are cheap, but well set up play very nicely. Reissue DanElectro’s are a good example - again cheap materials, chinese components, but set up by someone who knows what they are doing can play very well.
.-=gp=-.
Godin LGX-III Three pickup guitar with piezo equipped Wilkinson tremolo bridge and locking tuners. My FAVORITE guitar. It has three Seymour Duncan “Duckbuckers” and a five way switch. In the bridge only position, its not as thick and chunky as an LP but not as thin and shrill as a Strat in bridge only. It does Strat tones extremely well and can ALMOST pull off LP tones. This plus the Quasi-acoustic tones from the piezo setup make for a very versatile axe. It plays GREAT too. Only complaint; this mutha be HEAVY! Long sessions will have you looking for a chair or stool to give the shoulder a break.
Godin = Great guitars a little outside the conventional LP/Strat world.
TG
Parker Fly…I love those. When I saw Reeves Gabrels (David Bowie band) play that beat up solid hardwood one on SNL I was blown away at its capabilities…and his. I have yet to purchase one. I always bug the guitar center people to let me get it out of the glass case and play it like Wayne on Wayne’s World. One day it will be mine…oh yes, it will be mine.
http://www.gretschguitars.com/gear…q=&st=1
http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/xfactor/FirebirdV.html
’Nuff said 
If ya want a very nice jazz guitar of imitation les paul cheap, check out Jay Turser Guitars here. I have the JT134 quilt and it is very nice. If you are looking for a “better than a Strat” strat copy for cheap, check out the early/mid 80s Ibanez Roadstar II guitars (100 and 200 series Japanese made). Play and sound great for silly little bucks. If you are into spending lots of do, re, mi on an electric solidbody, ya gotta check out Carvin electrics. They rival the best electrics made in quality, electronics and hardware. The amazing thing about Carvins is that they are made to your specifications from wood choice all the way down to fret wire. If you like the unusual, check out Giannini guitars. The Craviola is a blast to play. I have owned 2 of the Craviola classical model in my life…(none right now though )
There are lots of nice electrics around, I tend to lean toward inexpensive, nicely made instruments.
Mike
PS.
The rarest guitar I ever owned was a Fender Montego II jazz guitar. It is the one in the picture on the right.
Peavey Wolfgang
My Wolfie
I don’t play electric all that much anymore. Mainly play acoustic now. I’m not in a band anymore and mainly do just acoustic duo stuff (must be getting old…:laugh: )
I got this about a year ago.
Wasn’t looking for an electric as I was just playing acoustic all the time but saw this on sale and had to get it.
Glad I did because about 3 months later EVH announced his deal with Charvel and Peavey discontinued the production of these.
Don’t think I’ll ever sell this one.
Also this guitar re-inforces something someone once told me about looking for an electric guitar…
If the guitar sounds good unplugged then that is a good starting point. If it has a nice sustain and good tone unplugged it should sound good with the right pickups. If it doesn’t then you haven’t got a good base to start with.
This guitar sounds quite loud unplugged and has a nice tone to it. The pickups are real nice too… A bit hot for some ballad type stuff but you just need to use the volume knob to wind it back. Real nice smooth neck pickup tone.
I think having the pickups screwed into the body rather than floating on springs may make a difference (but maybe they’re just real cool pickups…)
Rich
These are fun. Squire double fat set neck telecaster…dual humbuckings with push/pull coil tap…3 way switching…strings through body.
People didn’t seem to know what they were looking at but I knew it was a cool guitar, so I grabbed it brand new for almost nothing - $150 - hahahah.
Mine is the same color as this one but I think the guitar looks better in person too.
http://www.geocities.com/mutantp…ele.jpg
Excellent sustain as it is a big piece of wood with a set neck. The frets are tall so you have to use a light tough with the left hand to avoid intonation problems… It gets many LP and Strat sounds, so it is very useful in some ways. I still need to play around and see what unique sounds I can coax out of this guitar.
Peace,
TrackGrrrl
Sorry, though oddball, I guess my last post still kinda falls into the Fender camp even though it gets a lot of non-Fender sounds.
I have played a few of the Dano reissues and agree with chutz.
I have an old Maestro. Got it new in around 1969 or 70 - my first electric guitar. Looks like a 335 copy except it is totally a hollow body. Came from the factory with the lowest frets I have ever seen on a guitar. Two single coils (hard to record without noise but worth it when you get it right). It is nice for jazz and ballad type sounds. None of the newer guitars sound quite some of the old Japanese wonders.
Peace
Yes, TrackGrrrl, I was gonna say…
I have a wonderful bowlback acoustic made by a company called Academy… It’s a replica of an Ovation (it’s not a copy, it is a replica - I’m sure there must have been a lawsuit).
It looks beautiful, plays as well as my real Ovation, and sounds wonderful (amplified) and … well, like a small bowl acoustic when unamplified (read: cardboard box).
Had it for about 15 years. Love it. Never seen or heard of Academy guitars ever since.
I’ve also got an Ibanez bass and an Ibanez electric from the 80’s that I’ve never seen anything like when searching the web. Both very nice.
Mark
| Quote (Mark A @ Mar. 13 2005,09:16) |
| like to see I've also got an Ibanez bass and an Ibanez electric from the 80's that I've never seen anything like when searching the web. Both very nice. Mark |
I'd like to see pictures of either of those.
jerm
Epiphone Sheraton. Poor Mans’ 335. I have a friend with a real 335 and though the 335 has the sweeter, fuller tone, The neck on the Epi is just so comfy, it makes me sound better. My summation, 90% of the tone, for 25% of the cost, and the nicest neck I’ve ever laid fingers on. Highly recommended.
I saw Neil Finn recently playing one of those Gretsch guitars a couple of weeks ago, through a couple of AC-30’s, I was floored by the sound. Of course it doesn’t hurt that the man seriously knows how to play…
Hamer USA stuff, Heritage stuff, Hofner, Godin, Jackson USA (they are butt ugly with snakes and lightening bolts, but extremely well built guitars), Larivee, Peavey Cropper Classic. The Cropper is a real sleeper. It looks like a tele, but it has a maple top and hot rails. The thing is amazing for heavy rock 5150/Rectifier/Soldano sort of stuff.
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/dano.html
Dano Deluxes
I ran sound for a band that was doing 100% Hendrix back in the middle 80’s. They were called Third Eye,from the Chapel Hill or Durham area of NC. Their guitar player was totally amazing, and didn’t do a clone of Hendrix, but played in a fuller smoother style than Hendrix (if you can imagine that). He was playing a DanElectro (with a whammy bar) through some small combo amp (don’t remember what).
I also installed some Grovers on an orange-from-the-factory Deluxe (no telling what the color looked like pre-faded). It looked all stock, but the tuners were totally fried though the rest was in good shape. The owner wanted good tuners and didn’t care about keeping it vintage. That thing played as easy as any guitar I’ve ever played and sounded great when the owner played it.
Both were real DanElectros with coke bottle headstocks, I think. I know the orange one was because I had it in my hand. The other was black and white. Look at the 1961 Dano Deluxes at the link.
EDIT:
Found a cool site http://www.danoguitars.com/default.asp
I just wanted to add…if anybody is shopping for a really sweet guitar and not a lot of cash, check out the Ibanez Artcore series acoustics and electrics. I have played some phenomenal guitars in the line. Makes you do a double-take at the price tag. I’m yearning for an AS83 myself…
TG
Schecter is in the same category as Ibanez. Amazing bang for the buck.
Schecter C1-EA!! Drooolllll…if I only had $700 laying around…and another place to live…the ol’ ball and chain would boot me out in the street if I brought home another axe. Women. Sheesh…where’s their priorities? 
TG