Cheapest, new guitar you've played that was comfortable and stayed in tune, without modding?

[Steven Mal]

TLDR: Without modding, what is the cheapest, non-used (brand new) guitar you've owned or played that was comfortable to play and stayed in tune? Bonus points if it sounded good too.


For this particular discussion USED guitars and modded instruments are DISQUALIFIED. What is the Cheapest, Non-Used (Brand New) Guitar You've Been Impressed By? In terms of price vs. quality, how low can you go? In your opinion, how cheap is TOO cheap for a brand new guitar? $500? $300? $100? Even lower? Do you believe you always get what you pay for or have you felt cheated by a guitar? Or maybe, you've bought a very inexpensive instrument and couldn't believe you paid so little for so much quality? I've always wondered about brands like Harley-Benton, Squier, and the low-end Epiphone, low-end LTD, etc.

 

[Ovibos]

SE Custom 24, obvs.

 

[Slowhands]

I recently bought my daughter the cheapest Squier strat on the market, brand new under $200 from Sweetwater. I've been using our pandemic time at home to teach her guitar and she needed her own axe. I was willing to spend more but she wanted a specific color that was only on the cheapo. It's way better than I expected. Neck is a slimmer profile (good for her small hands) and after I cleaned up the cruddy frets it plays well. Tuners are junk but it's a hardtail and it stays in tune okay. I will be putting on locking tuners mostly just to make string changes easier for her. Sound: It's not bad. Basic strat sounds achieved, but nothing amazing.

Worth $199? Yeah, for sure. For the purpose it's perfect. Light weight, neck that suits her hands, stays in tune pretty well, sounds acceptable. The worst thing about it is the pickups have staggered pole pieces that stick WAY up, too high. I lowered the pickups as far as reasonable but even though they sound okay the poles are still are too close to the strings for my liking.

 

[Stephen J.]

I bought a Rogue resonator for $200 somewhere around 2006-2007. It came in a cardboard triangle box with a little styrofoam on each end and a thin foam wrap. I have never even changed the strings. It has never been in a case. I tune it a few times a year. I don’t play a lot of slide, but I will pick it up every few days. More often than other guitars I have.

 

[CandidPicker]

Want to say it was the guitar my Dad bought me for Xmas, when I was a kid, a Yamaha FG-160 dreadnaught acoustic, for $129, in 1972.

 

[Black Plaid]

CE 24 from Righteous Guitars

 

[Wakester]

I had a Fender Squier HSS Standard that had top of the line pieces and parts. I traded a vintage Harmony H72 Meteor for it at my local Guitar Center. It was a perfect Strat from the time it left the store to the time i sold it off in a fit of depression. Only thing i ever changed on it was strings.

 

[Aahzz]

Squier 51 that I got on clearance when they were discontinuing them. $70, stayed in tune, played great, sounded good. Should've kept it.

 

[Southwest]

Gibson Les Paul Standard purchased in March this year. Prior to that, PRS Custom 22, purchased in January 2002. They're the last two guitars I bought. And they weren't cheap. But they are wonderful.

 

[dmatthews]

The PRS SE ONE I won!

 

[RickP]

I picked up a Epiphone Les Paul Jr with a single P90 that I used to keep out for when drunk people wanted to “sit in” back in the day. It was actually a good playing guitar, and came in a package with a little amp for $199. Been a while back, so that might be higher now but it was a pretty darned good $150 brand new guitar.

 

[Tony M.]

This one, an Epiphone Wilshire.
I paid $125.00 for it a very long time ago
and sold it to this guy a few years later.

 

[WEDGE]

in about ‘88 or ‘89 I bought a Squier Strat, the E series one that also had a Fender logo on the headstock. Black with rosewood board. Was a fantastic guitar. Stayed in tune, sounded awesome, and played great. Kept it for almost a decade. I think I paid like 300 bucks and don’t regret a penny of it. Wish I still had it.

 

[Malloc]

I still have fond memories of my first electric: a base model Yamaha Pacifica that was probably sub 200 in a kit. Have also always had good experiences with lower end Ibanez.

 

[SinSir]

I've played plenty of good cheap guitars. Yes they aren't a PRS, but there are good epi and squiers out there, although consistency isn't always their strong suit. The classic vibe series is great, really liked one I had a while back, My buddy still has it. Agile is probably my favorite affordable guitar, top notch all the way. I was just discussing them. I'd take an agile over lots of recent entry gibsons I've played, Agile pups are G&B and plenty of us find those to be good around here. I often mention agile to people in the same breath as an SE. Gretsch has some well made affordables too, but they arent really my thing. My favorite and cheapest new purchase I ever made was a squier short scale jag bass. Loved that bass and my girlfriend has it now and she wouldn't part with it for the world. It cost me under $200 new OTD.

 

[Shreve]

Fender Straight Six. MIM. Cheap when new, but EVH on a budget. Since been (ahem) altered a bit.

 

[Outlier22]

I bought a Jimmy Vaughan Signature Strat from Musicians Friend back in maybe 09 for $450 if I remember correctly. (it might have been $400) It was on sale on week as part of their "Fender Friday" deals. While I know who Jimmy Vaughn is and knew some of his stuff, I didn't really listen to him. But his Made in Mexico signature model was based on a a 50's strat so it had a 56 screw bridge, single ply pickguard and maple soft v neck. But it did have larger more modern frets, a 9.5" radius, and a 5 way switch with tone knob move to control neck pickup leaving the middle pickup wide open.

I didn't expect much of this guitar based on the price and it being my first made in mexico Strat, but was shocked how good it was when it arrived. The neck had a satin finish on the back and the soft v was super comfortable. The tex mex pickups were so stratty sounding. So much more than my 82 smith strat, I ended up selling the smith strat and keeping the Jimmy Vaughan. The fretboard edges were nicely rolled and it stayed in tune! (or at least it did when I had the G string slot on the nut widened a bit.)

 

[Serious Poo]

PRS SE SVN. All 7 strings stay in tune. Not just six strings but seven. That’s like, 1 more.

 

[markd21]

Best "cheap" guitar I have ever played has to be the Gretsch 5238 Pro Jet. It was so killer that it led me to buying a real deal Duo Jet, and in a lot of ways I liked the Pro Jet better. I'll get another someday....

 

[bodia]

This one, an Epiphone Wilshire.
I paid $125.00 for it a very long time ago
and sold it to this guy a few years later.

Now THAT is pretty flippin' cool!