What’s your cheapest guitar?

My cheapest ever was a Squier Strat. It was a Christmas present from a bunch of the family that all chipped in.
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It was my first and only electric guitar for many years and the only one I had until I purchased a Artist Pack Cu24 in 2006. What a difference! That one is gone but a MIM Strat took it's place. Looks just like it and is actually playable.
Now the cheapest I have (in money spent, not in value), is my SE EG. Plays better than the MIM Strat.
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I had a squire MB-5 (bass) in cobalt blue that I paid 85 bucks for. Sold it for 50 to a friend. Now I can't find any on the market. Had a 1972 Harmony Meteor hollow body that I paid 45 for, restored with another 120 then traded for a Squire Fat Strat(very good guitar). Last I checked a collector paid over a grand for it (the Harmony). Had one of those Vyper single humbucker Amazon Specials (85?) that I gave away. Also had a Stedman Pro LP Clone that I paid 150 for. Right now, my least expensive guitar is my Alvarez Acoustic (Free) followed by my Ibanez Bass (150) but not cheap in terms of quality. My daughter has a Johnson stratoclone with EMG's that she paid 40 for.
 
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Ever had or currently have? I bought a $200 “Japanese” Strat back in college and chiseled out space for a Floyd copy bridge and locking nut. It was so fudged up I threw it away. Yes, I tossed a guitar into the garbage. Learned some valuable lessons along the way.

Currently, my SE One cost $270 of the best spent dollars in my life.
 
Ever had or currently have? I bought a $200 “Japanese” Strat back in college and chiseled out space for a Floyd copy bridge and locking nut. It was so fudged up I threw it away. Yes, I tossed a guitar into the garbage. Learned some valuable lessons along the way.

Currently, my SE One cost $270 of the best spent dollars in my life.


Welp, I guess “currently” was what I was thinking.

We’ve probably all had real cheap stuff that would have made better wall clocks than musical instruments.

I don’t think I was really ready for PRS guitars in 2013/2014 when I first got a used Hollowbody in trade from a friend and then bought a used Swamp Ash Special shortly after. They had their charms, but I was after something else at the time, soundwise.

Now I’m in danger of hoarding. My ears have changed, and my hands are old. I appreciate PRS a lot more this time around.

Glad to hear an SE is worth looking at. I certainly am intrigued by the one pickup P-90 versions.
 
My main playing guitar is an Epiphone LP fitted with Gibson custom shop reissue pickups. Sounds glorious, plays great, dead sturdy, and I never have to worry about dings.
 
I've got a few contenders. The cheapest electric I've bought was my first Fender (by Squire) Strat that I paid £170 in my first year at University in 1997. That one went a while ago so the cheapest electric that I currently own is a Yamaha 420S. Think I paid about £240 in around 2001? I played that one a lot in the early 2000s. It's my only guitar with a floyd rose (copy) and high output pickups which is why I've still got it. Not that it gets played much these days.
Then there is the actual cheapest guitar that I currently own, which is also my very first guitar. Some brand of classical guitar that I was bought for Christmas way back in 1984. I think it cost £60 at the time. It's buried somewhere at my parents house so I haven't played it in years and years.
 
Currently, the electric guitar which I have paid the least amount of money for (because I bought it used from Brent's Guitar Emporium) is what I'm calling a 2015 Heritage H-150 Custom Quilt. If memory serves, he listed it for $2000.00 and I bought it immediately upon seeing it. It's got a Quilt Maple top, an Ebony fingerboard, real Mother of Pearl trapezoid inlay and a bound headstock. When I get around to doing it, I've got a drop in pre-wired set of pots & caps which I'll install as well as a brand new set of Pearly Gates pickups.

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But to be all inclusive, I do have lesser expensive acoustic guitars, like my Seagull S6 with a Cedar top for example which I bought brand new at GC when they were having a huge clearance sale. I was prepared to spend a thousand dollars on an acoustic guitar that day but I think I only paid around $375.00 for it. imho... It is not easy to find a better sounding acoustic guitar.
 
My cheapest guitar is a mid-'90s Ibanez Artwood acoustic that I ended up giving $75 shipped for (got $50 bucks knocked off for an undisclosed top seam crack). I bought it as a camping guitar, but since I don't camp that much I keep it strung up for Nashville tuning. Works great for that!

My cheapest electric is a Epiphone SG Jr. P-90, which I gave $100 for. That little guitar rocks!
 
There are some very nice inexpensive guitars here, but I have to make a personal comment on cheap: my mission is to make sure no kids in the family have to start out on a cheap guitar. You know, those ones with curvy necks that don’t stay in tune. I like to make sure nieces, nephews, perhaps grandchildren get to start on something that doesn’t frustrate them to the point of never giving a fair chance.

At least that’s my excuse for the spare guitars.
 
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Hmmmmmm

Cheapest of all, probably a Tele copy, “Vintage” brand that Wilkinson helped design, all his hardware. One that I strummed on the wall to look interested, in a shop where I was quite uninterested, and it rang like a bell, so I had to backpedal a bit and check it out. Super thin finish, and probably luck of the draw getting some nice dry wood at that price. The electronics are terrible, minus the pickups. But it sounds much better than any other sub $1K Tele I’ve played, so, it was a win.

Cheapest PRS - tie between my Akesson and ZM, got both new with a decent discount. Both are nice, but the Akesson wins. Best SE I’ve laid hands on!
 
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