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 Monoprice Telecaster off of Amazon, 109 bucks. I was skeptical and was mainly ordering it as a project instrument. I’ve had to sell almost all of my guitars since things got extremely poo poo during and after Covid, only keeping one of each type that I directly work with, but have had a range of guitars from extremely cheap prices to thousands of dollars in the past. This thing has no right being this cheap, compares against some of the better guitars I’ve owned if talking only solid bodies, and other than tuning is basically set up and ready to go out of the box. The pickups sound extremely nice. Pots are fine and no noisiness. Fretwork, maybe most surprisingly, needs no touching up at all. Intonation set up perfectly. Nut slots are messy but appropriate height (though I will lower them very slightly at some point since I like essentially the equivalent of a zero fret). Comfortable, feels solid…I feel like I stole a much nicer instrument than this should be. The only issue, which I can fix but probably won’t because I don’t care is the volume knob is slightly tilted. Might have gotten bumped in shipping, I don’t know. It’s a very small amount that no one will notice including me since it still “feels” perfect, even if it’s noticeable when scrutinizing. Other than that the hardware is cheap. The tuners are obviously low grade, though they hold pitch and function just fine. Bridge probably cheap (but I prefer modern 6 saddle over three barrel saddles). Nut is plastic, though cut well. Electronics are all clean but if I were to open it up to look inside I’m guessing obviously cheap pots (though noise free and smooth response), cheap pickups that somehow sound extremely good. I haven’t messed with Fenders for years but in the past I’ve played all across the range including custom (non Fender) Teles. The setup out of the box is on par with what I had seen USA Fenders coming like. I guess CNC machines have just gotten really good. It’s easily better than almost every Mexican Fender I had students bring to lessons new. Reminds me of some of the better Japanese ones, which have nicer components than this but it just feels and sounds great. I’ll have to see how it settles in, and granted I’ve only played it for a couple hours since it only arrived today and wanted to wait until my daughter was asleep to give it attention. But I am super impressed, and not sure if it’s a secret or not but wanted to share if anyone else is looking for a cheap guitar. Maybe this was an anomoly, I don’t know but I am very particular about my guitar setups and always adjust guitars myself up to and including things worth 50x the price. Part of it might be that I intend to keep lighter strings on it, since I usually put weird string gauges no one uses (like sets of .015s) that require immediate work. But for less than half than what I spend on gas in one month I’m shocked at this guitar not needing setup and modification to make me happy. I guess I’ll need another project guitar because it would be a shame to mess with this one. Disclaimer, I am not trying to get the “Tele twang” or anything. I just know that teles have always been super reliable in the past, I can get away playing jazz on it and for my own music it sits in the mix well. I’m excited to see how that all works but can tell already I won’t have any issues.
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Feb 20, 2024 05:37
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Cheap guitars have gotten really good lately. I bought a $99.99 "Tease" Guitar for mod purposes as well, and I was surprised by how good it was out of the box.
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Feb 20, 2024 06:00
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A telecaster is just a pretty simple thing, and getting machines to just spit them out has become pretty feasible. A pickup can be literally just copper wire around some magnets, body and neck are just slaps of wood that need to fit together and not be crooked. Pots and hardware aren't hard to make either, and the production cost is probably not high even for solid quality. The future is now.
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Feb 20, 2024 07:04
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BonHair posted:A telecaster is just a pretty simple thing, and getting machines to just spit them out has become pretty feasible. A pickup can be literally just copper wire around some magnets, body and neck are just slaps of wood that need to fit together and not be crooked. Pots and hardware aren't hard to make either, and the production cost is probably not high even for solid quality. I'd imagine an "ok, decent enough" quality electric is probably easier to construct than an acoustic at the same level.
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Feb 20, 2024 18:11
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Yeah some guitars like Teles and PBasses are just a slab of wood with a pickup bolted on it. As long as the neck is decent, the difference between a $5000 custom shop Tele and a $200 Squier or Amazon cheapo is gonna be about 500 bucks worth of pickups and hardware.
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Feb 21, 2024 23:57
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Also, if you have a cheap electric with a dogshit setup there's more you can do to fix it
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Feb 22, 2024 08:14
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That's why I'm also so partial to Teles and P-basses. As long as the neck isn't warped, anyone with two thumbs and the patience to watch a couple YouTube videos can turn a poo poo guitar into something really excellent bit by bit.
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Feb 23, 2024 16:32
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The only reason I still have my first guitar, a Squier II Korean Strat, is because it has the best neck out of everything I own. It's been my weird experimentation platform and at this point the only thing that hasn't been changed is the bridge, which I'm still considering, and the frets, which are on the list. It's an intro guitar bought and mangled by a kid, but drat if doesn't play like a dream, better than a lot of pro-level instruments I've played in similar configurations.
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Feb 23, 2024 19:47
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I've been experimenting a little. Behold my shame! I'm a piper now.
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Feb 23, 2024 23:20
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TheKub posted:I've been experimenting a little. Behold my shame! I'm a piper now. Lmbo
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Feb 24, 2024 01:37
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rickiep00h posted:The only reason I still have my first guitar, a Squier II Korean Strat, is because it has the best neck out of everything I own. It's been my weird experimentation platform and at this point the only thing that hasn't been changed is the bridge, which I'm still considering, and the frets, which are on the list. Hell yeah I love my Korean Squire II. The only problem is that it's pushing 40 (like me) and could use a refret, which would cost many times what the guitar is worth.
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Feb 24, 2024 02:40
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TheKub posted:I've been experimenting a little. Behold my shame! I'm a piper now. Cool pipes! Don’t let the haters get you down.
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Feb 24, 2024 02:58
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TheKub posted:I've been experimenting a little. Behold my shame! I'm a piper now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsRjQDrDnY8
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Feb 24, 2024 07:36
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Those look super fun
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Feb 24, 2024 09:19
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I bought a tin whistle once for the sole purpose of playing the Hobbit song from LOTR.
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Feb 24, 2024 16:06
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Honestly picking up the tin whistle finally got the understanding of keys into my head. Having just the notes in the key on the instrument and a D whistle has these notes and the C whistle has those notes and now I get the formula. Now that it makes sense I am surprised at how long it took me to understand.
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Feb 24, 2024 18:16
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TheKub posted:I've been experimenting a little. Behold my shame! I'm a piper now. Congratulations Mr Picard, and good luck! I have a super hard time with the limitations of not having all the notes. I got my kid a xylophone in C major, and I just want a B flat or F sharp sometimes.
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Feb 24, 2024 19:10
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Something to aspire to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1JwSD7F4kY
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Feb 25, 2024 11:30
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   KGD Tele "relic" that popped up on Amazon Friday. $229.99, there was a $40 coupon and I had gift cards and cash back, so it cost me $59.84. Killer specs for the retail price - mahogany body - roasted maple neck with rosewood boards - 22 ball-end stainless frets - wheel truss adjustment at the heel - scalloped lower horn on the back for better higher fret access - 7.5 lbs This is mostly identical to some of the recent Firefly models and a Censtar model also on Amazon, but the weight seems to be a good 1-2 lbs less than I've seen reported on those. They also do a yellow/butterscotch and sunburst. What I don't like - the hardware and neck are not relic'd to match the body. - it's not available in purple like the Censtar - the headstock  Luckily it looks like there's enough wood there to cut a regular Tele shape
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Feb 27, 2024 01:51
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The headstock looks like a foot in a sock but with low arches
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Feb 27, 2024 04:31
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widefault posted:Now it might be a shock, but I bought another Hondo This was my first guitar, and I still have it 30 years later. I randomly found the video of the beastie boys using it on SNL a few years ago and was quite surprised and pleased. I read that his mom gave it to him as a gift and thats why he used it on TV. I didn't know he actually liked and used Hondo's regularly. I swapped the pickups though. Mine is kind of heavy as well.
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Feb 28, 2024 02:13
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widefault posted:
I've never seen a relic job look remotely that good for anywhere near that price. The closest bargain i've seen on a relic is the Fender road worn strats and teles they introduced back in the mid 00's, and those were like $700 back then with a pretty average looking relic job.
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Feb 28, 2024 02:16
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Man that’s nuts - I’m still wrapping my head around decent playable guitars being so affordable now but I agree I didnt expect to see that price when you mentioned it. Nice specs too. After an agonizing 5 days this arrived today (was much harder to wait until my daughter was asleep to get into this than it was with the guitar)  Over time my main plugins gradually dwindled to mostly using Repro 5 and sometimes Diva, and I’ve wanted an analog hardsynth for a while. Tax refund made it impossible to resist and holy poo poo I love it (except for the lack of a manual and spending most of the evening trying to figure out why it was freaking out when connected to Logic). The sound is just incredible since I’m used to using plugins. While not a Prophet 5, it sure does sound good to me and the patches I’ve made on Repro translate extremely close on this unit (with the limited time I had tonight; looking forward to more time tomorrow night). I need time to get used to it but I want to record something short and post it eventually. This might be a rabbit hole I can’t get back out of now that I’ve heard the difference, and maybe more importantly felt what’s it’s like to control all the parameters physically. I had Repro’s controls, or a lot of them at least, mapped to my midi controller but it feels so different not just twirling encoders without hard stops or physical resistance, or even just seeing the knob tell me where it is vs a slider in the controller. I know from Reddit lurking that people have polarizing opinions on Behringer and their ethics but I never could have afforded something like this if they didn’t make it.
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Feb 28, 2024 07:58
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rio posted:This might be a rabbit hole I can’t get back out of now that I’ve heard the difference, and maybe more importantly felt what’s it’s like to control all the parameters physically. It is, my condolences. quote:I know from Reddit lurking that people have polarizing opinions on Behringer and their ethics gently caress them.
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Feb 28, 2024 09:49
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MeatRocket8 posted:This was my first guitar, and I still have it 30 years later. I randomly found the video of the beastie boys using it on SNL a few years ago and was quite surprised and pleased. I read that his mom gave it to him as a gift and thats why he used it on TV. I didn't know he actually liked and used Hondo's regularly. Coincidentally...   $69, nice! Plus $69 shipping, not so nice, but that's about what is costs these days through Reverb. Also this painting for music room.  Remember, Neil Young and Bob Dylan play guitar and harmonica at the same time and are considered musical greats, but if you take the extra effort to strap some cymbals between your knees people are going to think your a nutcase. That is the face of a man that just found that out.
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Mar 2, 2024 01:01
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widefault posted:Also this painting for music room. Or is that the face of a man who knows you're thinking that and is anticipating seeing your face after he destroys you with his one man acoustic cover of Sleep's Dopesmoker.
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Mar 2, 2024 03:41
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  Like a week later and my new synth addiction (I can stop any time I want to) gave me a K2. I legit think I’m out of space on my side of the dining room table now though, and although I basically only just set up and made a 2 minute loop to test with I am super happy having two timbres to play live at the same time now because I think it will help my workflow. The MS20 sound is nice and different from prophet 600 sound as well. The photo features three things received in about three weeks lol. Also these cheap Amazon “laptop stands” really saved my rear end because I didn’t know initially how I would fit this stuff here in a way that was usable. There are four of them hidden in the photo which I guess are also new gear purchases over that time span. K2 will slow me down as well since I need to learn how to patch it. Only thing I know so far is how to patch it to let my guitar control it (which was really the original purpose for the cheap monoprice guitar - my archtop strings are way to heavy to bend and isn’t suited for synth leads). Looking at it I think I can figure some stuff out and I know there’s a lot of MS20 patching info online. In any case I am very happy. The K2 sounds so good.
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Mar 7, 2024 04:55
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rio posted:
When I got mine I was hella frustrated by how the envelope 2 works, Eg1 -> initial gain gives you an basic AD amp envelope, sounds a lot beefier. Guitar will always be glitchy but its pretty much the best synth/guitar combo I've used. It's objectively terrible but at the same time very "musical" when it works.
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Mar 7, 2024 05:58
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 I need to put more time into nail care and less time into "good deals" on goodwillindustries :-|
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Mar 14, 2024 19:47
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Stopped at the pawn shop today
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Mar 18, 2024 20:08
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Armacham posted:Stopped at the pawn shop today Good lord what a find. Congrats!
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Mar 18, 2024 20:47
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I’ve been searching pawn shops for that for a long time friend. Nice score.
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Mar 18, 2024 21:03
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kenny powerzzz posted:I’ve been searching pawn shops for that for a long time friend. Nice score. They have a bassman 100 with the piggy back as well, but that is way too big for my house
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Mar 18, 2024 21:05
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You should scratch off the "B"
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Mar 18, 2024 21:15
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Good Soldier Svejk posted:You should scratch off the "B" 
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Mar 18, 2024 21:17
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Mar 18, 2024 21:41
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Nice. My pawn shop trips haven't led to much lately.
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Mar 18, 2024 22:22
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 New (used) speakers! They're a lot louder than the creative pebbles or jbl Bluetooth speakers I've been using. Sound clean like my headphones too. Lucky find on Facebook for half the price of new. Felt like it should have been a dodgy deal, buying speakers out of the trunk of a car behind a 2 story business complex, except I met the seller in her (extremely professional) office, and paid by electronic means, with a paper trail, lol.
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Mar 20, 2024 01:39
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18 years after I posted this thread, it's still going. Unreal. Anyway, just picked this up a few days ago, thought it'd be fun to share. 2018 Explorer. Absolutely love the feel of this thing, it's my first Gibson and although I'm not sure I want any others, I do really like this one. Got it for a steal, too, only $1100. Case and everything. First impressions: it's actually really comfortable to play, even sitting down. Great sound on the bridge or neck pickups, and surprisingly versatile. I'm a huge Edge fan, so there's certainly that component to it, but I also just really like the guitar. 
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Mar 25, 2024 13:16
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Walter posted:18 years after I posted this thread, it's still going. Unreal. I went back to the first page, and I think this is the first time I've read the first page of an old thread and not seen a single banned or permabanned avatar! Wow, great job not being idiots, you music making goons! Eta extra exclamation points !!!!!!!!
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Mar 25, 2024 16:57
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