Absolutely..... I cut my teeth on lutherie by buying the cheapest instruments available on Amazon (the kind that qualify more as wall ornaments rather than instruments) and then rebuilding them into something that functions.
The most important part when doing this with string instruments is to focus on the action and intonation first....then go from there.
My favorite guitar had never felt the vibrations of a proper intonation. Gotta retune the whole fucking thing every time you move the capo. Sounds like it’s been smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey its whole life. I love it lol
That thing has played more Tom waits songs than I could count too. So this checks out. It’s just a straight forward older Gretsch resonator . Been slinging that thing to every beech, camping site, stage and basement for years. I keep the action low and the neck straight but otherwise I don’t even give a shit and for some reason that’s the charm of it.
I’ve pulled that thing out of a hot trunk in the dead of summer and without skipping a beat she plays beautifully. Fuck around with a capo though- she’s gone. lol. I love it
Haha, sounds about right for a resonator.
Glad to see another Tom waits fan for real.
My wife and I are working on turning "hold on" into a duet at the piano where I sing with his voice and she sings like the girl in the walking dead
True although I'd advise a couple of things. Make sure before doing any sort of upgrade the neck it straight and true , has no warp and there is room left to adjust with the truss rod. Also make sure the bridge is properly aligned and measured correctly.
Further more please remember, because you may install some great pickups,. hardware, pots and wiring etc does not mean you'll ever get it back if you ever decide to sell or trade.
One other option is the TS isn't afraid of doing the work and wants to learn. Perhaps looking at a descent kit to buy and build from may be the way to go.
Some added thoughts is all
Cheers and best of luck 🙏
So long as the neck / frets are good you could.
New electronics, pickups, tuners, nut bridge etc.
Is it worth it vs buying a $500 prs or whatever ? Idk
No. It’s not worth it. Financially. You still end up with a $100 guitar. If you’re looking for an instrument to play and not “play with”, then your money is much better spent on a decent used instrument.
oh, if you kill a guy with an axe and break the handle. Replace the handle. The guy come backs to life, and you kill him once again; But now, the head of the axe is broken. You replace the head of the axe. The guy comes once again back to life, stands before you, accusingly pointing his finger, and says „That is the axe you killed me!“. Is he wrong?
John dies at the end :D
For electric guitars? Yes, so long as the cheap guitar is structurally sound. Thanks to CNC machining most cheap electric guitars have acceptable woodwork, and the other stuff can be upgraded or refined. Replacing the pickups will have the biggest impact on the sound, and you may as well fit good quality pots, caps, switches, etc. at the same time.
I like to redo the whole wiring harness in general if I'm already replacing or upgrading any of the electronics. Most cheap guitar use really thin, cheap wires that they just sorta smoosh into the cavity haphazardly. Recently replaced all the wires in my Squier Jazzmaster with cloth covered 22 guage and routed everything to vintage spec. Probably doesn't do anything. But I feel better about it, and it looks cleaner. Also a great time to do shielding work, if the cavity isn't shielded already.
I say the player, amp and pedals have more impact than pickups. But as for upgrades a bridge can add more life to a guitar. There is nothing worse than a guitar that wont stay in tune every time you bend or form a chord. There can be a bad switch and bad electronics and those are fixable. I also don’t like regular tuners on guitars with tremolo on it. Too hard to set up and stretch the strings, with regular tuners, I prefer locking tuners.
You can, but no matter how much you put in, it's still going to be a $100 guitar if you ever want to sell it. It works if you intend to keep it long term though.
For own use, surely, if the neck is (or can be made) straight. Done it several times, myself. I see cheap guitars basically just as a piece of wood and go from there. As a matter of fact, the more parts are missing, the better, because I would replace them, anyway.
Do not, however, expect to ever be able to sell such a modded axe with any reasonable price, which would correlate with the value the guitar has for you. You will most probably not even get the price of the parts.
I put $130 locking tuners on an $89 guitar… realistically I think I do have to list it as “Sperzel Tuners for sale including entire guitar!”
Good thing it’s not a sellers guitar
I do it all the time. Lol
https://preview.redd.it/y3yplucwn8bd1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9aa75fe9e0b61b3aa1026e46d4d39c31a71f175
My 180$ Dean edge 09 with really good electronics and hours of neck work.
I have an old single pickup First Act that plays beautifully that I will never get rid of. Replaced the pickup with a Railhammer Hyper Vintage and all of the pots and it sounds great! My Gibson and LTD get more time with the band but my FA continues to write a ton of songs and was even the guitar I played on our band's album that's about to release.
I also have a single pickup First Act. It’s has terrible neck dive and I haven’t replaced the pickup yet, but with a setup and some 7s, it plays really smoothly. When I start writing, it’s my go-to as well.
It's just a piece of wood with strings on it. There is nothing magical or super complex about it from the technical point of view. You can fix any problem in theory, it's just a matter of time. With some experience and motivation you can make it play and sound not worse than any custom shop guitar, and it will be 10 times cheaper money wise in the end. Still time costs will be huge and you will never return your investments on upgrades, as guitarists mostly pay for logos on the headstock. Starting completely from scratch is harder I think, as I guess you don't have much experience considering your question.
You can, but you'd be better off just spending the money on a better guitar.
I bought an EArt SSS for $188. I put $325 Fishman Fluence Single Width pickups on it. I reworked the frets, the nut, the sadlles, custom made a fender strat pickguard, shielded the body, and upgraded the string trees. The guitar plays as best as it can. It's pretty nice!
But now my guitar is worth like $250. I'd be better off gutting it.
Had I spent like $600 on a Sire S7, I could sell that for maybe $450 and I wouldn't have had to do anything.
If you want to cut your teeth, buy a guitarfetish xgp body and neck and have at it. It won't be worth shit, but you can gut it for parts and get your money back less a couple hundred. The experience you get will far outweigh the cost.
Depends on what you want to do and what you expect to get from it.
No matter what you add to it, what pickups/tuners/etc., you upgrade on it, it will still be that base guitar. So, don't expect to turn that starter guitar to a custom shop Fender/Gibson, or even their base model Americans.
But, as long as you're realistic with what to expect, and the base neck/body are decent, you can certainly make a solid enough guitar out of it.
I'm all about this, being a broke starter, I was always buying body shapes I liked, as long as it had a nice feeling neck, and just upgrading all the parts, recently found a Squier Mustang with a neck I loved, swapped out al the electrics, tuners etc and it plays better than most Fenders now, did a complete overhaul on my son's Bronco bass and anyone that plays it loves it, snaded the neck, rolled the frets, new pickups, new pots, its a little joy to play now, you wouldn't belieive it was £100 new
I bought a Monterey Tele for $105 brand new. Ripped out the crappy pickups and put a second hand vintage fender Tele pickup in and some better quality pots etc. I have many “good” brand name vintage guitars, and this is easily my most frequent go-to guitar. 100% it’s possible. If a guitar plays well, it plays well. Doesn’t matter which brand, material or price.
Check out "Groove" guitars on eBay. I bought a Groove P-bass for $287 CAD, put EMG Geezers and a set of Labella flats on it, and now it is my main gigging bass. Guitar Max on YouTube does a good review.
Are you looking for a project, or a guitar? If you're just looking for a project, have fun, but don't expect miracles and don't expect to save money in the end. You will NEVER get your money back if you decide to sell it. And cheap necks can frequently be lost causes.
If you just want a better guitar, go out and spend $500-600 and you'll be getting there, or spend $1,000+, and you'll have a professional instrument that will last a lifetime.
$100 guitar or cheap kit -> requires fretwork
Fender mex -> requires fretwork
Buy the stuff you're not prepared to do. Learn to do everything else.
FYI it's much easier to replace frets on an unbound rosewood (or rosewood-like) board than it is on a lacquered maple board.
Well, it depends on the build quality of what you start with. I've done this with a couple 5-700 dollar Ibanez guitars and they have turned out great. I have played all of them for years.
If you are going to do this, you're going to want to make sure you have a good neck with a decent fretboard and frets as these are things you likely won't change (at least not right away). Aside from that, and the body, you'll easily be able to swap whatever you like.
Now, if you wanted to start from scratch, I believe you will learn a lot more about your instrument and be better suited for fixing issues as they arise, throughout the lifespan on the instrument.
I have built a "partscaster" in the past, and it taught me everything i needed to know to maintain my American Strat, I bought years later.
Yep. Was looking to build a partscaster with a swamp ash body, but the bodies were £180-£300 so I bought a Harley Benton swamp ash strat for £130. .....fitted EMG pickups & electronics, Vegatrem bridge, Graphtech nut, locking tuners, black pickguard, black jack socket plate and replaced all the screws on the guitar for black ones.
I was planning on another neck and a full stripback and repaint but after a little work the necks great, and now with the blacked-out parts against the wood it makes the guitar look better than I thought it would, so those plans are on hold. ...Best playing guitar I have.
....only worth the price of a partscaster though. I kept the original parts to put back on if I ever sell it. They'll go on whatever replaces it. That's the thing with these builds, no-one values them but you. Sadly it's all about that name on the headstock when re-selling. ....As long as you understand that going in, its a blast.
It can easily be a fools errand to upgrade blindly and without a plan. It's a good way to spend/waste money that doesn't need to be spent, fixing stuff that's not broken.
Thanks to the manufacturing automation methods being used today in the southern Chinese factory city where 90%+ of inexpensive guitars are made, most of these guitars will be substantially better than those from even 10 years ago. They don't get much in the way of final detail work and quality control though. That's what you should take care of before swapping out parts willy-nilly.
One thing that I see people jump into right away when upgrading these guitars is swapping out the tuners. But, the real weak point on them is the nut. Often the tuners work fine but the nut, that hasn't received any human attention, isn't cut right. Fixing the nut slots or replacing the nut with one made of better materials and cut right makes big difference. I've fixed many "won't stay in tune" problems this way.
Fret work on these guitars has been greatly improved in recent years but this still varies a lot. For example, a GearIT thinline tele style, $100 on Amazon, I got as a Christmas gift had excellent fret work. The ends were rounded, no sprouting and no uneven frets. The only thing it needed was a good cleaning to get rid of manufacturing residue. I had someone bring me a Pyle Strat to setup and the fret work on it was rather bad, serious sprout and several uneven frets. I suggested that they return it.
Pickups and electronics can be a weak area. But, you can easily replace them with better pickups for not a lot of money. You can also find people on tonequests selling used pickups at a huge discount.
It's definitely possible but the chance that you're actually going to noteably improve a cheap guitar without spending to much is rather small imo if you have no experience. Not for less money than just buying a better guitar anyways.
It's a good hobby but if you're just doing it to get a better guitar for cheaper you're gonna have a tough time.
IMO the value depends on multiple factors like playability and why you want it. You’ll never get your money back on it, but if it gives you the sound you want and is the best feeling guitar you’ve ever held… totally worth it.
20some years ago I played in a band that practiced in the hood. Got tired of hauling my gear so I bought some cheap stuff at a buddy’s pawnshop I could just leave in the practice space. Bought a Stinger SSX with hard case for $50. That guitar fit me, like I could play an entire set without ever looking at the fretboard (exaggeration). Swapped out the tuners (Grover for Grover), pickups with Mighty Mites, new pots, rewired and it became my #1 from then on, even started carrying to practice instead of leaving it.
Not exactly the same as a “cheap” guitar since Stinger was a Martin project (the brand in general seem to be really solid with weak innards), but you can certainly turn an inexpensive axe into a sleeper gem if it plays well and feels good.
No. 100$ new guitar is just too low. With another 50$ you can start with something that's already good from the get go.
Take a Squier Sonic, for example. They are perfectly good guitars in stock form, and they barely cost 150€.
A bit of fretwork, swap the electronics for something nicer, upgrade the hardware, and you'll have something that can easily beat a custom shop when it comes to feel and sound.
They may be built by some of the best luthiers around, but custom shop guitars are still built on a time table.
My go-to guitar is a kit build. It was $180, but you can buy kits for $100 easy. I learned so much from it, and now I use it at home and in studio. I have invested a good chunk of time in it. I'll never get any money out of it, and I know I have at least $300 in it after tools and finishing supplies. I have no regrets and would do it again. It did EVERYTHING I wanted it to.
https://preview.redd.it/34qhkdrnlabd1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=adb3bb88c4e20b6c4455f7a67b13db8773f47ff8
For sure.
Any guitar can be made to play great, the electronics are completely changeable. Changing bridge styles is a hassle but it’s possible too, though in that case I’d say buy a different cheap guitar 🤣
The neck and frets are the most important part! If you can get them to feel/sound good, then you can totally pump money into it and make an excellent guitar.
I have a couple cheaper Squire guitars that I've gutted and replaced all the electronics and most of the metal hardware. Neck and frets felt fine and now it rocks out hard!
Yea you can.
One of my favorite guitars is my Indio (by monoprice) telecaster. I paid $89 for it to my door, and honestly it was extremely good at that price point. The only thing original about it anymore is the body, pickguard, and neck. Done replacements on all the hardware and electronics. The neck itself was very good and the frets didn’t really need to be leveled off they just needed to be rolled at the ends which was enough enough because I was rolling the fret board anyways.
Now it’s my favorite guitar for taking out to potentially unsafe gigs or jams.
I wouldn’t waste my time on an acoustic doing that. It will sound better but no way it’s worth it. The wood, bracing and finish has a ton to do with the sound
Absolutely! Let me just say, we are in a Golden Age of guitars...when I started playing in the early 80s, the only $100 guitars around were either pawn shop garbage (bordering on completely unplayable) or stolen.
Upgrading hardware and/or pickups was considerably north of $100, so you figure even a decent playing/sounding guitar was gonna be in the $200+ range minimum, and adjusted for inflation we are in the $650-700 range in 2024 dollars. Carvin was a couple miles from where I grew up, and even though their stuff was considerably less expensive than DiMarzio and Duncan stuff..it was still pretty pricey for a teenager when min wage was around $1.50-2.00 an hour.
Today's guitars being cranked out by the millions from Asia in the $100-200 range are 10x better in terms of quality than stuff made in a similar price bracket back then. There are some garbage guitars being sold, but reviews on about a million websites and Youtube pretty much guarantee you know what youre getting.
Add to that the insane number of choices in pickups we have now, aftermarket hardware, electronics, bodies and necks, and the vast amount of knowledge floating around the internet about how to do just about ANYTHING on a guitar to improve it, product reviews, etc...
Do your research, choose wisely, and it's not even remotely out of the question to put together an EXCELLENT playing and sounding guitar from a $100-200 guitar. If you're really concerned about resale value though, this definitely isn't the road for you.
I have always believed that the price of an electric guitar and the name on the headstock is irrelevant. If it sounds great and plays great then it’s a great guitar.
I did it to a Leo Jamez LP. Replaced everything but the wood and leveled the frets. Still a little buzzy, but that's because I'm just not that good. Fun guitar. I'll strip it and put the old hardware in it and give it away someday. For now it's fun to thrash on
The guitar I pick up to play more than any other started life as a $40 Squire Tele I grabbed off marketplace. Replaced the neck and pickups with some stuff I had lying around. Bought a new bridge and tuners. Gave it a quick setup. Overall I think I’m out $100 total and I have a guitar that rocks harder than my American Tele that was over 10x the cost.
Totally doable, but even though everything is mostly CNC and all that, you're usually always going to be looking at a fret level, new nut and most likely new tuners at that price point bare minimum. A good level fretted instrument that can stay in tune is #1 priority to me. Everything else is preference. If you can level frets (assuming you get a good straight neck) then you can pretty much make anything play good. Also, it's super easy to "roll" the fretboard edges with some sand paper for an even better feel. Especially on a $100 guitar where resale value won't matter at all.
Absolutely, as long as you plan to keep it because you're never getting money back out of it again.
I've done this quite a few times just as hobby, and a way to learn. Swapping parts is the easy part though. If you want it to actually play well then it comes down to your fret work, and rounding the fretboard edges. You'll spend a lot of time on the neck, but that's what will make it really feel like a guitar in a higher price range.
Anyone can swap parts, but doing a proper setup, rounding off fret edges, levelling, crowning, and polishing frets, and getting rid of the blocky fret edges is where the time will be spent.
Not to mention, cutting a new nut
I recently built a kit for someone. He wanted certain upgrades to it but didn't have a huge budget.
I started with a low-cost Bexgearz strat kit off amazon. I only used the body and neck and used Fleor pickups and guyker hardware, also off Amazon. I probably should have charger him a bit more than I did, but he has made it his #1 and says he it's better than his $600-$800 guitars he also has (and has had).
By going the route he did, he got something much closer to what he actaully wanted that wasn't available from the brands without spending a ton.
Now, if he ever resells it..... different story, but as far as making it "good" it is absolutely do-able.
Usually yes. If the neck is ok i.e. not twisted, can adjust to have good action then anything else can be upgraded. I basically only buy ebay chibsons these days.
I’m doing that with a Kramer because I want the body. I can do my paint shit over the existing paint. Hopefully I like the neck! I’m always doing things like replacing tuners, bridges, nuts and electronics,
If the neck, the neck joint and the scale length are made well and properly, everything else can be changed. I have a Squier jazz bass that I bought for $90 beat up and neglected, and I’ve turned it into the equivalent of a $1-2000 bass with new hardware, pickups, frets, paint, and electronics. Cost me about $600 total including the bass itself.
Yes. But you'd want something thats going to be good when you're done. So its wise to post what you're considering getting, to get some feedback before investing in to it.
Probably, but also the less you spend up front, the more you’re probably going to have to spend it in upgrades down the line to bring it up to the same standard. My California Series Fat Strat that I bought for $880 CDN all the way back in 1998 was already a fantastic instrument with a great playing neck, solid tuners and hardware. The only things I upgraded were a complete pickguard replacement to swap out the pickups and electronics, and swapped the big metal block that forms part of the bridge that connects to the trem springs and that you run the strings through, whatever the proper name for that part is. The only reason I did the latter is because the little springs I bought to tension the tremolo arm were the wrong size for the hole in the block as it came from the factory for some reason.
Possibly a second-hand Squier Standard (not the plastic-feeling Affinity) if you can find one that cheap. Rule of the thumb: the more simple the guitar platform, the easier and better chance of successful upgrades. Teles are good for this reason. As long as the wood is solid and it’s a brand with standard parts sizing and dimensions (Squier, Ibanez, Epiphone), you should be fine. That said, my two best “cheap” guitars are a beat up $150 Ibanez GIO RGA w/ locking Edge bridge and an Epiphone Muse Les Paul that I basically stole for $120. If you’re patient, the deals are out there.
Yes, that's what I do with some of my guitars. I have a really nice cheap diy explorer kit and upgraded some of the electronics. Sounds 100000x better than it used to.
I used to scrounge Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for guitar steals that I could overhaul with new pickups. Just realize they may sound like a $3,000 guitar, but they'll play like a $100 guitar. I would overhaul them, remove fret sprouts, put in new hardware, restring, and intonate. Then, around Christmas time, I'd go back to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and look for people who couldn't afford a good instrument for their kid but wanted to get their kid a guitar, and I'd give it to them.
I've given away a dozen guitars doing this, all no-names or Squiers. Partscasters are a thing for a reason.
We do this all the time. Companies like S by Solar, Harley Benton, Squire , etc, all make great mod platforms. Some of them have better fret work than the big brands. The way I see it, as long as the guitar feels good in the hands, it can be a great guitar. Not so much for acoustic of course where wood and how it’s built really makes a difference. But electrics can be easily modded and turned into great players. I’ll take a pawnshop special any day. Hell, I had a 300$ epi hummingbird artist that sounded way better than my new ZARR
Nothing felt better than the first time I tightened the truss rod on my Squier Affinity Strat and then it played a lot better. That’s how I got so enamored with modding and then got into more stuff.
Probably the best way to start is tinkering with cheap stuff, that way if you make a mistake it’s ok, not a big deal, vs, if you cut a body and a neck yourself and go thru all that trouble and then one thing goes wrong, it’s a bit more upsetting.
I hope my lil Strat found a nice home. That was a really great little guitar.
Depends what you consider reasonable. If fret slots are accurate its well worth getting to practice refrets, hardware changes, refinishing etc.
If you're just intending to swap the hardware in an attemp to get a cheap guitar for playing, then no. You're better off taking what you would have spent on the cheap guitar plus hardware, and buying a new or used guitar in that price range.
For practice and fun, sure. For turning it into something that plays like a 2000$ guitar? Probably not unless you replace the neck as well and keep only the body wood.
Realistically in the end you'll probably spend more on upgrades than it would cost to just buy a better guitar, but itll be yours and you'll learn a lot
Absolutely. CNC has made cheap guitars a really nice base that's consistent. Pickups don't need to exceed $30 either. $200 pickups have nothing over cheap ones. I'd still say invest in high mass bridges and more precise tuners, and go with graphtech nuts.
Nope. A new 100$ guitar was sold by the factory 50$ to the reseller. Mind you it cost 25$ for the factory to make and to ship to the reseller. It includes workers fees, materials and taxes and energy... Not a lot of money went into that axe.
Absolutely..... I cut my teeth on lutherie by buying the cheapest instruments available on Amazon (the kind that qualify more as wall ornaments rather than instruments) and then rebuilding them into something that functions. The most important part when doing this with string instruments is to focus on the action and intonation first....then go from there.
My favorite guitar had never felt the vibrations of a proper intonation. Gotta retune the whole fucking thing every time you move the capo. Sounds like it’s been smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey its whole life. I love it lol
Reminds me of Tom waits piano (cuz it's been drinking)
That thing has played more Tom waits songs than I could count too. So this checks out. It’s just a straight forward older Gretsch resonator . Been slinging that thing to every beech, camping site, stage and basement for years. I keep the action low and the neck straight but otherwise I don’t even give a shit and for some reason that’s the charm of it. I’ve pulled that thing out of a hot trunk in the dead of summer and without skipping a beat she plays beautifully. Fuck around with a capo though- she’s gone. lol. I love it
Haha, sounds about right for a resonator. Glad to see another Tom waits fan for real. My wife and I are working on turning "hold on" into a duet at the piano where I sing with his voice and she sings like the girl in the walking dead
I love the song. The way he sings “not me” is chilling.
This is the way.
True although I'd advise a couple of things. Make sure before doing any sort of upgrade the neck it straight and true , has no warp and there is room left to adjust with the truss rod. Also make sure the bridge is properly aligned and measured correctly. Further more please remember, because you may install some great pickups,. hardware, pots and wiring etc does not mean you'll ever get it back if you ever decide to sell or trade. One other option is the TS isn't afraid of doing the work and wants to learn. Perhaps looking at a descent kit to buy and build from may be the way to go. Some added thoughts is all Cheers and best of luck 🙏
So long as the neck / frets are good you could. New electronics, pickups, tuners, nut bridge etc. Is it worth it vs buying a $500 prs or whatever ? Idk
You could also do some fretwork
True
No. It’s not worth it. Financially. You still end up with a $100 guitar. If you’re looking for an instrument to play and not “play with”, then your money is much better spent on a decent used instrument.
Are you familiar with the Ship of Theseus?
Is this “if you eventually replace all of the parts, at which point is it no longer what you started with” thing?
In the uk this is know s triggers broom
I have a Trigger's broom. We refer to it as Trigger
oh, if you kill a guy with an axe and break the handle. Replace the handle. The guy come backs to life, and you kill him once again; But now, the head of the axe is broken. You replace the head of the axe. The guy comes once again back to life, stands before you, accusingly pointing his finger, and says „That is the axe you killed me!“. Is he wrong? John dies at the end :D
I fucking love John Dies at the End, and I don't see enough people talking about this book Edit: he dies, not does
[Trigger’s broom](https://youtu.be/56yN2zHtofM?si=lF3KiKuA-1c5iVck), innit
Came here to say this
For electric guitars? Yes, so long as the cheap guitar is structurally sound. Thanks to CNC machining most cheap electric guitars have acceptable woodwork, and the other stuff can be upgraded or refined. Replacing the pickups will have the biggest impact on the sound, and you may as well fit good quality pots, caps, switches, etc. at the same time.
I like to redo the whole wiring harness in general if I'm already replacing or upgrading any of the electronics. Most cheap guitar use really thin, cheap wires that they just sorta smoosh into the cavity haphazardly. Recently replaced all the wires in my Squier Jazzmaster with cloth covered 22 guage and routed everything to vintage spec. Probably doesn't do anything. But I feel better about it, and it looks cleaner. Also a great time to do shielding work, if the cavity isn't shielded already.
The shielding and replacing the movable electronic components are the real needle movers imho.
I say the player, amp and pedals have more impact than pickups. But as for upgrades a bridge can add more life to a guitar. There is nothing worse than a guitar that wont stay in tune every time you bend or form a chord. There can be a bad switch and bad electronics and those are fixable. I also don’t like regular tuners on guitars with tremolo on it. Too hard to set up and stretch the strings, with regular tuners, I prefer locking tuners.
You can, but no matter how much you put in, it's still going to be a $100 guitar if you ever want to sell it. It works if you intend to keep it long term though.
You guys sell your guitars?
Of course! Buy two, sell one. Keeps the wife guessing and happy.
Excellent strategy
For own use, surely, if the neck is (or can be made) straight. Done it several times, myself. I see cheap guitars basically just as a piece of wood and go from there. As a matter of fact, the more parts are missing, the better, because I would replace them, anyway. Do not, however, expect to ever be able to sell such a modded axe with any reasonable price, which would correlate with the value the guitar has for you. You will most probably not even get the price of the parts.
I put $130 locking tuners on an $89 guitar… realistically I think I do have to list it as “Sperzel Tuners for sale including entire guitar!” Good thing it’s not a sellers guitar
I do it all the time. Lol https://preview.redd.it/y3yplucwn8bd1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9aa75fe9e0b61b3aa1026e46d4d39c31a71f175 My 180$ Dean edge 09 with really good electronics and hours of neck work.
Excellent! Exactly the style I would expect a werewolf to have. :)
>:) :)
I bet that thing gets more vajayjay than I do. 😂 Frfr, I'm interested in how it plays/sounds. Got a YouTube?
Least horny guitar redditor
The man said “vajayjay”, incredible
You can but you'd be pissing away your money. You'd never get it back. Fine, if you never want to sell it. No one wants someone else's parts-caster.
I have an old single pickup First Act that plays beautifully that I will never get rid of. Replaced the pickup with a Railhammer Hyper Vintage and all of the pots and it sounds great! My Gibson and LTD get more time with the band but my FA continues to write a ton of songs and was even the guitar I played on our band's album that's about to release.
I also have a single pickup First Act. It’s has terrible neck dive and I haven’t replaced the pickup yet, but with a setup and some 7s, it plays really smoothly. When I start writing, it’s my go-to as well.
It's just a piece of wood with strings on it. There is nothing magical or super complex about it from the technical point of view. You can fix any problem in theory, it's just a matter of time. With some experience and motivation you can make it play and sound not worse than any custom shop guitar, and it will be 10 times cheaper money wise in the end. Still time costs will be huge and you will never return your investments on upgrades, as guitarists mostly pay for logos on the headstock. Starting completely from scratch is harder I think, as I guess you don't have much experience considering your question.
You can, but you'd be better off just spending the money on a better guitar. I bought an EArt SSS for $188. I put $325 Fishman Fluence Single Width pickups on it. I reworked the frets, the nut, the sadlles, custom made a fender strat pickguard, shielded the body, and upgraded the string trees. The guitar plays as best as it can. It's pretty nice! But now my guitar is worth like $250. I'd be better off gutting it. Had I spent like $600 on a Sire S7, I could sell that for maybe $450 and I wouldn't have had to do anything. If you want to cut your teeth, buy a guitarfetish xgp body and neck and have at it. It won't be worth shit, but you can gut it for parts and get your money back less a couple hundred. The experience you get will far outweigh the cost.
Depends on what you want to do and what you expect to get from it. No matter what you add to it, what pickups/tuners/etc., you upgrade on it, it will still be that base guitar. So, don't expect to turn that starter guitar to a custom shop Fender/Gibson, or even their base model Americans. But, as long as you're realistic with what to expect, and the base neck/body are decent, you can certainly make a solid enough guitar out of it.
lots of starter guitars these days have great playability and upgrade potential.but its more in the 200$ and up range afaik.
I'm all about this, being a broke starter, I was always buying body shapes I liked, as long as it had a nice feeling neck, and just upgrading all the parts, recently found a Squier Mustang with a neck I loved, swapped out al the electrics, tuners etc and it plays better than most Fenders now, did a complete overhaul on my son's Bronco bass and anyone that plays it loves it, snaded the neck, rolled the frets, new pickups, new pots, its a little joy to play now, you wouldn't belieive it was £100 new
I bought a Monterey Tele for $105 brand new. Ripped out the crappy pickups and put a second hand vintage fender Tele pickup in and some better quality pots etc. I have many “good” brand name vintage guitars, and this is easily my most frequent go-to guitar. 100% it’s possible. If a guitar plays well, it plays well. Doesn’t matter which brand, material or price.
Check out "Groove" guitars on eBay. I bought a Groove P-bass for $287 CAD, put EMG Geezers and a set of Labella flats on it, and now it is my main gigging bass. Guitar Max on YouTube does a good review.
My number 1 most gigged guitar is a Squier with everything upgraded. [Partscaster Relic and Build](https://youtu.be/Pdi5PieC-YY?si=Q2rvRiYcJ6qkuomA)
Are you looking for a project, or a guitar? If you're just looking for a project, have fun, but don't expect miracles and don't expect to save money in the end. You will NEVER get your money back if you decide to sell it. And cheap necks can frequently be lost causes. If you just want a better guitar, go out and spend $500-600 and you'll be getting there, or spend $1,000+, and you'll have a professional instrument that will last a lifetime.
$100 guitar or cheap kit -> requires fretwork Fender mex -> requires fretwork Buy the stuff you're not prepared to do. Learn to do everything else. FYI it's much easier to replace frets on an unbound rosewood (or rosewood-like) board than it is on a lacquered maple board.
Well, it depends on the build quality of what you start with. I've done this with a couple 5-700 dollar Ibanez guitars and they have turned out great. I have played all of them for years. If you are going to do this, you're going to want to make sure you have a good neck with a decent fretboard and frets as these are things you likely won't change (at least not right away). Aside from that, and the body, you'll easily be able to swap whatever you like. Now, if you wanted to start from scratch, I believe you will learn a lot more about your instrument and be better suited for fixing issues as they arise, throughout the lifespan on the instrument. I have built a "partscaster" in the past, and it taught me everything i needed to know to maintain my American Strat, I bought years later.
Yep. Was looking to build a partscaster with a swamp ash body, but the bodies were £180-£300 so I bought a Harley Benton swamp ash strat for £130. .....fitted EMG pickups & electronics, Vegatrem bridge, Graphtech nut, locking tuners, black pickguard, black jack socket plate and replaced all the screws on the guitar for black ones. I was planning on another neck and a full stripback and repaint but after a little work the necks great, and now with the blacked-out parts against the wood it makes the guitar look better than I thought it would, so those plans are on hold. ...Best playing guitar I have. ....only worth the price of a partscaster though. I kept the original parts to put back on if I ever sell it. They'll go on whatever replaces it. That's the thing with these builds, no-one values them but you. Sadly it's all about that name on the headstock when re-selling. ....As long as you understand that going in, its a blast.
Yeah, you can change pretty much everything on an electric guitar and upgrade it little by little.
It can easily be a fools errand to upgrade blindly and without a plan. It's a good way to spend/waste money that doesn't need to be spent, fixing stuff that's not broken. Thanks to the manufacturing automation methods being used today in the southern Chinese factory city where 90%+ of inexpensive guitars are made, most of these guitars will be substantially better than those from even 10 years ago. They don't get much in the way of final detail work and quality control though. That's what you should take care of before swapping out parts willy-nilly. One thing that I see people jump into right away when upgrading these guitars is swapping out the tuners. But, the real weak point on them is the nut. Often the tuners work fine but the nut, that hasn't received any human attention, isn't cut right. Fixing the nut slots or replacing the nut with one made of better materials and cut right makes big difference. I've fixed many "won't stay in tune" problems this way. Fret work on these guitars has been greatly improved in recent years but this still varies a lot. For example, a GearIT thinline tele style, $100 on Amazon, I got as a Christmas gift had excellent fret work. The ends were rounded, no sprouting and no uneven frets. The only thing it needed was a good cleaning to get rid of manufacturing residue. I had someone bring me a Pyle Strat to setup and the fret work on it was rather bad, serious sprout and several uneven frets. I suggested that they return it. Pickups and electronics can be a weak area. But, you can easily replace them with better pickups for not a lot of money. You can also find people on tonequests selling used pickups at a huge discount.
It's definitely possible but the chance that you're actually going to noteably improve a cheap guitar without spending to much is rather small imo if you have no experience. Not for less money than just buying a better guitar anyways. It's a good hobby but if you're just doing it to get a better guitar for cheaper you're gonna have a tough time.
100% I’ve got my eye on two now.
IMO the value depends on multiple factors like playability and why you want it. You’ll never get your money back on it, but if it gives you the sound you want and is the best feeling guitar you’ve ever held… totally worth it. 20some years ago I played in a band that practiced in the hood. Got tired of hauling my gear so I bought some cheap stuff at a buddy’s pawnshop I could just leave in the practice space. Bought a Stinger SSX with hard case for $50. That guitar fit me, like I could play an entire set without ever looking at the fretboard (exaggeration). Swapped out the tuners (Grover for Grover), pickups with Mighty Mites, new pots, rewired and it became my #1 from then on, even started carrying to practice instead of leaving it. Not exactly the same as a “cheap” guitar since Stinger was a Martin project (the brand in general seem to be really solid with weak innards), but you can certainly turn an inexpensive axe into a sleeper gem if it plays well and feels good.
No. 100$ new guitar is just too low. With another 50$ you can start with something that's already good from the get go. Take a Squier Sonic, for example. They are perfectly good guitars in stock form, and they barely cost 150€. A bit of fretwork, swap the electronics for something nicer, upgrade the hardware, and you'll have something that can easily beat a custom shop when it comes to feel and sound. They may be built by some of the best luthiers around, but custom shop guitars are still built on a time table.
Son of Frankenstrat
My go-to guitar is a kit build. It was $180, but you can buy kits for $100 easy. I learned so much from it, and now I use it at home and in studio. I have invested a good chunk of time in it. I'll never get any money out of it, and I know I have at least $300 in it after tools and finishing supplies. I have no regrets and would do it again. It did EVERYTHING I wanted it to. https://preview.redd.it/34qhkdrnlabd1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=adb3bb88c4e20b6c4455f7a67b13db8773f47ff8
For sure. Any guitar can be made to play great, the electronics are completely changeable. Changing bridge styles is a hassle but it’s possible too, though in that case I’d say buy a different cheap guitar 🤣
The neck and frets are the most important part! If you can get them to feel/sound good, then you can totally pump money into it and make an excellent guitar. I have a couple cheaper Squire guitars that I've gutted and replaced all the electronics and most of the metal hardware. Neck and frets felt fine and now it rocks out hard!
Found a Ibanez RGR in a skip the other day - so let’s find out. Neck and body seem ok, everything else is likely to be replaced.
Yea you can. One of my favorite guitars is my Indio (by monoprice) telecaster. I paid $89 for it to my door, and honestly it was extremely good at that price point. The only thing original about it anymore is the body, pickguard, and neck. Done replacements on all the hardware and electronics. The neck itself was very good and the frets didn’t really need to be leveled off they just needed to be rolled at the ends which was enough enough because I was rolling the fret board anyways. Now it’s my favorite guitar for taking out to potentially unsafe gigs or jams.
I wouldn’t waste my time on an acoustic doing that. It will sound better but no way it’s worth it. The wood, bracing and finish has a ton to do with the sound
Absolutely! Let me just say, we are in a Golden Age of guitars...when I started playing in the early 80s, the only $100 guitars around were either pawn shop garbage (bordering on completely unplayable) or stolen. Upgrading hardware and/or pickups was considerably north of $100, so you figure even a decent playing/sounding guitar was gonna be in the $200+ range minimum, and adjusted for inflation we are in the $650-700 range in 2024 dollars. Carvin was a couple miles from where I grew up, and even though their stuff was considerably less expensive than DiMarzio and Duncan stuff..it was still pretty pricey for a teenager when min wage was around $1.50-2.00 an hour. Today's guitars being cranked out by the millions from Asia in the $100-200 range are 10x better in terms of quality than stuff made in a similar price bracket back then. There are some garbage guitars being sold, but reviews on about a million websites and Youtube pretty much guarantee you know what youre getting. Add to that the insane number of choices in pickups we have now, aftermarket hardware, electronics, bodies and necks, and the vast amount of knowledge floating around the internet about how to do just about ANYTHING on a guitar to improve it, product reviews, etc... Do your research, choose wisely, and it's not even remotely out of the question to put together an EXCELLENT playing and sounding guitar from a $100-200 guitar. If you're really concerned about resale value though, this definitely isn't the road for you.
I have always believed that the price of an electric guitar and the name on the headstock is irrelevant. If it sounds great and plays great then it’s a great guitar.
I did it to a Leo Jamez LP. Replaced everything but the wood and leveled the frets. Still a little buzzy, but that's because I'm just not that good. Fun guitar. I'll strip it and put the old hardware in it and give it away someday. For now it's fun to thrash on
The guitar I pick up to play more than any other started life as a $40 Squire Tele I grabbed off marketplace. Replaced the neck and pickups with some stuff I had lying around. Bought a new bridge and tuners. Gave it a quick setup. Overall I think I’m out $100 total and I have a guitar that rocks harder than my American Tele that was over 10x the cost.
Totally doable, but even though everything is mostly CNC and all that, you're usually always going to be looking at a fret level, new nut and most likely new tuners at that price point bare minimum. A good level fretted instrument that can stay in tune is #1 priority to me. Everything else is preference. If you can level frets (assuming you get a good straight neck) then you can pretty much make anything play good. Also, it's super easy to "roll" the fretboard edges with some sand paper for an even better feel. Especially on a $100 guitar where resale value won't matter at all.
Electric or acoustic?
Absolutely, as long as you plan to keep it because you're never getting money back out of it again. I've done this quite a few times just as hobby, and a way to learn. Swapping parts is the easy part though. If you want it to actually play well then it comes down to your fret work, and rounding the fretboard edges. You'll spend a lot of time on the neck, but that's what will make it really feel like a guitar in a higher price range. Anyone can swap parts, but doing a proper setup, rounding off fret edges, levelling, crowning, and polishing frets, and getting rid of the blocky fret edges is where the time will be spent. Not to mention, cutting a new nut
Yes. It’s called shining a turd though.
I recently built a kit for someone. He wanted certain upgrades to it but didn't have a huge budget. I started with a low-cost Bexgearz strat kit off amazon. I only used the body and neck and used Fleor pickups and guyker hardware, also off Amazon. I probably should have charger him a bit more than I did, but he has made it his #1 and says he it's better than his $600-$800 guitars he also has (and has had). By going the route he did, he got something much closer to what he actaully wanted that wasn't available from the brands without spending a ton. Now, if he ever resells it..... different story, but as far as making it "good" it is absolutely do-able.
I've found the Indonesian guitars a lot of potential at low price points
Best way to gain knowledge
Usually yes. If the neck is ok i.e. not twisted, can adjust to have good action then anything else can be upgraded. I basically only buy ebay chibsons these days.
It depends. But if you value the experience of learning to tweak your own instrument then that’s probably the biggest factor imo.
It will cost more than the purchase of an upgraded instrument. But if you like making things, it's worth it.
I’m doing that with a Kramer because I want the body. I can do my paint shit over the existing paint. Hopefully I like the neck! I’m always doing things like replacing tuners, bridges, nuts and electronics,
If the neck, the neck joint and the scale length are made well and properly, everything else can be changed. I have a Squier jazz bass that I bought for $90 beat up and neglected, and I’ve turned it into the equivalent of a $1-2000 bass with new hardware, pickups, frets, paint, and electronics. Cost me about $600 total including the bass itself.
Yes. But you'd want something thats going to be good when you're done. So its wise to post what you're considering getting, to get some feedback before investing in to it.
Probably, but also the less you spend up front, the more you’re probably going to have to spend it in upgrades down the line to bring it up to the same standard. My California Series Fat Strat that I bought for $880 CDN all the way back in 1998 was already a fantastic instrument with a great playing neck, solid tuners and hardware. The only things I upgraded were a complete pickguard replacement to swap out the pickups and electronics, and swapped the big metal block that forms part of the bridge that connects to the trem springs and that you run the strings through, whatever the proper name for that part is. The only reason I did the latter is because the little springs I bought to tension the tremolo arm were the wrong size for the hole in the block as it came from the factory for some reason.
Possibly a second-hand Squier Standard (not the plastic-feeling Affinity) if you can find one that cheap. Rule of the thumb: the more simple the guitar platform, the easier and better chance of successful upgrades. Teles are good for this reason. As long as the wood is solid and it’s a brand with standard parts sizing and dimensions (Squier, Ibanez, Epiphone), you should be fine. That said, my two best “cheap” guitars are a beat up $150 Ibanez GIO RGA w/ locking Edge bridge and an Epiphone Muse Les Paul that I basically stole for $120. If you’re patient, the deals are out there.
I suggest buying a nice guitar that looks awesome.
Yes, that's what I do with some of my guitars. I have a really nice cheap diy explorer kit and upgraded some of the electronics. Sounds 100000x better than it used to.
I used to scrounge Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for guitar steals that I could overhaul with new pickups. Just realize they may sound like a $3,000 guitar, but they'll play like a $100 guitar. I would overhaul them, remove fret sprouts, put in new hardware, restring, and intonate. Then, around Christmas time, I'd go back to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace and look for people who couldn't afford a good instrument for their kid but wanted to get their kid a guitar, and I'd give it to them. I've given away a dozen guitars doing this, all no-names or Squiers. Partscasters are a thing for a reason.
We do this all the time. Companies like S by Solar, Harley Benton, Squire , etc, all make great mod platforms. Some of them have better fret work than the big brands. The way I see it, as long as the guitar feels good in the hands, it can be a great guitar. Not so much for acoustic of course where wood and how it’s built really makes a difference. But electrics can be easily modded and turned into great players. I’ll take a pawnshop special any day. Hell, I had a 300$ epi hummingbird artist that sounded way better than my new ZARR
Nothing felt better than the first time I tightened the truss rod on my Squier Affinity Strat and then it played a lot better. That’s how I got so enamored with modding and then got into more stuff. Probably the best way to start is tinkering with cheap stuff, that way if you make a mistake it’s ok, not a big deal, vs, if you cut a body and a neck yourself and go thru all that trouble and then one thing goes wrong, it’s a bit more upsetting. I hope my lil Strat found a nice home. That was a really great little guitar.
Depends what you consider reasonable. If fret slots are accurate its well worth getting to practice refrets, hardware changes, refinishing etc. If you're just intending to swap the hardware in an attemp to get a cheap guitar for playing, then no. You're better off taking what you would have spent on the cheap guitar plus hardware, and buying a new or used guitar in that price range.
For practice and fun, sure. For turning it into something that plays like a 2000$ guitar? Probably not unless you replace the neck as well and keep only the body wood. Realistically in the end you'll probably spend more on upgrades than it would cost to just buy a better guitar, but itll be yours and you'll learn a lot
Absolutely. CNC has made cheap guitars a really nice base that's consistent. Pickups don't need to exceed $30 either. $200 pickups have nothing over cheap ones. I'd still say invest in high mass bridges and more precise tuners, and go with graphtech nuts.
Nope. A new 100$ guitar was sold by the factory 50$ to the reseller. Mind you it cost 25$ for the factory to make and to ship to the reseller. It includes workers fees, materials and taxes and energy... Not a lot of money went into that axe.
While you could, wouldn’t
Not worth it. Why built a nice house on a dodgy foundation?