Whenever I review an affordable guitar, I get in the comments section about how the guitar is "not real wood". I'm tired of this cheap guitar myth and today I'm going to disprove this. Let's sacrifice two affordable, but unusable guitars and see what they're really made of. Particle board? MDF? Plywood? What's the truth?
Get your own saw from Harbor Freight: www.harborfreight.com/power-t...
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Rubric: -5 points for Danzig references. -5 points for not reading the description. -5 points for not watching far enough into the video to answer your own question. -5 points for misquoting me in your comment. 20 points possible. Everyone starts with an A!
People just can't stand the fact that we can have great guitars for really low prices.
As Max says. We are in the golden age of guitar
@@lioninthesun8833 indeed.
It’s usually the elitist in the hobby. Just like in the watch community, I’ve learned in the community, having a great value for money item in the market is just damning to an elitist. Something that shouldn’t exist, couldn’t exist but it does and “average people” can afford it. Boils their blood right quick. I’ve run into Gibson snobs that literally laughed at my Epiphone Black Beauty for being a Chinese “fake”. It’s funny because Gibson authorized their creation and it was also built in Korea 😂 but even if it was Chinese, modern Epiphones are made in China now and you can get an ebony board, Gibson CTS500 pots, real 7ply binding and real MOP in the headstock inlays! Can’t beat it. But again to an elitist, it’s a cheap hack.
The people who make those "cheap guitar" comments probably work for the expensive guitar makers. 🤔
People who spend massive amounts of money want to believe they have acquired a vastly superior instrument compared to the guy who bought a budget guitar, despite both being fully capable of making great music. It's a strange obsession with a false sense of status. People should just get the least expensive guitar that does the job and go make some music. The quality of your music matters far more than the name on the headstock. At minimum, if the body and neck are constructed well and the frets are done right, everything else can be easily upgraded for cheaper than a big name guitar. If you put good hardware and electronics in it, it can be better than a Shitson or a Bendover for a fraction of the price. If you buy a boutique guitar, you're paying for the labor of a custom build, which is fair. The mass produced guitars, such as Fender and Gibson, have no right to cost thousands of dollars. They're charging for the name. I give zero fucks about names. If it feels good and sounds good, it's good. It doesn't matter if it says Glarry on it.
Cheap doesn’t always mean poor quality…expensive doesn’t always mean top notch
Yeah. And I wish this 24 minute video went a little more in depth exploring this notion, as the title kind of eludes to. But sadly no. We spent 24 minutes exploring something that this guy could have thoroughly covered in maybe 3 minutes. “Guitar not made of fake wood. Guitar made of real wood”. The title was a little click-baity.
My fender squires sound and play better than my Les Paul ever did. I still have my squires...My les Pail got sold.
I got my guitar, amp, and picks all for only $115, and it was way better than I expected it to be
lawsuit Ibanez, Greco era "copys" guitars will eat most (if not all) recent Gibson custom shop guitars on the market.
@@chrissturley823Did we watch the same video? Where did the extra 8 minutes come from lol
My first electric guitar was a plywood SG copy; Japanese-made, single coils in humbucker housing and all. It was with m for about 5 years, during which time my playing improved incredibly, so I'll always be grateful to have owned it, for all its sins. The best guitar is the one in your hands.
that was because it was japanese made. Indonesians and chinese are not japanese
I would argue: "the best guitar is the one you like" instead. My first guitar was atrocious. It was literally injuring me to play, but I didn't know any better, I thought that's how it used to be. Nowadays, I have many guitars, some of them being fully custom USA made instruments and yet, I find myself gravitating towards some of my least expensive instruments still. I will always say this to newer players looking for a new guitar: "choose one that inspire you and feels good TO YOU"
Say that last line louder for those in the back. 🎉
@@q-perspective8989 time to get off the internet, grandpa
@@pilotamurorei I have seen plywood instruments from all countries including USA and double basses.
This would have been a fantastic opportunity to show us the power of flex seal.
That's a lot of damage!
Lol or JB weld
@@kickfighting1015 Didn't Paul Harvey used to do adverts for JB Weld?
@@justaskin8523 not sure
Now let us take a moment of silence in memory of the two guitars that were sacrificed in the making of this video. May they rest in pieces.
we are gluing and screwing that sh** back together
Doh!
NAY! MAY THEY ROCK IN PEACE! :)
Very eloquently expressed, sir. Well done.
I would love to have both of them.....remove some more wood...fill in gaps with tinted resin
I bought a $69 Kramer that is all plywood, modified it gutted it and installed Fender Fat 50s pups and fronted a surf band for over ten years. I still have it and I still love it.
The KS-400 in Sunburst? I’ve got one myself, great guitar.
Plywood works just fine!
Yep, I have a ‘90 Aerostar that I rebuilt and love.
Plywood isn't even a cheap material, it's a construction material of reall wood veneers sandwiched together. Ppl also forget semi-acoustic guitars costing thousands of dollars have the main body (not the place where the pickups are mounted) made from plywood, although it will be called laminated wood of course even though it is the same thing.
I have an ‘86 Kramer 100ST that’s “composite” and it sounds better than many high end modern guitars. It just has this thing about it. And the neck is exceptional.
I see so many cheap guitars that just need half an hour of setup and they're basically a model worth $500 more.
Assuming the hardware isn't poor quality, yes. More often than not, the tuning pegs are terrible and have to be replaced. Everything else you can get away with, even pickups.
Funny thing is, sometimes even expensive guitars need a set-up
There's a further consideration: the "so what?" factor. My brother is a retired architect, so I hear about new materials or new uses of traditional materials pretty regularly, and am often surprised at how what used to be considered impossible is now commonplace: softwoods on soil, fibreboard bathroom floors, compressed pine in place of hardwood for structural used... the list is almost endless. The bottom line with a solid body electric guitar is how it plays through an amplifier, not its resonant qualities. The issue with materials is how well they stand up to the rigours of tension, transport and trauma. People are building guitars from carbon fibre, fibreglas, aluminium and ofher composites, If a non-traditional material or a non traditional construction method meets the criteria for effective playing over the long term, so what? I like the look and feel of wood, but the only time I really think of materials is if I damage a guitar, something I have fortunately only done to replaceable plastic or metal parts.
silverstreettalks343: I just went into detail in a comment similar to yours...such that what matters with electric guitars is the electronics, setup, playability & cosmetic appearance...and the core of the thing "be damned". And, in general, the only exception, in regard to all guitars, is with the top of acoustics (& probably any acoustic stringed instrument). I am pleased that most of the commenters here agree with us, with comments of, basically: (Sound quality, playability & durability is all that matters...). Frankly, just to prove a point, it was not worth it to destroy a couple of guitars that, at worst, could have been properly set up and donated to those who could not afford the instruments.
I worry more about fret wire materials and picks affecting tone more than the body wood.
@@Nobody-11Byeah i think even just changing your strings would affect the tone more than the wood tbh lol
Frets might matter more but wood matters. If you have ever owned multiples of the same guutar type like a strat you would see that wood and how it matches adds to the quality of the tone. And I dont need to plug in a strat to buy I know when a strat has good resonance and the neck and body work together. If you just try a bunch of the same model at a shop you can feel this. But thats my expierence.
@@Airhead348 Sorry but standard pickups convert strings vibrating in a magnetic field to electricity. They don't respond to sound from the guitar body or the air. You are attributing tonal qualities to the resonance of wood, that derive from entirely different things, even with multiple models of the same guitar: Strings, intonation & setup, bridge & nut composition. Plus, electronic components (resistors, capacitors & "pots") have a tolerance compared to their nominal rating...typically 5-10%...so supposedly identical components in two different guitars will rarely actually be identical. Component manufacturers can't guarantee better than those tolerances for items that rarely cost more than $1.00 And NO-ONE pays the enormous price for precision rated components that are available for critical applications To prove this assertion wrong, you would have to do more than compare examples of the same supposedly identical guitar model: You would have to swap guitar bodies of different materials, while keeping EVERYTHING else identical, from neck to electronics to setup. Tonewoods matter with acoustic instruments, but not with solid body guitars. There are even guitars that, effectively, have no body....little more than a long neck with a bridge at one end, & tuning pegs at the other end, and they sound great. For that matter, I've seen a solid concrete guitar that also sounded good.
As a middle aged guitar player, I gotta admit, I'm actually jealous of the guitars you can buy today for less than $500. Back in the 70's and 80's, $300 would get you a unplayable pile of lumber. As far a new, cheap guitars go. You younger players, this is the golden age for guitars. Between KZhead, Instagram and the equipment you can buy, you've got it made. I think back to learning songs from a album or cassette. Everything was by ear. But, there was a benefit to that. I learned to hear keys without playing. Or at least close. Which became really helpful while I was still gigging. Keep playing Peace ✌️
Don't forget the guitar VST plug-ins. Young'uns can now produce riffs and shredding in 10 minutes without learning to play guitar.
Interesting….in 1995 I bought a used 66’ SG Junior….actual Gibson …..for $500, with its Gibson branded case at a tiny shop in Venice Ca. where the guy lived in back…Rose Ave. Attention MAX! He is now having a store closing sale all these years later, discounts! If I never played it, it was a fantastic investment, ya all know how much that would cost now! A hand built era guitar! And later I found out that that one year, the neck tenon is much longer, (better stronger) they never made one like it before or since the ‘66 model year. I’ve since added a Tone Pros replacement for the Leo Quan adjustable wrap bridge, and SD PU and refretted it, someone put Grover’s on it before I bought it! So back in the day new was just as you say, you didn’t get much for under $500 new….but fab deals were available used, now, modern manufacturing makes new guitars for amazing prices. WHY would you shell out $5k for a new Gibson, especially when an axe like an AIO is set up to play brand new for under $500😳
I'm middle aged too. You know they sell these cheap guitars to us too. I bought a couple myself. They're great project guitars or beaters.
I totally agree with you. I would have loved to have began on a cheap guitar like they are made today. People don't understand how good they have it now. Cheers!
"Pile of lumber," 😂😂😂. But growing up in the 90s, anything under $499.00 was absolute garbage.
I've been hot rodding pawn shop guitars for years. I think it's absolutely amazing that we can now own a great guitar without taking out a second mortgage.
That’s my whole deal! I have very specific taste in guitars and it’s all in feel. I’ll take a MiM Strat home and modify the hell out of it. Nothing against the American ones, I just can’t afford them haha!
Yep. The best pickup I ever split was an unknown generic I found at a pawn store. The coil is now half generic/half Seymour Duncan. It is now a full humbucker.
I have a guitar parts graveyard that I go full mad scientist with and build complete abominations.
I have a pawn shop strat body with decidedly suspicious 'wood' that I put a pawnshop neck on. Changed the pickups, tuners and pots and it's now my go to guitar for playing slide.
@@tantibusking7095 do you post any videos of your works?
I cut all my. Guitars in half to check. Turns out they are all high quality. Whew.😅
Solid wood = / = high quality
Remember, safety first, use safety goggles! *proceeds to not use safety goggles at all*
My first electric guitar was a Cort M200 that I bought new (along... long time ago) for around $200. I still have it and I still play it. What a great guitar! Stays in tune and the frets were finished correctly. I've played guitars that cost over a $1000 that I've lost skin on the frets (yep, Gibson). Expensive doesn't mean good and cheap doesn't mean bad.
my old guitar teacher taught me that the expensive guitars are very consistently made, wether that’s good or bad. and the cheap ones are looser in their QA but it means you can score a blinder OR you can find a dud so you should just try them in the shop. and he’s right- i have a couple of €1000+ guitars but my first electric- a €120 squier strat is still my favourite thing to play, it feels fantastic.
I have an expensive PRS Custom 22 and an SE. About $2000 difference in price from the "same" manufacturer. I prefer the SE. The Custom is all that and a bag of chips but the SE is the whole meal lol. I also bought a Gibson Les Paul Standard back in the day and it was a real POS. Played nice and all but man did it look like crap when you took a close look. You would swear it was a cheap Chibson based on the finishing flaws. If I hadn't bought it from a reputable dealer I would have sworn I was ripped off.
i gotta cort x series that i love and ive had it for 20 yrs ...
Actually the lesson from that is that Gibson no longer make good guitars - this is well known amongst guitarists
A long time ago $200 was equal to $1,000 today. Inflation.
Who even cares what it's made out of? If it plays good and sounds good what does it matter?
I have 2 plywood guitars that I quite like. They were both rebuilt though so components are great.
BUT MUH INVESTMUHNT
@@indifferentuniverse3991 That's actually the point. It's not the wood, it's the components.
You could have simply removed the pickup to see what is under the paint.
@@seanfagan7384not as entertaining 😂
PLAY THE CUT GUITARS !!!!
That firefly is the EXACT finish I want. And it absolutely broke my heart to see it die. 😢
It was very pretty ):
Sad but just buy another one for $200, hardly breaking the bank for an affordable axe
It’s super cheap. There really isn’t any reason you couldn’t afford one, outside of some extreme handicap
Honestly, I never see guitars in the cool-to-warm purple burst color I love.. So I just learned to do it myself. No regrets. Make what you love, dude!
I was totally amazed that the Chicago Electric saw actually completed the two cuts....and didn't catch on fire or such!
Lmao, kind of a hypocrite when it comes to giving a review, 😂
Chicago Electric angle grinder owner here. Yep - got about 45 seconds before it burst into flames.
I haven't had any Harbor Freight tools burst into flames......either the mechanicals fail first or they just quietly stop working, while getting rather warm. They usually work once. It's the second time that's a surprise.
Here we go, "cheap tools" comments since guitar myths have been busted!
😂
I still have my 1st electric guitar. Got it in 1977 for Christmas. It is plywood. I keep it for nostalgia and sentimental reasons. It's still pretty cool to me. It came from the old Sears catalog.
Mine from Sears 1963, in Amp hard case! Sound and playability- was great through any number of amps!
Plywood guitars are actually really useful depending on the make up. You can make your own composites to get some really interesting tone depending on how it travels through the material.
I started out the same myself with several Sears guitars, one that was even a no name but is a single coil strat style that is just as good as my other guitars. The real secret to great sound is in the processing. I've kept all my old cheap guitars because even they end up surprising me whenever I can get new FX pedals and processers to play them through.
@@jonlangfittI have a plywood strat that resonates like hell. Its been one of my go to guitars since I was 18.
Got a 1994 Squire strat mik cort factory. Bought it off my mate in 95. Just set it all up again with new Wilkinson tuners strings fret polish and intonation set. Cheap 3 single coil pups pots and plywood body. Maple neck is actually brilliant with worn in frets butter to play and great tones. Love it no other guitar I’ve played sounds like it just love it
Thanks for the video...I am a wood turner and use spalted maple quite a bit. The spalting comes from intergranular fungus growth after the tree is cut. I get my spalting by leaving my logs outside for a few months before drying. It costs nothing except time and everyone loves the look!
"Remember to wear eye protection". Doesn't wear eye protection.
Ironically, my first guitar way back in the 60s was a Silvertone single pickup that had the amplifier in the hard case. I can't tell you how cheap it was new but my (ever so supportive) Mom bought it from a friend and started my journey. That "cheap guitar" model is priced today on Reverb in the range of anywhere from $600-2,000. So, quite obviously, time has a strange way of altering the meaning and perception of words in unpredictable ways. I'm most definitely a member of the group of players who kick themselves for not keeping the vintage gear they've owned at one time or another. I long for that '63 J-45 Gibson, or the 60's Epiphone Sheraton, the Gibson tweed GA-5 amps, especially the very early Fender Telecaster that I routed out to put a Gibson Humbucker, many years before Fender thought of it. Hey I was only 15 in 1969, vintage wasn't a thing, but I can't imagine the value that guitar would have today in the pristine condition I originally got it in. Sure there's more, but it's that first "cheap guitar" that's launched most every star into fame, so any of those who leave comments that are negative towards them, will no doubt never be touched by the magic inherent in the art. Virtuosity comes not with a large price tag, but from a priceless breath that falls from the Creator to permeate that first spark that wakes the love of sharing your gift...
Safety first . . . 😂
Moms rock!
That point is so well made that some of it could be the advertising blurb on a cheap guitar! " One day, You'll be Proud to say my first guitar was a (insert name here). I still have my lefty Ibanez acoustic from 1977 and my heart still bleeds for the Ibanez Rick bass stolen from the shop in 1976 that I ordered but never got to play. I hurt over the Rickenbacker 4001 that I sold because we "needed the money". I now have a Benton Chickenbacker, a Benton 335, a lefty Variax 300 and rightly Variax 500. They will be worth thousands in about 30 years time!
Damn, doing the Vitto Bratta thing in 69...
The reason why those Silvertone guitars go for a lot of money is because they're collectible. Although the same can be said of vintage Gibson and Fender stuff, those are a bit different in my opinion. Unlike many things from that era, guitars from the late 50's into the late 70's were incredibly well-built. Because of this, musicians with a lot of money to throw around will spend big bucks for the feel of an old guitar - as well as a particular sound they may have heard on an old record. The same can't really be said for a Silvertone because they were never good guitars to begin with, but ironically some people (like Jack White for example) really love that "bad" sound. Vintage guitars are a rabbit hole that A TON of people get sucked into. My take on it is that if you're a really good musician making records and playing a lot, then it makes sense - just like any professional has the right tool for the job.
All good stuff. In addition to everything you said, by the time people have run a guitar through the 94 pedals everyone has on their board these days, the original instrument and whatever woods and wires it's made from mean nothing; all that counts is how accurate and comfortable the thing is to play. Also, you could probably glue those sections back, kick the instruments down a fire escape a few times and sell them as 'relics'.
Nice one
I was going to ask Max to send them to me to repair and re-finish.... I like a project. But relics... you got a business idea there, mate!
I've been saying for a long time, "a lot of guys have no idea what their guitar sounds like, or their amp." IMO when they are running 97 effects, no matter the gear, they all sound exactly the same, like crap. And if there's two guys in a cover band, both using 97 effects, it escalates to absolute shit.
“Safety first, guys.” Proceeds to use the wrong tool in a dangerous way.
The second one looks nice. Just starting watching your vids, really good! My New Years resolution is to learn the guitar, do you recommend anyone in particular? Cheers from England 👍🇬🇧
Even though it wasn't a production quality instrument, I still shed a tear when you took the saw to that Firefly. And as for how they can make quality instruments for such low prices...alien technology.
They're cheap because they require so few man-hours to produce, lol
@@TheDarkXn Less man/woman/child labour time, is that a bad thing? Most players set up their own guitar anyway.
@@TheDarkXn That is not the point. Materials wether cheap or not cost money.
@@levinavio2297Not too much money, as of nowadays
Little wood glue and it's close enough to good as new.
Man I appreciate you. Not all of us can afford big brand guitars. Not to mention being snubbed for buying them. So thank you for being a voice for us 🙂
Who is doing the snubbing of which you speak?
@@richsackett3423Are you really trying to act like you don't know how insufferable Fender and Gibson fanboys can be? You know exactly the kind of person who snubs people for using cheap guitars. You probably know a few, yourself.
@@razztastic I've been playing music with other musicians for forty years with more one-offs than I care to remember. Hundreds and not one being weird about somebody else's gear. Anyone who's any good only pays superficial attention. "That weird thing's your ride? Cool." I've played auditions where they didn't notice I was playing fretless until I was putting it in the case. Can't find any "jazz snobs" either, fwiw.
@@richsackett3423You know, I think what he is speaking of is way more prevalent in the online forum community than amongst musicians. I find lots of tone snobs online, but what I've encountered playing with other people is an attitude of "play what you got" or "play what you can afford".
@@darringalloway Makes total sense. I appreciate the explanation. You really can't be like around other musicians irl if you want to be asked back.
My first guitar (in the 80s) was a really cheap Les Paul knock off by Cort. It had a bolt on neck. I naturally knew very little about guitars when I bought it, but eventually decided to replace the pickups. When I did so, I found that the curved top was in fact a separate, thin piece of plywood that was bent over some curved forms attached to the flat back.The back of the guitar was likewise plywood. The pickups were actually single coil disguised behind humbucker chrome covers. This is probably where these myths come from. I have no doubt that cheap guitars these days are much higher quality, we really used to have to put up with some awful guitars in the bad old days!
I did have an Ibanez Gio that I was customizing and when I sanded the finish down, I found that the “horns” and the bevels on the body were a soft, red plastic substance. I didn’t think “cheap” guitar but, having been familiar with Ovation, I figured it was them trying new materials. It kind of worked out too because the guitar was painted black so, it was a cool contrast.
Keep in mind, it is not about how expensive a guitar costs or that it has the best materials. Case in point, Queen's Brian May built his Red Special guitar, which cost him 8 GBP in 1964, which is equivalent to 161 GBP in 2023, which is about $203 usd today. The main body of the guitar was blockboard (a type of plywood) and oak. It had a neck that was from a century old fireplace mantle, buttons used for it's fret board markers, saddle bag holders for the tremolo arm, motor cycle valve springs to tension the trem arm, a knitting needle tip for the end of the trem arm. All these were things mostly laying around the house. The most expense part of that 8 GBP was the pickups. His homemade pickups just had the wrong magnetic polarity, otherwise, those would have worked too. So when you think about it, it's mostly what's in the player's mind and the player's fingers! Brian could probable play one of today's cheapest guitars and he would still sound like Brian May!!!
Yep, imagine how much better his career could have been if he used real wood for that guitar 😂🤣
I don't really understand the obsession with wood type on an electric guitar. On my acoustics i feel like the wood has great impact on the tone but on electric i generally have no clue what materials they've went with.
@@braveheart4603 Same, I don't care about the tone difference with different wood. The only time I'd consider the wood type is for aesthetics lol
Funny thing is, Inyen Vina (IYV on the headstock) actually now makes a replica of Brian May’s Red Special! At around $300 used on Reverb, I may snatch it up in a moment of weakness! 🤣
@@jaybirdk7414 The body looks a little different from a real one. But looks pretty close. I picked up a replica years ago (can't remember brand). Slapped some Burns Tri-sonics in it and happy days.
Surprised the Firefly had a cap. Usually the cheaper brands just use a veneer. Looks like a well made guitar.
I have a Firefly LP guitar. Its made well. The binding Rocks. Love mine. Only thing id change would possibly the pickups. It's a good guitar for the money 👍✌️
Was….
@@NoNameNo.5😂😂😂
@@mikestroud9969how does it play? I'm not an LP fan at all but I've considered buying one of their other models but haven't done it.
@@MainPrism it plays well. Heavy like a Gibson. Neck is good. I was shocked how well it was put together.good guitar for the money buddy. Going to put some Seymour Duncan pearly gates pickups in it when I get enough money. You know bills uggh.
“Make sure you wear eye protection” *proceeds to not do that*
On the other hand, people don't realize that a lot of "high-end" companies, end up getting comfortable with their place in the market. While the market assumes that those companies still deserve that place. As a result, they may start using cheaper materials, cutting corners or just dropping the ball when it comes to Q.C. So the quality drops but the price doesn't. At that your point your paying for the brand, not the product. Happens in every industry.
It's really too bad that some folks need such a graphic demonstration. And - sorry to see these beautiful objects cut up even though they are low priced. Thanks for your videos.
That "kit" guitar, it speaks volumes he said he would not SELL it to someone he HATES.
@@treetopjones737Even so, the cheapo could have been worked on. But *_I really don't care that he cut both of them up,_* I'm just saying that if he wasn't into making videos for this and if he had tools to do it, the fret ends could have been trimmed back and anything else could have been fixed with the right time, tools, and educated effort.
I'm impressed that the Harbor Freight saw lived long enough to cut through 2 guitars. I used my brand new HF recip. saw to help my brothers cut up an abandoned boat, and it only lasted a few minutes before dying. It was dead--not just stopped by thermal protection. It went into the dumpster along with the boat.
How many extension cords were you using with small guage wire ? That'll burn it up.
@@firebald2915 1. Either 50' or 100'. I don't recall.
@nellayema2455 I'm not busting on ya, but under powered electrical equipment will burn up rather quickly. They design them to work properly at x amount of amps or they just get hot enough to melt. If you had a 15+ Amp cord at 100 ft it looses 5 Amp to operate a 15 Amp tool. So the tool is getting 10 amps and that's not enough to operate properly. Hence, it got hot and melted the windings on the motor. Good thing Harbor Freight stuff is inexpensive. But heavier extension cords are not. BTW, I've done the same thing you did and burnt up a $500.oo air compressor. Use longer air hoses. Oops! Hahaha
@@firebald2915 The other 2 non-Harbor Freight saws didn't fry under the same circumstances. I've run a number of saws and drills using the same cord and never had one fry.
Maybe you should cut apart that HF saw to dispel the myth that they are junk.
Man it hurt to see you destroy those two guitars. But you have proven the point to those disbelievers.
it breaks my heart to see this youtube star, cutting a perfectly good guitar, i don't know who he thinks he are, cutting a perfectly goooooood guitar.
Great content and presentation, sir!
I think Martin Stingers were made of plywood, but they were still decent guitars. Actually, I think the wood is a pretty small factor in a solid body electric. Taylor made some acoustics from pallets to prove the point that wood type is not a crucial importance.
Pallets are usually made from a pretty dense hardwood. Ask any truck driver.
Cant say for sure about the original Stingers but I still have my ST2 (Dinky body style,) that I modded in the 2010s, I cut off the sharp ends of the horns and turns out the body is made from MDF.
@@BatFan1 Martin stingers are made out of piano-grade plywood. It's a better than average manufactured tonewood. They are still just a cheap strat guitar, but the bodies are heavy and hard.
This explains why Taylor’s sound so bad. Tonewoods indeed are the lifeblood of the acoustic guitar. That, and neck joint design
I've come to opine that "tone wood" DOES exist... it's just that it entirely applies to necks & fretboards, not at all to bodies. This even includes aluminium necks which have a tone of their own. (This opinion is not set in stone and I'm open to the insight of others.)
To me there are NO bad guitars. They are all uniquely beautiful both with sound and shape. All works of art. You can put a decent guitar player on a Stella Harmony and it will still sound good.
And almost any defect or deficiency can be fairly easily fixed.
@@jeffbosch1697 Within reason, agree, but if the neck is twisted it can be a problem not easily fixed and can take the kind of effort and expertise that would make it not worth fixing.
@@ericmills9839 Well, I did say "almost". 😁 I should probably clarify that I wasn't referring to damage but to deficiency in the guitar design or manufacturing.
@@jeffbosch1697 LOL, I say it from experience. My first acoustic was a cheap Ibanez and it developed a twist. Was a goner at that point, as it would have cost more to get it fixed than get a new one!
@@ericmills9839 I can relate. Back about 30 years ago I spent the money to have my acoustic six and twelve strings set up. Man, they just about played themselves. Then I moved to Arizona in the summer. Tweak!! Both guitars twisted and became decorations.
A few years ago Fender published a list of differences in the various levels of guitar. US guitars were listed as having 2-3 piece bodies. Mexican made had 4-5 piece bodies iirc. Squiers were 6-7 piece bodies. So it isn't just the cheap guitars that are made of multiple pieces of wood. Single piece bodies are almost as rare as Hen's teeth
I have a Hondo bass made in the 80's I believe and the body is made of plywood, easily visible inside the electronics cavity. But I also have two much newer Harley Bentons on they are solid wood though there was at some time a myth of them being filled with some kind of pink foam. Cheap guitars have improved a lot.
Plywood is better it is stronger and resists warpage and cracking Seems like nobody in this comment section knows anything about wood working same as this guy in the video should go talk to a furniture maker or cabinet maker
@@hemidart7 Yes, I happen to believe (and it's been proven in numerous blind tests too) that the material of the body of an electric guitar makes no or negligible difference on the sound so using laminated/plywood would be fine, though I guess it tends to be heavier than some solid woods. But then there's the "tone wood crowd" who believe some woods sound better than others and the fewer pieces the body is made of and the thinner the lacquer the better etc. so the high end manufacturers are kind of forced to use solid "tone woods" to sell their products. A plywood guitar, however well made otherwise, just would not sell on the very traditionalist market of "better" guitars. And on the other hand on an expensive guitar the cost of the body material is negligible anyway compared to the price of the final product. Yes, the woods used (though even there it's mainly the top that has most of the effect) do make a difference on an acoustic instrument where the body vibrates and works as a complicated amplifier and filter system but the body of an electric guitar is there just to keep the parts together and give the instrument a playable shape.
I have bought several inexpensive guitars and recently a bass (firefly and sawtooth) that I learned about on this channel. I am very happy with them. Thanks Max for the education and entertainment!
One of my favourite guitars (I have 11) is a cheap Squire Stratocaster that I bought when I was working in Saudi Arabia for 8 months. I REALLY needed a guitar to bide my time, and that's the only guitar the music shop even had. The paint job was atrocious (I've left it that way, 'cos the drip lines are fantastic for the memory of it all) and I had to file the frets so they'd stop cutting my fingers. I strongly suspect it is counterfeit because even the cheapest Squires I see at home don't have paint streaks. When I got back home, I replaced the pickups with old Charvelle pickups a friend gave me, and now it's a serious shredding beast. I use that guitar a lot, and it sounds amazing! Oh, and I scalloped it, because why not? (All my electrics are scalloped btw... only my bass, acoustics, and ukes are not)
I have an early '80s Harmony strat (the only parts left of the original guitar are the body and bridge). The body is plywood, and it's the most resonant and sustaining guitar I have for some reason. It was my first guitar and the only one I would never ever sell. Nothing wrong with plywood, even though it's not exotic.
My first guitar (1990 Hohner ST Special) also was a plywood body and also was ridiculously loud and resonant unplugged! 😂
@72Dodge340. I bought a neck and some parts from a guy for a Jackson and he had a Platinum series BC Rich he had taken apart to refinish and saw the body was plywood so he lost interest and basically threw it in with the deal for the parts just to get it out of the way. Just recently I refinished the body and put all new electronics a good humbucker I had and got it together. last week finished the set up and I was blown away how good it sounds hahaha, and like yours this body is quite resonant to. Kinda goes against what you'd think. Plywood body should not sound this good, but it does. Damn thing got a spot on one of my daily player wall hangers .
The mean Max look on your face while you were cutting them in half had me rolling on the ground in 😂😂😂😂😂.
Usually the issue with cheap guitar is not with the wood, it's with the pickups.
Through the '90s it was common knowledge that cheap guitars were made of plywood. This is where the stigma comes from. They literally actually were made of plywood. I'm 45, in 1989 when I was 11, my first guitar was a Harmony from JC Penny. 100% plywood body. I know from sanding off the finish to refinishing it from red to black. PRS' rise in popularity, CITES treaty changes and offshoring manufacturing, and the advent of CNC manufacturing caused a change to real wood being more cost effective.
In the early 2000's, I had a small luthier business in Houston. Some of the "pawn shop specials" that people brought in for repairs were made of what I could only describe as dense cardboard. It appeared to be granular like particle board, but it would flake apart in layers where damaged. The worst I ever saw was a SG clone made from a one-inch thick piece of Low-Density Fiberboard. Thankfully, the manufacturers stopped doing that stuff sometime after the 2000ish timeframe.
I learned on a Harmony acoustic f hole guitar that was given to my older brother for Christmas by our parents around 1970!
My Squier Strat that I've been playing for 30 years is plywood, plays well, stays in tune, though I did swap the pups for Fender Noiseless.
@@coop1311 If it actually was, they are not made that way now. Squier has contract with Fender to make Fender copies using their design.
@@treetopjones737 it's not the stuff you'd put in an attic, but it's clearly plywood. They stopped using plywood around 1996.
Man some of us can't even afford a guitar and doesn't have good options around. This is so sad to watch
The FACT that some company can manufacture (build, assemble, paint, etc) and RETAIL a guitar for $100 - $200 then why should ANY new guitar cost more than $2500 ???
I guess taking out the pickups and showing the woodgrain was not good enough
Times have changed, old man. (Joking)
@@blacklikethesun go extreme or go home lol
Bravo! Finally someone who knows what's going on these days. I've been watching you for a long time. You broke it open with honesty and integrity.
I hate when people say that affordable guitars aren’t good. I use my $200 Firefly SP guitar more than my $1500 Fender Strat…
I love your shop. Did you get you luthier's saw at Stewmac?
That's a Harbor Freight special for sure
Great job! I love cheap guitars. I always took very expensive guitars with a grain of salt.
I have both, the expensive ones really just look nicer, with few exceptions (PLEK'd Necks cost money for example) . Some people will never admit it. Sometimes it's a feeling, but you can't hear that feeling back in the recorded mix. It's like the emperor's new clothes. I do get inspired to play different things on different guitars, so I guess there is that aspect. I have found that I prefer different ones at different times. It's certainly never always the more expensive ones and sometimes it is the cheapest ones. Lately I have been preferring my PRS SE to my Custom 24, I'll be damned if I can hear the difference between the nitrocellulose and poly, or whether the pickups were wound in Stephensville, MD or somewhere in South Korea.
@@PeterThibault I have had great cheapo pickups sometimes. Then there are the China squealers I bought a few years back. They sound great low volume and recorded but turn up to play with a band and OUCH! High pitched feedback is so strong it hurt my ears worse than a loud concert! They came out new higher money ones went in and issue is solved... except for the one that is a PAF non-potted which still feeds back way less. I would also say that after I set up and level the frets on a cheaper guitar they usually sound just as good if not better than the ones that cost thousands more. They always play better lol. Why would I spend thousands on a Gibson that plays worse than my $300 China guitar that I put better metal parts on and spent under $1000 on total?!? The obvious answer is I would not.
I’m the opposite. I always found paying cents on the dollar to the worker making the same product, just overseas, to be pretty unethical. We consumers rely on it, and the companies don’t really have a choice if they want to stay competitive. However, if you have the money to buy a guitar that has actual labor cost, it’s a nobrainer for me
@@Nadezi I couldn't agree more. When I said I like cheap guitars I did not take this BIG issue into consideration, which makes me blush to be honest. But on the other hand, sometimes I wonder if we are not paying more just for the logo stamped on the headstock, got it?
As a forestry consultant, I was privy to Chinese forests. They have an abundance of quality hardwoods and it's not surprising that they would supply us with solid hardwood guitar stock.
I was ready to claim BS on this, till I got to the end of the video where you actually did say that some years back plywood was a definite possibility for cheap guitars. Because of my experience back then I really did expect to see plywood being much more prevalent today, I'm glad to see I was wrong. I will say though, the cheap Squire Strat "starter kits" I bought for my kids was in the early 2000's and they were definitely plywood so I think your window of 70's and 80's should be extended a bit. On the other hand, I've seen some videos of experiments recently that point out construction material of an electric guitar is far less significant than quality of electronics, so, in a way, it's kind of a moot point. As you said, quality of manufacturing has advanced beyond what it was decades ago too. So a cheap guitar today could easily be the same quality of a really good quality guitar from 20 or 30 years ago.
Hey man, just got done watching you and that other guy shred in Orlando. Looked like fun, I’m jealous 😂
My first guitar was a knockoff of a Tokai my parents bought at Service Merchandise (this was early 80s). It was plywood. And I'll argue that it doesn't matter. It still sounds great, it hasn't started to separate or anything. Its been routed and re-routed a dozen different ways (its the guitar I learned to mod on) and its still solid. Tonewood is a myth.
Tonewood only applies to speaker cabinets anyway.
@@dionr1168 In all fairness, tonewood became a thing because of ACOUSTIC guitars- where the wood of the soundbox IS the speaker and cabinet combined. Of COURSE that would have a notable effect. But once you go electric and the signal is generated by magnetic pickups, yep- you can make the body out of concrete if you want, it's the speaker cab and speaker that make the sound.
@@dionr1168even at that, the rest of the cab's material is trivial compared to the speaker baffle
Thumbs up for the Service Merchandise reference!
The tone-wood debate (with regards to guitars) is like the pre-amp tube debate. It will never end. Your knock-off guitar sounds like it has tons of character. Such guitars are what defines who we are.
My first electric guitar was a Gibson Sonex, basically a sawdust epoxy guitar I think, heavy as hell, but I loved it. They were cheap but looked and played great.
That wasn't Gibson's first go-round with composite bodies, their Kalamazoo line from the late 60s was made out of the same material Kohler used back then to make toilet seats
Well, the Sonex actually has a solid wood core with an outer layer of resin. I have one as well. Its a crudely made guitar but a great player. Looks cool too IMO :)
Very informative thank you. I guess that you could always glue the cut pieces back anyway.
I bought a Glary Strat copy just to see if it was any good, and then modify it to sound better. Well, it sounded k but not as good and my Squire. So I took the cover off the back of it and tried to change the strings. Actually I tried to take out the original strings and then took the cover off, because the strings wouldn’t come out of the original tone block. So I ordered a brass tone block to replace the original one which was the thinnest one I’ve ever seen, and when I took the bridge off so I could install the new block I found the mounting holes for the bridge were all over the place. I filled the original holes with toothpicks and glue, let it harden for a couple days and redrilled the mounting holes. So if you buy new of these guitars, make sure you’re ready to repair it.
Man, I’m really glad you did this video. I fix and mod guitars for people in my spare time, so I’m pretty familiar with the woods companies use. Like you, it gets on my nerves when people accuse makers of using “fake wood”.
It's funny how this fake wood is made from real wood
@@hemidart7 It is also funny that all these "tonewoods" were just cheapest and easiest to work woods Fender and Gibson could find in 50's to 70'a, and they magically all were the best wood for it for some reason!
I actually had a Tanara with plywood in it...I'm sure no ones heard of that brand
I’ve seen one or two on the used market. Looked like lovely firewood.
I bought one from Cash America pawn shop. It was a nice guitar 😊 I sold it at Guitar Center.
I had a Harmony that was okay wood when I cut into for a mod. It still played and sounded fine 🤷🏽♂️
I have seen one. It was kinda nice actually, felt good and played well. I believe it way not have had a truss rod but it was a long time ago...
Great vid. Incidentally, Ibanez has always used compressed sawdust for the body with a photo flame finish and they sound great and look great.
Awesome to see and hear bro 👍👍👍
In the 70 and 80’s it wasn’t uncommon to find low budget guitars made out plywood… they really weren’t bad guitars… I loved my Washburn g force IV … what really matters is how it feels in your hands.
Nothing wrong with plywood guitars. I had a couple that sounded incredible.
I have a plywood Korean Squire from the late 80's early 90's...not a thing wrong with it. Though it is one of the heaviest Strat types that I've played.
Yep I commented above that I have a 70s Harmony solidbody that's straight up laminated plywood, and it legit sounds amazing. Feels awful but that's due to the atrocious neck, which is solid wood.
My first electric guitar was a plywood Hohner Les Paul copy. I played that for 5 years before I bought my Gibson. It was a really good first guitar.
I've been more and more impressed by cheap guitars lately... precisely in the sub 300 dollar range... way better than what we used to get 20 years ago. In addition, I was given a sub $100 guitar ( that appears to be a 2x4 center with hollow wings). Not terrible. No joke. I'm almost more into cheap guitars that I can mod that are the price of kits, that I have to assemble and still will spend money upgrading.
I have had quite a few cheap MIC squires and found that with a bit of work taking edges off the frets and a proper setup they play just great. I had a butterscotch blonde tele I loved that I bought for 200 bucks. It still had the plastic on its chrome and sounded great. Interestingly Danelectro guitars which are a respected brand and not cheap at all. Their Semi Hollow body guitars used to be made of composite wood (Masonite) over a poplar structure. Nowadays they have substituted plywood for the the Masonite. Vintage masonite ones can go for thousands on reverb. New ones range from 800 to a couple of grand.
Been playing 20 years. I just keep buying cheaper guitars and modifying them. The last 5 guitars I bought were like $80-160 DIY kits or Tele knockoffs. Replace the pickups, add a ground wire, and conductive isolation paint in the cavities, maybe replace the tuners and then you have yourself a way cheaper great sounding guitar. 95% or more of the electric guitar’s sound is the pickups and distance from strings. That last 5% is a mix of wiring, and other hardware deadening the strings. Wood has very little if any tonal impact. Might get a bit more sustain, but could also get that from wiring as well. 3D printed guitars, metal guitars, and plastic guitars all sound great with the rest of the hardware being good. The wood is just the platform or medium everything else is mounted to.
2 almost perfect straight cuts without having fixed the instruments before! Well done Max 👌👏
They're called "Haters". No matter what you do to bring a great, honest production to the public, there's always people who will hate. I played guitar in quite a few bands for years (20+ for sure), 10 years ago I stopped playing but now I'm starting again. Thankfully I came across your channel. I really appreciate and love watching your videos. Thank you and keep up the great work. Let haters be their miserable haters.
Hear the same thing in the gun world. Barrels, Trigger mechanisms, the type of steel the bolt is made from, tolerances... If the gun is cheap it's made from inferior materials, Blah blah blah. Might be true but also might be made in a country with cheaper labor and cost of material.
Hate usually means jealous. But not always. But can be. Depends what we are hating.
But but but man nothing there are always a faster rat. I wish I could get guitar's like what you can get today for these prices. It was a real struggle as a young kid.
Youust definitely own a cheap guitar lol too bad.
Buying a cheap guitar and modding it to be good will always be my preferred method compared to just buying an expensive one, atleast in most cases.
"Remember to always wear eye protection, kids!", proceeds to cut freehand with no eye protection.
As usual a great video! Max dispelling ridiculous cheap guitar myths! Thanks Max! Always informative and entertaining!👍🙏❤️💕🎸😃✌️👋
get a cheap guitar and put a little money into a decent amp & pedals and you can have a lot of fun spending as much as you would for just the guitar for some big brands
So all cheap guitars are made of real wood because of this video?
I started playing electric guitar as a teen in 1994, and my first dirt cheap strat copy was definitely made of particle board. It’s amazing how the quality of cheap/budget guitars has improved since that time. I have an SX Liquid that was under $200 and it not only is a great player and looks cool, but has a half sawn maple neck, which is great for that price point.
It's incredible. I got a 350€ guitar that is just like a 1500€ guitar. Had name brand PAFs too... 200-400€ today is a real sweet spot for incredible instruments. I want to try a cheap Jackson Rhoads next.
I have a cheap guitar from the 80s that is half the thickness of my other electric guitar, but it weighs more than twice as much....no way in heck it is wood unless it is some super heavy rare wood....it still plays fine though.
I have a Dean MLX that’s got a photo top, particleboard body, it was like 100$, i loved it! My parents got it for my Bday in Highschool, and i played it until the neck heel cracked down the back of the body, i had it repaired a couple times so it would stay in tune better, but i played the hell out of the thing! Its light hollow-seeming body, sounded great! The resonance and sustain it got was awesome! I threw invaders in it and it screamed man!
A brand. "Blue Rock" Guitars did make their LP style guitars with MDF. I know because i stripped one with the intent of refinishing it and that is what I found.
Glad you did this vid! I always wondered if the inexpensive guitars were made of plywood or paste board! You totally answered my curiosity. Thank you!
I own a Firefly LP, and as an novice player I can assure others that it is real wood. Being a hobbyist wood worker helps too. Thanks to Max for dispelling this fake wood myth to the non believers!
Guitars are like handbags - after a certain pricepoint, you're paying more for the prestige than the materials and craftsmanship. Ergo, guitar snobs are little more than Real Housewives. 😂
I had a lovely Fender 12 string acoustic (bought in the early 2000s) which did have a plywood face. Unfortunately I found out the hard way : the bridge started bending under the pressure from the strings. I took it in to a shop to get it repaired and they said that the top ply was coming off of the rest and it's cheaper to get a new guitar 😢
I remember walking into a Best Buy some 20 years ago, and looking at a Lyon by Washburn Les Paul Special clone. Flat top, bolt on neck, and very clear plywood laminations. Cheap guitars have gotten so much better. I just picked up a Glarry Jazz Bass for less than a hundo, and while it did need setup, it's a perfectly playable instrument.
Plywood is still 'real wood', just not 'solid' wood, & it doesn't even necessarily sound bad. I had a beautiful looking 'garbage starter' Ibanez RX20 (??) or something with 'agatis' whatever plywood body & sounded like maple = nasal & hard = it was a 'thing' (mahogany is way better). It didn't 'lack sustain' or 'character' = sounded like maple. Softer plywoods likely get a similar thing going, like maybe mahogany plywood sounds similar 2 regular mahogany? Interesting 2 test this =) It's 2 bad with all the literally billions of dollars spent in the guitar industry nobody bothers 2 do actual research like this =P It would B so E Z = like get a REAL (good sounding) tube amp & alnico II pickups, then cut the same body shape with various different woods & test the sounds =D Even 'Mr. Guitar Max' could do it! =D I don't bother 'researching' it myself because I already know mahogany wood with alnico II pickups is the best for guitar from the 'well known' choices, but maybe there R some 'similar' woods that sound even BETTER than mahogany 4 the mids & highs? & no, korina sounds worse =P Less 'murRROOOWWwww' 2 it =(
@@Deathrape-if4kl I'm well aware, my main axe is an Epi LP Special, plywood body. It was just the fact you could see the ply laminations through the finish.
I have a Firefly and several other "affordable guitars". I love them all. And love your videos on the subject matter. Keep them coming. You are the MAX !!
Got a plywood job about 6 months ago. A Karrera strat copy. So they are still around. can see the layers when you take the pickguard off. after a fret level sounds fine.
Very cool! 2 things come to mind. I have used "reciprocating saws" and totally sucks to get wood in your eyes. 2 you should have shredded on the butchered guitars for instant metal points! 🤘
Great vid max. I felt compelled to comment. I have bought multiple guitars off of Amazon and EBAY and after a bit of TLC (fret leveling/set up/upgraded parts & pickup etc...) they all play really nice. Manufacturer's set up specs. One of them is a Walmart First Act Strat-style that my son found in a dumpster. Same thing. Some TLC (blocked off bridge, new tuners/nut/pickup and volume control (an Dunlop YJM Speed Knob-Sweet!) and I would trust it on stage. Sounds really good and stays in tune. I think the reason that people dog "budget guitars" so much is because Fender and Gibson are now trading on their legacies. There is no way that a Strat or a Les Paul of today will appreciate in value like the ones from first build until oh say 2006 or so have. Everything except for extremely pricey handmade instruments, everything is pretty much made on CNC machines. There's no more craftsmen DNA in them anymore. Those original Fender people in Fullerton (CA) worked without air conditioning in those early days. People's sweat are in those guitars. Their snot and boogers as it were. I like mine. I always say "I play cheap guitars so I can eat good steaks." Besides, it's all in the hands anyway right???
Cheap guitar info, valuable.. Facial expressions while using saw, priceless.
I'm an older guy .... in the 60's - 70's you could find lots of Gibson, Fenders, and other US guitars for a few hundred dollars. Great video, thanks.
Very good video! Thank you!
I just bought my first Harley Benton guitar, because of your reviews on them, and I love it... I used to buy high end guitars back in the day, and once I discovered that affordable guitars could be hot rodded and set up to play like the high end ones, I have never gone back... And it is so much better to have a guitar that if you bump it on something you dont start crying...
Harley Benton's are well made but they just copy popular designs from bigger companies, if you're comfortable having a knock-off, go for it.
@@Monkeypole Harley Benton company was made by 4 long term guitar builders who worked at Gibson that didn't want to move their families out of state when Gibson moved it's factory in America. Harley Benton guitars are for the most part hand made at their factories like Gibson's are and their quality is top notch on most of their models...If you think I'm over exaggerating the way they are made look up their videos on KZhead... Harley Benton are some of the best made BUDGET "Not cheaply made" guitars on the market...I don't even own one but I played on several of them in guitar stores in my area and they are set up pretty well from the factor, frets play well, no issues with neck warp or string buzz at all. I bought a Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro for $950.00 that felt and played better than the Cherry Gibson Les Paul Custom that was $2999.99. I didn't find out until looking it up afterwards that the Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pros ARE built in the Gibson Les Paul Custom shop in Mexico...Yes it's a Gibson but marketed as Epiphone for 1/3 the price...Their are great deals to be found out there, you just gotta be able to find them...
Well made? I don't think so.
@@ChristianNachtschatten-bv5vt Compared to other budget guitars, yes.
Excellent video. I have been surprised by the relatively high quality I’ve seen in cheaper guitars I’ve bought. Obviously some features are scaled back, but it’s not very hard or expensive to upgrade a “cheap” guitar to a pretty darn good one!! Thanks for taking time to dispel ridiculous myths.
Also like a car...economies of scale matter. Its more expensive to make the metal/electronic work than the wood slabs on an assembly line.
Bodies made of all kinds of things did exist at one time, glad to see now that it's not necessary. My parents bought a Harmony LP for me as a Xmas gift back in 1984. Had a transparent finish and it was definitely plywood as the manufacturer didn't even try to hide it. I also discovered the pickups were not humbuckers when I decided I liked Dave Meniketti's LP with open coils. I removed the cover and underneath was one very narrow coil. A few years later I bought myself a Kramer Striker with money I made mowing lawns, shoveling walks, delivering newspapers, etc. I stripped it down because I wanted a white one and they were out. Once I got down to the wood it was obviously MDF. Both those guitars were quite playable. I had no problems with either. The strat you cut looked to me like pine, couldn't really tell what the LP was. Many different species are called mahogany these days due to sharing some DNA.
In 1979 I bought at a pawn shop a black Les Paul deluxe copy, branded " Raven " I think it was made in Japan. It looked really good and was amazing for $100 cdn dollars, I spent a few more for a case and practice amp. Great value. I wish I still had that one.
Thanks for the video! Very informative. I grew up playing the plywood/MDF stuff. I've graduated now, but I do own a 1995 Ibanez Talman TV-650. It's body came from the "Resoncast" forests of southern Japan LOL! The Kent Armstrong pickups make it sound great!
Seems like the only one cutting corners was you Max!
Good one! 👍
I've been always saying that the main difference between an expensive and a cheap guitar are tuning keys.
I got a Squier paranormal custom Nashville stratocaster, upgraded the guts and had the fretboard edge rolled the whole shabang, my guitarist friends snicker at her until they pick her up. I've been offered some surprising offers for it. Won't ever sell my squier frankencastor
I have a 1981ish Harmony Marquis bass (it resembles a P-Bass) that has a plywood body. It has a translucent sunburst finish and you can see the plies through it. I bought it new when I was in high school and I think it cost $170 or so 40 years ago, and that was cheap back then! I still play it now and then and it's never let me down. The pickups are supposedly DiMarzio and the tone is not bad. But I can confirm that plywood guitars are not a myth.
Thats because plywood is stronger and better than a solid piece of wood
@@hemidart7 Yeah, you'd think it would be great for a guitar body but it's very looked down upon. I like my bass.
@@bondhughbond Only from people that know nothing about wood
Remember: the value is never in the guitar, it's in guitarist's hands.
And that’s the truth
A good setup also helps
DEEP
Time for a new myth (?): As a teen a friend and me “built” a solid body using particle board. The neck was from a cheap acoustic toy guitar. The elements (affordable Dimarzio’s) where mounted using candle wax! The results: As far as ergonomics go it was as bad as one would expect but It sounded excellent and had a great sustain.
The quality of mass production in factories has gone up massive in the last few decades. A cheap guitar in the 70s can not be compared to cheap guitars nowadays.
I LOVE pro consumer content like this. Keep it up! Several of my fave guitars are my cheapies. It’s been really fun buying something cheap and then upgrading a few things. A new pickup or 2 and some locking tuners and a good set up and you’ve got an awesome guitar. Probably…