Best Electric Guitars Cheapest Prices

Finding the Best Electric Guitars Cheapest Price

The two major premier American electric guitar brands for decades have been Fender and Gibson respectively. Their electric guitars have shaped modern music for decades and are still prevalent in songs heard the world over today. It’s no surprise that their bargain brands, Squire by Fender and Epiphone by Gibson are the standard by which all other cheap electric guitars are judged. These two brands are by far the best electric guitars cheapest prices will allow.

Understanding Guitar Brands

There are myriad other choices, and this is where it can get confusing. Suffice to say that if you’ve never heard of it, there’s probably a reason! Stick with brands that are established and well known. Ibanez and Yamaha are good examples of respected companies that build quality instruments at an affordable price. These companies also offer high-end instruments and that is the key to quality; a company that only makes cheap guitars will cut more corners to keep the cost down.

Things to Avoid

Shopping for a guitar in the under $200.00 dollar range puts you at risk of buying a piece of junk that you might not even be able to play at all!

Red Flags to watch out for:

• Off brands
• Wild graphics
• Unusual shapes
• Thin necks and bodies
• Poor intonation and tuning

A guitar that looks cool but won’t stay in tune is a waste of money. That lightning bolt shaped thing with the crazy paint job sure looks good sitting on its stand, and even seems to have a light feeling action and a lot of cool distortion. The old saying “If it’s seems too good to be true it probably is” has never been more true. Novelty guitars usually have light gauge strings on them for two reasons. The first is that it’s easier to play; the strings bend forever and don’t hurt your fingers so it feels really good in your hand. This is what sells most (if not all) of these cheaply made guitars.

The second reason is that an easy-playing, thin neck will bow if you put anything heavier than light gauge strings on it. Trying for more sustain by using heavier gauge strings is usually disastrous. The lightly built body and neck are also much more susceptible to atmospheric damage and will at some point (if they haven’t already) begin to bow or warp. Even the adjustable truss rod cannot counteract severe wood movement and often these instruments end up not being playable. These instruments invariably use bottom of the line hardware and almost never stay in tune for any length of time, particularly during aggressive playing. Don’t kid yourself, all that distortion is probably hiding something. Try making it sound clean (if that is even possible) and you’ll hear a thin tone with weak sustain, the hallmark of a truly cheap guitar. Good guitars always sound good whether it’s clean and bright or loud and dirty.

Inexpensive Well Made Guitars

The larger, well-known brands have buying power that allows them to use decent bridges and tuning heads as well as good quality wood for their necks and bodies. The result is an affordable instrument that is capable of tuning and, more importantly, staying in tune. The best electric guitars cheapest prices will allow also have good sustain and be more resistant to warping or bowing. It may feel like a piece of furniture hanging around your neck but it will sound good and last for many years.

Electronics options are purely individual taste and beyond the scope of this article. Again the golden rule of "known brands are better" still applies. Ibanez and Yamaha generally have good distortion pickups while Squire and Epiphone have the classic clean sound. Within those brands, there is everything in between so you are only limited by your personal taste and your budget.

Getting the Most For Your Money

Every single instrument is a unique individual; this is true for high quality instruments as well. Even though it is assembled on an assembly line, each one will have a slightly different personality. Differences in wood grain have the greatest effect but also the frets and finish effect how each one sounds. Again, the better-known brands will be more consistent in this regard and should absolutely be your only choice if buying sight unseen online.

Whenever possible it's always better to actually play the instrument prior to buying to find the best one in your price range. Check the tuning, intonation and action first. If the guitar doesn’t pass these tests, don’t even bother wasting any more time with it. When you find one that plays properly, play it hard and make sure it still stays in tune. You don’t have to do Pete Townsend windmills or anything, but strum it with authority and do some string bends. If it passes this test, you probably have a winner.

In Conclusion

A good player can make a cheap guitar sound great, a great guitar won’t make a beginner sound any better. Most players start paying their dues by playing on a cheap axe. Buying a good cheap guitar is a solid investment that will pay off with many years of enjoyment.

Article written by Rich Murrell