Metropoulos Forum

Would a cheaper guitar that already comes with good tuners, nut, and bridge be a great sounding and playing guitar if it was set up well, and had some real pickups installed? I know cheaper guitars use more pieces of wood for the body and polyurethane paint, but do these really make that big of a tone difference?

I have a Korean made SG copy that I got for cheap. Got it setup by a good luthier, put on pyramid strings and WCR pickups and it sounds better than many newer factory Gibsons I've played. Feels great, stays in tune and tone for days. YMMV

I was considering getting a Schecter with tone pros bridge, graphtech nut, and grover tuners. Mahogany body, rosewood fb, and set maple neck. I figure with some better pickups it will be awesome because they come set up really well.

Go for it!

I love my LTD Viper 400.

killpop99 wrote:I was considering getting a Schecter with tone pros bridge, graphtech nut, and grover tuners. Mahogany body, rosewood fb, and set maple neck. I figure with some better pickups it will be awesome because they come set up really well.

For whatever its worth, I tried this exact thing with a neckset (neckthru?) recent issue hardtail Jackson Soloist, and screwed with it endlessly trying to get it to sound "great". Never happened. I thought it was gonna be an awesome guitar cause it was unusually lightweight, had a nice bridge, tuners, etc.
I still dont know what the problem was, but it always sounded like shit, no matter what pup's were in it. I ended up getting rid of it.

I guess it depends on the cheap guitar you are starting with. Some will make great players, other will probably never work because the sonics of the wood just aren't there.

I know a lot of people (including myself) have had success with Agiles. The guitars are reasonably well-made, swap in some good electronics and you're good to go.

I love my Washburn Idol 66 Pro. Is it a Les Paul? No, it's not, but I don't thnk today's Les Pauls sound $2K better than my Idol Pro.

Michael Patrick wrote:I guess it depends on the cheap guitar you are starting with. Some will make great players, other will probably never work because the sonics of the wood just aren't there.

I know a lot of people (including myself) have had success with Agiles. The guitars are reasonably well-made, swap in some good electronics and you're good to go.

The Agiles are nice? I know they look nice, but they are so low priced it makes me suspicious.

killpop99 wrote:

Michael Patrick wrote:I guess it depends on the cheap guitar you are starting with. Some will make great players, other will probably never work because the sonics of the wood just aren't there.

I know a lot of people (including myself) have had success with Agiles. The guitars are reasonably well-made, swap in some good electronics and you're good to go.

The Agiles are nice? I know they look nice, but they are so low priced it makes me suspicious.

I used this one on a bunch of tracks on my band's CD. And that was with it stock, before I upgraded the electronics...



Here's one of the tracks.... The rhythm guitar and the big solo in the middle are me using the Agile pictured above (the intro and outro solos are the other guitar player in the band...)

I dig the new Hagstroms. I have a Swede that works really well for me; the stock pickup didn't even seem bad to me, although I ended up putting a custom custom in. I got a deal so mine was only $400 including case, but even without a deal, they're still pretty inexpensive.

Michael Patrick wrote:

killpop99 wrote:

Michael Patrick wrote: Here's one of the tracks.... The rhythm guitar and the big solo in the middle are me using the Agile pictured above (the intro and outro solos are the other guitar player in the band...)

That tune sounds really good, btw!

Thanks, swid!

killpop99 wrote:I was considering getting a Schecter with tone pros bridge, graphtech nut, and grover tuners. Mahogany body, rosewood fb, and set maple neck. I figure with some better pickups it will be awesome because they come set up really well.

I had one of those. C-1 Classic. Everyones different but I wasnt crazy about it. I didnt like any of their taped switch settings. When i did try a few different decent buckers in there I was never happy with the result. I always thought a lot of PRSs sound awful too. I guess that combo of mahagony and maple necks just doesnt jive with me. I mean the guitar played great. I just wasnt happy with its sound. I got it purely for the full time working band scene to use with my SLO100. In the end I just stared using Les Pauls. Heavy and expensive- I didnt want to use one but what the hell, so I bought an Epi LPC and that guitar had moe bang for the buck then any guitar Ive ever owned.

Being lucky and not having to have a cheap guitar, recently I played some Korean or whatever Hamers that this guy had who lives near me,the overall vibe was dreadful and the pickups sounded dreadful.
I realize there are budget guitars that may be better, but this may have looked like a Hamer, but did not play as any USA one would..
yngwie308