I’ve been playing for some years now and I’ve noticed that disappointments come in all shapes and sized price tags. I’ve had my hands on more than a few different guitars and I’ve learned my lesson. Today, I have two of the finest sounding guitars in the world. Neither one of them cost more than 30. It’s a known fact among my friends who are all musicians that they wouldn’t put their guitars up against mine any day when it comes to performance and look. So how do you find those cheap gems? You don’t. LOL You make them.

The first was a Washburn D46 that was shipped to me from New York. There’s a guy up there that stomps his feet until guitar makers run him a line of Lefty’s he can sell. He’s got this soft spot for us lefties so he gets these custom jobs done and sells them to us south paws at a reasonable price. *God Bless him* I trust dennis because I know he plays everything in his inventory. If he’s not satisfied, he won’t sell it. http://www.adirondackguitar.com *Since we’re on the subject, I thought I’d plug his site into this.* The washburn came to me with a bit of a buzz on the frets. It was more of a slight chime sound that was easily cured with raising the saddle with a plastic stripe about 1/32″ thick. I replaced the bridge pins with Graph Tech Tusq Ivory Acoustic Guitar Bridge Pins. I also had LR Baggs M1A-L M1 Active Left-Handed Pickup installed. The guitar was 29 and after I invested some money in it the guitar is now worth 50 and sounds like a thousand dollar guitar. I use Martin SP Lights (4100) for this guitar.

The second and most recent guitar was just suppose to be my back up so I could baby my Washburn a little more. The second guitar was dirt cheap. The company’s name is SX. The model is a FG50CE. An electric/acoustic that I bought for 200 bucks and when it got to me, it sounded like a 100 dollar boat paddle. The sound system is sad, the action was very high. The tuning keys were shot and of course the bridge pins were cheap plastic. I wasn’t surprised, but I knew this guitar had a lot of potential. First of all it looks sexy 😀 Second: the nut is made of bone and the bridge itself is not cheap either. This guitar just needed a slight make over. I replaced the pins with Graph Tech Tusq’s and pulled the bulky stripe of plastic out from under the saddle that I discovered there. I replaced the tuning machines *keys* with Grover Tuners *I wouldn’t have anything less.* Just replacing those two things and removing plastic stripe out from under the saddle made a load of difference. When the new electric pick up is installed this guitar will go from being 00 to 30 and the way she sounds and feels now, I’d definitely put her up against a 000 guitar. I use Martin M1400 Marquis Acoustic Folk Guitar Strings on this one.

After buying and selling so many guitars and the heart ache of having over priced P.O.S models, I realized that buying a cheap guitar and upgrading it to your specifications is the most rewarding way to purchase a guitar. One of the perks of doing it is having created a rare guitar that feels like it was meant for you.

Related News:
Cheap Guitar Amps
Cheap Acoustic Guitars
Guitar Bridge Pins
Electric Guitars Under 00
Cheap Electric Guitar Buyers Guide