talk about your biggest guitar surprise

Pete.R · August 2023

around ten years ago, when I was on the hunt for an €pi Elitist,

could not find any affordable ones on the used market, I stumbeled over this FGN LC10 in black,

it is basicly the same guitar, just labeled FGN, which is Fujigens own brand.

Back then they sold brand new for less than € 1000 - the used Elitists were more expensive.

I was really impressed by the craftmanship and the resonating body and sound,

never felt this on any of the countless €piphones I had before.

I've owned exactly this 'thomann-photomodel'

https://i.imgur.com/9gmuJLQ.jpg

For me it was the start into my personal 'FGN-Journey'

Never looked back to some big brands who mostly live from their past success and not from the current quality

Within the last ten years I had 17 of them, currently 8 in the stable.

FelineGuitars · August 2023

I bought a couple of the Relish Guitars or pickup comparison or testing out new models etc

However I have come to really like these two guitars, and have made a few minor upgrades (Ratio Tuners and Earvana nut and threaded insert neck fixings) and they now find themselves getting played a LOT.

I will maybe do a NGD write up on these two

Svartmetall · August 2023

Dead heat between:

1: a Boult-branded Aiersi Strat copy I picked up for peanuts from Alan George Guitars on Facebook. It has what seems to be a legit mahogany (or something so close to mahogany as makes no difference) body and a really nice maple-boarded neck with a reverse headstock. The tone is what I'd have expected from a guitar costing 3-4 times as much; the body profiling is pretty poor, but given how good everything else is I'm thinking to find someone with a belt sander to work on the belly contour and the shoulder curve and it'll be one damn nice little Strat type.

and

2: my Harley Benton doubleneck. Mahogany everything, Wilkinson hardware throughout (even the 12-string neck keeps immaculate tune) and very nice playability. It is stupidly good for the money - if things like this had been available when I was 15, I'd have badgered my parents into getting me one and then died of Vitamin D deficiency due to never having left the house again.

KevS · August 2023

Eatman T 386

ICBM · August 2023

I accidentally bought a PRS and discovered I loved it.

I had gone to buy a Squier Jagmaster, but the PRS was next to it on the wall for a very good price, and I just thought ‘why not?’ If I don’t like it I can probably sell it for a good profit and buy the Squier for the difference... but I did like it, and played them ever since. Never owned a Jagmaster.

welshboyo · August 2023

PRS Tremonti SE, had one on loan (which I now own!!) and is just brilliant, I’d almost go as far as saying it’s better than it’s older Core CU24 cousin that’s here, fit, finish - all top notch, the SE’s are no longer the poorer relation to the Core models, they are all punching up there IMO.

sev112 · August 2023

Wesley thinline tele with p90s - £90 from Vintage and Rare in Bath ! Apart from being heavy, having an annoying headstock, it is such fun, well made and easy to play. Looks good to - mine has lovely ashy type grain front and back

Squier Esquire from 2020 - similar, such fun and very easy to play, well made, and great sounds

and as @Winny_Pooh says, GS Mini - after 2 hours in Andertons looking at acoustics under £800 for an 18th present for my daughter I picked this up and all the others including Martins and PRSs were outclassed in sound and playability

Tannin · August 2023

Baby Taylor - an undersized, cramped, cheap laminate s*it box.

But it isn't. It is remarkably playable.

stickyfiddle · August 2023

Rats and Rat-wisdom. I've tried just about everything (and the Warthog is the overall best, easily) but for that classic standard Rat sound nothing beats my old 2002 "terrible MIC-made" Rat. It's fantastic

Stevepage · August 2023

The Charvel CX291 I bought recently. The cheapest guitar I’ve ever bought but it’s one of the best I’ve ever had my hands on. Incredibly comfortable neck, great tone plugged in and acoustically

Gizmo · August 2023

Greg Howe Laguna LE924, I brought from Guitarcenter (their own home brand) in a Sale blow out a few years back (dropped from $1000 to $400) when someone posted about them on SS.org (link to org thread there) and had it sent over the pond, as i recall GC then only charged £23 for 3 day shipping!....

Love the HS (H+s rail) a the neck is quite unlike any other guitar ive ever owned before or after, it's D with very deep shoulders,lot's of guitar have come and gone since but this one they can cremate me with

Greg laying down a super solo with one...

Id love a 2nd to refinish in Blue but they never come up a decent price....

fnpt · August 2023

Harley Benton DC Jr FAT.

It has no right to sound, play and look this good for just €240.

ScreamingDave · August 2023

I bought a Squier Bullet Mustang, just as something to practice on in the office, and I was blown away by how good it was for the money

Starplayer91 · August 2023

The new inspired by Gibson Epiphone 335's. Seriously good guitar for the money.

JD50 · August 2023

Picked a Fender Duo Sonic s/s seafoam green from gear4music b stock...
Lovely and resonant , holds tune and pickups sound great, lots of travel on the tone knob....
Well happy

JamesSGBrown · August 2023

Vox Pathfinder 15r. Paid £75 for it and can honestly say it doesn't just sound 'good for the price'- it sounds good no matter the price. Not gonna fool anyone into thinking it's some kind of boutique beauty, but it completed squashed my desire for a 'nicer' amp at home (which has saved me picking up a Princeton for the 2nd time).

guitarjack66 · August 2023

KevS said:

Eatman T 386

The Cannibal brand?

JayGee · August 2023

Indie IPR hollow (PRS Hollowbody knockoff). It would be good at any rate, for the £149 I paid for it (eBay) it’s utterly, ridiculously, insanely, outrageously good…

Dr_Necessiter · August 2023

On a toss up between a PRS Chris Robertson SE and the cheapest* Yamaha Pacifica, I bought the Yammy.

Fits my hand like it was made for me but has me thinking about the Yamaha Pacifica tele and the SG because, whilst I like bottom feeding, I “need” a better guitar with which to express my lack of musicality.

* Sorry, I lied, it was the mid-range one circa £350.

LionAquaLooper · August 2023

My Harley Benton SC450 Plus. I've played Gibson Les Pauls but I'll take this over any of them any day of the week.

SpoonMan · August 2023

I wish I still had my first amp, a mega cheap solid state thing from the 80s with probably a 6" speaker. It was really horrible but when you maxed all the controls and pushed the "turbo drive" button it created this mad nasty fuzz that sustained for days.
Never heard anything like it since.

I don't remember any name on it. Gorilla rings a bell, but I think it was worse than that even.

Jonathangus · August 2023

@SpoonMan - Ross Fame 10? With the Tube Blaster? They were great.

SpoonMan · August 2023

Jonathangus said:

@SpoonMan - Ross Fame 10? With the Tube Blaster? They were great.

Ah, man that's the one I think!

Tube blaster haha, I knew it was something like that. Turbo drive

Is that one yours?

I remember they had a really naughty squeal when you dug in and pinch harmonics everywhere.

That takes me back, cheers!
That and a westone spectrum thing.

hollywoodrox · August 2023

Philly_Q said:

I never tried a proper Steinberger, I had a Spirit by Steinberger for a while but never liked it much.... I found the bridge and tuners annoying, and it was weirdly heavy for such a small guitar.

I'm not sure what I think of Strandberg, I don't think they look bad but they don't exactly appeal either. I am curious about the "EndurNeck" - they say "it is experienced as comfortable whether you are used to a thick or thin neck" which sounds interesting... but improbable.

I was looking at those HB Dullahan’s the other day , they’re pretty cool for £285 couple of bad reviews on their home page though , stainless steel frets is a cool feature although I guess it depends on the quality of the stainless steel

Faye · August 2023

A Gretsch Streamliner G2655, bought on a whim for £360 during lockdown.

Perfect build, lovely sparkly finish, nice chunky neck, addictive playability. Put Bareknuckle P90s in it and it's had the most compliments of all my guitars playing live.

Even better value was a G5332 Double Jet for £349 in Anderton's sale. It's the CME limited edition one in shell pink, with a hardtail and Filtertrons, which was the spec I wanted. Tweaked a few things and it's become my main player.

GoFish · August 2023

Those Streamliners are legit! I have a 2420 that's dandy for a cheapie, just add filtertrons.

As covered elsewhere, the Harvey Denton cabronita a-like is just brilliant fun. Lacking in subtlety, sure, but everything on it is serviceable at the least and the bones are goooood.

Jet are better still but do need upgrading imo.

Lower end Yamaha have terrific quality control and are built to be the best they can be at that price. No manufacturer range positioning. Pricey Yamaha are better of course but it's not night and day because the budget ones are so good. It's been my rough rule o thumb for decades that if you can find better than a Yamaha in a price range, it is worth serious consideration. Naturally, there will be ones that are.

rossi · August 2023

PRS SE 20 parlour tuxedo colour .I alsos have huge fun with my Kyper Les Paul sized minijazzer hollow body .Paid a few quid for it and love it .Often used it in jazz bars .

HT986M2 · August 2023

Pete.R said:

around ten years ago, when I was on the hunt for an €pi Elitist,
could not find any affordable ones on the used market, I stumbeled over this FGN LC10 in black,
it is basicly the same guitar, just labeled FGN, which is Fujigens own brand.
Back then they sold brand new for less than € 1000 - the used Elitists were more expensive.

I was really impressed by the craftmanship and the resonating body and sound,
never felt this on any of the countless €piphones I had before.

I've owned exactly this 'thomann-photomodel'
https://i.imgur.com/9gmuJLQ.jpg

For me it was the start into my personal 'FGN-Journey'
Never looked back to some big brands who mostly live from their past success and not from the current quality

Within the last ten years I had 17 of them, currently 8 in the stable.

I've been after a LP Custom for a long time. However, my one and only experience with Gibson years ago put a sour taste in my mouth. I've still got said LP Standard, and it's a great guitar now, but I've been on the hunt for a custom on-and-off since. How are the FGN LP Customs? The only question I've never been able to find an answer to, is whether the headstock break angle is as severe as a Gibson? I'm hoping they took a similar approach to Tokai and reduced it slightly

Edit: Oh, and do you happen to know if the FGN's have imperial (US) sized pots, or metric (import) sized pots? I suspect it's the latter much like the other MIJ LP-alikes, but just want to confirm.

CavemanGrogg · August 2023

This is going to sound stupid given how I've found every Squier guitar I've ever played and owned to be absolute rubbish and to be generally not worth the space they take up, I actually put most of mine in the bin as I didn't think they where worth giving away yet alone selling.

The Squier Hello Kitty and Angry Birds guitars and bassas, don't get me wrong these things are absolute cheap, nasty horrible sounding and feeling guitars, it's what people are paying for them second hand that has been a huge surprise for me, and a positive one at that, though I do actually feel guilty that I've taken that much money off of people for them.

digitalscream · August 2023

My biggest surprise was when I bought my N4, sight unseen. Up to that point, I'd only ever had guitars of the Squier - Ibanez S470 level, and occasionally played Gibsons and one badly-set-up PRS. Picked up the N4 for £650, and it completely blew me away while I was noodling on it on the train home - I'd never even encountered the idea of a guitar that could play that well.

Things got a bit expensive from that point onward.

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