For $49 It Needed A Good Home

[DrumBob]

I went into my favorite music store, Ritchie's Music, in Rockaway, NJ today, and they were getting ready for a sale tomorrow. Lots of cool guitars marked down to sell. Off in a corner, on a guitar stand, sat a Johnson solidbody that was vaguely Les Paul-ish, sunburst finish, two humbuckers, dusty and dirty and dinged up, but all there. It was marked $49. I asked what the deal was on the guitar. Some kid brought it in yesterday, desperate for money, I guess, and Jim Riccio gave him $25 for it. The neck was warped (of course, but nothing a tweak couldn't fix) and it needed strings badly. I tuned it up to open E, borrowed a slide, and wailed away on some Hound Dog Taylor/Duane Allman licks. It was a passably decent slide guitar!

So, I whipped out $49 and bought it. Hey, a guitar for $49? If I got it home and hated it, I could always give it to a kid who wanted a guitar and couldn't afford one, right? Or, I could smash the crap out of it at a gig. I like the former idea better.

Got it home, cleaned it, adjusted the pickups and neck (it's now straight as an arrow) and blew it through my Hot Rod Deluxe with the gain up. Whoa! This baby puts out. And for a Chinese POS, it's pretty well built. Tonight, I'll change the strings. Maybe 11's.

I got myself a cool, cheap slide guitar for less than $50. Made my day.

I know...someone is gonna say, "post pictures." I have no idea how to do that. Sorry.

[gkoelling]

Post pictures! :D


Congratulations, sometimes a good beater can be a lot of fun.

[fender753]

:worthless

[Tone_Terrific]

I was offered an Lp-ish thing...plywood body, bolt-on, veneer layer for a top, no pups. no strings....FREE!...I turned it down. It was not worth the space it occupied let alone upgrading.
OTOH, I bought a great Stratty thing for $70., that compares to the finest boutique, specialty, CS shop.....and comes up short in every category, but is still a good instrument. YMMV, per usual.

[mike80]

Congrats! $50 guitars are great.

I bought an Epi Strat copy a few months ago for $50 at a yardsale. Surprisingly, it plays decently and has a straight neck.

Cheers to the beaters!!

[CitizenCain]

I love the POS guitars :D

For $49, why not?!

[duckbunny]

If you fall out of love with it, please donate it to a local public school - believe me most music departments would love it - and most likely they could use the help.
I've done it on more than one occaision...you can't buy the type of feeling you get!



-db

[Groovey Records]

My First Electric Guitar cost $50 in 65 a 2 pup Harmony Stratatone with the Atomic Note pickguard and Head Stock I didnt even have an Amp yet, but I had to have it.

So

[eBay]

Email a picture to me and I'll be glad to host/post it for you.

[jerseydrew]

Ritchie's is a great store! That's my favorite guitar shop too. The good news is that I only live a few miles away from it :)

[DrumBob]

eBay...Interesting name. Sure. I'll take a picture of it Sunday and send it to you.

I just put a set of 11-50's on there, but I screwed up the high E putting it on, so I put a 13 on instead, and fired it up through the amp. Once I stretched the strings a little, she went right into open E tuning and stayed there. With the gain on about 5, she sings. What a nasty sound! This is definitely the Hound Dog Taylor thing goin' on. Cool. Then, I played her clean with just a little natural tube distortion, and the sound was equally good.

Once in a while, you DO luck out and get a bargain. Now, I have to come up with a song I can use her in with the band.

Great. Now, I'm gonna have to carry SIX guitars to the gig. This has gotta' stop.

By the way, I also got my PRS SE One today too. She's very light weight, with very low action-a little too low-but the single P-90 is a screamer. I need to change the strings and raise the action a bit. There are factory .009's on there, and they are just too light. I'm thinking of going to .011's on all my guitars. I wish they'd put .010's on at the factory.

[Stormin]

Ritchie's is a great store! That's my favorite guitar shop too. The good news is that I only live a few miles away from it :)

I "grew up" in that store (actually the old location back when it was Ritchie's / NJ Percussion) back in the mid 80's. They are really great people and helped tremendously to get me started.

Say hi to Jim and the gang for me.

Stormin!

[GAD]

Nice! Sale at Ritchie's you say? Hmmm....

GAD

[teleman65]

For $49 you could say you had cheap GAS but it's all good now.
How about a sound clip?

[lessthan3]

HEY
i love that place, great deals, friendlier and more knowledgable people than any other guitar store near me.