Topic: Electric guitar

[Trevor from Warragul]

Hi,

My 16 year old daughter is progressing well with her guitar lessons.  The teacher gave her a little go on his electric guitar...

So,  what is a good entry level electric guitar?  I'm talking reasonably inexpensive 2nd hand...

Cheers

Trevor

[JeffSTL]

I'd say you can't really go wrong with a Squire Stratocastor. Super cheap brand new (maybe $129) and very reasonable quality. Or, for a a couple hundred bucks more you can get a Mexican Fender Strat. I think epiphone les Paul's/SG's/etc start at pretty fair prices. Of course, if you are buying an electric guitar you are going to have to purchase an amplifier, too.

[evanphi]

Squire or Epiphone are the "sub" brands of Fender and Gibson. Both make great "beginner" guitars.

Ibanez also makes some great "beginner" guitars too, and are often found used.

[Gordon]

Find out what body style of electric she prefers, and that will help narrow down the options.  Transitioning from acoustic, she'll probably be more comfortable with a fixed bridge electric, but she may want to try a floating bridge.  The suggestions already made here are good ones.  I'm a Les Paul guy, so I lean toward the Epiphones.  You can get a Les Paul Special II for $150 brand new, and it's a well-built, quality guitar for the price.  Fender Squier are good beginner guitars, too, though, and Yamaha makes some really good budget guitars as well. 

[BobbyR]

The Yamaha Pacifica is terrific for the Money. Solid wood body not plywood like the cheap Fenders. The tuning pegs are far better quality than the cheap Fenders.

 

[faux fiddy]

I've got several strat copies, they all play well but the shipping might  be outrageous. Full size guitars should be okay for a kid.

PM me.

[Retro Rocket]

Squire or Epiphone are the "sub" brands of Fender and Gibson. Both make great "beginner" guitars.

Ibanez also makes some great "beginner" guitars too, and are often found used.

I would take the Ibanez over the cheap epi and squire any day, unless the squire is japanese made, early Japanese JV squires are worth a small fortune now, As Bobby said, the Yamaha Pacifica are very very good value and shouldn't be too hard to find, the first couple of models are very good. In general, the Japanese made guitars are better built than the cheap American counterparts and made from better wood, i've been collecting and playing guitars for over 30 years and some of the worst guitars i have ever played were American made, and some weren't cheap ones either {no offense guys}, Norlin and CBS anyone...? 

[faux fiddy]

CBS bought fender and then sued Leo when he put his autograph on a G&L.

[Retro Rocket]

CBS bought fender and then sued Leo when he put his autograph on a G&L.

Fender didn't want Tokai in japan to build their cheaper MIJ strats, the samples Tokai sent to Fender {late 70's, early 80's} were better than the American made Fenders that were 5-10 times the price....   I have a 1982 Tokai Strat and it is sublime...and rare, ....and expensive {now}....came stock with Dimarzio pickups too...

[Trevor from Warragul]

I got a good deal on a new Epiphone SG G-400 Pro Ebony with hardcase - $529.00.  Early birthday present.  First riff she plays?  Rolling Stones - "Satisfaction"!

Thanks for all the input.

[kghost]

Or kill two birds with one stone and go Electric/Acoustic....

[faux fiddy]

I bought a nice metallic aqua colored usa tele for my nephew for about that, but that was almost 10 years ago, and was a leftover from the previous year. But it is a really pretty guitar, and is probably worth that much still if not more. I think it had better pickups than the mexi one and was only about $100 more, and holds it's value better.

From what they say the place is on the border, the difference is the mexi strats are made on the south end of the factory.  I think that's probably an exaduration.