Buying First Electric Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

I received my guitar today. Blue Metal Chameleon. I love it. It sounds great. No flaws, great packaging. Just a great guitar at a great price.John

I purchased this guitar as an intermediate player. I had the tech at GC do a set up on it. It looks, sounds and plays great. The workmanship out of he box was very good. Very nice fret work, no sharp edges. Very happy with this guitar. Just keep in mind that to get its full capabilities it will likely need a set up but this is common with most any guitar you buy. I would definitely buy this guitar again.Michael

I have several Ibanez, some of them being slightly on the higher end of the mid-grade lines. I didn't need an inexpensive Ibanez, but the looks of this Gio caught my eye and I had been pining for it for awhile, but everyone was either out or on preorder. When I saw this marked as used and $40 less than the regular price, I jumped on it. I expected some cosmetic wear maybe, since it was used, but when it got here two days after I ordered it, it was still in the original wrapping with the plastic on the pickguard and pickups. I don't think it was ever touched. Everything was set up very well right out of the box. The pickups aren't great, but they aren't bad. The neck and fretboard feel fantastic and the blackout finish of it all is what really sold me. The body is polar, so it's a bit lighter and that makes it feel a bit cheap, but it scream and I'm really diggin it. Proaudiostar is 3/3 for me.Scott W

A great humbucker pickup guitar for beginners. Has great tone and feels smooth to play. Only issue was the action, which was too low when shipped and caused lots of buzzing. Had to increase it by quite a lot to get a good feel – a beginner might not know how to do this. Guitar looks amazing, makes me want to play whenever I look at it.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Watch my video attached and judge by yourself. No post, no effects just guitar plain and straight. Worth every Penney but I paid few pennies (lol). No five stars because needs a good setupRogo

No idea how this guitar passed QA or its a referb. The paint is maybe 1 pass and uneven. There are 3 very noticeable scratches on the front of the guitar. And the worst part the guitar is dirty! Like there is a glaze of dirt on this thing! I would be embarrassed to give this to my son.Ryan

I put Emg 81/85 in mine. Had to do a serious fret level. So many buzzing frets. It ended up ripping out all the frets. Leveled the fretboard out and installed new frets so I could get the action super low without buzzing. Plays killer now. I did a lot of work to get this thing playable because I enjoy doing that sort of work. For someone who isn't able to do work like that themselves, I work recomend getting an Ibanez Mikro or Jackson Minion. Those are good out of the box.tdever13

It's an itty bitty little thing. It's so lightweight it almost floats away! It was perfectly set up out of the box, it arrived with no damage. First, I tuned it. (It was close, whoever set it up musta tuned it before shipping). It's got very accurate tuning pegs, not like a Squier or Glarry, with slack in the pegs. Then I sat down and ran through some scales, and strummed some chords. It's got a fast playing neck. I can play faster on this guitar, than any I've tried, and I've played hundreds of guitars from an American Fender 52 reissue Telecaster, down to the terrible cheap electric guitars of the 1960s. Anyway, I finally got around to plugging into my Blackstar Fly 3 battery amp, and wow those Mitchell humbuckers are HOT! I love this little thing, it's going to be my main axe, and I'm going to order it a new hard shell case, so it stays looking great.The Volkswagen Cowboy

For the most part; this a pretty nice beginner's guitar. It has nice features that aren't usually found on cheaper guitars. I was very impressed with the body contours, pickup arrangement, sealed tuners, & string through body. I purchased this as a Christmas gift for my son. I paid a little extra for expedited shipping & it arrived less than 48hrs after I ordered it! Everything was great until I tuned up the guitar & found that the claims that "every guitar receives a stateside set up" are entirely false. The ends of the fret wire are extremely sharp; there's no way that I'd let a child attempt to play this without first filing down/ dressing the frets to avoid gouging your hands. It seems to stay in tune fairly well; which is rather surprising as the neck is NOT properly bolted to the guitar body. There is a relatively large gap between the neck & body- large enough to see daylight! The gap is likely due to common machine assembly w/ poor quality control. I'm somewhat excited to see how well this guitar will play after I disassemble the neck, drill the body holes 1/16" larger, file the frets, & reassemble w/ some higher quality strings. Even with the additional work that's necessary; it's still a rather nice guitar & definitely cheaper than a project guitar. Last time I checked; it was around $20 or so to have a guitar set up by a Luthier- so it still works out to be a decent buy if you bought it & paid to have it set up. I'm just rather disappointed that the only problem with the entire transaction is a very simple issue that could be avoided w/ a couple tweaks of the CNC machines spitting these out by the 100's…Jonathan

I am quite fond of short scale guitars, and I rate this one quite high on the list of must haves! Frets are adequately dress, it is quite light, finish (walnut satin) is excellent. Playability is quite good, intonation is spot on, even the pickups are ok, though I did change them out on mine, along with putting some shielding paint in the pickup and control cavities and swapping out the potentiometers (none of this was necessary, but you know how us guitarists can be!). The kind of music I like is 70s rock, 80s and 90s metal, I don't play clean much – always some grit coming outta the amp! I got this on sale, so it was well below $100. Not sure what else to say, but if you are on the fence about getting one of these, either for yourself or a young, aspiring rocker, just pull the trigger, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Main thing to keep in mind on this is playability and setup are very good for a guitar in its price point even at full price, maybe even twice the price. Is it perfect? No, but it doesn't need to be, just needs to be good and it is. Just get the darn thing. it's a fun guitar to play, looks and sounds good as well.Scott

I bought this item for my daughter for her birthday and she loved it, it came to our door on time, it was playable and very attractive, unfortunately a relative with a drug problem stole it within a day and we haven't been able to afford a replacement. It would be wonderful if BCP would be willing to ship another to us, but either way, very good product. I'll buy another one in time when we are able to afford it.Steve H.

I would give it 20 stars if I could. I’m not going to say that I can even play guitar. I am still trying to learn. I have a Stratocaster that I have been learning chords and following the lessons in a book that is instruction for learning scale. But the semi-hollow body has such a wounderful tone that I have to get better. It is so Inspirational that I have been practicing more than I ever did with my strat. LOVE IT! Thank you.Ronald P.

I got this on sale and it's worth what I paid. Out of the box, it needed a setup including fret level, neck relief adjustment, action, intonation, nut, pickup height, etc. I needed to tighten almost every screw on the guitar as well. I setup the trem to float and I'm surprised how well it stays in tune. Also, the fretboard is the driest wood I've ever seen! I don't think it's rosewood, but even after oiling it's really dry feeling. I hope this will cure itself with heavy jamming. After all that, the guitar plays great! The humbucker is not bad at all. The single coils are not all that good, and the tone pot has some crud in there that I could not get rid of completely even spraying it with contact cleaner, but it's fine. I bought these for a couple of friends so we could have guitars tuned 1/2 step down to jam along with some different songs (van halen, guns n roses, 80's rock/metal). For this, the guitar will be just fine.Joe

The Rogue Rocketeer Electric Guitar is clearly a beginner / try it out type electric guitar. The accessories are okay, but you want to consider spending less on individual components and shop around – though you may pay more in total. The included amp wasn't anything to write home about and was a bit better than a travel amp. That said, if you are looking to give this as a gift to a kid who is not 75%+ committed to becoming a rock star you will probably save more with this bundle, but be prepared to replace the strap and amp. I found the design of the guitar to be decent, but it clearly looks and feels like it's price range. Compared to other cheap guitars at a similar price, it was on par. I was more impressed with the "Rogue RA-090 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar" from the same company in feeling and value compared to the price during my demo review session. The build of this electric guitar was solid enough, so it looks like Rogue has quality controls in place and you will hopefully get a properly QAed and functioning guitar. Bottom line, if you are serious about getting into guitar I would recommend spending a bit more on different guitar and amp – but if you don't want to invest too much time researching, this bundle will give you a playable guitar which will be suitable to start on and you won't feel bad about passing this down or on to someone else when you upgrade. I am writing this review as part of a contest.EReviewer

besides the weird booming sound coming from the amp when strumming, and the guitar constantly being out of tune. i would suggest this to a friend when starting out. however if you have more prior experience, get a better guitar and amp than this one. other than that, the price is somewhat equal to the quality of the guitar.thao

…so I purchased this as an alternative to my acoustic guitar. The 1st thing I noticed is how light it was. The maple neck was a different feel and gave me more accessibility to the frets. Once I got the guitar in tune I was surprised how nice it sounds. The amp is not the best, but if you don't have one, you won't notice. Overall I like this guitar. Thank you Fender for making an affordable electric guitar. I would get this again for a beginner. As I progress, this guitar is pushing me to upgrade to another Fender. It's that good. I have a lot of fun with this G-tar.No name

I have always been pleasantly surprised at the quality of these cheaper Squier Affinity and other similarly priced Squier guitars. I have played Squiers for decades, including jazz basses, Teles, and of course this Stratocaster. It plays as well as a guitar can play. It looks absolutely gorgeous. It sounds like any much higher priced Strats and the humbucker is a great go-to for playing leads without having to have a pedal boost or having to go to the amp controls for boost. It set up as well as any Fender I have worked on and I have worked on quite a few over the years. I would not hesitate to use this guitar on any stage or in any studio production. The frets needed no top or side dressing and no leveling.bobvarns

What a brilliant guitar and superb value package! I have owned ‘real’ Gibsons over the years and bought this outfit as a birthday gift for my granddaughter who is learning to play. She has had a fender acoustic for a couple of years and now wants her own electric guitar. I chose this outfit as having previously owned one in the past I like Epiphone guitars. Before giving it to her I thought it best to check it over and set it up but there was nothing to do really, after tuning this guitar was perfectly playable right out the box! The feel, balance and weight is very like my Gibson and the sound is superb. The amp is excellent and packs enough punch to put a smile on your face too. She’s delighted with the built in tuner as well as the other essentials included in the outfit. What’s not to like? I can’t find a better value package!W O.

My original review still stands, but I made cosmetic-only upgrades for less than an average couple's meal at a casual restaurant that makes this look much, much more expensive. No tuner, pickup or pot swaps. Replaced black plastic parts with cream, added cream pickguard, replaced chrome tuner knobs with Klausen-style ivory-look knobs. Installed chrome pickup covers. Replaced speed knobs with gold top-hats.Easily done to make this look like a proper Les Paul. I'm happy with the looks for the little extra money spent.Steve

As the song says: "I'm a Sucker for a Cheap Guitar". I own over 30 – some cheap, some not so cheap. This one arrived perfectly set up: low action, no buzzing, no sharp fret edges, easy to play – amazing for a guitar in this price range. Although not great, the pickups even sounded acceptable. It's heavy, which to me means good, though not as heavy as my Gibson. It's OK-looking, but needed something to enhance it – a pickguard. I added one and it looks much better – more expensive. Instead of cutting off part of the guard to accommodate the knob as I've seen some others do, I drilled a hole big enough for the nut on the body underneath the knob to fit through the guard (see photos). Since the guard isn't much thicker than the nut, it allowed the guard to fit flush with the body and the knob to turn without any restriction of motion, and the pickguard is not butchered. It's a very clean look – like it came that way – not modified. So, I am pleased with this instrument, and would recommend it to anyone for any purpose: especially beginners to play or someone like me who just collects cheap guitars to hang on the wall of their studiio.Steve

My 10 year old daughter has asked to learn guitar so I've started teaching her. In 38 years of playing this is the first time I've taught anyone and I've always been against the idea of short length guitars. I started with a couple of my electrics and they were all too heavy and she couldn't comfortably stretch down to the end of the neck to fret notes. I reneged and bought her the 3/4 length Ibanez GRGM21M and I'm amazed. As a below £200 guitar I'm astonished at the quality. Its exactly what I'd expect from Ibanez. Not 100% perfect set up straight out of the box but way more than enough for a beginner. She loves it. I think back to my first guitar and this is light years away from that. Superb beginners guitar, she's already really coming on after changing to something more comfortable, well worth it.Graham M.

I always liked the Ibanez instruments and products. This guitar for the money has a great sound, is light and small, very practical for people with small hands, or for children. Playability is nice, the pickups are good, hardware is good. It's versatile also for all types of genre's. Ideal for rock and metal, shreds real nice. If you're looking for a good but inexpensive guitar, this one is a good purchase. It's not only for beginners, it's for all level players.John

I bought this for my son's 6th birthday. I checked it before giving it to him. It was filthy. It looked as though it had been handled by a car mechanic who had not washed his hands. I could see fingerprint patterns.The grime on the face of the pick guard was no big deal because of the cellophane covering, but the grime on the beveled edge of the pick guard was in the plastic. There was grime on the nut, on the back of the headstock, and in a few places on the body. The Musician's Friend customer service guy was great. He arranged an exchange, and was truly sympathetic. Since I couldn't give it to my son for his birthday, I decided to save it for another occasion. I left it unopened for a few months. Today, I opened it just to check it. Filthy with the same kind of grime. I checked the serial number against a photo I had taken of the original mini. It's a different guitar. Says a lot about the quality control at Fender. Too late to get an exchange, so I'm going to do what I can to clean it. I'm also going to write to Fender to complain. Musician's Friend was great on their end. I only recommend that they open some of the mini Squiers to check them for condition and give Fender some grief for any that they find to be less than clean.Joe with an old Strat.

Received this the other day bought for my Grandson. I am a starting Luther so I have some knowledge about guitar work. Overall I'm impressed tuned it up, stretched the strings a bit and plugged it in. Pickups not bad sounding , tone, vol and switch work fine. Tuners are not great but slippage was minimum and caused no problems. Intonation was close played in tune up the neck. It does have sharp fret ends (which I will take care of) in addition along with some normal set up stuff, neck adjustment maybe some work at the nut. Set up stuff is normal with guitars costing allot more so I consider this normal. The 3/4 body and 22" scale make this fun to play and a great guitar for kids and people with small hands. It is so much better than the minis with the 16" inch scale length as you can tune this to normal E. Over a very nice guitar for the price.Jimbo

This was my first guitar, and it served me well for a few years. Eventually it got a bit too small, but it's a decent guitar at a great price. The sound overall is decent and it's easy to play, but it's got serious fret buzz and mine never stayed in tune. There's really not much to say, if your 6-10 year old kid wants to learn guitar, get them this.Miles

I purchased this guitar when it was $95 off full price. So that kind of makes it a worthwhile purchase. Definitely not worth full price in my opinion. Poorly packed with insufficient padding in the box allowed two of the strings to be bent during shipping. I assume this happened during shipping. They wouldnt send bent strings right? Thankfully they provided back up strings… The nut is very poorly crafted. You can visibly see burrs and imperfections in the nut that cause the strings to ring out of tune on certain parts of the fret board even after tuning. The pick-up selector nob fell right off first time I adjusted it. I will have to glue it myself. When the notes do play out true the triple pick ups sound better than the Peavy beginner guitar I used to have– Which only had two pickups and came in a similar starter package but was about half the price as this guitar. I think if I research how to fix some of the issues I can make it playable. But this guitar is far from playable out of the box. Fairly poor quality control.Cody

I was looking forward to ordering this as my first guitar after taking some classes a couple years back. The shipping was remarkably fast–however, when the product arrived the amp was completely broken. Upon plugging the guitar into the amp and strumming, it would make a horrendous scratching, broken sound. Plucking strings has the exact same effect, and occasionally the amp will cut off after a second of playing. I've tried adjusting the dials, turning overdrive on and off, I even bought a new cord thinking that was the issue to no avail. To make matters worse I have called the customer support number multiple times asking if I could recieve a partial refund, or ship back the amp for a functioning replacement–every time I'm left on hold before the call disconnects, if I can even get through to begin with. The only reason this isn't a one star review is that the guitar itself works fine and looks beautiful! I wouldn't reccomend buying the full set if they don't bother to make sure one of the most essential parts is functioning before shipping however.James B.

I worked outside for my father for a good many weeks while the guitar was on sale, and when I got it, I had mixed emotions. After a few days, the gig bag started to rip and now theres a big hole in it. Its still usable, but it isnt really well made. Also the bag isnt really protective. Its more decorative. The strings on it and the other ones were both junk, my local guitar shop guy told me that himself, but strings are moderately priced, and most of the time they last a while, so thats not much of a deal. The amp is lower end, and the cable that plugs into the amp and the guitar started to show copper wire around 2 weeks after purchase. It still works, but it should have lasted longer. And the stand on the amp didnt hold up at all, the plastic on it broke and now it wont angle so the sound comes at your face. But other than that its a good purchase, i would just suggest to just buy the guitar alone, and buy the amp separately, instead of the kit, but that may get expensive, so check out those options and compare them to this product and decide for yourself. My local guitar shop guy told me that the guitar itself is great quality though, but there are more expensive guitars out there, its a great guitar to start out with. Another side note, not relating to the quality of the guitar, but for beginners, how to learn how to play it fast. I suggest buying Rocksmith 2014 with this for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, Xbox One and other game consoles. Although it is expensive, the cable that comes with it counts as $20 dollars of it, and it actually surprisingly works! I started playing the game in late june or early july this year and I learned pretty quickly, to the point where I am now thinking about combining lessons and the game together to speed up the learning process even faster. Now it wont turn you into Guns N Roses overnight, but its pretty effective.TheVanillaMiner

This is a solid build guitar, perfect for beginners. Mine worked well right out of the box (after tuning, of course). The amplifier works well also, for what it is; a low-power practice amp. If you're looking for a way to start learning to play guitar without breaking the bank, this kit should work for you.CrashC

The guitar kit came in fairly quickly, but right away there was a problem. It came with five strings, with what was left of the sixth stuck in the guitar, the tuner was shattered, and the kit was missing the Allen wrenches and the picks. The box was loosely packed with no styrofoam or anything, with the guitar in the gig bag and the rest of the stuff thrown into the pocket besides the amp. Seems like it was either a rushed job, or all come boxed like that. The guitar plays alright once the strings were replaced, but it loses tuning pretty quick. Theres obvious signs of neglect such as body chips near the neck, and scratches on the pick guard. The finish on the guitar is pretty nice, and it feels alright in the hands. I wouldnt recommend if you expect everything to come as described in the picture though.jonaba4165

Great little set for beginners or even intermediates as you get the whole package. The tuner is very nice and works well. Everything to get started and the guitar itself feels very solid and has better than average settings for the sounds you'd want. The extra strings were fine but I'm adding a better quality set which I already had anyway. Either way you can't go wrong on this package. The amp has good settings and sounds nice. Overall a good buy.alsmith029

Overall: This is my umpteenth Epiphone custom sg guitar ive bought since the last guitar i had which was the more lower end 61 standard i bought here used last year. The caps pots and Gibson USA burstbuckers are definitely a step up in the right direction and are true to the original reissue Sg standards back in the beginning of the Gibson sg. It sounds like a 2000 dollar Gibson reissue sg but at Epiphone import prices. I intend on keeping this guitar for a lifetime and is a good backup guitar to my similarly pricef esp ltd viper 1000 deluxe i bought a year ago from a competitor in the now disconnected tiger eye finish from zZounds. Lastly i also intend on getting a real Gibson sg custom 63 version used for a discounted price. One more thing i might buy a backup les Paul sg standard by Epiphone just in case this one gets stolen or lost. Thank you Epiphone custom for stepping up your game and making better sg custom shop guitars than in the past. The black Epiphone sg custom with gold hardware is no joke either and i might another one when i get done paying for this Les Paul sg standard first fron here.Isaac

I got this guitar in sparkling burgundy and the finish is beautiful. The workmanship on this guitar is great; it feels very high quality. The fretwork is also really good, with no fret ends sticking out to cut my hands. That being said, the pickups are not very good. I initially debated purchasing the guitar since it sounded very ice-picky and thin when I played it in the store. But I decided to take a chance, knowing the return policy that GC has. I brought it home and the first thing I did was go over it completely. The fretboard was very dry. Even my wife, who doesn't play guitar, looked at it and commented on that. So removed the strings and polished the frets and cleaned/conditioned the fretboard. Then I swapped out the Alnico Classic Pro pickups, which are rather bad, and put in a set of Probucker 2/3 pickups that I had sitting around. Better strings, polished frets, and some nicer alnico 2 pickups made a huge difference. It sounds full and thick and warm, and it plays like an angel. I highly recommend it, as long as you can swap out the pickups.Robert

I picked up the Surf Green Ltd Ed. Bullet Mustang a few days ago off the rack. They had two. One had rusty strings and sharp frets but the one I picked was almost perfect. These Mustangs are great for smaller learners and older guitarists that may enjoy the lighter string tension due to the short scale. I love the sound of both humbuckers. The bridge one gives you a nice grungy Nirvana like tone while the neck is smoother but both love to be driven. I picked up the Imperial Blue Mustang HH a few weeks ago. They both use the same humbuckers, The only difference I believe is the wood type, Basswood vs Poplar. Both guitars are quite light with the Basswood Surf Green one being somewhat lighter.These Mustangs are ideal for modding but for now I've only changed the cheap pickguard on this Surf Green one, putting a Tortoise Shell on it. So far I'm loving both of them and my Fender P90 Mustang is getting quite lonely.Tingman

First of all, this is a ton of value for the price. I got it on sale which made it even a bigger steal. Now, this guitar needs a lot of setup out of the box. You should polish the frets since they are as coarse as beach sand. Otherwise, string bends will be impossible and will most likely damage the cheap supplied strings (which should be changed immediately as with most new guitars). Expect some fret buzz, so be ready to adjust the saddles and the truss rod (I like my action quite low so this was a minor tweak for me). The intonation was actually quite close to perfect, it only needed a bit of tweaking on the A string. The nut and string trees are the ones you typically get on Squiers, which are good enough but won't do wonders for your tuning and should be replaced unless you are patient enough to tune your guitar every so often. Be sure to change these first before changing the tuners/bridge if you have tuning problems, I haven't changed the tuners or bridge on mine and don't plan to – they just work. Finally, the pickups are surprisingly good for the price, not too mellow and you can get some nice tones from the bridge pickup. You might soon outgrow them, though, and might opt for better humbuckers or P90s. For all these reasons, this guitar is not the best as a first guitar or for beginners unless it gets a proper setup first or if you're really planning to learn how to setup or change electronics/other parts in a guitar. However, those are the same reasons (plus the low price and simple design) that make this a really fun modding platform, and if you don't feel like modding it, with the right amount of work it's still amazing. It's light as a feather and the neck is very fast; you can probably muscle through hours of playing with barely any effort at all. The stock tones are reasonable enough, and in my opinion it looks awesome. You can't get a better deal for the money once you're aware of the above.Carlos, M

I like this guitar because of the 24" scale length. Everything else was pretty bad out of the box. The strings were a 1/4" off the fretboard. The fretboard was super dry. There was fret sprout. The frets felt like sandpaper on bends. The E strings are too close to the edge of the fretboard. When you play you're constantly hitting the pickup selector switch. The finish on the neck is supposed to be satin but it looks unfinished to me and there are light and dark areas on the neck which look bad. It is the worst finish on a neck I've ever seen on a guitar and I'm going to have to put some kind of finish on it. Trying to load strings is tricky and not as easy as on most other guitars you have to bend the end of the strings to get them to load. So that is the bad. The good? The tuners are your typical Chinese tuners that come on all cheap guitars these days, and they are fine. The pickups sound good. The 24" scale is great and really fun to play bends on!Steve

I have bought several guitars in the 100 to 300 range. I was surprised on the quality of this guitar and felt it was superior to many other brands in this range. From neck joint to fret polish & leveling and finish this guitar is quality except the tuners, however the guitar stays in tune and rarely goes out. The neck is not a Fender Strat or Tele neck so don't expect it to play like one, Its its own thing. It is not wide at the nut so if you need a wide neck at the nut it may not be for you. I find it fine and would not consider it narrow. The neck is slightly fatter than a Squire neck but it is still a C shape and a bit thicker as you go up the neck to higher frets. It plays great. Its set up well for Rock and Blues playing, neck adjusted with a light bow and strings set low (but not to low to buzz). Bridge saddles are stainless steel and this make the strings ring out bright and loud even when not plugged in. Intonation was spot on. Frets are tall enough to allow for string bending (there not super low). As regards pickups this is a personal thing. Pickups are very basic and do okay, one may want to upgrade them to ones own liking other wise there fine.pchapm

I was hesitant when ordering the guitar, but after I received it worry washed away from a single glance. I'm not good at instruments, I never played anything than doing ukulele club when I was a kid so I didn't expect myself to buy a guitar. It's delicate and beautiful, feels great to hold and sounds just as good. I do not regret buying this guitar at all, in fact I'm greatful that I'm able to own it. I strive to become great at playing it, little by little . Thank you!Nazma B.

It's a beautiful guitar and really well made. I bought it for my 9 year old daughter and she loves it. I don't know anything about guitars as I'm a pianist myself, but her guitar teacher was absolutely delighted with it. It's definitely worth paying the extra for the upgrades. I can definitely see it lasting her as it feels really solid, and the knobs and twiddly bits etc feel really solid. I genuinely can't get over how nice it is. Makes me want to learn the guitar myself!Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

What a brilliant guitar and superb value package! I have owned ‘real’ Gibsons over the years and bought this outfit as a birthday gift for my granddaughter who is learning to play. She has had a fender acoustic for a couple of years and now wants her own electric guitar. I chose this outfit as having previously owned one in the past I like Epiphone guitars. Before giving it to her I thought it best to check it over and set it up but there was nothing to do really, after tuning this guitar was perfectly playable right out the box! The feel, balance and weight is very like my Gibson and the sound is superb. The amp is excellent and packs enough punch to put a smile on your face too. She’s delighted with the built in tuner as well as the other essentials included in the outfit. What’s not to like? I can’t find a better value package!W O.

My original review still stands, but I made cosmetic-only upgrades for less than an average couple's meal at a casual restaurant that makes this look much, much more expensive. No tuner, pickup or pot swaps. Replaced black plastic parts with cream, added cream pickguard, replaced chrome tuner knobs with Klausen-style ivory-look knobs. Installed chrome pickup covers. Replaced speed knobs with gold top-hats.Easily done to make this look like a proper Les Paul. I'm happy with the looks for the little extra money spent.Steve

As the song says: "I'm a Sucker for a Cheap Guitar". I own over 30 – some cheap, some not so cheap. This one arrived perfectly set up: low action, no buzzing, no sharp fret edges, easy to play – amazing for a guitar in this price range. Although not great, the pickups even sounded acceptable. It's heavy, which to me means good, though not as heavy as my Gibson. It's OK-looking, but needed something to enhance it – a pickguard. I added one and it looks much better – more expensive. Instead of cutting off part of the guard to accommodate the knob as I've seen some others do, I drilled a hole big enough for the nut on the body underneath the knob to fit through the guard (see photos). Since the guard isn't much thicker than the nut, it allowed the guard to fit flush with the body and the knob to turn without any restriction of motion, and the pickguard is not butchered. It's a very clean look – like it came that way – not modified. So, I am pleased with this instrument, and would recommend it to anyone for any purpose: especially beginners to play or someone like me who just collects cheap guitars to hang on the wall of their studiio.Steve

This guitar is the Squire Stratocaster Bullet by Fender. The guitar is an excellent guitar for the price. The tones have a wide range. You can get a very clean sound, a very bluesy sound, and good distortion when running through a pedal. I use a Zoom II 505 effects pedal and a Marshall practice amp. When I do not want to disturb the neighbors I can use just the pedal with headphones. Bright sharp sounds are crisp when run through the pedal. This is great for rhythm and leads because the guitar can get clear notes on distortion when playing from the Double Humbucker position. Playing from the neck pickup results in a rich tone that can sound like Iron Maiden. The fret board has a good feel to it. The frets are not as good as on higher end guitars, but a good player will feel comfortable with the smoothness in playing this guitar. The guitar also stays in tune remarkably well. I have not played in some time so I have yet to be adventurous with the Tremolo. So I do not have an opinion of how it stays in tune when using Tremolo. When holding the guitar on the lap it tends to slide on the leg. Strats are best played while standing up, moving around and playing with your whole body involved. The light weight of the guitar allows a freedom to move. The neck is a good shape and easy onthe hand. The body has a great finish and the wood grain comes through the lacquer. This makes for a very attractive instrument that will look good on stage or in front of your friends in the living room. Disclaimer: If you are a good guitar player you will get a great sound. If you are not a good guitar player you will get a sound like someone killing cats no matter how expensive the guitar is. That is what makes this guitar such a great guitar. For a starter guitar, you won't spend a lot on it. If you give it up then you haven't wasted a lot of money. If you get better and make the guitar sound great, you will want to keep it even when you buy a more expensive guitar. Why, because this is a great guitar with great sound, great feel and great look at a great price!!!chuckamania35mm

Overall great beginner or budget guitar, sounds great with both the single coils and humbucker, quality wise there were a few issues I found with the fret work on my particular guitar but nothing a little filing can’t fix. Superb service from PMT as always, arrived exactly when they said it would and packaged great.George F.

I had been looking for a first guitar for a while. After lots of research I decided to go for the Squier, knowing the build had a relation to Fender. I'm happy with the guitar. You can see where they have cut corners to save money, things like the volume and tone knobs are quite plasticy, but for a first guitar I'm very happy. I went for the hard tail option as I didn't feel I needed a tremolo. Overall very happy.Jack H.

There is plenty to like about this guitar, and I got it for the features I was looking for: locking tremelo, 24 frets, fast neck, 5 way pickup selector, and nice looks. My first impressions of the guitar was slight disappointment with how sloppy Ibanez was. The tops and bottoms of the frets needed to be beveled as they were pretty sharp, there was a noticeable nick on the fretboard, and there was a black smudge on the back of the neck. None of those was a huge deal. The main two issues I have with the guitar are that the middle pickup, the single coil, has such low output that the middle three positions are much quieter than the neck or bridge pickups alone. I do like the tone of the single coil in conjunction with the humbuckers, but those positions are somewhat useless considering how quiet they are, and I have ordered a humbucker to replace it. The single coil alone (middle position) has too much noise AND is too quiet. Not a big deal to replace a pickup, but why they are selling it this way, I'm not sure. The second issue is the volume control. Instead of a gradual swell, there is a sharp dropoff in volume at one point in the rotation of the dial, making it pretty much useless other than having it full on or all the way off. I am not sure if that is fixable, but if it is, I'll need to have that done as well. All that said, if the guitar had not arrived in such sloppy condition and the two problems were resolved, I'd give this guitar 5 stars.hickory spork

The Ibanez RG 450 or any of the RG's are with the exception of the factory p/u and electronic. capable of becoming one of the best performance guitars to own. The base Ibanez Floyd Rose system is fiddley but, after learning how to adjust/tune quickly becomes appreciated for holding tune no matter the severity of attacks you use with the tremolo. The Wizard(ll or lll ?) You would need to go to custom built to exceed the easy play and comfortable frets you will find on and RG. This recent RG450 I upgraded to equal the higher priced models by adding the De Marzio Tone Zone (B), Air Norton (N). And instead of going with the True Velvet. Added the Seymour Duncan Vintage Hot Stack for the middle position and added better electrics to even out the upgrades.. End result; This guitar plays and sound equal to guitars costing over $1,000.00!! Good bones! Yes this can be played well and many will find happiness with this as stock., and, will perform well against the competition dollar for dollar!ikeus

I used to own an '89 Ibanez VBK JEM that I regrettably sold to buy a gaming pc. I wanted to get a newer entry level RG so I could have a floyd,HSH superstrat in E standard. I've had this RG for long enough to know it's a keeper. This thing has the same feel and vibe of my old JEM! Minus the monkey grip and other features obviously. The neck feels fantastic and I only had to do very minor setup adjustments to my liking. I would have liked a rosewood or ebony fingerboard but of course this is the lower end model. The Jatoba feels good under the fingers, similar to rosewood but with a slightly lighter shade to it. Like most guitars you buy online mine came desperately needing some good oil and cleaning. The Jatoba fingerboard seems to require a bit more lubrication than rosewood. The neck binding is done well, not perfect but to a good standard. I do wish the trem was an Edge lo-pro… But again, this is the lower priced model. There is nothing wrong with the Edge tremolo, it stays in tune well with whammy bar abuse but it is one of the bulkier Original Floyd Rose style bridges. The stock Quantum pickups are among the best stock Ibanez pickups I've tried. They are hot but versatile. However I did swap them out with the classic Dimarzio Air Norton/Steves Special combo and a True Velvet middle. I do believe a higher end Ibanez will obviously sound better than this but for the price it really is hard to beat! Well done Ibanez and AMS!Nevin

PMT service is fantastic, ordered it on a Sunday had it buy the Wednesday that week. Unpacked it gave it a quick tune and of I went started playing. This is my first fender and what can I say it's a lovely looking guitar, well finished and sounds great . There is a lot of variation you can get from switching between the different pickups which I love.John O.

The guitar came in faster than expected. The service at Sam Ash was excellent, and the salesman was very helpful with putting my order together. After unboxing, I looked the guitar over closely before plugging to my amp. The fit and finish was flawless. The neck relief, string action, and pickup height were spot on. Then I plugged in and cranked up. This guitar comes with Player Strat pickups, and Player Strat neck. And it flat out Rocks. Everyone says the Korean guitars are so good for the money. But these Mexican made Fenders are every bit as good. Personally, I'd rather have a guitar made in the American continent than one made in Asia. Good job Fender. And Kudos to Sam Ash.michael