Cherry Red Electric Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

A lot of the reviews posted here are for Strats, so I'm not sure what's going on. Anyway, I bought the red sparkle Squier Bullet Tele. The finish is gorgeous and that's what prompted me to do a spontaneous purchase. I have only experienced owning USA Teles, but I've played some Squiers that really impressed me. This one? Not so much. I don't detect any finish on the back of the neck although I'm sure it has a sealer of some sort. The body finish is nice, but the bridge hardware is cheaply made and I'll be replacing that for sure. Same goes for the tuners. I'm pretty sure it has some high frets because it goes dead starting at the 10th fret, but some of that was back bow. I loosened the truss and got rid if it, but now when I sight down the neck the forward bow is pretty obvious. I don't notice the frets being sharp on the ends. It now plays plays pretty good after sitting long enough for the truss Rod to settle, but I may need to tighten it just a little to get rid of some of the forward bow. The neck has a very comfortable profile. The body is thinner than my American Teles, but it doesn't bother me – in fact it's lighter which I enjoy. The body is Poplar and that's fine by me. I may leave the back of the neck alone for now because it actually feels pretty good, aesthetics are certainly lacking, but the body makes up for that. I'm sure with a little patience and help from my friends I'll have a nice instrument. All the basics are there. As is, it's not all that great, but still better than my first electric guitar! -!an old Kalamazoo single pickup thing with a bolt on neck back in the mid sixties. Like the title says, this thing has potential. I probably couldn't buy a finished body for what I paid.Ronnie

I bought my black metallic Squier Bullet eight years ago when GC was having a Columbus Day sale. I was looking for a guitar to which I could permanently mount my Roland GR-33 guitar synth's GK2a pickup. Previously I had the pickup mounted on my '96 Strat, and I didn't like this fit because I couldn't close my Strat's case with the pickup installed. I have a gig bag for this Squier, and it fits fine in the bag with pickup installed. Anyway, about the guitar. Right out of the box, it played great, requiring only a minimal amount of action adjustment. I was surprised at how good the pickups sounded, it being a Bullet and all. But the humbucker sounds especially nice when playing the guitar through my Marshall. The neck pickup has a decent sound, but not quite up to the snuff of a good alnico pickup. Still, for what the guitar cost, I really can't complain. If I want to, at some later date, I can always change out the neck pickup to a better alnico model. One thing I especially like about this black Bullet is its looks. The photos here at GC don't show it off all that well, but the guitar body's finish is metallic and the pickguard is a heavy metal flake. It looks spectacular under the lights. And the black hardware does a great job of completing that black look. The Bullet's body is thinner than a typical Strat or Squier Affinity or Classic Vibe body. The result is a light weight guitar, but there is no sacrifice in tone.Michael

I would first like to begin with- I normally would be giving a 5 star rating of this unit/Squier, as I have typically never had problems prior to the recent/earlier this year upset regarding shipping containers/etc being paused/sitting in the ocean/etc, delaying container delivery. PLEASE READ ON FOR FULL EXPLANATION. Two imperative points- 1. The fret ends were so sharp, when I say it was not playable (both sides/neck in its entirety), I mean, it was not playable (THE DATE OF INSPECTION WAS EARLIER THIS YEAR, AND I IMMEDIATELY ASSOCIATED THE FRET ENDS PROBLEM BEING DUE TO THE SHIPS BEING DELAYED/SITTING IN THE OCEAN/ETC- It looked to me like maybe between March and July of this year, although, I couldn't quite make out the stamped month). As well, the serial # of the guitar, of course, was of this year/'22. I maintain/work on most all my guitars, and I normally would've tightened up the fret ends myself, however, there was a hairline crack on the red sparkle finish at the bass side neck joint (which i just couldn't accept, visually), as well as a small tooling gash along the top edge of the headstock. The replacement/reordered guitar arrives tomorrow. 2. THE NEWER UNITS (AS, ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS A 2022-BUILT UNIT) ARE TOP-MOUNT/STRING THROUGH THE BACK OF THE BRIDGE, NOT "STRING-THRU" as the description indicates (and, with Squier bridge mounting, these are 5-screw mount plates, which, if ever you want to upgrade your hardware, particularly, w/the bridge, you must find an aftermarket unit that is "string through the back", along w/the correct string spacing (with Squier, they're 54mm, typically), and you'll typically need to redrill given it's rare to find plates that have Squier mounting dimensions that provided string through the back holes. I'm upgrading to a Babicz, given the results found. Also, there are two string trees (the second being a tree for both the D and G strings), and it looks great, actually, with both. Overall, I was impressed with the finish, as it was nearly flawless (aside from the hairline finish crack mentioned previously). The fretwire/fretwork, felt great….I found maybe two or so "slight" dead spots, which weren't enough of a "ping", or string buzz to be of concern, or critiquing the fretwork negatively. Rather, I was impressed with the fretwork. As well, it's important to note that the mounting of the bridge, along with the neck positioning/etc, was spot-on. No misalignment of the bridge mount/etc (and the same goes for the nut spacing). I've always been impressed with what Fender/Squier/Jackson are putting out. The quality is typically quite high…as for this unit, the quality is high, but the results of the environmental dilemma with either being stuck in a container offshore, or, sitting in a facility for weeks/months/etc, have had quite the impact on this guitar. As an important example, I had purchased a Bullet Tele last year (the unit in Burst color offered here through MF), and it was/is flawless, and I completely upgraded every part. As I own approx'ly 53 guitars ranging primarily from ESP to Jackson (some of which in the better than $2K range), I love to take what's titled as a "beginner" guitar, and totally hotrod it with high end parts (such is the case w/this guitar). As mentioned above, I've reordered the guitar, as MusiciansFriend provided me a generous discount (without having to ask) to accommodate me. Upgrades- 1. Babicz Full Contact Tele "Ashtray" bridge Gold, 2. Genuine Fender Gold control plate, 3. Fender Infinity Gold strap locks, 4. Gold input jack Ferrule, 5. Custom built Gold Sparkle w/star cut-outs Tele pickguard, 6. Philadelphia Luthier Tools "Fat" neck plate/Gold w/gold neck mounting screws, 7. Earvana compensated nut (Ivory), 8. Philadelphia Luthier Tools Gold string trees, 9. Fender locking tuners, Gold, 10. EMG T-52 set (black), or, EMG T-set, Red., 11. EMG Gold Telecaster knobs. 12. Powder coated Red pickguard screws, 13. Gold pickup mounting screws. Beginner guitar?……no more (ha).Dave

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.

In December 2020, I purchased the Beginner Electric Guitar Kit w/ Case, 10W Amp, Tremolo Bar – 39in. The packaging was excellent and the delivery was on time. Initially, I purchased it for my kids but they did not express any interest. So, I took up the guitar myself and started learning via YouTube. I popped a few strings and when I took it to the guitar shop to have the strings replaced, they were pleasantly surprised by the quality workmanship of the guitar. Since then, I've learned to tune the guitar and replace the strings myself – courtesy of YouTube. The guitar is really great and I play it everyday. Thank you BCP for the great service, affordable pricing and an awesome guitar!Tony

The Mahogany body and maple neck through construction is enough for the price alone. On top of that you get Duncan Designed HB 103's which are some of the best passive pickups on the market. Next you get gold floyd rose hardware on a beautifully finished guitar. The binding and craftsmanship were excellent. All I had to do was ser the intonation. The tuners are fine except a little tight on a couple of them. Other than that, it is a flawless instrument. The only thing I might upgrade are the zinc alloy string blocks on the fr bridge but I like the way they sound for now. Just not sure if they will strip later on as zinc is a softer metal. The feel, tone and sustain is exceptional. This guitar produces the most brutal tones and I would put it up against a USA made model any day. Being made in Indonesia did not hurt the quality one bit. This guitar is a monster and my favorite 6 string.ZerovoreZ

This is a great guitar, overall, especially for the price. I replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncans, as I am partial to them…but the stock pickups are really pretty good. I will say that I was very disappointed, when I changed the pickups, to find that I had to replace the locking nut, as one of the bolt holes was stripped and I could not lock the E & A strings down. Thanks be to God, I have several extra ones on hand…but most people don't… But, having replaced the nut, and given the frets a light sanding and polish, and oiled the neck…this guitar looks and plays great! As well as any high end guitar… I also love the Jackson Floyd Rose bridges. They are great quality, and they do everything that an expensive tremolo bridge does. The bar fits tightly, it always floats right back in tune, no matter how hard you abuse it…you can do flutters, dive bombs, etc…a very good bridge in my opinion. I highly recommend this guitar for anyone who is looking for a versatile guitar (but mostly metal), and doesn't want to spend $800 on a pro series. This baby will do the job every bit as well, with a bit of TLC and the gift from God to play. Seriously.disciple7777

This has got to be the most value I've ever seen in a budget instrument. Out of the box it was set up good. Finish was perfect. I purchased the ruby red version. Stock pick up is aggressive and hot. Tremolo works as it should. Although I ain't a big user of them I can dive like EVH does on the first record with this thing and it comes back up in tune. Many people prefer something better but this works perfect for me. The only flaws I could find was one of the drill holes on the back plate was not lined up correct and a screw fell out. Not a big thing because I have take. It off for access to the springs and to change strings. The hardware is not the best. The screws on the claw stripped a little when I was taking it out for whammy use. Over all a very enjoyable guitar. Incredibly hot sounding and fast. The look is great too. I don't plan on upgrading anything just yet. Many buyers of this do hot rod them and that's also a very cool thing. Maybe in the future I'll consider some upgrades but stock is fine. I'd trust it on a stage no problem. Get them before they all go! There's a reason why very little of them are on the used market. For this price you cannot go wrong! Maybe if a yellow one of these was to come along I'd be all over it. Would definitely buy again!Cris w

I was amazed at the quality for the price on this guitar . I own over 20 guitars and actually purchased this one for my sons birthday. All my guitars will be my boys one day but wanted to ad one to his current collection and this was a great choice. I have been a AMS customer for over a decade and love their prices, selection and payment plans. I always recommend AMS to my musician friends, they are the best!!!!Mike

LOVE this guitar! It have a smooth rosewood fret board which makes soloing slick and precise. The tone is perfect for Metal & clean playing. It stays in tune & is all around well built. Great price too!traviveg_9

I expected better from Jackson. Pickups are iffy,tuners are junk will not stay in tune. Pickup selector switch is scratchy and works sometimes. Action is ok after a good setup and string change. Had it for about 5 months now and thinking about trading it in for something a little better. It does look great hanging on the wall though.Keith C.

Up to this point, my guitar collection has been all solid bodies. (four Strats, a Tele, Les Paul, SG and Firebird. I've been craving a good semi-hollow. But the ES-335 is just too expensive for my tastes. The Epis, and Ibenez clones were too low-end. I was looking for something in between. This turned out to be the perfect choice. First, the fit and finish was flawless. A beautiful cherry red with lovely grain showing. (Not quite as 'stripey' as the photo–much prettier, I think.) The binding was perfect. I couldn't find anything wrong with the finish or construction–not a single blemish anywhere. Acoustically, it sounded lovely. Rich and clean. Plugging it into my Vox AC15, I fell in love. I found I could dial in everything from super clean chords to wonderful, nasty, dirty blues. (I remembered seeing Son Seals play one of these on the cover of Midnight Son, and I could recognize the tone.) Dialing it back, I could get warm BB-esque tones, and playing with the tone knob got me a pretty convincing Woman Tone. As for the neck–I felt instantly at home with it.The 9.5 radius felt perfect, and the neck wasn't too thin or too thick. This guitar is really an extraordinary value. Even the case is solid and well-made. At about 1/3 the price of the ES-335, it is incredibly impressive. I would recommend having a look at one of these to anyone looking for that semi-hollow sound.Dante1963

Guild has always made fine guitars, and my new Guild Starfire IV keeps that tradition of excellence going. Great tonal versatility, easy playability and beautiful craftsmanship in one magnificent semi-hollowbody. I must also say dealing with AMS is a dream. They are the most professional, courteous and helpful purveyors of musical instruments on the planet!Chris R.

I have to admit that I did try one in a Music store and I was very impressed. The sound,look,and feel are so good. The neck is rounder and a bit heftier than the original but is still very comfortable to play. It will kick butt in most styles and is a keeper. I own a 1970 Starfire and it is still a monster guitar,but as I mentioned above,the originals have a smaller U neck and full size humbuckers. The lacquer finish is now age cracked a bit but the guitar is in very good condition. I am a big Fan of the higher end Guild electrics and acoustics. Play one and you will be a Fan too.Wayne

So I thought I would re review this guitar for you since I have now had it almost a year. I have to say it has far exceeded my expectations. Definitely my favorite of all my guitars. I recently decided to put Thomastik flatwound bebop jazz 13's on it, mas this guitar came to life. The Thomastiks are quite expensive, but I have not replaced them for six months and still play like new. gave this guitar such a smooth and fat tone. It really gave this guitar a whole new sound, not that the sound was bad with the 11's but it just has a tone that warms your heart now. I had to do some adjustments to the truss rod and tweek her in a bit, I readjusted the pickups and bridge, but man… WOW what a fine instrument. I am so proud to own one of these. GET ONE!Dimension III Studios

It took a while for this guitar to really come to life for me. It is my first semi hollow body. I saw the video and fell in love with it, had to have it. It is beautiful not just in looks but in sound as well. It is a heavy beast, you may not like that, and it took me a bit to get used to the U shaped neck. I am used to play thinner narrower neck guitars. When I first got it I would not stay in tune, and took a few weeks of stretching strings and breaking it in to settle in. I have really come to love this guitar. It plays very well. I like to play jazz and mellow ballad type music with it. It has great tone, and sustain. I think as time goes by this one may grow to be my favorite. I have a Gibson SG, which I absolutely love the tone of. I also Have a Gretsch Pro Jet with Bigsby as of now is my Favorite to play. I would recommend this guitar, it has a sound all its own as is all Guild. I like tonal variation in my guitars because i do a lot of recording, and I like each guitar to set in its own space. This guitar definitely does that. It is the most expensive guitar I have purchased to date, so my expectations were very high. I started out a bit disappointed but as time has gone I am loving it more everyday. It came with an excellent case beautiful blue lining and a sturdy shell. The guitar in the case as absolutely stunningly beautiful. No Complaints at the end of the day, Great Instrument that I am Proud to own.Dimension III Studios

The case is excellent (5 latches, all working as they should). The guitar fit in the case is excellent too. Great wow factor when you open the case. This is one beautiful guitar. Fit and finish are impressive. Up there with the best of the Koreans, and better than some US. Very nice mahogany wood grain unnecessarily the same front and rear. In my hands, it has a really nice, familiar, and comfortable feel. Tuned up nicely, and though smallish, the Grover tuners are smooth and solid. A couple strums put a big smile on my face, as it played smooth, up and down the neck, and unplugged it really sings out acoustically and with impressive sustain. At 6-5/8 lbs, it feels very solid, but obviously not heavy. The strings it comes with don't send me running out to change them right away, either. My excitement was tempered a bit after I plugged it in, though. The only problem of any real significance was the toggle switch. (These toggles are about the only real problem I've had with any of my new guitars. Don't know why that seems to be my "problem of choice". But compared to everything else, I'll accept that, especially if it is the only problem) "Either" worked okay, but "both" was one only (middle position not working correctly). Same as my other toggle problems ironically. But additionally, the toggle was so loose in the switch housing, I thought it was a joystick at first. So that gets replaced. (Not as easy on a hollow body, though.) The pups are fine and I like them. Nice range and flavor. I'd have to play them more to define them better. The pots are bit of a concern though. Don't like the apparent taper, or should I say lack of. I'll have to give them some more time to evaluate too. After playing it a little, I looked closely at the setup and was surprised it was visually off a lot more than it felt. So it should be even better playing when dialed in. The neck needs just a little truss rod adjustment along with the bridge. I'll have my guy replace the switch and do the setup. The initial verdict? Very nice, and a keeper. In fact I was thinking that even if all the electronics were ripped out and replaced, it would still be worth it. The guitar itself is that good.wmachine

I've played for about 30 years – rock, R&B, country, jazz, blues – in bands in small venues. This is a steal for the money. Solid construction, light weight, great mini hum buckers with a clear low end. With a little gain, this guitar has a great classic rock humbucker sound, consistent across strings, cuts through the mix, really perfect in a group setting. The hollow construction allows you to get a good semi-amplified jazz sound. I play old swing/Gypsy, and it's great for that as well as a full-blown Wes Montgomery sound, but with a little more high end, which I like. Also has works great for country. A very versatile guitar, and a great buy for the money.Tim

I have been a tele guy for a long time but played a vintage Starfire years ago and have wanted one ever since. I really love the pickups in this guitar. To me they are the perfect middle ground between a single coil and a full on Gibson type humbucker. The clarity is unmatched and it retains a thickness that Im really enjoying. I got this guitar on a Cyber Monday deal and Im glad I took the deal.dssizemore92

While I was waiting for this guitar to arrive, I kept reading the many reviews about this guitar on the internet. While they were almost all positive, a tiny few people complained about little flaws in the fit and finish of this guitar. I figured that in the the worst case scenario I could send it back and upgrade to an AM 153 if the AM 93 wasn't satisfactory. Upon receiving the guitar I inspected it top to bottom. It was basically flawless. The binding looks perfect, no chips or voids. The neck was very comfortable and the frets were nicely dressed. The guitar was beautiful. The AM 93 sounds great with these pick ups and I knew right away that this was a keeper. I bought this initially to set up as a smaller bodied "jazz box" with heavier gauge flatwound strings. My "problem" now is that it sounds so good for blues/ rock with the lighter gauge strings that I might need another guitar to set up with the flatwounds! Eventually, I will probably change the tuning keys. These hold tune fine but a sweet guitar like this deserves silky smooth top of the line tuners. All in all a very nice guitar and an excellent value.Fenderbird 51

This is the 23rd guitar in my collection, and I am blown away by what the Chinese are able to accomplish in 2017. In the past Chinese guitars suffered the same reputation as Japan's earliest efforts. Just like Japan, they have made a determined effort to become a world class builder of electric guitars. They've succeeded. The quality, fit and finish of this guitar is outstanding, and I have paid twice as much for new American made guitars and received much lower quality in the last 10 years. The pickups are especially noteworthy. I almost always upgrade my humbucker pickups to a major manufacturer's " '59 " model for tone and reliability. The reliability of these pickups remains to be seen, since it usually takes years of sweat and vibration to judge the toughness of a set of pickups, but the tone is all there. The tone is comparable to ones that came out of Michigan in the late 50's and early 60's… snappy, plenty of treble and "bite", harmonic overtones that bloom nicely when overdriven. These are less likely to feedback, which is not a plus if you like to use feedback to increase sustain (ala Santata or EVH). It's my feeling that having a decreased tendency to feedback is sort of a plus in a semi hollow guitar. They can get a little unruly at stage volumes. The only possible downsides to this guitar are that the gold plating on the hardware looks a little cheap, and I would not be surprised if it wore off to the underlying brass and aluminum the way "gold" hardware on Asian guitars has a way of doing. Another possible issue for long term quality is that the beautiful quilt maple seems to be a paper thin veneer. On a more expensive instrument, even USA made ones, the maple portions of semi hollow guitars are laminated. This actually leads to a stronger, more resonant instrument that stands the test of time. Since we can't tell what's under this veneer, it raises the long term reliability question. The tone sounds right!Jay38063

The CURRENT version, as sold by a competitor, has an ebony fingerboard and tortoiseshell pickguard. After half a dozen emails with the Hoshino folks (Ibanez America) I found out that my guitar was manufactured in Indonesia. The Super 58 pickups are also manufactured in Indonesia. They no longer make the rosewood fingerboard version because of legal/environmental issues. As well, you cannot get a black pickguard with binding, even from Hoshino, because they are sold only in EU and Sino countries, not in U.S. The nut chipped on the G string slot when putting on D'Addario Chrome flatwounds, 10-48. And some of the frets are not the correct height. This becomes very evident when lowering the action. I've had to file numerous frets and still get some string buzzing. I had to replace the 3-way toggle switch because it makes so much noise when flipping between pickups…so I installed the old Standby, Switchcraft. I replace the turners with Planet Wave Auto Trim Locking tuners and put the 3 ply black plastic pickguard that Hoshino sells and fits this model. It's now a very, very respectable axe and I'm getting nice, sweet, jazzy sounds from the neck pickup. Overall, it's VERY well made, it's beautiful, it sounds great.VonBach

Set up to perfection.. plays like a dream…. Sound and feel is perfect for 60s jangle, but then softens beautifully for those early 70s proggy sounds that I don’t normally own up to . Bought at the same time as my Furch. Red… I have spoken of the first class service that I received in more detail in that review, and I shall spare you a repeat, as I am usually a curmudgeonly old bu**er, and it’s not normally in my nature to speak so highly and warmly of someone twice in one day!!!😃😃😃😃😃Martin K.

The guitar came w amazing playability, low action and this cutting, raw, rock n roll, bluesy tone. The tone knob works to simulate a neck pickup, this is all u need. This $109 lil devil blew me away.the satin neck, floss body, and flametop..setup was really, really good, no sharp edges. No problem bending strings, great quality control,thank me later, this model has TONE, my friend, you like rock n roll? Or blues? It’s Soulful and expressive and the tone cuts, but has that vintage stonesey grind..love this thing. gig bag is a really strong, Grey tweed,lined w that rainproof plastic stuff, foam padded backpack straps, really thick padding,modern styling..looks worth around $39 for the bag itself. Classy package, I can’t imagine being dissatisfied with this instrument, watch my demo on you tube, I was shocked myself at the tone ..hit a power chord and..ear candy!Bettuh S.

One of my strings on the guitar was broke. I told the company, they don't get back to you. Mad about that, after that don't even want the thing anywayDianna