31k, well done!

A really good video about budget guitars. Gentlemen of our age will appreciate it. Not a younger audience who have never had to endure the countless problems that our first Guitars gave us. Good for them.

CNC has been the great leap forward in electric guitar manufacturing. Roasted maple necks and now ball-ended stainless steel frets makes most necks pretty fantastic compared to the old days. The Golden era of Electric Guitar is still here and being continued on by small brands upping the ante for low prices. Love it!

Back in the day, I was someone who gigged a £35 second-hand Japanese Les Paul copy - albeit after I’d upgraded the bridge pickup, tuners and bridge. Those guitars were what got us started as you say, John! I’ve still got it for the nostalgia and the Mighty Mite pickup and Schaller tuners will be worth a bit more than they were then 👍

Yesterday I tried a new PRS SE CE24 Standard Satin for the first time. It was a green one. It was well made. It didn't feel special to me. They cost $499 at Guitar Center. Last week I bought a Donner DJC1000S for $130 with taxes included. I love the neck. The finish had just one grain of sand under it. The rest of it was great. The nut slots could be deeper and the action needs to be set along with the intonation. It is a heavy Thinline style guitar with two humbuckers. It might become a genuinely great guitar after the setup. American reviewers have said that it is really good. The maple neck has a maple fingerboard. The body is painted sunburst with black edges. A five ply top can be seen through the F hole. Others have opened the cavity and it looks like the body below the thick plywood top might be an inch and a half thick. It probably isn't one slab. Essentially it is a plywood instrument. Some of these inexpensive instruments do surpass guitars similar to your Satellite Les Paul copy. Name brand Asian guitars are really close to Western made brands. In fact, some are better than Fenders. Several reviewers say that the Squier brand's lowest tier is junk. Even some made in Mexico Fenders aren't so well made. While at the guitar store, several famous brands were tried in the medium to low end range. There are many beauties out there, but they don't play better or sound better than my budget guitar.

My CMI SG was £35 in 1974. I loved it and regret selling it (for £40 in 1988!) The action and playability was amazing. I seem to remember the pots didn't really do what they should and the humbuckers were actually single coils. Hey Ho. I also got a VOX AC 30 for £40 and really regret selling that!

My first electric was a Selma Futurama ll. I loved it.

When not playing my first electric guitar, a Vox AC Stroller, I found it came in pretty handy as a kitchen appliance, slicing boiled eggs for sandwiches and salads. Modern budget guitars are exceptional compared to the 'good' old days.

My first electric guitar was a Columbus "Les Paul" back in the seventies. It sounded like a very angry bee who didn't know where he was! 🤣 That might have something to do with me though 🤔

The satellite looks similar to a "Bradley" LP copy I bought sold by a music store in the DC area (venemans) in the late 70s.

Many of those satillites were just made to look nice. Some humbuckers were actually single coils in a humbucker shell. Some Hondo guitars (I am sure came from the same factory) had Di marzios ....if you were lucky. Even some mid 80s squires also had plywood bodies. Not to mention the leap forward in transistor technology, some of those practice amps from yesteryear were also piss poor. Yep i am also showing my age 😁👍👍👍👍

Back around the same time '80-'81 my first electric was a copy of an SG, it didn't even have a brand name on it anywhere and I begged and pleaded with my Father for the whopping sum of 15 dollars to buy it from a friend part of the body had a little fire damage from a house fire it managed to survive though and my older Sister God bless her brought the Guitar and I to a music shop and paid to have a Super Distortion put in it and a little Peavey Amp to boot. It was a proper shit plank but I loved it and played it everyday.

It's a golden age for budget guitars today compared to back in the day !! 😛

My first electric was a marlin sidewinder, an absolute pig of a guitar.

Yep... I have around 30 guitars, ranging from very inexpensive (cheap!) to moderately high priced to vintage. I doubt I will ever spend big bucks for a guitar again. The moderately priced axes sound great, play great, and leave me money for other toys!

Marlin Sidewinder strat copy in 1987 played through a Squire 10w transistor amp. Just awful 😬

My first electric was a LP copy with a acid tripping butterfly on the head stock. It was good for building calluses.

My first electric guitar was a VANTAGE (SAMICK?) black strat copy in 1997... i thought it was the best thing ever at the time but in retrospect it was pretty rough... fret buzz, tuning unstability, controls that fell off... but it kooked a bit like Clapton's anyway(!) £99

Indeed we have! My early electrics were a Kay from Woolworths, a Hondo ST style guitar which I can't remember too much about then a Yamato LP which John has featured here. I thought the pick ups were OK, but the guitar was made from cheap wood. However hard I tried I couldn't get neck and body to stay together and eventually it just fell apart! After that I bought a decent guitar - a Tokai ST style in 1985 (along with a Sessionette amp), but both had to be sold not long after. These days my main guitar is an Artist TC59 which I got for around £100 as it was returned stock with a few issues. I know that that guitar didn't suit John and I respect his reasons for that particularly as he had other options available, but as a leftie you have to be grateful for what you can get and I like it. You even get a free weights session every time up pick it up 😀

I still have my old Columbus LP. It has gotoh double cream humbuckers in it which still sound good. I need to put some lefty pots in it. Played loads of gigs with it for a good 12 years or so. That and an old EKO ranger 12 string.

Given the fact that the Satellite has made it 40 years without finding itself on the back of a bin lorry I'd suggest it's one of the better ones

I've been playing my Gretsch guitars a lot lately, for rockabilly and blues primarily. Haven't been playing my LP style Eastmans much lately. I should pull them out and give them a go.

The Satellite isn't that bad is it, soundwise at least?

OK, even I can hear the difference.... 🙂

I was listening with my eyes but it seems to me the Satellite had single coils and a weaker output.

Harley has more definition and just sounds a bit more classy.

Is it a similar price comparison though? A HB 550 ii is around £240 which is a ton less than the Satellite at todays prices. Great rocking out by the way.

So the pups are better, what about everything else, like weight, neck, frets, etc....

The pickups in the Satellite are probably fake humbuckers with a weedy single coil hiding beneath, I had a very similar 70s Columbus LP back in the day, pretty dreadful compared to modern copies

And you tell the kids today and they won't believe you 😂. The club. Those was the days. I wonder how amps would fair , with same metrics. Gorilla.......