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But the thing is, they don't make an Epiphone DC jr either

I noticed two epiphone les Paul’s sitting in a guitar rack one China made one South Korea the China one was smaller

Charlie Starr’s signature was ridiculously priced…but they only made a few hundred. I want a simple black Jr for $999

I think guitar makers are anticipating a Trump election and for four more years we can afford guitars again.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's. I probably started playing guitar in the late 60's. Back then the budget guitars were mail order brands that came from a catalog like Sear's, Montgomery Wards, or JC Penney. They had brand names like Harmony, Kay, Silvertone etc. They were mostly made from cheap woods and some were made from materials like Masonite. The pickups were cheap imitations of single coils, P90's and Humbuckers. The quality of construction varied widely. The guitars had a tendency to feed back because of poor pickups and unshielded electronics. the budget amps of the day were usually cheap solid state units with the exception being the Silvertone which is actually a collector item today.

"I have too many guitars" - Said no one, ever.

What a great discussion.

Also, why are we buying more guitars - now - when guitar based music is on the wane? Please no arguments that it isnt, I play guitar and enjoy guyitar based music - best, but it clearly is on the wane. Yet 'we' are buying so many?! Is it just CZcams GAS?

Fender has a machine shop that’s shared between the standard line and custom shop which make pretty much everything except screws.

If the rest of the guitar looks like a Gib - why not the headstock?

Everything resumes to profit! I think we all agree companies should and have to make a profit but to abuse in prices against customers is not good.

Hi Phil, thanks for mentioning that the Leo Fender name, likeness and signature are property of G&L. It’s what Leo wanted and I try to honor his legacy the best I can. - Dave

i feel like the brand dident get as popular as they thought

I hace a Black one and its broken whit a carbón arm

Just took a look at Sweetwater. Single pickup custom shop juniors: $6,499 and $7,999. I bought a barn and had an acre around it fenced for about the same price. I’m pretty sure there was a lot more lumber used for that.

The Gibson double cut is back for 1699 in dark walnut.

My first guitar 40 years ago was a dumpster find Hondo Strat…it worked but like hell to play.

I started playing in 86 and $150 didn't get you much of a guitar. You could also fill a grocery buggy slap fricken full for $200. Gas was about 70 cents per gallon. This is truly the golden era of budget guitars.

G&Ls are NOT, in any universe, better than Fender Custom Shop.

all of the G&L neck shapes SUCK

I’m a hobby builder. I’m working up to building all my own hardware including because I have ideas that I can’t believe companies aren’t already doing.

I bought a budget guitar 25 years ago. It was a Kramer Focus 111S (Strat copy) from an online place called Music Yo. I was amazed at just how good it was for the price. I still have it. I've made a few changes, just personal preference, but after replacing the strings and tuning it, it played amazingly well right out of the box. And it was much more substantial than the Squier Bullet Strat I bought a year ago. Thicker and heavier body. That new Squier was unplayable when I received it. The fret ends stuck out so far that the strings would get hung up under them, plus they would cut your fingers. I had to have a local independent music store dress the frets. The Kramer had perfect frets.

I think you far undervalue how much CNC technology helped. Yea, cheap guitars of old had crap hardware. But in many ways they still do, with Chinese pot metal hardware. But, back in the day, cheap guitars all too often had bad necks, no chnce at anything but a super high action because of ill fit, or glued necks to bad body neck pockets, cheap 'plywood' bodies etc. Having workers work fast, and manually like that made for a wide variance. CNC machines got rid of that aspect. Faster and uniform in quality (for the most part), made for at the minimum a good mod platform.

I clearly remember how miserable budget guitars were when I first started playing back in the 60’s and beyond. Fast forward to today and the “budget” guitar is a really good guitar. I picked up a PRS Paul’s guitar SE recently and am just amazed what a great guitar it is.

I bought my first bass in 1998 or so, a Yamaha RBX P-style. They're still basically putting out the same guitar today at almost no difference in price, if you adjust for inflation. It was really good. Sometimes I miss it.

Budget guitars was moree budget then

1976 Electra strat copy...JUNK!!

Exactly my thoughts.

Kiesel for the win! 🤘🏻

I have 2 Carvin (1986 and 1992) and 2 Kiesels (2019 and 2024). The Kiesels are the best instruments I have amongst a majority of more than 20 instruments overall. Immaculate construction and great tones and playability. The only new guitars I bought that I felt they worth every penny spend.

It’s amazing the wide gap in employee and location costs between the US and elsewhere. No wonder manufacturing is pretty much dead here.

Man, I just wish they would make lap steels again. I love my 52 Gibson BR-9

Fender still stamps their own bridges, neck plates, and jack plates don’t they? And what about the fender stamped tuning keys?

4:12 yes...

I bought my Ibanez RG550 secondhand in 1991, it's a late 80's one, and I paid £250 for it. I still have it, but the only original parts on it are the body, machine heads, scratchplate, and back cover, and neck plate. Everything else has been replaced. It originally had a maple fingerboard, it had a new neck about 17 years ago, and it's got a rosewood fingerboard now. Great guitar.

One word answers most questions like this “Money” theres your answer. Thats all. Nothing more nothing less. Its a business. They do what they do to make money. That is all.

If we stop buying Guitars alot of Factory's would shut down amd there would be more unemployment !! Buying Supplies Jobs !!

The 1970s had the worst budget guitars. We're living in the golden age now.

When I think of a budget guitar I remember the Keith Urban guitar comercials on TV late at night. Where he is selling his branded guitar for 169.99. With that being said, my first guitar was a Jasmine Takamine for 199.99, still have today, it actually sounds good for a budget guitar....

I dunno, a friend bought an Epiphone Les Paul with a bolt on neck about 12 years ago which was the worst guitar I've ever played.

Go back almost 50 years... and if you bothered to be discerning and paid attention - you could still get an exceptional guitar at a budget price! I paid GBP105 for a Sakai strat (3 way switch) - turns out it was probably one of the best they ever made - and I was playing it this morning; still sounds like a fine instrument! Allowing for inflation... it would be around a GBP800 instrument nowdays - but back then it was about a quarter of the cost of a decent Fender strat.

Phillip- What do you think of Gibson coming out with the $1699 LP Jr. double cut through the Demo Shop? Wasn’t it just the other day that you made a video explaining why it doesn’t make sense for them to do that; and do you think they were flipping you the bird?

They dont make em out of cheap plywood anymore

You'll don't know about budget guitars in the 50s and 60s they had some junk it basically looked like a guitar Yamaha actually changed all that

In 1998, I got my first guitar. It was a Lyon by Washburn Strat copy. Was fantastic.

Different strokes for different folks. I love the headstock and especially the truss rod cover. Very art deco vibe. Think Empire State and Chrysler buildings. Makes sense given that D'Angelico was formed in the 1930's.

I wonder who actually makes the Epiphone Kluson style tuners and their Epi branded Lock-Tone bridges and tailpieces? Also, the Epi branded lightning bar wraparound bridge that's found it's way onto other brand guitars?

Great answer Phillip. Engaging.

I had a Heit Delux that proved awful when I picked up my Telecaster.

My first guitar had such terrible string height, that you could slip a deck of cards behind the 12th fret. Also, there was no truss Rod.