Best Cheap Guitar I've Ever Tried? (Eart Strat Review)
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2022
- Best Cheap Guitar I've Ever Tried? (Eart Strat Review)
Today I'm taking a look at the Eart SSS Stratocaster. The guitar looks absolutely stunning, especially considering that it's a really affordable electric guitar.
This one is really interesting.
Hope you enjoy!
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I enjoy your reviews very much, and you're a great player! RE: cheap guitar frets. Invest in a rubber mallet. Find the high frets and beat them with the mallet. You will reseat the fret without losing material, time, and effort. It works, and as you found out it's very common and can happen over time. Break out the mallet once and a while if needed. I know a guy who just beats the entire fretboard, skipping the fret rocker stage.
Really enjoyed the tremolo test on this one, wasn't expecting that! Keep the vids coming, thank you.
Glad you liked it!
Man, I love that it came with a mint green pickguard. Eventually putting cream knobs, covers and a tip will make it look great.
Damn it man!
Best whammy test I've ever freakin seen. You're a badass Elmo.
Cheers 😊
I am so glad that you checked this guitar out. The one thing That really attracted me to the eart is the stainless steel frets. I realize getting them leveled might seem like a big deal but.........now they are ready to go for a very very long time. and who doesnt love playing on a newly leveled fret board. I reecently bought the tele style eart and was very impressed and im sad i let it go.. im looking at a used one like the strat and after looking at this i think I will get it. Thanks much Elmo and I hope I can support you as a patrion member in the future
Thanks Ernie!
Oh My Gosh Elmo! You had a real Randy Rhoads Level performance happening there from 8:51 and on, for sure. THAT was truly Astounding.
Thank you for the whammy bar torture test! That's important to know! My expensive Fender Strat couldn't stay in tune even with locking tuners, roller nut and bridge.
I like the detail that they have pickup pole peaces alligned with strings on all pickups!
I bought an opened but unplayed Eart E-3S and took a risk, i was one of the the lucky ones and had no
issues with high frets.
But having seen many reviews of these guitars, they remind me of Harley Bentons in that the lower range
models are hit and miss.
Go further up the range and they seem to have spent more time on the setup.
The Eart stock pickups are better than the dreaded Roswell ones, and for once if have left them alone,
the only upgrade it did was fit locking tuners and rings around the humbucker pickups to hide the unsightly
holes.
I highly recommend them, but they are not ideal for beginners unless they budget for a setup.
Hope you continue to like this one Elmo.
thanks for the review Elmo!!!😎🎸🎶✌🏻
The majority of my guitars I bought are/were used but in like or almost new condition. Nice Eart guitar! Thanks for sharing Elmo!
Cheers :)
Excellent playing ❤ Have the nk c3 myself and its playability is fantastic ,superb neck and fretjob!!!
Great review! I have not tried an Eart yet.
I bought this guitar last summer when its reviews started making rounds here at the Tubes. It was actually only 150€ back then, which in insanely good bargain for for the features you get. I mean there's quite a bit of "iffy" stuff about it in terms whether the neck really is roasted maple, the tuners are really Korean etc. But all that aside, the build quality is insane and even though I had already decided to immediately change the pickups, I liked them enough to keep them in despite them being "only" ceramic bar magnet pickups.
However, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows at first. The frets on the neck of the guitar I first received were an uneven buzzy mess, with frets popping off the fretboard bad enough to catch strings and on top of that all, it was a flat 20" throughout (measured with a radius tool). It was literally unplayable. At first I was like, eh, it was worth the risk and decided I'd try a refund. They weren't willing to give me a refund, but to my great surprise, they were willing to ship me a brand new neck, free of charge. It took something like two months to arrive, but that it was perfect. It had the promised compound radius and the fret job was absolutely impeccable.
Honestly, despite the price, I consider it one of my most playable guitars. Ridiculous value. Assuming you get a good one...
That was cool of them.
Hi Elmo 👋 Because of your great review i bought a Red Eart and the mint pick guard looks pretty cool right out of the box plays great no issues so thanks
People are quite obsessed with fret ends these days, imho great fret ends but with fret buzz still means bad fret job. In the end, sharp fret ends are annoying but very very easy to fix without risking to ruin the guitar's action, while fret buzz can be tricky and if you try to fix it without knowing what you are doing you might even ruin the action to a point where you need a refret. By the way, your reviews are always very nice to watch!
Thanks!
excellent stuff, Elmo. I'm tempted to buy one in red, though as always, who need more..
Cheers :)
I had the same strat with the same issue, my frets were even worse than yours. I did end up selling the guitar, perhaps I should have had the fret job done to it. Nice video!!
I must say that I love the green! It stands out. I bought the same guitar, it's now my daily and I have never had the fret issue. Can't say enough good about it. Thanks for the video, well done.
I haven't eard this before 😎
Nice guitar Elmo. It's a rocker, a roller, a right-out of-controller. Cheers from London.
That tremolo demo was 🔥
Nice Villanova Junction reference!
Not sure if I was just lucky but I have 3 Eart guitars - 1 strat style (1 hum. / 2 singles) and 2 tele style and all 3 of mine have perfect fretwork. Love them. Serious bang for the buck. They also have really good customer service. You could have sent it back for a replacement without any hassles.
I got a Hernia from doing prickups once.
Thanks for the review 👍🏻
I have 2 Eart headless guitars that cost less than $300 US each and they are just fantastic. Stainless steel frets perfectly finished and a 5 piece neck for that price is crazy. Like your's one of my guitars had a couple of high spots on the frets but it's an easy fix with a few tools (fret rocker, small file set and micro abrasive pads) then watch a youtube video on spot leveling frets. The other one had perfectly level frets. To be fair I have had new Jackson's and Ibanez guitars with high frets so it is worth learning how to fix them as it is a common issue.
Given that a decent kit strat can run a bit over half your quoted price these guitars are good deals. The EART website says they have been making guitars for 18 years. They are Chinese. These guys seem to be serious manufacturers of the product. Stainless steel frets should last just about forever too. Good playing in the demo.
I would love to see you review electrophonic guitars , with built in amp and speakers
Superb demo brother!
And absolute bargain. 👍
Cheers!
I live in the US Colorado actually, but one of these about a year ago same price, 269.. neck is dead straight had absolutely no fret sprout on mine. I do know how to set Guitars up. Change the electronics out to Wilkinson vintage pick ups, with tone, shaper electronics, CTS spots. And it sounds phenomenal. One of my best playing guitars. And I have less balls and fender Stratz and a PRS. But I do like noodling around with it just because of the stainless steel fret. I’ve been a lot, so I’m not wearing out to Fretz on my good guitars. It’s a great mod platform
You are so right about trying before you buy, especially with a guitar. I just got a near on 200 pound (UK money) Ibanez gio, and was pretty lucky with all the parts being ok, apart from the frets, most are abit scratchy, but there's no buzzy sound so that was good, so all i need to do is polish them up with some wet and dry sand paper, it's an easy fix, I have the no how to do this, I'm not actually going to file them down, just a little polish. But had i known this i probably would have saved the hassle of even having to do this and not brought it. But I'm one of these buyer who don't just read reviews (as i got it on amazon) i go around CZcams and other sites to see what the deal is. I actually watched one of your reviews lol, and you was very accurate on what i got lol. But I'm a moderate guitar player so not looking to spend hundreds until i feel my playing is worthy of a real decent guitar, at moment I'm learning so don't really need the best to do this.
Yeah, trying before you buy is so important.
This kind of fret issues developped after some days or weeks (maybe for a change in humidity) can be solved by hammering gently on the fret to set it down again. I gess that your friend has tried this before leveling. It doesn't work always but you can give it a try before going to a luthier, specially if the problem appeared after buying it.
Yeah, he did try that
Please do more reviews on Eart guitars!
I love inexpensive instruments, I have Squires and Epiphones that play very well. I bought the Eart NKC-1 telecaster for $279. and when I held it I knew it was an upper tier quality instrument. Elmo, your playing did make the pickups shine brightly, in a good way. One of the manager's of Eart has left to create the Latitude Guitar company. I have heard the Company name EART pronounced different ways by even their own employees. Some say E-Art, some say Ear-TEA.
a high fret (detected with a plain steel 'fret rocker' ) is easy to repair for yourself and cheap to have a local setup guy do.
Great playing and production! A soft mallet fixes high frets most of the time.....
Hey man, just wanted to say I'm a 29 year old man from Mexico, who found your channel and you inspired me to start playing guitar. I will subscribe to your Patreon, just trying to get the money. anyways, you're an amazing guitar player, and an amazing human being, for what I can tell. Thank you for being honest on your reviews, and for always speak the truth about guitars, amps and all of that. I hope one day I can meet you in person, and stretch our hands. Life bless you!
Thank you very much. So glad to hear about you starting to play :)
I just built up this same guitar with some dimarzio HS3 and 2s, a Gotoh bridge ... its a great guitar for any price honestly...set up and upgraded it competes with guitars that cost thousands... great chops too man...ps I changed the pickguard
Thanks! Yeah, the pickguard is a bit weird :D
I love my AutoCorrect Les Paul came out less balls. You gotta love it.
Fender does not give you a guitar that plays as well as these and I really hope people understand what you get with these as far as quality and specs goes. Listen to this man, even if you have to take these to a tech to fix some high frets or whatever it's still more than worth it. You can't buy a neck alone with SS frets for the price plus the fret job and the neck plays like butter and I love that this is basically a Suhr copy. So realistically this is the best deal on a cheap quality strat guitar that has ever existed in the history of guitars and probably one of the best mod platforms out there. I have 2 of these by the way and only my PRS S2 plays as well as these and I've never played a Fender that was as buttery as this guitar.
Oh wow.
I google Suhr &u say they strived 2mirror it, possible even with thpickup tones and neck configurations? Wow. Thanks 4comment.
They all look thsame 2me so i dunno specifically what th heck u talking about but let me know if u read this? lolmost.
@@TOPMOSTPOP The basic Stratocaster model which is the cheapest is all you need. I would change the pickups to alnico 5's and you have a guitar that blows away any Fender I've owned. I now have 4 Eart guitars and they are all amazing.
@@Stratisfied22 4 Earts all amazing thats saying something. I saw those pickups u mentioned $35. So if I get Gotoh Floyd Rose &42mm big brass black for suatain thats still $400 sounz do able. I cab get a michael Batio with radiused neck 14" vs Eart 9.5" which is a lot flatter then Eart. Holldsworth uses really flat neck so thinking he may be on 2something withat.
@@TOPMOSTPOP They also have a strat thats a 9.5 to 14" radius
Thanks for the review! Choosing a guitar between the EART YMS-SG3 and JET JS-450? what can you advise?
during about 17 years of my personal guitar playing experience I could definitely say that any guitar, which came out of box should be checked and tuned (if it is needed) by luthier. This is common practice, which allows to catch more issues and catch them all. It is not depend on budget or guitar brand. So, in this case, if the sound is in a such cool level this fret buzz is just nothing and it's fine to spend some time and additional budget to make a final and custom tuning under your personal requirements. If there are no ways to avoid luthier (maybe if you are luthier, so you gonna visit yourself=), so it is not a real deal with that buzz IMHO. Awesome review and awesome sound of this really nice looking strat, many thanks to Elmo!
some places have almost no good luthiers though, my province for example, a few random guys but no way to know how experienced they are. And the only big music store here, don't even do fret level they have to send it to another province to do, which increase the price.
@@Healcraft I am really feel your pain, here in my city despite it has just 1 luthier and he is busy as hell.
True.
Very good point on buying second hand - especially if previous owner states that it has been to a luthier for a set-up. Also the wood will have 'dried out' a bit more. So you get it cheaper than new and with added value - and you can feel good about recycling.
Spot on.
' you can feel good about recycling' ? That is YOUR politics
True, and to go farther in recycling, I find it cool to use an object that have been there for awhile, that lived a story or mutiple ones, beside the ecological point of view (which I share with you)
@@DougHinVA Are you saying that you don't agree with the concept of recycling?
And if your lucky they may have been upgraded too!
I bought an Eart that was used last year for only £200 that had been fitted with Iron Gear Alnico pickups, better full size pots, locking tuners, Wilkinson bridge and graphite nut!
The guitar was in pretty much “as new” condition, just needed a bit of a set up!
The upgrade parts alone would have cost more than I paid!
I always look out for used guitars that have been upgraded, got a Squire Strat that had been fitted with Fender Tex Mex pickups for only £90 and a Harley Benton “Prince” Telecaster with CTS pots for only £60!
I have subsequently gone on to upgrade them further, but it saved me a lot by buying used with quality parts already fitted!
Great review. Ya buddy that leveled the frets did a fantastic job floating the trem. Or maybe you did it. 😁😉
I did the trem :)
@@MrPolevaulter A pro player and pro set up guy. 😁👍
They are really great guitars. The tremolo, frets, and tuners are worth the price alone, but the satin neck and body finish and truss rod wheel adjuster make it that much better. And the pickups would be totally acceptable in a $500 guitar.
Yeah, really nice.
Compared with fender, this guitar is too bad.
Having the greenish pick guard sets it apart from other strat type guitars. Cool headstock too. Also if you want to change it you can prolly pick up a new pick guard for less than 10$.
Mint green pick guards are prevalent on on many Strats.
So, I've been playing a Squire and trying to decide if I should just upgrade some components or buy a step up guitar. I don't have Fender or PRS money as I'm newly disabled and can't work. I think this might be what I need. Sounds pretty damn good. Unless someone wants to send me an instrument
I bought this same guitar two years ago for $200 and no fret buzz at all. The neck of this guitar is beyond fantastic. One piece of advice...buy this guitar on Amazon, free return no question asked try it out and fret buzz happened send it back and get another one, they are worth every penny. In fact I have two others Eart guitars a 335 and a Superstrat Explorer with no problems with any of them.
Fantastic playing, you sold me, I just ordered one for $215 US from Amazon
Having fun yet Elmo? Lol. Love your honest reviews bro.
Thanks! 😊
The pups certainly sound chimey, this is probably the best strat for budget. Stainless steel frets as well!! I’ve contact Eart for one. This is now actually $399 on their site. Still hope no issues with frets sticking out
Definitely one of the best strats around. Can’t find another strat with stainless steel frets around here!
Quite often when I find raised frets. they are not seated properly.
Easy fix, 4" G clamp with a rubber washer on the screw end and a 10mm X 25 mm block of wood.
Put the block over the raised area ands gently tighten quarter turn at a time, and check with the rocker.Repeat as necessary
Nice... ill try that next time
@@joshchristian8598 Move your fret rocker across the fretboard, mark the affected area with a pen. Target the centre.
Often you can see the problem with magnification.
You can get this happening with older guitars if the atmosphere is not right.
Stainless steel is a nightmare to recrown. It eats file's because it's so hard.
Go gently, often little more than hand pressure, I normally start by clamping my fingers inside the G clamp, Rolling my knuckles against the neck. Guitar on my knees and headstock resting on the shoulder.
I prefer this method to using a mallet,
I have basic guitar tools if uts only 1 or 2 spots ill do it myself but i have never tried to mess with stainless steel
Even though I own a late 90's Amer. Strat. I also own a Eart Tele, loved it right out of the box, neck frets finish, awesome! Also owned Fender MiM, Vibe and Player series, sold them both.
Pleksi on mintun vihreä eli toisella kotimaisella mint green plexi.
Great sounding guitar!
@DJ Moose No niin.
Good grief Elmo - you have been listening to me noodling ! (except for the really quick stuff !). I will stick to my cheapos but it sounds good .
:D
Great video. Here is a great question. Humbucker pickup swap for a Squire Deluxe Telecaster? What is the most affordable swap that will give a better Bluesy and darker tone?
Dunno. Haven't swapped pickups into a Tele.
Well, this is a Deluxe. Humbuckers
You try tapping the fret down?
I thoroughly enjoyed the dive bombing glee.
EART's "Virginia", likely named after Eric Johnson's own sassafras bodied Strat, really seems like a well priced bargain.
Yeah, the whammy test is often my favorite bit in these :)
A single high fret is no big deal. More of a big deal with stainless than nickel-silver, but still, not the end of the world. That thing looks and sounds phenomenal, Elmo, thanks for reviewing.
Cheers!
The PRS SE was good as well.
Hi..E,nice satin finish,mint green pick guard not with sunburst,hay, your pickup covers don't look darker than those..ba da bing..
Nice one Elmo ; none of us are going to be buying big branded guitars at this rate! ;)
Haha :D
I've been looking for guitars with 7.25 radius necks and finally found out Eart makes some guitars with 7.25 - 9.50 compound necks!
I guess I need to get busy and wear out one of my single coil guitars to justify buying yet another guitar.😂
You can also set up affiliate accounts with Amazon, if that's something you're interested in 👍
Hey! Love your videos. Could you check out the gunslinger rb1011. Its based on blackmores aiwa tp1011 tape machine what he used as a boost. I heard it sounds amazing. Thought of getting it but it costs 230€ and im only 14 and dont got the balls to spend that money without being 100% sure. Your reviews are the best so i thought of asking you to review it!
Thanks! I might at some point, though I'm not sure. So much gear, so little time. Thanks for the suggestion :)
@@MrPolevaulter thanks for the reply!
The pick ups sound great. That is a lot of pluses for that price.
Absolutely.
Hello Elmo, is this guitar better than Sire S3?? I was impressed by the tuning test
I liked it a bit more yeah. Both great though.
@@MrPolevaulter do you think that Eart is better than Fender?
I know that this question can be considered stupid
The green tinge on the pick guard is freaking me out man! Said in the style of Tommy Chong 🪴🌈☺️
:D
@elmo What do you think is better, Yamaha 112VMX or the Harley Benton Fusion III (normal maple neck) for a beginner, both are 300 Euro at Thomann?
Not sure. They should both be good.
And it's a looker to!!
thanks,
Do these not generally come with the whammy bar? The website doesn't appear to include it. Did you buy through the manufacturer's site?
They do, and I did.
very nice guitar and... 13:20 WOW ! (better than Floyd Rose)
:)
It was probably just the fret lifting. No need to relevel if it just need a good oil and tapped back down
Elmo, what you think about Prodipe guitars?
Haven't tried them.
I bought one of these for $230 Canadian 🤣y'all overpaid greatly not realizing how good these are..added locking tuners and a different pickguard and alnicos...SO GOOD. I hod to put hours into setup and fret erasing but...immaculate afterwards
Sir, honestly these are NOT really economy guitars though. You can get lovely
strats and Tele's for £55 sterling inc shipping. Perfect guitars. (Fazley)
i shop for guitars at about 139 sterling and there are some excellent brands
out there.
Phynica Fazley 820.......super guitar for little cash. (superstrat)
Also another cracking brand are SLICK guitars.
You live in northern Europe. People complaining about fret sprout should consider, if you order a guitar from another clime, the wood of the fretboard will shrink and expand, as the guitar travels, while the metal of the frets will not, thus, the fretboard you get, is not the one they shipped to you, and this is not a quality issue.
Those guitars are just great!! 👍
There are two versions of it. With ceramic pickups and alnico. I was searching for the alnico version here in Germany, but did not found any. Where can i buy this Guitar in Europe?
I think I just bought it from their website.
@@MrPolevaulter well... true. Thanks.
Thanks!
Thank you very much :)
Thank you for the video! Does anyone know the exact model name of this guitar? I've been looking for it in the UK but can't seem to find it.
I think it's this one, although it seems to have gone up in price: eartguitar.com/collections/classic-s/products/eart-electric-guitar-sss-proymx-sg3m-satin-poly-trans-tobacco-burst
Actually no, it's not that one. Can't find it on their website. Maybe it's sold out at the moment.
So, where can you get one from..? 🤔
Link please..
No longer available it seems.
where can i buy Eart guitars in EU?
From their website.
1 big problem is resale value if you live in the UK where i am and try to sell it in the future no one would buy it why ? because its not a Fender or big name brand , ive seen ESP Strat copies that are absolute trash but due to the ESP brand name people have bought them , EART need to get big name guitar players like for example John Frusciante playing them or they will struggle in todays market.
The truss rod on my is stuck still, so I can barely set it up :/
Sorry to hear. Can you send it back?
My £900 Fender Vintera modified has a sprouting 4th fret too. So for the price of that guitar I definitely think it’s forgivable.
Is Eart better than a Jet js400?
Haven't tried the Jet, so can't say.
Yea man and if you don't mind blue it's only 215.00 on Amazon. Blue paint must be cheap plus no flame on the top.
Cool!
Did the harley benton tele develop that issue as well?
Nope.
@@MrPolevaulter thanks Elmo
Super bright and fizzy sounding. Is that the case in the room?
A bit, but not too bad.
Hi! Do you know any good and reliable guitar stores in uusimaa finland? And btw is your mother tongue finnish or finnish-swedish?
No, sorry.
It's finnish-swedish.
@@MrPolevaulter Cool, im also finnish-swedish
@@-Leo07- Finemang :)
Worth it, hands down.
Where do they sell these?
Amazon.
And on their own website. You can Google it.
Yo, that pickguard looks like it glows in the dark?!
I don't think it does though.
cheap guitars are bad, tube amps are better, you need maximum volume to sound good, heroin helps you to be a better musician...these are myths from long ago XD. Great video as always, Elmo!!
Thank you :)
Eart should rename the pickups to the Eart Prickups.