[littlegreenman]

Well, I've heard about all the great guitars you guys have owned.  How about the Lemons of the industry.
Whether it was fit and finish, playability or sound, what was the worst guitar you ever owned?
Mine was a toss up between a 1972 Fender Telecaster that played like a 2x4 and sounded terrible but it was given to me so I kind of had to keep it for a while.
And a Fender Squire Strat that literally kept falling apart.  Bolts would either break or strip out of the wood and the fretboard started to separate from the neck.  I won this one so I could care less about it.  We ended up dropping it from balconies to see how bad we could break it.  We broke it real good!  :biggrin:
Jeremy

 

[mecca777]

How bad can it be?!

In terms of actual quality, my first guitar experience was with an old department store electric that my dad had, which I was allowed to learn my first chords on. It was a nasty plywood Strat copy with a slightly altered body (the bottom part of the body was somewhat similar to a Carvin Holdsworth), and it had two nasty plastic single coils with slider switches, and the neck wasn't intonated right, and the hardware was made from cheap metal that cracked, and I had painted over the sunburst with black and white spray paint, and it got absolutely smashed up one day when I was in a bad mood. Still, I sometimes wish I had it, even though it was the nastiest POS I've ever played.

However, the most disappointing guitar I've ever owned was my pink JEM777. Having been a long-time Ibanez fan, and having scrimped and saved for the money to buy a cool JEM, only to find that it was completely lifeless and dead-sounding, even when I changed the pickups, was a bit of a let-down. I sold it on and didn't lose any money, and I'm much happier with my RGs and my PGM.

Still, I do want a BFP. I'll just be more discriminating in future. On the other hand, the used JEM market in the UK is good in that if you're sensible about buying in good condition and at the right price, it's difficult to lose money on JEMs, so you can keep trying until you get a good one.

 

[jono]

How bad can it be?!

I had a 91 JEM 77 GMC that was (imho) the single best ATD GMCswirl ever!!!

However it was a dog and a half to play. The neck/action was never right, it buzzed like mad even after several expensive setups in shops and a few attempts myself plus the 3rd fret seemed to regenerate after being filed down!?!?!

The trem NEVER returned to neutral properly, and creaked all the time.

This axe got stolen and I STILL want it back, despite the fact that it wouldn't ever behave itself:biggrin:

 

[tomizm]

How bad can it be?!

My dad has an old POS Harmony, aside from his Gibson Dove. The action on that Harmony has got to be in the range of an inch or so, maybe a tad higher. Many years it's spent in the case. Im not even sure if it would do as a slide guitar.

 

[jem7vwh]

How bad can it be?!

Hmmm, well my first guitar was a Sebring Terminator. It was essential a strat ripoff with red finish and gold hardware with a black pickguard. It had what looked like EMG pickups, but were actually the sorriest passives on the planet. The input jack buzzed and the action was ultra high. It was like playing an upright bass. Additionally the frets were thin and flat so it buzzed like a mother.

 

[oooo]

How bad can it be?!

my first electric was a "Glee Club" it was kinda a strat rip off but the body was very small. The head stock was huge and kinda funny looking. It had two soap bar pickups that were totally microphonic and a bridge that went sharp when you pushed on the bar instead of going down like the Floyds. The action was so high you could polish the fret board without touching a string. The strings wouldn't stay in tune long enough for you to finish tuning... when you were done with the bottom string it was time to start over again with the top. I loved it! I was cool standing there in front of my bedroom mirror pretending to be Eddie VanHalen in front of thousands of adoring fans!!!! I actually put tape on the body to make it look like Eds. I eventually came to the realization that I needed something I could learn to play. I still have the thing somewhere... in my closet, still in its chip board case.

 

[Coolstu]

How bad can it be?!

The worst guitar I had the bad fortune to own was a Marlin Sidewinder. I don't know if these Guitars were available in the US (but I hope for your sakes they weren't).
The only decent thing it ever did was keep me and my mates warm for a while after I smashed it and burned it. It was the only real enjoyment I got out of that Guitar.

 

[BrianB]

How bad can it be?!

Im back, i had to re-register

My first guitar, called a Quest, plywood strat copy, got it from a Cosco, its been raped, i tried putting a crappy floyd copy in it..oh god, what was i thinking!

 

[Vaibanez]

How bad can it be?!

It's a toss up.

Kramer Stryker...singlocking trem...baseball bat neck.

Peavey Nitro....Kahler Spider trem that never stayed in tune. The only redeeming factor was the neck. My first experience with a thin neck.

They both sucked hard....

Viva la Ibanez!!!!!

J>

 

[gitarrero]

How bad can it be?!

Jimm,

I also had a totally inferior Korean-made Kramer Striker 100ST. (It was not my first guitar.) It had a plywood body and single-locking Floyd Rose vibrato. The latter is a crappy low-budget version of the real thing, getting out of tune just by being looked at (or something). The single pickup produced all kinds of weird whisteling noises...maybe it was just microphonic or there was no shielding at all.

Oliver

 

[Two hands31]

How bad can it be?!

My guitar (Squire Strat) is not that bad, but is definitely the worst I've played (in comparison to a Squire Stagemaster 7 FR, Yamaha Pacifica (almost exactly the same, if not worse), and a Washburn Idol that wasn't even plugged in lol) . Just out of curiosity, how many people's first electrics weren't Strat copies? lol And I may just try that balcony idea once I get a better guitar (of course take out the DiMarzio first lol).

 

[littlegreenman]

How bad can it be?!

Jeez two hands, quit laughing so much, it's hard to understand you :biggrin: just buggin, but seriously, it's irritating to see lol all the lol time lol when lol you're trying lol to read lol
SEE?!
No prob dude!!!

The balcony thing is all yours man, if you want to do it, go for it, piece of advice though, find one over concrete, we were dropping it over grass first and it just didn't have the desired CRACK!!!! effect we were hoping for. Then we went to my girlfriends apartment and dropped it off her balcony, and SPLASH!!! into the pool it went which doesn't really wreck much. So then the next drop, we miss the pool and hit the tile around the pool, that broke the neck in 3 places but it also broke the tile which got us in some trouble. Then to finish it, after reading an article with Thomas Mcrocklin, we tied it to the trailer hitch of my buddies truck and took it for a drive.
That pretty much toasted the guitar. But it was fun. I'm trying to find the pictures of the end result but so far don't remember where they are. Once I find them, I'll post them so you can see the remains.
Jeremy :biggrin:

 

[Doink]

How bad can it be?!

It's funner to break guitars on stage! My old band did that all the time. We'd comb the pawn shops for anything under $70, then we'd plug em in for the last song of the night, then WHAM!

 

[Two hands31]

How bad can it be?!

lol

 

[Coolstu]

How bad can it be?!

Sounds like fun :biggrin: Have to give it a try sometime

 

[megawzrd]

How bad can it be?!

My first guitar was a Memphis Strat Copy. I moded that thing to hell and gutted it many times. I will never sell it even though its a pretty crappy guitar...it has sentimental value.

 

[bob oakman]

How bad can it be?!

A long time ago (I always start my posts like that) I bought a Gibson Flying-V-II. It was a neck through with 3 layers of wood laminated on the body with fancy sculpting and gold hardware. The pickups were boomerang shaped. In order to do that they had to put two, 3 post PU's in a boomerang shaped plastic cover. I hated the way the g-string would modulate and phase cancel as the 2 parts of the PU battled for the signal. I also hated the way the fingerboard split right down the center (the long way) and split into two parts. I guess it was trying to be like the pickups. I had a Strat that did that too… weird.

It was a pretty guitar, but played like crap and sounded worse. I traded it for a yellow Hammer with a real thin neck… which I broke trying to use it like a whammy bar.

 

[littlegreenman]

How bad can it be?!

I agree with smashing guitars on stage but not with a Peavy T60 (I think that's what it was called) anyway, I found this thing in a pawn shop for $15 Canadian, yeah $15 bucks. it actually was playable too, but at the end of the night, I tried to smash it, man, I banged for like 5 minutes and barely chipped it. It was heavier than a Les Paul, and built like a Sherman tank.
I finally gave up as the drummer looked like he was tired of doing the big train crash ending so I tossed it off the stage onto the dance floor where a bunch of people started to fight over it. :biggrin:
That was definitly worth $15.
Jeremy

 

[bammbamm]

How bad can it be?!

Jeremy breaks guitars like a lil girl... :biggrin:
J/k bud, I have had a couple crappy guitars in the past. 1st electric being a Kay ES-335 copy...sort of, the thing was wider than I was tall, it had fader style pots instead of rotory, and slide switches for the pickup on/ off controls. Its actually still at my parents' place, but I don't think I wanna reclaim it. The thing fed back worse than anthing I have ever owned, and I lost the spring to the trem which held it in place. After the spring vanished, the tram bar flopped all the way to the strings and made it unplayable. The other was my Washburn whatever model that I got for a crappy flanger pedal. The neck was broken at the headstock and at the base where the neck through joint was, the finish was all chipped up and the pickups were hotter than I could handle, you heard EVERY sound within 20 feet of the thing. That too is in its hardshell case at my parents in the attic.
Bamm

 

[tagg 7]

How bad can it be?!

My worst guitar had to be my first guitar also. It was a strat copy and the name was literaly CopyCat strat. Weird huh. Anyway i pull it out of the case first thing put in the whammy bar tighten it down, and go Vai on it. It was then i realized that that whammy bar is probably not suppose to break off in your hand. It sucks to get somthing new and break it the first day.
The action was about as high off the fretboard as most vehicles are from the ground. I tell you this thing made my second guitar (a harmony) look and play amazing, and I think thats saying a lot

buzz