In the long-long ago, many of us who displayed some interest and/or aptitude received some version of a beginner guitar, ala Harmony, Dan Electro, Kay etc., most of which were at worst marginally playable instruments that could- with the replacement of some components- be worked into totally acceptable "players." An adjustable bridge and quality tuners worked wonders on these, and in fact the best cheapo guitar I ever played was a modded Dan Electro/Silvertone owned by one of the best guitarists to ever grow up in Olney (Philadelphia), Stan Vaskus, who went so far as to have the fretboard scalloped, which allowed him to bend individual strings within a chord- thereby producing a chorus effect before there were any chorus effects.
Stan was way ahead of the curve, and like I said a monster player, so it was no surprise years later when I saw that Jimmy Page played slide on something similar. The things just worked and had their own sound, but you would laugh at what those guitar bodies were made from. You might have enough masonite and scrap plywood laying around to build one yourself.
Most of these guitars cost under 100 bucks U.S. 50 years ago. Things have changed. If you hate imports' effect on jobs and economies look no further than electric guitar imports and pull your hair out. As an example:
That is a (B-stock) Douglas Hadron 627, 6 string 27 inch scale 3 piece maple neck-thru with two humbuckers plus one single coil and a purported licensed Floyd Rose trem and Grover tuners. They are normally $199 plus shipping direct from Rondo Music- however this one was sold as B-stock at $139 because it was supplied with (horrors!) the wrong color trem arm. Seriously. I thought it such a deal I bought the case too.
Now, no rose colored glasses here, at $139 I knew there were going to be things to be dealt with, and there are. Even so, assuming everything continues to function as required this guitar is a light year ahead of the cheap guitars of yesteryear on the included hardware alone. The work it took to produce a 3 piece neck-thru is almost wasted tho, as the final assembly was not..uh... well, take a look:
One may notice that- amongst other things- it seems the cheap trem works cover required a number of test drill holes before the correct placement was discovered. Also, neither cover was flush mounted. To carry on with the theme,
....the trem claw screws are not quite perfectly aligned either. So, big minus on the final assembly, and if we're comparing eras's I'd have to give the nod to 60's workmanship over this. If there is a valid comparison to be made tho, I'd hold this guitar up to anything coming out of Subway Guitars, if you get my drift. The main purpose of this is a cheap axe for recording. At this price none of the cosmetic stuff really matters to me, but I am curious if a non B-stock version would have these kinds of flaws.
I had hoped to tune this guitar B to B but like other cheap guitars the Douglas Hadron has a smallish body, and the lack of depth may make it impossible to set the trem properly if one decided to tune down any lower than D from the as-shipped (and high tension) E to E tuning. The main issue is the claw can't be backed out very much at all without sticking out of the back of the body. That adjustment is not optional on a Floyd Rose type trem and other than fabricating a new claw there doesn't seem an obvious way around this, but I'll go thru the whole setup again in case I goofed it up; also there are Floyd Rose setup videos out there I will have to revisit.
<Update>: It looks like installation of the claw screws is the real issue, not the thickness of the body. If I can somehow get that sorted (right-angle drill anyone?) I may get that B to B tuning I was after.
After spending some hours experimenting with two sets of new strings and tunings I have it stably tuned D to D, if, you know, you have a loose definition of stably tuned. Those familiar with trems may be familiar with the effect new strings have on them and vice versa. The locking nut is off for the next couple of weeks until things settle down. What needs attention from a tech (other than a proper setup) is going to be some (typical) fret dressing etc, but first I'm going to let it acclimate to the environment and see if any issues arise. And there is the rub: you don't want to throw good money after bad, and tech services cost just as much for a cheap guitar as they do for an expensive one. Unless you're a DIY type of person you will be paying for some kind of work, so I plan on spending a couple of bills at some point. I don't think I'll feel bad about it, time will tell.
To briefly sum up, not a bad deal, even with a setup by me the action feels good, there's no fret buzz, the pickups and controls work perfectly cleanly, and the single coil is the quietest I've ever heard. Considering that I am no Stan Vaskus and I'm just looking to add some guitars to otherwise synth heavy tracks, that may be the best part of modern era cheap guitars: the signal is clean. My DAW and audio to MIDI converter do not care what the guitar looks like.
To be continued...
