When your starting out on the guitar, you typically want a cheap electric guitar to see how you go with the instrument and develop some good skills before considering upgrading to a more expensive model.
It is good to know that just because you might be looking at cheap electric guitars, there are still a number of models available that are released by some of the big name guitar brands. I thought I would put together this page to take a look at a few of these models.
Some of the main decision factors in your first electric guitar will be what sort of body shape are you after and what sort of pick up configuration do you want. Single coils sound quite different to humbuckers, if you really want to be able to put some heavy distortion on your guitar, you probably want to look at a guitar with humbuckers, while single coils can give that nice glassy “fender” type sound.
Some of the Models
Fender Squire Stratocaster
If you are familiar with the Fender Startocaster (think Jimi Hendrix) then you will be pleased to know that Fender release a cheap version under the Squire brand. The most common pickup configuration on a Strat is the three single coil pickups.
Fender Squire Telecaster
Fender also release a cheap version of the telecaster under the Squire brand as well These guitars are well known for their distinctive shape and the two single coils at the bridge and the neck.
Epiphone Les Paul
If you are looking to get into some heavier distorted playing, you might be familiar with the Gibson Les Paul with the neck and bridge humbuckers. Such guitars are used by a lot of heavier players (e.g. slash from Guns and Roses).
Gibson also release a number of cheaper versions of the Les Paul under the brand of Epiphone.
Yamaha Pacifica
Finally, Yamaha release a wide range of quality instruments across most different types of instruments, and electric guitars are no exception to this. A cheaper Yamaha electric guitar is the Pacifica. These guitars are somewhat similar to Strats, but can come with a humbucker on the bridge (along with the typical single coils at the neck and middle position). By looking at a guitar such as a Pacifica with a humbucker at the bride, this can be a good way to get into a cheap guitar that has both a humbucker pickup and single coil pickups for the versatility this offers.
