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Arright, what's your best under $100?


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By best deal was easily a black Guild Pilot Pro bass bought at my local GC in 2011 for $99. As a "Pro" model, it has active EMG pickups in a P/J configuration, on-board preamp with active 2-band EQ, gold-plated hardware (which--except for the knobs--does not fade), quartersawn neck, and massive cast bridge (which, of course, gives you tone to die for and sustain for days).

The reason for the low price was cosmetic--a few dings touched up with black gloss paint, which you couldn't tell from 3' away. Neck is arrow-straight, electronics all work flawlessly, plays like buttah, ergonomics are two evolutionary steps beyond a J-bass. And the serial number indicates that this was one of the last half-dozen Guild Pilot basses made at the holy grail Westerly, Rhode Island factory.

Thanks to Brooks, I uploaded this from my 'puter. The bright spot on the upper bout is glare from the fill flash, and not a ding.

Guild Pilot Pro.jpg

 

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Mahogany Jap made Ibby S540LTD Saber, Tomato red w/ a dime sized chunk missing in the finish & in pretty bad need of a setup, in a pawn shop at the beach, $75. I added EMGs, Stike put the blue sparkle on it. Neck was too thin even for me and I like Wizard necks. But a real nice shredder.

Guitars8-13.jpg

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18 minutes ago, JohnnyB said:

I had pictures on my Photobucket account, but I never ante'd up when they went to paid subscriptions.

me too; just now I went to the photobucket pic, did a screen grab, saved it on my computer then used HFCs choose file paperclip thingy for my post above

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1 hour ago, Brooks said:

me too; just now I went to the photobucket pic, did a screen grab, saved it on my computer then used HFCs choose file paperclip thingy for my post above

Thanks. I just added a pic of my Pilot to my post, thanks to you.

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In the early 90s I bought an '83 Blitz with a Sustainblock Trem from a pawn shop for $85.00.  (Body had a good sized crack in it, so stripped the finish and had a tuneomatic installed.)   Still have it and it sounds fantastic.

 

Bought this '64 Bassman head and cab from the same pawn shop about a year later for $40.00 for both.  Both transformers were blown and the tolex was spraypainted black, but no argument for that price.  At one point I had 2 more silverface Bassman heads and had used those transformers to have it running for a while, but eventually swapped back and sold the other two.   This is probably my biggest 'someday' project.

IMG_20180414_2048268_rewind.jpg

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Got my first 'real' guitar and amp from my brother-in-law for $150. Later sold the Univox 335-type guitar back to him for $100 but still have the '64 Vibrolux.

DSCN5533.JPG

 

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I've got an old Ibanez 2350 I bought in the 80s for about $25. The seller painted it wine red and destroyed parts of the binding of the headstock. A few years ago I decided to give it a matte black finish and repair it. It was nearly fretless, so I refretted it with jumbo frets, made a new nut and sanded the neck. Also replaced the electrics and pickups. It plays very comfortable and sounds nice.

ibanez_2350_22.jpg

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On 4/14/2018 at 12:48 PM, JohnnyB said:

The first year Baby Boomers turned 21 in 1967; the last year of the Baby Boomers turned 21 in 1985. I haven't found another 19-year period in the 20th century of the US that saw that much inflation.

I guess that makes me the last of the Baby Boomers. :) 

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Bought a B.C. Rich Mocking bird from a guy for $50 bucks. He thought it was a cheap import. Turned out to be an American made 79 all maple Mock. Needed a lot of work to make it playable but I finally got it there. Grew legs and walked out of the studio space we were renting a few months later.

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1 hour ago, dewey finn said:

Bought a B.C. Rich Mocking bird from a guy for $50 bucks. He thought it was a cheap import. Turned out to be an American made 79 all maple Mock. Needed a lot of work to make it playable but I finally got it there. Grew legs and walked out of the studio space we were renting a few months later.

That last part sucks.

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On 4/14/2018 at 2:46 PM, Brooks said:

Mahogany Jap made Ibby S540LTD Saber, Tomato red w/ a dime sized chunk missing in the finish & in pretty bad need of a setup, in a pawn shop at the beach, $75. I added EMGs, Stike put the blue sparkle on it. Neck was too thin even for me and I like Wizard necks. But a real nice shredder.

You still playing that mini rectum-frier?  From the reviews it seems like a very versatile amp and about as user friendly as mesa gets.  Or have you gone in a different direction?

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5 hours ago, dewey finn said:

Bought a B.C. Rich Mocking bird from a guy for $50 bucks. He thought it was a cheap import. Turned out to be an American made 79 all maple Mock. Needed a lot of work to make it playable but I finally got it there. Grew legs and walked out of the studio space we were renting a few months later.

Agree with Steve. I was going to say, "We have a winner!" until the last line...

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6 hours ago, BubbaVO said:

You still playing that mini rectum-frier?  From the reviews it seems like a very versatile amp and about as user friendly as mesa gets.  Or have you gone in a different direction?

different direction, went into it here;

http://www.hamerfanclub.com/forums/topic/82214-cheap-ish-18-30-watt-combos-and-maybe-heads/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-942899

 

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