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Show your 80's shredders. (Future Vintage bargains)

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2020 6:43 am
by surfin_bird
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So for a long time I was dreaming to have a super strat guitar converted to a surf guitar.
(Basically doing the same as what many shredders did to offsets) and after picking up my first I got a bit hooked.

I would love to see your cheap shredders

As it turned out, these 80s asian guitars are a lot of fun. The premium "collector" guitars are expensive from this era like any other guitar.
But you can get the asian stuff so cheap if you look around a bit. For these guitars I paid 230 euro's in total.

I'm just wondering if these guitar will become the cool guitars of tomorrow. With them being up to/close to 40 years old we can definitely file them under vintage and if you see what people pay for Teisco's and sorts, I can imagine prices for these could just go up at some point.
I can only advise to pickup a affordable shredder by a somewhat established builder from the 80's.

So Covid hit, got bored and found a 1988 Yamaha RGX-312 online for 80 euro's.
When I went to pick it up the guy told me he was a drummer and got a lot of instruments when the juvenile rehabilitation facility where he was teaching music therapy closed down. There was another guitar he was selling but because he didn't had to chance to change the strings I could get it for 40,-. The Yamaha has a nice thin shreder neck. I plan to block the trem (I can't find a trem arm for it) and at the moment I just have the surf 90 connected straight to a volume. Great for that AC/DC tone or straight out surf and other clean stuff.

So my second 80's guitar turned out to be that 1983 Vantage Avenger from the same guy and was my 2nd guitar from the 80's. This one is a lot of fun for the price of a cheap strat knockoff. But this one has two MMK-145 pickups that are splittable. They aren't muddy and sound really wangy with some extra gain on humbucker mode. Especially the neck pickup is where it's at for this one.

So these super cheap guitars were bringing me a lot of fun and slowly while getting interested in shred guitars.
I was getting two guitars on my radar. A Fender HM in Hot Pink and a Charvel Star. I love the looks and I wanted to try out a floyd rose.
I got intrigued by a floyd rose, since the jazzmaster/jaguar trem got so much hate for so long because people didn't get it, I can imagine the floyd rose got the same fate.

Online I suddenly got this ad recommended with extremely terrible pictures but it seemed like a Squier copy of a HM Hot Pink, including some effects and a brand new Fender Champ 100 (Which I'm selling). So for 200 euro's I picked up this lot. It turned out a 1989 Korean Samick Contemporary Strat in Razz Berry but where the front of the guitar faded to Hot Pink. With the selling of 1 pedal and the amp I will have gotten this guitar for free + an Japanese Delay copy that sounds really good and a few Fender cables (brand new).
This guitar plays easily as good as my MIM strat even with it's plywood body. I can't recommend getting one of these.

Last but not least
The Tokai Five Star Super Edition I picked up yesterday. This one needs some work and will be changed more to Charvel Star specs.
I Paid 200 for this one and is definitely the most expensive one but with it's semi-unique design all I can say it's really cool, plays well and feels solid.
You can see the wood grain through the finish at parts and the paint technique seems similar to the way my 60's guitars look. I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually nitro.

Re: 80's "Pawn shop" shredders.

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:12 am
by Pacafeliz
Not that much of a shredder but kinda... The Cimar Astra

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Re: 80's Pawn shop Shredders and Rockers.

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:58 am
by surfin_bird
Pacafeliz wrote:
Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:12 am
Not that much of a shredder but kinda... The Cimar Astra

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Definitely fits the idea. At least a unique design.
I like that headstock a lot! Is it with Dimarzio's?

Re: 80's "Pawn shop" shredders.

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2020 3:56 pm
by HarlowTheFish
That's a pretty sweet haul!
All of my shreddy stuff is pretty new, but I have a soft spot for those old rock/metal axes.

Re: 80's "Pawn shop" shredders.

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2020 5:00 pm
by jvin248
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I have a Relic Shredder ;)
A Strat-like-object with a humbucker wired direct to the volume and jack along with a "poke your eye out" pointy reverse headstock -- just like the 80s demanded.

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Re: 80's "Pawn shop" shredders.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:02 am
by surfin_bird
That one looks killer!
jvin248 wrote:
Sun Nov 22, 2020 5:00 pm
I have a Relic Shredder ;)
A Strat-like-object with a humbucker wired direct to the volume and jack along with a "poke your eye out" pointy reverse headstock -- just like the 80s demanded.

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Re: Show your (budget) 80's shredders.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:51 am
by dezb1
80s, Pointy headstock, cheap....

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Re: Show your affordable 80's shredders.

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2021 4:09 am
by surfin_bird
I feel I have some guitars to add to this topic... :fp:
My main pride and joy "Budget" guitar I just bought is a "The Heritage" H-162.
I paid 375 euro's for it, basically unplayed.

But I honestly really like floyds/kahlers. I think they do the Jazzmaster/jaguar thing quite well. But I also really like using them really really subtle and create a vibrato/mac demarco kinda sound.

It's great. A Butterscotch yellow made in USA superstrat. It has a Kahler, Schaller pickups, nitro finish, grover tuners, original cage + case candy, vintage style frets and a.... 24.75 scale neck. All for a Squier strat price.

I really wanted a birth year guitar, this one is a few days apart from being one year older. I think I'm ok with that.

Some pictures from the original ad:

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Re: 80's Pawn shop Shredders and Rockers.

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2021 12:05 pm
by Pacafeliz
surfin_bird wrote:
Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:58 am
Pacafeliz wrote:
Sun Nov 22, 2020 8:12 am
Not that much of a shredder but kinda... The Cimar Astra
Definitely fits the idea. At least a unique design.
I like that headstock a lot! Is it with Dimarzio's?
Yep it had DiMarzios, but I ended up selling it... was also a bit too heavy (weight) for my gusto :P

Re: Show your 80's shredders. (Future Vintage bargains)

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2021 6:10 pm
by mackerelmint
Sure wish I had one to post in this thread.

Well here's the one I've been wanting to get for a while now:

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It's everything I don't want in a guitar: a red strat, a reverse headstock, 3 pickups, gold hardware, a mirrory pickguard... but somehow it all hangs together just right and is also so very, very RED.

Re: Show your 80's shredders. (Future Vintage bargains)

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2021 10:09 pm
by Fiddy
Ive been wanting a shredder for a while. An Ibanez, Jackson, BC Rich... Maybe i should.... Before they become cool again.

Re: Show your 80's shredders. (Future Vintage bargains)

Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 5:13 am
by cincinnatiharry
“Nobody asked” post…

I remember pawn shopping with my Dad in the 1980s and seeing Fender Jaguars, Mustangs, Broncos, and Jazzmasters… nobody wanted them, everyone wanted pointy Shredder guitars.

Then from 1992 the pawnshops were full of pointy shredder guitars and if you found an offset Fender the price was insane.

I find that guitars, like fashion, fall in and out of popularity. Like (and you can see my posts from forever ago to verify this) in the mid 2000s Firebirds were not popular. Also they sold new from Gibson for like €1300 (if memory serves). They were plentiful. I had a few. I only have one now, that I have upgraded adding Lollars and Bigsby, that I got for €600 used.

I wonder what is unpopular now? Gibson EBO/SG bass guitars? Strats?

Re: Show your 80's shredders. (Future Vintage bargains)

Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 5:51 am
by stevejamsecono
I always regretted not picking up an Ibanez RS335 that I saw at a shop a few years ago for 250 bucks. Played great and definitely fits in this category.
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I'd also love one of those Fernandes T-Styles that come with a sustainer pickup and a Floyd Rose. Not nearly as cheap but still pretty cool.

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Re: Show your 80's shredders. (Future Vintage bargains)

Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 8:49 am
by surfin_bird
Wow so many nice shredders!
I love those ibanez roadstars

I guess the appeal to me is that they remind me of all those guitars that were for sale in shops when I started and those were the guitars I hated...
besides my first "real" guitar.

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This one was my second guitar and my first real fender. My guitar teacher told me to get humbuckers. I loved it but never understood why it sounded so "muddy". Then I got into surf music, got into single coils and never looked back until recently.

I still have the tele but probably soon put in my set of monty's PAF's in or Surf 90's.

Re: Show your 80's shredders. (Future Vintage bargains)

Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2021 8:50 am
by surfin_bird
This is appealing. I'm not big on red, but for some reason this works very well.
mackerelmint wrote:
Fri Dec 10, 2021 6:10 pm
Sure wish I had one to post in this thread.

Well here's the one I've been wanting to get for a while now:

Image

It's everything I don't want in a guitar: a red strat, a reverse headstock, 3 pickups, gold hardware, a mirrory pickguard... but somehow it all hangs together just right and is also so very, very RED.