Updated for 2011: Checkout the Top 5 best Cheap Electric Guitars available today! Join me, A university trained guitarist with 16 years of experience as we take a look at some of the most playable, usable and enjoyable cheap electric guitars. Purchasing a quality instrument no longer costs an arm and a leg and it’s easy for a beginner to get started on an instrument that won’t be too difficult to play due to poor quality workmanship!
Ever wanted to play guitar but were too scared of the costs involved? Looking to add another axe to your lineup but don’t have unlimited funds? Think that you need to pay mega dollars to purchase an instrument that will be worth playing? Think again! There are plenty of very cheap electric guitars out there that have incredibly low price tags yet are still very playable decent sounding instruments. Sure they’re not gonna replace your old Les Paul but they can make an excellent stage backup or practice room guitar! Lets check a few out!
Best Cheap Electric Guitar Packages (Updated Feb, 2011)
Fender – Stop Dreaming, Start Playing Guitar Package
Of course, no list would be complete without a mention of the Fender guitar packs. Fender pretty much started this whole thing back in the 90′s with their gig-packs and they still have a top notch product.
One of my students recently got this exact package for Christmas so I can vouch for it 100%
The guitar was immediately playable out of the box and while the amp isn’t going to win any awards, it does a nice job providing a clean or a “distorted” sound. I was also very impressed with the sensitivity of the volume control which could easily be rolled on or off to add more or less crunch to the sound. This is something you don’t usually find in cheaper guitars.
It’s pretty hard to go wrong with fender and this is probably the best all around choice for people looking to start out with the electric guitar.
Click Here to find out how you can save up to 43% off of the Fender guitar pack.
Silvertone SS10 Citation Starter Package
This is one of the best selling guitar packages right now and for good reason. You get everything you need to start playing and the instrument plays very well compared to the old Silvertones that I started on!
Reviews are generally very good for this package with over 80% of the user reviews I researched being 4-5 star and very positive.
People love the over-all fit and finish of this guitar and I was very pleased to hear that almost everyone who has purchased it has remarked on how well it comes setup straight from the factory.
The main complaint with this package is the gig-bag, and lets face it for $100 you’re not going to get top of the line quality in this department. But it will certainly do until you can afford a better case. The other complaints I read were from people who obviously are just getting started out and had to do with the setup of the guitar. If you receive any electric guitar and it’s not playing properly or buzzing, just take it to your local guitar shop and they will be able to fix 99% of all problems for under $20! Don’t blame the guitar!
I would highly recommend this package if you’re looking to get started or even if you needed a backup axe!
Click here to find out how you can save up to 63% on this package!
Dean Vendetta Starter Pack with Vendetta XMT Guitar
This pack is definitely a step up from the most basic beginner packages. Dean is a well known guitar company that has produced some pretty amazing and unique looking guitars over the years.
They definitely specialize in hard rock/heavy metal and the Vendetta XMT is no exception.
As with all packages you get everything you need including the tuner/amp/gig bag and of course the guitar.
This guitar features a solid-body construction made out of Paulownia wood which definitely makes this guitar worth the extra cash. Solid body electrics are generally more expensive because they will give a better tone and have better sustain. You also get humbucking pickups and the whammy bar which is great for metal and hard rock!
There aren’t a great deal of user reviews on this guitar package yet, but any that I have found are generally very positive. I’ve used Dean guitars myself in the past and can vouch for their quality so I would have no problem recommending this guitar package.
Click Here to save 24% On the Dean XMT Vendetta Package
(Older Packages)
1 – SX SST 3/4 SE WT Electric Guitar White (Discontinued)
The SX SST is definitely one of the best cheap electric guitars available! At $69.95 I have recommended it to many of my younger students. Keep in mind that this is mainly for a smaller child or possibly to use as a cool little travel guitar! It features a humbucking pickup, decent hardware and get this a Solid wood (alder) body!! No plywood here. Pretty unbelievable at this price!
2 – Traditional Sunburst Electric Guitar Pack
I wish these type of deals were around when I was a kid! I ended up playing my first 3 years on and old ‘silvertone’ that we got at a yard-sale for 50 bucks and I didn’t even have an amp! Now you can the full package for 90 dollars. This package contains everything you need to get started playing electric guitar. Nice sunburst finish, 10 watt amplifier and humbucking pickup for a bigger sound than single coil with less background noise. One of the best cheap electric guitars with amps out there.
3 – The Silvertone Revolver!
Remember that old Silvertone guitar I just mentioned? Well it was nothing like this, Silvertone has come a long long way! Again it’s a full package deal with amplifier and everything else you need to get started and this guitar flat out rocks. One of my teenage students purchased this package awhile back and he and myself are very impressed. It was setup very well from the factory, but I did help him change the strings to Ernie Balls right away. This guitar is modeled after the Fender Stratocaster and even has the wammy bar (tremolo system). I would use this guitar as a stage backup or for alternate tunings any day! While this may be a cheap electric guitar, when you play it there is nothing cheap about it!
4 – Dean Playmate EVO Jr.
This cool little 3/4 size guitar is an excellent deal for the money. Dean has been known for building some of the wildest and most original guitars that the world has ever seen (Dimebag Darrell anyone?). It’s nice to see that they have an offering in the cheap electric guitars range. This guitar has two humbucker pickups which is amazing for the price plus a real rosewood neck AND a SOLID BODY! And with a name like Dean you know you can expect a certain level of quality.
5 – Maxam 40 Electric Guitar
Now here is one of the lesser known cheap electric guitars available online and I just had to mention it. A good friend of mine actually bought three of these because he uses each one for a different tuning! Basically for the price of one of the lower priced “brand-name” models he got THREE guitars that play just as good as a cheaper fender! It has a really nice sunburst finish, and the action was setup great from the factory. This guitar has all the qualities of the Fender Squire Stratocaster at about a third of the price (at least!).
Keep in mind that if you don’t get a package deal there are lots of cheap electric guitar amps available online as well! And also a great selection of cheap acoustic electric guitars for all you acoustic players out there! These are just a sampling of what I think are some of the cooler guitars available on the net but you should always do a search around, just remember that you want to try and find something with a solid body wherever possible and a rosewood fretboard as well. As long as you have decent woods in an electric guitar it is pretty unlikely that it will sound “bad”. Keep in mind that with some of these guitars the setup may not be perfect right of out of the box (although the ones I tested were pretty damn good!) so you may want to invest another 25 dollars and have your local music store set the guitar up for you.
I hope this was of some use to you and good luck in all your guitar playing endeavors! Please leave me a comment, I’d love to know what you think. Good luck and enjoy your search for cheap electric guitars!
I’ve been searching on the internet looking for some ideas on how to get my personal blog site coded, your overall design together with design are perfect. Did you actually code it by yourself or did you employ a coder to do it for you?
I just purchased one of these guitars (The Silvertone) and although it’s not the best guitar in my lineup it makes a great backup gigger!