What Is Your Most Underdog Guitar?

[Stratzrus]

I saw Bukovac playing one of these in one of his vids, I think a late 70's one and it definitely piqued my interest in that direction. I generally only think of Deans in the context of Dimebag and the myriad of metal dudes who came/went in the last 20 years and tend to forget they were around well before Dime was getting ML's on the cover of guitar mags.

It's past history but the early Deans and Hamers were quality alternatives to Gibsons that weren't at their best in the late '70s and early '80s. Dean's reputation suffered when they started doing a lot of overseas manufacturing but the early USA Deans and Hamers are really sweet.

One of my greatest gear regrets is that there was a matching ML in the store's window next to mine and they only wanted $800 for it but I really couldn't afford it since I was unemployed and was stretching the budget to buy the Z. I slept on it and went to the store the next day to buy the ML anyway but it was already gone and yes, this was pre Pantera.

 

[ChordInversion]

I've got a few. My Vox Bobcats certainly qualify:

I think the original Gretsch 5622T, wit the cat eye holes and the three Dual Coil Super HiLi'Tron pickups, qualifies as an underdog. It was cool and distinctive and sounded great, and so of course Gretsch quickly homogenized the model with f-holes and standard Broadtron humbuckers, rendering it a very mild variant of an ES-335. I ended up with thee of the originals, set up with different strings and different wiring arrangements.

There are others. I have a lot of guitars that weren't well received by most. My thumb is not on the pulse of the guitar playing world.

 

[2112]

Perhaps a US-made ’81 Hamer Special I bought used from across the pond back in 2011. It arrived severely damaged, with the set neck almost knocked off. After a fight with the eBay seller—and eBay weighing in on my side—I got some compensation. I had a good luthier make a structurally sound repair, but I didn’t prioritize the aesthetics at the time (no refinishing, etc.). So the guitar plays great, but the scars are obvious, and there’s basically no resale value to speak of compared to what it's worth to me.

It's a great guitar and I'm considering getting more Hamer USA guitars from that era.

I've got a '93 special that has a pretty gnarly headstock repair but it's an absolute weapon. I did a lot of gigs and recording with that guitar around 2011-2013.

PRS Mira is another that I played a lot around then too. Very light and comfy but it sounds best similar to my SC245.

 

[Rocco Crocco]

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Florentine. $600 new in 2014. I put dimarzios in it and gigged with it for years. 7.5 lbs and it smoked! I actually wore out the frets after a year or so and replaced them with stainless. I would never sell it because it isn’t worth much and I play it more than my Custom Shop Les Pauls.

 

[DaPhotoGuy66]

Douglas Hawker it's always played great for me and the EMG-HZ pickups sound good.

 

[DISTORT6]

 

[TJontheRoad]

Looks like an under foot guitar