What is your favorite low priced (?$600) new or used jazz guitar?

[Degranulator]

In the last year I picked up a Washburn J3 from 2008 for a mere $350.00. I had planned on doing fretwork, pickup replacement and other tweaks when I saw this one had a SD'59 in neck position, wood bridge and nice action as described. Really, everything done and ready to play. I wanted a 17" body reminiscent of the Tal Farlow I had some years back, but no longer own. Now despite having a custom built 16" archtop I've played since 2005, this Washburn felt immediately comfortable and has a very nice laminated maple woody tone that has made it my go to ax more often than not. It's crazy.

So just wondering who else has a favorite cheap guitar that sometimes makes them wonder why they spent big bucks on a "better" instrument.
( To be fair, the Washburn doesn't hold a candle to my other guitar in build or beauty of tone, but it's just a great fun guitar.)

[burchyk]

Epi Dot and Dot Studio. Guild T-50 Slim. Classic Vibe Tele.

[omphalopsychos]

A tele.

[rolijen]

Epi Broadway.

[NSJ]

If you can find one, the DeArmond X-155 or whatever the model was. Fantastic arcthop, sold under the Fender family, available at Guitar Centers and such, 15-20 years ago. Used to be found $400 used.

[NSJ]

If not that, yeah, a Tele.

[Chazmo]

Godin 5th Avenue. They still make them, they're readily available new and used, they're light and comfortable, they play well, and sound good.

[AllanAllen]

Epi Broadway.

I’ll second that, the Casino and the Joe Pass too.

[RobbieAG]

I recently picked up a ten year old Samick JZ2 (made in Korea) off of FB marketplace which I really like a lot so far. It's known as the "poor man's L5" - same body width, scale length etc. but laminated, so probably more like a Tal Farlow/ES-350. Coincidentally, I also paid $350 (with a Gator gig bag). Samick makes a lot of the overseas built guitars for Washburn, Epiphone and others. I bought it to have something I could knock around, modify, and take out without having to worry about damaging it or reducing it's value like high end guitars. I was thinking I'd replace the pickups and electronics, but it has Duncan designed pickups that sound good, so not sure I need to. I also have two Gibsons (175 and 335), a USA Fender Strat, a Taylor acoustic, a made in Spain classical, and a luthier built guitar (Abe Rivera). You really don't need to spend a lot of money to have a serviceable archtop.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Yup, Tele.

[TheGrandWazoo]

If you can find one, the DeArmond X-155 or whatever the model was. Fantastic arcthop, sold under the Fender family, available at Guitar Centers and such, 15-20 years ago. Used to be found $400 used.

X-155s are awesome! I regret not pulling the trigger on a used one a while back. Great pickups and nice thin neck (if I remember).

[garybaldy]

Loar 700 bought used with added floater

[mr. beaumont]

Loar 700 bought used with added floater

Dang, if you can find one of those for under $600-- POUNCE!!!

[garybaldy]

Dang, if you can find one of those for under $600-- POUNCE!!!

It was 10% more sorry!

[Degranulator]

I had a Loar vs309 with a single P90 that was really sweet despite the neck angle being a bit shallow. I regret selling it. Punched well above it's weight.

[st.bede]

I’ll second that, the Casino and the Joe Pass too.

I love Casinos. They are one of the first guitars I grab at GC to try amps, or pedals… or just to waste time. However Iately (last year-ish), the quality has seem to go way down. There has been some fret problems. Outside of that, I know it is a subjective thing, but they are not feeling right to me. I also think they sound thinish muffled. In the past they sounded fine. I have played a lot of casinos over the years and they have seemed to be hit or miss, but the last four or five have been miss. I have no way to document if there has been changes in production. Just my limited and non scientific experiences.

600$ is tricky. I would look for a used epi Emperor (is that the one with a floating PU). Not sure what they go for. So far all my Godin experiences have been positive. I think I like some if the Loar stuff but the neck shape was large, if I remember right.

If I had 600$ I might save up another 600$ and get something that would work better for me. The prices of guitars have gone up.

[John A.]

I had a Godin Kingpin for a while, which was a very good, gigable guitar. I’d say it’s better the some guitars that cost somewhat more, but there’s a limit to that. Not sure where the dividing line is, but there‘s definitely stuff that costs more and feels worth it. So much so that I felt no qualms about passing mine along to a family member.

[mr. beaumont]

It was 10% more sorry!

You still got an absolute steal.

[RobbieAG]

I love Casinos. They are one of the first guitars I grab at GC to try amps, or pedals… or just to waste time. However Iately (last year-ish), the quality has seem to go way down. There has been some fret problems. Outside of that, I know it is a subjective thing, but they are not feeling right to me. I also think they sound thinish muffled. In the past they sounded fine. I have played a lot of casinos over the years and they have seemed to be hit or miss, but the last four or five have been miss. I have no way to document if there has been changes in production. Just my limited and non scientific experiences.

I have to agree. I played one at a Guitar Center maybe a year ago and the neck was awful. Didn't even bother to plug it in.

[jim777]

Fender Baja Tele, or the newer (same guitar, really) Fender Vintera 50's Telecaster Modified

[mickmac]

Ibanez AG-95. Outstanding for the price...mickmac

[blackcat]

Ibanez AFJ95; AS93, Classic Vibe Tele, Fender Player Tele ( humbucker ). Job done.

[rpjazzguitar]

The guitar I play most at home and have gigged with a lot is the cheapest Yamaha student model Strat copy, the Pacifica 012. Mine has a Lil 59 in the neck position and replacement tuners.

The neck is tiny in every dimension except scale length. Many players would hate that, but it feels great to me. I think playability is superb -- for my aging hands.

It doesn't sound as good as my Comins GCS-1 for lead, but it sounds better for comping. For lead, I have to thicken the tone with a pedalboard patch. Not ideal, but it works.

The only negative is that the hardware is cheap. I've had to replace the switch and there's some intermittent crackling in the output jack I haven't been able to track down yet. Probably my fault, since I'm the one who replaced the pickup and switch. The bridge HB died and I just disconnected it. I bought the guitar used, so I don't want to blame the manufacturer, but it might be a manufacturer's defect, or not.

These sell used for about $75. Just a couple of years ago they sold new in a kit for $179, with amp, cable, bag and book.

Mine is the Indonesian made model.

Is it a jazz guitar? Absolutely, when I'm playing jazz. I can get a reasonably warm tone out of it. It won't sound like Wes, but what does?

[Irishmuso]

Ix

So just wondering who else has a favorite cheap guitar that sometimes makes them wonder why they spent big bucks on a "better" instrument.
( To be fair, the Washburn doesn't hold a candle to my other guitar in build or beauty of tone, but it's just a great fun guitar.)

I have a Tokai ES-175 copy that is always at hand. It cost £300. I have a few much more expensive guitars, but the Tokai is very comfortable and great for when I need to work something out. I don't need to worry about it getting the occasional knock. I have taken it on flights where I wouldn't risk other guitars. It has even seen me through a few jazz diplomas to which I had to travel. I sometimes wonder why I need other guitars, then I take one of the others to a gig and realise my little Tokai is, at the end of the day, a bit of a lightweight.

[Christian Miller]

Loar lh600 I picked up for £350. Wouldn’t get it for that now….