What screams "cheap" to you?

[CanserDYI]

Hey guys, thought this might be fun to discuss, what are some features on guitars high-end or low-end alike that screams "I'm cheap" to you, regardless of price?

To me, pickup rings. This is the worst culprit to me. Any time I see a guitar with black plastic pickup rings I always picture a Donner or Musiclily Amazon part bin pieces and just really turns me off. Same with plain maple necks/fretboards. Unless it's on a nice lake placid blue or something similar it always looks so cheap to me, I'm really not sure why.

Anyone else have anything like this?

 

[Gain_Junkie93]

White dot inlays
Nonmatching headstock finish
Strat style trems on anything other than a strat
Pickup rings

 

[Adieu]

Unsealed or trapeze tuners

Almost all rosewood (or "rosewood") boards. If it isn't dark smooth and even, please use frikkin maple instead.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

proprietary hardware. Very very few guitar companies are using oem stuff that's worth a damn imo.
Not matching all the screws to the hardware color scheme
Sharp fret ends
Tool marks on the fretboard/body
poorly figured photoflame/veneers
gaps around inlays/binding

I don't mind pickup rings, so long as they're not using black rings with other colors of hardware *cough* PRS *cough*

 

[CanserDYI]

I morely meant barring obvious cheap guitar symptoms like sharp fret ends and stuff, I morely meant not cheap appointments that scream cheap to you.

 

[High Plains Drifter]

Most pau ferro fret-boards and fret-boards that appear dry.

 

[possumkiller]

Prices under $1500 just scream cheap.

Cringe...

 

[ArtDecade]

To me, pickup rings.

... er ... that's like every Les Paul.

 

[manu80]

Laurel fretboard/Light wood fretboard
Dot inlays
Nickel/chrome hardware. Especially tuners, don't know why.
Gotoh pups on 2K guitars

 

[bigcupholder]

Black pickup rings with black pickups. Pickup rings themselves are fine, but it needs contrast either with pickup covers or using creme rings (like how Gibson usually does it).

Black or sunburst strats with white pickguards. Doesn't matter if it cost $3k, it immediately looks like every $200 knockoff plywood guitar. Use a black or tort guard instead.

Unsealed or trapeze tuners

Almost all rosewood (or "rosewood") boards. If it isn't dark smooth and even, please use frikkin maple instead.

Rosewood doesn't need a finish like maple and doesn't crack or split like ebony if it dries out. Maple is prone to warping/twisting. Ebony is prone to shrinking and leaving fret ends poking out. I wish more guitars came with rosewood.

 

[CanserDYI]

... er ... that's like every Les Paul.

Which most scream cheap to me lol

 

[ArtDecade]

Which most scream cheap to me lol

Delusional.

 

[Randy]

Most pau ferro fret-boards and fret-boards that appear dry.

This. In general, faux wood or low quality wood that's chosen for it's very vague appearance to real wood is sketch. The type of rosewood they're trying to replace had unique color and graining, and the pao ferro etc are a uniform brown that replicates the hue of DRY rosewood with no figure.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Black pickup rings with black pickups. Pickup rings themselves are fine, but it needs contrast either with pickup covers or using creme rings (like how Gibson usually does it).

Black or sunburst strats with white pickguards. Doesn't matter if it cost $3k, it immediately looks like every $200 knockoff plywood guitar. Use a black or tort guard instead.


Rosewood doesn't need a finish like maple and doesn't crack or split like ebony if it dries out. Maple is prone to warping/twisting. Ebony is prone to shrinking and leaving fret ends poking out. I wish more guitars came with rosewood.

maple doesn't really need a finish either. Ebony only shrinks if it had too high of a moisture content when installed on a guitar. Same shit happens with other woods when they're improperly dried.

Good wood suppliers will kiln dry everything and keep the wood in a humidity controlled environ.

 

[possumkiller]

Bolt on necks. Just ugh...

Cringe...

 

[CanserDYI]

Bolt on necks. Just ugh...

Cringe...

I used to really feel this, now I cannot stand neckthrus lol. Bolt ons just make me feel so much better for some reason.

 

[possumkiller]

Like the whole bullet and affinity series just scream cheapo cringe to me.

Classic vibe?? How about classic cheap ass cringe guitar...

 

[soliloquy]

Dot inlays, bolt on necks, square heel joints, metal neck plates.

 

[possumkiller]

Single coils. Like jesus fucking christ man a little bit of wire and plastic doesnt cost a fortune. Throw another one on there and get rid of all that noise.

 

[Metropolis]

Plastic nut, flimsy feeling pots, most non-branded pickups, bad fretwork, nyatoh as body wood. I don't know, sometimes pickguard can make it look cheap. Looks wise sometimes these things really depend how the whole instrument is.

Non matching screws or any other part on hardware looks pretty cool to me, for example Hipshot bridges, Schaller Hannes, and Floyd Rose with titanium screws. Schaller open tuners... Gotoh MG-T.