Has anyone ever used a "spectrum" guitar?

Honestly...don't buy it.

If it's for you, or for someone else as a gift, spend a little more money a decent guitar. I've seen too many people buy a cheap guitar as a first guitar because they think it will be a waste of money if they don't like it as much as they plan.

the bad thing with a guitar like that, is it's not fun to play. It's made of cheap materials, does not sound good and will frequently fall out of tune. It will be more of a hassle than you want.

I always recommend that you go get a good guitar for your first one. You don't have to spend a ton, but you'll have to spend a bit more than the "Spectrum." Check your local classifieds or www.therecycler.com and often times you'll find people who went out and bought one, and decided it's not for them and they're now looking to sell it for a pretty good price.

That way, you'll have a lot more fun learning and if you decide guitar's not for you, you can actually resell it for something. The only thing you can do with a Spectrum is throw it away or use it for firewood...

Look into a Fender (Mexican or maybe American made if you get lucky on a price) or an Epiphone, Gibson, Martin or Washburn...but that depends if it's acoustic or electic.

Spectrum Guitars

Well Spectrum must mess up and accidently make a decent guitar every now and then, because i ended up getting one. I payed less than $100 for it. I have a couple cheap guitars, but i also own a Martin, and Gibson Les Paul. so I know what sounds good and what doesnt.

The Spectrum Strat I have sounds almost as good as a Fender. I have a Squire Strat, which is a cheap line made by Fender, and the Spectrum puts it to shame. The only problem I know of on the Spectrum is that the neck is flimsy. Im thinking about ordering a mahogany neck for it, and some grover tuners. The pickups are awesome in it.

Forget Spectrum. Quality guitars:

http://amzn.to/1W18unt

Whoever wrote "no" is a snob. I have about 30 guitars. I play 25 years ago. I have Gretch, Fender, Epiphone, Hohner etc...

Remember one thing: "If you wanna learn you will learn anyways. Just don't give up. NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF GUITAR YOU PLAY. IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO OR JUST SIMPLY DON'T GET IT YOU COULD HAVE ANY GUITAR YOU WILL NOT LIKE IT."

I also own a Spectrum. That is what I am playing now. There is nothing wrong with it. If you can play , you can play on any guitar. If you can't...well who cares how expensive the instrument is and how good the wood and the neck etc..you will suck anyways.

It's a cheap "knock off" brand. If you're to buy a cheap guitar, I'd suggest a Squire Strat, as they are still made by Fender and a decent quality for the price. Now, my main guitar is a cheap Teisco guitar from 1969, for a knock off guitar, it's got a great tone and plays well, usually this doesn't happen with most cheapies. I had it customized though. Get a good Squire Strat, or Tele or something from Epiphone if you want something cheap and good quality. A lot of cheap guitars are hard to play and often discourage beginners from continuing. And never ever buy any guitar before you play it personally. You wouldn't drive a car before you drive it, don't buy a guitar before you play it.

I am going to give you big thumbs up for being a chick that wants to play guitar. Girls that play guitar rock.

For a good guitar, go to a music store, not a department store.

If you are planning to start on your woodworking project, this isn't something you should use, it's something that you would be insane not to. Go here https://tr.im/LAgzj

Truth is, I've been a carpenter for almost 36 years, and I haven't found anything like this for less than 10's of thousands of dollars.

Yeah, i've played it before... i didn't like anything about it, if you're looking into guitars, go with the a trusted brand like Epiphone or Fender... or just bring a guitar player with a lot more exp. at guitars then you.

The Spectrum strat-copy electric guitars are excellent.

Before all of you clowns go nuts and say if it ain't sold by a music store, it ain't no good........well you're wrong! Certainly there are advantages to buying from a bona-fide Musical Instrument store, but when it comes to a reasonably well-made Clone(copy) of a solid body electric guitar that has been in production since 1954 (the FENDER STRATOCASTER), there is not too much to worry about.

The component hardware and the pickups, etc are low cost production items even on very expensive Strats and lower line Strats, thus that the pickups and related hardware are on par with that seen on a $200 Squier or possibly even a $350 mexico Fender Strat.

Likely, the pickups and hardware are not equal to anything beyond a $189 Squier, but that is a very decent guitar.

There is one massive Chinese factory that produces a ton of Strat clones and Tele Clones and the usual Gibson Paul copies and Fender Bass copies as well as decent quality acoustic stringed instruments.

Google: JieYang Great Wall Musical Intrument Company

I do not know for certain if they in fact are the makers of the Spectrum strat clones but my guess says perhaps they do. Jie Yang makes a ton of them for private label brands.

Go look at their site, see the instruments that they produce. They have been one of China's instrument producers since 1995.

I have seen and played some of their solid body inexpensive S and T clone copies as well as a very impressive electic acoustic cutaway guitar that sounded like something that was three times its price.

I certainly don't recommend buying acoustic guitars without sampling them by playing them UNLESS you are prepared to buy a potential hunk of junk. If you have a respected Music Store that imports the acoustics and has determined which are better than average and which are trash, you can perhaps hedge your bet a little so you do OK or if you get a recommendation on what to avoid and which ones are OK.

Nearly every store that has a good reputation will strive to only sell decent quality instruments, even in the lowest price range because selling junk is a quick way to get a less than desireable reputation for selling unplayable/useless junk. Such a reputation can tarnish decades of great business especially if competition has better selection and inventory and pricing. Can you say Bankruptcy, Going Out of Business Sale after 43 years in the same location.......

The Chinese strat and tele clones at the under $100 price point are unbelievably good.

Necks are UNFINISHED (without any laquer or polyurethane) but that is how SQUIERS are sold today , as well as nearly all sub $200 strat/tele copies.

I think the Chinese strat and tele copies are among the best built cheapies around.

What I do mean is that within the below $200 range of guitars(these Chinese S and T copies are below$100), these are as good or better than any instrument priced below $200.

The Worst-Act guitars from Wally-World are notoriously bad. The over hot high output humbuckers in those are terrible! There are some Worst-Act guitars, particularly the non-tremelo unique shape single and dual pickup models that are decent if one changes the pickups, etc and if the sharp fret edges are tamed. Still, Wally-World's Worst Act guitars are way overpriced as new. As a $35 used electric, a few of the Worst-Act models are worth acquiring and changing the pickups. Still the Worst-Act guitars have quality control that is below average.

Harmonia, Huntington, and Spectrum from Target/ToysRUs are decent Chinese produced clones of Fender famous models. You'll find Harmonia, Huntington and no-name ones on Ebay for $65 to $85.

Amazingly, you do get a very decent playable, decent sounding electric that sounds enough like a real strat or tele that you could play it onstage at a gig, without any worries.

These low priced cheapie clones of strats and teles are that good. All this for less than $90.

They will have no resale value like a real Fender or even a Squier but they will do the job fine, and you will get more than your money's worth out of them. They do sound good.

Perhaps, 35 or 40 years from now these cheapies will command value greater than their cost, just as Harmony strats from 33 years ago do or, Teiscos . Until then, they will forever be cheap inexpensive guitars when sold used, but well worth the price if in good shape without playability isuues/defects.

The only thing one needs is a good amp to play these things on.

Fender Frontman 25R

VOX Pathfinder 15

VOX PATHFINDER 10 (recommended for practice amp $69 free shipping from several sources)

Fender Frontman 15g and 15r

Peavey 108 BLAZER trasnstbube series

those are just a few decent quality solid state small amps suitable for practice....

..............The FENDER FRONTMAN 25r is capable of being an amp for small gigs/clubs

With a speaker upgrade, it no peers in the solid state amp field at any price.

A great amp but too large and powerful for novice beginners in my opinion.

A WORLD CLASS BARGAIN at around $95 to $100 shipped from web sellers...brand new.....Musicians Friend, Music 123....others like Sweetwater etc

You need not have a fancy name on your guitar.

I saw several hundred concerts between 1968 and today and often the famous guitarist played some battered thing. Fender quality was not highly regarded at a certain point more than 30 years ago, that Peter Townshend was playing Telecasters constructed from Schecter parts, with the WHO onstage.

Many of these cheapo Chinese clones are constructed better than real Fender stratocasters of the seventies and early eighties. Yes a 1970's era Strat has significant value with collectors but that doesn't necessarily mean it is a great instrument any more than saying a $100 clone is a piece of garbage because it its inexpensive. The three bolt necks were not a bright idea.

The inexpensive Hondo strat copies of the late seventies were better guitars than the Real Thing.

There were quite a few others too that were better instruments that were copies at that time.

It's debatable there are basically several potential answers to the question...