Ultimate do anything, beater guitar

Barnezy

I’m thinking about building a do everything beater guitar for around the house practice.

 My first thoughts are to buy a cheap used MIM strat with vintage tuners in any colour, sand it down and repaint with nitro. Rebuild with a SDunc SL-59 little in the bridge coil tapped. That’s as far as I’ve got. Any other suggestions?

Limehouse_Blues

Beater? Wouldn’t that serve better for on stage pyrotechnical sacrifice rather than at home practice?

Fk sanding and spraying. Build a partscaster. Or buy a cheapo Thomann guitar 

mburekenge

Tele of some kind. Also useful for home defence.

guitarfishbay

MIM Strat, switch pickguard for HSS if necessary 

Jack_

Japanese Charvel So-Cal. I don't own one any more, but IMO one of the most versatile value for money guitars you can buy, especially at used prices, plus it can look traditional rather than metal.

mistercharlie

Be careful. It’ll end up becoming your favorite guitar, and you’ll never want to play anything else. 

octatonic

Find some Warmoth bits and bang something together.

impmann

Tele.

End of.

rico

HSS Mexican Strat. No fucking about. 

Barnezy

I tried a HSS Strat today and wasn’t overwhelmed buy the H tone. There wasn’t the bite I expected. Any upgrade suggestions? The guitar that got me thinking of doing my own thing was the EOB strat. 

roberty

Faded SGs can be had at a good price used. I've played my 50s tribute to death (with dimarzio P90 sized super distortion) no qualms leaving it lying around

ICBM

Chinese Gretsch Electromatic Duo-Jet fitted with a Bigsby, Sperzel tuners, Duncan '59 and Invader pickups, volume, tone, pickup switch and coil split switch.

The previous owner threw it around a bit so it's quite beaten-up... I don't love it, but it's quite useful to have around as it will do a lot of different stuff.

Rocker

Buy a Tele and the pickups you want for it.  Take it to a guitar tech, get him to fit the pickups and setup the guitar.  End of problem.

JD50

I have never played one but isn't the Line 6 Variax supposed to be a Swiss army.knife of tones?

hobbio

Buy a Harley Benton anything with the intention to improve it, play it for a while, realise you can't really improve it without spending 3 times what you bought it for, buy another one and repeat.

roberty

I've been very close to getting one of these on more than one occasion https://www.jacksonguitars.com/gear/shape/rhoads/js-series-rr-minion-js1x/2913333504

p90fool

Mine's the Tele on the left, it can do anything I can. 

My Les Paul is my most gigged, but a round the house beater has to be something you can lie on its back on the floor or throw in a cupboard. 

http://i64.tinypic.com/2dbue1j.jpg

pintspiller

Get a Pacifica or Harley Benton or Squier and just play the shit out of it and throw it away when it's done.

Roland

p90fool said:

... a round the house beater has to be something you can lie on its back on the floor or throw in a cupboard. 

1. Solid body.
2. Flat headstock which won’t break at the nut end.
3. Mix of pickups.

My money is on a cheap Tele, eg the Harley Benton kit with an oil finish so there’s no paint to crack and splinter. Tapped Bridge pickup to give variety. Neck pickup to suit your style. 5 way switch to get the combinations.

Gagaryn

Barnezy said:

I’m thinking about building a do everything beater guitar for around the house practice.

 My first thoughts are to buy a cheap used MIM strat with vintage tuners in any colour, sand it down and repaint with nitro. Rebuild with a SDunc SL-59 little in the bridge coil tapped. That’s as far as I’ve got. Any other suggestions?

A round the house beater? Why on earth would you go to the trouble of stripping and repainting it? Have you actually thought about what you really want?

Jack_

Best round the house guitar is a Strandberg, or other headless. Small, light, sits correctly on your lap in any position, wherever you sit.

Not cheap mind.