Stop buying budget guitars, more appropriately stop buying budget guitars if...
Counting the cost of modding budget guitars.

Stop buying budget guitars

1. If you don’t know how to do the work (or are not willing to learn)
2. If you don’t enjoy doing the work
3. If you don’t have the time to do the work - count the cost of your time
4. If you don’t have the funds to by “needed” parts*

*You may or may not need or desire to change anything or everything, but I wanted to give you the ballpark costs. The following list reflects my player preferences.

Budget Telecaster - upgrade cost model (as needed)

Budget guitar - $100
Locking Tuners - $35
Ferrules - $8
String trees (guides) - $14
Bone or GraphTech Nut - $15 Compensated Brass Saddles - $15
Pots - $10
Capacitor - $6
Switch - $11
Pickups - $40
Pure tone jack - $10
Wires - $8

Total $270

Assumptions:

1. Good bones (guitar body & neck)
2. Basic tools to do the work
3. Parts are “needed”

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Shout out to ‪@2bikemikesguitartopics145‬ and ‪@j-man9457‬ for their recommendations and encouragement as I walk out my journey with budget guitars.

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Playlists and journeys:

Should you buy a budget guitar? Is it worth it?
   • Can we talk about Firefly Guitars? - ...  

Harley Benton Stories
   • Harley Benton TE-52 - First Impressio...  

Westcreek Racer Stories
   • WestCreek RACER  (Bumble-B) - unboxin...  

FireFly FFTL Relic Telecaster
   • Firefly FFTL Relic - Unboxing and fir...  

Fojill FTL-60 Telecaster
   • Fojill FTL-60 Telecaster unboxing - W...  

Fojill FTL-20 Telecaster
   • Amazon $89 Telecaster - Could it be a...  

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Just an old cat talking about guitars & life. If you like this kind of content, please consider subscribing. If you like a video, please let me know by liking videos that are helpful, informative, fun, and shareable.

This channel explores my journey with budget guitars through a mix of various kinds of videos. You’ll find boring unboxing videos, out of the box tone samples, discussions of fit and finish, features, specifications, hardware, electronics, initial thoughts, reactions, guitar work, and lots of stories.

Along the way, I'll offer my take on questions like, “Should I buy a budget guitar? “Is upgrading a budget guitar worth it?” What is the cost difference between upgrading budget guitars with the price of brand name guitars? Do all budget guitars need upgrade? and more.

Wherever you are on your guitar journey, I hope it’s a good ride for you.
Rock on with your bad selves.
I’ll catch you down the road.