Any sleeper/cheap/good shredder guitars?

Gear
#1

I’ve never owned any sort of shredder guitar or superstrat…it’s not really my music. I had a friend who brought me his high school Ibanez and wanted me to put a “jazz” pickup in the neck so I used a Seymour Duncan strat sized humbucker and it ended up being pretty cool and fun to play.

I looked that guitar up and it was in the $600s which is more than I’d spend on something I maybe wouldn’t play that much.

I was just wondering if there’s any older shredder guitars, preferably Japanese, decent quality, that go pretty cheaply these days? I’d end up pulling the pickups out. Preference would be HH or HSH but I could do with other combinations.

Thanks!

#2

So, 10 years ago or so, you could get a '90s Fujigen Ibanez kind of absurdly cheaply. I have an RG7620 I got for $500.

Unfortunately, the market caught on and the resale values skyrocketed. I’d also like to know if there’s any equivalent right now.

#3

What makes a guitar a shredder’s guitar? :slight_smile:

The main thing I can think of is that a flatter neck with low action might make legato (for me = hammer-ons and pull-offs… sorry purists) a little easier.

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#4

I know it when I see it.

Headstock is either pointy or looks like a hockey stick. Flattish fingerboard, neck is thin. Styling is “modern”.

    • Floyd Rose
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#5

Would it make sense for you to take a Strat and give it the treatment, perhaps with an appropriate Warmoth neck? I assume you’d go HSH with a Floyd? Then again, it might not be pointy enough.

#6

These days it’s tough to say, and sub-$600 is even harder. But, places I’d start:

Japanese-made Ibanez RGs. RG550, any of the japanese made RG7s if seven strings are your thing… thin necks, excellent upper access, fairly high output humbuckers, and the Ibanez Edge and LoPro Edge are two of the best licensed Floyds on the market.

Charvel San Dimas Pro-Mod. Owned one of these ages ago, just a stripped down superstrat with two good humbuckers and a Floyd. For me, the non-recessed floyd was ultimately a dealbreaker, but some people prefer that.

Beyond that I’m not as good on specifics, but a few Schecters would probably fit the bill as well.

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#7

man, in 2008 Schecter was great for this. My old MIK Loomis was one of the best guitars I’ve played.

You’ll have to teach me your Lo-Pro Edge ways one of these days, because MAN my 7620 refuses to return true, despite no obvious knife edge issues. Studs might be ovalled or otherwise screwed up.

#8

Happy to give it a look some day. One obvious potential culprit, if this is your first Lo-Pro, are the locking studs; I forget which small allen key you need to lock and unlock the internal stud locker but basically there’s a tiny allen screw inside the stud that bears down on the bottom of the shaft and basically, via pressure, forces the stud so tight against the threading that it won’t move. If those are unlocked, you might be getting a little bit of play in the stud.

Longshot, but there was also a period from around/maybe just after the 7620s where Ibanez accidently changed the shape of the knife edge contact point on the studs, that caused it to bind a little - Rich HArris over at Ibanezrules.com dida long writeup on it:

https://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/fat_knives.htm

What color, btw? I used to own a VK way back in the day, and then for a while owned a 1527 with an essentially unremovable official governemnt “top secret” sticker behind the bridge that I only sold because I hated the DActivators in it, but had I just changed them that probably would have been the keeper and I’d probably have sold my PWH because that had one of the best necks of any seven string I’ve ever played.

#9

Yeah the 7620 neck is my favorite 7-string neck. Somehow simultaneously thin and round, no weird shoulders. Mine’s VK or whatever the like, maroonish red one was.

Oh! It may be fat knives. It’s a '99, which is when RH says they start showing up more frequently.

I may have fucked with it a bit too much when I was young and stupid without unlocking the studs, so I fear that may be the issue. She also badly needs a refret, since it’s a '99 and, uh, those frets were not high to begin with lmao.

Would gladly buy you a beer (or three) to have you take a look at it! I’m in my “set up my shit myself” arc right now. I’m floydmaxxing, etc.

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#10

Id happily give it a look one of these days - mine was a VK too. Great guitars, and fora while there when they were going for $400-450, they were about the best deal, six OR seven string, on a shred guitar you could find.

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#11

Man, I’d kill for a six-string hardtail version. Sadly those never existed.

#12

Short answer: no. Sub $600 and MIJ just don’t go together anymore, unfortunately.

But since this is just a “for fun” occasional kind of guitar, I would look at the Indonesian Ibanez models. I have a 2013 RG8 that I bought second hand for a couple of hundred bucks that rips. It’s not on the level of my MIJ RG752, but it was a fraction of the price, and holds its own.

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#13

Harley Benton makes some very nice superstrats for very reasonable prices (stainless steel frets, Wilkinson trems, etc.).

SBS (Guitarfetish) makes some decent ones too, also very reasonably priced. They have more of a 80’s look, but the Floyds are very low quality and so is the paint. Feasibility depends on what your quality bar is.

Both brands are great if you want a platform for upgrades and you don’t mind sinking a bit more cash and work into them, but Harley Bentons seem a bit more serviceable out of the box. YMMV.

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#14

For that money though, I’d almost rather just oil-finish a Warmoth. Never playeda Harley Benton or SBS, but I’ve played a bunch of Agiles over the years and even owned their 7 string Tele for a while, would expect them to be broadly comparable, and they were all solidly meh.

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#15

Doesn’t look like a fair comparison to me. Maybe you have better information than I do, but it looks to me like the cheapest Warmoth partscaster including hardware would be close to double the price of either an HB or SBS. I’m happy to be corrected if that’s wrong. In fact I’d probably get out my wallet right quick.

You’re right, though. Without upgrades, Harley Benton is solid but not stellar, while SBS is somewhat less impressive. But they’re both much more than you should be able to get for $350 in 2026. And buying either of them new and upgrading it to be a very solid performer in the range of a used Japanese superstrat (in performance, not value) can be done for less than a used Japanese superstrat, and is also a lot of fun if that’s the kind of thing you’re into.

Anyway, it’s a low-cost option that the OP might not have been aware of. It’s offered in the spirit of “$600 … is more than I’d spend on something I maybe wouldn’t play that much”, which leaves some room for interpretation regarding acceptable price to value ratios.

I will say that I have one of each (Harley Benton Fusion II and SBS SS300) and after my upgrades I enjoy them both immensely. Again, YMMV.

#16

Yamaha Pacificas are excellent guitars and very economical, but I don’t know if they’re “superstrat” enough for what OP is looking for.

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#17

Does it have to be japanese? you can get a Kramer Pacer for around $300 or so, even less used and throw some SDs in it… Kramer Baretta with one humbucker is a good option

or a used MIM Charvel for around $500 ish… only way is a used Ibanez RG Genesis, they’re MIJ, but even used they might be over $600.

Get a Charvel imo

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#18

Thanks everyone, there are some cool ideas here.

I’m a bit tempted to buy a Harvey Benton Les Paul and put Peter Green pickups (which cost about as much as the guitar) in it. That’s another guitar I’d like to have “for fun”.

Anyway thanks for all the responses, I’m doing research.

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#19

Excellent points, and honestly I figured the guitars you’d mentioned cost double that. That makes the breakeven a little tougher!

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#20

Really the deciding factor is do you need a floating trem or don’t you becuase if you desire a floating trem there are practically no guitars sub $1000 imo where the trem doesn’t slowly become a nightmare from cheap pot metal wearing the knife edges and making it not return to center.

For string through I’d look at any of the more budget Ibanez RG or S series that are hardtail. I believe Solar guitars has a budget line of bolt on neck guitars as well.
https://www.sbysolar.com/shop/