We asked to see your best bargain gear finds in the Bottom Feeder world—and what a wonderful world it is! Here are some of the cheap and unique instruments Premier Guitar readers are wheelin’ and dealin’ around the world.
“This just happened to me, and my wife is still pretty pissed,” says reader Jon Rogers. “G.A.S. hit really super hard.” His bargain buy is a mid-’80s Hamer Scarab 2, purchased for $100 via Craigslist. “A guy posted it as ‘ROCK GOD GUITAR PROJECT,’ and brother it is!” writes Rogers. The Scarab features a one-piece mahogany body with a prototype Floyd Rose tremolo bridge, and is missing one of its two DiMarzio-built Hamer Slammer pickups. But according to Rogers, there’s an even cooler feature: “It’s got yellow LEDs in the fretboard. Stock.” Rogers had planned to talk the seller down, but it didn’t happen. “I slapped the whole stack of twenties into his hand when I saw the set neck was clean and straight, with minimal fret wear. After I bought it I did more research. I am now sort of overwhelmed at how much chest hair this guitar may give me.”
