Michael,
I often buy up Electric( as many as I can afford) close out, discount guitars, from places like Musicians Friend and others ( a place in Vietnam has some real fantastic deals). I will redress the frets, install Buzz Feiten(with a bone nut) and adjust the truss rods and neck angles (if necessary). I then sell the guitars for $250 on average ( or give them free to some needy students at our church/school). The kids get a great playing guitar that usually sounds pretty good ( I only buy those with solid wood...No ply) and most come with good tuners. They are obviously loss leaders for companies like Fender/Squier/Floyd Rose etc. At the discount price I buy them for (usually under $100) I don't have much invested other than some labor. I now have people who own very expensive guitars ordering the "cheapos" so they can have a beach/throw around/keep in the trunk type guitar that is truely fun to play and they don't have to worry that one of the kids will drop the guitar.
It's amazing how good some of these guitars turn out. What's even more amazing is that, with a little effort, these big manufacturers could be making/selling much better instruments but choose to let the "quality/setup" lax to produce more and more quickly.
As I said, these are Electric guitars that I do this to. The acoustics are just too bad to spend the time needed to make them "good". But for some reason, and this only happens about 2-3 times a year...the warehouses sell off these "loss leader" electrics at even greater close out prices. I get to make some little kid ( and some adults too) real happy. It also makes for good test models to practice routing/diff. finishes/elecronics etc. for minimal dollars. I guess I get distracted too easily...
