Novelty guitars are junk, but fun

If you're going to get one of these, the joke only works pretty much once.

Above is a novelty guitar made to look like a weapon, the Glen Burton GE47. It's cheap. Obviously, the guitar cannot be played sitting down. Not comfortably, anyway. This is the kind of guitar you buy for local gigs when you just need something to give the audience a laugh.

The joke of what this guitar is stops being funny after about 5 minutes. This basically means you break it out for one song at a gig where the guitar would be appropriate, such as Tommy Gun by The Clash:

...and then immediately put it away afterward and go back to a regular electric guitar.

What's the ultra-cheap way of making a novelty guitar?

Stickers.

Grab any guitar you want where you don't mind completely covering the body in stickers, and buy this 300 piece sticker pack:

You'll easily be able to cover the entire guitar. Several, actually.

Or if you're the artsy fartsy type, you can take a cheap Squier Mustang HH, take off the pick guard, sticker that up, and then reinstall the guard when done to give it a nice custom look.

Go novelty or go sticker?

I personally think the sticker route is the better option mainly because it can be applied to any guitar. And it goes without saying that guitars like cheap Strats, cheap Mustangs or whatever you go with are much more playable compared to the GE47 above.

I'm not saying not to buy the GE47. If you like the novelty of that, get one. But for a custom look that's dirt cheap and unique, stickers are way better - and really easy.

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