One to watch, "Vintage" brand guitars.

[Kenmac]

Actually they're made in Vietnam but I think the Q.C. issues are improving or they wouldn't have accepted these at all. For awhile I was considering getting one off EBay but it would have been shipped over from England and who knows what may happen to it? I'll check the store out later this week and report on what they're like.

 

[Ozeshin]

I'll check the store out later this week and report on what they're like.

Excellent....I'm curious to know hwat they're like...the UK guitar press have been pushing them for a while.
We more than likely won't get to see them here in Austrlalia but i'd like to know how they compare to the Chinese made Tokai.
I've played a few of those...SG..LP...Explorer and apart from some very minor cosmetic flaws in the finish, they are fine guitars.

 

[Kenmac]

Well I went over to Ring Music last night and they had one of the Lemon Drop guitars on display and it looked okay but they did say on the website there were Lemon Drop guitars (plural) in stock so I knew there had to be more than one so I asked the sales guy if he had any more of them and at first he seemed kind of surprised but then he told me there were 2 more of them in storage downstairs and he got another guy to go down and bring up both of them. They were both in cases and they opened them up for me.

The first one had a really nice tiger stripe finish on it and the second one had a similar finish but it was a lighter colour. I told him I wanted to try the first one so I did. It played well and sounded quite good. It also has an out of phase sound to it as the neck pickup is put in upside down just like Peter Green did with his Les Paul all those years ago. It sounds pretty cool to me, not like a typical Les Paul, more of what I would describe as kind of a "hollow" sound. Anyway I ended up buying the guitar and I'll take some photos of it later today. The case is also nice, it's made by Kinsman and it's kind of a cross between a hard and soft shell case. Included in the case is the original tag and Q.C. control for the guitar. BTW if there are any Tele players from Toronto reading this, they also have a nice Vintage Brand Tele there. BTW the price I paid for this guitar was only $499.99 CDN plus tax. I bought a strap and strings for it as well and the case was $89.95 CDN so all in all a good deal.

 

[Kenmac]

Sorry, I know I said I'd was going to take some pictures and post them yesterday but I got a new computer with Windows Vista on it and it was taking a bit of time to get it set up so I'll take some pictures later and post them on the weekend.

 

[honeyboy]

Sorry, I know I said I'd was going to take some pictures and post them yesterday but I got a new computer with Windows Vista on it and it was taking a bit of time to get it set up so I'll take some pictures later and post them on the weekend.

Waiting anxiously. I bet it's a groovy guitar!

 

[honeyboy]

Hey, was the tele you mentioned a relic as well?

 

[Kenmac]

Actually I didn't get close enough to see but I don't think it was. It looked more like a new guitar.

Hey, was the tele you mentioned a relic as well?

 

[Ozeshin]

Sorry, I know I said I'd was going to take some pictures and post them yesterday but I got a new computer with Windows Vista on it and it was taking a bit of time to get it set up so I'll take some pictures later and post them on the weekend.

Waiting anxiously. I bet it's a groovy guitar!

Good luck with Vista recognising your Camera drivers...lol :roll:

 

[Kenmac]

That's something I don't have to worry about as I have one of those 9 in 1 card readers built into the front of the computer. It handles XD, SD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro and others.

Sorry, I know I said I'd was going to take some pictures and post them yesterday but I got a new computer with Windows Vista on it and it was taking a bit of time to get it set up so I'll take some pictures later and post them on the weekend.

Waiting anxiously. I bet it's a groovy guitar!

Good luck with Vista recognising your Camera drivers...lol :roll:

 

[Kenmac]

I finally got around to taking some photos and reinstalling Photoshop on this computer. You can see the photos of the Lemon Drop guitar here: http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r227/Netskenmac/LemonDrop/

 

[honeyboy]

Very cool! I see you already did some mods. Did you put on the top hats or were they stock? Non-matching knobs does add to the realism.

I think that Vintage made a big mistake with their name. Ever Google 'Vintage Guitars?' Nearly impossible to find these folks.

 

[Kenmac]

No, I didn't do any mods to it. The top hats were stock. I know what you mean about trying to find them, the best bet is to try using something like the company name JHS. Try "JHS Vintage".

Very cool! I see you already did some mods. Did you put on the top hats or were they stock? Non-matching knobs does add to the realism.

I think that Vintage made a big mistake with their name. Ever Google 'Vintage Guitars?' Nearly impossible to find these folks.

 

[honeyboy]

I'm anxious to hear your thoughts about it after you've had some time to 'break it in.'

I sincerely hope your enjoy your new guitar.

 

[RhubarbCrumble]

I owned a Vintage V940 bass, with a solid natural finish bubinga body (only really seen on Warwick basses and other ?600+ instruments). It looked brilliant and played so well. Even had active electronics. Think I bought it for ?150 second hand after playing it in a shop.

Agree about the name though; When I've said I had a "Vintage" bass, I had to explain to people that its not actually old, its the company name. Gets a little annoying by the 124th time.

I've even seen people selling Vintage guitars on ebay, and the slightly less sharp eyed members of the ebay community have sent them questions saying "How dare you market this guitar as Vintage, it's not even 5 years old"

:lol: :lol: :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[Kenmac]

lol. Yeah that's understandable as they're still a relatively new company. Ring Music in Toronto (where I bought my Lemon Drop) also has some really nice Vintage brand basses. I saw one that looked almost exactly like Stings bass. They've even got a Jaco Pastorius style bass with pulled out frets just like Jacos! I just checked and they're still on the Ring Music website. Here's the link if you want to check it out: http://www.ringmusic.com/productlist.php?category_id=10

I owned a Vintage V940 bass, with a solid natural finish bubinga body (only really seen on Warwick basses and other ?600+ instruments). It looked brilliant and played so well. Even had active electronics. Think I bought it for ?150 second hand after playing it in a shop.

Agree about the name though; When I've said I had a "Vintage" bass, I had to explain to people that its not actually old, its the company name. Gets a little annoying by the 124th time.

I've even seen people selling Vintage guitars on ebay, and the slightly less sharp eyed members of the ebay community have sent them questions saying "How dare you market this guitar as Vintage, it's not even 5 years old"

:lol: :lol: :roll: :roll: :roll:

 

[Schnabelrock]

From time to time there is a new brand pushed into the market which is not a manufacturer but only a new label.

I would not be surprised if Vintage turns out to be come from the same factories as Epiphone, Johnson or other copies of minor quality.

I haven?t played one of them but to me this smells like marketing. I can?t imagine they can compete with a good Burny, Tokai or Heritage.

So what is it all about? Getting a cheap copy?

 

[Kenmac]

Not really a cheap copy per se, more like a good "bang for the buck" guitar and bass line. Of course there will be some that aren't up to standard but on the whole I'd say these "Vintage" brand guitars and basses are very well made for the money. If you get a chance to try one out I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Just my opinion of course.

 

[vikingblues]

I've used a Vintage V100 for well over a year and for the money it is extremely good value - solid build, good action and the tone is high quality for the price. It helps they have Trevor Wilkinson on board who is good at getting the most from the lower budget materials.

The use of the V100 was a result of a downsize in my guitar collection due to financial needs and it effectively replaced a Gibson SG Standard I had to sell. Although the SG Standard was better I was able to part with it with not much pain as the V100 was a pretty good close substitute.

I've fairly recently got a MIJ Tokai LC95 and I have to admit the V100 is now gathering dust as for a LC95 v V100 match there is no competition. But the LC95 was about 4 times the price!! I would not be able to part with the LC95 with the same ease as the SG.

I also use a Vintage Advance AV4 bass (basically a Jazz Bass with better higher neck access) and again the quality is very good for the price. Or at least it was once I undid the mess the shop had made of the bass and not fixed before sending it to me (ex-display I think although not advertised as such).

Also I can commend John Hornby Skewes the distributors for Vintage in the UK - very customer friendly and helpful.