Kapo_Polenton
Well-known member
Wit our dollar in the tank i stopped looking at warmoth, all parts, hell even Mighty Mite!
Wit our dollar in the tank i stopped looking at warmoth, all parts, hell even Mighty Mite!
BesaMoogie
Well-known member
I guess most important is the placing of the bridge at the right spot for intonation and a straight neck. Everything else can be more or less be fixed.
sytharnia1560
Well-known member
at the moment i'm just going to leave the brass nut and see how it goes
sytharnia1560
Well-known member
I think sadly when you build a guitar it is yours for life unless you want to take a huge hit $$ wise..but I guess the reason we build our own is because we want something unique that is just "ours"
Briman24
Well-known member
Yes i agree if you sell it as a complete guitar nowadays. The only way to avoid losing that money is to part it out. Sell it piece by piece which is more work ....
Briman24
Well-known member
When i listed my warmoth build locally here in Montreal last year for 900 and kept reducing it every 2 weeks...... i went all the way down to 600 which is about 480 US i think. I only did it to see how low i would have to go to get interest. I would never have let it go at that price though. Was just frustrated and kept reducing price until i got bites which didn't happen even at 600 lol So.....nobody contacted me and i pulled the ad.
Briman24
Well-known member
It so frustrating........guitars have gone up in price so much lately but a high quality partscastor is worth minimal. A Les Paul Studio or Gibson SG used to sell for 900 to 1100 canadian 3 years ago. Now they are 1500!!! A friggen mexican strat goes for 800 to 1200 nowadays.......used to be lucky if you got 400 for them 4 years ago
rottingcorpse
Well-known member
Bolting on a pair of new tits on your old lady doesn't stop her from being cunty. Sure,she's a little more fun to play with...but a bitch is a bitch.
Ben Waylin
Banned
Well-known member
Kapo_Polenton
Well-known member
I see this too. The pandemic really blew prices up to the point where you wonder how much they can come down now.. same goes for real estate and cars. Might have to wait a while for MIM strats to sit at the prices being asked before they come down. I always thought MIM should be in the 500-650 CAD. I now see some good spec partscasters popping up in the 150-350$ range and those ones are probably the ones to get if you want to hot rod. I guess that's the advantage of having a name of some sort on the headstock. I saw a MIJ Squire of all things for 1250$ locally.
cardinal
Well-known member
Long story but I somewhat mistakenly ended up ordering a Charvel type of one of these years ago. When it eventually arrived (that story below), it was definitely cheap but the neck was straight and after some fret leveling, it's actually a nice player. Hardware is junk.
But oddly they initially sent me a LP fake and told me to just keep it because returning it was more trouble than it was worth. That guitar is a monster player and is kinda awesome. I gave it to my sister in law on the condition that she can't ever sell it because it's a fake, but I don't think she's ever going to sell it because it's actually a legit nice playing and sounding guitar.
But oddly they initially sent me a LP fake and told me to just keep it because returning it was more trouble than it was worth. That guitar is a monster player and is kinda awesome. I gave it to my sister in law on the condition that she can't ever sell it because it's a fake, but I don't think she's ever going to sell it because it's actually a legit nice playing and sounding guitar.
Kapo_Polenton
Well-known member
I wonder where charvel gets it's parts from and how much those materials cost. Are they getting the bodies in China for the EVH stuff and then assembling in Mexico? I saw a nitro finished red stripe frankie body on ebay and it looks like in one of the pics, he has a bunch of bodies stacked. These are relic'd. I put an offer in for 150 CAD for fun to see how much these things are worth. The markup for Charvel must be 200% .
rottingcorpse
Well-known member
Ok here we go...
Best bro in Oklahoma bought 4 of these Chinese knock off Chibsons and such just to display on his wall.
They were copies of some of his favorite Gibsons like the silver burst explorer and V and such.
He loved the way they looked but compared to his good guitars he knew they just kinda sucked.
He actually has some real deal dream guitars like the PS10 and a PS120 that has the amazing cracked mirror work from KAMN.
Yesterday he cut a deal with a guy to trade his 4 Chibsons for a real Les Paul.
He's as happy as a puppy with two peters.
Best bro in Oklahoma bought 4 of these Chinese knock off Chibsons and such just to display on his wall.
They were copies of some of his favorite Gibsons like the silver burst explorer and V and such.
He loved the way they looked but compared to his good guitars he knew they just kinda sucked.
He actually has some real deal dream guitars like the PS10 and a PS120 that has the amazing cracked mirror work from KAMN.
Yesterday he cut a deal with a guy to trade his 4 Chibsons for a real Les Paul.
He's as happy as a puppy with two peters.
Attachments
vultures
Well-known member
I'd like to grab a knock off Silverburst LPC or Explorer to fix up, I just wish I knew where the "good" sellers/sites are to get one.
bubbastain
Well-known member
Back in early 2020 I ordered a Susanna Hoffs (Bangles) signature Rickenbacker copy from AliExpress. I was comfortable with the possibility that it would be nothing more than eye candy on the wall, but also knew from playing a few Chibsons that it could be totally fine. So it was worth $300ish to me.
After I got it I was pleasantly surprised. Sure there were some imperfections, but I don't give a crap about stuff like that. I almost immediately started fucking with the guitar. First I swapped out the ugly tailpiece with the big "R" on it. Then I took out the bridge pickup and Dremeled it out for a full sized humbucker. I yanked out the middle pickup, removed all the extra volume and tone knobs so I just have a single volume knob. I then decided I didn't like the painted neck so I removed the finish and put a few coats of BLO.
It's still not done yet, but it's my little project guitar.
No way I could get a real one. They only made like a hundred or so back in maybe 1990??? I can't remember. It's a cool guitar. It uses a full size neck (24.75") and the smaller Rickenbacker body. The black body with checkered binding looks pretty cool too.
After I got it I was pleasantly surprised. Sure there were some imperfections, but I don't give a crap about stuff like that. I almost immediately started fucking with the guitar. First I swapped out the ugly tailpiece with the big "R" on it. Then I took out the bridge pickup and Dremeled it out for a full sized humbucker. I yanked out the middle pickup, removed all the extra volume and tone knobs so I just have a single volume knob. I then decided I didn't like the painted neck so I removed the finish and put a few coats of BLO.
It's still not done yet, but it's my little project guitar.
No way I could get a real one. They only made like a hundred or so back in maybe 1990??? I can't remember. It's a cool guitar. It uses a full size neck (24.75") and the smaller Rickenbacker body. The black body with checkered binding looks pretty cool too.
Kapo_Polenton
Well-known member
That is the question.. you just can't know and their english isn't all that great most of the time.
rsm
Well-known member
Well, I gave in to temptation, getting an aliexpress guitar that is near impossible to find used, and no longer available new.
Needs a setup, new strings, at least. Tuned it up and it's close enough for punk. Have yet to plug it in. The fretboard and frets are nicely finished; tuners work; action is workable, no major finish flaws but I'll see in the sunlight tomorrow.
Looks good, not exact, compared to the real thing, the nut is a wonky large block of plastic which could be challenging to replace.
But for $319 shipped vs $7K+ for the realdeal if you can find one, I won't be that disappointed by any flaws.
Added bonus, it was due on March 9, actually arrived today Feb 14.
Needs a setup, new strings, at least. Tuned it up and it's close enough for punk. Have yet to plug it in. The fretboard and frets are nicely finished; tuners work; action is workable, no major finish flaws but I'll see in the sunlight tomorrow.
Looks good, not exact, compared to the real thing, the nut is a wonky large block of plastic which could be challenging to replace.
But for $319 shipped vs $7K+ for the realdeal if you can find one, I won't be that disappointed by any flaws.
Added bonus, it was due on March 9, actually arrived today Feb 14.
P
Panhead5
Well-known member
Amazing when people do partscasters they can't seem to figure out they have nothing !. You build these things you better keep them and love them.
grooveHT
Well-known member
To me, cheap wood is still cheap wood. You can throw all the high-end parts at it that you want, and you still have cheap wood. Could you still get lucky? Absolutely! I have a Steinberger Spirit - Korean-made - that I love very much, and I've had a few of them that I've upgraded the pickups on, but with the heavy (practically bullet-proof) finish and wood selection, they never really broke into the level that my partscasters (all made from Warmoth, USACG and American Fender parts) have made, except this last one. Personal hypothesis is that the imports are less selective about what part comes out of the stack, and you pay a premium for that; you can still get lucky, but much less likely.
Above is all IMO!
Above is all IMO!