70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

S

Stratovarious

New member
In a local 2nd hand shop there's a "Guyatone" Les Paul copy from some period in the 70's

I was sceptical because it was a bolt-on neck, but from a lot of the hurrah these 70's Japanese copies get I thought I'd give it a play (unplugged) and this thing was loud as hell, heavy as hell too (I don't really mind) but really truly LOUD. Sounded a bit louder than a semi-hollow. Was also pretty damn good to play to be honest

It's really cheap, and I'll go back and give it a plug in for sure one of these days, but I thought maybe someone here could shine some light on this guitar, as I've got GAS for a Les Paul-esque guitar, and this fits the bill quite comfortably. Just curious if anyone knows anything about it.

Photo1-mss%2026443.jpg


It's got Wilkinson Kluson Style tuners, which I'm sure aren't original
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

I recognize that manky carpet :).

Hmm, don't know much about Guyatones. Some of the really low end MIJ guitars were plywood laminates, so I'd be wary of that. Here's a higher spec one: http://www.music-trade.co.jp/80021083carte.html, which is probably more or less the same as Greco.

I know when it comes to 70s-80s MIJ LPs, people tend to favour set neck variants, as made by Greco (not cheap either!). Ibanez made mostly bolt-ons but there are a few set neck models, like the blingy Custom Agent, and some others, like LP Special types. There's also the Yamaha Studio Lord, which is a well regarded LP copy - did you check out the Phat-Catted one they've got.

The tuners are probably replacements.
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

^^ Haha, you'd rock anything :).

Anyway, plug it in, and see how it sounds.

Are those saddles plastic?
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

That's cool. I may have that same guitar, but in a different color. I don't know, since it has no name on the head. But looking at your pic, I see that the brand is just a stick on piece. Mine may have fallen off.

If it's the same thing, then yeah, it's really cheesy. But it's a guitar, and it works. Congratulations.
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

Ashurbanipal said:
I recognize that manky carpet :).

Hmm, don't know much about Guyatones. Some of the really low end MIJ guitars were plywood laminates, so I'd be wary of that. Here's a higher spec one: http://www.music-trade.co.jp/80021083carte.html, which is probably more or less the same as Greco.

I know when it comes to 70s-80s MIJ LPs, people tend to favour set neck variants, as made by Greco (not cheap either!). Ibanez made mostly bolt-ons but there are a few set neck models, like the blingy Custom Agent, and some others, like LP Special types. There's also the Yamaha Studio Lord, which is a well regarded LP copy - did you check out the Phat-Catted one they've got.

The tuners are probably replacements.
Click to expand...

Haha, the carpet .

Yeah I checked a few out, but this is a real cheapy so as a student I'm naturally attracted to it.

They have an Ibanez from the 70's, a bolt-on, I gave it a spin through a ht-5 they had and it sounded fantastic


I think it could be the flash making the saddles look plastic .

I might go give it a whirl tomorrow.

Btw, The YJM strat was fantastic.. for harder rock tones, when you turned the gain down it was hard to get a nice stratty character out of the HS-3's, and the neck pickup is a bit too compressed. The scallops were fantastic though, I tried quite hard to make the notes go sharp and couldn't, the setup was top notch
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

ItsaBass said:
That's cool. I may have that same guitar, but in a different color. I don't know, since it has no name on the head. But looking at your pic, I see that the brand is just a stick on piece. Mine may have fallen off.

If it's the same thing, then yeah, it's really cheesy. But it's a guitar, and it works. Congratulations.
Click to expand...

Yeah the logo is a screw on .

Can you give a more detailed opinion or is it not worth it, haha

Also , is most plywood used for guitar quite heavy? This thing was a whale
 
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Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

TLD: too true. If only every guitarist aspired to such a simple, pluralistic, unpretentious maxim, all zealot cork-sniffers would die and we'd live happily ever after.

Stratovarious said:
Haha, the carpet .

Yeah I checked a few out, but this is a real cheapy so as a student I'm naturally attracted to it.

They have an Ibanez from the 70's, a bolt-on, I gave it a spin through a ht-5 they had and it sounded fantastic


I think it could be the flash making the saddles look plastic .

I might go give it a whirl tomorrow.

Btw, The YJM strat was fantastic.. for harder rock tones, when you turned the gain down it was hard to get a nice stratty character out of the HS-3's, and the neck pickup is a bit too compressed. The scallops were fantastic though, I tried quite hard to make the notes go sharp and couldn't, the setup was top notch
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Yammie is a good bit more.

I think ItsaBass is right about his - there are some that appear to have lost their logos.

Gotta give an Yngwie Strat a shot one of these days. I think I'm becoming more Stratty in my old age - I played an RG for a long time, but now I'm more into single coils and use a Floyd for more subtle wobble. Yeah, you sum up how many feel about the DiMarzios – good for gain, not very traditional Strat on clean/hair; but hey, it is a signature axe.

About plywood: I do remember reading about people claiming to have plywood guitars that weighed a ton, but that interwebz hearsay.
 
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Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

Ashurbanipal said:
TLD: too true. If only every guitarist aspired to such a simple, pluralistic, unpretentious maxim, all zealot cork-sniffers would die and we'd live happily ever after.



Yeah, the Yammie is a good bit more.

I think ItsaBass is right about his - there are some that appear to have lost their logos.

Gotta give an Yngwie Strat a shot one of these days. I think I'm becoming more Stratty in my old age - I played an RG for a long time, but now I'm more into single coils and use a Floyd for more subtle wobble. Yeah, you sum up how many feel about the DiMarzios – good for gain, not very traditional Strat on clean/hair; but hey, it is a signature axe.

About plywood: I do remember reading about people claiming to have plywood guitars that weighed a ton, but that interwebz hearsay.
Click to expand...

Next time you're on break go down and give that one a play. She's a gorgeous Candy apple red

I think I definitely fit the bill as a pluralist, but I don't have much choice in the matter considering my age.

Can anyone tell me how I can approximate how good (or bad, definitely bad) the fret life is on this thing?
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

Stratovarious said:
Yeah the logo is a screw on .

Can you give a more detailed opinion or is it not worth it, haha

Also , is most plywood used for guitar quite heavy? This thing was a whale
Click to expand...

Plywood is generally a heavy material in comparison to solid wood. It is dense, and it has added weight from the glue used to hold the plies together.
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

ItsaBass said:
Plywood is generally a heavy material in comparison to solid wood. It is dense, and it has added weight from the glue used to hold the plies together.
Click to expand...


Alright thanks.

I will play it later today and let you guys know how it goes, I think I'm trying to make this guitar seem better than it is in my head, but till I plug it in I can't make any 'final decisions' intuitively
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

She's definitely plywood, put some light on the finish and you can see the outlines of the layers of wood

Well, I'll just put this sentence incase anyone googles it intensively in future

"A bolt-on Guyatone Les Paul copy I found was made of plywood"

It's an LG-29 model, from what I saw in catalogues
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

Stratovarious said:
Next time you're on break go down and give that one a play. She's a gorgeous Candy apple red

I think I definitely fit the bill as a pluralist, but I don't have much choice in the matter considering my age.

Can anyone tell me how I can approximate how good (or bad, definitely bad) the fret life is on this thing?
Click to expand...

Cool. I don't like the yellow ones that much and you don't see the red ones around often.

Fret life - depends on how much you play and how hard you press the strings down. The only guitars I've encountered bad fret life on have been MIK - quite soft. My MIJ ones have held up pretty well - the Roadstar does need new frets, it's a bit of a fretless wonder now because some dolt just levelled the frets once upon a time and didn't recrown them! Still playable thankfully. The Proline has jumbo wire and its due for its first dress. Both guitars have seen quite a bit of play time before I got them, so they've held up well.

I think in general things are a bit sucky here in the Antipodes because the same stuff is more expensive than in the US. While you can still find deals on eBay, shipping from overseas is a pain, as a lot of people won't do it because of the size restriction, which can eliminate set neck instruments, unless you want to pay $200-300 for alternative means.

You need a lot of patience when being precise about what you want, and OC with auction sites.
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

You guys just do not get the cache of the 70's LP knockoff. If it is even adjustable to ~80% playability and under a buck fifty you hit like ho holding out on the house cut and don't hold back.

You buy it, you slap Distortion or Invader or SuperD or X2N in there, and get your your rock on with complete abandon!!!! That's how you do it.

Now, with that beauty, you would obviously want a Guyatone pedal board of Guyatone Micro's to rock it through. Maybe a Guyatone T-shirt. Work the 'Endorsee' angle...

I notice it is abolt on. I prefer set necks even in ripoffs except for the occasional and neteworthy Ibanez.

Now slap that b!ch like she just walked out of trailer to hang the clothes without gettin' you your sammich and a natty bo first!!!!!

What pickup is going in it???
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

Brings on flashbacks for me. I had a Penco LP clone back in the day, bolt-on neck and all. First thing that got replaced was the bridge (which had plastic saddles, EEEEEK!), and later replaced the neck PU with a DiMarzio PAF which made a big difference Just replace the pickups and bridge you should be good.
 
Re: 70's Guyatone Bolt-On Les Paul MIJ

Offer Brian $250 and say Will sent you. :cool2:
I've known Brian for about 30 years and "The Swop Shop" is an institution here in Melbourne.
Oh, and that carpet, has quite a few of my liquid and herbal spills over the years:naughty:

And BTW, 3 Melbourne guys on the same thread?
Might be time for another SDUGFM get together soon.
We could do a music shop crawl starting at the Ukelele
shop next door and then do all the Fitzroy shops and end
up at a nearby watering hole:friday:

Oh, and Laughing Kookaburra gets an invite too!

Cheers, Will
 
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