More import mania

JeffB

JeffB

Let it B
I've got to say..I've been playing (as well as buying a few here and there) a BUNCH of imports from all over the world lately....korea...china...indonesia...india...(I wont throw japan in here cos they've been building great guitars for 30 years)

These folks are really starting to..well...put American companies to shame. NO a $250 Jackson is not as nice as a USA Jackson, and Epis aren't as nice as Gibsons, and Korean Hamers and Deans are not as nice as their US counterparts. But FOR THE $....I'm pretty amazed.

Yesterday I spent several hours with a bunch more imports. ESP/LTD, Ibanez, Epiphone, Michael Kelly, MIM Fenders, blah blah blah, and the fact is, you can get a darn solid playing guitar for $300, and $600 will get you a nice player that also looks really, really good.

Not that the imports are flawless..the biggest issues I see are quality of wood (tonally), quality of rosewood boards is especially all over the place, pickups/electronics/hardware.

My biggest pet peeve? The fretwire. I have no idea what these people use...maybe old railroad tracks, but it's pretty cheap, and sure doesn't feel like the MIJ/MIA guitars. Alot of these companies also put teeny frets on the guitars which may or may not be your thing..on some guitars I like, on some I don't...pends on the radius of the neck, feel/tightness of the way it plays etc.

So taking a day off the from the increasingly frustrating job search, I decided to bring some of my piddly gear I had laying around collecting dust that just wasn't selling and trade it in on something I've been wanting for prolly a year. Another "strat". I've been playing tons and tons of "strats" from big $ to cheap over the past few months. Name a company, name a model and I've prolly spent at least a few minutes with it in recent months.

Here's a rundown on what I played yesterday

Ibanez: Set neck SZ (25" scale), Ibanez SA (2 bolt ons, 2 set necks), Ibanez S series H-H (bolt w/ Floyd). A couple of les Paul looking things both single and doublecut. A RG neck through w/ floyd.

ESP/LTD: M50, import Horizon (no trem)

Michael Kelly: That new McCarty-like guit with the stop tailpiece, and a patriot

A Chinese Epi Les Paul Std +

Fender MIM: an esquire of some sort, and a standard strat

Out of all of these, the Ibanez and LTD axes were overall the best builds. The fret jobs were best, the nuts were cut best, the neck to pocket fits were best, the electronics were best, the pickups. They were the guitars I said to myself "I could live with this for a bit without changing anything on it. The MH100 had some seriously ballsy tone for a "cheap" agathis body.

Michael Kellys were really nice, but the electronics were muddy. Same issue with the Epi...another chinese epi that has impressed me...a pup/pot swap and you'd have a real nice sounding paula. But stock it was really muddy (could be the wax issue with the covered pups)

I hate to sound like I'm running down Fender, but I just have not been impressed at all with the local MIMs I see. They are decent...but the Ibbys and ESPs that are $100 to $200 cheaper are built as well and most of the time better, and the wood is all over the place like most imports. I see alot of sloppy neck pockets.The $175 Squiers and Peaveys on the wall at my local shop are just as good as the MIMs if not better.

In the end...I it came down to four guitars that I kept rotating through...and I spent over 2 hours just playing these four......

contd...
 
Re: More import mania

The prettiest guitar, and the one that I really WANTED to get..just cos it looked so dang cool :chairfall was an Ibanez RG somethin somethin. It was a mahog body, flame maple veneer, neck through, in this very nice blue color. Had a Floyd type that was super low profile and aesthetically pretty futuristic looking. It sounded pretty good (wood was OK, but nothing spectacular) And it played super fast. The Floyd stayed in tune fabulously. It was a shredders dream. 24 frets. I DIDNT like the neck pup tone (never really do on 24 fret guits), and the floyd was just too sensitive to my heavy handed style...I was constantly pulling out of tune when palm muting. MAybe more springs or something would help, but there was a disconnect. Still the guitar was flawlessly built. I could not find a single thing wrong with it. It was MIK, and really reminded me of MIJ quality. It was $589.00


The LTD MH100. Agathis body. Flame maple veneer. 2 pups. Tune o-matic. Bolt on w/ rw board. This guitar as I said had some serious ballsy tone. PLayed very well. Stock pups were pretty clear and warm. Neck pocket fit was very tight. The only build issue were the tuners. They kept slipping. I could tell the guitar would give me fits unless I replaced them. Also, I really wanted to get away from a TOM bridge for my "strat". It was mde in Indonesia, and cost $280. With some upgraded tuners and pups..helluva lotta guitar for the money.

Next up was an Ibanez S series. Mahog body. Bolt on. FLoyd. 22 frets. 2 humbuckers. This guitar was FUN FUN FUN to play. I had a H-S-H version a few years ago. there is something about the S series gutars that *click* with me. A natural fit I guess. The Floyd was much less sensitive than the type on the RG, and the natural tone of this one was true to mahogany. Warm, with great lows/low mids. I found this one to be the best "shredder" for me. Very fast to play and move up and down the neck. There are new pups in these from recent years and they were MUCH better than the ones I had in my S series from a few years back. Floyd stayed in tune great. It was MIK, and cost $550. This guitar ended up in the top two.


And finally the guitar I brought home. It's made in indonesia. Yup. Indonesia. It cost $289.00 on the sticker. A god knows how many piece Mahogany body. 2 humbuckers. Vintage style trem, bolt on. It didn't "shred" as nice as the MIK S series guitar. It required a bit more effort to play. But I played much "cleaner" on it. It was more "expressive" and vocal sounding. Thanks to the vintage trem, it was fuller in the mids...really "clucky" like a good bolt-on guitar should be. Loud acoustically. Warm mahogany lows. VERY fat. VERY punchy. Pups are very clear. They are buckers but have a single coil like top end...kinda of like a thicker/fatter tele or P90 type sound. I really dig the bridge pup, the neck pup is OK, but not full enough for me. The 5 way switch works great..super tight, but I hate 5 ways. I don't need the #2/4 position sounds and don't care for them, and since I'm usually fast and furious when switching pups, the 5 way is just a PITA. Pots are good. Neck joint supa-tight. Nut is cut pretty darn well. Tuners are nice and smooth (so far). Of course with the vintage trem, she don't stay in tune so great, but I need to put new strings and do a little adjustment before I make any rash judgements. The trem is very smooth..almost PRS-like. Great for the Jeff Beck/ Gary Moore type stuff.

Anyhoo, the ugliest of the bunch...but she "spoke" to me more than anything else, regardless of price. I'd like to thank the Indonesian worker who took some pride in this one (though all the guitars in this series, despite the price,apparently receive the "primo" setup. I measured the specs and they were dead on to the manufacturer reccomendation, I only had to raise the pups.)

Ibanez SA120
IbanezSA120.jpg
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Re: More import mania

When I have my week off in the middle of this month, I plan on hitting a few local shops while the kiddo is at school. It's a sharp lookin' guitar, bro.

*clears throat* Ehhh hemm ................ CLIPS!!!

:laugh2:
 
Re: More import mania

Sorry, bro, but when you're paying your workers practically nothing so you can put out a guitar for $300 and still make a profit on it, that's not putting anyone to shame but themselves.


Yes, some of them have surprisingly good quality.
 
Re: More import mania

JacksonMIA said:
Sorry, bro, but when you're paying your workers practically nothing so you can put out a guitar for $300 and still make a profit on it, that's not putting anyone to shame but themselves.
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blah blah blah...I'm hearing enough political BS at this time of the year on the radio...:laugh2: :chairfall

I know what you are saying...but honestly...I'm at the point where I don't care about $hit like that anymore. I've got enough stress worrying about my own loved ones/family AND THIS HERE WORKER POSTING THIS THREAD. Let those effers over on the other side of the pond figure out how messed up their system is, AND FIX IT/DO SOMETHING ABOUT...just like the USA did back in the 1770s.


(btw..not trying to sound snarky Rich..just saying is all :) )
 
Re: More import mania

ErikH said:
When I have my week off in the middle of this month, I plan on hitting a few local shops while the kiddo is at school. It's a sharp lookin' guitar, bro.

*clears throat* Ehhh hemm ................ CLIPS!!!

:laugh2:
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Will do some later Bro. Thanks! :)
 
Re: More import mania

JeffB said:
blah blah blah...I'm hearing enough political BS at this time of the year on the radio...:laugh2: :chairfall

I know what you are saying...but honestly...I'm at the point where I don't care about $hit like that anymore. I've got enough stress worrying about my own loved ones/family AND THIS HERE WORKER POSTING THIS THREAD. Let those effers over on the other side of the pond figure out how messed up their system is, AND FIX IT/DO SOMETHING ABOUT...just like the USA did back in the 1770s.


(btw..not trying to sound snarky Rich..just saying is all :) )
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I feel the same way, honestly. I'm just saying it's far from an honerable practice and thus I don't feel its a fair comparison.
 
Re: More import mania

It's an interesting thing...

I found the 80's Les Paul clones way more to my liking. Some of it may of had to do with being worn in some, so issues like frets have already been adresses. But the materials are quite good on them as well and I keep seeing some really nice woods being used.

But then I turned around and bought a G&L 5 string bass from the late 90's and it stuns me both in quality and materials. It was a good deal for the price, but an even better deal for the quality and craftsmanship.

There's merits to both....
 
Re: More import mania

JacksonMIA said:
I feel the same way, honestly. I'm just saying it's far from an honerable practice and thus I don't feel its a fair comparison.
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How do you mean?

In that a $300 indonesian/chinese guitar quality-wise, should be compared to a much higher priced MIK/MIJ/MIA/MIM guitar..that its not fair comparing a $300 indonesian guitar to a $300 guitar from korea/japan/mexico/usa?

I understand the politics of economics...and politics in general (I spent alot of time in my younger days in politics..mainly working through the firearms lobby)...you and I agree on alot...but I'm strictly speaking from a quality standpoint of these instruments....I'm not basing anything on world economies, or politics. This is flat out comparing guitar to guitar...$ for $, and that's all that was intended in my post. :)
 
Re: More import mania

JeffB said:
How do you mean?

In that a $300 indonesian/chinese guitar quality-wise, should be compared to a much higher priced MIK/MIJ/MIA/MIM guitar..that its not fair comparing a $300 indonesian guitar to a $300 guitar from korea/japan/mexico/usa?

I understand the politics of economics...and politics in general (I spent alot of time in my younger days in politics..mainly working through the firearms lobby)...you and I agree on alot...but I'm strictly speaking from a quality standpoint of these instruments....I'm not basing anything on world economies, or politics. This is flat out comparing guitar to guitar...$ for $, and that's all that was intended in my post. :)
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Sorry, I missed that. I'm just in that mindset that I always consider more than quality vs. price. All else being equal, it's a fair comparison. Outside of Japan I'm not seeing much from Asia that impresses me, at least in electrics, but they are getting better.
 
Re: More import mania

JacksonMIA said:
Sorry, I missed that. I'm just in that mindset that I always consider more than quality vs. price. All else being equal, it's a fair comparison. Outside of Japan I'm not seeing much from Asia that impresses me, at least in electrics, but they are getting better.
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Pends on how ya look at it I guess. Comparing an $250 Jackson from India to your MIA...no doubt they are unimpressive. But when taken at face value, those $250 jacksons are nice playing, well built instruments (and sadly...built much better than alot of much higher priced instruments)

Its not so much the imports impress me as far as the ultimate in luthiery...but that you can get such a serviceable, playable, toneful instrument for that little $.
 
Re: More import mania

And here's a clip of my politically incorrect guitar :laugh2: (jes messin' with ya Rich...I'm in one of my moods :D )

at the top
 
Re: More import mania

That sounds really good, bro. It sounds great clean, really chimey. There's a nice bite to it too. Sounds good on all the models. I especially like the 800 tone. Good lead tone on the Soldano too. It appears to me you picked a good one there.
 
Re: More import mania

ErikH said:
Why am I looking at that model number and thinking it decodes in to "Rich 42 Yr Old Deluxe MILF"?...LMFAO!!!
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Ibenhad sure does have the most ridiculous model names ever, that's for sure. ESP uses numbers but at least they're easy to figure out.
 
Re: More import mania

I don't think anything MIJ is sweatshop labor anymore in the least (despite those awful concentration camp photos of the Ibanez plant...)

But honestly, out of all the vintage and MIA instruments I've played, my MIJ Jag is still the best one I've played... And I've played some god MIAs ;)
 
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