My tone is going through an evolution right now. For the past 20 years I have played high-end Ibanez pointy guitars, and gravitated towards the mahogony sabres.
Last week, on a whim I picked up a cheap (but pretty) basswood Dean 350 w/ Floyd Rose Special and flame top. I just wanted to play around with a "real" floyd. Overall I am very impressed with this guitar. It has a different tonal presentation than my sabres, there is a more forward presentation, less bassy and it is recording well. Anyway, I wanted to see what other manufacturers were doing for less than $500.
In the store I tried at least 20 guitars unplugged from various brands. These are just my opinions, don't mean to upset anyone who likes a particular guitar brand.
Epiphone- I tried several Epihone Les Paul and SG copies. In the past I have been impressed with these and recommended them to guitarists, but it struck me that fixed neck guitars w/ tune-o-matic style bridge are highly dependant on the quality of the wood for their tone. These were all advertized as Mahogony but were of different weights, all of them seemed lighter than real LP. The absolute worst sounding guitar in the store was a LP "special" copy ($200). It was light weight and sounded horrible. It was not resonant, neither did it have any focus. The other copies were arond $500, had the flame top and shiny hardware, but they appeared too highly lacquered. I think you can absolutely tell the difference between these and a real Gibson, its kind of like the Chinese manufacturing process is not refined enough to copy hand-made instruments with binding etc, (OTH, Chinese manufacturing seems to have mastered bolt-on pointy guitars - probably easier to build) The frets were medium jumbo, were not well dressed, and the neck has a sticky, sloppy feeling. These could be made to work I'm sure with setup/sanding, but there was a divergence between these copies and real Gibsons, and I felt they were overpriced by $100-150.
Fender- I have always been impressed with MIM Strats, and the same was true today. They appear very close to their USA counterparts in fit/finish. The action of these was quite good, traditional frets, the maple fretboards seem to be encased in lacquer, not sure if some of the USA ones do this now, they are typically more natural. The frets were well dressed. These guitars were between $350-$500 and supposed to have alder bodies. They sounded like real strats. I suspect more than half of the tone of this design comes from the maple neck and the steel bridge. I don't know what the electronics are like in these, but if you like the vintage fender design, these are real good, if you like the neck finish. I also tried a "NashCaster" ($450) and it was absolutely tonally horrible. Just sounded weak, and was a bastardization of a traditional design, so I didn't like this one at all. If you are happy with "Squier" on the neck and like the traditional design, you can have a 99% authentic strat tone and feel for very little cash.
Ibanez- This was the big surprise. Played a bunch of these from the entry GIO, through several levels of RG, up to a J-craft JS1000. Most of the low end ibbys have the Edge Zero III. It has hardened knife edges so it is probably a serviceable trem. Did not sound as thin/trebly as a Floyd Special with zinc block. The thing that stood out was they used a range of woods from ash to alder to mahogony(?) to basswood and the GIOs sounded as resonant and balanced as any of the RGs. In my opinion, all the Ibbys under $700 seem to be about the same level of guitar from a functional standpoint. They had similar neck and fret dress (in fact the GIO neck seemed more finished than the RG370) All Ibanez is doing is adding more attractive tops to the RGs and charging more for them and taking "GIO" off the headstock. All of these had fret binding - which is so overdone on low end guitars that I'm starting to dislike it - I would rather see the side of a rosewood board than some questionable binding. The $250 Gio seems to be as much guitar as anything up to the RG470, but doesn't have as pretty a top. The differences in wood were largely indistinguishable and they all sounded like RGs - suspect most of the tone comes from the trem. The JS1000(1200?) was a store demo, but the action was high. The JS did have a more open tone but I know from my own J-Ibbys, some of the denser/harder sounding ones record better, so it wasn't clear that this was "better" tonally from the GIOs and RGs. There were stylistic differences that distinquished the JS from an RG (straight headstock, different heel, edge pro trem), but honestly not so much that would make it 1K more guitar. Not that impressive.
Dean- The in store Deans were marketed to the teen Dime and Megadeth crowd. They were all pointy explorer, V, and X designs and had Floyd Rose Specials - all around $300- $500. Setup and action were not great. I didnt like the painted neck finish - probably sticky from teen hands, but they all had big loud graphics to distinquish them from the other brands. Didnt spend much time with these, but the quality was on par with other chinese guitars, it just seems like they were charging a premium for the graphics. The deans consistently had the FLoyd Special in their low-end models so that is a plus in my book, better than an Edge Zero III.
Jackson- They had some attractive Chinese/Korean Dinky designs with liscenced Floyds. Didn't play these, just inspected and they looked on par with Chinese from other brands.
LTD- I played a nice superstrat w/ Floyd Special, on par with ibbys. Would consider this except for reverse headstock and active pus.
What did I learn from all this? Of all the asian guitars, it is hard to distinquish the Chinese, from Korean, from Japanse. Ibanez is building almost identical guitars at its various price points and using top wood, headstock logo, and various degrees of low-end hardware and electronics to distinguish. Yes the high end ones supposedly have better fit and finish and hardware, but you could take a GIO to a local luthier and get a level/polish that would make it play better than the J-craft ones. I think in the case of the Ibanez, I would really question spending more than $300 or less than $1500 (and even then not sure its worth it, if for a little more you could have a usa guitar from someone else), especially because there were not marked tonal differences between tiers. I think people are spending $500 for an RG that is the same as a $300 Gio just so it says "RG" on the headstock. The Epiphones were a disappointment because of fit/finish and the lower tiered woods did not sound as good. This could have been the ones I tried, but they all had "candy apple" thick overdone finishes. The MIM Fender Squiers still seem to be authentic and impressive values.
Last week, on a whim I picked up a cheap (but pretty) basswood Dean 350 w/ Floyd Rose Special and flame top. I just wanted to play around with a "real" floyd. Overall I am very impressed with this guitar. It has a different tonal presentation than my sabres, there is a more forward presentation, less bassy and it is recording well. Anyway, I wanted to see what other manufacturers were doing for less than $500.
In the store I tried at least 20 guitars unplugged from various brands. These are just my opinions, don't mean to upset anyone who likes a particular guitar brand.
Epiphone- I tried several Epihone Les Paul and SG copies. In the past I have been impressed with these and recommended them to guitarists, but it struck me that fixed neck guitars w/ tune-o-matic style bridge are highly dependant on the quality of the wood for their tone. These were all advertized as Mahogony but were of different weights, all of them seemed lighter than real LP. The absolute worst sounding guitar in the store was a LP "special" copy ($200). It was light weight and sounded horrible. It was not resonant, neither did it have any focus. The other copies were arond $500, had the flame top and shiny hardware, but they appeared too highly lacquered. I think you can absolutely tell the difference between these and a real Gibson, its kind of like the Chinese manufacturing process is not refined enough to copy hand-made instruments with binding etc, (OTH, Chinese manufacturing seems to have mastered bolt-on pointy guitars - probably easier to build) The frets were medium jumbo, were not well dressed, and the neck has a sticky, sloppy feeling. These could be made to work I'm sure with setup/sanding, but there was a divergence between these copies and real Gibsons, and I felt they were overpriced by $100-150.
Fender- I have always been impressed with MIM Strats, and the same was true today. They appear very close to their USA counterparts in fit/finish. The action of these was quite good, traditional frets, the maple fretboards seem to be encased in lacquer, not sure if some of the USA ones do this now, they are typically more natural. The frets were well dressed. These guitars were between $350-$500 and supposed to have alder bodies. They sounded like real strats. I suspect more than half of the tone of this design comes from the maple neck and the steel bridge. I don't know what the electronics are like in these, but if you like the vintage fender design, these are real good, if you like the neck finish. I also tried a "NashCaster" ($450) and it was absolutely tonally horrible. Just sounded weak, and was a bastardization of a traditional design, so I didn't like this one at all. If you are happy with "Squier" on the neck and like the traditional design, you can have a 99% authentic strat tone and feel for very little cash.
Ibanez- This was the big surprise. Played a bunch of these from the entry GIO, through several levels of RG, up to a J-craft JS1000. Most of the low end ibbys have the Edge Zero III. It has hardened knife edges so it is probably a serviceable trem. Did not sound as thin/trebly as a Floyd Special with zinc block. The thing that stood out was they used a range of woods from ash to alder to mahogony(?) to basswood and the GIOs sounded as resonant and balanced as any of the RGs. In my opinion, all the Ibbys under $700 seem to be about the same level of guitar from a functional standpoint. They had similar neck and fret dress (in fact the GIO neck seemed more finished than the RG370) All Ibanez is doing is adding more attractive tops to the RGs and charging more for them and taking "GIO" off the headstock. All of these had fret binding - which is so overdone on low end guitars that I'm starting to dislike it - I would rather see the side of a rosewood board than some questionable binding. The $250 Gio seems to be as much guitar as anything up to the RG470, but doesn't have as pretty a top. The differences in wood were largely indistinguishable and they all sounded like RGs - suspect most of the tone comes from the trem. The JS1000(1200?) was a store demo, but the action was high. The JS did have a more open tone but I know from my own J-Ibbys, some of the denser/harder sounding ones record better, so it wasn't clear that this was "better" tonally from the GIOs and RGs. There were stylistic differences that distinquished the JS from an RG (straight headstock, different heel, edge pro trem), but honestly not so much that would make it 1K more guitar. Not that impressive.
Dean- The in store Deans were marketed to the teen Dime and Megadeth crowd. They were all pointy explorer, V, and X designs and had Floyd Rose Specials - all around $300- $500. Setup and action were not great. I didnt like the painted neck finish - probably sticky from teen hands, but they all had big loud graphics to distinquish them from the other brands. Didnt spend much time with these, but the quality was on par with other chinese guitars, it just seems like they were charging a premium for the graphics. The deans consistently had the FLoyd Special in their low-end models so that is a plus in my book, better than an Edge Zero III.
Jackson- They had some attractive Chinese/Korean Dinky designs with liscenced Floyds. Didn't play these, just inspected and they looked on par with Chinese from other brands.
LTD- I played a nice superstrat w/ Floyd Special, on par with ibbys. Would consider this except for reverse headstock and active pus.
What did I learn from all this? Of all the asian guitars, it is hard to distinquish the Chinese, from Korean, from Japanse. Ibanez is building almost identical guitars at its various price points and using top wood, headstock logo, and various degrees of low-end hardware and electronics to distinguish. Yes the high end ones supposedly have better fit and finish and hardware, but you could take a GIO to a local luthier and get a level/polish that would make it play better than the J-craft ones. I think in the case of the Ibanez, I would really question spending more than $300 or less than $1500 (and even then not sure its worth it, if for a little more you could have a usa guitar from someone else), especially because there were not marked tonal differences between tiers. I think people are spending $500 for an RG that is the same as a $300 Gio just so it says "RG" on the headstock. The Epiphones were a disappointment because of fit/finish and the lower tiered woods did not sound as good. This could have been the ones I tried, but they all had "candy apple" thick overdone finishes. The MIM Fender Squiers still seem to be authentic and impressive values.
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