I think that's a Japanese name. I'm not completely culturally illiterate. Just wanted to say that since at least the 70's, with great builders like Matsumoku, Gakki, Yairi, etc., Japan made some of the best guitars, acoustic and electric, ever made. I've seen Morris copies of a Martin D-45 and D-28 that were amazing. The craftsmanship! Ibanez, Fernandes, Aria Pro, Greco, Burny, Univox, not to mention the discount guitars with brand names like Teisco and Kent and so many more. The gold foil pickups and other types were amazing. The latter were played by some of the greatest blues players. Now there's Fujigen, FGN, History,etc. Maxon pickups are amazing. These old pickups go for a lot of $ these days.
Did you notice or mention the opaque area on the back of the blue/blue burst? The camera angle 25:55 looks either like it wasnt polished enough on that area or that theres humidity under the clear coat bcs the wood or stain was still too damp or fresh. Its not a smudge from human contact bcs the opaque blotch was there from when you first unwrapped the guitar.
Right. that's pretty clearly wood filler. On the one hand, these are nowhere near as good as I was hoping. On the other hand, for the price, I really can't be unhappy. I did end up having to yank out all the frets, though. That's why this project is stalled. I'll install frets eventually, but it's just a time-consuming thing and i don't have that much time.
I have one that has a 2 piece body and a 12mm maple cap which I thought would have a veneer over it but more poking in the cavities with a sharp chisel revealed it's actually a flamed maple cap. I got the guitar from a guy in my locality and did a swap for an ibanez gio And I think I came out pretty well. I did have to level and re dress the frets and it has the usual cheap bridge and tuners and horrible plastic nut which I swapped for a bone item and fitted Grover tuners. Overall it's very nice now and I think I'll keep it, at least for the foreseeable future.
Curious... how did these guitars turn out once they were completed? Do you have any video of this? I'd be interested as it's a neat idea to do the hardware yourself! Thanks for the share!!
The Blue bursts are beautiful! Edit: 2 years later there are a few blue guitars out there now! Lol! Blue is my favorite color and thought the same about the blue guitars. Always wine red or an amber yellow burst, Black and creme/white colors out the ass!
Great video and awesome guitars. Sorry about the headstocks though... Chinese companies can be hard to communicate with sometimes. I guess you don't want to share who you got them from (which is totally understandable). But if you do want to share that would be totally awesome! :)
@@buckyTheSerb No problem. But yeah, Weifang Datang musical instruments. They were great to work with. I ended up having to pull all the frets, which makes this project so much more involved than I wanted it to be. I won't be doing this again. But if you're interested in something like this, they will do small custom production runs for you. Cheers! Good luck!
Good unboxing. Did the custom specs double the price? Did any of the six come with an actual flamed maple cap? Do any of the six have any identifying markings inside that show it was made in China? I'm trying to identify the country of origin for my LP copy. All the measurements are correct. It has a nice neck with larger frets and nice inlays. It has no logo or name on the headstock (all black). The body is 2" thick mahogany with an actual flamed maple cap (veneer on back). Comes in at 7lbs 6oz and it sounds and plays great. It had some writing in the pu cavities and I showed it to a couple of Chinese and Japanese friends, but neither could identify the writing.
I think it's a flame maple veneer o a thick maple (non-flame) cap. If it's an actual flame maple cap, IDK. that would be surprising. I specifically wanted things like a scarf joint on the neck so that these can't be confused with a real LP. But honestly, I think if you dismantle an actual gibson LP, you can see the difference in quality. These are maybe a in the ballpark of epiphone quality. I know gibson gets a bad rap, but the4y do make quality guitars.
@@Johnny_Doe I'd guess maybe the Bigsby Merle Travis was the first guitar that was a solid-body with a guitar-shaped body and a cutaway. It also has a headstock that looks a lot like later Fender headstocks. (Especially the strat headstock from the 70s.)
@@JimintheGym OK. But the Les Paul body shape although has similar influences is not the exact same. The body of guitars in the video are the same as a Les Paul….
Oh boy. Let's see. Weifang Datang instrument company. I worked with a person named Sunny Chou. I notice they're not on Alibaba anymore. I hope they're okay. She was great.
Strange how you worry about the headstock shape so much when the entire body screams Les Paul. If that was truly your concern, why didnt you change the body shape? I have two Chibsons that are really nice that are fully upgraded.
I know this company, I ordered 15 bodies only, unfinished, the lady in charge is really a nice woman, doing theire best. They made a mistake too. I ordered HSH pickup routing, but they made SSS, ok, I got a free Ibanez body. Sometimes it is possible to be flex.
On the orange burst, that mark looks like they burned through the clear when polishing the surface. Guitars are usually cleared, sanded and cleared again and then fine sanded and polished.
Yep. Guessing that you're a body man. (Yeah, I'm clairvoyant like that. Haha!) So, yeah, you know finishing. It was... uh... okay. In one spot, they kinda buffed through the red on the edges of the sunburst, too. I think there are better factories out there. Trouble is, I contacted a LOT and most of them wanted an order for 30 units or more. At that point, I'd have been learning ocean freight, etc. I have some truly top of the line hardware to slap on these. We'll see if they're worthy. Haha! My cousin knows auto body paint. If I ever did a custom guitar build from scratch, I'd probably either partner with him or consult heavily with him on it.
I never understood why people in USA are so worried about Gibson headstock being copied after the actual model. when the entire guitar body is exactly like Gibson and so many other guitar companies are replicating the same and that's not a concern to anyone at all!!! why worry about the headstock? IMO, Gibson should be out of business for f**& sake. A decent Gibson costs $3000 at least and how many people can actually afford that? All these overrated guitar companies should be kicked out of guitar business world period and let the other companies come in and make decent guitars with affordable price! So that guitar players can really enjoy an instrument!
this is the way to go when buying guitars from china, the les paul bodies are worthit if you get it cheap enough. no need for electronics, avoid strats.
🎉😂😅Wow, beautiful Collection 👍
Thanks. But the frets were terrible. I ended up yanking them out. With my adhd brain I haven’t picked the project back up.
Very nice guitars. I think you did a great purchase there. Wood is beautiful, and hopefully these guitars are totally functional and sound well.
Any update on these guitars? Would love to get my hands on one these husks if possible...
I would love to see how the guitar looks after assembling.
i will be sure to post something, but it's probably not going to be for a few months.
@@JimintheGym Nice! I would like to know the final sound of that guitar... Because you gave me a nice idea about custom my own guitar.
I think that's a Japanese name. I'm not completely culturally illiterate. Just wanted to say that since at least the 70's, with great builders like Matsumoku, Gakki, Yairi, etc., Japan made some of the best guitars, acoustic and electric, ever made. I've seen Morris copies of a Martin D-45 and D-28 that were amazing. The craftsmanship! Ibanez, Fernandes, Aria Pro, Greco, Burny, Univox, not to mention the discount guitars with brand names like Teisco and Kent and so many more. The gold foil pickups and other types were amazing. The latter were played by some of the greatest blues players. Now there's Fujigen, FGN, History,etc. Maxon pickups are amazing. These old pickups go for a lot of $ these days.
Its a good job customs did not open them, I have heard of people having them seized.
Did you have customers already lined up for these?
I was lucky. But i will probably not sell. I had to remove the frets and need to repair the fingerboard before proceeding.
Did you notice or mention the opaque area on the back of the blue/blue burst? The camera angle 25:55 looks either like it wasnt polished enough on that area or that theres humidity under the clear coat bcs the wood or stain was still too damp or fresh. Its not a smudge from human contact bcs the opaque blotch was there from when you first unwrapped the guitar.
Right. that's pretty clearly wood filler. On the one hand, these are nowhere near as good as I was hoping. On the other hand, for the price, I really can't be unhappy.
I did end up having to yank out all the frets, though. That's why this project is stalled. I'll install frets eventually, but it's just a time-consuming thing and i don't have that much time.
I have one that has a 2 piece body and a 12mm maple cap which I thought would have a veneer over it but more poking in the cavities with a sharp chisel revealed it's actually a flamed maple cap. I got the guitar from a guy in my locality and did a swap for an ibanez gio And I think I came out pretty well. I did have to level and re dress the frets and it has the usual cheap bridge and tuners and horrible plastic nut which I swapped for a bone item and fitted Grover tuners. Overall it's very nice now and I think I'll keep it, at least for the foreseeable future.
Nice!!!
Curious... how did these guitars turn out once they were completed? Do you have any video of this? I'd be interested as it's a neat idea to do the hardware yourself! Thanks for the share!!
The Blue bursts are beautiful!
Edit: 2 years later there are a few blue guitars out there now! Lol! Blue is my favorite color and thought the same about the blue guitars. Always wine red or an amber yellow burst, Black and creme/white colors out the ass!
Great video and awesome guitars. Sorry about the headstocks though... Chinese companies can be hard to communicate with sometimes.
I guess you don't want to share who you got them from (which is totally understandable). But if you do want to share that would be totally awesome! :)
Sorry, just saw that you did share below. :facepalm:
@@buckyTheSerb No problem. But yeah, Weifang Datang musical instruments. They were great to work with.
I ended up having to pull all the frets, which makes this project so much more involved than I wanted it to be. I won't be doing this again. But if you're interested in something like this, they will do small custom production runs for you.
Cheers! Good luck!
How about giving us the name of the actual Chinese store you bought it from on the Allie Express web site?
weifang datang.
Good unboxing. Did the custom specs double the price? Did any of the six come with an actual flamed maple cap? Do any of the six have any identifying markings inside that show it was made in China? I'm trying to identify the country of origin for my LP copy. All the measurements are correct. It has a nice neck with larger frets and nice inlays. It has no logo or name on the headstock (all black). The body is 2" thick mahogany with an actual flamed maple cap (veneer on back). Comes in at 7lbs 6oz and it sounds and plays great. It had some writing in the pu cavities and I showed it to a couple of Chinese and Japanese friends, but neither could identify the writing.
I think it's a flame maple veneer o a thick maple (non-flame) cap. If it's an actual flame maple cap, IDK. that would be surprising.
I specifically wanted things like a scarf joint on the neck so that these can't be confused with a real LP. But honestly, I think if you dismantle an actual gibson LP, you can see the difference in quality. These are maybe a in the ballpark of epiphone quality. I know gibson gets a bad rap, but the4y do make quality guitars.
Gibson didn't invent the open book headstock in the first place
Absolutely!
What about the Les Paul body shape though? Who invented that?
@@Johnny_Doe I'd guess maybe the Bigsby Merle Travis was the first guitar that was a solid-body with a guitar-shaped body and a cutaway. It also has a headstock that looks a lot like later Fender headstocks. (Especially the strat headstock from the 70s.)
@@JimintheGym OK. But the Les Paul body shape although has similar influences is not the exact same. The body of guitars in the video are the same as a Les Paul….
@@Johnny_Doe Les Paul did, clue is in the name
Hi there... Where did you order the guitars... Thanks
Oh boy. Let's see.
Weifang Datang instrument company.
I worked with a person named Sunny Chou.
I notice they're not on Alibaba anymore. I hope they're okay. She was great.
What kind of price break did you get for letting them keep the hardware?
Not much. Like $10 per unit or something.
Strange how you worry about the headstock shape so much when the entire body screams Les Paul. If that was truly your concern, why didnt you change the body shape? I have two Chibsons that are really nice that are fully upgraded.
What manufacturer did you use? Do they do custom design bodies and headstocks?
Made out out good on the blue pimp that baby out with quality hardware all set
Would you be so kind to share the seller? Those guitars are beautiful.
Weifang Datang. Good luck. I ended up having to remove all the frets.
ua-cam.com/video/EnBUbAsXMVk/v-deo.html
I know this company, I ordered 15 bodies only, unfinished, the lady in charge is really a nice woman, doing theire best. They made a mistake too. I ordered HSH pickup routing, but they made SSS, ok, I got a free Ibanez body. Sometimes it is possible to be flex.
Nice! did you put them together? I have this on my schedule for August.
@@jimmystreblermusic8670 If you like, you can see my Instagram @superduperguitars
If it's not a Epiphone or Gibson I won't even look at it
Don't blame you. I don't even play Epiphones, but I'm sure they're good guitars.
The only Epiphones I care about are Kalamazoo made Casino, Riviera, Sheraton, Emperor, FT-110 or Texan….Everything else will be Gibson only….
@@Johnny_Doe good call. those were great guitars!
@@JimintheGym Yup….
On the orange burst, that mark looks like they burned through the clear when polishing the surface. Guitars are usually cleared, sanded and cleared again and then fine sanded and polished.
Yep. Guessing that you're a body man. (Yeah, I'm clairvoyant like that. Haha!) So, yeah, you know finishing. It was... uh... okay. In one spot, they kinda buffed through the red on the edges of the sunburst, too.
I think there are better factories out there. Trouble is, I contacted a LOT and most of them wanted an order for 30 units or more. At that point, I'd have been learning ocean freight, etc.
I have some truly top of the line hardware to slap on these. We'll see if they're worthy. Haha!
My cousin knows auto body paint. If I ever did a custom guitar build from scratch, I'd probably either partner with him or consult heavily with him on it.
Isn’t the Les Paul body shape a trademark of Gibson though? So that is a violation in itself? No?
I never understood why people in USA are so worried about Gibson headstock being copied after the actual model. when the entire guitar body is exactly like Gibson and so many other guitar companies are replicating the same and that's not a concern to anyone at all!!! why worry about the headstock? IMO, Gibson should be out of business for f**& sake. A decent Gibson costs $3000 at least and how many people can actually afford that? All these overrated guitar companies should be kicked out of guitar business world period and let the other companies come in and make decent guitars with affordable price! So that guitar players can really enjoy an instrument!
this is the way to go when buying guitars from china, the les paul bodies are worthit if you get it cheap enough. no need for electronics, avoid strats.
No the globs of glue are NOT how a Gibson looks. None of my Gibsons or Epiphones have globs of glue in the pickup cavities.
Chinese anything 😂
you should have bought them all without frets. that fret wire is garbage
I completely agree. I had to yank it all out. that's what's holding up the project.
This is the kinda dude cheating u into buying a chibson
Why would you complain you get what you paid for its a toy.