As far as I'm concerned, Shijie is the biggest bang for the buck you're going to find in a sub-$1000 electric guitar. The fit and finish rival a Fender Custom Shop guitar: the fretwork (crowning, fret edge dressing), rolled fretboard edges, detailed and neat copper shielding work, quartersawn maple neck, and neck pocket fit might actually exceed some CS guitars. And frankly, the Gotoh, Wilkinson, and Jescar hardware is of higher quality than what you would get on a CS guitar as well-since Fender CS is selling "vintage" specs their bridges are still primitive, cheap pot metal without polished edges and saddles that aren't compensated for intonation. Overall, I'm very impressed with what Shijie is doing and hopefully they will create upward pressure on Fender and Gibson to do better for more value. With Shijie, it feels like the money you are spending is going into the most important qualities of a great guitar, the "bones", fit and finish, and structural integrity-not the brand name on the headstock. Even if you do already own a much more expensive Fender CS guitar, I think it would still be worth it to get a Shijie guitar as a practice workhorse. But I wouldn't hestiate at all to gig with one of these guitars, they're that good!
Hey Andrew just wanted to say I've really appreciated all your videos, I've been starting guitar with some background in piano and its really helped make sense of things. Feels like your videos have helped the most in actually starting to play the instrument, instead of just learning songs like it seems like a lot of channels focus on. You and Fret Science are god sends! Also I have been looking into getting a tele to replace my super beat up epiphone (little too chunky for my tastes) so this vid comes at a great timing haha.
I own a Shijie STE Pro HSS (although back then when I bought it, the pro line didn't exist yet, you had to spec it with stainless steel frets and they all came with japan made pickups). I absolutely love that guitar. Getting it over to Europe was quite a bit more expensive than the listed price, when you add the tax and shipping, but I never regretted spending that money. I am planning on getting a Tele from them one day.
Liked the guitar, liked the sounds. Really liked just watching you play, recognized some caged shapes in there. Cool to see you play more so I can watch and learn!
I just got a Shijie in the mail today. 6 days shipping from Hong Kong (Leen). Not my first, they are killer guitars. First time I've watched your channel...new subscriber!
I asked the Shijie customer rep Dave Shaw if they were going to make a Jazzmaster, because I love them too, but he said they have no plans to do that. They do make a Jazz BASS however, and I'm getting one of those for $800 now in 2024. I love the S and T models they make, the only thing I'd like different is the nuts need to be rounded over on the edges, because it catches my hand when I slide over it. The edges of the fretboards are sharper than I prefer, and they would be more comfortable rolled a bit. Alex Wong, the luthier who owns Shijie, had a deep love for Fender instruments, especially S and T type guitars. Apparently he likes Jazz basses too, but so far no Precision - I want a Jazz bass for the thinner neck and dual single coil pickups anyways. I asked for a dark roasted neck on my last guitar, and Dave Shaw made sure I got it, the MOP dots don't show-up well on maple fretboards unless they are roasted dark. I'm getting a rosewood board on my black Jazz bass.
Hi Andrew so there is a coincidence, I have been a subscriber to your site for a while .I converted from my Suhr to Shijie as my main workhorse guitars. I now have a STE PRO, a TLV Pro and a special STE which is modeled after a Suhr Standard (with 1 tone 1 volume) their guitars are fantastic. One thing of note the pro pickups are now USA made hand wound the same as was on their 5 th anniversary series. These are fantastic. I agree entirely with your comments and they are so darn close to my Suhr at 1/3 of the price . Check out fellow UA-camr Jon is too loud who has a great channel and Jon has bought some of them for himself.
I can't wait to have the money saved to buy my Shijie. They seem like amazing guitars. I have been a fan of Wangs amps for years, who are doing the same thing, competing with the big western brands. I did lots of research on the amps before buying. I saw lots of negativity in the FB groups, but never by anyone who actually owned one. I can remember the US rep called a guy out by asking for pics of his amp. The guy sent him a pic that belonged to the sales guy. 😂😂😂 I decided at that point it was worth tryinh one because nobody giving negative reviews ever proved they owned the amp
Great review. I have the Pro version of this Shijie tele. I agree with everything you said - it's a great guitar that punches way, way above its price point. Only weakness is the pickups - I don't feel like my Shijie has quite that Tele twang. Nothing you'd need to run out and swap right away. "Jon is too loud" mentioned this as well in one of his review.
Totally agree. I love everything except the pickups. I was looking at USA fender's when I played mine - Would have been paying for custom shop to get something that plays as well
By the way, I just checked their website, and it finally seems to have been fixed (at least on Safari for me). Maybe in response to your comment! In my experience, websites are not very important in China (everything is done by WeChat and a few other apps), so they tend not to be up to USA website standards. The new Shijie one actually looks fairly good now (however, I haven't actually tried to use it to buy something).
Hmm, still looks the same to me on desktop Google Chrome. I talked with Shijie through email after posting this video and they're working on getting a proper English version of their site going. What you mentioned makes sense about websites being less important in China. I think once they get all that sorted, we'll see many more of their guitars in North America. Thanks again for checking out the video :)
Last I looked, Shije had effectively solved the issue of buying direct from their website for potential UK buyers by having an official UK based importer who sells direct via Facebook. The prices are slightly higher but it saves a lot of nonsense with personal import duties & taxes. Not sure if there is a similar option in the USA...
Thanks for the review. I've heard of Shejie here and there. People are surprised how great it is regarding its price. I am very beginner having a cheap guitar but i hope i will grab this one oneday :)
Shijie are superb if mine is anything to go by. I have Fender USA Deluxe and Ultra models and. MIM Vintera 50's Strat. They have all pretty much been reduced to dust collecting wall art since the Shijie arrived.
That's good to know! I've played a few gigs with the guitar since I made this video, and I don't plan on swapping the pickups out. Very happy with them.
Would agree with the classic v pro pickup statement a year ago. However that's no longer true. in Q2 they changed the pickups on the pro series which were a weak link. They now have what they call USA hand wounds which i believe are made in a very well known custom shop shop used by top Nashville session players and rock stars They were previously put in there 2000 dollar 5th anniversary. NO WAY WOULD YOU SWAP THEM OUT for anything.
I bought an ste from Leon's Sound, an American dealer. Haven't seen any from them anymore. Guess they had problems. It would be great if an American dealer would go all in. 2021 ste, sss, stainless frets, sunburst, maple fretboard. Love it. F Fender. Crapshoot, hit or miss, lest you dole out $6k for a custom shop.
Off the subject a little but I would love for you to do a lesson on the chords you were playing in this video. I have been playing bar chords and I am getting a little arthritis in my upper thrumb knuckle. ( I am older) The way you play up the neck would alleviate the stress on that part of my thumb. I have been watching a lot of your videos they are great!
@@andrewclarkeguitar Thanks. Yes, I think I saw that video. I might still have aa copy of it that I saved. What impressed me about the way you did it this time was the notes that you play in between the chords. Whenever you do a video about the chords it would be great if you include an explanation of what you are doing to get from one chord to the next. It sounds so great. Your lessons have helped me a lot.
Harley Benton and many others. There is cut throat competition in the new guitar market. So many different brands that are all worth taking a look at. It's the player that makes the guitar go, not the price tag.
Harley Benton are in a totally different (i.e. budget) market sector and unless there have been big changes in the last couple of years their build quality and QC has been extremely variable. Thomann's return policy is what keeps Customers happy but it's still disappointing to have to send stuff back. Not to mention a waste of time. Harley Benton have been 'reviewed to death' by other UA-camrs. Plenty of other channels to watch for this sort of content.
@@ThePedroDB agree you cannot compare the Shijie to a Harley benton the basic Shijie Andrew reviews here is in the same space in terms of hardware as a USA strat their pro series is right up there with exotic and Suhr but about 1/3 of the price and still cheaper than a USA ultra / deluxe
Stainless steel frets do not make a great guitar . Just frets that a don’t wear as easy but there are different gears of SS too some are more hard wearing than others . Ie if you look at the stainless steel frets on a Harley benton or Sire they are really just low density alloy that’s not going to last much longer than a nickel composite Fret . Whosever if you look at the SS on Shijie, Suhr
All the time! It’s my go-to guitar for country gigs. I still want to swap out the pickups though. They aren’t bad, but I want something a little thicker. Everything else on the guitar is top-tier. You won’t be disappointed.
Neck pickup sounds as bright as some Tele bridge pickups and the the bridge even brighter than that!!! Makes me wonder what your amp settings were or if the guitar is really this bright??? Are these ceramic pickups in this guitar? Seems a bit pricey not to have alnico pickups and not saying what they are but suggesting that people "might" want to swap them out is more than a bit suspicious.
Hey Andrew. I got myself a acoustic guitar back in 2020 I though myself some cords and fingerstyle playing not perfect but we are getting there, at that time you know how things went for everyone because the pandemic I was very distracted and I just put down my guitar biggest mistake ever . Now I picked I up again and I am looking at some utube lessons and I am tossed all over. Is there a video you got where you can put together not so much of theory but more what all the chord shapes I should learn to be able to play few songs like 4 chord songs please no easy shapes I like to learn the real deal few strumming patterns and pentatonic shapes and the main open chords. I guess the video should be what should I know to be a intermediate player step by step to get to that point. I am a older beginner and it’s something I love to do.
Hey, thanks for checking out the video and leaving a comment. Unfortunately, I don't have a video like that on my channel. Since I make all these videos by myself, it's hard to cover everything I want to on the channel. I'll add your suggestion to my list of future videos, as I know there are many other players in the exact same boat as you. I'll do my best to get it done as soon as I can. Cheers!
It’s being addressed I will be going through it . The system architecture was fixed earlier this week now it’s a matter of going through the language issues translation from Chinese to English is not that accurate even on the best of automatic online ones and the interpreter needs to understand guitar speak ( parts ) or that does not work either.
@@markburgess6466 The site architecture seems better now with the most recent revision, but there are still a lot of English errors. For instance: in the upper left of the home page where the Shijie company logo is, it says "Make guitar with heart" where it should be plural: "Making guitars with heart." Also, on the individual model pages when you can check a box to select the type of case you want, there is an option for "No have" :) This should be edited to "No case."
@@danielstoddart yes Daniel you are right they have already been noted and passed onto the web guy to do along with quite a few others like the denominator for discontinued is wrong . There is one guy who is responsible for all the sales, marketing , web and customer service so he’s working through it as he gets time . There are also plans to revamp the logo’s etc . Some of this is nice stuff . But they have ran out of capacity with the website snd that needs to be fixed 1st .Thanks for noticing the improvement . It will all be completed over the next few weeks
@@markburgess6466 Are you talking about Mo? Also, while we're on the subject of what's discontinued or not, are the STE Fixed Strat-type guitars still being made?
How can Shije not making a Jazzmaster be a 'con' relating to their Telecaster model? What absolute nonsense.... As for value/price retention on the used market and the comparison to Fender. You'd probably have to spend an extra $500 initially to buy an equivalent Fender Telecaster - so there's $500 that's still 'retained'. A better way to look at it is percentage retained value and most used guitars (unless vintage or some limited/sought after model) are lucky to retain 60% fo their initial purchase price. The bast way to maximise retained value (by any brand) is to buy used in the first instance and that indeed may be a 'con' for Shije, because there's very few available on the used market - so, you will probably have to pay full retail.
I thought it would be obvious that the Jazzmaster comment was a joke 😂 I was just saying the guitar was so great for the price that I wish they made a JM cuz I would buy it in a heartbeat
Thanks for checking out the video! What do you guys think of the guitar?
As far as I'm concerned, Shijie is the biggest bang for the buck you're going to find in a sub-$1000 electric guitar. The fit and finish rival a Fender Custom Shop guitar: the fretwork (crowning, fret edge dressing), rolled fretboard edges, detailed and neat copper shielding work, quartersawn maple neck, and neck pocket fit might actually exceed some CS guitars. And frankly, the Gotoh, Wilkinson, and Jescar hardware is of higher quality than what you would get on a CS guitar as well-since Fender CS is selling "vintage" specs their bridges are still primitive, cheap pot metal without polished edges and saddles that aren't compensated for intonation. Overall, I'm very impressed with what Shijie is doing and hopefully they will create upward pressure on Fender and Gibson to do better for more value. With Shijie, it feels like the money you are spending is going into the most important qualities of a great guitar, the "bones", fit and finish, and structural integrity-not the brand name on the headstock. Even if you do already own a much more expensive Fender CS guitar, I think it would still be worth it to get a Shijie guitar as a practice workhorse. But I wouldn't hestiate at all to gig with one of these guitars, they're that good!
Refreshing to see someone demo a tele with some jams other than country licks or generic rock! Great video!
Thank you!!
Hey Andrew just wanted to say I've really appreciated all your videos, I've been starting guitar with some background in piano and its really helped make sense of things. Feels like your videos have helped the most in actually starting to play the instrument, instead of just learning songs like it seems like a lot of channels focus on. You and Fret Science are god sends! Also I have been looking into getting a tele to replace my super beat up epiphone (little too chunky for my tastes) so this vid comes at a great timing haha.
Thank you so much for the kind words. Appreciate that, my friend 🙏🏻
I own a Shijie STE Pro HSS (although back then when I bought it, the pro line didn't exist yet, you had to spec it with stainless steel frets and they all came with japan made pickups). I absolutely love that guitar. Getting it over to Europe was quite a bit more expensive than the listed price, when you add the tax and shipping, but I never regretted spending that money. I am planning on getting a Tele from them one day.
Liked the guitar, liked the sounds. Really liked just watching you play, recognized some caged shapes in there. Cool to see you play more so I can watch and learn!
Thanks! I should probably do a little more playing in my lessons as well! Cheers 😁
I just got a Shijie in the mail today. 6 days shipping from Hong Kong (Leen). Not my first, they are killer guitars. First time I've watched your channel...new subscriber!
They're so great! And I appreciate the sub :)
I asked the Shijie customer rep Dave Shaw if they were going to make a Jazzmaster, because I love them too, but he said they have no plans to do that. They do make a Jazz BASS however, and I'm getting one of those for $800 now in 2024. I love the S and T models they make, the only thing I'd like different is the nuts need to be rounded over on the edges, because it catches my hand when I slide over it. The edges of the fretboards are sharper than I prefer, and they would be more comfortable rolled a bit. Alex Wong, the luthier who owns Shijie, had a deep love for Fender instruments, especially S and T type guitars. Apparently he likes Jazz basses too, but so far no Precision - I want a Jazz bass for the thinner neck and dual single coil pickups anyways. I asked for a dark roasted neck on my last guitar, and Dave Shaw made sure I got it, the MOP dots don't show-up well on maple fretboards unless they are roasted dark. I'm getting a rosewood board on my black Jazz bass.
Hi Andrew so there is a coincidence, I have been a subscriber to your site for a while .I converted from my Suhr to Shijie as my main workhorse guitars. I now have a STE PRO, a TLV Pro and a special STE which is modeled after a Suhr Standard (with 1 tone 1 volume) their guitars are fantastic. One thing of note the pro pickups are now USA made hand wound the same as was on their 5 th anniversary series. These are fantastic. I agree entirely with your comments and they are so darn close to my Suhr at 1/3 of the price . Check out fellow UA-camr Jon is too loud who has a great channel and Jon has bought some of them for himself.
Yeah man they're such killer guitars. Can't recommend them enough. I definitely see more of their guitars in my future :)
I can't wait to have the money saved to buy my Shijie. They seem like amazing guitars.
I have been a fan of Wangs amps for years, who are doing the same thing, competing with the big western brands.
I did lots of research on the amps before buying. I saw lots of negativity in the FB groups, but never by anyone who actually owned one. I can remember the US rep called a guy out by asking for pics of his amp. The guy sent him a pic that belonged to the sales guy. 😂😂😂
I decided at that point it was worth tryinh one because nobody giving negative reviews ever proved they owned the amp
An honest review. I've heard good things about that brand. I got a fender custom tele in a color I like but it cost double the price.
Can never go wrong with Fender custom stuff! But you definitely pay for it 😅 thanks for checking out the video.
Great review. I have the Pro version of this Shijie tele. I agree with everything you said - it's a great guitar that punches way, way above its price point. Only weakness is the pickups - I don't feel like my Shijie has quite that Tele twang. Nothing you'd need to run out and swap right away. "Jon is too loud" mentioned this as well in one of his review.
Totally agree. I love everything except the pickups. I was looking at USA fender's when I played mine - Would have been paying for custom shop to get something that plays as well
The overdrive pickup test is my favourite part of this
You skill with the guitar make everything sound nice
Was that original? Or a song
Glad you liked it! I believe I play one Keith Urban riff in there, but otherwise I’m just making up random stuff to play for the demo 😅
By the way, I just checked their website, and it finally seems to have been fixed (at least on Safari for me). Maybe in response to your comment! In my experience, websites are not very important in China (everything is done by WeChat and a few other apps), so they tend not to be up to USA website standards. The new Shijie one actually looks fairly good now (however, I haven't actually tried to use it to buy something).
Hmm, still looks the same to me on desktop Google Chrome. I talked with Shijie through email after posting this video and they're working on getting a proper English version of their site going. What you mentioned makes sense about websites being less important in China. I think once they get all that sorted, we'll see many more of their guitars in North America. Thanks again for checking out the video :)
@@andrewclarkeguitar sometimes it take a while for updates to propagate (I actually manage a website in China lol)
Last I looked, Shije had effectively solved the issue of buying direct from their website for potential UK buyers by having an official UK based importer who sells direct via Facebook. The prices are slightly higher but it saves a lot of nonsense with personal import duties & taxes. Not sure if there is a similar option in the USA...
@@ThePedroDB Shijie covers all of that when shipping to USA in my experience
Thanks for the review. I've heard of Shejie here and there. People are surprised how great it is regarding its price. I am very beginner having a cheap guitar but i hope i will grab this one oneday :)
Yeah! I played a couple gigs with it this week as well. Great guitar. Thanks for watching!
Shijie are superb if mine is anything to go by. I have Fender USA Deluxe and Ultra models and. MIM Vintera 50's Strat. They have all pretty much been reduced to dust collecting wall art since the Shijie arrived.
Yeah! I still play mine all the time. Totally holds its own against my Suhrs.
i prefer their classic pickups compared to the pro model, i bought pro but swapped the piuckups
That's good to know! I've played a few gigs with the guitar since I made this video, and I don't plan on swapping the pickups out. Very happy with them.
Would agree with the classic v pro pickup statement a year ago. However that's no longer true. in Q2 they changed the pickups on the pro series which were a weak link. They now have what they call USA hand wounds which i believe are made in a very well known custom shop shop used by top Nashville session players and rock stars They were previously put in there 2000 dollar 5th anniversary. NO WAY WOULD YOU SWAP THEM OUT for anything.
@@Guitarweekendwarriors i had the 2021 model not the new one, but that’s interesting
I bought an ste from Leon's Sound, an American dealer. Haven't seen any from them anymore. Guess they had problems. It would be great if an American dealer would go all in. 2021 ste, sss, stainless frets, sunburst, maple fretboard. Love it. F Fender. Crapshoot, hit or miss, lest you dole out $6k for a custom shop.
Yeah I hear you. I'm in Canada and haven't found a dealer out here either. But they're really stellar guitars.
Off the subject a little but I would love for you to do a lesson on the chords you were playing in this video. I have been playing bar chords and I am getting a little arthritis in my upper thrumb knuckle. ( I am older) The way you play up the neck would alleviate the stress on that part of my thumb. I have been watching a lot of your videos they are great!
Yes! I touched on it in a previous video about bar chord alternatives. But it probably deserves a dedicated video. Thanks for watching!
@@andrewclarkeguitar Thanks. Yes, I think I saw that video. I might still have aa copy of it that I saved. What impressed me about the way you did it this time was the notes that you play in between the chords. Whenever you do a video about the chords it would be great if you include an explanation of what you are doing to get from one chord to the next. It sounds so great. Your lessons have helped me a lot.
Cool Video. Love your content. You're a great teacher. Have you tried the Squier 40th anniversary Desert Sand Jazzmaster? I highly recommend it.
Thanks! I don’t believe I’ve had the chance to check that one out. I’ll see if I can find one locally here.
You should really check out also the equivalents from Jet Guitars and Harley Benton(with stainless steel frets).
Harley Benton and many others. There is cut throat competition in the new guitar market. So many different brands that are all worth taking a look at. It's the player that makes the guitar go, not the price tag.
Yeah I need to! Heard good things about them
Harley Benton are in a totally different (i.e. budget) market sector and unless there have been big changes in the last couple of years their build quality and QC has been extremely variable. Thomann's return policy is what keeps Customers happy but it's still disappointing to have to send stuff back. Not to mention a waste of time.
Harley Benton have been 'reviewed to death' by other UA-camrs. Plenty of other channels to watch for this sort of content.
@@ThePedroDB agree you cannot compare the Shijie to a Harley benton the basic Shijie Andrew reviews here is in the same space in terms of hardware as a USA strat their pro series is right up there with exotic and Suhr but about 1/3 of the price and still cheaper than a USA ultra / deluxe
Stainless steel frets do not make a great guitar . Just frets that a don’t wear as easy but there are different gears of SS too some are more hard wearing than others . Ie if you look at the stainless steel frets on a Harley benton or Sire they are really just low density alloy that’s not going to last much longer than a nickel composite Fret . Whosever if you look at the SS on Shijie, Suhr
Hey, are you still enjoying this guitar? Wondering how often you still playing it.
All the time! It’s my go-to guitar for country gigs. I still want to swap out the pickups though. They aren’t bad, but I want something a little thicker. Everything else on the guitar is top-tier. You won’t be disappointed.
Thank you for your time!
Neck pickup sounds as bright as some Tele bridge pickups and the the bridge even brighter than that!!! Makes me wonder what your amp settings were or if the guitar is really this bright??? Are these ceramic pickups in this guitar? Seems a bit pricey not to have alnico pickups and not saying what they are but suggesting that people "might" want to swap them out is more than a bit suspicious.
Hey Andrew.
I got myself a acoustic guitar back in 2020 I though myself some cords and fingerstyle playing not perfect but we are getting there, at that time you know how things went for everyone because the pandemic I was very distracted and I just put down my guitar biggest mistake ever .
Now I picked I up again and I am looking at some utube lessons and I am tossed all over.
Is there a video you got where you can put together not so much of theory but more what all the chord shapes I should learn to be able to play few songs like 4 chord songs please no easy shapes I like to learn the real deal few strumming patterns and pentatonic shapes and the main open chords.
I guess the video should be what should I know to be a intermediate player step by step to get to that point.
I am a older beginner and it’s something I love to do.
Hey, thanks for checking out the video and leaving a comment. Unfortunately, I don't have a video like that on my channel. Since I make all these videos by myself, it's hard to cover everything I want to on the channel. I'll add your suggestion to my list of future videos, as I know there are many other players in the exact same boat as you. I'll do my best to get it done as soon as I can. Cheers!
Thanks…great review!
Thank you for watching!
No lefthand available
nice video
Thanks!
Your dog is cute
Haha, I have to agree! His name is Luca 😁
Sensational
🙏🏻🙏🏻
the website is a bit broken
Yes. That’s the #1 issue that I outlined near the end of the video. I think it might scare some people away sadly
It’s being addressed I will be going through it . The system architecture was fixed earlier this week now it’s a matter of going through the language issues translation from Chinese to English is not that accurate even on the best of automatic online ones and the interpreter needs to understand guitar speak ( parts ) or that does not work either.
@@markburgess6466 The site architecture seems better now with the most recent revision, but there are still a lot of English errors. For instance: in the upper left of the home page where the Shijie company logo is, it says "Make guitar with heart" where it should be plural: "Making guitars with heart." Also, on the individual model pages when you can check a box to select the type of case you want, there is an option for "No have" :) This should be edited to "No case."
@@danielstoddart yes Daniel you are right they have already been noted and passed onto the web guy to do along with quite a few others like the denominator for discontinued is wrong . There is one guy who is responsible for all the sales, marketing , web and customer service so he’s working through it as he gets time . There are also plans to revamp the logo’s etc . Some of this is nice stuff . But they have ran out of capacity with the website snd that needs to be fixed 1st .Thanks for noticing the improvement . It will all be completed over the next few weeks
@@markburgess6466 Are you talking about Mo? Also, while we're on the subject of what's discontinued or not, are the STE Fixed Strat-type guitars still being made?
I am a proud owner of a made in China Gretsch electromatic g5422tg. There's nothing wrong with the country of origin
I agree! Great guitars coming out of there. The gretsch electromatic guitars are awesome 🙌🏻
$80 dollars for an included gig bag on the order?
Yup! It’s quite a nice gig bag, but at that price point it feels like it might just be worth paying the extra bit of money for the hard shell case.
How can Shije not making a Jazzmaster be a 'con' relating to their Telecaster model? What absolute nonsense....
As for value/price retention on the used market and the comparison to Fender. You'd probably have to spend an extra $500 initially to buy an equivalent Fender Telecaster - so there's $500 that's still 'retained'. A better way to look at it is percentage retained value and most used guitars (unless vintage or some limited/sought after model) are lucky to retain 60% fo their initial purchase price.
The bast way to maximise retained value (by any brand) is to buy used in the first instance and that indeed may be a 'con' for Shije, because there's very few available on the used market - so, you will probably have to pay full retail.
I thought it would be obvious that the Jazzmaster comment was a joke 😂 I was just saying the guitar was so great for the price that I wish they made a JM cuz I would buy it in a heartbeat
That’s a bit like shopping for a second hand wife . Get a guitar for life