We're Official Chapman Guitars retailers in Argentina. Every guitar we have gets set up, calibrated and tuned specifically to fulfill each costumer requirements. And it's a must when you think that they we're traveling for months in a ship trough the ocean inside a container from Indonesia and Korea to Argentina. Besides Eric's personal imput, there's a lot to blame on Guitar Center in delivering a guitar in those conditions
how's your Chapman guitars there in Argentina? Are there happy/unhappy customers with them? Any positive/negative input you can share for me would be delighted. Many thanks! :)
I really like how honest you were by without being “UA-cam negative” like some of these comments where they just slate it and say they hate it but don’t say why, this seems a very honest review and your replies have all been very professional “it’s bad but here’s why and there’s good ones out there but his wasn’t one of them” It’s actually refreshing to see
This is a text book example of why Riff City is the ones to buy from. They would have *NEVER* allowed that to be shipped in that condition, and they would have caught any defects like the lifted fret and either fixed it or sent it back. Sweetwater is another one who you can trust. This is what happens when you buy from the "Walmart" of the guitar retail. Call Joe and his boys and they will get you a proper Chapman.
Sweetwater is my “normal” store I buy from when I buy online, but like I said in my description above...part of this purchase was to “test” GC. As far as getting another Chapman, I won’t be. In all honesty, it probably wasn’t fair to a standard Chapman when I’m used to playing Knaggs, Grosh, PRS, etc. The only Chapman that might have had a chance against a Knaggs, Grosh, etc. would be the new British line- but I believe those are priced way to high...for those kind of prices I’d just buy another Knaggs! LOL
I have to disagree about Sweetwater. I ordered a Hamer Vector V that was full of putty fills on the neck between the fingerboard and neck. It was a cherry burst, and the paint from the red burst had pooled at the tips. It should have never left the factory. It was an $800 guitar. I sent it back for a replacement, and the second on was just as bad. I sent it back, and told them they need to inspect better, and they should not be resold. Within days they were back on the site. I knew this because they post the serial numbers. I wrote them and explained that due to their lack of morals I would. Not be buying from them in the future. I know this isn't about Hamers, but I also purchase the gloss Jr. A Les Paul Jr copy, and the lacquer finished just chipped on the back of the headstock for no reason. The new Hamers are crap.
@@ryanlusby569 they are too big of fan boys of Chapman for me. They treat his guitars like they are the best made. They are average guitars, that seem to get a lot of returns at GC. One of the guys told me he has never seen a brand come back so often. You fan boys need to get your head out of Rob's ass, and quit reviewing these things like they are a PRS. Some of the flaws are due to the fact that they don't ship with any kind of bag. The V1 shipped with a nice gig bag. The V2 cost $50 more, and, not even a cheap one. So charge more, get less. You are not a businessman Rob. I give you 2 years before they are selling for $200. I was able to get a new lefty ghost fret for $350, but I have all new parts to rebuild from top to bottom. I only wanted the body shape in lefty.
Chapman was not ready for Guitar Centre... All their flaws are coming to the surface, will anyone get a Standard model with ZERO issues?? I have not seen it happen yet.
AquaCentauri I bought an ml1 mod std. perfectly fine until I plugged it in and jammed away on the bridge pickup. Went to switch to the neck when I realised the switch did not work at all. Sent it back and will never be purchasing another chapman
True. Definetly a platform that this company wasn't ready for. Too much recognition too fast. And for what? Because he has a successful UA-cam channel? I dont get it to be honest.
Riffin' Remmy I guess it’s like when a popular UA-camr releases merch, all their fans buy it no matter the quality. In this case it was guitars. I still like chapman as a company and the way they operate but I think too much recognition too fast and the demand that accompanied this lead to the rushing of manufacturing
Definitely try first, but I would like to think that mine was a lemon and the majority of them are ok...most people seem happy with their Chapman Standards. I hated to be so negative, but I just want to be 100% honest with my “reviews”!
I have one of these from Riff City and its bad ass. This is what I was concerned with the lines coming from Guitar Center, as Chapman's are supposed to be setup by the retailer before shipping to the customer. Love my Standard in Black Blood, one of my favorites.
I have a Ghost Fret and an ML3 pro. Both are fantastic guitars. No issues with either, and the pickups sound fine to my ears. Maybe it's how you play em.
It's interesting that happened to you with GC. A few years ago I bought a Marshall JVM210 from them and they had to order it from another store. It turns out is was a floor model that was shipped with lousy packaging, no footswitch and no power cable. And surprise surprise when I did finally get it home and plugged in it didn't work. After much hassle they finally got me a working amp (which was another floor model at no discount to me) Needless to say that was the last time I ever gave GC my money.
If you really have your heart set on it, get it...but get it from Riff City. They will at least do a setup on it. Guitar Center just takes the box out of a bigger box and ships it! You can always return it if you don’t like it. I have to believe that they aren’t ALL like the one I got.
I own a Chapman myself. It's a Really bad guitar. I have the ML-1. Frets are uneven. It's impossible to set up decently. The tuners are bad. The pickups are crap. You didn't get a lemon. You got a Chapman.
So if someone really wanted an affordable Explorer, would you recommend they go for the Epiphone Korina Explorer instead? Thanks for the honest review. Obviously the way it was packaged, it was either a return or a demo model.
I would simply advise anyone looking for any guitar to play it before buying if at all possible and not let anybody tell you what to play, like, purchase, etc. Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks or says - none of it matters except for what you think!
It would be great to see if you could do a second review on the same model different guitar. I have a couple of chapman guitars (ML1TB and ML2GT ) and both of them are really good. Would like to know if it is a one off. Cheers
Well, unfortunately I won't be doing another Chapman review unless one gets sent to me for free or I get access to another one locally that I can demo...I won't be buying another one.
I would get in touch with chapman I'm sure they'd be disappointed to see that GC is sending out guitars that should never get to customers. If it was bought from andertons that guitar would have been refused.
That's sad! People are saying it's $450. I bought a cheap $100 guitar kit that has way better fretwork on it than that. I've seen better frets on cheap First Act guitars! I love the finish on the body and like the hardtail bridge, but wouldn't pay $450 with a fret job like that! Don't blame ya for returning it. Thanks for the review.
I am a bit concerned about the standard line from Chapman. I have a Norseman from the older line and it’s amazing, perfect frets and plays/sounds great. I have heard others saying there are QC issues with the standard range. I personally think Chapman would have been better to keep the standard range in Korea and made the price a little higher. (Say around the $500-$600 range. Just hope they address these issues before it hurts the brand.
I’ve heard the older ones were great. I just think that they would be better served to be in a retailer that would do a setup before shipping them to the customers. I do my own setups, but I think a lot of the people that will be buying the standards might not do their own setups.
I have 3 of the "legacy" guitars. Two ML3s and one ML1. They are all really good quality, no complaints as all. Bought them all through Riff City and they came set up and perfect. I am happy Chapman is growing but I fear they are getting away from their roots. Guitar Center is a scary place to sell your gear through because they don't give a shit about anything but the $$$$.
I feel the same way, I have an ML2 From the second run and it's absolutely fantastic. Great build quality and some of the best fretwork I've had on any guitar regardless of price. Admittely I was not a fan of the electronics but the hardware is great. I know it's a long time since 2013 but after going into GC and playing the standard line I share your concern coming from what were exceptional guitars.
Danny Luten Just wanting to add my two cents here. I am a serious musician currently studying jazz at Capilano University. As a graduation gift my family and I pitched in to get me an ML-3 Standard. I ordered from riff city and have had no complaints with the guitar. I play 4-6 hours a day and am constantly playing it at rehearsals and performances and it always stays in tune and gives me no problems. I would say that most of these bad experiences are from an odd bad guitar and or Guitar Center having poor qc. Again it’s just my experience but I have absolutely no gripes whatsoever
Eric Jason Brock I’d like to check a few different ones out myself. Most of his guitars get pretty good reviews for bing a fairly young company. I like the looks of the ML2. Good honest review.
I have an Indonesian built Ibanez Jem Jr for 400ish bucks. There's no single flaw on it. Fretwork etc. details are all perfect. Why is Chapman this bad?
The Kemper is awesome. I went through the Helix and Axe-FX Ultra before the Kemper and I personally like the Kemper the best. Kemper has tons of free profiles at their website and there are tons of free ones everywhere but you can also buy them. I profiled all of my own amps as well and sold some of them afterwards. I gig with a powered rack version as well.
I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about chapman's standard line, I guess it's kinda hit or miss. I have a ghost fret pro and an ML2 standard. the ML2 had a chip in the paint, which riff city gave me a $50 discount for. the only other thing is there is a slight buzz, which I think is from something being lose on the bridge. the fret work on both guitars is perfect though. also, my ghost fret doesn't have string trees, so maybe that's just for the standard models.
I learned my lesson. Anytime you get a guitar that is substandard send it back immediately. GC has to take it back, especially if they sold you a return as new. I would ask for a refund and a substantial discount after being treated that way. There are standards and GC has trouble meeting those standards half the time. Make them do the work and send it back. Don't let them sell you substandard gear, especially used gear as new.
Well there’s no way I’d accept this Guitar obviously- it was returned to my local GC the same day I made this video. The guys there just shook their heads and said it was ridiculous to be sold as new.
Thanks for the honest review. Great video. Important to know what's happening to these guitars. Been a fan of Chappers but the guitar quality is too low. Will not purchase a Chapman. Very disappointing.
I got a return also. They must be coming back for a reason. Mine was scratched with a few dings. No plastic film anywhere it should be. The foam wrap was torn to shit from someone forcing it back without being careful. Box was re-taped. Chapman is going to loose his ass with guitar center. He isn't big enough yet. The returns with kill him, except when they resell them. GC sent me two 8 tracks recorders before I had to get the warehouse manager involved to get a new one. I think your greed will sink you Rob.
Most reviews of the Chapman standard range that I've seen point out a few minor flaws, but say that they're just as good as any other guitar at that price. This definitely seems like an outlier. But as lots of other people are saying, buy Chapman from Riff City. They check and setup every guitar.
To be honest you'll probably get better made Indonesian guitar. And don't expect they will work the frets to perfection. I just don't get it why anyone wants reverse headstock. But only El Chappo knows.
Its so weird how some batches are much better then others they really are trying to make to many to fast in a small area eith only a few people making them so i feel like they are way to rushed and some are amazing and others arent but you do have the standard you def need a pro the standard is actually meant to jyst upgrade the pickups and stuff later if you wanted to but when you go to the pro its way better like ridiculoiusly better
I know this is an old video, but most of the bad things you stated were on GCs head. They don't set anything up. Chapmans point for the standard line was to give an affordable guitar with amazing construction. The electronics are crap but that was never the selling point. Even on the pro line Chapman stated that they expect you to replace all the electronics. But the build is solid. None of my guitars are stock, they all have dimarzio pick ups and locking grover tuners. Even on my older Gibson's. Chapman's are meant to be modded. That's what they want. And the last thing is, in order to stock Chapman guitars, the store must have an in house tech. Every GC has one. They just rarely use them.
I got the ML2 and it was just horrible it was a mess I retutned t. Tha next day.. It was packed very bad and the gig was also dirty. The shoved it in a Fendar box. It was just a verybpoorr made guitar and the neck was all rough. So I bout a LTD 401 EC. Waaaayyy better wow what a difference.
Apostolis Ziouras mine too eventough it was indeed poorly set up when it arrived and I actually like the sound of the pickups and I'm very comfortable with the neck and body shape. On the other hand you can't really expect a perfect guitar for the price of this one.
A bit disappointing. Someone else just reviewed one with chip/dented binding and a twisted knob that had broken (pot was ok) Probably due to GC shipping. Indonesian guitars don't have to be bad. I have a Vintage Modified Squier that is a fantastic instrument. And Classic Vibe is made in China. So it doesn't have to be all bad, but those frets are poor indeed.
I have one too, about a 2014 model and made in South Korea by World Instruments, its very heavy just like a Les Paul but very well made for the money. I'm British and bought it from Andertons, it was well set up. I guess the Korean reputation has grown and prices have risen and all the firms sourcing entry level guitars (like Chapman and big firms like ESP, Ibanez etc) have had to go to Indonesea, China etc...
It sounds good to me better than the hundreds of Ibanez Jackson etc etc that all sound like a bad heavy metal bad tone, but the detail work obviously sucks, im surprised but not they probably invested big money in there first line got people to talk about how good then waited for the pay off, noe they seemed to have issues getting these out this year maybe they had to rush production there made Indonesia right or maybe the lower line is China, its a shame cause they look hot!
People...to those who suggest I buy a “better guitar”...I only bought this guitar to check out a Chapman and “test” Guitar Center’s fulfillment of the order. I returned the guitar right after I made this video, as I feel that both companies failed. While I appreciate everybody’s comments, I don’t normally play guitars at this price level, as I normally play guitars like Shelton, Novo, Knaggs, Artinger, PRS, Grosh, etc. I’ve moved on from entry level, mid-level and even some higher level guitars so please don’t suggest that I “get a real Gibson” or something like that! Been there, done that! I’ve scaled down my guitar collection to the point where I only own a few Gibsons now...my 335, a Les Paul, and an SG Junior that I’ve shown in other videos. I’ll take a Shelton or a Novo and call it a day...there’s not really any comparison IMO. Thanks, Eric
Guitars from Asia are mostly great, some are crap. This one should not have been sent out, but that’s GC? good news take it back and get another. Or better yet buy from Riff City!
Zachary Tomes I agree with that. Early on they were priced about right but Rob has gotten a little greedy. For where they are now I would just rather buy a PRS SE at a little less and have better resale latter if needed. They are made in the same factory. Or better yet a Gibson Les Paul Studio USA for less.
Robert J i wouldnt blame indonesia, the jackson pro series are made there(besides the dinkies) and are great, corts are amazing and are made in the same factory, same for washburns and solars, i think is the way they are ordering the guitars
Ernesto Picazo wasn't necessarily blaming Indonesia just stating that the quality of these guitars from these as well asa couple of others I have owned were less than desirable. Maybe you are right but it is there. It is just that what I have been getting out of the Korean factories is a consistently much better quality.
When I made this video way back then, it was right at the time when GC first started carrying Chapman so I thought a lot of people would start buying them from GC so it was relevant then. As far as the guitar, I think I made it pretty obvious in the video that it was a P.O.S.! Thanks for watching tho.
also i'd heard guitar center will smash the shit out of these and dumpster toss the remnant! there are less fortunate kids that they could give off and right off and bring a wide eyed smile to a face or more! *******I WOULDNT BUY FROM GUITAR SNOB CENTER LOL! SIMPLY ON PRINCIPLE!*******
Chapman was, is, and will always be a fad guitar company. I've owned three that I bought used. I very rarely play any of them. I'm keeping the baritone because I modded it I had laying around and a good baritone with gig bag is hard to find for the $300 I paid. The ML3 and Ghostfret are just meh guitars. The pickups are absolute garbage. Generic and uninspiring to play. Selling them for cheap on Reverb just to get them out of my house.
Return to Guitar Center..they are a absolutely horrible Company..I have had bad experiences with them as well..buy from a place like RiffCity Guitar a place where they actually inspect the guitar when they get it for string hight.. fret work..tuning issues..any electronic issues and overall playability. Guitar center gets guitars from the factorys and just ships directly to you. Guitar Center is Actually owned Musicans Friend..go figure. I bought the 1st run of Ghostfrets in satin blue a couple of years ago from Riffcity..awesomely packaged..plays like a dream not a flaw on it..I will definitely buy Chapman Agian. It is definitely on Guitar Centers end thats for sure. Cant believe Chapman is working with Guitar Center.. Rock On \m/
One thing I wanted by buying this from GC was in fact to “test” GC to see what happens when you buy a “new” guitar from them online. Obviously they failed that! I have no problems buying from my LOCAL GC, as it has a great group of guys there and in fact a couple of the guitar dept. guys there are exceptional. GC Online kinda sucks tho! Wasn’t GC’s fault that the pickups sounded like crap though and the electronics are cheap. (Tho like I stated I kinda expected that given the price.) I’m glad a lot of people out there love their Chapman’s tho - but I’m gonna stick with “higher end” guitars anyway...the Chapman was just an itch I wanted to scratch basically. Peace!
champman guitars are overprices and poorly, and for the same money you can get vastly superior guitars like the epiphone futura or the schecter e1... even the jack js32 kelly looks and feels better than the chapman ghost fret.
No problems buying from my LOCAL GC ever...it has a great group of guys and a couple of the Guitar dept. guys are exceptional. Now GC ONLINE is another story altogether!!
We're Official Chapman Guitars retailers in Argentina. Every guitar we have gets set up, calibrated and tuned specifically to fulfill each costumer requirements. And it's a must when you think that they we're traveling for months in a ship trough the ocean inside a container from Indonesia and Korea to Argentina. Besides Eric's personal imput, there's a lot to blame on Guitar Center in delivering a guitar in those conditions
how's your Chapman guitars there in Argentina? Are there happy/unhappy customers with them? Any positive/negative input you can share for me would be delighted. Many thanks! :)
I really like how honest you were by without being “UA-cam negative” like some of these comments where they just slate it and say they hate it but don’t say why, this seems a very honest review and your replies have all been very professional “it’s bad but here’s why and there’s good ones out there but his wasn’t one of them”
It’s actually refreshing to see
Thanks for the honest look/review!
Thanks for the honest review. Digging the KYG hoodie.
This is the second review i have seen of this guitar and they both sounded very good.
I was...WAS...seriously considering getting this model. Thanks for the review!
This is a text book example of why Riff City is the ones to buy from. They would have *NEVER* allowed that to be shipped in that condition, and they would have caught any defects like the lifted fret and either fixed it or sent it back. Sweetwater is another one who you can trust. This is what happens when you buy from the "Walmart" of the guitar retail. Call Joe and his boys and they will get you a proper Chapman.
Sweetwater is my “normal” store I buy from when I buy online, but like I said in my description above...part of this purchase was to “test” GC. As far as getting another Chapman, I won’t be. In all honesty, it probably wasn’t fair to a standard Chapman when I’m used to playing Knaggs, Grosh, PRS, etc. The only Chapman that might have had a chance against a Knaggs, Grosh, etc. would be the new British line- but I believe those are priced way to high...for those kind of prices I’d just buy another Knaggs! LOL
I have to disagree about Sweetwater. I ordered a Hamer Vector V that was full of putty fills on the neck between the fingerboard and neck. It was a cherry burst, and the paint from the red burst had pooled at the tips. It should have never left the factory. It was an $800 guitar. I sent it back for a replacement, and the second on was just as bad. I sent it back, and told them they need to inspect better, and they should not be resold. Within days they were back on the site. I knew this because they post the serial numbers. I wrote them and explained that due to their lack of morals I would. Not be buying from them in the future. I know this isn't about Hamers, but I also purchase the gloss Jr. A Les Paul Jr copy, and the lacquer finished just chipped on the back of the headstock for no reason. The new Hamers are crap.
Buy it from Riff City...GC don’t inspect any guitars!
If I lived in the US, I'd buy from Riff City anyway. For the cookie.
They give cookies to EVERYONE lol it's so funny. Honestly tho, the staff at riff city is excellent. Down with guitar center!!
@@ryanlusby569 they are too big of fan boys of Chapman for me. They treat his guitars like they are the best made. They are average guitars, that seem to get a lot of returns at GC. One of the guys told me he has never seen a brand come back so often. You fan boys need to get your head out of Rob's ass, and quit reviewing these things like they are a PRS. Some of the flaws are due to the fact that they don't ship with any kind of bag. The V1 shipped with a nice gig bag. The V2 cost $50 more, and, not even a cheap one. So charge more, get less. You are not a businessman Rob. I give you 2 years before they are selling for $200. I was able to get a new lefty ghost fret for $350, but I have all new parts to rebuild from top to bottom. I only wanted the body shape in lefty.
Chapman was not ready for Guitar Centre... All their flaws are coming to the surface, will anyone get a Standard model with ZERO issues?? I have not seen it happen yet.
AquaCentauri I bought an ml1 mod std. perfectly fine until I plugged it in and jammed away on the bridge pickup. Went to switch to the neck when I realised the switch did not work at all. Sent it back and will never be purchasing another chapman
True. Definetly a platform that this company wasn't ready for. Too much recognition too fast. And for what? Because he has a successful UA-cam channel? I dont get it to be honest.
Riffin' Remmy - Me neither!
Riffin' Remmy I guess it’s like when a popular UA-camr releases merch, all their fans buy it no matter the quality. In this case it was guitars. I still like chapman as a company and the way they operate but I think too much recognition too fast and the demand that accompanied this lead to the rushing of manufacturing
AquaCentauri i mean there’s me... but i live in the uk so... no guitar centre problems for me 😂😂
I'm going to NY to meet Chappers and hoped to get one of these to get signed... I'll be sure to try it before... Thanks for the honest review.
Definitely try first, but I would like to think that mine was a lemon and the majority of them are ok...most people seem happy with their Chapman Standards. I hated to be so negative, but I just want to be 100% honest with my “reviews”!
I have one of these from Riff City and its bad ass. This is what I was concerned with the lines coming from Guitar Center, as Chapman's are supposed to be setup by the retailer before shipping to the customer. Love my Standard in Black Blood, one of my favorites.
One year later, any other helpful positive/negative inputs about that black blood Ghost Fret you have? :)
I have a Ghost Fret and an ML3 pro. Both are fantastic guitars. No issues with either, and the pickups sound fine to my ears. Maybe it's how you play em.
DId you review the pro?
No, no plans to get another Chapman.
It's interesting that happened to you with GC. A few years ago I bought a Marshall JVM210 from them and they had to order it from another store. It turns out is was a floor model that was shipped with lousy packaging, no footswitch and no power cable. And surprise surprise when I did finally get it home and plugged in it didn't work. After much hassle they finally got me a working amp (which was another floor model at no discount to me) Needless to say that was the last time I ever gave GC my money.
Thanks I was just looking at that exact guitar at Riff City and you have made my choice for me.
If you really have your heart set on it, get it...but get it from Riff City. They will at least do a setup on it. Guitar Center just takes the box out of a bigger box and ships it! You can always return it if you don’t like it. I have to believe that they aren’t ALL like the one I got.
To me the finish looks like a hard line. Is it like this in real life?
Yeah the fade from red to black was pretty fast.
I own a Chapman myself. It's a Really bad guitar. I have the ML-1. Frets are uneven. It's impossible to set up decently. The tuners are bad. The pickups are crap.
You didn't get a lemon. You got a Chapman.
would love to see a review of the pro range.
So if someone really wanted an affordable Explorer, would you recommend they go for the Epiphone Korina Explorer instead? Thanks for the honest review. Obviously the way it was packaged, it was either a return or a demo model.
I would simply advise anyone looking for any guitar to play it before buying if at all possible and not let anybody tell you what to play, like, purchase, etc. Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks or says - none of it matters except for what you think!
It would be great to see if you could do a second review on the same model different guitar.
I have a couple of chapman guitars (ML1TB and ML2GT ) and both of them are really good. Would like to know if it is a one off. Cheers
Well, unfortunately I won't be doing another Chapman review unless one gets sent to me for free or I get access to another one locally that I can demo...I won't be buying another one.
I would get in touch with chapman I'm sure they'd be disappointed to see that GC is sending out guitars that should never get to customers. If it was bought from andertons that guitar would have been refused.
The kemper sounds good.
That's sad! People are saying it's $450. I bought a cheap $100 guitar kit that has way better fretwork on it than that. I've seen better frets on cheap First Act guitars! I love the finish on the body and like the hardtail bridge, but wouldn't pay $450 with a fret job like that! Don't blame ya for returning it. Thanks for the review.
You should do the same just return it instead of replacing parts
Already did return it. I was just saying what I’d have to replace if I was going to keep it.
If your Buying from Guitar Centre GO in Person Play before you Buy Dont Ever let them ship it to you .
I am a bit concerned about the standard line from Chapman. I have a Norseman from the older line and it’s amazing, perfect frets and plays/sounds great. I have heard others saying there are QC issues with the standard range. I personally think Chapman would have been better to keep the standard range in Korea and made the price a little higher. (Say around the $500-$600 range. Just hope they address these issues before it hurts the brand.
I’ve heard the older ones were great. I just think that they would be better served to be in a retailer that would do a setup before shipping them to the customers. I do my own setups, but I think a lot of the people that will be buying the standards might not do their own setups.
Danny Luten Chapman should have never raised Korean prices, or moved towards Indonesia. The system they had was well loved and enjoyed
I have 3 of the "legacy" guitars. Two ML3s and one ML1. They are all really good quality, no complaints as all. Bought them all through Riff City and they came set up and perfect. I am happy Chapman is growing but I fear they are getting away from their roots. Guitar Center is a scary place to sell your gear through because they don't give a shit about anything but the $$$$.
I feel the same way, I have an ML2 From the second run and it's absolutely fantastic. Great build quality and some of the best fretwork I've had on any guitar regardless of price. Admittely I was not a fan of the electronics but the hardware is great. I know it's a long time since 2013 but after going into GC and playing the standard line I share your concern coming from what were exceptional guitars.
Danny Luten Just wanting to add my two cents here. I am a serious musician currently studying jazz at Capilano University. As a graduation gift my family and I pitched in to get me an ML-3 Standard. I ordered from riff city and have had no complaints with the guitar. I play 4-6 hours a day and am constantly playing it at rehearsals and performances and it always stays in tune and gives me no problems. I would say that most of these bad experiences are from an odd bad guitar and or Guitar Center having poor qc. Again it’s just my experience but I have absolutely no gripes whatsoever
Two faults, big box store and you bought and entry level. I’d be curious to see what you think about a pro series that had a setup performed.
Well, I exactly wanted to test a Standard and Guitar Center’s fulfillment of it...both failed miserably.
Eric Jason Brock I’d like to check a few different ones out myself. Most of his guitars get pretty good reviews for bing a fairly young company. I like the looks of the ML2. Good honest review.
OMG those frets!
I have an Indonesian built Ibanez Jem Jr for 400ish bucks. There's no single flaw on it. Fretwork etc. details are all perfect. Why is Chapman this bad?
How’s the kemper? How many profiles come with it? Can you purchase profiles?
The Kemper is awesome. I went through the Helix and Axe-FX Ultra before the Kemper and I personally like the Kemper the best. Kemper has tons of free profiles at their website and there are tons of free ones everywhere but you can also buy them. I profiled all of my own amps as well and sold some of them afterwards. I gig with a powered rack version as well.
I have a bunch of the Britt stuff...great profiles.
You cant blame guitar center for shipping a guitar that made it through Chapmans QC in the first place
No, but I can blame them for not packing the guitar properly and selling what was basically a B-stock guitar as new.
Eric Jason Brock it’s not b stock. They’re all horrible.
so many shills saying these crappy guitars are great, good to see an honest unbiased opinion.
this is a 450 dollar guitar, the more expensive ones are perfect.
Eric i have one of these on the way from Riff City Guitars. Are you still real dissapointed in yours?
I returned it to GC immediately after the video. Hopefully yours is much better!
return it a get a fresh one
It's been returned for awhile now.
Eric Jason Brock maybe it was returned due to the bad fretwork?
Imagine looking forward to getting a guitar and it arriving with fret work like that. Rubbish.
I like your “know your gear” hood 👍🏼
I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about chapman's standard line, I guess it's kinda hit or miss. I have a ghost fret pro and an ML2 standard. the ML2 had a chip in the paint, which riff city gave me a $50 discount for. the only other thing is there is a slight buzz, which I think is from something being lose on the bridge. the fret work on both guitars is perfect though. also, my ghost fret doesn't have string trees, so maybe that's just for the standard models.
Yeah, the standard GF doesn’t have the tilt back headstock so it makes string trees necessary.
I learned my lesson. Anytime you get a guitar that is substandard send it back immediately. GC has to take it back, especially if they sold you a return as new. I would ask for a refund and a substantial discount after being treated that way. There are standards and GC has trouble meeting those standards half the time. Make them do the work and send it back. Don't let them sell you substandard gear, especially used gear as new.
Well there’s no way I’d accept this Guitar obviously- it was returned to my local GC the same day I made this video. The guys there just shook their heads and said it was ridiculous to be sold as new.
Thanks for the honest review. Great video. Important to know what's happening to these guitars. Been a fan of Chappers but the guitar quality is too low. Will not purchase a Chapman. Very disappointing.
alwaysrockn2009 try an older one or a different model. The old CAP - 10 sounded great and is like 400 with Seymour Duncans.
Pro series around the $1000 mark will be fine
Barry S 😂
I got a return also. They must be coming back for a reason. Mine was scratched with a few dings. No plastic film anywhere it should be. The foam wrap was torn to shit from someone forcing it back without being careful.
Box was re-taped. Chapman is going to loose his ass with guitar center. He isn't big enough yet. The returns with kill him, except when they resell them. GC sent me two 8 tracks recorders before I had to get the warehouse manager involved to get a new one. I think your greed will sink you Rob.
this looks like the same guitar Phil McKnight got? Could be wrong.
Same model, not the same guitar...as far as I know he kept his...mine got returned the same day I made this video!
I have a chapman ghost fret standard and there amazing. One of the best buget guitars I've played
Most reviews of the Chapman standard range that I've seen point out a few minor flaws, but say that they're just as good as any other guitar at that price. This definitely seems like an outlier. But as lots of other people are saying, buy Chapman from Riff City. They check and setup every guitar.
To be honest you'll probably get better made Indonesian guitar. And don't expect they will work the frets to perfection. I just don't get it why anyone wants reverse headstock. But only El Chappo knows.
Aspirative Music Production Reverse headstocks are so impractical
can't confirm anything you said about this guitar. i have the old flame blue ghost fret (the pro version now)
Yeah two totally different guitars.
Its so weird how some batches are much better then others they really are trying to make to many to fast in a small area eith only a few people making them so i feel like they are way to rushed and some are amazing and others arent but you do have the standard you def need a pro the standard is actually meant to jyst upgrade the pickups and stuff later if you wanted to but when you go to the pro its way better like ridiculoiusly better
I know this is an old video, but most of the bad things you stated were on GCs head. They don't set anything up. Chapmans point for the standard line was to give an affordable guitar with amazing construction. The electronics are crap but that was never the selling point. Even on the pro line Chapman stated that they expect you to replace all the electronics. But the build is solid. None of my guitars are stock, they all have dimarzio pick ups and locking grover tuners. Even on my older Gibson's. Chapman's are meant to be modded. That's what they want. And the last thing is, in order to stock Chapman guitars, the store must have an in house tech. Every GC has one. They just rarely use them.
and I thought that you could only get a new guitar in that condition was from 8th street Music .
I got the ML2 and it was just horrible it was a mess I retutned t. Tha next day.. It was packed very bad and the gig was also dirty. The shoved it in a Fendar box. It was just a verybpoorr made guitar and the neck was all rough. So I bout a LTD 401 EC. Waaaayyy better wow what a difference.
your guitar propably had some factory isues because mine is a DREAM to play and hear
Apostolis Ziouras mine too eventough it was indeed poorly set up when it arrived and I actually like the sound of the pickups and I'm very comfortable with the neck and body shape.
On the other hand you can't really expect a perfect guitar for the price of this one.
A bit disappointing. Someone else just reviewed one with chip/dented binding and a twisted knob that had broken (pot was ok) Probably due to GC shipping.
Indonesian guitars don't have to be bad. I have a Vintage Modified Squier that is a fantastic instrument. And Classic Vibe is made in China. So it doesn't have to be all bad, but those frets are poor indeed.
i have a chapman ml2, made in korea. its the best guitar for the price i ever had. And i had a lot of guitars
I have one too, about a 2014 model and made in South Korea by World Instruments, its very heavy just like a Les Paul but very well made for the money. I'm British and bought it from Andertons, it was well set up. I guess the Korean reputation has grown and prices have risen and all the firms sourcing entry level guitars (like Chapman and big firms like ESP, Ibanez etc) have had to go to Indonesea, China etc...
These are guitars made for children.
The fact that Guitar Center only offered a $25 credit toward a future purchase ....... that says something. And not something good.
It sounds good to me better than the hundreds of Ibanez Jackson etc etc that all sound like a bad heavy metal bad tone, but the detail work obviously sucks, im surprised but not they probably invested big money in there first line got people to talk about how good then waited for the pay off, noe they seemed to have issues getting these out this year maybe they had to rush production there made Indonesia right or maybe the lower line is China, its a shame cause they look hot!
People...to those who suggest I buy a “better guitar”...I only bought this guitar to check out a Chapman and “test” Guitar Center’s fulfillment of the order. I returned the guitar right after I made this video, as I feel that both companies failed.
While I appreciate everybody’s comments, I don’t normally play guitars at this price level, as I normally play guitars like Shelton, Novo, Knaggs, Artinger, PRS, Grosh, etc. I’ve moved on from entry level, mid-level and even some higher level guitars so please don’t suggest that I “get a real Gibson” or something like that! Been there, done that! I’ve scaled down my guitar collection to the point where I only own a few Gibsons now...my 335, a Les Paul, and an SG Junior that I’ve shown in other videos. I’ll take a Shelton or a Novo and call it a day...there’s not really any comparison IMO.
Thanks,
Eric
Guitars from Asia are mostly great, some are crap. This one should not have been sent out, but that’s GC? good news take it back and get another. Or better yet buy from Riff City!
Indonesian quality??? For sure. I know the pro Korean built are pretty good!
Yeah, I’ve heard the Korean built ones are nice.
Robert J Yeah but the Korean ones going for USA made prices are a no-go at that point
Zachary Tomes I agree with that. Early on they were priced about right but Rob has gotten a little greedy. For where they are now I would just rather buy a PRS SE at a little less and have better resale latter if needed. They are made in the same factory. Or better yet a Gibson Les Paul Studio USA for less.
Robert J i wouldnt blame indonesia, the jackson pro series are made there(besides the dinkies) and are great, corts are amazing and are made in the same factory, same for washburns and solars, i think is the way they are ordering the guitars
Ernesto Picazo wasn't necessarily blaming Indonesia just stating that the quality of these guitars from these as well asa couple of others I have owned were less than desirable. Maybe you are right but it is there. It is just that what I have been getting out of the Korean factories is a consistently much better quality.
Guitar Centers is famous for giving you people's returns Evan though they charge you for a Brand New Guitar
I own that guitar
As soon as it's offered with a Floyd.....
Wow. If I where you I would return it or at least have GC five you a free fret job.
Do you honestly think I kept it?!? LOL. It was returned the same day I made this video.
Ah man, watching this made me not want to buy one. I was about too.
As long as you can return it if you don’t like it, go ahead...plenty of people seem to like theirs.
Soooo ... I actually really like the SOUND of it. 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
We don’t care about the GC Shipping. Wanna hear about the guitar
When I made this video way back then, it was right at the time when GC first started carrying Chapman so I thought a lot of people would start buying them from GC so it was relevant then. As far as the guitar, I think I made it pretty obvious in the video that it was a P.O.S.!
Thanks for watching tho.
also i'd heard guitar center will smash the shit out of these and dumpster toss the remnant! there are less fortunate kids that they could give off and right off and bring a wide eyed smile to a face or more!
*******I WOULDNT BUY FROM GUITAR SNOB CENTER LOL! SIMPLY ON PRINCIPLE!*******
this video hurt me on a v deep level
Haha. Sorry. Like I explained...a lot of people seem to love them so pretty sure I got a lemon!
Honest review what's up with you subscriber number not present homie, doesn't seem very honest of you
No idea...should it show up on its own?!? I don’t even know how many subscribers I have, so why should it bother you?
CRAPMAN
sunley1983 not really tho, I own 2 chapmans and they are my favourite guitars
Chapman was, is, and will always be a fad guitar company. I've owned three that I bought used. I very rarely play any of them. I'm keeping the baritone because I modded it I had laying around and a good baritone with gig bag is hard to find for the $300 I paid. The ML3 and Ghostfret are just meh guitars. The pickups are absolute garbage. Generic and uninspiring to play. Selling them for cheap on Reverb just to get them out of my house.
Return to Guitar Center..they are a absolutely horrible Company..I have had bad experiences with them as well..buy from a place like RiffCity Guitar a place where they actually inspect the guitar when they get it for string hight.. fret work..tuning issues..any electronic issues and overall playability. Guitar center gets guitars from the factorys and just ships directly to you. Guitar Center is Actually owned Musicans Friend..go figure. I bought the 1st run of Ghostfrets in satin blue a couple of years ago from Riffcity..awesomely packaged..plays like a dream not a flaw on it..I will definitely buy Chapman Agian. It is definitely on Guitar Centers end thats for sure. Cant believe Chapman is working with Guitar Center.. Rock On \m/
One thing I wanted by buying this from GC was in fact to “test” GC to see what happens when you buy a “new” guitar from them online. Obviously they failed that!
I have no problems buying from my LOCAL GC, as it has a great group of guys there and in fact a couple of the guitar dept. guys there are exceptional. GC Online kinda sucks tho!
Wasn’t GC’s fault that the pickups sounded like crap though and the electronics are cheap. (Tho like I stated I kinda expected that given the price.)
I’m glad a lot of people out there love their Chapman’s tho - but I’m gonna stick with “higher end” guitars anyway...the Chapman was just an itch I wanted to scratch basically.
Peace!
champman guitars are overprices and poorly, and for the same money you can get vastly superior guitars like the epiphone futura or the schecter e1... even the jack js32 kelly looks and feels better than the chapman ghost fret.
I bought a standard ghost fret literally today and I haven’t got any of the problems you have. I think you just got a shitty guitar
Yeah, like I said it’s totally possible I got a lemon.
it sounds English
crapman ghost fart... Get yourself a proper gibson.
I’ve gone through several Gibsons in my years of playing that were crap too...and WAY more expensive than the Chapman!
Eric Jason Brock sorry to hear that. I had several Gibsons and they were all good guitras. Currently i have v standard from 2010 and its a lifer.
Many people are having issues with Gibson's quality control. I really like ESP/LTD. Even my "cheap" fx260sm has solid fret work and plays great.
Sounds like a poor ESP
Email Chapman guitars I'm sure Rob would do he's best to complete customer satisfaction
Weak pickups and poor fretwork. So essentially it's a Gibson without the massive price tag.
Haha lol but pretty true
Never buy from GC. Ever.
No problems buying from my LOCAL GC ever...it has a great group of guys and a couple of the Guitar dept. guys are exceptional. Now GC ONLINE is another story altogether!!
good review thankss ,,, chaoman guitar are made in the far east shit the whole chapman thing is a con