Check out some of my lessons: ua-cam.com/play/PLNaLwTdlpQNEQQfdhdttHV5rjmy7tmYCy.html Or some of my music: ua-cam.com/play/PLNaLwTdlpQNHKlg8ALZfM3AINC20WMp8s.html
I have an Ml1 Hybrid which looks to be the same guitar. It's a lot of guitar for the money. Mine is flawless with level frets, pickups are really good, and the neck with the rolled edges is one of the nicest necks i've played. Fender does not give you this quality and attention to detail in my opinion being that every Fender Ive owned needed a fret level and this one was perfect.
I bought an ML1 Modern from Andertons down from £400 to £350 which I felt was sensible money for something that looked pretty nice and had 24 frets, i'm pretty happy with it as an alternative to the Fender mainstays, I love the maple top and the black hardware and I havent had any tuning issues on mine, for the price of a high end Squier i'm pleased with it
I was gifted almost the entire NDSP product line for pointing out a small security flaw to one of their social media guys. My opinion is that with 3 NDSP plugins you'll pretty much be set. My personal picks are Nolly for its versatility, Tone King for the best cleans you can get from a software amp, and for the third amp its more about you as a player. Do you want something for really heavy metal? Gojira, Petrucci, Cali, Omega. Do you want to try Fusion or funk? Plini, Henson, or Wong. I wouldn't personally recommend Abasi or Nameless because if you want bang for your buck, they're too limited. Most of the choice within the categories I mentioned will work, just depends on what effects you'd like in front.
Nice one Elmo ; always appreciate the honest conversation about QC issues in regards to the tuning, nut and truss-rod with the exact guitar in your hands. I think people fall too easily into either worshiping or detesting Chapman guitars ; they are just like any other guitar brand made over-seas these days as QC is still a lottery. Even though both my guitar technicians hate working on Chapman guitars (after a few horror stories) , I was fortunate to not really see that many issues with the Korean ML1 I had many years ago apart from the weight which actually pulled my back out before a rehearsal! I had to sell it after that incident... I think if that tremolo unit gets blocked, it should be a stable HSS guitar for anyone ; I wouldn't trust an unlocked and unbranded tremolo system to hold tuning in that price range anywhoo... - Gabe
I just got my one for £299 brand new from Andertons. It's a great guitar. All the issues are completely subjective. As I don't use tremolo at all, I lowered it & I've added extra springs. Personally, I prefer the position of pickups selector in Chapmans than strats etc. . The reverse headstock looks great and if you switch from Gibson 3+3 tuners headstock you shouldn't have any problems with tuning.
I also got one from Andertons, about 3 weeks ago for the same price. For me the headstock appearance is like the colour. If you don't like it get something else. Personally I like it. It's a little different from a standard strat. Same with the selector, it's obvious where it is so it's purely a preference. As for losing tune from the whammy bar, people can decide for themselves if they think he gave it a fair go or was a bit excessive. Replacement (and stretched) strings might help - perhaps he did that, I don't know. The whammy bar falling out like his does would annoy the crap out of me but mine has never fallen out. I've looked at other retailers and there seems to be quite a big price difference depending on the colour !! I get the impression that the red ones were produced in large numbers (perhaps before Covid) and the other colour are much harder to get and so quite a lot more expensive (£200 more for the black one in this video).
yeah, bought myself a chapman ghost fret a few years back and it was also a "meh" guitar. Looked awesome but had (and still has) a horrible neck dive despite I changed the strap button location and stuffed lead weights inside the guitar. Oh yeah, and most of the screws were loose in the guitar as well when I got it. :D
I agree on the headstock for sure, I have never been a reverse guy but ive never been cool either. I really like the look of the neck and the body but if an instrument wont stay in tune its unusable in my opinion. Great video Elmo Thank you
Any guitar that doesn't have a locking nut you need to find the proper balance between the spring tension and the strings and you can't expect that to happen at the factory for the price of this guitar.
I had a similar 'meh' response when I tried one out a while back. It was perfectly decent, but just didn't do anything to make me wanna part with £400. I'd be interested to see how the current gear4music 'subzero' brand guitars compare, they look good on paper and are very affordable!
I brought a round back electo account made by gear for £120 last year. Its terrible. The battery keeps popping out and the frets keep cutting me. I know I couldn't fix that but the battery is a problem. Sounds really nice though, iv played guitars double the price that don't sound that good. So for £120 I can't complain all in all, just can't use the pickup ect.
yeah those sub zeroes arent the best, same with harley benton and gear 4 music, i swear the people who rate them dont have a more expensive guitar or havent tried one to compare it to lol. tried all 3 and sent them all back the best cheap guitar you can get is an ibanez gio imo, the necks are just as good as the higher ranges
Glenn Fricker had a similar issue with the tremolo tuning on a Harley Benton and someone commented that the bridge could have the fulcrum point wrongly setup (be too high or too low), which causes it to go out of tune after using the bar. I can't help you on how to setup it properly as I never did it myself.
I haven't bought one because I don't like reverse headstocks but I have to say, I've had some of those issues on guitars that cost nearly 10X what that one cost.
Dude...new strings are known to cause tuning instability. I recommend you try the whammy again after those strings have seen some action. Also string height at the nut can be the cause of that...all easily fixed. Your verdict was too premature as I see it.
Hi Elmo, first time on your channel. I really like your honesty, and I think it summarizes Chapman Guitars pretty accurately. I own a Chapman ML3 Bea Baritone (first gen), and everything is good except the nut : it was poorly cut so the strings kept being stuck in it, with thinner or bigger string gauge. I don’t really like the sound of the bridge pickup, and I bought a BKP Silo to replace it. The rest of the guitar is nearly flawless, and it’s my main guitar rn. I’ll try to keep up with your videos !
I have an Ibanez GSA60 GIO guitar which has very similar trem and the pick up configuration is a HSS the same as this one with a very similar tone on all pick ups. Like yourself not a fan of the reverse head stock but do like the look of this roasted neck gives it a very different look which I think is great, but not sure if it matches the body of this guitar from a colour tone perspective. being open not sure I would pay double the price for this guitar when the Ibanez give you so similar
Tuning issues and other problems are sadly becoming the norm, Chapman and a lot of other brands are just concerned with sales targets, quality is left down to the customer, hence it is now essential that you can return realy bad samples, and repair/upgrade and setup the better ones. Thomann have a scary number of B grades available, i known that they sell a lot of guitars each day and you expect a few returns, but almost every model you look at has the option of a B grade, no thanks the difference in price is not worth the hassle. Chapman had quality issues from day one, i thought they had changed factories to solve this, but going by this sample, they still have a lot of issues to resolve.🤨
@@TheTubeDude My appologies, i was trying to avoid the current crisis, perhaps we could drop a load of Chapman guitars on Putin, they are not fit for much else.
I think Rob previously said that he made a reverse headstock because its a more natural motion to just slide your hand off to tune. You dont have to lift your hand off.
Reverse headstocks are made so the heavier strings have more length to the tuning peg, this is to slightly reduce floppiness when a guitar is downtuned (as it often is for metal).
I like your style of presentation, Elmo. You're a bit of a nut, and you look like you're having fun playing--a lot like Phil X. We need more guitar ambassadors like you to show people how much fun it is to play guitar. Bravo!
Love your honesty Elmo on the QC issues. I tried a couple Chapman's at Guitar Center and I always felt they were fine at best, but never amazing. The frets always felt rough and the tuning was always a little off. Keep up the great work!
I own the MLV chapman, no longer in production but an incredible guitar. It's really about price, the fender player series trem wouldn't fair to well either I'm guessing. I think chapman guitars have their own place in the market, I think they need to rebrand the name tho, I think as a brand the whole UA-cam association isn't fitting anymore.
I'm not a pick up changer but the location of the selector wasn't really thought out was it? It looks really nice, but I buy a guitar to sound as nice as it looks. 🎸✌️🇦🇺
For this kind of money, I dont think you can do better than an epiphone. I paid £500 for a Epi les paul about 6 years ago, its had a tough life but never had an issue, really solid reliable guitar, for comparison, i paid £2800 for a Duesenberg star player, after 6 months the nut fell out of the fret board, all the nickel hardware has tarnished, the finish on the volume / tone knobs faded, and generally started to look tatty, certainly by this caliber of instrument anyway. Moral of the story, the epiphone is far more robust, sounds fantastic and was less than a 5th of the price.
Dave Simpson plays a Chapman (amongst others) and makes it sound awesome. When I tried one it sounded pretty awful. I guess I just tried a duff one ? 🙂
He did also have a luthier do some extensive mods to it as well. Moved the selector switch to a more strat like position, and deepened the pickup routes to sink the pickups down lower if I remember correctly.
I had a Burns guitar that wouldn't return to pitch. It was a nightmare playing live...I'd have to wobble the trem bar about to get it back to sounding like it was in pitch with the rest of the band.
Wilkinson make their WLS 130/S saddles that are lockable though they look virtually normal. If the nut is graphite or equivalent and you use locking tuners it can do a Floyd thing about 95% of the time. If you use the whammy for average use you may even fine you can play many tunes before even the mildest of tweaks. The E and G are usually the only strings that will be out and not by very much. In short at about $100.00 USD it is cheap as it pays for itself in savings for headache pills very quickly, LOL.
Also I wonder if as they fall in price and become more of a bargain does equate to them being a really good base on which to carry out your own choice of upgrades and mods to personalise it to your own needs and requirements? Some people like to tinker and customise rather than just write a larrrrrger cheque and buy off the peg. Some of us have no choice 😂
I have never been a fan of chapman guitars since i had one from a student wanting a setup etc found it to be cheap and cheerful with everything in the wrong position!
This guitar looks astonishing, but how it's compared to HB Fusion III? Considering that Chapman has fixed bridge version. It is faster and comfortable than Fusion or Fusion is it better overall?
@@thenovicenoisemaker Nice to share! Pickups is something you can upgrade, so it's not a big. What intrigues me the most is whats the feeling of the two, construction, playability and overall specs comparison considering the price
@@davidmartinez927 HB has better tuners (locking), both have graphite nut and roasted necks, the neck on the HB felt smoother to me. Rolled edges on the Chapman but that said the HB was nice too. Jumbo frets on both felt the same. Fit and finish maybe the Chapman was a bit better but not much in it really. Trem system and whammy bar also very similar feeling. I was lucking getting my Chapman for £299 new (Andertons in the sale) so for that price it's good, I don't think it's worth the full price especially compared to an HB Fusion. Personally overall I'd say the Fusion is the better choic apart from the pick-ups but that's personal, you might like them. I thought they were too bright and in the HB
@@davidmartinez927 I'm no Elmo that's for sure but you can see both guitars on my channel, in the Playlists are reviews and some playing videos of the HB
I had the same model in California sunset finish. I agree that it looks really beautiful. I had fun with it at first but realized I hated how thick the neck was (personal preference). I found the stock pickups muddy. Craftmanship with the unit I got was great though!
Another great video review Elmo! Such a beautiful looking guitar but if it wont stay in tune it's like a car without brakes. Pretty much useless. 🎸🤘😅🤘🎸
Sounds good, maybe a bit fuzzy, Crappy! and looks good! I like the roasted maple but I'm not a fan of the reverse head stock..... imo it's priced close to ibanez, fender, and other BIG brands so not quite cutting it as resale value will not be there.
Bad bridge is a bad bridge, but let's face it: almost everyone locks the bridge on that type of guitar anyway. People who really want a "super strat' type of guitar usually get a Floyd Rose (as they should tbh).
Usually nut issues, not the bridge. A small amount of effort and it will probably stain in tune as well as any non-locking. Good luck finding a guitar that doesn’t cost 4k that doesn’t need some work.
Humor..I plugged the amp in and it blew up, this is not a very good budget friendly amp. But my budget friendly guitar survived, it's okay.. so I'll give that a 10 on survival..
I wouldn't buy a Chapman because I don't like the sound of their pickups - way too brittle and shrill for me. Nonetheless, the bridge issue is interesting. I've found that very few vibratos reliably return exactly to pitch after vigorous use until you get to the really high-end systems. My first suspect with a new guitar would be the strings themselves. If after checking the nut and lubing all contact points there was still a problem, I'd consider one of those devices that install in the cavity and - in theory - guarantee that the bridge always returns to the same position. To be frank, I've always been surprised that mechanical vibratos work as well as they do. Stretching six wires of different tensions and then relaxing them, with only springs to control the return to the neutral position, doesn't seem like a sound engineering solution in the first place.
Reviewers expect way too much from "traditional" vibrato systrems and spend too little time setting them up or chasing issues. I have cheap Strat' copies (Harley Benton) that work perfectly fine within reasonable use (no crazy dive bombs or Steve Vai stuff). Double locking systems were developped because others could not do these things no matter the quality level.
I've always found Chapman guitars so aesthetically pleasing - great colours and cool designs but the QC issues that have been popping up all over the place have really put me off. Shame really.
I think it’s a great guitar and everything but I am really big on looks and the head looks really odd. Not only the shape of it but the tuners being on the bottom just look funky to me. That’s probably the only reason I’d never get one.
🟢I don't like the backwards head, either. But he could make it even worse. He could put the head upside down, too. Just past the nut, the strings would go thru the head, and into the tuning pegs, which would be on the bottom side of the guitar. That would be even more irritating, right?!! 🥲🔴
Lots of average/bad reviews of Chapman guitars on UA-cam and other sites on the internet. They claimed to have sorted their poor QC out, but seems here once again they haven't!
This might be a dumb question, but would changing the tuners out to locking tuners help with the tuning issue at all? Or what about installing a locking nut that's on Floyd rose type tremeloes?
Locking tuners don't really help with tuning. Locking tuners just make string changes easier. TO improve tuning, you usually have to look at the nut. A floyd rose locking nut keeps great tune. Just string changes are a nightmare on them.
For a guitar that costs about $520 USD, the following is definitely no bueno ... 1. A whammy bar that falls out. 2. Will not stay in tune when the whammy bar is used. 3. *Worst* - The utterly ridiculous selector switch position. Who thunk of this, but more importantly why was it allowed? BTW: Elmo looked like a "Mad Scientist" when he was putting the whammy bar through its paces. Pretty cool.
I guess some of your problems MAY (not saying they do) come from the weird tuning techinc of yours ;) ie. you say you don't like reverse headstock, that may be related as you tune from closest peg while you should be starting with the lowest (thickest) string which in this case is the farthermost one. Guess it's a habit of constantly using regular headstocks. When starting from the lightest string you're creating slack once you reach heavy ones. If the slack is not enough to overcome the friction on the nut playing with whammy bar definitely does so and the slack is too great to bring strings back to the correct tension. Best!
This is the case on any non floyd guitar ....My Music Man JP15 doesn't stay in tune either after dive bombing ...neither did any of my strats ..or my PRS..and thats after pro setups ...just the way it is
Tracey Chapman machineheads, cool Im in, just need a faster car.😂 Tuning always feels wrong with reverse headstock, yep even though I am lefty, definitely dont have Jimi ability🎸😆
Check out some of my lessons: ua-cam.com/play/PLNaLwTdlpQNEQQfdhdttHV5rjmy7tmYCy.html
Or some of my music: ua-cam.com/play/PLNaLwTdlpQNHKlg8ALZfM3AINC20WMp8s.html
The whammy bar exercise actually held up much better than any Fender Strat
Bridge issue aside, that thing definitely has its own sound- which is great, clean and overdriven. Fantastic playing, subbed (finally).
I have an Ml1 Hybrid which looks to be the same guitar. It's a lot of guitar for the money. Mine is flawless with level frets, pickups are really good, and the neck with the rolled edges is one of the nicest necks i've played. Fender does not give you this quality and attention to detail in my opinion being that every Fender Ive owned needed a fret level and this one was perfect.
I bought an ML1 Modern from Andertons down from £400 to £350 which I felt was sensible money for something that looked pretty nice and had 24 frets, i'm pretty happy with it as an alternative to the Fender mainstays, I love the maple top and the black hardware and I havent had any tuning issues on mine, for the price of a high end Squier i'm pleased with it
One of the nicest necks i've ever played on a guitar, so so so so cheap too, Genuinely nicer than 99.99% of 6-800 guitar necks.
Reverse headstock is good to get bass side tighter. Butt here in Chile i still remember Chappers being a bully.
and tighten the springs to get the tremolo in stable position. maybe some lube too.
Yep ... toxic brand.
I’d rather be seen on stage with a dried dog turd on the end of a piece of string than holding a Chapman guitar.
mind to ellaborate what happened in chile?
@@incelthirdworld9858 -muy caliente y mucha trabajo sin pantalones
Elmo is the most honest reviewer we love. Why dont you review neural dsp plugins which are pretty hyped nowadays? It would be great.
Haven't really tried plugins.
I was gifted almost the entire NDSP product line for pointing out a small security flaw to one of their social media guys. My opinion is that with 3 NDSP plugins you'll pretty much be set. My personal picks are Nolly for its versatility, Tone King for the best cleans you can get from a software amp, and for the third amp its more about you as a player.
Do you want something for really heavy metal? Gojira, Petrucci, Cali, Omega.
Do you want to try Fusion or funk? Plini, Henson, or Wong.
I wouldn't personally recommend Abasi or Nameless because if you want bang for your buck, they're too limited.
Most of the choice within the categories I mentioned will work, just depends on what effects you'd like in front.
Wow, that whammy bar test was thorough.
Love my ML3 but is quite a few years old now 😮it’s great 👍
Chapman has *UNLIMITED POWER*
Vol pot is where it is because of roll-off. When you get use to pickup selector it is fully ok. Not even a problem.
Oh my that pickup selector position is just... what the...
They can’t all be winners, beautiful top on it despite the other issues.
If you get an Ernie Ball Music Man they will all be winners
Nice one Elmo ; always appreciate the honest conversation about QC issues in regards to the tuning, nut and truss-rod with the exact guitar in your hands.
I think people fall too easily into either worshiping or detesting Chapman guitars ; they are just like any other guitar brand made over-seas these days as QC is still a lottery.
Even though both my guitar technicians hate working on Chapman guitars (after a few horror stories) , I was fortunate to not really see that many issues with the Korean ML1 I had many years ago apart from the weight which actually pulled my back out before a rehearsal! I had to sell it after that incident...
I think if that tremolo unit gets blocked, it should be a stable HSS guitar for anyone ; I wouldn't trust an unlocked and unbranded tremolo system to hold tuning in that price range anywhoo...
- Gabe
Yeah, Chappers and his guitars do seem to divide opinion.
I just got my one for £299 brand new from Andertons. It's a great guitar. All the issues are completely subjective. As I don't use tremolo at all, I lowered it & I've added extra springs. Personally, I prefer the position of pickups selector in Chapmans than strats etc. . The reverse headstock looks great and if you switch from Gibson 3+3 tuners headstock you shouldn't have any problems with tuning.
I also got one from Andertons, about 3 weeks ago for the same price. For me the headstock appearance is like the colour. If you don't like it get something else. Personally I like it. It's a little different from a standard strat. Same with the selector, it's obvious where it is so it's purely a preference. As for losing tune from the whammy bar, people can decide for themselves if they think he gave it a fair go or was a bit excessive. Replacement (and stretched) strings might help - perhaps he did that, I don't know. The whammy bar falling out like his does would annoy the crap out of me but mine has never fallen out. I've looked at other retailers and there seems to be quite a big price difference depending on the colour !! I get the impression that the red ones were produced in large numbers (perhaps before Covid) and the other colour are much harder to get and so quite a lot more expensive (£200 more for the black one in this video).
I would be tempted to drill 2 or 3 holes for tuning pegs on top.....
yeah, bought myself a chapman ghost fret a few years back and it was also a "meh" guitar. Looked awesome but had (and still has) a horrible neck dive despite I changed the strap button location and stuffed lead weights inside the guitar. Oh yeah, and most of the screws were loose in the guitar as well when I got it. :D
That sucks.
Lmfao
I agree on the headstock for sure, I have never been a reverse guy but ive never been cool either. I really like the look of the neck and the body but if an instrument wont stay in tune its unusable in my opinion. Great video Elmo Thank you
Cheers!
Any guitar that doesn't have a locking nut you need to find the proper balance between the spring tension and the strings and you can't expect that to happen at the factory for the price of this guitar.
Loving the sound of that Marshall rig.
I had a similar 'meh' response when I tried one out a while back. It was perfectly decent, but just didn't do anything to make me wanna part with £400. I'd be interested to see how the current gear4music 'subzero' brand guitars compare, they look good on paper and are very affordable!
Have to check those out.
I brought a round back electo account made by gear for £120 last year. Its terrible. The battery keeps popping out and the frets keep cutting me. I know I couldn't fix that but the battery is a problem. Sounds really nice though, iv played guitars double the price that don't sound that good. So for £120 I can't complain all in all, just can't use the pickup ect.
yeah those sub zeroes arent the best, same with harley benton and gear 4 music, i swear the people who rate them dont have a more expensive guitar or havent tried one to compare it to lol. tried all 3 and sent them all back the best cheap guitar you can get is an ibanez gio imo, the necks are just as good as the higher ranges
Ooooh Chappers will be pulling his hair out!
This guitar looks like a classic case of a triumph of style over substance. I hope you can send it back. Thanks for the interesting content.🙂
Glenn Fricker had a similar issue with the tremolo tuning on a Harley Benton and someone commented that the bridge could have the fulcrum point wrongly setup (be too high or too low), which causes it to go out of tune after using the bar.
I can't help you on how to setup it properly as I never did it myself.
Thank you for the review Elmo!
My pleasure!
Thank you for an honest review I was thinking of purchasing this until I saw this
I haven't bought one because I don't like reverse headstocks but I have to say, I've had some of those issues on guitars that cost nearly 10X what that one cost.
Thanks for the Review Elmo!✌🏻❤️😎🎶
And thank you :)
Oh Elmo you had me at the Bee Gees riff-ige !!!!😎😍😊
Been enjoying much of your content and your humour, well done.
Thank you :)
Dude...new strings are known to cause tuning instability. I recommend you try the whammy again after those strings have seen some action. Also string height at the nut can be the cause of that...all easily fixed. Your verdict was too premature as I see it.
I never buy a guitar with a whammy. Great review, nice playing . Still got rid of my Fender for a chapman though.
Hi Elmo, first time on your channel.
I really like your honesty, and I think it summarizes Chapman Guitars pretty accurately.
I own a Chapman ML3 Bea Baritone (first gen), and everything is good except the nut : it was poorly cut so the strings kept being stuck in it, with thinner or bigger string gauge. I don’t really like the sound of the bridge pickup, and I bought a BKP Silo to replace it.
The rest of the guitar is nearly flawless, and it’s my main guitar rn.
I’ll try to keep up with your videos !
Cheers 👍
Bit unfair to expect a £400 guitar tremelo to stay that well in tune used like that
Really? I've had 250€ guitars stay in tune.
I have an Ibanez GSA60 GIO guitar which has very similar trem and the pick up configuration is a HSS the same as this one with a very similar tone on all pick ups. Like yourself not a fan of the reverse head stock but do like the look of this roasted neck gives it a very different look which I think is great, but not sure if it matches the body of this guitar from a colour tone perspective. being open not sure I would pay double the price for this guitar when the Ibanez give you so similar
It’s also very similar to the “Eart” guitar range that are half the price!
Tuning issues and other problems are sadly becoming the norm, Chapman and a lot of other brands are
just concerned with sales targets, quality is left down to the customer, hence it is now essential that you
can return realy bad samples, and repair/upgrade and setup the better ones.
Thomann have a scary number of B grades available, i known that they sell a lot of guitars each day
and you expect a few returns, but almost every model you look at has the option of a B grade, no thanks
the difference in price is not worth the hassle.
Chapman had quality issues from day one, i thought they had changed factories to solve this, but going
by this sample, they still have a lot of issues to resolve.🤨
Mr Pape, you forgot to mention Putin's effect on this guitar.
@@TheTubeDude My appologies, i was trying to avoid the current crisis, perhaps we could drop a load of Chapman guitars on Putin, they are not fit for much else.
@@Barbarapape I like your style.
@@Barbarapape That was brutal. I'll buy a few Chapmans and join you on the Putin drop.
To be fair quite a few of their B-stocks are just from people who returned them because they didn't like them, not because of quality issues.
From a design point of view that reverse headstock appears to serve the purpose of keeping the string pull as arrow straight as possible
I was gonna say that.
@@ctcards2636 hi mate , hello from Manchester England 🏴
Nice to meet you 👍
I think Rob previously said that he made a reverse headstock because its a more natural motion to just slide your hand off to tune. You dont have to lift your hand off.
Reverse headstocks are made so the heavier strings have more length to the tuning peg, this is to slightly reduce floppiness when a guitar is downtuned (as it often is for metal).
@@MR-um9ck and it looks cool as phuq too lol 😂
nice elmo think we may have talked before from a guitar chat room about everything god bless mate ptsburgh PA
I like your style of presentation, Elmo. You're a bit of a nut, and you look like you're having fun playing--a lot like Phil X. We need more guitar ambassadors like you to show people how much fun it is to play guitar. Bravo!
Thank you very much 😊
Great review from an amazing guitarist. Thanks
I think the idea was to add custom pickups when you order it otherwise it's on the more affordable side.
The tuning issue sounds more like the nut not being cut right, can hear it ‘grabbing’ the strings as you move the trem
I love my ML3, and my son has an ML1 and the 3. They're all great guitars. No issues with any of them.
Love your honesty Elmo on the QC issues. I tried a couple Chapman's at Guitar Center and I always felt they were fine at best, but never amazing. The frets always felt rough and the tuning was always a little off. Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
I own the MLV chapman, no longer in production but an incredible guitar. It's really about price, the fender player series trem wouldn't fair to well either I'm guessing.
I think chapman guitars have their own place in the market, I think they need to rebrand the name tho, I think as a brand the whole UA-cam association isn't fitting anymore.
It has a reverse headstock to match Chapman's head on his shoulders.
:D
Could you please review the vintage v6? It seems to be great for the price
Filmed and edited. The video should be out in 2 or 3 weeks I think.
I'm not a pick up changer but the location of the selector wasn't really thought out was it? It looks really nice, but I buy a guitar to sound as nice as it looks. 🎸✌️🇦🇺
For this kind of money, I dont think you can do better than an epiphone. I paid £500 for a Epi les paul about 6 years ago, its had a tough life but never had an issue, really solid reliable guitar, for comparison, i paid £2800 for a Duesenberg star player, after 6 months the nut fell out of the fret board, all the nickel hardware has tarnished, the finish on the volume / tone knobs faded, and generally started to look tatty, certainly by this caliber of instrument anyway. Moral of the story, the epiphone is far more robust, sounds fantastic and was less than a 5th of the price.
Ya, since Matt Hornby left thing just don't seem quit right. I'm sticking with Solar for now.....
Dave Simpson plays a Chapman (amongst others) and makes it sound awesome. When I tried one it sounded pretty awful. I guess I just tried a duff one ? 🙂
Might be.
He did also have a luthier do some extensive mods to it as well. Moved the selector switch to a more strat like position, and deepened the pickup routes to sink the pickups down lower if I remember correctly.
Dave Simpson gets the sound he wants by adjusting his EQ. Reviewers keep a basis setting for all guitars for comparison purposes.
He had to get a number of things done to it. I haven't seen him play it in a very long time. Plus he hates its headstock.
Really not a fan of the pickups (at least in this video), but it looks very photogenic :)
I had a Burns guitar that wouldn't return to pitch. It was a nightmare playing live...I'd have to wobble the trem bar about to get it back to sounding like it was in pitch with the rest of the band.
Yeah, that's really not a nice thing in a guitar.
Thant guitar looks beautiful.
Wilkinson make their WLS 130/S saddles that are lockable though they look virtually normal. If the nut is graphite or equivalent and you use locking tuners it can do a Floyd thing about 95% of the time. If you use the whammy for average use you may even fine you can play many tunes before even the mildest of tweaks. The E and G are usually the only strings that will be out and not by very much. In short at about $100.00 USD it is cheap as it pays for itself in savings for headache pills very quickly, LOL.
Also I wonder if as they fall in price and become more of a bargain does equate to them being a really good base on which to carry out your own choice of upgrades and mods to personalise it to your own needs and requirements?
Some people like to tinker and customise rather than just write a larrrrrger cheque and buy off the peg.
Some of us have no choice 😂
Well, I have no issues with HH version. Maybe neck pickup is little bit to "bottom-endy".
Theres a baritone version and I am guessing the same pickups are used so they can cope with the extra low end but still handle gain?
I have never been a fan of chapman guitars since i had one from a student wanting a setup etc found it to be cheap and cheerful with everything in the wrong position!
This guitar looks astonishing, but how it's compared to HB Fusion III? Considering that Chapman has fixed bridge version. It is faster and comfortable than Fusion or Fusion is it better overall?
I've had both of these (well actually a Fusion II). Not much in it for me but perhaps the Chapman pickups are a bit more rounded and better
@@thenovicenoisemaker Nice to share! Pickups is something you can upgrade, so it's not a big. What intrigues me the most is whats the feeling of the two, construction, playability and overall specs comparison considering the price
@@davidmartinez927 HB has better tuners (locking), both have graphite nut and roasted necks, the neck on the HB felt smoother to me. Rolled edges on the Chapman but that said the HB was nice too. Jumbo frets on both felt the same. Fit and finish maybe the Chapman was a bit better but not much in it really. Trem system and whammy bar also very similar feeling. I was lucking getting my Chapman for £299 new (Andertons in the sale) so for that price it's good, I don't think it's worth the full price especially compared to an HB Fusion. Personally overall I'd say the Fusion is the better choic apart from the pick-ups but that's personal, you might like them. I thought they were too bright and in the HB
@@davidmartinez927 I'm no Elmo that's for sure but you can see both guitars on my channel, in the Playlists are reviews and some playing videos of the HB
@@thenovicenoisemaker Thanks mate! Suscribed to your channel, thans for the info! ;D
Amazing playing
Cheers!
Lock music store looked at me strange when I give one of their floating trems this kinda treatment!!
Ps: nice attempt at a British accent…did well 😊
I'm not a fan of reverse headstocks either.
I had the same model in California sunset finish. I agree that it looks really beautiful. I had fun with it at first but realized I hated how thick the neck was (personal preference). I found the stock pickups muddy. Craftmanship with the unit I got was great though!
Another great video review Elmo! Such a beautiful looking guitar but if it wont stay in tune it's like a car without brakes. Pretty much useless. 🎸🤘😅🤘🎸
Cheers!
Good review.
Sounds good, maybe a bit fuzzy, Crappy! and looks good! I like the roasted maple but I'm not a fan of the reverse head stock..... imo it's priced close to ibanez, fender, and other BIG brands so not quite cutting it as resale value will not be there.
The whammy bar turned unconcious after you rotate it and fell.
:D
Bad bridge is a bad bridge, but let's face it: almost everyone locks the bridge on that type of guitar anyway. People who really want a "super strat' type of guitar usually get a Floyd Rose (as they should tbh).
Elmo, can you do a vid with this tremolo test on your strats as well? I wonder how well they would stay in tune.
They handle it pretty well. Don't think it would make for a great video though.
@@MrPolevaulter Just a
video about non-locking trems and tips in general?
lol
Hyvä nähdä,kiitos👍
Unreliable Bridge = Bad Guitar. It's that simple.
I've heard bad reviews of Robs guitars. It's a shame....
Yeah. Shame really. It was so promising.
Usually nut issues, not the bridge. A small amount of effort and it will probably stain in tune as well as any non-locking. Good luck finding a guitar that doesn’t cost 4k that doesn’t need some work.
Yes sir. It can have the nicest paint but if it doesn’t perform it can fuck right off
Sounds like the cheap guitar needs to be set up.
I choose Harley Benton over Cheapman every day of the week
Humor..I plugged the amp in and it blew up, this is not a very good budget friendly amp. But my budget friendly guitar survived, it's okay.. so I'll give that a 10 on survival..
I wouldn't buy a Chapman because I don't like the sound of their pickups - way too brittle and shrill for me.
Nonetheless, the bridge issue is interesting. I've found that very few vibratos reliably return exactly to pitch after vigorous use until you get to the really high-end systems. My first suspect with a new guitar would be the strings themselves. If after checking the nut and lubing all contact points there was still a problem, I'd consider one of those devices that install in the cavity and - in theory - guarantee that the bridge always returns to the same position.
To be frank, I've always been surprised that mechanical vibratos work as well as they do. Stretching six wires of different tensions and then relaxing them, with only springs to control the return to the neutral position, doesn't seem like a sound engineering solution in the first place.
Reviewers expect way too much from "traditional" vibrato systrems and spend too little time setting them up or chasing issues. I have cheap Strat' copies (Harley Benton) that work perfectly fine within reasonable use (no crazy dive bombs or Steve Vai stuff). Double locking systems were developped because others could not do these things no matter the quality level.
That's why Gibson, Fender ,.PRS and the likes sell so many guitars. You can play them.
I've always found Chapman guitars so aesthetically pleasing - great colours and cool designs but the QC issues that have been popping up all over the place have really put me off. Shame really.
I think it’s a great guitar and everything but I am really big on looks and the head looks really odd. Not only the shape of it but the tuners being on the bottom just look funky to me. That’s probably the only reason I’d never get one.
Wouldn't trade a mid-level LTD for a Chapman
🟢I don't like the backwards head, either. But he could make it even worse. He could put the head upside down, too. Just past the nut, the strings would go thru the head, and into the tuning pegs, which would be on the bottom side of the guitar. That would be even more irritating, right?!! 🥲🔴
Lots of average/bad reviews of Chapman guitars on UA-cam and other sites on the internet. They claimed to have sorted their poor QC out, but seems here once again they haven't!
The Harley Benton fusion III would be a better buy.
Yep.
Mr Karjalainen, For decades you have been complaining that your Marshall 'Plexi' can't get a clean sound. Send it to me and I'll fix it for you.
The gotos stay in tune pretty much.
This might be a dumb question, but would changing the tuners out to locking tuners help with the tuning issue at all? Or what about installing a locking nut that's on Floyd rose type tremeloes?
Locking tuners don't really help with tuning. Locking tuners just make string changes easier. TO improve tuning, you usually have to look at the nut. A floyd rose locking nut keeps great tune. Just string changes are a nightmare on them.
Not when the whammy bar doesn't return to pitch.
The string tree was crooked, may have contributed to the whammy problem
do you think the HB Fusion III is a better choice?
Well this wouldn't stay in tune, so yeah.
I gave you a like just for the Graham Chapman bit.
The rest was OK too. ;)
:D
I have never seen a person whammy bar thwt hard in my life im dying ahahahhaha 😂
🤣
For a guitar that costs about $520 USD, the following is definitely no bueno ...
1. A whammy bar that falls out.
2. Will not stay in tune when the whammy bar is used.
3. *Worst* - The utterly ridiculous selector switch position. Who thunk of this, but more importantly why was it allowed?
BTW: Elmo looked like a "Mad Scientist" when he was putting the whammy bar through its paces. Pretty cool.
Certainly that arm can be tightened to not fall out, there is a little tensioning screw for the arm AFIK
Yeah, the whammy falling out could have been fixed, but the rest...
To be fair my charvel with a Floyd Rose does the same exact thing and costs twice as much
Ouch. That sucks.
I guess some of your problems MAY (not saying they do) come from the weird tuning techinc of yours ;) ie. you say you don't like reverse headstock, that may be related as you tune from closest peg while you should be starting with the lowest (thickest) string which in this case is the farthermost one. Guess it's a habit of constantly using regular headstocks. When starting from the lightest string you're creating slack once you reach heavy ones. If the slack is not enough to overcome the friction on the nut playing with whammy bar definitely does so and the slack is too great to bring strings back to the correct tension. Best!
Totally agree with all you said, if any guitar won't stay in tune it's totally unusable... 3/10 for me & I'll keep browsing
This is the case on any non floyd guitar ....My Music Man JP15 doesn't stay in tune either after dive bombing ...neither did any of my strats ..or my PRS..and thats after pro setups ...just the way it is
My Strats do.
It’s great value and easily remedied, Strats are excellent at going out of tune with anything resembling a string bend or moderate attack.
Tracey Chapman machineheads,
cool Im in, just need a faster car.😂
Tuning always feels wrong with reverse headstock,
yep even though I am lefty, definitely dont have Jimi ability🎸😆
Was that a Fast Show reference at the start there?
Especially the prices of some Chapman guitars. I’d definitely avoid buying any. Look at other brands.
E..ok one more..I saw a cow cud-ing in the field,I said stop cutting yourself you have a lot to live for..ba.da.bing..
Maybe if you don't treat the tremolo like a Floyd rose? That's why they were invented! Wicked playing. Excellent review. I just had to subscribe.
Cool, thanks! :)
Buy a Fretking . They are great
My ass got chapped by a CHAPMAN.