Just wondering, has anyone actually bought a new Chapman guitar from the new range?

adamm82

thegummy said:

adamm82 said:

Perhaps I am a overly sceptical. But I do find it a bit suspicious that most of the main youtube guitar personalities seem to have a Chapman in their collection.

I'd love to see some impartial reviews on these guitars.

You're right to be skeptical, the whole Youtube scene is all about paid promotion as well as self promotion (you scratch my back).

I remember on Andertons this random girl started being in every video they were putting out then I started to see her making the rounds on all different popular guitar channels. Made me wonder if her management went down the route of promoting via Youtube.

I don't believe you, Right I'm off to play some Mary Spender songs on my chapman guitar through my Panama amp. 

johnl

modellista said:

thegummy said:

I don't know if a small company really could make affordable guitars cause they don't have the scale to save money without sacrificing something

They just give a massive factory in Indonesia some instructions and they're made on the same production line as loads of other brands.  I guess there would be a bit of a discount for making a large order but it's not as if Rob Chapman is getting his files and bandsaw out every time.

To be fair to them, the expensive ones are made in the World Musical Instruments Factory in Korea - as with the PRS SE range and the Schecter Diamond / Platinum series.

rico

One of the biggest design flaws (in my opinion, of course) was the string-though with a tuneomatic bridge - it just looks wrong so it's nice to see that has been changed. 

If they flipped the headstock and got rid of that strange looking chamfer on the lower horns it would look more conventional and would maybe sell better?

Legionreturns

thegummy said:
I've actually heard Lee Anderton talk about how Chapman don't have the scale to offer prices that bigger companies could offer.

And did you hear that on an Andertons promotional video for Chapman guitars? If so, it definitely must be true.

guitarfishbay

rico said:

One of the biggest design flaws (in my opinion, of course) was the string-though with a tuneomatic bridge - it just looks wrong so it's nice to see that has been changed. 

If they flipped the headstock and got rid of that strange looking chamfer on the lower horns it would look more conventional and would maybe sell better?

But those things, along with the 12 fret inlay, are what make them so easily recognisable.

I'll be honest, the reverse headstock and 12th fret inlay put me off, but I'm probably not the target market.  And there's possibly not much point in trying to out Telecaster Fender anyway

John_A

Legionreturns said:

I'm not sure that's true. I think they give the illusion of collaborative design, but I think they still build what they want to build. Otherwise you'd end up with a Franken-guitar! 

Think the issue is the 'collaboration' is with 14 year olds who may well like the design, but have no money to buy one.  You could collaborate with a bunch of 40 somethings but you'd end up with a telecaster

rico

John_A said:

Legionreturns said:

I'm not sure that's true. I think they give the illusion of collaborative design, but I think they still build what they want to build. Otherwise you'd end up with a Franken-guitar! 

Think the issue is the 'collaboration' is with 14 year olds who may well like the design, but have no money to buy one.  You could collaborate with a bunch of 40 somethings but you'd end up with a telecaster

Wis'd

Philtre

Musicman20 said:

Just to clarify, I bought a Gibson SG Standard 2017, with a hardcase, for £900 this year, brand new. I'm just wondering what the deal is or whether I'm missing something.

That's a good deal. I did the same with a 2016 SG (sadly no hardcase). SGs are under-rated!

guitarfishbay

John_A said:

Legionreturns said:

I'm not sure that's true. I think they give the illusion of collaborative design, but I think they still build what they want to build. Otherwise you'd end up with a Franken-guitar! 

Think the issue is the 'collaboration' is with 14 year olds who may well like the design, but have no money to buy one.  You could collaborate with a bunch of 40 somethings but you'd end up with a telecaster

If the 14 year old's parents have the money then they still sell.

The brand is very visible on YouTube, a lot of the big YT personalities play or have played them on their videos.  I think it's probably doing better than we'd expect as a brand.  Over time if kids grow up watching vids of people playing the guitars they'll probably want one when they're older.

Legionreturns

Philtre said:

Musicman20 said:

Just to clarify, I bought a Gibson SG Standard 2017, with a hardcase, for £900 this year, brand new. I'm just wondering what the deal is or whether I'm missing something.

That's a good deal. I did the same with a 2016 SG (sadly no hardcase). SGs are under-weighted!

FTFY

thegummy

Legionreturns said:

thegummy said:
I've actually heard Lee Anderton talk about how Chapman don't have the scale to offer prices that bigger companies could offer.

And did you hear that on an Andertons promotional video for Chapman guitars? If so, it definitely must be true.

That would be a great promotional video "Chapman at Andertons - we can't be as cheap as other guitars of similar quality"

thegummy

According to that cool geeky guitarist from GnR whom I forget the name of, the reverse headstock is actually a better design because it gives more tension on the lower strings

Octafish

thegummy said:

According to that cool geeky guitarist from GnR whom I forget the name of, the reverse headstock is actually a better design because it gives more tension on the lower strings

Only if you tune the lower strings to a higher pitch than you normally would otherwise string tension is the same, string gauge and scale length deterimines tension.

musicman100

I just can' see the future demand for these guitars at them prices. 
Imo their trying to push them as if there higher end guitars. 

Philtre

Legionreturns said:

Philtre said:

Musicman20 said:

Just to clarify, I bought a Gibson SG Standard 2017, with a hardcase, for £900 this year, brand new. I'm just wondering what the deal is or whether I'm missing something.

That's a good deal. I did the same with a 2016 SG (sadly no hardcase). SGs are under-weighted!

FTFY

That's why I like them. As cute as, and as light as, a button!

rico

The flipped headstock won't increase the tension in the strings. The only thing that will increase the tension (for a given frequency) is increasing the cross-sectional area (string gauge) which proportionally increases the mass of the string. What may change is the force required to fret a note (or bend to a note) based on the change in elasticity as a result of the increased total string length. 

Funkfingers

Legionreturns said:

Andertons have shit loads in stock now...because nobody will buy them new lol. I predict that their >£1k models will be on sale for about £600 by June to clear them out. Which of course will screw anyone who pays full price in the mean time, as used value will bomb to about £350. The budget models they have in at around £400 might sell, but then again you can get a PRS SE for not much more. 

Comparison to the PRS SE line is spot on.

PRS SE guitars used to be fairly simple affairs - unpretentious finishes, dot fingerboard inlays, straightforward control circuitry. Since 2016, many of the designs got fancy veneer tops and other non-essential - but, admittedly, attractive - features. These increase the MSRP. 

Chapman Guitars has noted this phenomenon and slavishly imitated it. 

Unfortunately, for the PRS SE range, the price hike means that a pre-owned example from the S2 range makes better economic sense. 

Modellista

rico said:

The flipped headstock won't increase the tension in the strings. The only thing that will increase the tension (for a given frequency) is increasing the cross-sectional area (string gauge) which proportionally increases the mass of the string. What may change is the force required to fret a note (or bend to a note) based on the change in elasticity as a result of the increased total string length. 

^ This.  The bass strings will be "looser" to bend because there's more string to stretch.  Based on experience with a reverse headstock Strat the phenomenon is mild to negligible.

Headstocks are personal choice of course, personally I do like a reverse.  In fact the principle of a modern take on traditional designs is a good one, a lot of these look great, particularly the non-pro tele-type in honey burst or white.

Perhaps Chappers knows his market better than we do.  I can imagine a number of younger players not being so brand-conscious, or indeed preferring a guitar made by their internet hero rather than a dead American.  In which case the modern interpretations make a lot of sense.

Wouldn't have one myself, mind.

darthed1981

Scarily, not one Fretboarder has admitted to owning one of the new Chapmans yet... does anyone have any sales figures for them?

A lot of Youtubers have them but I suspect that Leo didn't buy his (for example), and the same goes for several of the others no doubt!

absolutpepper

I’d expect that they’re decent guitars when viewed in isolation but agree with a lot of the comments here about comparisons with other brands. I’ve noticed that the last couple of years there have been blowouts on PRS Velas when they’ve changed the colour schemes and it always just makes me think...who’d buy a chapman when you can have a USA made PRS new for less.

i suspect the sales just rely on some form of brand loyalty to those who eat up everything RC says and does and they have to have one of HIS guitars. I think any discerning consumer would shop around and probably end up with a Gibson, prs, fender, esp/ltd as they’ll be better value.