Chapman Guitars at NAMM

themeinside

A big 'chappening' was promised at 8pm tonight- turns out it is a range of UK made versions of their models for around £3.5-4k. I don't think even Fender or Gibson can truly justify guitars of this price, but the fact Chapman think they can is somewhat mind boggling. When there are amazing artisan makers- including many fellows on this forum- who would make you anything you like for less.

Delusions of grandeur and a distinct lack of market awareness methinks, made worse by building up to it on their social media presence as if it was going to be an interesting announcement for the masses. Utterly out of touch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1PXFt8jooA

TTony

Wonder who's making them?

richardhomer

TTony said:

Wonder who'll buy them?

FTFY

Niallseroreilly

Ill be genuinely surprised if they sell....one

DiscoStu

Doesn't Jaden Rose make his prototypes? 

themeinside

Also, what's up with the upper part of the handmade ML2- it's got an extra 'bit' at the neck joint?


Compared to:

frank1985

Putting the ''Git'' in Guitars

poopot

Went to andertons today to spend bassmonkeys money on a new mark bass rig...

tried a a couple of the chapman guitars whilst bass monkey was trying to work out how to plug his cable in.

Really was less than impressed... poor finishes and bad fretwork... there are better guitars out there for the money... I think they are believing their own hype tbh!.

themeinside

DiscoStu said:

Doesn't Jaden Rose make his prototypes? 

He certainly did at the start- I don't know about the more recent guitars though. Apparently these are being made by a 'small team of UK luthiers'- if any of them are on here, i'd be fascinated to hear their side!

Funkfingers

This self-styled premium version concept does seem contrary to the original "affordable workhorse" ethos of Chapman Guitars. 

Obviously, it takes very little effort to fill out a fantasy guitar features wish list. It is another matter to actually stump up the money.

In my opinion, anyone with sufficient knowledge to understand the significance of the wood, fret wire and pickup choices in the red Chapman British Standard T-style electric guitar, is probably capable of assembling one from parts and fettling it him or herself.



Meanwhile, what is the common abbreviation for British Standard? 

Musicman20

Jeees! I also think the recent prices on the pro range are insane. £1300 ish for a bass?!! 

AlexC

Here’s something I don’t get - most pro guitarists don’t play instruments that cost that much. They tend to use one or a handful of machines they picked up along the way for ‘normal’ money and then mod them themselves. So this kind of market - who the hell is it aimed at?

digitalscream

DiscoStu said:

Doesn't Jaden Rose make his prototypes? 

He did make the proto ML-2s (there were several), and he originally made the Ghost Fret models before they became part of the production range, but there were only a couple of them sold because Rob's fans were usually spotty 16yr olds and a paper round takes a while to add up to the list price (about £2k at the time).

However, I can pretty much guarantee he's not making these. There's a story there, but it's not mine to tell...

There's a fairly short list of people who could be making these at a £3.5-4k price bracket, but I honestly can't imagine any of them actually doing it.

WezV

themeinside said:

Also, what's up with the upper part of the handmade ML2- it's got an extra 'bit' at the neck joint?


Compared to:

It’s a through neck so that contour will help blend body to neck.  It could be done without quite easily too, but I reckon that’s what lead to it’s inclusion


i have to say I really like the carve on the red tele.  I normally hate carved top teles as they can really lack grace

StormshadowGuitars

Fucking Hell............ I need to put my prices up

RMJ

Good luck with that 

dindude

A 3.5k guitar needs provenance. Not good enough to simply say made in UK, who cares if you don’t know who, or what workshop, it came from. 

guitarfishbay

dindude said:

A 3.5k guitar needs provenance. Not good enough to simply say made in UK, who cares if you don’t know who, or what workshop, it came from. 

Chapman.

It says so on the headstock

Bygone_Tones

Wait until you see the next Chapman range - the "British custom classic heritage collector artistan vintage premium historic relic reissue"!

guitarfishbay

Bygone_Tones said:

Wait until you see the next Chapman range - the "British custom classic heritage collector artistan vintage premium historic relic reissue". They wont be cheap.

R18’s are going to be sweet

Elwood

They look good. Not sure they are value for money but they appear very impressive.