Vester Traditional- Strat type

Tone71

Saw a Vester Traditional Series Strat in a charity shop today, as I'm currently Stratless it caught my eye and actually looked pretty nice, the body I'll guess was ply and had a weird very dark grain pattern but the neck felt good a definite "V" profile and wasn't a million miles away from a CIJ 54 Strat I once had.
They had priced it at £240 with an old cheap amp and I walked away, does anyone know about Vester? I had a quick Google and it would appear they were around in the early nineties for a couple of years, Japanese company? 

Anyway I snapped this pic quickly, hope it shows but bet it doesn't!!

https://imgur.com/o39NYWu

mbe

I don't think that is one of the ply-bodied models because they had very cheap tuners. It looks like it's got the Kluson pattern tuners and the vester stamped saddles. That one looks like a '57 replica, if the frets are in good shape it's probably a fair price.

If you show the people in the shop the cash they might let you unscrew the neck to check for ply to be on the safe side.

Bellycaster

It might be wise to Curry favour with them, you may get it cheaper

Funkfingers

The traditional signifier of laminate or “spread” construction is dark opaque finish covering the entirity of the beergut contour. 

Vester guitars were manufactured in South Korea.

Voxman

HarrySeven

From t’interweb:

“Vester was a music instrument manufacturer specializing in guitars and guitar amplifiers. Formed as a part of the Samuel Music Company based in Effingham, Illinois, Vester is perhaps best known for their good quality Japanese and Korean import electric and acoustic guitars.

The Samuel Music Company, founded in 1946, is the proprietor and owner of a chain of music stores which sold pianos and specialized in school band renting programs. Following the success of several small luthier businesses such as Jackson Guitars and ESP Guitars in the late '80s boom of the rock music industry, the Samuel Music company decided to launch its own brand of guitars, and named the brand Vester.

Rather than manufacture the instruments themselves, Vester used imported instruments, which were made by Saehan Guitar Technology, a subdivision of Zaozhuang Saehan Music Co., Ltd in South Korea (now known as Sunghan Music). The guitars were imported into the United States by Midco Music (now Musicorp), at the time chaired by L.Dean Samuel. Design specifications were dictated by Samuel Music in Illinois and revolved around variations on Saehan's preexisting top-of-the-line models.

Eventually, Vester guitars managed to find a good home in the marketplace and covered a broad range of Japanese and Korean made middle-to upper-range acoustic and electric guitars, along with basic solid state amplifier models. Through contacts in the music industry Vester was able to secure endorsements from several popular musicians of the period, including the Country and Western band Alabama.

Following the Vester corporation's initial success in the marketplace was the company's sudden and unexpected demise. In a move similar to the Norlin Corporation's (Gibson) lawsuit of Ibanez, the Fender Corporation began preparing a litigatory action against Samuel Music in 1994, for allegedly basing the Vester brand on a "sound-alike" for "Fender"; even going so far as to cite the typefont used in the logo was identical to Fender's trademarked font. Samuel Music, lacking the funds for a prolonged legal battle, settled the matter out of court and sold out all remaining stock.”

HarrySeven

Incidentally, £150-£250 is about right.

Tone71

Bellycaster said:

It might be wise to Curry favour with them, you may get it cheaper

Just got that, only took 12 hours!

Cheers all, especially @HarrySeven I will have a stroll down later and have another look, I like unusual types and found a yootoob vid and think that one on there sounded superb albeit with swapped out pick ups, I'm thinking it should be on par with a fairly decent Squier, but if it feels right to play it might well fill the missing Strat hole.

merciful-evans

Potentially very good. I like MIK & MIJ guitars a lot.

Personally I wouldn't even be bothered at the prospect of a plywood body.

Funkfingers

merciful-evans said:

 I wouldn't even be bothered at the prospect of a plywood body.

Ply body + P90-voiced Stratocaster-sized pickups = Blues/slide monster.

bugileman

They are good guitars, there's always room for a haggle!