Chapman Guitars

Caffeined

I've watched Rob Chapman for quite a while on youtube. Seems a nice dude, with a cool idea on guitar design.
Just wondering what people think of his guitars?

I like the concept of his colaborative design. He has stated that he is not doing it for a great profit margin.
I know his guitars are made in Korea.

Anyone own one or played one?
Do they represent good money for value?

DrBob

Aaaahhhnd off we go again ! 

p90fool

DrBob said:

Aaaahhhnd off we go again ! 

Before we do, can I put in a request that we only talk about the guitars? 

Bidley

Apparently they're made at World Guitars, along with PRS SE, ESP LTD and a bunch more.

I've played one of the LP shaped ones, very nice guitar for what it costs. But like everything, depends what you like in a guitar.

RandallFlagg

p90fool said:

DrBob said:

Aaaahhhnd off we go again ! 

Before we do, can I put in a request that we only talk about the guitars? 

Agreed! 

I haven't played a Chapman Guitar but I like the way Rob Chapman can get his signature Dorje sound with a Tele style guitar with single coil sized stacked humbuckers on the RC-3 Traditional.

I personally think the RC-3 Traditional is the nicest looking Chapman guitar as I'm not a short wearing, long haired, surfer, vegan, nu-metal, camper van driving type of player, who calls everyone 'dude', which may be the type of guy that prefers some of his other models!

I'm more of a 50 year old, overweight, bald, 'Dad Rock' traditionalist kind of guy.

I don't really like the reverse headstocks to look at and I have read that at least some of the guitars can be quite heavy. I would definitely try out the RC-3 if I ever come across one.

I think the feature on the Chapman guitars are good and the crowd sourcing design idea is unique and I'm sure helps create a sense of community for those that buy his guitars.

eSully

I've heard about them being very heavy too. I believe their designed to be easily modified if that floats your boat. I certainly like the look of the LP style one with the maple neck. Same as @RandallFlagg , not a fan of the upside down headstock on the Tele/Superstrat models.

digitalscream

With my admin hat on, I feel the need to get in early on this and remind people that the usual Chappers-bashing will be viewed fairly dimly.

More on-topic...they're fairly decent mid-range guitars, I think. If I didn't have my Jaden Rose Teles, I would probably have an ML-3 of some sort, although I can't stand the control layout (not much different to other Teles in that regard, I guess).

In terms of weight, none of their guitars are all that heavy these days. It was a massive problem in the early days - some of the original-run ML-1s were heavier than any Les Paul I've ever come across - but that's been solved since they've moved production.

proggy

I've never played one, only seen them on YouTube, but they look a bit cheap to me. I don't like bare wood, unpainted electric guitars and cannot stand all that reverse headstock malarkey. I must admit though, they seem to sound quite good, but not for me I'm afraid.

Gassage

I actually don't Chappers bash - he's just a bit of a character and he's done well.

digitalscream

proggy said:

I've never played one, only seen them on YouTube, but they look a bit cheap to me. I don't like bare wood, unpainted electric guitars and cannot stand all that reverse headstock malarkey. I must admit though, they seem to sound quite good, but not for me I'm afraid.

The original run of ML-1s felt a bit cheap (which is borne out by the huge number of guitars that were sold as B-stock at the time), but since they moved to World Guitars they definitely don't. The fit and finish are generally quite good, they're decent to play and they sound pretty good.

However, I've heard from a couple of ex-endorsees that there were certainly problems a few years ago; one apparently even had a fret fall out in shipping (I can't confirm this, of course, because it's second-hand information). With that said, if it was a regular occurrence there would be a lot more noise about it.

DrBob

I've played, and quite liked the CAP10 and the ML-3RC. If they had bigger necks I'd have one for whatever that's worth !

digitalscream

DrBob said:

I've played, and quite liked the CAP10 and the ML-3RC. If they had bigger necks I'd have one for whatever that's worth !

For what it's worth, the ML-2's neck profile is very, very similar to that on my Jaden guitars - not surprising, since he built the prototypes which were sent off to the factory to be used as a template.

mudslide73

The ML2 is the LP shaped one right? There's deffo a bit of Jaden in there now you mention it. 

grungebob

I like the look of the Cap10 model, if it didnt have the reverse headstock and maybe some position marker inlays i'd be tempted.

olafgarten

I don't like them, I'm not sure if it was just the pickups but the ML2 sounded thin and lifeless and once you put in some decent Humbuckers it costs £550 which can get you a nice Esp Eclipse. They are a good concept but  not well executed. 

Vaiai

I had an ML1 and apart from being heavy it was a great all rounder with coil tap options and really decent pickups. Lovely finish on it too - trans black one - looked and felt a lot more expensive than the £200-250 I paid s/h

LooseMoose

I like them and the whole concept. They aren't really aimed at my demographic but I still think they are cool guitars.

benmurray85

I owned and giged an ML3-RC for about 18 months a few years back. These are my findings ;-)

Weight-wise the guitar was perfect for me. Some may say it was on the heavy side but I liked it. The woods, pickups, hardware all seemed of a very good quality - not that I'm an expert at all but I was happy at the price. Persoanlly I loved the divisive stanied finished. Neck and body were also superb for me.

Setup out of the box was hilariously bad which was a shame I thought. Obviously everyones tastes are different but this one wasnt even near, as an example the bass strings were sticking to the pickups. The pots, knobs and switch were very poor quality. The tuning pegs were too close together to be able to get a standard string wider in the turn the pegs. 24 Frets on a tele is a disgraceful idea and I never felt properly comfortable playing it but I am a smaller guy so that probably didnt help!

All in all it was a solid, good guitar that I enjoyed owning and in all honesty it sounded brilliant live, possibly one of the nicest sounding "tele's" I've owned.

Nikko

I really like the ML-1 (trans black as above), and have been really tempted by them for a little while. Im another one who has absolutely nothing against Rob Chapman, and I wouldn't 'not' buy a Chapman because its a Chapman. Im quite curious as to what new guitarry goodness they have planned to unveil at this years NAMM show. Never know, my non-GAS 2017 pledge may not go according to plan.

DrJazzTap

I think the reverse headstock looks like a bit like a pasty. But apart from that.

The guitars aren't really for me personally, but I have to admit the quality of them seems to have come on leaps and bounds since they started . I like the ML 7 S,  the 7 string one, and bea's.

Voxman

He's collaborated on a good range of sensibly priced guitars that demonstrates you don't need to spend a fortune to own a good guitar.  I've played one (can't recall the model but it was the Tele style with 2 p/ups which sounded hotter than a normal Tele) and was very impressed with the build quality & finish - it was a nice red/purple colour where you could still see wood grain.  It was well balanced, had nice tone, and I liked the neck.  

There are two things I didn't like:  

1.  The 'reversed' headstock where the 6 tuners are the other side to a Fender.  This is purely a personal preference but I found it awkward to tune (yes, I know on a Gibson 3 tuners are on that side anyway - so it might just be psychological), and I think it just looked 'wrong' and it was as if the only reason was to try and make his guitars look a little different.  

2.  There is a single 12th fret marker only, with the rest of the fingerboard plain.  Again, personal preference & it's what you're used to but I still like fret markers.  I'm not a pro-player and because I move around the neck a lot I still need markers to have a frame of reference even after all these years.  I also aesthetically don't like bare fingerboards as to me they look naked and unfinished. There were side markers, but it's not the same.  

So, for these 2 reasons I didn't buy it - but it was a nice guitar to play, so in the future if a great deal cropped up, who knows.