New Cheap as Chips Andertons Brand...

Musicman20

Nice idea for the proper budget players I guess. I used to play Encore basses and Y Pacifica guitars and they were pretty good, hopefully these are even better.

But let's face it, the guitar industry know where to look. They got a good deal so they can spend a bit on setup which = repeat customers and good reviews.

Maybe this is part of the big three buying as a group like G&L....

terada

To me they look like a poor dali-esque interpretation of classic designs.

Why do they insist on ruining the design language of the originals rather than just come up with something genuinely different. 

Paul7926

I dunno.  I bang on all the time about the £130 Epiphone Special VE I got but these don't look any cheaper than that so it's not really like they are massively undercutting existing budget options.  (for a similar product)

Now I know that the Epi doesn't have decent pick-ups but it works, stays in tune, the string height is good and the intonation is pretty spot on too. It was set-up as part of the initial price. (Absolute Music)  Can't really ask for more from a budget guitar.

The cynic in me thinks that this big reveal is just to hoover up some of the Christmas Present sized market.

King85

They've mentioned having a budget range but in their videos to me it came across more that it was going to be a new solely for Andertons brand. 

Knowing they're an existing low end brand ruins the appeal of something new and different.

I think squier is still the budget king, my affinity tele is amazing.

Funkfingers

terada said:

Why do they insist on ruining the design language of the originals rather than just come up with something genuinely different? 

1) The major American brands have lawyers.
2) The majority of genuinely different and/or original guitar design ideas get dismissed (literally) out of hand without even being played.

crunchman

King85 said:

They've mentioned having a budget range but in their videos to me it came across more that it was going to be a new solely for Andertons brand. 

Knowing they're an existing low end brand ruins the appeal of something new and different.

I think squier is still the budget king, my affinity tele is amazing.

Harley Benton are probably king of the budget market these days.  They are brilliant for what you pay - which is normally quite a lot less than the equivalent Squier.

bloodandtears

were Chapman guitars originally aimed at the beginner/cheap market?

Paul7926

bloodandtears said:

were Chapman guitars originally aimed at the beginner/cheap market?

I thought the Chapman focus was supposed to be 'Good guitars for as cheap as possible'.  So not budget in the sense of the cheapest guitar possible but aimed probably at the 'second guitar purchase' market.  Never seen one so no idea if they live up to that.

LuttiS

bloodandtears said:

were Chapman guitars originally aimed at the beginner/cheap market?

I think they were aimed at the mid range/lower premium market. The idea was a premium guitar at a mid range price due to skipping all the middle men.

This was certainly true of the early models, lovely guitars at great prices. Not sure how the newer ones stack up.

Mark1960

Regarding the above comments on how a guitar sounds, are I think slightly missing the point in this instance. Whilst tone is a vital ingredient for the more experianced player, getting a few notes/chords to sound OK is the aim of most beginners. The whole idea is to provide a budget instrument, that is very playable (action, intonation, feel of the neck and frets) and will encourage a beginner to learn the instrument. I think the tonal quality is very secondary at this stage. Having taught a few begginers myself, one of the most important factors is playability of the instrument. If you are fighting a poor action, or the intonation is incorrect and the guitar sounds out of tune, it is very discouraging. Hopefully these instruments acheive a good standard of playabilty and reasonable tone, at a price most people could afford. Most beginners (unless they are already accumplished musicians on another instrument) would not be worried by the tone, unless it was completely awful, which these weren't.

Sporky

King85 said:

Knowing they're an existing low end brand ruins the appeal of something new and different.

Did you really have particularly high expectations?

Whenever there's a new budget brand I can't help but think it's aimed at the budget market. You're not going to get wild innovation, because wild innovation doesn't shift units. You're almost certainly getting something off the same production line that makes lots of similar things, because mass production results in the best quality for a given price.

It's not like Andertons would have gone out to explore the Amazonian rainforest and discover a previously unknown guitar factory. Adding an existing not-really-an-independent-brand to the lineup makes much more sense as you get into bigger volumes, less design effort, and so on.

darthed1981

I think this might be a case of...

Eastcoast is a brand owned by someone who is happy to make money just licensing it.

Many factories in the Far East will make you a guitar.

So, Lee Anderton's new consortium with PMT and whoever else it was have put them both together.

I think possibly these new "Eastcoasts" are a different batch than those PMT had, possibly superior?

King85

Sporky said:

King85 said:

Knowing they're an existing low end brand ruins the appeal of something new and different.

Did you really have particularly high expectations?

Whenever there's a new budget brand I can't help but think it's aimed at the budget market. You're not going to get wild innovation, because wild innovation doesn't shift units. You're almost certainly getting something off the same production line that makes lots of similar things, because mass production results in the best quality for a given price.

It's not like Andertons would have gone out to explore the Amazonian rainforest and discover a previously unknown guitar factory. Adding an existing not-really-an-independent-brand to the lineup makes much more sense as you get into bigger volumes, less design effort, and so on.

I did expect better actually. I like Andertons and was hoping they'd bring something new to the table really.

I wasn't expecting any innovation just guitars that came with a higher standard of setup out of the box as that's what seems to be the biggest falling on low end guitars.

I can't judge the product as I haven't played one (have any of us on here?) but I'm impressed with how they sound in those videos relative to their cost.

Could it be an easy cash in at the budget market? Yes and for me that they're just using an existing low budget brand then this points more towards that but until I've had a go on one then I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

terada

Funkfingers said:

terada said:

Why do they insist on ruining the design language of the originals rather than just come up with something genuinely different? 

1) The major American brands have lawyers.
2) The majority of genuinely different and/or original guitar design ideas get dismissed (literally) out of hand without even being played.

yeah I get that those are the hurdles to be challenged  I guess maybe they are trying to be too close, which just makes it look even weirder and wrong. The design doesn't look like its of the same instrument, as if random bits were stolen from various copies and thrown together without a second thought. Take the SG for example:



Its a monstrosity, the pick guard is so inelegant and the stretched body just makes it look like a bad knock-off. The non-offset horns isn't a bad shout, but the rest looks like a very poor chibson. The LTD variant is much better, as it at least pulls the whole thing offset and brings the pick guard to the bevel line to give it a more modern style:



The LTD is however a little more cash. Which begs the obvious question, if it must be an SG and you're on a tight beginners budget, why not buy the Epiphone which is £40 cheaper:

abw1989

thegummy said:

WTF they've got one with bird inlays!

That's surely not right!

Maybe not coincidently, the links for that particular model are now broken....

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-guitars/eastcoast-gp20-electric-guitar-in-redburst

Perhaps a certain Mr Smith reminded a certain Mr Anderton of the free PRS he was gifted not so long ago.

m_c

@terada most people on here would notice those differences, but for your typical beginner, it'll look near enough right, which is all that really matters. They're not aimed at people who know it's not right, they're built to a price and in such a way as to avoid any potential lawsuits.

terada

m_c said:

@terada most people on here would notice those differences, but for your typical beginner, it'll look near enough right, which is all that really matters. They're not aimed at people who know it's not right, they're built to a price and in such a way as to avoid any potential lawsuits.

You got me there, fair enough . Need to switch off my guitar head I suppose.

terada

For what its worth. Five minutes in photoshop to get from Andertons (right hand side), to a quick and dirty rework (left hand side). To me it still has the tele flair, but has at least got a bit of its own character, and got rid of some of the nasty sloppy curves round the neck pocket area.

Sassafras

They're going to have to give these away if there's any hope of repairing the damage done by the scandalous Vertex video.
Even then I'm not sure I could forgive them.

Sassafras

Apparently they're made by the children who make trainers when they have spare moments of down-time.