Vintage V100 - how much ‘better’ would a better guitar be?

Kittyfrisk

PSA (hopefully) for those in't North...   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143782077934

rossi

RaymondLin said:

joetele said:

Oh I should have mentioned the Squier Affinity Starcaster I got recently. The neck on that is as good as my old MIM Tele, the pickups are fine, the build quality is near flawless, and the finish is stunning.

I actually don't feel the need to 'upgrade' to either the more expensive Squier or a fender either. 

As good as a Fender Masterbuilt or a R8? 

How good can a Masterbuilt be ? I have played them .I billed and cooed for its owners sake but really its just another electric guitar .I didnt sound any different  because ther is nothing in it to make it different .There is nothing in it thats really better .Its trem is  still shit and goes out of tune.The R8 is a fine guitar but how fine?.Its usually the fret level and finishing that really makes a nice guitar really good in your eyes plus its shape ,size and overall feel may well impress you  but the next guy may hate it .Its really just showing off  and  take that element away and its an overpriced lump of wood as nothing in it can be that special as nothing special is actually used to make it .Its not like a diamond ring .That has diamond and gold.

Voxman

I have 3 US Fender Strats, Tele, Gibson LP Custom, SG Standard, PRS Cu24, Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro etc. The main guitar I have out currently cost me £300 used albeit immaculate.....Yamaha Pacifica 611VFM with Wilkinson trem, SD humbucker bridge, SD P90 neck, Grover locking tuners, graphite nut...all stock, no mods at all. Amazingly good guitar that punches well above its weight.

And although delivery delayed til November, I've ordered a Harley Benton Tele ...might need to spend £25 on tuners, but under £140 and reviews are blindingly good. So Im kind of going away from expensive brands to just focus on whether a guitar is good. Sure, its nice to own big name guitars, but with the quality now available at low cost elsewhere, I'm convinced you don't need to spend big bucks to get a really nice guitar. 

WindmillGuitars

V100's are a great LP option on a budget - I've just taken delivery of some of the 25th Anniversary Limited Edition ones this week .. great silverburst paint job

Voxman

I like silverbursts! I thought the Strat looked wrong til I saw it was HSS. Strat looks browner....real difference or lighting?

TTBZ

@WindmillGuitars they look great! I really love silverburst, been tempted by one of those LPs or the Tele!

WindmillGuitars

@Voxman Probably just lighting - here's another shot @TTBZ ;

TINMAN82

Silver burst suits a les Paul better IMO

Voxman

TINMAN82 said:

Silver burst suits a les Paul better IMO

Not sure about that...can you send me all 3 to decide?

Redlester

TINMAN82 said:

Silver burst suits a les Paul better IMO

Dunno. I think it looks classy on all the above models. 

AndyGT75

Crazyblue1779 said:

Inspired by seeing the comments on another thread it’s got me thinking. 

I have a Vintage V100 ‘Lemon Drop’. Before being owned by me it had its wiring etc upgraded and Tonerider pickups put in. 

I’ve since swapped them out for Iron Gear (Hot Slag / Rolling Mill), put some Gibson tuners on ,and had it properly set up. And it plays like a dream. 

I paid £300 for it and I’ve put maybe £100 more in between pickups, tuners, and set up. It sounds and feels great, and in my limited experience feels a lot more ‘expensive’ that it is. 

As per my other recent thread, I am possibly contemplating spending a good bit of money (£1500 ish) on a ‘better’ Les Paul, but part of me wonders (especially as an intermediate at best, bedroom guitarist) just how much better of a guitar something 4/5 times the price of my Vintage would be?

I mean I know it’ll be better but will it be ‘better better’?

 Or will this mainly be a psychological boost to know that the name on the headstock is different or that it’s more expensive?

£1500 isn’t a lot for some people but for me it’s a huge amount of money which is part of the reason why the doubt creeps in. I’d hate to buy something that price and end up finding out it’s not drastically different , to me anyway, from what I’ve already got.  

But of a rambling post but I think most people here know where I’m coming from. 

Expensive doesn’t equally mean that it’ll be the shangri la of guitars. A lot of dealers are just box shifters nowadays and you can spend a lot of money on some right ‘Friday afternoon’ crap. Put it this way, I had a 500 quid Mexican Strat that needed nothing, aside from a basic set up and it never once gave me any issue. I also purchased an American performer telecaster and an American pro Strat. The Tele has needed an upgrade to the bridge, fret levelling  and recently a new nut. The US Strat also needed fret filing. 

elstoof

You’re replying to a 3 year old thread kiddo

AndyGT75

elstoof said:

You’re replying to a 3 year old thread kiddo.    elstoof said:

You’re replying to a 3 year old thread 

Sorry, Mr Forum monitor. Kiddo?

TheMarlin

I’ve got an R6 Murphy’s Lab LP.  It is in all honestly an absolutely fabulous guitar.  Needed a LOT of fettling from my luthier to get it that way  loads of high frets, more attention put into the relicing than levelling of the fretboard.  But, it’s now an absolute cracker, sounds and plays awesome. After years of hating every LP i tried, I found one i absolutely love. 

I also have a Vintage VsV6 Reissued SG-a-like with Vibrola.  I bought it used, and paid maybe 5% of what I paid for the Gibson. 

This guitar is frikin awesome, and you would have to prize it from my cold dead hands to get me to part with it. I’ll never sell that guitar. 

I like both of these guitars equally. I’ve not replaced a single thing on the Vintage, and setup was better than the Gibson on arrival. 

dazzajl

TheMarlin said:

…….. and setup was better than the Gibson on arrival. 

That Gibson must have been bad! I set up the Vintage

OilCityPickups

Always happy to add to a 'vintage thread' :-)
We have had two V100s as pickup demo guitars and one Vintage SG Junior type. The V100s were very pleasant to play, had plenty of sustain and were perfectly good LP copies. I wasn't too keen on the neck profile of one which was way thinner than most Gibsons, and of course they had rather thick 'dipped in plastic' look finishes. But as players they were good. We now have a Gibson LP Studio Flametop which had far more issues but ultimately sounds a bit more 'alive'. However if you stick it through some heavy overdrive ... and wail ... no difference apart from feel. 

DannyP

I refinished a Lemondrop to be my 'Lucy' Les Paul for Beatles tribute gigs. I changed the Wilkinson tuners to Wilkinson kidney button tuners purely for aesthetics.

The pickups are great if a bit hot, I've never felt the need to change them.

I must have played 200 plus gigs with it. It's supernaturally good at staying in tune, often fine straight out of the case.

It's the heaviest guitar I own by some distance, but that doesn't really bother me. And no punter has ever approached me after the gig to say that the scarf joint at the headstock ruined the show for them!

joetele

I have a white V100 and it's definitely my favourite LP style guitar that I've played. The only thing I've changed is the original black knobs to the translucent gold speed knobs. No need to change anything else on it. It's remarkably well made. Cost me £200. 

PAL

If it works for you then don't give it a second thought. It's more important what you do with what you have.
  In reality you get what you pay for. You will see top player pick up an inexpensive guitar and make it sound great but then they they go back to playing expensive guitars. Jeff Beck played Custom Shop Strats but then you will see him play a made in
  Mexico Tele and still sound great. Best advice just play what works for you. Good Luck.

Petepassion

I bought the Vintage SG copy a couple of years back for about £150, played superb, but the sound was a bit muddy and kept going out of tune. So put '50's wiring loom and second hand Gibson classic '57 pick ups in, then a set of second hand Gibson tuners...totally transformed it and probably cost me a total of about £300 odd. Compared to my 2017 Gibson SG standard I had at the time there wasn't much in it, but the Gibson was better.
   I also had a PRS SE with single P90 and 2015 Gibson special at the same time(minus the auto tuners and brass nut). I'd say the PRS was possibly a better quality and played a fraction nicer, but lacked the character. The Gibson had a certain 'gruffness' to it, just felt/sounded a bit more raw/rock 'n roll.
   Very similar to Chinese/Korean/Japanese cars built almost to perfection, but little character compared to the European cars, especially the Italians, just bursting with character and flair, but with poor quality and reliability.
   Depends what you want.