New Reverend Gil Parris sig

barnstorm

I know they make traditional T-style models, but I did a double-take when I saw this. Wouldn't float my boat because of the Fluence pickups, but an interesting entrant into the crowded 'affordable Strat' market.

Bigsby

What is the 'affordable Strat' market these days? At £1,300, that would make American Performer series Strats seem cheap, especially as they're made in America rather than South Korea... 

A few years ago Reverend seemed to offer great value for money, but that seems to have changed, after all the new Epiphone Prophecy range are offering Fluence pickups for about half the cost of these Strat copies.

barnstorm

Should perhaps have been 'affordable' Strat! I'm not a fan particularly, but anecdotally their QC seems to be very good, and Korean factories can make guitars just as well as American ones, so it's hard to criticise Reverend for hiking prices along with everyone else. And if these have the same resale value as other Reverends, nearly-new ones will be available for a whole lot less before long.

SteveRobinson

Whenever I see these guitars mentioned I always think "I didn't realise [endorser] was ordained"

StefB

SteveRobinson said:

Whenever I see these guitars mentioned I always think "I didn't realise [endorser] was ordained"

And then see the endorsee’s name and think, ‘who’?

Sassafras

Never tried any but I've yet to see a Reverend I've liked.

fields5069

Bigsby said:

What is the 'affordable Strat' market these days? At £1,300, that would make American Performer series Strats seem cheap, especially as they're made in America rather than South Korea... 

A few years ago Reverend seemed to offer great value for money, but that seems to have changed, after all the new Epiphone Prophecy range are offering Fluence pickups for about half the cost of these Strat copies.

They seem to be inflating the cost of the artist sigs when they have Fluence pickups. I'm just not sure the value is there, when you can buy a Charvel tele-style with Fluence pickups for £800. I'd pay £800-£900 for a Reverend any day, the quality is up there with anything Mexican or American.

Bigsby

Just to be clear, I do like Reverends, I know how well made they are, and I currently own three of them... I'm just surprised by the price of this Strat clone: It's a bolt-on neck Korean-made Strat, in a competitive market, selling for more than some US-made Fenders and some Gibsons too. And it's not as if Fender and Gibson prices have been standing still!

For comparison, the current Epiphone SG Modern is, in several ways, better spec'd than the Gibson equivalent, and sells for about a third of the price. I haven't played either, and accept it may be an unfair comparison, but the market place expects a price differential between US-made and Rest-of-the-World mass produced guitars.

I dread to think how much Reverends would be costing now if they'd kept their production in the USA. 

JayGee

SteveRobinson said:

Whenever I see these guitars mentioned I always think "I didn't realise [endorser] was ordained"

They hold totally sign up The Reverend Horton Heat as an endorsee...