New Gordon Smith Offset

Fez

I like the look of it but as someone else said humbuckers and a fixed bridge would be my choice for options.

meltedbuzzbox

dazzajl said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

Looks like they all generally come with alpha pots and associated cheap parts as all guitars seems to come with a £70/£90 cts upgrade option.

I am surprised at the prices that the copies come out at.
I spec'd up a strat for fun and it came in at £1700+
At that money I can't see why you would ever buy a GS over a fender

Spec up your own Strat with Fender and it’s going to get over £4K though, so quite a different proposition. I’ve never played one of their bolt on guitars and I’m not sure they’d be more first call for a Strat but I’d like to try one. 

But you get a lot more options with fender if you go full custom shop. Radius,  fret wire, lot more colours,  weight, etc

With all the variants in the "off the shelf" stuff you don't really need to go full custom.

Bigsby

meltedbuzzbox said:

Looks like they all generally come with alpha pots and associated cheap parts as all guitars seems to come with a £70/£90 cts upgrade option.

I am surprised at the prices that the copies come out at.
I spec'd up a strat for fun and it came in at £1700+
At that money I can't see why you would ever buy a GS over a fender

Not sure quite what you did with the spec there...? I've looked at this recently, and with an Ash body,  upgraded electronics, locking tuners, metallic finish and ABS case it still came at £1,390. OK, that's more then a Mexican Vintera, but it's less than the American Pro is selling for, and it's way less than a custom spec Fender would cost you.

And that's really the point: A couple of years back I had GS build me a GS1000, with an ebony 'board, custom colour, custom pickguard, locking tuners and tune-o-matic + stop bar. It cost less than a mass produced Gibson USA SG Junior, and given my past experience of Gibson USA quality I'm confident I got more than just custom features for my money. (And it's one of my favourite guitars to this day).

Of course, the Gibson/Fender will hold more value if you sell, but if anyone buys a new custom spec GS with the intention of flipping it.... well, as they say, a fool and their money are easily parted! 

And back on topic, I'm also loving the look of this new model, and wondering how it would look in some cool colours.

Jeremiah

Yes, I do rather like the look of this, but Jazzmaster bridges and vibratos are a bit of an unknown to me, so I'd want to have some experience of using them before I committed to a high end guitar with one.

TTBZ

Looks pretty good to me, if it were hardtail even better. I've always sort of been interested in a GS as they're local to me and I like the idea of owning something made in the UK. Quality on some older ones I've seen has been a bit hit and miss though so I'd have to play it first. Wouldn't mind a GS1-60 singlecut junior style.

ThePrettyDamned

The nice thing about the jazzmaster bridge and trem set up is the rock solid tuning stability, while also having a really fantastic trem that will always sound good (it doesn't allow for enough pitch change to sound bad really).

I hope they have an appropriate neck angle but that's about it. 

jeztone2

I think it looks good. It will suit their audience 

dickieguitar

It appears to have threaded barrel saddles, which is... an unusual choice for a new guitar.

Looks OK but it's all hypothetical until we see one in shell pink.

Jason

mudslide73 said:

Some interesting GS bits on the 9-42 podcast this month. Interestingly they do factory tour events.. maybe an idea for a group outing when we're all allowed out

Let's do it on the day we are going down to record, we can get tFB on the podcast :-)

Loobs

So derivative. Lazy design. To be honest I prefer their old models, at least they were slightly unique. 

richman6100

mudslide73 said:

Some interesting GS bits on the 9-42 podcast this month. Interestingly they do factory tour events.. maybe an idea for a group outing when we're all allowed out

I've visited their workshop a couple of times. On the first occasion, I was visiting friends just up the road from them. I called Doug and he invited me to meet him there on a Sunday. He opened up the place for me, gave me a quick tour (it's a fairly small place) and chatted while I tried several Auden acoustics. When he heard that my young son was with me and he'd just started playing guitar, he invited me back the next day so he could look around too. One of the luthiers took us around the workshop and showed my son how the machinery worked - making necks, winding pick-ups etc, the spray room, the wood sample room and of course, their range of guitars. Have to say, I was blown away with their generosity and friendliness. Top bunch of blokes.

Greatape

Very Novo

MtB

The bumpf on the GS Gatsby website says that the bridge is "low profile brass roller"

Logie

I never understood the reverence GS guitars got to be honest. The couple I got the chance to have a go on definitely felt " built by a bloke in his shed at the bottom of his garden ". He/ they have obviously upped their game since then
This looks nice mind you.

Philly_Q

Logie said:

I never understood the reverence GS guitars got to be honest. The couple I got the chance to have a go on definitely felt " built by a bloke in his shed at the bottom of his garden ". He/ they have obviously upped their game since then

As you probably know, John and Linda Smith retired a few years back (2015, I think?) and Auden Guitars bought the Gordon Smith brand.  They've stayed pretty faithful to the original designs and quirky features - although they're starting to branch out, as this thread shows - but the build quality and consistency has improved, a lot.

meltedbuzzbox

Philly_Q said:

Logie said:

I never understood the reverence GS guitars got to be honest. The couple I got the chance to have a go on definitely felt " built by a bloke in his shed at the bottom of his garden ". He/ they have obviously upped their game since then

As you probably know, John and Linda Smith retired a few years back (2015, I think?) and Auden Guitars bought the Gordon Smith brand.  They've stayed pretty faithful to the original designs and quirky features - although they're starting to branch out, as this thread shows - but the build quality and consistency has improved, a lot.

But is the quality reflective of the price? A lot of the range is in fender mim/Mia price range, especially after a few spec tweaks. Not sure I could pay a grand plus for a gordon Smith. It would have to be an amazing playing thing

Philly_Q

meltedbuzzbox said:

Philly_Q said:

Logie said:

I never understood the reverence GS guitars got to be honest. The couple I got the chance to have a go on definitely felt " built by a bloke in his shed at the bottom of his garden ". He/ they have obviously upped their game since then

As you probably know, John and Linda Smith retired a few years back (2015, I think?) and Auden Guitars bought the Gordon Smith brand.  They've stayed pretty faithful to the original designs and quirky features - although they're starting to branch out, as this thread shows - but the build quality and consistency has improved, a lot.

But is the quality reflective of the price? A lot of the range is in fender mim/Mia price range, especially after a few spec tweaks. Not sure I could pay a grand plus for a gordon Smith. It would have to be an amazing playing thing

Not for me to tell anyone else how much they should be prepared to spend!  But although we may not like it, a grand is really not much in today's guitar market.

I do agree though, if you go on the site, pick a model and play with the specs the price goes up rapidly - very rapidly.  But if you were able to find that guitar with the same specs off-the-shelf somewhere, I reckon it would probably be a bit cheaper, as the dealer might find they couldn't justify marking it up that much, compared with a basic GS model.

It's funny, years ago the magazine reviews always used to say the old rough-and-ready GS guitars were bargains but I always thought they were relatively pricey!  They were about as much as Gibson Faded models which were similar-ish quality but (a) imported and (b) Gibsons.  Now, the prices have gone up a lot - all guitar prices have gone up a lot - but the guitars are better too.  I think they're reasonably priced.

I've said before, I hope they don't get too ambitious.  A company building guitars in the UK and selling them for under £1,500 is pretty unique.  If they go much beyond that, they start competing with UK boutique builders and that's some pretty serious competition, even if GS have more resources and a bigger workforce they'd struggle to match the quality.  Why lose your place in the market?

pedalo

Original Gordon Smiths are incredible. They have a magic that I doubt will be replicated now. I like what the new owners are doing but it surprises me how few on here seem to respect the originals and seem to care more about what they looked like. It is a shame that they really flew under the radar their whole career. I’ll never own a better playing guitar than my Graduate. 

Bigsby

meltedbuzzbox said:

Philly_Q said:

Logie said:

I never understood the reverence GS guitars got to be honest. The couple I got the chance to have a go on definitely felt " built by a bloke in his shed at the bottom of his garden ". He/ they have obviously upped their game since then

As you probably know, John and Linda Smith retired a few years back (2015, I think?) and Auden Guitars bought the Gordon Smith brand.  They've stayed pretty faithful to the original designs and quirky features - although they're starting to branch out, as this thread shows - but the build quality and consistency has improved, a lot.

But is the quality reflective of the price? A lot of the range is in fender mim/Mia price range, especially after a few spec tweaks. Not sure I could pay a grand plus for a gordon Smith. It would have to be an amazing playing thing

Just wondering if you'd expect every mass produced Fender MiM/MiA to be 'an amazing playing thing' for the same price?

When I ordered a GS1000 a couple of years ago, I spec'd it to have a custom colour, ebony board, locking tuners, tune-o-matic + stop bar, and a custom pick guard. I ordered through Forsyth and the price came in at about the regular list, despite the upgrades and going through a dealer. This was less than a similar spec Gibson USA model (SG Junior), which would obviously have missed all the custom features I wanted, (but would've come with Gibson's hit and miss QC). I've owned quite a few Gibson USA guitars from recent years and frankly the GS is a match for any of them in terms of build quality and playability, (and minus any QC issues like glue spillage on the fret board - yup, that was on a £1,800 Gibson!) 

Frankly, if you're interested in a GS I'd say it's a no brainer, the cost isn't an issue considering what you're getting. Of course, that changes if you specifically want a Fender/Gibson/Whatever, or if you're a serial flipper and worried about resale. 

Philly_Q

pedalo said:

Original Gordon Smiths are incredible. They have a magic that I doubt will be replicated now. I like what the new owners are doing but it surprises me how few on here seem to respect the originals and seem to care more about what they looked like. It is a shame that they really flew under the radar their whole career. I’ll never own a better playing guitar than my Graduate. 

Maybe there was a great original period - perhaps when Gordon Whittam was still around? - then a ropey later period? 
The two I had, late 80s and early 90s, were "OK" but nothing at all special.  The two new ones I've got now are not amazing - they're still relatively cheap guitars - but they're better in every way than my old ones.  I have to say I've only ever owned the cheaper models, GS1s and GS2s, I don't have much experience of the pricier models.