Can you buy a decent 70s acoustic for 300-400 quid?

CavemanGrogg

Tannin said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Easily, but a decent 70's acoustic is not as good as a £400 modern acoustic.  Hell you can get 50's Hofner Senators easily for under £400, doesn't mean that they are any good though.  If you want good vintage, you really have to be prepared to either break open the wallet really wide, or get something that needs some work done to it.

I'm not sure I can agree with that. The modern guitar will very likely have a better setup and be more playable as-is, but the (typically excellent) tone of any half-decent solid made-in-Japan guitar has to be considered, and (depending on exactly what needs doing)  a better setup is not expensive. 

As for a 50s Hofner, no thanks! 

Yes but the vast majority of guitars made in Japan in the 70's and 80's where to be blunt, absolute shit, if they wheren't, we'd be still up to our ears in ''lawsuit guitars'', as it is they've become rather hard to find, and the ones that you can find, are not much better.

bugileman

CavemanGrogg said:

Tannin said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Easily, but a decent 70's acoustic is not as good as a £400 modern acoustic.  Hell you can get 50's Hofner Senators easily for under £400, doesn't mean that they are any good though.  If you want good vintage, you really have to be prepared to either break open the wallet really wide, or get something that needs some work done to it.

I'm not sure I can agree with that. The modern guitar will very likely have a better setup and be more playable as-is, but the (typically excellent) tone of any half-decent solid made-in-Japan guitar has to be considered, and (depending on exactly what needs doing)  a better setup is not expensive. 

As for a 50s Hofner, no thanks! 

Yes but the vast majority of guitars made in Japan in the 70's and 80's where to be blunt, absolute shit, if they wheren't, we'd be still up to our ears in ''lawsuit guitars'', as it is they've become rather hard to find, and the ones that you can find, are not much better.

Sounds like you've been playing the wrong Japanese guitars.  

ICBM

bugileman said:

Sounds like you've been playing the wrong Japanese guitars.  

+1

It's true that a large number of them from the earlier 70s aren't good - but later 70s and especially 80s Japanese guitars were good enough that they gave the US manufacturers a big scare. There are still a few exceptions at the cheaper end of the product ranges, but that actually applies to Fender (to some extent) and Gibson (especially) as well. Fender Bullet (second series) or Gibson Sonex, just to name two. The average early-80s Yamaha, Ibanez, Aria, Westbury, Vantage, Washburn etc will be a better-made guitar.

guitarjack66

ICBM said:

bugileman said:

Sounds like you've been playing the wrong Japanese guitars.  

+1

It's true that a large number of them from the earlier 70s aren't good - but later 70s and especially 80s Japanese guitars were good enough that they gave the US manufacturers a big scare. There are still a few exceptions at the cheaper end of the product ranges, but that actually applies to Fender (to some extent) and Gibson (especially) as well. Fender Bullet (second series) or Gibson Sonex, just to name two. The average early-80s Yamaha, Ibanez, Aria, Westbury, Vantage, Washburn etc will be a better-made guitar.

Is Washburn a Japanese brand? Or was it a former Japanese brand taken over now by some investment group or whatever?

Tannin

WASHBURN: Just a marketing name. The original Washburn started in the 1880s, making guitars in the USA under its own name and for other brands, and buying in other stock to rebrand for themselves. They folded in 1940.

The current Washburn started in 1974 and has no connection at all, other than deliberately misleading lies about their "heritage" in the PR material.

Modern Washburns were made under contract in Japan until about 1990 when they switched suppliers to Samick, in Korea at first, shifting over time to China and Indonesia. During the mid-to late 1990s, Washburn briefly tried re-entering the top end of the market with models made for them by two high-quality US makers, Tacoma and Bourgeois. Current Washburns are the usual rebadged Samicks. The same company which owns Washburn also owns a stack of other companies, including both Randall and Marshal. FOR: actually Samicks. AGAINST: actually Samicks. SUM-UP: wouldn't it be easier to just buy a Samick?

guitarjack66

Tannin said:

WASHBURN: Just a marketing name. The original Washburn started in the 1880s, making guitars in the USA under its own name and for other brands, and buying in other stock to rebrand for themselves. They folded in 1940.

The current Washburn started in 1974 and has no connection at all, other than deliberately misleading lies about their "heritage" in the PR material.

Modern Washburns were made under contract in Japan until about 1990 when they switched suppliers to Samick, in Korea at first, shifting over time to China and Indonesia. During the mid-to late 1990s, Washburn briefly tried re-entering the top end of the market with models made for them by two high-quality US makers, Tacoma and Bourgeois. Current Washburns are the usual rebadged Samicks. The same company which owns Washburn also owns a stack of other companies, including both Randall and Marshal. FOR: actually Samicks. AGAINST: actually Samicks. SUM-UP: wouldn't it be easier to just buy a Samick?

Are they in the same price range as actual Samick guitars? 

Zoonyboy

I like 70s Eko and Eros, Ibanez Artwood (Japan) and most Aria. I used to sell all of these in the late 70s and all have a bit of quality and character. Look for cheaper USA Harmony 60s/70s, Cimar with solid top, Antoria. If it was a more modern guitar I'd jump on a few years old Yamaha jumbo. Or a Takemine.