MIchael Kelly Guitars?

Creed_Clicks

I had almost forgotten these existed. I have never met anyone who played one, but have never read anything bad as such about them. I like the cut of this HS tele:
https://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/en/products/view/54OP

bertie

lookng at the prices - is that a US version of the  -  import from far east and assemble "in country"  - 

the acoustics are quite hideous 

Creed_Clicks

bertie said:

lookng at the prices - is that a US version of the  -  import from far east and assemble "in country"  - 

the acoustics are quite hideous 

Not sure, the model I looked at was €300+. But no idea of the quality of em.

bertie

Creed_Clicks said:

bertie said:

lookng at the prices - is that a US version of the  -  import from far east and assemble "in country"  - 

the acoustics are quite hideous 

Not sure, the model I looked at was €300+. But no idea of the quality of em.

website has "Promenade Mucic" (Morecombe)  down as a dealer, but the PM site doesnt list MK as a brand !

longjaw

Windows in Newcastle stock them: https://jgwindows.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=michael+kelly

Kittyfrisk

I had a Michael Kelly Patriot Decree (LP style) about 12 years ago.  Bought it as I was curious about them & it was such a bargain that I couldn't lose money on it.
Very well constructed & finished, own brand coil-tapped PAF Plus pickups sounded good & the body shape was OK but I just had too many two pickup LP's & LP styled guitars & I don't really like many heavily flamed tops. Well worth a look if you are looking for a different LP with Epiphone level quality.

Offset

Creed_Clicks said:

I had almost forgotten these existed. I have never met anyone who played one, but have never read anything bad as such about them. I like the cut of this HS tele:
https://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/en/products/view/54OP

I've often wondered this. They look great but are as cheap as chips.  Dare I say... HB competitor???

Philly_Q

I always assumed they were built by Cort or somewhere similar, but I don't know for sure.

timmypix

My high school bandmate had a Michael Kelly Patriot with EMGs in which I used a few times at gigs. Comfortable, good guitar, much like anything else out of WMI Korea!

TTony

Co-incidentally, I was looking at the Hybrid model last week, and wondering whether I should be tempted.

It's a bit of a leap though - £900ish for something that would be bought unplayed, and apparently has little s/h value retention!

Philly_Q

timmypix said:

My high school bandmate had a Michael Kelly Patriot with EMGs in which I used a few times at gigs. Comfortable, good guitar, much like anything else out of WMI Korea!

Ah, so it was World Musical Instrument Co?   I wasn't far off.

BillDL

I have a Vex-X model.  They don't make that model any longer.  I bought it from eBay on a whim for about £115 about 14 years ago.  RRP at the time was around £350.  It has a lovely smooth satin maple neck and flat radius rosewood fretboard with 24 frets.  The neck is actually a bit slim for my preferences but it has good access to the upper frets due to the rounded heel and recessed neck bolts.  Basswood carved top body.  Pickups are pretty powerful as the abalone axe 5th fret marker inlay and general design would tend to imply.  It's a well assembled and finished guitar that sounds great, but it suffers a lot from crackly static when your fingers touch the hard polyester lacquer on the body near the controls.  Would I have paid £350 for it?  Probably not, but then again I'm not a teenage heavy metal player.  Was it worth £350?  At the time it was, but you can now get own-brand guitars of the same or better build quality from the large and well known German musical retailer and some other brands like East Coast, Jet, etc for around £200.

mikeyrob73

i had one one of these for a wee while a few years back, pre brexshit , bought from EU on Reverb 

it was really decent, one of my pals took a shine to it and offered me a chunk more than i paid for it so it went to him, he still has it and loves it 

Creed_Clicks

Going by the comments, seems to be what I thought. Not bad, but not great, and they seem to fall between a few stools. I'm not gone on the blingy ones at all, but the plain tele link I posted doesn't look bad, and for a Korean made guitar, pretty cheap.

Dave_Mc

They were all the rage on the more US-centric guitar forums several years ago. Never got round to trying any...

Kittyfrisk

Dave_Mc said:

They were all the rage on the more US-centric guitar forums several years ago. Never got round to trying any...

Yep, that was why I wanted to try one.
Great bang for your buck at the time, which was true & can still be valid.
Perspective is everything 

Dave_Mc

Kittyfrisk said:

Dave_Mc said:

They were all the rage on the more US-centric guitar forums several years ago. Never got round to trying any...

Yep, that was why I wanted to try one.
Great bang for your buck at the time, which was true & can still be valid.
Perspective is everything 

Yeah. I think I did eventually end up in a shop which stocked them, but I still didn't get to try them as I was trying other stuff (acoustics)!