Chapman Guitars?

johnonguitar

I think the main thing isn't does Chappers grind your gears but can he play and does he sound good?

No and no.

Does his guitar range offer good quality at reasonably priced and fill a gap in the market?

We got an answer to that one yet?

Sassafras

Can't really see that they fill a gap in the market.  Any gaps have been plugged by dozens of other manufacturers.

Dave_Mc

georgenadaintl said:

imalrightjack said:

First thing I'll say is that the idea that they put in pretty naff pick-ups so you can upgrade as you wish is silly.  Ship the bloody things without pick-ups if that's the idea.

I've thought about this before and I'm guessing it's a real PITA to ship without pickups since you can't test fret buzz, and a lot of other factors without installing pickups. So you'd have to install pickups, set it up and fix any mistakes, and then take the pickups out again. Not cost-effective at all regardless of how cheap the labour is.

Plus it's pretty hard to try in the shop without pickups. Presumably they don't want to limit themselves to sales to people who are willing to instantly put in new pickups, or to people who know that you can tell a fair bit by playing the thing unplugged.

rsvmark

Back on topic. Now firstly I have not played one and while that is akin to pointing a 12 bore at my foot and shouting 'me me me, I'm a twat' while pulling the trigger, the point I would like to make is that they look interesting and I would consider 1 IF I needed a £500-£600 guitar and fancied something different. Bear with me on this. Point 1, they are built in the same factory as PRS SE, ESP and others besides. The qc will be pretty good. Point 2, I have to say I fancy trying out some UK made pups at some point....and we know there are a few fellas on here wot does them so that might be fun. The guitars I have at are great so won't be swapping anything there in the short term. Point 3- imho some of them look quite cool ( beauty is in the eye etc) so if they play ok, swap out the pups to some UK hand made stuff and they look cool and not run of the mill.... Why not? It's different strokes for different folks

Deijavoo

rsvmark said:

Back on topic. Now firstly I have not played one and while that is akin to pointing a 12 bore at my foot and shouting 'me me me, I'm a twat' while pulling the trigger, the point I would like to make is that they look interesting and I would consider 1 IF I needed a £500-£600 guitar and fancied something different. Bear with me on this. Point 1, they are built in the same factory as PRS SE, ESP and others besides. The qc will be pretty good. Point 2, I have to say I fancy trying out some UK made pups at some point....and we know there are a few fellas on here wot does them so that might be fun. The guitars I have at are great so won't be swapping anything there in the short term. Point 3- imho some of them look quite cool ( beauty is in the eye etc) so if they play ok, swap out the pups to some UK hand made stuff and they look cool and not run of the mill.... Why not? It's different strokes for different folks

Wisdom.

DiscoStu

I briefly had an ML-1.

I had no issues with the design and I liked the idea of the killswitch. A lot of bang for buck.

The problems for me were the scratchy/trebly pickups (seriously - why so bright when the overall look was metal?) and the noisy switches. A good enough starting point but definitely needed upgrading and sorting out, by which time you've added another £100 on to a guitar which is already losing money. It had arrived damaged anyway - a broken toggle switch if memory serves - so I sent it back.

I don't know if he's still doing it this way but the first models were made in the far east to a budget, but the model he played in the videos to promote them was a hand built prototype by Jaden Rose. If you didn't know that at the time then it could be seen as a tad deceptive.

Andertons had a shed load of B-stock models (cosmetic flaws, damage) which they flogged off dirt cheap. So much for the QC!

hobbio

I'm 99% sure that the very first batch of ML-1s were built in China and are generally thought to be well shit.

Everything after that has been built in Korea, to a much higher standard. There's actually a video or two of him touring the factory around Christmas time, not great vids but you get an idea of how they're made. The only ones I like the look of really are the ML-3 in blue and the CAP-10.

Handsome_Chris

DiscoStu said:

Andertons had a shed load of B-stock models (cosmetic flaws, damage) which they flogged off dirt cheap. So much for the QC!

Nothing wrong with B-stock.  It's been keeping the Kid Handsome in gear since way back.

DiscoStu

Handsome_Chris said:

DiscoStu said:

Andertons had a shed load of B-stock models (cosmetic flaws, damage) which they flogged off dirt cheap. So much for the QC!

Nothing wrong with B-stock.  It's been keeping the Kid Handsome in gear since way back.

I quite agree - look at the Thomann Harley Benton B-stock! The faults/damage on some of the first run Chapmans was appalling though, and yet they left the factory and reached stores. 

Sassafras

If I'm spending 600 quid on a guitar I don't really want to have to put in new pickups.

A 200 quid guitar, I wouldn't mind so much.

Steffo

Just had a look at what Chapman offers and the Goldtop ML2 seems pretty decent with some Seymour Duncan pickups I'm sure most would be very happy with (I would). That thing goes for less than 600 and comes with the case. Worth a punt.

Niallmo

I've got an ML-1. No. 474 iirc. Of the first run.

Pretty good for the money. Slim neck but very playable. Nice range of tones but it's not gonna trouble a high end ibanez. Mines on the heavy side but nothing like some boat anchor Les Paul's. Changed the pickups a couple of times, had some Dimarzio in there at one point but it's back with its original now.