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That said, a school friend had one - I think they’re cool. Better pick-ups and pots would certainly improve it.
I like them - they're certainly fairly low quality, but they have a bit of a 'vibe' about them even with the original terrible single-coil pickups hidden inside humbucker casings...
The machineheads are crap too, but if they're taken apart and greased they can usually be made functional.
If the frets aren't starting to lift and there's no major unevenness in the neck then it should be possible to make it quite playable. If the neckplate is on upside down it's easy to turn round, but beware that the screw holes in the neck are easily stripped - the wood is softer than the maple you would find on a Fender. Easy enough to fix, but you need to be prepared for this, since if the plate is on backwards the neck has been off at least once before.
The pots are probably OK, although they will certainly need cleaning, from experience - if anything the switch and the jack are the weak points in the electrics. The switches can be fixed, but you need to open them up which isn't that easy.
I've restored and upgraded quite a few of these and related brands now, and I always get good money for them - they have a genuine 'vintage' nostalgic appeal to a lot of people.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
@ICBM How much they worth, upgraded and not? Roughly .
My band, Red For Dissent
Some people will laugh at that I’m sure, but I’ve sold several of them at those prices without any difficulty, mostly with the original pickups.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
A few years back I upgraded one for a customer. New tuners, refret, pots, switch, jack and pickups etc., the works. About £350 worth.
When he sold it a few months later he got less than the cost of the Bare Knuckle pickups.
I had a Hondo one as my second electric guitar - I had an Aria Strat copy but wanted something with a fatter Gibson sound... so I was somewhat disappointed to find it was weaker and thinner-sounding than the Strat! And it hummed a lot - which is the other easy way to tell. I thought the pickups might be faulty, so I took them apart and was a bit shocked to find that inside.
That was a bit silly of him...
By 'appropriate' pickups I meant something like a pair of old OEM far-east-made DiMarzios (period correct) or a pair of modern Epiphone pickups (price point correct!), or just something else half-decent but cheap. I would certainly not spend over £50 each, and preferably no more than £50 the pair.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
(Vintage Japanese guitars, though. I realise that's bullshit, but it's technically true.)
There is a whole genre of vintage Japanese guitars but gawd most were crap then and crap now .They certainly learned their trade well though .
Just before xmas I bought a Rockburn LP copy for the princely sum of £25.
A cheap Chinese guitar which on the face of it seems a similar spec guitar with a "hard board" cap, crap tuners, crap sounding pick ups (never looked to see if they were HB"s or not) & tone controls that didn"t seem to do anything.
I altered the relief, lowered the action & intonated it.
After advice from on here I fitted Wilkinson EZ-Lok tuners, Vanson 59 Alnico PAF Humbuckers, Alpha pots & a new toggle switch.
I made up a new wiring harness myself.
All the parts came to £70 & totally transformed the guitar.
It is now very playable, stays in tune & sounds great, which it did not before.
The work was very straightforward IMO & well worth it.
I'd generally echo the above comments.
If you're upgrading to make playable, budget accordingly, bearing in mind that:
Also, there are people who collect pristine original examples of older, low-end MIJ stuff, which are actually (very) slowly becoming more scarce because the majority are upgraded in order to render them usable.
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It plays & sounds better than some much dearer Epiphone"s I have tried.
It is however a very cheap guitar.
Besides the hard board "cap" the body wood is crap, & the "routing" looks like it was done by a drunk monkey with a blunt chisel.
It is all hidden underneath thick paint though so actually looks ok & as I said plays & sound good.
I am actually thinking of buying another similar one for £30 & upgrading it to give to my stepson as he likes mine so much.
The pick ups really are a revelation for £30 a pair.