Freya Guitars

Patricide

Has anyone checked these lads out on Adverts? Seems to be a kerry guitar company with good priced stuff.

Cant comment on the quality, never played them myself but the inlays on the prs knockoff and the jem knockoff seem pretty good so id imagine they would be somewhat decent.

Tempted to take a punt on a strat or an acoustic at the moment and see how shes cutting. Anyone here played or heard one of these things?

Link to the ad for anyone whos interested. By the way im not affiliated in any way but I am highly interested, especially because its the first irish company i see making a stab at reasonably priced guitars(i.e. not just doing custom shop stuff)

http://adverts.ie/275988

IVRZ

How you know that's from Freya? Its not marked on it anywhere.

I got one of their strats. It was ok, nothing special, a bit cheaper than a squire and a bit worse. Nice body and finish. Nicely finished neck. Pups rather thin and lifeless. Frets not level. Im replacing the neck with a different one and will probably replace the pups too.
Allright for the money I suppose.
I Felt the same as you, irish company etc, but frankly i was dissappointed. Especially with all the hype on their ebhay listings.
Now i deal with another irish company who do guitars called stellah. Youll find them on ebhay and elsewhere. Theyre bringing in guitars as good as the freya stuff for under 100 euro. Youll need to do a bit of setup change strings and maybe even level a fret or two etc but its an irish company doing even more reasonable prices and they're reliable. And no im not related to them.
Hope nthis helps
Cheers

Patricide

To be honest i just noticed i posted the wrong link now....embarressing. This is what I meant to post: http://www.adverts.ie/253482/guitar-and-bass/freya-fyjs-10-with-handle-licensed-floyd-rose-locking-tremolo-and-nut/

But yeah sad to hear that the guitars arent up to scratch. O well looks like il be saving for the next while and waiting to find a taylor at a good price so!

Any sound clips by any chance of the g tar? Pics of the fretboard?

IVRZ

Well it all looks nice enough and you're not going to hear the quality difference in a sound clip i think. Ive changed the neck like i say and will the pups. At least ive got a nice body for the price. I was just expecting a lot more after reading their add.

Patricide

What I would expect would be a guitar thats essentially a great body with cack electronics. If the neck is rubbish though I wouldn't go near em with a 10 foot pole.

IVRZ

THe neck isnt rubbish but i would have had to level the frets and as i didnt have the equipment for that at the time i stripped out the frets and used it as a fretless for a while. Nice piece of wood., Tuners ok, generic chinese, do the job.Plastic nut. But I couldnt get the action down where i wanted it

guitarboy

Can't help but have to add my 0.02€ here. I've dealt with Robert and Anne on a few occasions here and there over the last few years (I'm in Kerry too) and they couldn't have been better to deal with. I've bought a Freya strat and an acoustic from them, and in both cases the guitars came perfectly set up and playable right out of the box. The pickups on the strat are very vintage-sounding, not the meaty-growly sound of a hottish pickup, but they do have the sparkle that's missing in some of the other newer strats I have here. The desired vintage sound of old strats is that sparkle, not the more modern sound from the newer stuff, and yes, those old pickups are quieter than the newer ones.

IVRZ - did you buy that strat new from them, or was it 2nd-hand? They have a no-questions-asked return policy, if you didn't like it why didn't you just return it to them?
I notice you advertise your services for fret work on Adverts.
I've seen Robert working on frets and he's set up a custom shop strat for me. Did a great job of it too, really brought it to life. He made me sit down and play it just to get the setup the way I wanted it, and wouldn't let me take it away until it felt just right to me.

Patricide, surely it's wrong to compare a guitar in the sub-€150 range with a top of the line Taylor costing perhaps ten times as much or more? Be fair - compare apples with apples.

I have a friend who has a Stellah guitar and no, they're not the same. I've played both, and the Freya is definitely a step above it. You get what you pay for, and a strat for 59.99 is just that, a strat for 59.99. Nothing wrong with them, and I don't mean to say anything bad about Stellah, but again, compare like with like. If you spend €2k on a custom shop Fender strat it will be better than a Freya one for €129.99. No surprises there. But for my money, the Freya is a superb guitar for the price, nothing I've played in that price range comes close.

And no, just to make it VERY clear, I'm not related to them either, just a very happy customer (and collector of vintage fenders, so I can make the comparison) who's been treated very well by them and is happy to recommend their guitars and services.

Patricide

guitarboy wrote: »

Can't help but have to add my 0.02€ here. I've dealt with Robert and Anne on a few occasions here and there over the last few years (I'm in Kerry too) and they couldn't have been better to deal with. I've bought a Freya strat and an acoustic from them, and in both cases the guitars came perfectly set up and playable right out of the box. The pickups on the strat are very vintage-sounding, not the meaty-growly sound of a hottish pickup, but they do have the sparkle that's missing in some of the other newer strats I have here. The desired vintage sound of old strats is that sparkle, not the more modern sound from the newer stuff, and yes, those old pickups are quieter than the newer ones.

IVRZ - did you buy that strat new from them, or was it 2nd-hand? They have a no-questions-asked return policy, if you didn't like it why didn't you just return it to them?
I notice you advertise your services for fret work on Adverts.
I've seen Robert working on frets and he's set up a custom shop strat for me. Did a great job of it too, really brought it to life. He made me sit down and play it just to get the setup the way I wanted it, and wouldn't let me take it away until it felt just right to me.

Patricide, surely it's wrong to compare a guitar in the sub-€150 range with a top of the line Taylor costing perhaps ten times as much or more? Be fair - compare apples with apples.

I have a friend who has a Stellah guitar and no, they're not the same. I've played both, and the Freya is definitely a step above it. You get what you pay for, and a strat for 59.99 is just that, a strat for 59.99. Nothing wrong with them, and I don't mean to say anything bad about Stellah, but again, compare like with like. If you spend €2k on a custom shop Fender strat it will be better than a Freya one for €129.99. No surprises there. But for my money, the Freya is a superb guitar for the price, nothing I've played in that price range comes close.

And no, just to make it VERY clear, I'm not related to them either, just a very happy customer (and collector of vintage fenders, so I can make the comparison) who's been treated very well by them and is happy to recommend their guitars and services.

Sorry if my post made you think I was comparing them with taylor, however I wasnt. I was just saying id rather save up the little cash I have and hope to find a cheap taylor as opposed to getting a stop gap.

I wouldnt expect there guitars to compete with a taylor! I dont expect martins to compare with a taylor in my eyes(controversial to say this yes, but I just prefer the feel and tone of a taylor). What I would compare them to are other well made budget guitars. Iv yet to play anything thatd beat a yamaha for the price, but im always looking for new alternatives.

Id love to say that there guitars are great. Im all for an irish upstart(especially when its local to my home town). But iv heard no more reports so far, no demos on youtube or whatnot. And not a word from anyone else whos bought one. Hence this thread

guitarboy

Yes, always best to get what you want rather than get "something that will do", we've all been there with that one. I do agree with you about the Yamaha's, they are great. I have an older AP9C (I think that's what it says on it) and it's great, I really love it, though the built-in mic does howl if you stand too near a speaker. I also have an older Tanglewood with a Fishman Prefix system on it (the expensive one) and I love that too. The Freya acoustic I have is good in it's own way also, it actually belies it's low price, and while it's not as good as the Taylor, if I want to go to a gig that might be a bit rowdy I'll take that along - no point in risking damage to an expensive guitar. It actually can do the job.
Controversial about the Martin all right, though I know what you're saying about the Taylor, I like those too. Somewhere I have an address of a chap in Florida who'll discount those, not many guys will discount those, and even if you have to pay the duty and vat you're still miles ahead. Let me know if you want it and I'll find it for you.
I think there are a few videos on youtube of Freya's, I follow them on Facebook and there's a link there. I think if you look for Freya Guitars you should be able to find them. I know they're not (yet) trying to compete with the expensive guitars out there, but I think they are trying to bring a good product to market at a very reasonable price. Lots of ebay feedback too.
Let me know if you want that Florida chap's contact details and I'll find it for you.

Patricide

guitarboy wrote: »

Yes, always best to get what you want rather than get "something that will do", we've all been there with that one. I do agree with you about the Yamaha's, they are great. I have an older AP9C (I think that's what it says on it) and it's great, I really love it, though the built-in mic does howl if you stand too near a speaker. I also have an older Tanglewood with a Fishman Prefix system on it (the expensive one) and I love that too. The Freya acoustic I have is good in it's own way also, it actually belies it's low price, and while it's not as good as the Taylor, if I want to go to a gig that might be a bit rowdy I'll take that along - no point in risking damage to an expensive guitar. It actually can do the job.
Controversial about the Martin all right, though I know what you're saying about the Taylor, I like those too. Somewhere I have an address of a chap in Florida who'll discount those, not many guys will discount those, and even if you have to pay the duty and vat you're still miles ahead. Let me know if you want it and I'll find it for you.
I think there are a few videos on youtube of Freya's, I follow them on Facebook and there's a link there. I think if you look for Freya Guitars you should be able to find them. I know they're not (yet) trying to compete with the expensive guitars out there, but I think they are trying to bring a good product to market at a very reasonable price. Lots of ebay feedback too.
Let me know if you want that Florida chap's contact details and I'll find it for you.

O god, maybe sometime in the new year il give you a shout about them but at the moment im not living the high life at all. Just moved to germany and because my language skills are still not perfect im working part time while forking out for for german lessons.

As for the taylor martin thing, I think its just because im an electric player first and formost and taylors are set up very similar to an electric. Martins have a very acoustic feel(which of course is natural,being acoustic guitars an all . Tis a hard un to explain!

slavetothegrind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYBut1E0uac

guitarboy

Not a prob, Patricide, let me now when you want that chap's contact details and I'll pass them on to you. Good luck in Germany!!

Patricide

slavetothegrind wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYBut1E0uac

Just a pity they used the cameras inbuilt mic in a very bright room..at least the guy has a bit of craic in him though, refreshing in comparison to these pretentious suit ad tie types. Im pretty sure iv seen that dude play in my old local a good few times with his missus.

IVRZ

And that's my favourite beer too, great choice, fine german pilsner at absurdly low price. Slainte.

Da GOAT

Freya got a fairly solid review on UG

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/electric_guitars/freya/les_paul/index.html

shizz

Any stores stock that acoustic? Would really like to try it out.

Patricide

Try ringing hugh cullotys tralee and asking nick(hes head of the guitar stuff down there). They said they work with the music shop in killarney too but i cant remember its name.

guitarboy

Yeah, those guys gig as well, he mostly does a one-man thing but sometimes his missus is there also. Kind of a rock, country sort of thing.

guitarboy

Shizz - these guys are opening a music shop in the Killarney area soon. Their contact details are on their ebay shop.

BIGDOGG

i have a freya strat and an explorer. i find them to be fantastic, as good as
any budget guitar mex fender or epiphones etc. i would place it at the mid/top end of the mex/epi range guitars. i am playing 20 years and own lots of guitars, i bring these gigging.

i found the set up perfect, the only thing i'd say is the machine heads are muck. spend the extra few bob on heads and away you go.....

IVRZ wrote: »

How you know that's from Freya? Its not marked on it anywhere.

I got one of their strats. It was ok, nothing special, a bit cheaper than a squire and a bit worse. Nice body and finish. Nicely finished neck. Pups rather thin and lifeless. Frets not level. Im replacing the neck with a different one and will probably replace the pups too.
Allright for the money I suppose.
I Felt the same as you, irish company etc, but frankly i was dissappointed. Especially with all the hype on their ebhay listings.
Now i deal with another irish company who do guitars called stellah. Youll find them on ebhay and elsewhere. Theyre bringing in guitars as good as the freya stuff for under 100 euro. Youll need to do a bit of setup change strings and maybe even level a fret or two etc but its an irish company doing even more reasonable prices and they're reliable. And no im not related to them.
Hope nthis helps
Cheers

K.Hammett

Bought the electro-acoustic the other day. Its a lovely guitar for the price. It looks a lot more expensive than it is and plays like a guitar that would generally cost over 200 euro.

Saying this, I do have one problem with it. On the the B and high E strings, between around the 4th and 9th fret, when i bend the strings while playing it can sometimes give off a buzz. Its nothing major, but is just one of those things that would bother you more than people who are listening to you play. Otherwise though, I am very happy with it. Easily worth the €130 I payed.

P H A 7V T O M

Not to necro an old thread but.... that J-EM is fantastic for the money. I got one recently. Licensed FR tromelo and the tone is fabulous. I have an Ibanez RGR premium, bought for 500 euro (more than double the price of the 200 euro J-EM Freya have). Perfect for heavy metal like Pantera, Megadeth, Lamb of God, Killswitch etc but also great for old hard rock like Van Halen, Deep Purple, Black Flag, Eric Clapton etc. Couldn't think of anything close for anywhere near the asking price really.


Feels like i stole it to be honest. :eek: