buying in china

Doc_Savage

hi all,
greetings from Shenyang! i'm over in china with the girlfriend, i'm here for a few more weeks. I've been shopping around the various guitar shops with varying degrees of success. ie. they either stock Gibson and fender guitars at the same prices as in Dublin, or they stock Chinese branded rubbish for less than €100.

but today i had some success, found a shop with a wide range that stocks a lot of guitars over a broad price range and quality range. Here's the dilemma, I've always wanted to have a floyd rose to play around with, i was turned off them years ago as i started playing without a floating tremolo and my right hand heel rests on the bridge when i play, so any guitar i tried out ended up getting benched after i pushed up the pitch when playing like this. (hope that makes sense?) My technique has evolved and i'm not so heavy on the right hand any more, so now i'm looking out for a floydrose to tool about with.

i've found a couple;
option 1:
there are a few ibanez Gios that have caught my eye, white with black hardware and black pickguard? plays and sounds great, they're not fake and they'd cost about €150.

option 2:
there's a fake ibanez Jem, and i mean obviously fake (RG number on back of headstock, black hardware, H-H pickups) thing is it plays and sounds really good! i've had a look under the trem cover and it's not plywood, electronics and pickups are good, there's no scratching or buzzing. here's why i'm tempted, it's only about €110. a second hand RG neck off the bay would cost more than that! and the neck seems to be legit and just lifted from an RG.

Option 3;
there's a brand, name eludes me at the minute, that have locking trems, emg hz's and have a "vibe" if you know what i mean? they look sweet, are well made and feel good in the hands. they're about €170 but if you ignore the lack of a recognizable brand then they are a sound buy.

Option 4;
Kramers, the last time i was here i almost bought one! i have very little knowledge about modern Kramers and am almost sure they're fake. but again they tick all the right boxes for me! i haven't looked into them since i was thinking about getting their explorer one and then got a gibson explorer off the 'bay! they seem to go for about the €120 mark.

bottom line is... i dunno where my priority's should lie. they're all super strats, they're all cheap, they all play reasonably well. do i go for what i know is real or do i bite the bullet and just go for something the likes of which i'm not sure i'll ever see again?

comments and opinions welcome as always!

population

Personally if a guitar feels right sounds right and plays right, I will buy it. Really do not care about brands. For sell on value brand names are important but as you will be dropping less than 200 anyway just buy something you want and have fun with it

caoty

Doc_Savage wrote: »

hi all,
greetings from Shenyang! i'm over in china with the girlfriend, i'm here for a few more weeks. I've been shopping around the various guitar shops with varying degrees of success. ie. they either stock Gibson and fender guitars at the same prices as in Dublin, or they stock Chinese branded rubbish for less than €100.

but today i had some success, found a shop with a wide range that stocks a lot of guitars over a broad price range and quality range. Here's the dilemma, I've always wanted to have a floyd rose to play around with, i was turned off them years ago as i started playing without a floating tremolo and my right hand heel rests on the bridge when i play, so any guitar i tried out ended up getting benched after i pushed up the pitch when playing like this. (hope that makes sense?) My technique has evolved and i'm not so heavy on the right hand any more, so now i'm looking out for a floydrose to tool about with.

i've found a couple;
option 1:
there are a few ibanez Gios that have caught my eye, white with black hardware and black pickguard? plays and sounds great, they're not fake and they'd cost about €150.

option 2:
there's a fake ibanez Jem, and i mean obviously fake (RG number on back of headstock, black hardware, H-H pickups) thing is it plays and sounds really good! i've had a look under the trem cover and it's not plywood, electronics and pickups are good, there's no scratching or buzzing. here's why i'm tempted, it's only about €110. a second hand RG neck off the bay would cost more than that! and the neck seems to be legit and just lifted from an RG.

Option 3;
there's a brand, name eludes me at the minute, that have locking trems, emg hz's and have a "vibe" if you know what i mean? they look sweet, are well made and feel good in the hands. they're about €170 but if you ignore the lack of a recognizable brand then they are a sound buy.

Option 4;
Kramers, the last time i was here i almost bought one! i have very little knowledge about modern Kramers and am almost sure they're fake. but again they tick all the right boxes for me! i haven't looked into them since i was thinking about getting their explorer one and then got a gibson explorer off the 'bay! they seem to go for about the €120 mark.

bottom line is... i dunno where my priority's should lie. they're all super strats, they're all cheap, they all play reasonably well. do i go for what i know is real or do i bite the bullet and just go for something the likes of which i'm not sure i'll ever see again?

comments and opinions welcome as always!

How much does a good acoustic one cost there?

Doc_Savage

bear this in mind, when you say good, the ones you want are the made in china guitars by big manufacturers. they'll be about half the price they are in Dublin. the quality of the local guitars is very hit and miss.... i'm not really looking at them that much as i can't dismantle them and put them in a suitcase! which is what i'll probably do!

if you're heading over here i could try and point out the shops i've been to in shenyang?

caoty

Doc_Savage wrote: »

bear this in mind, when you say good, the ones you want are the made in china guitars by big manufacturers. they'll be about half the price they are in Dublin. the quality of the local guitars is very hit and miss.... i'm not really looking at them that much as i can't dismantle them and put them in a suitcase! which is what i'll probably do!

if you're heading over here i could try and point out the shops i've been to in shenyang?

I am heading to Beijing this summer (the end of June). I want to bring back a quality acoustic (non-classical, "folk") guitar. Just wondering what the price range is like.

Doc_Savage

honestly mate the best advice i can give you is beware of fakes and shop around!

If you have a Chinese friend good at haggling get them to buy it for you when you're not in the shop.... they're well set up in Beijing to fleece foreigners!(my missus does this for me! she made a guy in hong kong cry when i was getting a camera lens:D)

saying that, you can find some ,as you put it, "folk" guitars that are local brand and made out of gorgeous woods, the fret dressing often leaves a lot to be desired, and bear in mind that the guitar ain't that popular in china so trying them out you might feel light rust on the frets, nothing a bit of careful masking, silvo and then a lick of GHS fast fret could turn into a stonker! Also worth warning you away from shops that wrap their guitars in plastic so you can't play them... they tend to do the old bait and switch routine!

anyway, as long as you don't have a specific model or brand in mind then one days well spent exploring will undoubtedly get you something (or a lot of things in my case) that will tick all the boxes for you and leave you well within your budget!

(PS, all the superstrats listed above can have a "fender" molded strat case included for an extra €10, hope that can give you an indication of the savings possible)

Doc_Savage

well today i went and bought a guitar in china... pics will follow... well they will as soon as i can find somewhere to host them thats not blocked over here!

Doc_Savage

here we are; all the info i have on this thing is in the photo's... it's a Bole?
licenced floyd rose, HsH pickup layout, fully bound neck head and body. maple cap on a mystery body.. apparently mahogany with a maple neck thru.

the good stuff;
big thick neck, baseball bat territory for something that has a locking tremolo. this was in fact the decider between this thing and another strange but similar guitar. Sounds really strong, not as thin and harsh as i though it was going to! the maple cap looks really nice in the light.

the bad stuff;
the guitar is a little shop worn, i'd say it was there for a while, nothing bad mind you. That fret marker on the twelfth fret is horrid, but i know i'm probably not going to see another one for a while anyway! there are some tiny Qc issues, like the paint on the back of the guitar bleeds over the binding in a few little spots and it might get a fret dress.





see what i mean about the twelfth fret marker?




anyway it all came down to the bottom line... i got a hardcase with the guitar, a guitar lead (unbranded) 2 sets of ghs boomers, a nice leather Levy's strap, and a fistfull of plec's. grand total price? About €150!

Did i do good? Did I?:D

feylya

I'd probably drop another €300 swapping out the bridge for an OFR and drop in a couple SD's into the neck and bridge but yeah, that looks ok :P

Doc_Savage

man she sounds good but i won't know for sure if the fr holds up till i give it some abuse! may install rollerbearings if the knife edges go! that's a project for another day though... i was thinking of sticking a pair of bare knuckle warpigs into it for the laugh somewhere down the line!

for the money, it's rare that you'd do better anywhere to be honest!

feylya

You should be able to pick up an OFR for about €100, a Schaller one for less. Worth the upgrade.

What's the volume knob like when you're using the neck pickup? The switch looks like it'd be awfully close.

How long til the 12th fret marker is gonna be popped and replaced?

Doc_Savage

the volume knob's not as close as it looks, very wide angle lens! anyway that's not something that bothers me, the controls are away from the playing area which sometimes bothers me on strats(i still unintentionally turn them down when playing!)
i'll wreck the trem in it before i replace it! and no idea what i'd replace it with!
and i would "pop and replace" the marker if i had something to replace it with (NVB would look nice), likewise the headstock logo, that way no one would have a clue what it was! ha!