Vintage AV3 - 335 copy

[Bren]

Thinking of buying one of these.

Anybody tried one?

[soupdragon]

Post by Bren
Thinking of buying one of these.
Anybody tried one?

I have one, although its not quite a 335 as the body is smaller.
It's an excellent guitar, with a solid carved maple top (as opposed
to the usual laminate). The setup when I bought it (via eBay) was
pretty terrible, but after a once over, it plays really well. The
tuners look and feel to touch, really flimsy and a bit cheap, but
they are rock solid on the tuning front. Pick ups sound very good
indeed, although they are a touch bright and work well. The 'roll'
control is of limited usefulness as it sounds very thin and, TBH,
a regular tone control would have been better, but that can be fixed
easily.

Bridge and tailpiece are OK and, all in all, it's hard to fault at
the price. I tried it side by side with my genuine Gibson 335 and
it was pretty good - way better than an Epi 335 fared. The Gibson
had a shade more depth, and was slightly mellower at the top end. On
overdrive, there really wasn't a lot in it. If you can get over the
label, you're getting a *lot* of guitar for the money.

I've gigged with this guitar and its pretty robust, with good live
sound through a tube amp and rock solid tuning. I paid £210 for
it from an eBay trader, but it arrived badly shook up in transit
because of poor packing - this might have also been the cause of the
poor set-up but, after £30 spent on a setup, it's a really good guitar.

The reason I bought the guitar was because I needed something to gig
with as I was too scared to take the Gibson. It's filled the bill
really well.

[JNugent]

Post by soupdragon

Post by Bren
Thinking of buying one of these.
Anybody tried one?

I have one, although its not quite a 335 as the body is smaller.
It's an excellent guitar, with a solid carved maple top (as opposed
to the usual laminate). The setup when I bought it (via eBay) was
pretty terrible, but after a once over, it plays really well. The
tuners look and feel to touch, really flimsy and a bit cheap, but
they are rock solid on the tuning front. Pick ups sound very good
indeed, although they are a touch bright and work well. The 'roll'
control is of limited usefulness as it sounds very thin and, TBH,
a regular tone control would have been better, but that can be fixed
easily. [ ... ]

A solid *carved* maple top?

Really?

That would make it equivalent to the top-flight of the Gibson / Heritage
/ Guild-Benedetto ranges (and way better than the actual 335 / ES175 /
Lucille, etc, all of which have pressed ply tops).

[Bren]

Post by JNugent

Post by soupdragon

Post by Bren
Thinking of buying one of these.
Anybody tried one?

I have one, although its not quite a 335 as the body is smaller.
It's an excellent guitar, with a solid carved maple top (as opposed
to the usual laminate). The setup when I bought it (via eBay) was
pretty terrible, but after a once over, it plays really well. The tuners
look and feel to touch, really flimsy and a bit cheap, but
they are rock solid on the tuning front. Pick ups sound very good
indeed, although they are a touch bright and work well. The 'roll'
control is of limited usefulness as it sounds very thin and, TBH, a
regular tone control would have been better, but that can be fixed
easily. [ ... ]

A solid *carved* maple top?
Really?
That would make it equivalent to the top-flight of the Gibson / Heritage /
Guild-Benedetto ranges (and way better than the actual 335 / ES175 /
Lucille, etc, all of which have pressed ply tops).

The carved maple top is *one* of the things that attracted me to this
guitar. Also (from the website)

"the Vintage AV3 is carved from a solid block of premium mahogany, resulting
in a reduced weight acoustically chambered body with solid centre block."



Solid block of premium mahogany ??!!



Where would you get this kind of build quality for less than £1 - 1 1/2 k ?



And Wilkinson hardware has built up a very good reputation in recent years!

[soupdragon]

Post by Bren

Post by JNugent

Post by soupdragon

Post by Bren
Thinking of buying one of these.
Anybody tried one?

I have one, although its not quite a 335 as the body is smaller.
It's an excellent guitar, with a solid carved maple top (as opposed
to the usual laminate). The setup when I bought it (via eBay) was
pretty terrible, but after a once over, it plays really well. The
tuners look and feel to touch, really flimsy and a bit cheap, but
they are rock solid on the tuning front. Pick ups sound very good
indeed, although they are a touch bright and work well. The 'roll'
control is of limited usefulness as it sounds very thin and, TBH, a
regular tone control would have been better, but that can be fixed
easily. [ ... ]

A solid *carved* maple top?
Really?
That would make it equivalent to the top-flight of the Gibson /
Heritage / Guild-Benedetto ranges (and way better than the actual 335
/ ES175 / Lucille, etc, all of which have pressed ply tops).

The carved maple top is *one* of the things that attracted me to this
guitar. Also (from the website)
"the Vintage AV3 is carved from a solid block of premium mahogany,
resulting in a reduced weight acoustically chambered body with solid
centre block."
Solid block of premium mahogany ??!!
Where would you get this kind of build quality for less than £1 - 1 1/2 k ?

TBH I wouldn't describe the mahogany as premium. Premium mahogany has
very noticible banding. The back of my guitar is decidedly plain and
made with 3 pieces - reasonably matched, I'd add.

Post by Bren
And Wilkinson hardware has built up a very good reputation in recent years!

Only the tuners and the pickups are Wilkinson. The rest is generic
Chinese including pots, jack socket bridge and stop bar, but it seems
to work reasonably well. As I said, I've gigged this guitar for 4
months, twice a week, and it seems to be holding up.

[soupdragon]

Post by JNugent

Post by soupdragon

Post by Bren
Thinking of buying one of these.
Anybody tried one?

I have one, although its not quite a 335 as the body is smaller.
It's an excellent guitar, with a solid carved maple top (as opposed
to the usual laminate). The setup when I bought it (via eBay) was
pretty terrible, but after a once over, it plays really well. The
tuners look and feel to touch, really flimsy and a bit cheap, but
they are rock solid on the tuning front. Pick ups sound very good
indeed, although they are a touch bright and work well. The 'roll'
control is of limited usefulness as it sounds very thin and, TBH,
a regular tone control would have been better, but that can be fixed
easily. [ ... ]

A solid *carved* maple top?
Really?

Really! It's something of a selling point by Vintage.
Also see the Guitarist review about 9 months back who
commented on it. It's made in China, so costs are much
lower.

Post by JNugent
That would make it equivalent to the top-flight of the Gibson / Heritage
/ Guild-Benedetto ranges (and way better than the actual 335 / ES175 /
Lucille, etc, all of which have pressed ply tops).

Well, yes, but there are bits other than the top. The back and side
are routed from a single piece of mahogany - Tele Thinline style, which
is probably not quite as good as a built back and side. Also the neck
is spliced to the headstock to strengthen it in typical Chinese/Korean
style of starting around the 2nd fret, rather than the jazz style of
almost under the nut, and so better hidding it.

[Tartan Red]

I've had a couple of Vintages in the past (SG copy & electro-dobro)
and they were both great guitars for the money (£100 & £150 second-
hand, respectively). I just wish they'd make an ES125 copy - that
would definitely open the piggy-bank.