| Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
djobson101
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Okay, I'm sure you guys know a thing or two about Chinese guitars in lieu of some recent talks on them. I looked at a bunch of guitars off of this site 'tradetang.com'... Now obviously, right off the bat I know they have to be copy guitars. Even if they are offering you a guitar at a wholesale price, there's no f#%@#* way they can sell me a Steve Vai JEM, or a hollow body Les Paul for, what? Like 300-400 bucks?
I've read mixed reviews on various forums on this site (tradetang.com), most of them on guitars, bad. Does anyone know about this 'company', or of anyone who has tried a guitar from them? I mean... if it sounded and played (and looked) good, I'd play a knockoff JEM, or hollow body Les Paul. Wouldn't you?
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| Post Date: 11/1/2009 @ 8:56 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
barryg_nyc
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I've heard a lot of mixed reviews. the main issue seems to stem from (a lack of) quality control.
So, you might get something great, but you might not. And, it's not like you can play it somewhere first.
There are other places to get bargain guitars. I'd go to somewhere like Rondo Music before I went the Chinese fake approach. Something like this Agile 3000 goldtopfor $400.
Today, you can get decent quality equipment for
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Barry
2004 Schecter C-1+
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| Post Date: 11/1/2009 @ 9:12 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
six string for hire
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(1) VINTAGE 1964 GIBSON SG STANDARD 100% NICKEL PARTS...
$211.00 dollars
LET'S GET REAL
  
| Post Date: 11/1/2009 @ 9:36 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
Swamp Rocker
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A year ago someone on the forum claimed that he got ripped off by a Chinese guitar company. Money sent, no guitar.
| Post Date: 11/2/2009 @ 12:37 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
six string for hire
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I have found pictures on some of those sites that were "borrowed" from active EBAY listings. Obviously the lister didn't even own that guitar. Buyer beware. As far as knock offs go...A few Ibanez JEMS knock offs made it to EBAY and they were forced to take them off. There ARE laws about that kind of thing.
| Post Date: 11/2/2009 @ 2:23 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
lukybob
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As for the "fake" Gibsons and so on, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true.
| Post Date: 11/2/2009 @ 2:45 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
Mr.Scarazzini
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Of course they're fake copies, but I gotta say those are some cool freakin' copies!
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"A Strat is not a complicated guitar. Treat it well and it will return the favor. Lean on it and it will fight back."
-Stevie Ray Vaughan
| Post Date: 11/2/2009 @ 4:11 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
dspellman
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I like 'em -- I'm thinking of getting a few to put behind plex in the house as display items (and burglar distractions).
| Post Date: 11/2/2009 @ 8:42 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
mdw3332
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Be careful about lumping all "Chinese" guitars in the same lump. (?) I bought a like-new Guild GAD 25 a couple of years ago for $275 when they were selling for around $475 retail. It is a wonderful guitar and now retails for close to $600.
I realize you are talking about different animals, but don't let the "Chinese" label scare you away.
| Post Date: 11/2/2009 @ 10:18 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
dspellman
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The real question I have is not whether the Gibson copies sold directly from China are illegal (they are), but whether they, in particular, are good quality. You can certainly get good guitars from mainstream vendors that were constructed in China, but I'm wondering if the copies are really worth the money. Or if their clandestine production and sale affects quality.
Certainly, it seems that they could do a better job aping Gibson; the ways that people detect them as fakes are well known and certainly available in forums like these on the internet. There's no problem getting accurate photographs and measurements from the real thing to work with. Even modest CNC machines can reproduce things with high accuracy. Why then, the tilted Gibson headstock logos and the incorrect number of screws on the truss rod covers and the metric bridges and all that.
What all this indicates to me is that there's a lack of care producing these copies, and I'm guessing that there's a lack of care in other aspects of their production as well...
| Post Date: 11/3/2009 @ 9:39 am |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
bertie
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cnc machines arent the be all and end all of making acceptable guitars.
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Heres some of my dads pickin' and stuff
Mrs Berts Bits
| Post Date: 11/3/2009 @ 11:11 am |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
Will Chen
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TradeTang is a counterfeiter and as such should not be supported under any circumstance. By knowingly buying a counterfeit, you are breaking the law.
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| Post Date: 11/3/2009 @ 2:41 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
Swamp Rocker
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They do have Federal Marshalls that police copying complaints from US Mfg. You may send money they may send guitar , guitar may be confiscated as contraband. You lose.
You can buy good Chinese and Korean and Indonesian guitars that are ligit, Rondo, Raven, Guitarfetish also many US guitar companies also sell Chinese guitars. Why roll the dice and get burned. It's not ethical to support crooks anyway.
Good idea DSpellman , put out some good looking low priced guitars as decoys so they don't get the good ones. None of mine were over $350 but I do hide the Les Paul. The loss of a pricey Moonstone to a theif would be tragic.
| Post Date: 11/3/2009 @ 3:20 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
Brian Krashpad
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Will and Swamp Rocker are right.
I don't care how good a counterfeit is, it's theft. Stay away.
Like anyone else, Chinese workers can make a decent, playable guitar. I have a Fernandes Ravelle and a Gretsch 'Lectromatic Special Jet that are solid giggable guitars dead stock. The Ravelle comes with Seymour Duncan Jazz/JB pickups, and the Gretsch comes with DeArmond 2000 pickups, both sets are US-made.
With fine LEGAL Chinese guitars available, there's no reason to even consider a counterfeit.
| Post Date: 11/5/2009 @ 3:55 pm |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
jap strat sq
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indoesian guitars have come along way over the last few years id check them out i have some mixed thoughts on anything made in china i feel like any country that would sell face paint made for children to wear on holloween lableing it as safe and hyperalliginic knowing that it contians lead they keep doing it again and again yet we still buy their crap becouse its cheap they have no morals and they could care less about it they do it on purpose and think we are all fools for putting up with itit id rather buy anything not made in china by the way ive seen the clones and they are junk i cant afford to buy made in the u.s.a. very often but i will never give my hard earned money to those heartless bastards
| Post Date: 11/8/2009 @ 4:32 am |
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RE: Discussing 'Chinese' Guitars |
djobson101
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Counterfeiters eh? Well, beside the moral side, or the legal side, or a chance that they might not send it, or it might be confiscated... whoa, this doesn't seem like a good idea at all. No mas tradetang..!
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| Post Date: 11/9/2009 @ 9:22 pm |
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