Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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JD01
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

Post by JD01 »

haha, at first glance that looks nice... but then you look at it and its not quite right. Obviously the bridge/knobs being slightly out of proportion...

Speaking of Mosrite. Have you seen the Dalelectro 66? Looks pretty cool.

Check this out:
http://danelectro.com/product/new-66/

Shit, I shouldn't be looking:
https://reverb.com/uk/p/univox-hi-flyer ... id=4417454
i have a tax bill to pay and a new bass to buy.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

Post by Greg_L »

JD01 wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 10:26 am haha, at first glance that looks nice... but then you look at it and its not quite right. Obviously the bridge/knobs being slightly out of proportion...

Speaking of Mosrite. Have you seen the Dalelectro 66? Looks pretty cool.

Check this out:
http://danelectro.com/product/new-66/

Not a fan. I don't like the original Mosrite Combo, I'm not gonna like some weirdo lipstick humbucker copy either.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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Greg_L wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 10:44 am
JD01 wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 10:26 am haha, at first glance that looks nice... but then you look at it and its not quite right. Obviously the bridge/knobs being slightly out of proportion...

Speaking of Mosrite. Have you seen the Dalelectro 66? Looks pretty cool.

Check this out:
http://danelectro.com/product/new-66/

Not a fan. I don't like the original Mosrite Combo, I'm not gonna like some weirdo lipstick humbucker copy either.
Yeah, that humbucker is a bit weird. Cool looking guitar though and nice that someone else is still producing the oddball, Mosrite shape.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

Post by Greg_L »

JD01 wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 10:47 am
Yeah, that humbucker is a bit weird. Cool looking guitar though and nice that someone else is still producing the oddball, Mosrite shape.
There are a lot of Mosrite-ish clone builders. Most of them are Japanese, but a few here in the US. My Hallmark is a clone, and IMO probably the best clone out there. And it has a better neck than real Mosrites. When I was hunting for Mosrites, the Hallmarks seemed to be the best of the not-real ones.

The Jap stuff is amazing though. Fillmore and Kurokumo Mosrites are great.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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Greg_L wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 8:29 am
JD01 wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 7:25 am
Just what you're actually looking at getting, how much you'd expect to pay, how you went about organising it, and what the final quality of it is... there's no real sense in replacing the PRS with something shit, just 'cos it looks cooler though. The PRS, while ugly as fuck, is actually a pretty nice guitar.

No rush though, its not like I'm buying another guitar any time soon and I'm sure you'll give us a separate thread about whatever you're planning when its all sorted. I'm definitely very happy with the sound of a PRS loaded guitar though and will be using it a lot.
The first step is finding the right Chibson pirate. It's kind of like movie torrents. You can download a shaky hand-held iphone recording from a guy sitting in a theater, or you can get a Blue-Ray rip that's perfect. I was not involved in this process. My bandmate is on facebook and is part of some usergroup that networks and shares their good and bad Chibson experiences. They have a list of trusted sources, so he picked one of them. Then you go to their online store, usually on aliexpress, and browse what they have for sale. It's usually mindblowing stuff. If you see something you like, you contact them. Hopefully their English communication skills are good.

If you see something you like but want to change a few things, the good Chinese counterfeiters can accommodate that. My bandmate also just bought a stunning Tobacco burst LP Custom with a black-back finish. $237. Lol. They can sometimes add things like a LP Custom headstock inlay on an SG, or in our case, neck binding on a LP Jr. I think we also opted for the tune-o-matic + tailpiece instead of wraparound stopbar. Better intonation adjustability is a good idea from a Chinese sweatshop. They can do things like that. They're gonna use junk tuners and pickups and pots and stuff, but that's no big deal. If you tell them you want Kluson tuners, they'll use junko cheap knockoffs, but the holes will at least be drilled for real ones you can swap in later. You can specify wood and construction. Like if you want a 70s style Maple neck, ebony board, with an unchambered Mahogany body, some of them can do that. The one thing they all seem to have in common is the maple cap veneer. It's not actually a thick maple cap like a proper LP. It's sometimes a carved full-Mahogany body with a paper-thin flamed maple veneer, or it will be a decent but ugly maple cap with a thin flamed maple veneer. Either way, it's a veneer for the maple top finish. The worst of the bunch will use an actual wood looking sticker. :facepalm: One thing the chinese often get very right is the finish. They do some amazing paint/stain work and clearcoating. They can't seem to get the color we asked for, but whatever color they paint it will be done well.

So you find a seller, give em your specs, and they build them somewhere in Pyongyang or something. My bandmate already has a 59 LP Chibson, and I'll be damned if it doesn't look exactly like a real one. We had it at a gig one time, and I showed to a total gear snob dude I'm friends with and told him it was a real 59. The guy damn near shit his pants that we'd take a real 59 LP to a crappy club gig. He didn't even want to touch it. I picked it up and spun it around in my hands like a baton and the guy lost his mind. Lol. I let him off the hook a few minutes later. The point is, some of them look that good. The problem to me with this "59" in particular, is that while it looks great, it's really light and way too resonant. It has this hollow midrange honk that sounds more like an ES guitar than a LP. It's so light. I don't know what kind o reject Mahogany they used, but it must be very porous or something. It almost sounds like a hollow body.

The build quality of the guitars themselves is a crapshoot. They usually are mostly playable right out of the box. They look way better than they actually are. But for a few hundred bucks and a gamble, you could get a fantastic looking gigging guitar that you don't care about if it falls over and gets dinged up. Fret ends might need some work, fret leveling will most definitely need some work, and usual set up stuff needs to happen. You will absolutely need to swap in better pots, switches, and pickups. That's a best-case scenario. Worst case stuff is the neck might be set wrong, the bridge will be too far forwards or backwards or the strings won't line up over the pickup pole pieces, one E-string will be closer to the edge of the fretboard than the other, The pots won't be oriented correctly, stuff like that. That's the gamble you take with a cheap chinese knockoff guitar. Risk/reward. At best you can get an Epiphone quality "Gibson", or worse,a useless piece of shit. Absolute worst case is they just take your money and send you nothing. But for the most part I've seen more success stories than total basketcases.
this is awesome. Seriously. 300 bucks isn't much to gamble with. besides it's a good starting point. you could easily have someone spruce these things up. I could get myself into a lot of trouble with this knowledge :sherlock: :sherlock: :lollers: :like:
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

Post by Greg_L »

WhiskeyJack wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 2:29 pm

this is awesome. Seriously. 300 bucks isn't much to gamble with. besides it's a good starting point. you could easily have someone spruce these things up. I could get myself into a lot of trouble with this knowledge :sherlock: :sherlock: :lollers: :like:
Honestly, if you get a good seller, IMO they're not worse than the average Epiphone. In fact, many of the Chibsons are bodies and necks from the Epi factories. The gamble is getting what you pay for...even at only 300 bucks. If you get an legit Chinese counterfeiter, you'll get a pretty good accurate guitar that can be fixed up with better pickups and hardware. This will leave you with a very nice playable, giggable solid guitar that just happens to be fake Gibson. Hell, some real Gibsons are pieces of shit. But if you get a Chinese asshole, then God only knows what you'll end up with, if it even shows up at all. There's not much you can do to dispute the transaction, and good luck getting a refund from a Chinese counterfeiter.

For me personally, I wouldn't risk the 300 dollars. I don't need or want a fake Gibson that badly. But if someone else does it, cool. I have no problems with anyone going that route because some of them are really cool.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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Greg_L wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 2:42 pm
WhiskeyJack wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 2:29 pm

this is awesome. Seriously. 300 bucks isn't much to gamble with. besides it's a good starting point. you could easily have someone spruce these things up. I could get myself into a lot of trouble with this knowledge :sherlock: :sherlock: :lollers: :like:
Honestly, if you get a good seller, IMO they're not worse than the average Epiphone. In fact, many of the Chibsons are bodies and necks from the Epi factories. The gamble is getting what you pay for...even at only 300 bucks. If you get an legit Chinese counterfeiter, you'll get a pretty good accurate guitar that can be fixed up with better pickups and hardware. This will leave you with a very nice playable, giggable solid guitar that just happens to be fake Gibson. Hell, some real Gibsons are pieces of shit. But if you get a Chinese asshole, then God only knows what you'll end up with, if it even shows up at all. There's not much you can do to dispute the transaction, and good luck getting a refund from a Chinese counterfeiter.

For me personally, I wouldn't risk the 300 dollars. I don't need or want a fake Gibson that badly. But if someone else does it, cool. I have no problems with anyone going that route because some of them are really cool.
So for argument sake if i had a picture of a gibson and said "build me this" they would? or do you gotta do all the finishing yourself?
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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WhiskeyJack wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 3:19 pm

So for argument sake if i had a picture of a gibson and said "build me this" they would? or do you gotta do all the finishing yourself?
No no, it aint like that. There are a bunch of "stores" on a place like aliexpress. It's like Amazon for cheapo Chinese knockoff shit. Anyway, you type in something like..."Les Paul Custom"...and a bunch of fakes will show up like ebay or Amazon. So you browse through them and find one you like. You can then look closer at their options and policies. Some of them will modify the pictured model to different specs like slimmer neck, binding, fretboard material, etc. Some of them can go real deep into stuff like refinishes and inlays and stuff. It just depends on the seller. So find something you like the looks of, and see if they can tweak it further if you want. Sometimes they can, sometimes they can't, sometimes you're up shit creek no matter what. If you get a good seller that speaks English decent enough, they will try to accommodate whatever you want. Love you long time!
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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There are some shocking ones though. Crimson, reviewed one on the bench at their place in a video and it was a fucking dog. Great if you get a good one though I suppose.

How does the price compare with a cheap Epi? Cos you could actually try them in a shop first make sure they play alright then upgrade the parts. Suppose they don't do Epi jrs or specials though so they
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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JD01 wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 4:11 pm There are some shocking ones though. Crimson, reviewed one on the bench at their place in a video and it was a fucking dog. Great if you get a good one though I suppose.
Crimson hates anything that isn't one of their fucking art concept coffee table guitars though.
How does the price compare with a cheap Epi? Cos you could actually try them in a shop first make sure they play alright then upgrade the parts. Suppose they don't do Epi jrs or specials though so they
The price is comparable to a cheap Epi. They're essentially the same guitars. If you just want something that says "Gibson" then the Chibson is a good way to go. Or if you want to totally scam people, the Chibson is a win. I think a well done Chibson is probably on par with a good Epiphone. I don't condone scamming people. I'd never sell a Chibson as a real Gibson. I don't condone it or support it. But I don't care if someone wants to buy a Chibson for their own fun and games though.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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Greg_L wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 4:26 pm
JD01 wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 4:11 pm There are some shocking ones though. Crimson, reviewed one on the bench at their place in a video and it was a fucking dog. Great if you get a good one though I suppose.
Crimson hates anything that isn't one of their fucking art concept coffee table guitars though.
How does the price compare with a cheap Epi? Cos you could actually try them in a shop first make sure they play alright then upgrade the parts. Suppose they don't do Epi jrs or specials though so they
The price is comparable to a cheap Epi. They're essentially the same guitars. If you just want something that says "Gibson" then the Chibson is a good way to go. Or if you want to totally scam people, the Chibson is a win. I think a well done Chibson is probably on par with a good Epiphone. I don't condone scamming people. I'd never sell a Chibson as a real Gibson. I don't condone it or support it. But I don't care if someone wants to buy a Chibson for their own fun and games though.
haha, here it is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYk2GATHVVw

Yeah, its not my cup of tea to have a fake guitar and pretend its a Gibson, but if someone wants to enjoy it, doesn't bother me really. Its not like they're actually competing with Gibson.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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Greg_L wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 3:34 pm
WhiskeyJack wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 3:19 pm

So for argument sake if i had a picture of a gibson and said "build me this" they would? or do you gotta do all the finishing yourself?
No no, it aint like that. There are a bunch of "stores" on a place like aliexpress. It's like Amazon for cheapo Chinese knockoff shit. Anyway, you type in something like..."Les Paul Custom"...and a bunch of fakes will show up like ebay or Amazon. So you browse through them and find one you like. You can then look closer at their options and policies. Some of them will modify the pictured model to different specs like slimmer neck, binding, fretboard material, etc. Some of them can go real deep into stuff like refinishes and inlays and stuff. It just depends on the seller. So find something you like the looks of, and see if they can tweak it further if you want. Sometimes they can, sometimes they can't, sometimes you're up shit creek no matter what. If you get a good seller that speaks English decent enough, they will try to accommodate whatever you want. Love you long time!
:lollers: :lollers: 2 dallah sucky sucky

Brilliant. I'll have a sniff around at some point AFTER i finish the tele and AFTER i upgrade the Epi. I don't need more distractions for that free time of mine that doesn't exisit.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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WhiskeyJack wrote: Thu May 11, 2017 7:45 pm

:lollers: :lollers: 2 dallah sucky sucky

Brilliant. I'll have a sniff around at some point AFTER i finish the tele and AFTER i upgrade the Epi. I don't need more distractions for that free time of mine that doesn't exisit.
Maaaaaan, look at this one. It has the right bridge, right bridge placement, good knob spacing and everything.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Sh ... 9193a09682
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

Post by WhiskeyJack »

DEADLY!!! that binding is pretty spectacular too. Wine red to boot. that's right up there in my fave LP finishes.

1-Goldtop
2-Seafom Green (Solid)
3- Wine Red.

nice find gergory.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

Post by muttley »

The cutaway is completely wrong too.... Frankly I can spot a dud in about 2 seconds after many years analysing this shit... That one is spectaculaly poor.
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Re: Mutt90 Soapbar - Vintage spec - Gerg

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