Jimi Mac Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Yes, I know, it's a (very) poor man's CC#1, but I do like the Vintage Brand V100 LP knock-offs... This arrived to me @ my place of work yesterday: Vintage Reissued Series @ John Hornby Skewes Co. UK I haven't even had a chance for the unboxing yet... We're in the middle of a severe winter weather event here and I've had way to much prep and response work to have the time to unpack my new axe yet... I'm hoping to get around to the unboxing in the next day or two... This weekend by the latest for certain, but hopefully sooner... I'll post real pics of my new axe and maybe a demo vid or two in short order... Fingers crossed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Sorry to hear about the weather. I hope the locals are safe. I wish you the best of friendships with the PG inspired axe. I know how much you love the man and if the guitar is anywhere near being as good as the reviews then I'm sure you'll be floored. Congrats on the new addition! P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Looking through the models available their guitars look attractive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Looking through the models available their guitars look attractive. Yes, I did alot of research on them and the history of Vintage brand guitars; Trevor Wilkinson is quite impressive, from being taken under the wing of and close personal friends with Seth Lover to his ongoing guitars and gear/hardware pioneering, perfecting, and manufacturing, his endeavors are quite notable. The prior model the bolt necked Les Paul copy V99's were quite good and when he went to the set necked V100 they became exceptional. His pickups are actually exceptional IMHO, and while these guitars are over-seas imports he's chosen the higher quality somewhat more artisan focused Korean factories as opposed to the larger mass-production facilities in China. I'm not certain if they're still made in Korea at this time or if they've moved. I heard rumor about Vietnam, but I haven't done the research to know for sure. My very first Les Paul style guitar was the Vintage V100GT (Goldtop) after my Danny Kirwan revelation and subsequent disciplehood... The Vintage V100's are easily, at the very least, on a par with the Epiphones that I've personally seen, tried, and compared. IMHO they may actually hold the edge in quality and playability over the Epiphones of similar configuration. The finishes are really nice too... I also have one of their Vintage VS6 (SG style) guitars and while the feel and hardware, especially the pickups are exceptional being directly influenced by Seth Lover with an exceptionally hot and un-potted bridge pickup making it formidable in hard core rock tone and has a wicked crunch and fluid fuzz... But I lost the lottery on the neck on that axe; as the neck wood was apparently finished before the wood was properly dried and seasoned and it is confounding in its temperamental nature and is very affected by environmental conditions and temperatures and goes in and out of adjustment with a dogged persistence that is antagonistic... So much so I named it; "Johnny Reb." I'll share this demo of that axe before I relegated it to my slide work: This VS6 (Johnny Reb) responds fantastically to solid-state amps and analog or digital overdrives. It holds a really hard rock grind like a champ, but that hot Wilkinson bridge pickup will squeal like a Banshee on Halloween under the right circumstances with a tube amp with hard tube gain suck as Tube Screamers and alike... I've given up making it a player's axe for picking and have relegated it as my slide axe for some Duane Allman/Dickey Betts style music and it kicks @$$ for some Elmore James numbers! I put some D'Addario Balanced Tension 11's on it and tuned it up to Open-E for slide work and raised the action enough to keep it away from the fret-buzz issues I was having with it... It's actually got some exceptional tone for slide, but I am just way too hard-up for more time to practice my slide work and it gets neglected badly... I'm considering selling it because I can hardly find the time to practice my regular playing let alone my slide playing... Vintage brand can be a lottery, most are very very good, but every once in a while you get one that is very fickle in the neck for setting up with consistency. If you have the wear-with-all to keep after it you can make even the bad ones work, and the good ones are dreamily exceptional. I lucked-out with my GoldTop, it was exceptional right out of the box and it's still my go-to axe for my comfort-zone! I did a Peter Green out-of-phase mod on this one myself. I'm going to be putting back to stock because I'm missing out on that P90 Soap-Bar tone in the middle position, and now I can revert it since my V100PGM has arrived... I still haven't unboxed it yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 OK, sorry for the delay... Here it is! I must say I'm thoroughly impressed! The finish is simply stunning, it is more beautiful than I would have imagined, it sounds great, (even with the stock strings it was shipped-with) and the action was low and comfortable right out of the box!!! Here's my first test-drive viddie: Here are my Vintage V100's: And here is my entire bevy of Vintage brand guitars at the moment: I'm very excited and pleased with the new addition!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 BTT Did I mention it's nearly the stoutest necked guitar I've ever owned... I like it, but it's got a seriously fat neck on it. Quite a handful, yet I found it fun and comfortable. Looks like a 3-piece neck... (I should have looked closer) It was a 3-piece headstock for sure and the neck-joint is really unique in contour... I'm definitely luvin' it so far!!! The neck gives my Peavey JF-1EX (ES-335 style axe that I've adorned w/Gibson 490 pickups) a run for it's money in heft... Very similar and very playable... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 That's a nice set Goltop with P90s and Sunburst with humbuckers. I can't play fat necks anymore with my hand issues, is flat and wide for me. I even had the neck on my LP reshaped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennis Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 both looks and sounds great! what amp/effects were you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 8, 2014 Author Share Posted February 8, 2014 both looks and sounds great! what amp/effects were you using? My amp is a 2013 Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue, I'm using a GFS Greenie Classic (Ibanez Tube Screamer type OD pedal) on "Fat" and a TC Electronics Hall Of Fame Reverb set on the stock TonePrint... The default/stock TonePrint on the HOF is a special effect that rolls-on reverb after the dry note is done being played. It was based (some) on Peter Green's use of reverb where he'd apply it hard after the note at the end of a phrase and let it wash over the sustain like an after effect... The gear detail is also in the vid details on YouTube; click the "show more" in the About section of the YouTube vid if you happen to view it on YouTube as opposed to the embedded player... I generally always put such gear details in the info on my vids... I can't wait to give it another whirl this weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 10, 2014 Author Share Posted February 10, 2014 Guitar went to my tech guy for initial set-up and to be restrung with my favorite strings; Ernie Ball Cobalt 9's. Got it back yesterday afternoon... The initial reports are this axe is a winner! I thought the action was wicked low right out of the box, but my tech guy lowered it even more to meet Les Paul specs and it's playing flawlessly. 1 string/bridge position had to be adjusted for intonation and (possibly the same string) 1 string position on the nut had to be worked just a touch as it was pinching the string and not releasing back to position on a bend and such, but that was it other than than the neck is straight and flat and the whole axe is gorgeous with no real flaws found. I like her and she's a keeper! I did notice that the Wilkinson humbuckers (including the reverse/upside-down mounted neck position pickup {depending on how you are looking at the guitar]) for the Peter Green out-of-phase configuration have a darker/fatter tone to them; very bassy, so they require alot of brightness or presence added to make it bright in the neck position, but the bridge position has all sorts of bright and crystal clear presence and sings like a vintage Les Paul. It responds quite differently than my other guitars and even differently than the other humbucker clad Vintage Brand guitar I own; the VS6. All in all I'm likin' it and couldn't put it down last night and I can get wicked Peter Green tones with it both in and out of phase! I'll give it a big thumbs up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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