Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Philly Q on June 04, 2011, 03:18:36 PM
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I've always had a love-hate relationship with Les Pauls. Love the look, love the sound, hate the weight and the big thick body. Owned a few, sold them all.
Lately I've been going through a let's-give-an-LP-a-try-again phase, and for a while I've been scouring eBay for Orvilles, Grecos and the like, never quite finding one I was prepared to take the plunge on (or someone else beat me to it). Then I stumbled on this one, at a price similar to the Japanese ones but without the hefty shipping costs or import charges. Put a bid in, not really expecting to win, but lo and behold I was the only bidder (just equalled the reserve price, too).
It's a brand which will be familiar to Twinfan and Ian Price - a Signature. A Signature SQT1-HB, to be precise, built at Fuji-gen Gakki in Japan and imported to the UK by Tanglewood.
Build quality is really, really good. I'm assuming that quilt top is a foto-flame (foto-quilt?) or veneer, but I'm sure there's a proper maple top underneath it. Body's two-piece, neck shape is sort of '50s-meets-'60s, neck joint (apparently) is long tenon. Weight is manageable! Comparing with my Japanese Epiphone Juniors, and looking at pictures of Epiphone "open-book headstock" and "Elitist" Les Pauls, I'm certain this is exactly the same guitar with a different headstock. Of course the lack of a "name" reduces the value, but I'm not too bothered about that.
All in all, a good purchase I think, even if it was an unplanned one. :D
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/IMGP3764.jpg)
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/IMGP3765.jpg)
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/IMGP3766.jpg)
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Beaut top there Philly
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Nice find Philly :)
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I need to get a good price for those Juniors on eBay now, don't I? :wink: :lol:
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Nice plank Philly.
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Nice one! Signature are great value for money.
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phwoar!
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That's a really nice finish and top on that. Great acquisition!
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Looks beautiful !Congrats for the find 8)!
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sweet :D
Never tried one but if it's made in fujigen it's probably gonna be pretty good at least :D
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That's certainly a very nice copy. Love the top.
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Looks great :)
My local shop has had a few of those in for a few years now. I keep meaning to try 1 but I'm worried I'll buy it if I do :lol:
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My local shop has had a few of those in for a few years now. I keep meaning to try 1 but I'm worried I'll buy it if I do :lol:
Give 'em a go!
I'm not saying they're going to give Gibson Custom Shop (or, say, Feline!) a run for their money but on a bang-for-buck basis they're ridiculously good. Which is why I love Japanese guitars! :D
(How much are they charging, by the way?)
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Give 'em a go!
I'm not saying they're going to give Gibson Custom Shop (or, say, Feline!) a run for their money but on a bang-for-buck basis they're ridiculously good. Which is why I love Japanese guitars! :D
(How much are they charging, by the way?)
I don't have Gibson CS or Feline money, which is why I'm afraid I'll buy it if I like it and it seems cheap enough! 8)
I think they're upfor mid to high £300s.
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That's virtually giving them away...! 8)
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I need to get a good price for those Juniors on eBay now, don't I? :wink: :lol:
I think the Tokai will cover that one eh :D
Still trying to russell up some money for the Orville
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Nice catch Philly - mine was a great guitar!
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Ah, eBay where dreams can be answered and destroyed :B
Good find, Philly.
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Ah, eBay where dreams can be answered and destroyed :B
:lol:
Nice catch Philly - mine was a great guitar!
Did you ever dismantle yours, Dave? I'm curious to see if it really is a long tenon, and to see if the top's a fake, but I can't be bothered to take the strings off just yet! :lol:
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Mine had a long tenon, full maple top, and a flame veneer :)
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Veneer rather than foto-flame?
The reason I ask is, the eBay seller had a picture of this leaflet in their ad. The quilt matches the top of my guitar, I'm quite sure - which would suggest a foto-quilt. But I've seen pictures of other quilt-tops with completely different patterns. So I think the leaflet may be my actual guitar, which is weird! You can't tell so well from my photos, but the grain on the fretboard looks very similar too.
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/KGrHqMOKjEE3HtNSbPTBN2YMzzPZg_121.jpg)(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p216/phillyq/KGrHqUOKikE3HdbyVp8BN2YM1rg_121.jpg)
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It was a bit too alive for a photo-flame Phil, plus you could see the thickness of the veneer in the cavity. A photo would be so thin to not be seen.
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Yeah, I see what you mean. Those Edwards Potbellys I had a few years ago had foto-flame tops, and side-on you could only see them as a hair's-breadth line on top of the maple.
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nice looking axe
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I always regret getting rid of my signature, they're great value for money and was vastly better (IMO) in terms of playability than the £3k slash signature model i recently tried out!
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Nice guitar Philly
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Yeah, nice one :D
And no, you will never stop doing it! :lol:
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Winner! :D
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That is nice.
Andy
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Looks nice Philly :D
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beautiful top, you can't go wrong for that price...... errhh.... how much?
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beautiful top, you can't go wrong for that price...... errhh.... how much?
It was actually a bit more than the new ones Brow mentioned in his posts on the first page of this thread. So even when I think I'm getting a bargain, I'm still an idiot. :lol: :roll:
It's a really nice guitar though. The maple top gives some brightness, but the acoustic tone definitely has some "ring" about it. I'm wondering if it's actually slightly chambered/weight relieved, even though according to the mythology it's solid.
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Value is in the eye of the GAS fanatic....
;-)
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Value is in the eye of the GAS fanatic....
;-)
Very true! :lol:
But I think I do have a tendency to pay over the odds - as proved by the fact that, even when I sell something I bought used, I still lose money on it. Every single time. :x
Today I managed to resist such GAS temptation. I saw one of my old Edwards guitars for sale on eBay, and decided to buy it back - but only if it went for less than I sold it for. It didn't, it went for loads more. Bah. :(
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It was actually a bit more than the new ones Brow mentioned in his posts on the first page of this thread. So even when I think I'm getting a bargain, I'm still an idiot. :lol: :roll:
The 1s I saw in my local shop have been there years though, so maybe they'd lowered their prices to try to get rid of them?
If I needed another LP I'd be all over their honeyburst 1 like a rash! :lol:
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Yeah, I'll come clean, mine was a round £400. If I remember right, Twinfan got his a few years ago for about £379 (but it did have a set of Bulldogs or something in it).
Any way you slice it, ignoring the name on the headstock, it's a lot of guitar for the money. :)
(Trouble is, now I'm getting GAS for a "real" Les Paul.....)
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If you are happy with the deal and the seller is happy with the deal, then probably not a bad thing.
Mike
PS - will watch out for it on Seconds Out in about 6 months (sorry, I must be confusing you with Dave...)
:lol:
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PS - will watch out for it on Seconds Out in about 6 months (sorry, I must be confusing you with Dave...)
:lol:
Oh, it's quite possible.... :lol:
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In fairness, you have quite a way to go....
;-)
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Only in individual guitar values, I think I'm well ahead on sheer numbers! :oops:
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Indeed - Phil beats me in numbers!
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Come on, Dave! Took a while to elicit a response!
:-)