Trade Tang Gibsun Les Paul Supreme - order review

[guitartango]

How does the price compare with a Eiphone or Agile guitar ? Are you now stuck with a lame duck as sending it back might cause a few issues.

[progrmr]

Price is better than Epi or Agile 3000 or higher model - I got a guitar and hard case for $390. You could get an AL-2000 or AL-2500 with a case delivered for probably about the same price so it depends on the features.

I am not returning this guitar - it's too much of a PITA to hassle with. So at this point my experience could be summarized as:

Out of the box I'd say an Epi or Agile with similar features would be better than the one I got. Now the problem I'm having with the action may just be the exception not the rule. But having spent $390 and having to drop another ~$60 right off the bat just to see if the guitar can be made playable ("playable" being comfortable action I'd expect to be able to get with any guitar) brings the price to $450 and I might be stuck with something I can't even play unless I learn me some slide!

Bottom line is that my curiosity has been fulfilled - I took the chance and if I had it to do over again knowing what I know now I'd go with an Agile or Epi over this purchase. At least with one of those brands you could send it back. I **could** send this one back and try to get another one but it'd take 6 weeks and it's just not worth my time.

I'm hopeful the luthier can do something but honestly I've bought/sold a ton of guitars and pretty much always done my own setups. I know what's involved and how to get it to my liking - given that it's a set neck guitar I'm not sure there's anything they can do. But they are the pro's so until I hear back from them I'm still hopeful it'll come out good.

Even if they can get it playing comfortably - I won't be buying from Trade Tang again.

[whiteop]

My brother just bought one of those infamous Tradetang "Gibson" Les Paul Supremes with the rootbeer finish and brought it over for me to look over. Now I've owned several Gibsons and currently have a Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro and an Epiphone LP Ultra II so I can speak on both counts as far as comparing them (plus I've been playing for about 35 years and mod guitars all the time). The Tradetang Les Paul doesn't even come close to the quality of a Gibson Les Paul. Here's what I observed right after setting up my brother's Tradetang special:

• Tuners - very stiff or loose depending on the tuner, inconsistent and obviously don't have quality gears in them. In addition they loosen and don't keep the strings in tune very well. You will have to replace them if you want them if you want your guitar to stay in tune.
• Trussrod appears to be non-adjustable. When I opened up the cover there was not what I would call a typical trussrod with a nut on the end. The cavity where the trussrod was packed with what appeared to be sawdust.
• Nut - very poor quality plastic nut that was seated incorrectly when it was glued in and doesn't appear to be placed or filed correctly.
• Finish - obviously polyurethane and there were blemishes on the neck near the nut where the finish flaked off and finish defects on the body of the guitar as well.
• Hardware in general - inferior even to Epiphone standards, in particular the saddle bridge.
• Pickups - not on par with the Gibson or Epiphone in quality, however, not too bad. Not quite as much chime or bell tones as you get on a real Gibson but not as bad as I thought they would be. The neck pickup is pretty weak, even weaker than a Classic 57.
• Case - not even close to the quality of a real Gibson case which is usually contoured. Looked very cheap up next to the real one though they did get the lettering / logo to look like the real deal.
• The body is chambered but appeared to feel lighter than other chambered Gibson Les Pauls I'ved picked up before. I'd guess the bulk of the guitar s probably made of cheap basswood.

My personal opinion: Don't waste your money. The real Gibson Les Paul smokes them by a mile and they are not even up to the quality of an Epiphone IMO. You will spend about $300 on the guitar alone, plus another $80 or so on the case, then pay about $125 for shipping to the U.S. My advice save your pennies and buy the real deal. No comparison.

[progrmr]

....My personal opinion: Don't waste your money. The real Gibson Les Paul smokes them by a mile and they are not even up to the quality of an Epiphone IMO. You will spend about $300 on the guitar alone, plus another $80 or so on the case, then pay about $125 for shipping to the U.S. My advice save your pennies and buy the real deal. No comparison.

You do realize that a new Gibson LP Supreme is $3500 right?? And honestly what I got is what I'd consider to be a typical Epi LP copy. Granted, not an Ultra - but those are $550 before shipping and setup so probably twice what I actually paid.

To your list that you saw with your brother:

The trussrod on mine is adjustable - typical allen wrench adjustment that you see on most cheapie guitars (Epiphone LP's included).

The trussrod pocket on mine was packed with tape to cover the recess during painting I'm guessing. It came out easily with a small screwdriver. Granted you'd never see that on a real Gibby (maybe lol!) but it was not a big deal

I'd agree on the pickups - I don't think they're wax potted and will feedback with distortion.

The stop bar and bridge are on-par with an Epi LP IMO. The bridge on mine does buzz a bit but I've had that on a lot of the LP copies I'd own.

Case - meh, it's actually plenty solid to protect the guitar. Not sure I'd want to spend more on a "better" one. It's well padded and solidly built.

Nut - typical plastic crap you see on cheap LP copies (Epi LP's included). It works but tone would definitely be improved with a better one.

Wood - can't tell but mine isn't light like basswood at all. It does fell chambered which I assume is from the fact that there's no access to the wiring so the chambers are larger to accommodate access to the electronics from the bridge pup access. I'll have to open mine up when I get some new pickups and see what I can see. And honestly I've have guitars and basses made from basswood - it's a fine tone wood IMO. In fact some extremely expensive basses are made of basswood, not sure on guitars but I bet they exist.

Given that a real LP Supreme cost 10X more than I paid I think these guitars are a decent deal. Even with the bridge issue I ran into it was correctable and the more I play it the more I feel like I "got over" on Gibson and their ridiculous pricing tiers (IMO). No doubt a real Gibson would be WAY better than these guitars but 10X better...that I'm not sure of.

[whiteop]

Let me rephrase then - if you have owned a quality Gibson product before and are used to quality guitars, the Trade Tang will probably dissapoint you. There are better knock-offs for the money.

[progrmr]

Let me rephrase then - if you have owned a quality Gibson product before and are used to quality guitars, the Trade Tang will probably dissapoint you. There are better knock-offs for the money.

Agreed - there are also worse for the same money. I owned several Epi LP's that cost more than this copy and weren't as good. I've also had an Epi that I got for $350 that totally blew it away. In fact that $350 Epi blew away the Gibson LP Studio I had a couple years ago. It seems to be hit or miss with every knock off - there's good and bad examples.

I have owned "quality" Gibson products in the past and I've played more than I've owned. There are lemons there too - and quite frankly far too often for the price.

To each their own I guess.

[sisuboi]

My comment for Chinese Gibsons. I have bought three while visiting Beijing a few time. Two Standards and a Custom. They had all the right trimmings so to speak. Only the pickups were a little weak.

Epiphone has a plant in China. So does Ibanez (I bought a Steve Vai JEM) Gibson is trying to crack down. But cracking down is done on a local level with the music stores. Bribery, for lack of better word. Forget about copyright laws in China. Non-existent.

That being said, like many guitars, you have to play and inspect them if you can. Some were absolute garbage. However, some guitars (Gibson especially) are great copies. The paint and finish alone is worth the $250 they seem to charge for any guitar regardless of make.

The Gibson copies are generally made at the Epiphone plant in Qingdao. The plant is allowed to run off copies. Again, price of doing business in China. Ibanez does the same so you get the "Made in Japan" stamp. Everything is computers now. Plays great.