Trade Tang Gibsun Les Paul Supreme - order review

[stingx]

The parts used and the amount of time to correct should be taken into account when buying "cheap" guitars. Example, the Squire CV series uses quality Alpha pots and correct caps. The wiring is very good too. Perfect as is and an excellent modding platform should you desire.

Before buying any questionable, Chinese or Asian knockoff put the 300 or so bones towards a parts built guitar. I just had my tele done for under $500 and all the parts are top shelf and picked by me. There is simply no reason to take the chance on buying from some unknown vendor overseas.

As an example, and not to pimp a product. Go to Fretteck and look what $550 bucks will get you. Strat? Tele? Take a look. You pick the neck of your choice from Allparts, you get a custom bone nut, CTS pots, the whole nine and it's done by a quality builder with a great rep. I've got a strat build being planned out now. $550 or so spent this way will yield you a far superior instrument than what you'll get from Agile, Epi, etc. There is no skimping on the electronics - no need to swap and waste more time and money later.

I'm also a big proponent of buying used equipment. Some of the best guitars in my collection were obtained that way with a huge savings as a result. There is simply NO REASON to buy a cheap, knockoff guitar unless you are truly new to this game and have no one to guide you in the right direction when it comes picking out a good playing, quality instrument.

[progrmr]

...There is simply NO REASON to buy a cheap, knockoff guitar unless you are truly new to this game and have no one to guide you in the right direction when it comes picking out a good playing, quality instrument.

I'm gonna disagree with this out-right. Not to mention the many TF.Net players that have Agiles and other "cheap" knockoffs. Many are not new to this game and buy them frequently. Also "good playing" and "quality instrument" are subjective based on the player.

I checked out that Fretteck site - looks to be only strats and tele's and they source their product from GFS and AllParts...Wonder where GFS and All Parts gets their bodies and necks from...?? I checked All Parts and there's not even a Les Paul neck on the site let alone one with block or trapezoid inlays (personal favorite features of mine). Certainly nothing like the neck on my Gibsun.

It's great that you got yourself a nice guitar from Fretteck - but the price, features and quality of several knock-offs make for an awesome value/price ratio even if you have to change some pots/wiring.