Vintage V100 Guitars Anyone? - LP Copies

[Junk Yard Dog]

I'm looking at these Vintage V100's hard. I have plenty of other guitars so I'm not looking to pay a lot for another LP. I had a LP Trad Pro II and liked it, but I sold it to a friend.

One thing besides the price point on these V100s that I like is the access heel for upper fret access. all my guitars have some sort of contoured heel--call me a wuss, I'm fine with it.

I prefer something with good weight (8 lbs average) and a slim, 60s-esque neck. I can't get a lot of good info online on the neck profiles of these. I'm not a fan of fatter neck profiles as most my other guitars (Schecter USA, Charvel, Warmoth) have the slimmer necks, but not SUPER thin.

I would upgrade some of the electronics and and pickups.

Have any of you guys heard of or played these? @Which of the V100s has the slimmer neck? What other models would you guys recommend. I read good things about the PGM above. What about the AFD?

 

[UltraGary]

I've sold a lot of these in the store I used to work at. They can be great guitars for the $$, but I'd definitely advise playing before buying because about 1/3 of each shipment was set up terrible....some with fret or electronics issues that needed repair. Once you get past that, they're really great for their price-point.

 

[skullfxr]

What is your budget? That is more helpful. How do you feel about buying second hand?

 

[MrDowntown]

i have a buddy who works at the local mom/pop. they, somehow, bought 3 of them couple years ago. a yellow super-strat sort-of model, and two LP styles/single cut; a black one and a burgundy one. the black one is still there as is the yellow. so my buddy, using his employee discount snatched up the burgundy one. having the benefit of playing it almost daily when it arrived, he could tell it was a good one. frets were nicely dressed, etc. i asked him just last week was he still digging it, and he said YES! he loves it. listening to him play it...it sounds damn good. it sounds as good as any of the higher end Epi's they have in the same building. i asked him has he started to see any issues to date...he tells me no.

i've looked at, and almost pulled the trigger on one of these before, so i've done a bit of research. So... on some YT videos and written reviews i've read, this is what i've gathered:
-Frets wear down, show wear quickly. depending on how much you play, aggressiveness (I'd guess), etc... one video a guys shows his frets grooving at about 3 months...i'm guessing he plays a lot.
-Some of the tuning pegs rattle... one comment i read, the guys says, yep, mine rattled, so i dabbed some gorilla glue on there and they quit rattling.
- The pups are on the cheap side and need swapping out. to me that is only if they don't achieve that "tone you hear in your head"
- Electronics are also on the cheaper side...will need replacing at some point.

if you're "ok" with possibly having to drop some cash on it in the first couple of years...be-it, electronics, pups, or what ever, i'd do it. i still may end up with one... cause i'm a sucker for "cost-effective" gear

This guy has a couple of videos of what the Vintage sounds like (Note: i believe he swapped out the pups in the Vintage

 

[Junk Yard Dog]

I've sold a lot of these in the store I used to work at. They can be great guitars for the $$, but I'd definitely advise playing before buying because about 1/3 of each shipment was set up terrible....some with fret or electronics issues that needed repair. Once you get past that, they're really great for their price-point.

Yeah, I'd have to find some here in DFW to play. Tone Shop doesn't carry them anymore. Thanks!

What is your budget? That is more helpful. How do you feel about buying second hand?

It depends... I would buy used and replace pups, switches, wiring, but I don't want to mess with refretting. $600?

i have a buddy who works at the local mom/pop. they, somehow, bought 3 of them couple years ago. a yellow super-strat sort-of model, and two LP styles/single cut; a black one and a burgundy one. the black one is still there as is the yellow. so my buddy, using his employee discount snatched up the burgundy one. having the benefit of playing it almost daily when it arrived, he could tell it was a good one. frets were nicely dressed, etc. i asked him just last week was he still digging it, and he said YES! he loves it. listening to him play it...it sounds damn good. it sounds as good as any of the higher end Epi's they have in the same building. i asked him has he started to see any issues to date...he tells me no.

i've looked at, and almost pulled the trigger on one of these before, so i've done a bit of research. So... on some YT videos and written reviews i've read, this is what i've gathered:
-Frets wear down, show wear quickly. depending on how much you play, aggressiveness (I'd guess), etc... one video a guys shows his frets grooving at about 3 months...i'm guessing he plays a lot.
-Some of the tuning pegs rattle... one comment i read, the guys says, yep, mine rattled, so i dabbed some gorilla glue on there and they quit rattling.
- The pups are on the cheap side and need swapping out. to me that is only if they don't achieve that "tone you hear in your head"
- Electronics are also on the cheaper side...will need replacing at some point.

if you're "ok" with possibly having to drop some cash on it in the first couple of years...be-it, electronics, pups, or what ever, i'd do it. i still may end up with one... cause i'm a sucker for "cost-effective" gear

This guy has a couple of videos of what the Vintage sounds like (Note: i believe he swapped out the pups in the Vintage

Thanks, man. Really helpful info! I've heard some good demos and some pretty bad ones cause...you know how demos go with some folks. I'm hearing mostly they're hit or miss and the frets wear quickly, which sucks for me as I don't have the lightest touch, gig weekly right now, and have SS frets on all my other guitars.

I LOVE the scalloped heel, but maybe I should be looking at a used MIJ or MIK Epiphone or Edwards or something else.

Cheers and hoping to get more feedback.

 

[UltraGary]

I just remembered how good their LesPaul Jr styled ones are. They're a great way to add a P90 guitar to the collection if you don't have anything with P90s. Eminem's guitarist (Curtis, can't remember his last name) bought a Vintage LP Jr and uses it stock all the time (except for covering the headstock), and he's got some serious endorsements.

 

[skullfxr]

I would likely take agile over vintage just based on reputation.

Also I snagged a 2010 faded Gibson LP studio a few months ago for $600 w/HSC. I like it a lot. It needed nothing and was pretty much unplayed. I dropped 500k bourns pots in and a pair of PIO caps, and the bitch songs. Would highly recommend tbh.

 

[Junk Yard Dog]

I went to GC and Sam Ash over the weekend to play some Epiphones... No Vintage V100s around.

...Man, how the fuck does GC sell anything. ALL the guitars had horrible setups and shitty gross dead strings: I forgot about that being the case as I've not been to GC to look at guitars in ages. ...Anyway... I wasn't crazy about the neck on the Custom Pro and Trad Pro III.

However, the Epi Standard Pro neck was pretty good; it may be the same as the others, but it didn't feel it. I can tell is a D neck over a C neck. I'm going to start another thread because I became VERY intrigued by the new ESP LTD EC-1000T Fishman Fluence guitar and the Dean Select Caddy's coming out of Indonesia. Hearing good things about both of those.