Vintage guitar brand and Wilkinson hardware

Neil-Nitro

I just want to know if anybody has had some good experience with either.
I bought a Vintage AV1GT which is a discontinued model with Wilkinson P90's and a roll control which takes the sound from P90 to single coil and everything in between.
Build quality is also great. Maybe worth looking at their strats and teles?

AlanRatcliffe

The guitars are usually damn good value-for-money. I had a Paradise Les Paul and was very impressed.

The Chinese hardware is usually well-designed, but quality can be a little hit-and-miss. The Japanese, Gotoh-made stuff is top-notch.

The Wilkinson pickups are decent, but nothing to get excited about.

funkadelic

I checked out a Vintage Icon model recently and it sounded great to me. I missed out on a swop for a Gibson Les Paul copy last year. Stupid me!

Neil-Nitro

I really enjoy mine rolled completely to single coil on the neck pickup. It puts me in the Mayer zone ?. Might be the mahogany body not being as bright as alder for instance as John's pickups aren't that bright sounding either.

funkadelic

Oh yes I was meaning ask how the Vintage guitars compare to SX. Just read that thread (from 2011) now. Don't want to turn this into a Vintage vs SX discussion. Just curious.

Neil-Nitro

I think the hardware on Vintage is better out of the box than Sx. I think both could be great players. I have a thinline Sx which I got for free from a friend who quit on guitar and put some new pickups in and electronics. Though what I have noticed is in Sx you get alder or swamp ash bodies which some models state to be USA woods. My thinline is supposedly USA swamp ash. Its finished in sunburst and the grain is very apparent and definitely looks like ash. Vintage sometimes use poplar on their strats which is supposed to be similar to alder. I think its the same with the tele's too. But some models are alder. I've even seen manufacturers like Tanglewood use basswood on strats and tele's these days though.

giggsy

I got one of these a few months ago

For the price - I think it was R1500 new - its a stunningly well made guitar and I haven't felt the need to upgrade. My other tele is a P90 thinline model, so this gives me the 'real' tele sound and feel when I want it

Chocklit_Thunda

Neil Nitro wrote: I just want to know if anybody has had some good experience with either.
I bought a Vintage AV1GT which is a discontinued model with Wilkinson P90's and a roll control which takes the sound from P90 to single coil and everything in between.
Build quality is also great. Maybe worth looking at their strats and teles?

Hmmm... I think that what you have there is a stacked Humbucking P90 and a spin-a-split control which removes one coil of the stacked HB as you roll it down. I remember hearing about that feature on an old Vintage and it may be your model.

Neil-Nitro

It might be. After they discontinued this range I saw Trevor Wilkinson was using it on his Fret King range of guitars now. Still some pretty sweet tonality.

Neil-Nitro

And as Giggsy said the build quality on Sx is very good. They sell for about R1600 new here. I couldn't find any flaw on build quality. As a musician you're always looking for YOUR sound and I think Sx provide a great canvas for you to change pickups and what not to your tastes. I'm probably gonna buy an Sx strat too and mod it to my tastes.

Chocklit_Thunda

Yeah I definitely like the spin-a-split mod over a regular coil tap/cut... It let's you dial it in EXACTLY where you want it ? Much more versatility

Neil-Nitro

Most guitars I have owned over the years had normal coil tapping so its kinda become something I got used to. The Vintage's roll control was a welcome surprise. I'm not a fan of some of the finishes they do especially on the PRS type copies... The green and blue just don't do it for me like the Cort M600's blue would for instance. But I have seen some nice tobacco burst finishes on the Vintage.

giggsy

Neil Nitro wrote: And as Giggsy said the build quality on Sx is very good. They sell for about R1600 new here. I couldn't find any flaw on build quality. As a musician you're always looking for YOUR sound and I think Sx provide a great canvas for you to change pickups and what not to your tastes. I'm probably gonna buy an Sx strat too and mod it to my tastes.

The tele above is a Vintage - got it direct from the distributor, I think it was old stock they were selling off - I think Matthew is a forum member?

But I've had a couple SX guitars and a bass in the past as well and definitely also better quality than the Behringers/Ritmullers etc. If I had to choose though, I'd probably go with Vintage but that could be cos I got a new model - all my SX's were secondhand

Attila

Giggsy ...love that Tele of yours you pipped me to the post on that one.

I have had 3 Vintages the first one a V6 had a neck problem so it went into the fire. I still have a VP6 which is the mahogany strat and a VRS100 (PRS copy) I changed the pickups and wiring on both and they are great instruments.

Seen here with the old Wilki pickups:

On this Strat I put in a set of custom winds by Kerry Leanerd (Pink tones) and changed the bucker to a single .......also changed the wiring to 1 vol and 1 blender (serial to parallel) no tone .... very nice

Vintage as a brand I like em .........

Neil-Nitro

Apologies Giggsy! I meant Vintage. I was up way too late. ?

Neil-Nitro

Great looking strat and tele! I must say I like the classic 3 saddles on the Vintage teles.

Neil-Nitro

I also bought my AV1GT from the distributor. I had some Goldtop GAS back then. ?

StefStoep

If you like the "road worn" look, the Icon Series looks decent. I like the look of the V6MRHDX,

http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageiconguitars.html

funkadelic

Thanks for the info on the SX guitars. I used to play a Samick Strat copy. Miss that guitar. NEVER owned a real Fender. Too damn expensive. Maybe looking for a nice Vintage or SX will give me some saticfaction. Man when I look at some members signatures I'm floored by the gear that some of you guys own!!! ?