That "Cioks Engine Right" light has been on since his third day flying it. He went to read the manual to try and figure out what that meant, but as you can probably guess, it wasn't much help. Had a whole section on "Great Education for propelling the children", but nothing about the light. Legend has it he's still up there, screaming his message of value for $ instruments.
You, Sir, are one clever shredder. The amount of thought, planning, time and effort it takes in delivering 6:50 of content would probably surprise us. You’re an intelligent entrepreneur who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Big respect.
First off I absolutely love this channel! Maxx...in your spare time you could easily front a big-time Rock band because you have everything it takes. As far as Chibsons or any guitars made in China, I'm a fan! At the end of the day, guitars are made of wood, metal & plastic, and just about anyone can make them. Also, unless you're a professional musician or have a musical ear, the difference in sound/tone is not that significantly different. Especially, after a few low-cost mods to the Chinese guitars. I appreciate the Chinese replicas from a cost perspective as they retail at about 1/15th of US-made guitars, which most of the cost is tied up in labor. You don't have to worry about modifying Chinese guitars to taste or worry about dinging, denting or jamming hard on them! I own just under 87 modern & vintage Gibson, Fender & Rickenbackers and about 20 of them are Chinese made. About another 10 are made in Korea, Japan & Mexico. The quality of Chinese guitars is improving and recently some dealers are offering Les Pauls with polished frets, adding the correct bridge, insulating the pick-up cavities, and including Epi Pro Bucker pick-ups for less than $200 US! I don't judge people for their interests and really could care what my neighbor or anyone else does on the web with their time & money. I have friends that build replica high-end classic cars and others who buy & import expensive cigars. I don't really care what people say about owning a bunch of foreign-made guitars. Much like you Maxx, I'm not looking to buy & flip them but enjoy tinkering and playing (Chinese) guitars.
@@sneifert1968 Thats a shame, I think I would def have to try it out in a store rather than order from the web, sometimes you have to go through 10 to find one good one
Just ordered my first SX bass from Rondo Music. I have three of their SX guitars and they're all pretty great for the money. Thing is that they make a ton of prog machines that I'd never play. You might want to look into them. They ship from New Hampshire.
@strangeuniverse1 ... I have the Swamp Ash Tele with arm and belly carve. And a bound fingerboard. It was advertised as a 2 piece body, but they sent me a one piece. I LOVE that guitar. I also have a Strat style in green with the aged neck that looks kinda orange. Played that a lot, but needs work on the electricals now. Bought an SX Strat with two P90s a couple years ago. It has a mahogany body. So weird. It's a beauty, but as heavy as a Les Paul.
I ordered a Glarry thin line Tele on Christmas eve, ostensibly for my grandchild. It turned up today, four days later. Ridiculously good for £75. I'm keeping it, just ordered another for the kid...
Yes a Firefly can certainly buzz. I bought one after seeing Guitar Max review one but had to settle for a red 335 style as the fancy tops were out of stock. Took off the strings, redid the frets, filing, sanding, and polishing. Put on a Tusk nut and low end locking tuners. I can honestly say it is fun to play and sounds pretty good. I did not touch the electronics. Added about 6 hours labor and $80 in parts to the $159 with shipping. best $250 guitar I have ever owned.
@@valentinroux7448 I have the newer JS32 Gus G. Star guitar and a Rhodes V they are really good for the money, I just changed the pickups and tuners in them and they sound really good. Necks on them feel very fast and nice.
Yup, would never want a fake Gibson as I would know I'm holding a lie. Much more honest to own a clone that has some subtle differences, the manufacturers own name and logo. I'm a poor retiree so have to watch the pennies, I took the risk and bought an EKO SG (DV-10). Wow, was I surprised at the quality, stability and playability. It's now one of my favourite guitars, and it cost me under AUD$200 brand new, including shipping. Definitely some good budget brands out there today.
The thing is, though too many people speak of China as it was a single factory, there are dozens of different Chinese factories making copies of classic American guitar designs under contract to various and sundry companies who'll slap their own decals on the headstock. And if you know much about mass production manufacturing, you'll know that setting up the machinery on the assembly line is the most biggest expense in the manufacturing process. But once you've set up your assembly line to carve out SG's on the NC machines, the more copies you make, the more you spread out your set-up expense. Now, the bits and pieces like pickups, tuners, electronics, etc., they're fixed per instrument. Hypothetically, a Chinese factory contracted to mate 500 Harley Benton guitars for Thomann can reduce their expense on the 500, and make some extra profit by making 700 copies of that guitar, putting Harley Benton decals on 500, and decals of any other company or companies who want some cheap guitars to sell on the other 200. In a pinch, if they can't find enough legitimate buyers, it's easy enough to fake bona-fide Gibson markings to move through the black market. Making deliberate counterfeits of American name brands is both illegal and unethical, but we're talking about Red China, where legalities and ethics don't exist.
I mean aesthetically speaking it's undeniably awesome looking. There's that. Sounds like it plays alright. The only problem I've got is with the Gibson logo. That and the budget brands are probably more reliable.
About 20 yrs. ago the music shop I gave lessons out of was a Cort dealer. The owner Steve was an old bass player and loved his Cort bass. It was a nice bass. So he used to charge his students 15$ for a half hr. lesson, he would keep 5 and give his teachers 10 (He had 3 nice lesson rooms in the back of the store). One day I was going to work and I saw a beautiful sunburst, gold hardware, semi-hollowbody, single cut (PRS) single cut looking guitar... Fully bound (even the headstock) rosewood fretboard with a tree of life inlay, 24 frets, 2 humbuckers this thing was loaded!! And it was a Cort! I played it for a few and fell in love with it. So I bought it, 400 bucks new. I played the crap outta that thing, gigged with it every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night for about 6 months and things started breaking down. The cheap output jack was the 1st to go, so I replaced it with a Switchcraft. Then the bridge bolts (posts, it had a stop tailpiece and an arb style bridge, but the posts started to pull up out of the body! I put a tiny bit of epoxy on the ends and tapped them back down. Then the neck pup stopped working, so I replaced it and while I was in there I replaced the little dime pots for full size CTS pots. It did have a nice set of Grover (Non locking) tuners but the plastic nut was cut pretty bad so I replaced it with a new bone nut that I cut the right way (No Graph-Tech back then or I would have used them) and finally I had a decent guitar... about another 400$ later and lots of work. I ended up selling it to my nephew about 10 yrs. ago. Just recently I have seen a few You Tube guitar players reviewing Cort guitars... Looks like there making a comeback. If you haven't already It would be cool to see what you think of the new budget friendly Cort guitars! As always Thanks Max, ...Mike (Ipswich River Guitars)
No other company offers the sheer customization options that "Chibson" (catch-all for all Chinese fake manufacturers) do for an incredibly good price. They are still a great buy if you know exactly what you want and have no intention of passing them off as real.
True, and that's probably one of the only reasons to go for a chibson these days, if you want a custom shop guitar to create something very unique just for you
the first one i bought arrived with the neck snapped, they let me keep it which is now fixed and sent me a replacement the next week that right there is hard to beat
I have a "Chender" Stratocaster from Aliexpress thatis actually a really nice guitar. I sanded off the Fender logo on the headstock and now I'm giving it away on my channel.
Agreed. I own two - A somewhat rare, 24 fret, thru-neck F2e - now being fitted with a Line 6 'Variax' circuit... And a P-401 'pot-belly' double-cut. Both guitars were about £200 each used. The 'Pot Belly' came fitted with SD 'P-Rails'... Has a carved maple top on mahogany body, with superb fitted neck, compesated nut and Grovers... Excellent value for money, especially used.
Only reason why I bought mine was cause it’s a 57 futura Chibson with the split v headstock. Gold hardware and dark mahogany natural finish. Really hard to find futuras… It’s an amazing guitar, insanely well made, idk if they’re getting better as of late but mine feels and plays like a really high end Epiphone custom. Maybe even better… Sets up really nice, no issues with fret work. I was shocked, honestly thought I was going to make it a wall hanger piece but I play it more than any other guitar I have now. For the money, it’s fantastic.
Absolutely. There are many reasons why buying used instruments is not only important and ethical, but that bargains are to be had... See my 'essay' above/below/wherever...
My AIO SC77 arrived a couple weeks ago,, and all I can say is wow! It is a beautiful guitar with a near perfect setup, not to mention is sounds good without even plugging it in to an amp! I'll be ordering more I'm sure, so thanks for the demo you did a few weeks back :)
There's this budget brand (well at least i believe it's a budget brand) it's called ‘playtech’ and I think its company is based in Japan but the guitars are manufactured in China (according to Google). It'd be really cool if you could review it. the cheapest ones could go up to $75 - $80
The Chibson you had on here seemed very nice. You made it sound great. The sound after all is in the player’s hands more than the instrument. I kept waiting for dead frets, and loud buzzes and humming from cheap pots & wiring. Could it be that Chibson manufacturing is evolving, and improving?
I got a Grote Thinline tele copy from Amazon. Was intending to use it as a modding platform. The tone was so badass that I decided to leave it alone. Fret edges could have been a little smoother but otherwise I can't put it down!
@@starlinyn9292 I guess that would be a "forged signature" model? I'm all for cheap guitars, as long as they're good. The good-looking ones that don't play keep getting dumped back into the market as real guitars though.
Diggin the Cobra KAI shirt (new season drops 1-1-21 😁), Max, and I loved the plane-bit (I needed that laugh today too, believe me, LOL)! Enjoyed the video (I always do, and I always learn something too), my friend, happy New Year's (Liked and Shared) 😊✌🤘
At one point I was quite into the idea of either a Chibson or Chender just so that I could have a base model with the specs I wanted that otherwise I'd have to pay custom shop prices for. I figured that so long as the woodwork was decent and the frets were in the right place, then everything else was just a screwdriver and soldering iron away from being perfect. However, I've seen too many stripdowns that show poor neck pockets, bridge routing, etc. that makes even this too much of a risk for me.
If you want to do that just get a mexican fender or an epiphone and just mod them, they won’t be as good as the American ones, but they’ll more than satisfy you
@@wazda6488the reason I was considering the Chibsons or Chenders was simply down to spec. There's certain combinations of finishes, wood combinations, headstock shape, etc. that Fender and Gibson don't make, and to buy all the parts separately becomes costly pretty quickly. The idea was that if I can get a Chinese factory to do the first half of the work for me, especially the bits I can't do (like burst paint jobs), then I'm onto a winner.
You are definitely correct about squire. I love my Squire stratocaster affinity. It was only about 300 bucks with practice Amp. So many options now no reason to buy a bad guitar that rips off another company.
Michael Kelly guitars. I bought a 50 burl ultra a few months ago and am incredibly happy with it. Needed to adjust the action slightly but it's a fine instrument for $350.
I know that they cost more than $500, but I would highly recommend a Shijie guitar over any of those other brands that you mentioned. Their quality is absolutely first-rate. Shijie, in my opinion, can easily go toe to toe with the best of the big boys.
I think Epiphone is the real "Chibson" They are blue-printed, controlled, licensed, operated and owned by Gibson. They also offer some absolutely fantastic guitars these days in the 400.00 - 600.00 range. They really can't be beat.
same thought. I was planning on getting chibson because the price is so enticing and you can almost get away with it. But you can't really be sure about these things.
I think Vintage are also a good option, the wood feels better on their SG models (the tuners and electronics are usually pants though).. no neck dive unlike epiphone models, even the new inspired by Gibson models have more dive than olympic swimmers
Great vid! If you get a Chibson for the right price and do not plan to scam someone, there are some out there that are pretty dam good. There used to be a guy at a local Flea Market that sold them out of his trailer as well as other knockoffs all around the $200.00 mark. He never tried to sell them as real he said outright they were knockoffs. Some were garbage but some were decent. I came close to buying a Chibby Zak Wylde Bullseye LP for $200.00 that IMO was amazing. He had a decent combo amp you could try them out on. Yes it's illegal and they guy did get raided and shut down but they slapped him on the wrist he was back selling something else a month later. I haven't seen many lately with the few exceptions on Craig's list trying to pass them off for real. Of course like you showed there are plenty of great affordable guitars out there. I have 161 guitars in my collection and a majority of them are affordable guitars, most I bought used for a lot less than their new prices some I did buy new but got discounts or deals. I have a lot of people over who try them out and car amazed the play and sound so good. Most of these affordable guitars with the proper set up, played thru a decent amp are amazing and will hold their own against guitars costing ten times as much. Some people just can't see past the name on the headstock or just imagine the more it cost the better it must be.
I still have a Chibson LP supreme i got like 6 years ago cause I was curious. And I have to say I'm surprised it still a really good guitar. Of course I put in seymour duncans, a roller bridge a tusq nut and locking tuners, but it still looks, feels and sounds amazing. But I just got an Epi 60's standard Bourbon burst for Xmas and I love it. No upgrading needed at all. But, I also have some Harley Bentons which are great inexpensive guitars. But, all year I've been playing my Ibanez Rg570 as my #1, my Jem as my #2 and my Jackson soloist as my #3 (tuned down half a step) and the Chibson as my tuned down a full step guitar. But my Epi.. might become my #1 or #2.. it sounds great, feels great and is one sexy lookin' guitar.
I'd never buy a Chibson since Epiphone is killing it right now. But I might buy a Chickenbacker for 300 bucks since I don't want to pay 2000 dollars for the real thing.
Before Harley Benton flooded the European market, UK based JHS launched Vintage guitars, very popular in the UK itself. But gradually the brand pentrated my country (the Netherlands) and eastern Europe. I now own two double cut models VS6 and VS6VW, and recently stumbled upon a now rare VXP6BK (the letters XP should give you a clue). My first Vintage was a new 2004 cherry red Solid Guitar which cost me $280, and it played and sounded much better than the Epiphone sg400! Just like HB the Vintage had some minor flaws, but in the timespan of 16 years I gradually upgraded all the hardware except the tuners. To complete my journey I had a stainless steel refret, and it is still my favourite guitar.
He DID talk about that in his other videos. He recently got a new Fender modeling amp: Mustang GTX100. Before then, he was using a Blackstar ID:Core 10 v.2 direct lined into his DAW on his computer.
I've seen other channels review Glarry Guitars. I do think this brand is a good product that is ripe for modifications. For those who want to learn how to modify a guitar, you cannot go wrong with a Glarry. I'd love to see you do a video or 2 of a Glarry modification.
Love the switch up with the airplane!! Halarious!! Keep up the creativity!! U helped me purchase my first guitar. It arrives hopefully on the 31st! Its a eppiphone Les Paul special 2. I bought it the day after christmas on amazon at 12:30 pm. In vintage sunburst it sold out in a matter of hrs after purchase. Final price 179.99 marked down from 230.00 i think it was. Somethin like that. Bonus i got a 150 dollar amazon gift card for christmas so ended up paying like 27 bucks out of pocket. Thank you for the courage to learn.
I just got a xaviere tele delivered to my door in a hard case for $268 from guitarfetish.... fit/finish is damn good , graphite nut, brass saddles, gfs pickups, hand finished frets.... I would have been impressed paying double ! I am however looking at some Chinese copies because they make tribute guitars of my favorite guitarists , for example I can get a Rory Gallagher strat for around $250 and the only other option is fender custom shop for $3000+ . I have made Clapton's "blackie" and Gilmour's guitar and my number one is an Olympic white strat with a maple fretboard so it looks just like Jimi's, not that the looks really matter to me it's just cool to me to have replicas of my favorites. But anyone trying to sell one as a real one should have the guitar inserted inside them in the most uncomfortable way !!!! 🎸🤟🍻
The issue for the average player of being able to find a Chipson maker that could make you a really really great copy. Unless you are familiar with buying on Ali Exp or Alibaba or have buying relationships you would not really be buying blind. I've had decent experience buying kits and pedals and the like from the above mentioned and TomTop. I already buy from them for my eBay and Amazon stores. So I have an advantage. I did find a maker who let me customize a cherry burst standard LP. It is quite good and plays as well as my true Gibson LP. I did was swap out the pickups for Stew Mack Golden age with Push Pulls. With Shipping I paid $425. But it would be hit and miss with most buyers. The Chinese have become very very good guitar makers. 5 or 6 years ago you might have got a POS. The ethics are up to you on having it made with the Gibson headstock inlay. But to your point there are now so many great gigging and touring guitars being made in the under $700.00 range there is really no need to buy a Gibson branded Chinese-made guitar anymore. The Epiphone line of LP's in my opinion is as good as any Gibson at any price. The Wolf's are fantastic and buying a kit and making one yourself is extremely satisfying and will get you a guitar the way you want. And the used market I think is going to be flooded with used guitars of all kinds. When the pandemic is over all those bedroom guitarists who decided it was time to finally learn guitar is going to leave their apartments and go back out into the wild and leave the guitar learning behind and their guitars behind! That's my 2 cents adjusted for inlfation.
SX guitars and hadean guitars are known too for being incredible at their price. I would love to see a review from you about them, especially the Sx ones.
@@MaxMG-xi2ub I have the Tele with the P90s. Done a bunch of videos with it - everything from 80's soft rock to Boston! It's a solid performer and it's built like a tank!
The Chinese don't even send Chibsons to most Europe countries because they get burned at customs. Funny they send them to the US, where the copied company sits.
@@kitoyobeni1 I was corrected on this matter years ago, but my reaction was much different than yours. I appreciated the information. Spreading false info is never a good thing. Knowledge is power.
Max I think you should check out Palace guitars, they offer a service that guarantees your own dream guitar anywhere from $400 to $800. They're from China, but their quality us really up there. I had them make a custom guitar for me, the results were great. Only con is that recieving things from them will definitely take a while especially if you order custom stuff.
Gear4music have couple budget friendly options, Max you should check their brands: Hartwood (classic options), SubZero (modern fast guitars, specially GenPro models with 5 pieces neck through design, 24 X-jumbo stainless steal frets, graphite nut etc. for 300-400$, all Gear4music guitar lineup: LA guitars, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Seattle, Harlem.. many options. For strat lovers i would recommend new Aria 714 Mk2... for 300-400 $ you get HSS strat with roasted maple neck and fingerboard, Wilkinson tremolo, split coil option for humbucker and flamed maple top on poplar body.
A few years back I reduced my collection from 14 guitars, down to three incredible ones. I barely look at gear these days. Put all that extra time into practicing and it paid off far more than any gear purchases ever could. I'm now down to two guitars, a 57' Telecaster and a Strandberg. Super happy now.
Hey Max, Big fan of the chanel after recently finding it. The UK has loads of budget guitar brands. Artist, Eastcoast, Encore, J & D, Nevada, New Jersey, Stagg, Rockburn, Rockson. To name but a few. All around the £100-£200 so, $115-$250ish range. Yet there's not many UK guitar youtubers that have done a review. If it's not too much in shipping costs. Definitely worth looking into.
I believe that this brand has been mentioned in the comments, Vintage brand guitars. They do a Jerry Donahue signature Tele for $650 and a copy of Peter Greens LP for the same price. They copy strats, 335’s and juniors too. I’d like to see you demo any and/or all of these.
These guitars are awesome, be warned tho all the relic models have messed up tuners. Whatever they acid they put on the vintage style tuners gets into the hole for oil and they play terribly. I have played 4 at 3 stores and all had the exact same problem. They look pretty decent tho esp for the money
I bought a Vintage LP copy secondhand. It was a quick parking lot Craigslist exchange so i didnt check it over too well. It looks good and feels good but the fretwork sucks. The B and E string are dead past the 12th fret.
I know I'm a year late but the new epiphones not only have the closest headstock to a Gibson yet, but they're also very well built. Bridge pickup still needs replace (neck is cool not perfect but not useless) as any pup does that's not name brand.
Very good advice Max! I don't recall you demoing a Yamaha pacifica 012, that is an underrated yet inexpensive guitar imo. Just sold mine so I can upgrade to a much higher end Yamaha.
@@gtrman12887 Fret sprouting I don't consider too bad, I expect it lol. How about Strat #1;11-13 high frets, a tuning key that slips, a bad nut and horrible pickups and put in higher output pots. Strat# 2; pickups, pots, nut, recrowned the frets, and replaced 2 bad tuning keys so far and expect to change the other 4 when they go. They were garbage I turned into gold. My daily players so I don't put wear on my better Strats.
I love that AIO has us lefties in mind. I am considering a Chibson right now just to scratch my Flying V itch, as I cannot find a lefty that doesn't cost an arm or a leg.
Spot on! I've never seen a Chibson that was anywhere as good as a epiphone. The only reason people buy them is they say gibson on the headstock, which is clearly fraud. There are soooo many better guitars out there.
Epiphone did themselves a favor by getting rid of the clipped wings headstock. Now if they could go full Japan Oliver Epiphone headstock, Epiphone would double their sales just for the headstock.
Other budget brands aside from ones you mentioned: Artist (artistguitars) - Australia Best Choice (bestchoiceproducts) Eastwood East Coast (eastcoastguitars) - UK Glen Burton SX (Rondo) Tagima (Brazil) Vintage
@@GuitarMAXMusicMax, please test NK headless guitars. Seller guitars123 on ebay. They also sell on Ali Express. Would love to hear your opinion on the quality of their fretwork and trem system. Also Harley Benton dullahan
rather than fix the crimes of fake guitars, it would be easier to fix the crime of trying to look cool on that car in the intro, God man what are you thinking?
Indonesia makes excellent electric guitars. I bought two Samick guitars from the JTS series, a Marie and a Linda. They were both under $400 each. The Marie has a super strat body, a hardtail bridge and three Telecaster pickups with tele controls and five way switch.The Linda is a Les paul Jr. configuration but with a regular Gibson style bridge and tailpiece, one bridge pickup and only a volume control. Both have beautifully dressed jumbo frets, and needed zero action adjustments . They’re both screamers. I could hardly believe it. But the best part of this story is that they were closing the store and I payed less than $250 for BOTH!!! There has never been more cheap options for high quality player’s guitars. The resale value is probably negligible, but the player’s value is immense. They can keep their Chibsons. Don’t need em’.
I have a Chibson and it sounds great without any extra arrangements, just adjust the neck a bit. It could sound even better with a change of humbuckers for better ones. I have also had a Gibson guitar and the truth is that it went out of tune a lot, the wood was not of such good quality and although the sound was good, I was disappointed because I expected much more, especially at the high price. There are better brands and better qualities in Les Paul models, an example is the ESP, at a lower cost. But if you want a visual quality, the Chibson are a good option without a doubt. Since they can invest little money only by making minimal adjustments.
Ordered my Slash Chibson Les Paul a few weeks ago and I am excited about it. I ordered a bunch of Gibson parts and Seymour Duncan APH-2s Alnico II Pro Slash Pickups. Why did I do it? I am not about to spend 3k on a guitar when I can buy a Chibson and make it sound great for $600.
I was lucky enough to get in on the Sawtooth Black Friday 50% off sale and the guitar came today , Sweet. I don’t know who set it up but whoever did it did a great job. Thanks for your videos about affordable new guitars for us to look for.
@@helihead11 Thank you. I was looking at the Hybrid series. I love the idea but the demo videos are absolutely horrible. I bet they'd sell more if someone else demoed them. They could be great for stuff besides shredding but its hard to tell.
I bought a used (almost new) arctic white les paul custom Chibson. The seller advertised it as a fake les paul and priced it accordingly. It sounds, looks and plays awesomely!! I actually play it more than my other over priced "made in the USA" guitars. After a quick setup the Intonation is good and holds its tuning really well. I was thinking to order new pickups, bridge, hardware, electronics but it actually sounds good the way it is! I can't hate on the chibson. At least the one I have anyway.
I have a Squier Strat I souped up with a Hot Rails and it's currently my main in spite of buying an Adrian Smith model Jackson as Christmas to myself. I have an Indonesian Xaviere super-Start they don't market anymore. Pretty clean for a few bills. I have one of their older LP knock-offs made in China... replaced pickups with some chrome Dragonfire pickups ( I believe you have reviewed before), and put some cheap locking tuners on to try to improve slippage/tuning issues. Over the course of time the cool little fleur de lis inlays are popping out the neck, though and it has a few dead frets mid-neck and high... not worth pouring money into work. Had a Zakk Wylde Chibson. Put a real EMG 81 in it, played great, weighed a ton! Bought a Warren deMartini Crossed Swords... unplayable no matter how I tried to tweak it. Neck was twisted from word go. Wallhanger I sold to a friend as a wall hanger. He poured a few hundred into it and says it plays okay now. Oh, and replaced the weak crappy stock p/u with yet another Dragonfire high gain. Had a few buddies buy Chibsons. One sank $500 in JN and JB pickups, tuning gears, etc. Bought a high-end Epiphone with ( stock) Gibson pickups plays awesome. Final analysis? "Buying Chibson is a crap shoot at best" I agree, Max. Too many good quality brands out there to buy plywood from China with crossed fingers! ( I am saving for a few HBs)
Heys Max. Nice video as always. Maybe you should check out Jack and Danny (J&D), housebrand of german musicstore professional. These are pretty like Harley Benton (not the indonesian ones) but a little bit better imo. I owned some of both. My favourite guitar is a J&D JM 10, a jazzmaster copy with three single coils. It cost me 111 Euros. Now it is only 108 €. I saw one of em stand in between some original fender customs shops models at one of my customers (no, i am not a guitar dealer). The guy told me it he wanted it as a wallhanger but it sounded so good that he played it. So did i. It is my absolute favourite guitar and i am playing for 45 years now. The only things that i changed are the stringtrees, the bridgepickup and the tuners. These were all good and worked ok but i wanted to put some love into the guitar. I put a singlecoil shaped humbucker on the bridge position (25 Euros), some kluson tuners (23 Euros) and graphtech stringtrees (i put them on all my guitars with stringtrees) on it. I do not know if musicstore professional in cologne is shipping to the us but they have a store in england. Here's links to it www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/J-D-E-Gitarre-JM10-MN-SFG-Surf-Green/art-GIT0011806-000 www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Kluson-MK6LN-Round-Backs-Oval-6L-Nickel/art-GIT0020051-000 www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Roswell-Pickups-SHR-B-H-Rails-ST-Bridge-Black/art-GIT0043307-000 www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Graph-Tech-PT-7004-00-String-Tree-2er-Set-Schwarz/art-GIT0025093-000
If I had the Fender 'Custom Shop' do this build to these specs the price would probably be over $5K-$6K.. where I will have about $600 in it all told including original guitar purchase. "all" parts from Amazon plus some tools required for the build. so about 10% twhat Fender would charge and I get a total custom guitar the way I want it with nearly unlimited tonal variation potential. and really cool looking too.
I just bought a Glarry Tele copy on a "Black Friday" $10 off special for only $80 + free shipping! I bought it to change electronics and use it as a pickup tester. I was surprised at how nice the guitar was, needed no set set up just tuned and played great. Well worth buying!
Aria pro II 615 Nashville is a hell of an affordable guitar. I bought one last year used for £200 in Ruby red, they cost £350 new. The guy I bought it off took it out of the box played it and didn't like it so he sold it to me. I had a set up and fret level/polish for £70. So my one cost £270 newish.
My Michael Kelly Tele, with humbuckers is one great sounding, playing and needs no mods. Great guitars. I own a Wolf Tele, solid wood thru neck, that is another fine guitar. Needs no mods.
I have been looking over the past few weeks on a Les Paul. I considered a chipson, but after reading over 100+ reviews, I went against it. Basically, you never know what you are going to get with a chipson. So, I got a Les Paul Standard Epiphone instead on Facebook for $300 w/ case. Not a bad deal.. Really look at the Xaviere guitar.those look great and have great reviews as well
Hi Max...I always love your posts, especially those pertaining to Chibson guitars. I just received a dozen Chibsons and I really like them for the reasons I've previously shared. I'm going to relic these guitars, which include Black beauties, Randy Rhoades models, and a few highly flamed bursts. When I get done, I'll trade them to some musician friends of mine for some of their gear.
Don't tell me, that's not a Cessna you're flying around in...it's a Chessna.
That "C" also stands for certain death 💀
😂👍
Bro do you drive a tesla? No, it's a.. Chesla.
That "Cioks Engine Right" light has been on since his third day flying it. He went to read the manual to try and figure out what that meant, but as you can probably guess, it wasn't much help. Had a whole section on "Great Education for propelling the children", but nothing about the light. Legend has it he's still up there, screaming his message of value for $ instruments.
The plane with the “no don’t buy it, it’s a chibson” had me crying with laughter
The mic effects was the cherry on top
Had me laughing out loud also, and yeah, the mic affect was sweet indeed. LOL
Best action sequence ever.
You, Sir, are one clever shredder. The amount of thought, planning, time and effort it takes in delivering 6:50 of content would probably surprise us. You’re an intelligent entrepreneur who isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Big respect.
I think you have something on your nose.
No way you actually flew a plane just for that one 30 second bit, I love that
Thankfully I think Chibson are done. So many great, cheaper and much better quality controlled options on the market now.
Didn’t Chibson buy Vesa/Booger?
Hardly. The fakes are getting much better as well.
lol far from done. Still fantastic project guitars
@@evodgamehunter4290 yeah definitely and in the last year or so have gotten a lot better.
Comment aged like milk
Hell yea Chibson guitars are getting better and affordable. Keep it up guys!
First off I absolutely love this channel! Maxx...in your spare time you could easily front a big-time Rock band because you have everything it takes.
As far as Chibsons or any guitars made in China, I'm a fan! At the end of the day, guitars are made of wood, metal & plastic, and just about anyone can make them. Also, unless you're a professional musician or have a musical ear, the difference in sound/tone is not that significantly different. Especially, after a few low-cost mods to the Chinese guitars.
I appreciate the Chinese replicas from a cost perspective as they retail at about 1/15th of US-made guitars, which most of the cost is tied up in labor. You don't have to worry about modifying Chinese guitars to taste or worry about dinging, denting or jamming hard on them!
I own just under 87 modern & vintage Gibson, Fender & Rickenbackers and about 20 of them are Chinese made. About another 10 are made in Korea, Japan & Mexico. The quality of Chinese guitars is improving and recently some dealers are offering Les Pauls with polished frets, adding the correct bridge, insulating the pick-up cavities, and including Epi Pro Bucker pick-ups for less than $200 US!
I don't judge people for their interests and really could care what my neighbor or anyone else does on the web with their time & money. I have friends that build replica high-end classic cars and others who buy & import expensive cigars. I don't really care what people say about owning a bunch of foreign-made guitars. Much like you Maxx, I'm not looking to buy & flip them but enjoy tinkering and playing (Chinese) guitars.
2:51 Max then continued to fly straight INTO the Store
Now that Epiphone added a Large Diamond to the headstock of their LP Custom and reshaped it I honestly don’t think I would buy another Chibson again
Too bad the QC on those Epiphones is almost as bad as Chibson. Heard a lot of complaints about the fretwork and QC on the Epiphones.
@@sneifert1968 WRONG.
@@sneifert1968 Thats a shame, I think I would def have to try it out in a store rather than order from the web, sometimes you have to go through 10 to find one good one
@@sneifert1968 you mean almost as bad as a Gibson... right?
@@sneifert1968 chibsons are Epiphones. They just make them gibsons and walk them out the back.
Just ordered my first SX bass from Rondo Music. I have three of their SX guitars and they're all pretty great for the money. Thing is that they make a ton of prog machines that I'd never play. You might want to look into them. They ship from New Hampshire.
@strangeuniverse1 ... I have the Swamp Ash Tele with arm and belly carve. And a bound fingerboard. It was advertised as a 2 piece body, but they sent me a one piece. I LOVE that guitar. I also have a Strat style in green with the aged neck that looks kinda orange. Played that a lot, but needs work on the electricals now. Bought an SX Strat with two P90s a couple years ago. It has a mahogany body. So weird. It's a beauty, but as heavy as a Les Paul.
I had a Rondo LP style guitar and I got rid of it. God, I really regret that. Great guitar!
The selection seems pretty limited lately.
They used to have hundreds of different models.
@@vorpalblades that's a consequence of the pandemic ://
i own two sx guitars. superb guitars, play very well
I ordered a Glarry thin line Tele on Christmas eve, ostensibly for my grandchild. It turned up today, four days later. Ridiculously good for £75. I'm keeping it, just ordered another for the kid...
That's so wrong. Order a guitar for the kid and now keeping it.
@@ricmel8008 It's worse than you think. That's guitar no.12, I have a Mex Tele too...
@@Peasmouldia oh my!!!
Dude! The plane scene took it to another level!
I bought a Firefly because of your impressions!
Sweet guitar, no complaints here.
Same here! Got a light blue jhh and its been great to me.
Do those guitar buzz like gibson? Gibson has bad fret jobs, a $$hitty one way truss rod. Back bow problems all the time.
Yes a Firefly can certainly buzz. I bought one after seeing Guitar Max review one but had to settle for a red 335 style as the fancy tops were out of stock. Took off the strings, redid the frets, filing, sanding, and polishing. Put on a Tusk nut and low end locking tuners. I can honestly say it is fun to play and sounds pretty good. I did not touch the electronics. Added about 6 hours labor and $80 in parts to the $159 with shipping. best $250 guitar I have ever owned.
Harley Benton, the newer Jackson JS and Epiphone Pro and "inspired by" series killed the market for Chinese fake guitars.
I have a 2010 Jackson JS and it's still a really good guitar
@@valentinroux7448 I have the newer JS32 Gus G. Star guitar and a Rhodes V they are really good for the money, I just changed the pickups and tuners in them and they sound really good. Necks on them feel very fast and nice.
That and covid 😂
Schecter Omen too.
Maybe in the states and other developed countries but in 3rd World Countries the Chinese fake guitars take up about 95% of the market share.
Yup, would never want a fake Gibson as I would know I'm holding a lie. Much more honest to own a clone that has some subtle differences, the manufacturers own name and logo.
I'm a poor retiree so have to watch the pennies, I took the risk and bought an EKO SG (DV-10). Wow, was I surprised at the quality, stability and playability. It's now one of my favourite guitars, and it cost me under AUD$200 brand new, including shipping. Definitely some good budget brands out there today.
The thing is, though too many people speak of China as it was a single factory, there are dozens of different Chinese factories making copies of classic American guitar designs under contract to various and sundry companies who'll slap their own decals on the headstock. And if you know much about mass production manufacturing, you'll know that setting up the machinery on the assembly line is the most biggest expense in the manufacturing process. But once you've set up your assembly line to carve out SG's on the NC machines, the more copies you make, the more you spread out your set-up expense. Now, the bits and pieces like pickups, tuners, electronics, etc., they're fixed per instrument. Hypothetically, a Chinese factory contracted to mate 500 Harley Benton guitars for Thomann can reduce their expense on the 500, and make some extra profit by making 700 copies of that guitar, putting Harley Benton decals on 500, and decals of any other company or companies who want some cheap guitars to sell on the other 200. In a pinch, if they can't find enough legitimate buyers, it's easy enough to fake bona-fide Gibson markings to move through the black market. Making deliberate counterfeits of American name brands is both illegal and unethical, but we're talking about Red China, where legalities and ethics don't exist.
I mean aesthetically speaking it's undeniably awesome looking. There's that. Sounds like it plays alright. The only problem I've got is with the Gibson logo. That and the budget brands are probably more reliable.
About 20 yrs. ago the music shop I gave lessons out of was a Cort dealer. The owner Steve was an old bass player and loved his Cort bass. It was a nice bass. So he used to charge his students 15$ for a half hr. lesson, he would keep 5 and give his teachers 10 (He had 3 nice lesson rooms in the back of the store). One day I was going to work and I saw a beautiful sunburst, gold hardware, semi-hollowbody, single cut (PRS) single cut looking guitar... Fully bound (even the headstock) rosewood fretboard with a tree of life inlay, 24 frets, 2 humbuckers this thing was loaded!! And it was a Cort! I played it for a few and fell in love with it. So I bought it, 400 bucks new. I played the crap outta that thing, gigged with it every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night for about 6 months and things started breaking down. The cheap output jack was the 1st to go, so I replaced it with a Switchcraft. Then the bridge bolts (posts, it had a stop tailpiece and an arb style bridge, but the posts started to pull up out of the body! I put a tiny bit of epoxy on the ends and tapped them back down. Then the neck pup stopped working, so I replaced it and while I was in there I replaced the little dime pots for full size CTS pots. It did have a nice set of Grover (Non locking) tuners but the plastic nut was cut pretty bad so I replaced it with a new bone nut that I cut the right way (No Graph-Tech back then or I would have used them) and finally I had a decent guitar... about another 400$ later and lots of work. I ended up selling it to my nephew about 10 yrs. ago. Just recently I have seen a few You Tube guitar players reviewing Cort guitars... Looks like there making a comeback. If you haven't already It would be cool to see what you think of the new budget friendly Cort guitars! As always Thanks Max, ...Mike (Ipswich River Guitars)
No other company offers the sheer customization options that "Chibson" (catch-all for all Chinese fake manufacturers) do for an incredibly good price. They are still a great buy if you know exactly what you want and have no intention of passing them off as real.
True, and that's probably one of the only reasons to go for a chibson these days, if you want a custom shop guitar to create something very unique just for you
the first one i bought arrived with the neck snapped, they let me keep it which is now fixed and sent me a replacement the next week that right there is hard to beat
The only reason I’m still considering to buy one in the future is because I want a Les Paul custom in a gorgeous Iguana Burst
Have you ever bought one? Which ones produce ones with really good quality? Do you know any good manufacturer? And where did you buy them? AliExpress?
@@grad13nt1 Which manufacturer was it? How's the overall build quality? I'm really trying hard to find a good one.
I have a "Chender" Stratocaster from Aliexpress thatis actually a really nice guitar. I sanded off the Fender logo on the headstock and now I'm giving it away on my channel.
Chibson has gone down hill. Their ceo only cares about money and vanity. Lol. 🤣
Pray authentic...
@@vorpalblades Yoo pray, yoo go to gurag!
What CEO? Chibson's are not just made by one manufacturer.
@@Deebz270 look up, a joke just passed overhead...
@@vorpalblades Must get frying V...
I got my Harley Benton ST-62 in the US for $220 after shipping and taxes. I took 4 days to get it to my house from Germany, and man am I impressed!
ESP LTD models are incredible. The EC 256 are steals.
Agreed. I own two - A somewhat rare, 24 fret, thru-neck F2e - now being fitted with a Line 6 'Variax' circuit... And a P-401 'pot-belly' double-cut. Both guitars were about £200 each used. The 'Pot Belly' came fitted with SD 'P-Rails'... Has a carved maple top on mahogany body, with superb fitted neck, compesated nut and Grovers... Excellent value for money, especially used.
Only reason why I bought mine was cause it’s a 57 futura Chibson with the split v headstock. Gold hardware and dark mahogany natural finish. Really hard to find futuras… It’s an amazing guitar, insanely well made, idk if they’re getting better as of late but mine feels and plays like a really high end Epiphone custom. Maybe even better… Sets up really nice, no issues with fret work. I was shocked, honestly thought I was going to make it a wall hanger piece but I play it more than any other guitar I have now. For the money, it’s fantastic.
You can't go wrong with second hand guitars but I do love my jacksons and really nice guitars for under $500
Absolutely. There are many reasons why buying used instruments is not only important and ethical, but that bargains are to be had...
See my 'essay' above/below/wherever...
My AIO SC77 arrived a couple weeks ago,, and all I can say is wow! It is a beautiful guitar with a near perfect setup, not to mention is sounds good without even plugging it in to an amp! I'll be ordering more I'm sure, so thanks for the demo you did a few weeks back :)
It’s not the guitars it’s the musician himself that can make a guitar great.
I think the wolf guitar stands out a little better than all those other guitars they also set it up for you really nice no extra charge
There's this budget brand (well at least i believe it's a budget brand) it's called ‘playtech’ and I think its company is based in Japan but the guitars are manufactured in China (according to Google). It'd be really cool if you could review it. the cheapest ones could go up to $75 - $80
The Chibson you had on here seemed very nice. You made it sound great. The sound after all is in the player’s hands more than the instrument. I kept waiting for dead frets, and loud buzzes and humming from cheap pots & wiring. Could it be that Chibson manufacturing is evolving, and improving?
Wow. Last time I was this early I became a father.
🤣
I worked on the first one for half a year.. 🙂
Same
Last time I came this late my gf fell asleep already
@@John_Doe657 Sometimes, less, is MORE!
I got a Grote Thinline tele copy from Amazon. Was intending to use it as a modding platform. The tone was so badass that I decided to leave it alone. Fret edges could have been a little smoother but otherwise I can't put it down!
if you want a chinese made gibson,buy an epiphone
Cheaper and better quality than the real Chibson! Finally Gibson got something right.
Why
@@fraterfraxinus6293 you mean epiphone got something right lol. Better than gibson. Doesn't take much tho
@@starlinyn9292 I guess that would be a "forged signature" model? I'm all for cheap guitars, as long as they're good. The good-looking ones that don't play keep getting dumped back into the market as real guitars though.
Don’t do that…
Diggin the Cobra KAI shirt (new season drops 1-1-21 😁), Max, and I loved the plane-bit (I needed that laugh today too, believe me, LOL)! Enjoyed the video (I always do, and I always learn something too), my friend, happy New Year's (Liked and Shared) 😊✌🤘
At one point I was quite into the idea of either a Chibson or Chender just so that I could have a base model with the specs I wanted that otherwise I'd have to pay custom shop prices for. I figured that so long as the woodwork was decent and the frets were in the right place, then everything else was just a screwdriver and soldering iron away from being perfect.
However, I've seen too many stripdowns that show poor neck pockets, bridge routing, etc. that makes even this too much of a risk for me.
If you want to do that just get a mexican fender or an epiphone and just mod them, they won’t be as good as the American ones, but they’ll more than satisfy you
@@wazda6488the reason I was considering the Chibsons or Chenders was simply down to spec. There's certain combinations of finishes, wood combinations, headstock shape, etc. that Fender and Gibson don't make, and to buy all the parts separately becomes costly pretty quickly. The idea was that if I can get a Chinese factory to do the first half of the work for me, especially the bits I can't do (like burst paint jobs), then I'm onto a winner.
Well might ask in a Chibson online Forum about good manufacturers. There are ones that really can deliver Firefly and Harley Benton levels of quality.
I call a knockoff Fender a Fander.
You are definitely correct about squire. I love my Squire stratocaster affinity. It was only about 300 bucks with practice Amp. So many options now no reason to buy a bad guitar that rips off another company.
How about a video about v shaped guitars. Not the ones with sharp points, but more like a traditional flying v
Michael Kelly guitars. I bought a 50 burl ultra a few months ago and am incredibly happy with it. Needed to adjust the action slightly but it's a fine instrument for $350.
I know that they cost more than $500, but I would highly recommend a Shijie guitar over any of those other brands that you mentioned. Their quality is absolutely first-rate. Shijie, in my opinion, can easily go toe to toe with the best of the big boys.
Shije is a great price on what should be a $1000 - $1500 guitar.
Agreed, I have one myself. Chinese definitely know their shit when it comes to guitars.
I don't wanna be asked ,is that a shite guitar?
Eart out of China, but it’s their guitars. I bought one took a week to get here,free shipping. It was so good I bought 2 more a couple weeks later.
I think Epiphone is the real "Chibson"
They are blue-printed, controlled, licensed, operated and owned by Gibson. They also offer some absolutely fantastic guitars these days in the 400.00 - 600.00 range.
They really can't be beat.
same thought. I was planning on getting chibson because the price is so enticing and you can almost get away with it. But you can't really be sure about these things.
@@headlight31
But you can be very sure about an Epiphone,..because it is a Gibson product.
I think Vintage are also a good option, the wood feels better on their SG models (the tuners and electronics are usually pants though).. no neck dive unlike epiphone models, even the new inspired by Gibson models have more dive than olympic swimmers
Great vid! If you get a Chibson for the right price and do not plan to scam someone, there are some out there that are pretty dam good. There used to be a guy at a local Flea Market that sold them out of his trailer as well as other knockoffs all around the $200.00 mark. He never tried to sell them as real he said outright they were knockoffs. Some were garbage but some were decent. I came close to buying a Chibby Zak Wylde Bullseye LP for $200.00 that IMO was amazing. He had a decent combo amp you could try them out on. Yes it's illegal and they guy did get raided and shut down but they slapped him on the wrist he was back selling something else a month later. I haven't seen many lately with the few exceptions on Craig's list trying to pass them off for real. Of course like you showed there are plenty of great affordable guitars out there. I have 161 guitars in my collection and a majority of them are affordable guitars, most I bought used for a lot less than their new prices some I did buy new but got discounts or deals. I have a lot of people over who try them out and car amazed the play and sound so good. Most of these affordable guitars with the proper set up, played thru a decent amp are amazing and will hold their own against guitars costing ten times as much. Some people just can't see past the name on the headstock or just imagine the more it cost the better it must be.
I think Epiphone, Squire, LTD, Ibanez and Schecter all make great budget guitars. Every "chibson" I've seen looks nice but plays and sounds bad
I play a classic vibe 50. Awesome playing guitar
the quality of your videos is noticeably getting better
A chibson isn't even good enough for my fireplace. Buy an Epiphone. I don't dig people stealing shit. Just my two cents.
I still have a Chibson LP supreme i got like 6 years ago cause I was curious. And I have to say I'm surprised it still a really good guitar. Of course I put in seymour duncans, a roller bridge a tusq nut and locking tuners, but it still looks, feels and sounds amazing. But I just got an Epi 60's standard Bourbon burst for Xmas and I love it. No upgrading needed at all. But, I also have some Harley Bentons which are great inexpensive guitars. But, all year I've been playing my Ibanez Rg570 as my #1, my Jem as my #2 and my Jackson soloist as my #3 (tuned down half a step) and the Chibson as my tuned down a full step guitar. But my Epi.. might become my #1 or #2.. it sounds great, feels great and is one sexy lookin' guitar.
Can you try out a Michael Kelly guitar? My 1953 arrived with the frets needing a good cleaning and a setup, but I love it!
I have a MK '52 that is my go to. Great guitar
@@grease2542 yeah the ‘53 definitely has a cool vibe to it. I like how it makes me play and sound.
I'd never buy a Chibson since Epiphone is killing it right now. But I might buy a Chickenbacker for 300 bucks since I don't want to pay 2000 dollars for the real thing.
Omg I’m weak, CHICKENBACKER!
Before Harley Benton flooded the European market, UK based JHS launched Vintage guitars, very popular in the UK itself. But gradually the brand pentrated my country (the Netherlands) and eastern Europe. I now own two double cut models VS6 and VS6VW, and recently stumbled upon a now rare VXP6BK (the letters XP should give you a clue).
My first Vintage was a new 2004 cherry red Solid Guitar which cost me $280, and it played and sounded much better than the Epiphone sg400!
Just like HB the Vintage had some minor flaws, but in the timespan of 16 years I gradually upgraded all the hardware except the tuners.
To complete my journey I had a stainless steel refret, and it is still my favourite guitar.
If you haven't already, please talk about what you use to get such a great sound out of the cheapest guitars you can find. I'd love to see that video.
Same.
He DID talk about that in his other videos. He recently got a new Fender modeling amp: Mustang GTX100. Before then, he was using a Blackstar ID:Core 10 v.2 direct lined into his DAW on his computer.
I've seen other channels review Glarry Guitars. I do think this brand is a good product that is ripe for modifications. For those who want to learn how to modify a guitar, you cannot go wrong with a Glarry. I'd love to see you do a video or 2 of a Glarry modification.
A used Schecter is always a good buy. Bought a used gold top tempest for under $400.
Used PRS Se's are a good deal also
Heck, a NEW Schecter is a great alternative. I love my C-6 Plus!
Schecters are nice but they need to come up with better color schemes
Love the switch up with the airplane!! Halarious!! Keep up the creativity!! U helped me purchase my first guitar. It arrives hopefully on the 31st! Its a eppiphone Les Paul special 2. I bought it the day after christmas on amazon at 12:30 pm. In vintage sunburst it sold out in a matter of hrs after purchase. Final price 179.99 marked down from 230.00 i think it was. Somethin like that. Bonus i got a 150 dollar amazon gift card for christmas so ended up paying like 27 bucks out of pocket. Thank you for the courage to learn.
It was 1230 am. After midnight. Sorry
Also amazon took 30 dollars off for a discount so it was like 150 even or something
Kreese: Sweep the Chibson. Do you have a problem with that?
Max: No Sensei.
Kreese: No mercy...
The problem is the Chibson is delivering a Crane-style front kick to Gibsons face.
@@sharonm7401 very true!
What is the problem mr Danzig ?
I just got a xaviere tele delivered to my door in a hard case for $268 from guitarfetish.... fit/finish is damn good , graphite nut, brass saddles, gfs pickups, hand finished frets.... I would have been impressed paying double !
I am however looking at some Chinese copies because they make tribute guitars of my favorite guitarists , for example I can get a Rory Gallagher strat for around $250 and the only other option is fender custom shop for $3000+ . I have made Clapton's "blackie" and Gilmour's guitar and my number one is an Olympic white strat with a maple fretboard so it looks just like Jimi's, not that the looks really matter to me it's just cool to me to have replicas of my favorites.
But anyone trying to sell one as a real one should have the guitar inserted inside them in the most uncomfortable way !!!! 🎸🤟🍻
Dam fake or not that's one beautiful guitar !
The issue for the average player of being able to find a Chipson maker that could make you a really really great copy. Unless you are familiar with buying on Ali Exp or Alibaba or have buying relationships you would not really be buying blind. I've had decent experience buying kits and pedals and the like from the above mentioned and TomTop. I already buy from them for my eBay and Amazon stores. So I have an advantage. I did find a maker who let me customize a cherry burst standard LP. It is quite good and plays as well as my true Gibson LP. I did was swap out the pickups for Stew Mack Golden age with Push Pulls. With Shipping I paid $425. But it would be hit and miss with most buyers. The Chinese have become very very good guitar makers. 5 or 6 years ago you might have got a POS. The ethics are up to you on having it made with the Gibson headstock inlay. But to your point there are now so many great gigging and touring guitars being made in the under $700.00 range there is really no need to buy a Gibson branded Chinese-made guitar anymore. The Epiphone line of LP's in my opinion is as good as any Gibson at any price. The Wolf's are fantastic and buying a kit and making one yourself is extremely satisfying and will get you a guitar the way you want. And the used market I think is going to be flooded with used guitars of all kinds. When the pandemic is over all those bedroom guitarists who decided it was time to finally learn guitar is going to leave their apartments and go back out into the wild and leave the guitar learning behind and their guitars behind! That's my 2 cents adjusted for inlfation.
I can see the Guitar Center used guitar section from here, NO, don't buy it, it's a Chibson. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! That made me laugh out loud.
My Wolf WLP 750T (Blue Burst) is on the way to me now. Great customer service... can't wait to give it a go.
How could you leave out Firefly?
Or Agile?
Or Grote?
Even IYV does nice work
SX guitars and hadean guitars are known too for being incredible at their price. I would love to see a review from you about them, especially the Sx ones.
Love SX guitars. I have 6 and wouldn't if they sucked.
@@davidkastin4240 Do you have by casuality the tele with p90s? I've thinking of buying one but haven't seen any review or opinion about it
@@MaxMG-xi2ub I have the Tele with the P90s. Done a bunch of videos with it - everything from 80's soft rock to Boston! It's a solid performer and it's built like a tank!
@@Axess-sv8nq And what about blues?
@@MaxMG-xi2ub Well, with the P90s, it should be a natural. The P90s took to the overdrive very well.
Most "Chibson" luthiers will leave off the logos or add a custom logo for you. So, a good portion of the copyright infringement is on the buyer.
Agreed. Humans... So gullible, so selfish, so vain....
The Chinese don't even send Chibsons to most Europe countries because they get burned at customs.
Funny they send them to the US, where the copied company sits.
You can't copyright a logo or design. It's trademark infringement.
@@OddTimeMan Nitpicking, you know the intent.
@@kitoyobeni1 I was corrected on this matter years ago, but my reaction was much different than yours. I appreciated the information. Spreading false info is never a good thing. Knowledge is power.
Max I think you should check out Palace guitars, they offer a service that guarantees your own dream guitar anywhere from $400 to $800. They're from China, but their quality us really up there. I had them make a custom guitar for me, the results were great. Only con is that recieving things from them will definitely take a while especially if you order custom stuff.
I wouldn’t mind a Chibson IF it carried its own brand name and weren’t trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Just be honest
Its not being sold as a "real gibson" though
The buyers can actually send their own logos except these buyers wants to put gibson logo in there
Rare Electric Guitars made me a Floyd Rose SG with my logo on it.
Gear4music have couple budget friendly options, Max you should check their brands: Hartwood (classic options), SubZero (modern fast guitars, specially GenPro models with 5 pieces neck through design, 24 X-jumbo stainless steal frets, graphite nut etc. for 300-400$, all Gear4music guitar lineup: LA guitars, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Seattle, Harlem.. many options. For strat lovers i would recommend new Aria 714 Mk2... for 300-400 $ you get HSS strat with roasted maple neck and fingerboard, Wilkinson tremolo, split coil option for humbucker and flamed maple top on poplar body.
I guess, for me, rather than having 20 cheap guitars I'd rather have 10 nice ones or 5 killer ones.
A few years back I reduced my collection from 14 guitars, down to three incredible ones. I barely look at gear these days. Put all that extra time into practicing and it paid off far more than any gear purchases ever could. I'm now down to two guitars, a 57' Telecaster and a Strandberg. Super happy now.
Hey Max, Big fan of the chanel after recently finding it. The UK has loads of budget guitar brands.
Artist, Eastcoast, Encore, J & D, Nevada, New Jersey, Stagg, Rockburn, Rockson.
To name but a few. All around the £100-£200 so, $115-$250ish range.
Yet there's not many UK guitar youtubers that have done a review. If it's not too much in shipping costs. Definitely worth looking into.
I would rather stick a Gibson decal on a Epiphone.
I would rather play authentic. Ive owned two gibsons. Sure one of them lost its headstock. But the one thats left is with me for life
@@Ottophil it's too expensive for most people.
I believe that this brand has been mentioned in the comments, Vintage brand guitars. They do a Jerry Donahue signature Tele for $650 and a copy of Peter Greens LP for the same price. They copy strats, 335’s and juniors too. I’d like to see you demo any and/or all of these.
The Vintage brand is awesome, be great to see a review of one of them.
Agreed. I own a Vintage S6 (SG), an excellent playing, gigworthy, instrument that could hold its own against the real McCoy.
I have the vintage paradise its awsome
These guitars are awesome, be warned tho all the relic models have messed up tuners. Whatever they acid they put on the vintage style tuners gets into the hole for oil and they play terribly. I have played 4 at 3 stores and all had the exact same problem. They look pretty decent tho esp for the money
I bought a Vintage LP copy secondhand. It was a quick parking lot Craigslist exchange so i didnt check it over too well. It looks good and feels good but the fretwork sucks. The B and E string are dead past the 12th fret.
Had a '64 Std, '94 MIK g400 and now a MIC '10. My go to for years. I LOVE SG's.
This pisses me off.
btw, Happy New Year !!
I forgot that you also fly now lol that’s dope
Epiphone !! And awesome footage of you flying !! Hope you & the mrs. have had a safe & happy holidays !!
People are going berserk over the new 50's + 60's LP's - as well as the Modern and the new '59.
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Kai gang
I know I'm a year late but the new epiphones not only have the closest headstock to a Gibson yet, but they're also very well built. Bridge pickup still needs replace (neck is cool not perfect but not useless) as any pup does that's not name brand.
I love good quality cheap guitar. but copying completely the guitar even the logo, it sucks ! no damn fake branded guitar.
Very good advice Max! I don't recall you demoing a Yamaha pacifica 012, that is an underrated yet inexpensive guitar imo. Just sold mine so I can upgrade to a much higher end Yamaha.
Glarry - guitars, violins - dirt cheap, $100 or less - high quality
Glarry guitars are not high quality. I know first hand, I have 2.
@@davidkastin4240 yes. Fret sprout, high action. I've played a few. The ones reviewed online are handpicked before they leave the warehouse.
@@gtrman12887 Fret sprouting I don't consider too bad, I expect it lol. How about Strat #1;11-13 high frets, a tuning key that slips, a bad nut and horrible pickups and put in higher output pots. Strat# 2; pickups, pots, nut, recrowned the frets, and replaced 2 bad tuning keys so far and expect to change the other 4 when they go. They were garbage I turned into gold. My daily players so I don't put wear on my better Strats.
I love that AIO has us lefties in mind. I am considering a Chibson right now just to scratch my Flying V itch, as I cannot find a lefty that doesn't cost an arm or a leg.
Spot on! I've never seen a Chibson that was anywhere as good as a epiphone. The only reason people buy them is they say gibson on the headstock, which is clearly fraud. There are soooo many better guitars out there.
Epiphone did themselves a favor by getting rid of the clipped wings headstock.
Now if they could go full Japan Oliver Epiphone headstock, Epiphone would double their sales just for the headstock.
Other budget brands aside from ones you mentioned:
Artist (artistguitars) - Australia
Best Choice (bestchoiceproducts)
Eastwood
East Coast (eastcoastguitars) - UK
Glen Burton
SX (Rondo)
Tagima (Brazil)
Vintage
ohhh shit guitar max earliest i've ever been here
You're first!
@@GuitarMAXMusicMax, please test NK headless guitars. Seller guitars123 on ebay. They also sell on Ali Express. Would love to hear your opinion on the quality of their fretwork and trem system.
Also Harley Benton dullahan
I just bought an IYV ijz-300 tsp off amazon for under $200 and this guitar is pretty amazing for the price
rather than fix the crimes of fake guitars, it would be easier to fix the crime of trying to look cool on that car in the intro, God man what are you thinking?
Indonesia makes excellent electric guitars.
I bought two Samick guitars from the JTS series, a Marie and a Linda. They were both under $400 each. The Marie has a super strat body, a hardtail bridge and three Telecaster pickups with tele controls and five way switch.The Linda is a Les paul Jr. configuration but with a regular Gibson style bridge and tailpiece, one bridge pickup and only a volume control. Both have beautifully dressed jumbo frets, and needed zero action adjustments . They’re both screamers. I could hardly believe it. But the best part of this story is that they were closing the store and I payed less than $250 for BOTH!!!
There has never been more cheap options for high quality player’s guitars. The resale value is probably negligible, but the player’s value is immense. They can keep their Chibsons. Don’t need em’.
I have a Chibson and it sounds great without any extra arrangements, just adjust the neck a bit. It could sound even better with a change of humbuckers for better ones.
I have also had a Gibson guitar and the truth is that it went out of tune a lot, the wood was not of such good quality and although the sound was good, I was disappointed because I expected much more, especially at the high price.
There are better brands and better qualities in Les Paul models, an example is the ESP, at a lower cost. But if you want a visual quality, the Chibson are a good option without a doubt. Since they can invest little money only by making minimal adjustments.
man it's awesome you're doing solo flights!
I bought a Les Paul chibson out of curiosity and cheapness, and I am very satisfied and not just '' for the price''.
Ordered my Slash Chibson Les Paul a few weeks ago and I am excited about it. I ordered a bunch of Gibson parts and Seymour Duncan APH-2s Alnico II Pro Slash Pickups. Why did I do it? I am not about to spend 3k on a guitar when I can buy a Chibson and make it sound great for $600.
I was lucky enough to get in on the Sawtooth Black Friday 50% off sale and the guitar came today , Sweet. I don’t know who set it up but whoever did it did a great job. Thanks for your videos about affordable new guitars for us to look for.
Which Sawtooth did you get?
@@JaymeSilverstein Heritage Series. H70 Satan Black
@@helihead11 Thank you. I was looking at the Hybrid series. I love the idea but the demo videos are absolutely horrible. I bet they'd sell more if someone else demoed them. They could be great for stuff besides shredding but its hard to tell.
I bought a used (almost new) arctic white les paul custom Chibson. The seller advertised it as a fake les paul and priced it accordingly. It sounds, looks and plays awesomely!! I actually play it more than my other over priced "made in the USA" guitars. After a quick setup the Intonation is good and holds its tuning really well. I was thinking to order new pickups, bridge, hardware, electronics but it actually sounds good the way it is! I can't hate on the chibson. At least the one I have anyway.
I have a Squier Strat I souped up with a Hot Rails and it's currently my main in spite of buying an Adrian Smith model Jackson as Christmas to myself. I have an Indonesian Xaviere super-Start they don't market anymore. Pretty clean for a few bills. I have one of their older LP knock-offs made in China... replaced pickups with some chrome Dragonfire pickups ( I believe you have reviewed before), and put some cheap locking tuners on to try to improve slippage/tuning issues. Over the course of time the cool little fleur de lis inlays are popping out the neck, though and it has a few dead frets mid-neck and high... not worth pouring money into work.
Had a Zakk Wylde Chibson. Put a real EMG 81 in it, played great, weighed a ton! Bought a Warren deMartini Crossed Swords... unplayable no matter how I tried to tweak it. Neck was twisted from word go. Wallhanger I sold to a friend as a wall hanger. He poured a few hundred into it and says it plays okay now. Oh, and replaced the weak crappy stock p/u with yet another Dragonfire high gain.
Had a few buddies buy Chibsons. One sank $500 in JN and JB pickups, tuning gears, etc. Bought a high-end Epiphone with ( stock) Gibson pickups plays awesome. Final analysis?
"Buying Chibson is a crap shoot at best"
I agree, Max. Too many good quality brands out there to buy plywood from China with crossed fingers! ( I am saving for a few HBs)
In the end, it is all about how good the player is. Good players can make a cheap guitar sounds great.
Heys Max. Nice video as always. Maybe you should check out Jack and Danny (J&D), housebrand of german musicstore professional. These are pretty like Harley Benton (not the indonesian ones) but a little bit better imo. I owned some of both. My favourite guitar is a J&D JM 10, a jazzmaster copy with three single coils. It cost me 111 Euros. Now it is only 108 €. I saw one of em stand in between some original fender customs shops models at one of my customers (no, i am not a guitar dealer). The guy told me it he wanted it as a wallhanger but it sounded so good that he played it. So did i. It is my absolute favourite guitar and i am playing for 45 years now. The only things that i changed are the stringtrees, the bridgepickup and the tuners. These were all good and worked ok but i wanted to put some love into the guitar. I put a singlecoil shaped humbucker on the bridge position (25 Euros), some kluson tuners (23 Euros) and graphtech stringtrees (i put them on all my guitars with stringtrees) on it.
I do not know if musicstore professional in cologne is shipping to the us but they have a store in england.
Here's links to it
www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/J-D-E-Gitarre-JM10-MN-SFG-Surf-Green/art-GIT0011806-000
www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Kluson-MK6LN-Round-Backs-Oval-6L-Nickel/art-GIT0020051-000
www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Roswell-Pickups-SHR-B-H-Rails-ST-Bridge-Black/art-GIT0043307-000
www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Graph-Tech-PT-7004-00-String-Tree-2er-Set-Schwarz/art-GIT0025093-000
If I had the Fender 'Custom Shop' do this build to these specs the price would probably be over $5K-$6K.. where I will have about $600 in it all told including original guitar purchase. "all" parts from Amazon plus some tools required for the build. so about 10% twhat Fender would charge and I get a total custom guitar the way I want it with nearly unlimited tonal variation potential. and really cool looking too.
I just bought a Glarry Tele copy on a "Black Friday" $10 off special for only $80 + free shipping! I bought it to change electronics and use it as a pickup tester. I was surprised at how nice the guitar was, needed no set set up just tuned and played great. Well worth buying!
Aria pro II 615 Nashville is a hell of an affordable guitar. I bought one last year used for £200 in Ruby red, they cost £350 new. The guy I bought it off took it out of the box played it and didn't like it so he sold it to me. I had a set up and fret level/polish for £70. So my one cost £270 newish.
My Michael Kelly Tele, with humbuckers is one great sounding, playing and needs no mods. Great guitars. I own a Wolf Tele, solid wood thru neck, that is another fine guitar. Needs no mods.
I have two Harley Benton's, superb guitars.
Also have a Gibson Flying V, Washburn Falcon, Squier Strat and a John Birch Custom SG.
I have been looking over the past few weeks on a Les Paul. I considered a chipson, but after reading over 100+ reviews, I went against it. Basically, you never know what you are going to get with a chipson. So, I got a Les Paul Standard Epiphone instead on Facebook for $300 w/ case. Not a bad deal..
Really look at the Xaviere guitar.those look great and have great reviews as well
Hi Max...I always love your posts, especially those pertaining to Chibson guitars.
I just received a dozen Chibsons and I really like them for the reasons I've previously shared. I'm going to relic these guitars, which include Black beauties, Randy Rhoades models, and a few highly flamed bursts. When I get done, I'll trade them to some musician friends of mine for some of their gear.