I have a few Fazleys, of varying prices, and i just want to say, For £79, what do you expect? All my sub £100 Fazleys have been fine, although in some the pick ups can be weak sounding. That said, anyone who can really play guitar to a high standard is going to pay more that £79 for a Guitar. I love my cheapos, and i dont expect them to be as high quality as a £2000 axe. I also own Guitars up to £500, which play virtually the same as a £200 Fazley or HB. In one instance i found a £110 Fazley tele that actually sounded close to a £800 Fender Tele, and it was lighter. So its a case of they are not all bad, but dont over expect what you will get at that price.
I have had the same experience. I have a lot of guitars, of every price and description, and quite honestly my Fazleys are fequently my go-to guitars. The indisputable fact is that modern CNC cutting, ever greater experience, and Asian construction skills have transformed low-end guitars out of all recognition from even a few years ago. Those who advise avoiding budget guitars have likely had unfortunate experiences, which is certainly not the whole story.
Hey there, Johny, I am a frequent follower of your channel and I just wanted to thank you for the great reviews on the cheap casters. ;) The guy in this review is trying, but it is too short to go indepth about these Fazleys, and that's too bad. It isn't a very well review it that view, but atleast he's trying and is semi-positive still... And to back the Falzeys up (pun intended), these are good for the price for advanced guitar players and builders/modders, but really crap if you want to learn to play the guitar. Don't buy a Fazley if you're starting to play. But don't buy a second hand abused Fender Telecaster or a Squier Classic Vibe either (with vintage bridge and bassball bat neck), because you'll start to hate playing guitar too. If your starting to learn to play, best advice ever; Go to a professional shop, with your bought guitar for a setup or buy a guitar at the local shop for atleast 200 bucks with an additional setup. If you're already an advanced player and want to learn how to setup a guitar without ruining your 'nice' guitar, go for the sub 100 bucks guitar. It's just plain FUN! Note: I have had a few Fazleys & Harley Bentons, the Bentons I have given away and/or sold. The Fazleys I have kept. These are just better. Expecially the new Phynica and the Outlaw-series. I own already 2 Fazley Maverick with roasted maple necks, nubone nut, and dual humbuckers, for 160 bucks each and setup right out of the box. Man, I love these and they're totally gig-able! Real good fuzzmachines!
I got a Glarry £55 of EBAY, Thinline, with the Humbucker at the Bridge, I am amazed at the Guitar, Yes the Frets may wear quickly But everything else is goods, A set up and plays better than some of my more expensive guitars. When we talk about paying over a £1000 pounds this is amazing, all down to CNC and production of the future. Have a good day and Thankyou I like your VIDS, best wishes.
I'm definitely not an expert in this price range, but tbh I've not seen much under $300 that I'd even use as a mod platform. Theres some exceptions, but in my more recent experiences through the last 5yrs. I'd say spending even just a hundred more, so your in the $400-$600 range, will get you into a guitar you can count on. I'd much rather have one $500 hundred dollar ringer, than two $250 dollar clunkers. Great reviews mate. Gotta let the people know if any of these inexpensive models are at all worthy of checking out? I'm not a brand boy, and for instance paying $1499 for one of these Adam Jones Epiphones coming out tomorrow with the Gibson headstock, is ridiculous. I've got a "The Berserker " model thank you very much, and its just dandy with the lowly Epiphone Kalamazoo headstock on it. People put value on the wrong shit.
Thank you for addressing issues with cheap guitars! In my opinion too cheap means that it's barely playable, doesn't stay in tune, doesn't intonate and if those issues had been addressed at the factory they could have sold it for a bit more money and it would still be cheap but not too cheap... 🤔
I bought exactly this model, and tuning stability is 100%, Intonation, too. So was the Action, and all that out of the box. I really wonder why, but it's perfect. Just needs new strings. Scandalous! I've seen people complain about $1500 real Fender Teles and thought: Let's just try it. If it's crap I can still burn it ;-) And I found nothing to complain about. ( I usually do, always^^). I think the times are over when you can be sure to get something great for a lot of money and some POS for cheap. It can be just the other way around... consider me shocked. There is some variation and I think Elmo wasn't as lucky.
Hi Elmo, This is an old Fazley model wich not very good with a huge baseball neck. I bought 3 years ago a strat and send it back because of the neck. But, you may test Fazley new production like their Outlaw Sheriff Plus strats, Outlaw Coyote Plus telecasters, or new Sunset sandsark / seawave (more expensive) or Tempest P90 (neck) Telecaster. The quality and ergonomy is far better that this model ! Bax Music prices are very versatile and if the color is not important for you , you could make good bargains, You could have a good Telecaster / Strat for around 110-140€ with a good roasted maple neck :)
finally a TH-cam telling the truth about these lumps of fire wood!!! too many claim these things are brilliant for the money!!! but no as I suspect they are a waste of £79 !! Listen to Elmo folks this guy talks sense
of course Elmo does, c'mon don't tell me you've just come across his channel. Many pieces of gear have I bought due to his recommendations - and they all were spot on correct. Elmo rules 🤘
I guessed I lucked out on mine. Overall the finish on the instrument is great and much better than I expected for the price. I had no problems with sharp fret edges, but, of course, I needed to set up the intonation. I never expect it to be perfect out of the box, especially not at this price. The neck was fine, with no dead frets, though the nut could do with filing rounder (a job I'll get round to one day). The pick ups were a little microphonic (but I bet the original tele picks ups probably were too). To be honest, the neck pick up is nothing to write home about. On its own it sounds muddy, but at least in the middle position it takes off the edge of the bridge pickup - if you don't want a bright TWANG all the while. You see, I got this to try out its bridge pick up in search of that elusive TELE TWANG. As I say, maybe I am lucky, but mine has got that "twang" in spades. It's much twangier than other T-Models I have tried that would have cost me five times (or more) as much. Yes, it's a bit of a baseball bat, but I like that particular sound I can get out of it. So, although I certainly wouldn't recommend it as an all rounder guitar, it does what I was looking for and at a price I can't complain about.
That's exactly what I've done, got one cheap to mod and experiment with. I've got a couple of Fazleys that have been great. I wanted one to customise and practice some mods on so I got a black classic series. Put new pickups and tuners on it, shimmed the neck and added a fancy looking scratch plate. It's okay, not great but I'm happy with what I've done so far. I'll probably replace the neck at some point. I must say the roasted maple on their 130-150 Euro models feels amazing and the fret job on those was good too. But yeah, even though quality has improved on budget guitars, sub-100 and you're aiming blind at a dartboard.
If the intonation is off and the neck is too chunky, then convert it to a lap steel. Get a Grover gp1103 "Perfect" guitar nut, and optionally remove the bridge saddles and put in a metal bar or bolt with the head cut off. That will lift the strings up high enough to use a tone bar or glass slide. adjust the pickup heights until they sound clean. Tune up to your favorite lap steel tuning and you've turned $79 piece of junk into something that might actually be usable as a musical instrument.
agree, if you're new to guitar and you have little money, get someone who knows and look for 2nd hand - my local guitar store had a harley benton LP in for £89 recently and it was well set up
Very honest and also my way in handing cheap guitars. I used to buy cheapos up to 300 Euro like unsorted small candy where some might pass as one 150 euro JD Goldtop P90 Lp did. That is my Nr2 very nice but not without my help a lot of help. So it is possible but there have been far in between them nuggets.
There is another good point here - weight of the guitar is important to consider - especially so if intended for a younger player. Other things can be adjusted to a playable standard , but if a guitar is just too heavy for comfortable playing then it is always the wrong choice.
I totally agree with you on this one. The only reason to buy one of these is to practice your do it yourself skills. That being said, putting better after market pickups and hardware, can be a bit like polishing a turd and the resale value ( if any ) will 7:53 almost certainly be less than you put into it!
Nice one Elmo 👍 The pickups actually sounded pretty decent (to my ears, but I'm kind of into bright & harsh sounds at the moment 😁). With some of the really good affordable Guitars, like Jet, Harley benton Fusions, etc.. I often wonder who these Guitars are for? Is it beginners, collectors or modders etc..? The sub £100 Guitars do seem to be solely aimed at beginners (imo) which is a shame, as they are the consumers who are the least likely to know if anything is wrong. The end.
They’re aimed at beginners from the brands’ perspective. You’re totally right that they’re the worst option for beginners for the reasons you mentioned. As I am sure you know, Sean and Cathy over at Scar My Guitar help people learn how to separate good bones from pure junk so people can fix up these cheap guitars without fear of destroying a more expensive guitar by learning how to do setups and mods approachably and inexpensively (unless one wants to totally go nuts!). Sean has shown some really cheap guitars that are pretty good out of the box and wouldn’t require mods, but like virtually all guitars at any price point, setups would still be needed. These guitars can be great for beginners - if they know a guitar player who can help make sure it’s a guitar with decent bones/parts and tuning stability, and that friend can help with a setup or recommends a guitar tech. They can also become great for professional musicians like yourself - sometimes straight out of the box, but usually as mod platforms. For instance, consider Sean’s musician friend Trey. Trey showed us some prettt bad issues on an $89 (I think) FoJill Strat on his newly started channel. Sean showed the causes of the issues in more detail and then taught people how to fix them on his own channel. Sean also showed a slightly different FoJill model two weeks prior that was about $30 that was perfectly playable out of the box, sounded great, had no major issues, and just needed a setup. Trey also showed a Fesley Strat that was flawless out of the box and needed nothing more than a setup (if that). Sean also showed several Fesley Strats that were perfect or near perfect months back, but then got a Fesley Les Paul model around the holidays that was pure crap for many reasons (I understand the brand is re-launching a new LP model to address the issues Sean and other TH-camrs showed on camera). Now Trey is going to use both guitars alongside his expensive Gibsons, Fenders, etc., and at some gigs, he will use them instead of his expensive guitars because they sound and play that good and then he won’t have to worry about his beloved guitars getting stolen. Both guitars, they sound as good as his expensive guitars - if not better/different. Totally gigable and can be used for recording music!
"Fazley" is a thing?! I had to do a double take - thought it was "Fesley" misspelled, but it looks like one might be a copy of another? The Fesleys are generally well-regarded and are about $129-$179USD depending on any current Amazon discounts. I still think that Indio HSS Strat was the best low-cost guitar I've gotten to date ($80 USD) - thanks to Elmo's review!
Je possède une fazley sunset série tempest 90 . Un Micro chevalet simple,un p90 en manche , elle est incroyable , j'ai juste changer les mécaniques par des mécaniques autobloquantes. Un réglage complet de la guitare obligatoire !!! Manche érable torréfié, sillet graph tech, plus chère que celle que tu présentes mais ne dépasse pas les 150€ , incroyable 🤘🎸🇲🇫
Unfortunately i have absolutely terrible experience with that brand. I got one of their teles with an alder body, super light. But the frets were so sharp, they actually were starting to dig into my skin, several high frets and it was also neck diving like crazy. I sent numerous e-mails to return it, and their reply was always "please wait till you recieve the return e-mail", which i never got. Long story short, the 30 day return policy ran out and now i have a non functional tele. I would really advise caution with this company when it comes to customer support and returns.
I bought a guitar (from the UK) from Bax, Netherlands, last year. When I received it I realised it wasn't for me, called Bax, they immediately sent a return label, returned the guitar with no problems, bought the very-well-reviewed better model in the series, and couldn't be happier. Sorry you had a bad experience.
@@jonathannewby5795 Thank you for your response. I did my purchase from bax Music Germany. I even contacted the UK branch, same story. At least you had some good experience, which shows it is not all bad. Now i am considering making that Tele into a project (new Frets, new electronics etc).
@@hussamjamil4980 My experience with guitar companies is that it depends on who in the company you talk to, which is a matter of luck, assuming you get to talk to anyone at all. I bought a guitar from Thomann in Germany, and some metal letters from the Harley Benton logo on the headstock dropped off. I emailed them, and two weeks later I received replacement letters. I think it's hit and miss. Sounds like you're making the best of a bad job with a positive attitude. Good luck, and happy playing!
Always love to hear you noodle, even if it is on the wrong side of a baseball-bat.😃 I would have that guitar any day of the week, then again i am not afraid of the fret-work and setup that it needs, good basis for a parts-tele to upgrade with decent tuners and/or pickups, unbeatable for that price i should think, i could not even buy the raw wood for that.
Vision Strat sold by MSA (Amazon) is 79 Euros and is much better than the price point. Came set up perfectly. Needed a string change and I shielded the pickup cavity. Tremolo is typical of cheap guitars, but I decked it, and it stays in tune. Tuners feal cheap but work. Saying this :in Europe Jet 300s are 180 euro...
EastCoast Guitars are really good for the price they do a Strat Copy with locking tuners a roasted maple neck , hum bucker in bridge and it's only £99 a lot better than the awful Sonic series Strats Squire sell which cost £60 more😂
Best way I've found in my life to get a top guitar for £100 or less is but 2nd hand 👌 often guitars that are pre loved will play better too , Eric Clapton was asked why his strats maple fretboards always were black and work looking , he replied those were the best playing guitars , he rarely played a brand new Stratocaster until his older years post 2000 , I got a Squire classic Vibe Strat for £100 it had faults like tone didn't work but for that price it was 3 times less than retail a bargain
In my day if you wanted to look cool it did not matter how crap the guitar was - which was just as well because anything I could afford in the 70's was guaranteed to be crap .
Ay unless you had a Japanese lawsuit Copy of a Les Paul or Stratocaster ,My late dad had a Burny Les Paul in the 80,s only cost £120 and played as good as a Gibson which back then was around £500 , the Ibanez Strat copies were better than what fender was producing so fender sued them 😂
I bought a "B" stock Fazley "Exotic wood" version of that about a year ago for---£49! (I think its roughly the same in Euros) And I love it! you are right though they do have a few problems, I lashed out on some compensated bridge bits and roller string trees, while I had the strings off (they were bloody awful!) I dressed the frets, nothing major to be done, it was more of a polish, I thought the neck was a bit rough so I slatheed lboiled linseed oil on it and rubbed it down with 1000 grit sandpaper. Much better! Ok the neck IS baseball bat sized but properly smoothed it is much less noticeable. I liked it so much when done I sold off my Squier Tele that was just getting dusty. Next upgrade will most likely be tuners and the bridge pickup, for the moment anyway I love the sound of the neck.
Have the same guitar which I got intending to use it as a project guitar for some practice working on it. Arrived and yeah, all that you said. Very dry and dusty fretboard but nothing a polish on frets and board oiling couldn't solve. I didn't really notice any issue with the shape or size of the neck myself, but it varies depending on each person's preference naturally. I guess what surprised me was that, after a setup, it wasn't a bad sounding or playing guitar so it's in a gig bag not getting played a year later and I'll probably dig it out at some point and see if I feel the same way about it. Pickups weren't as bad as expected. Then again I got my first electric guitar in the late 1970s as a 15 year old and it sucked beyond belief, so I have been long conditioned to play any guitar handed to me. Would I recommend it to a beginner? Hmmm... I'm with Elmo and would say "no" and to save up a bit more and go for a Harley Benton or similar at over £100 as you want something that ideally you can play and learn on out of the box. If you have to pay for a setup as you don't have the skills, then it's a false economy. It does look bloody nice though as well 😎
When it comes to entry level guitars all i can say is keep saving your money until you can afford a decent one, or a used sample that has not been gigged with! Last Christmas i broke that golden rule and bought a Donner DTS152 in the sales it was priced at £109, then i found out why, the frets were like a cobbled street and were so thin there was little metal to work with tying to level them, i tried ohh how i tried but it was just a waste of time and money. Buy cheap, buy twice, please remember that.
I have a Fazley tele body that I bought with a bunch of other bodies: gotta be honest, it doesn’t feel baaaad, but my preference is to have some more weight with my telecasters. The bodies aren’t that well finished, gaps and pores everywhere so tricky to finish properly without fillers. Still: nothing wrong with them that a bit of work can’t fix
i bought one a while ago. fortunately it was playable. the quality wasn't as nearly as good as harley bentons. but the neck on mine felt very good with nice rounded fingerboard edges. also it sounded decent. but ordering from bax shop was a horrible experience. not what i was used to from thomann. my order wasn't a B stock but it came in B stock quality with a croocked bridge. i tried getting in touch with the shop. didn't hear back from them for over 2 weeks (it wasn't during holiday times). the whole communication process was very weird. i ordered on the german shop page with a german customer support contact. their answer came in english from an UK address. but the impressum on the page sais it's based in netherlands. so i don't get why the communication was handled in UK... because of that experience i don't think an exchange/refund would be as easy as with thomann. so this will probably be the only fazley i'll ever own.
You can but cheap and upgrade for sure. But if the neck feels wrong in your hand its a waste of time and money. I'd think there are some excellent guitars in the €350 to €500 range that will need very few if any upgrades.
I sanded mine down to produce a nice slim C shape as I just couldn't accept the way it came out of the box. Feels quite good now. The tuners are pretty poor though although my Tobacco Sunburst looks as good as anything else I own.@@MrPolevaulter
I bought this model half a year before you got yours and was just amazed what can be had for 80 Euros. Frets that don't make your fingers bleed, tuning stability as if the tuners were not cheap as f... Pickups sound like a Tele, maybe not as loud but good enough, so I don't feel the need to change them right away. no crackling noises, wiring is good, knobs and switch feel good. It is so much better than what I expected for the money. Better than certain Squiers I held. Which cost 300-400 !! Maybe I was just lucky, but... I really am with this one.
It's not just you or luck, I've had several bad experiences with Squiers/Harley Bentons in the same price range as the Fazleys. These Fazelys are getting better each time. I had a 160 bucks Maverick that can compete and win from a 250 bucks Squire offset!
I had this model, the actual sound was good and balanced but it didn't quite sound like a tele and the neck was too big to I couldn't bond with it. The Machine heads were cheap as well. And it was too heavy.
Elmo, bro, I would very much like to see you demo (like only you can - cause no other TH-camr did it YOUR way) Boss BP-1w booster. And also , maybe a few cheap HB classical guitars with cutaway - that would be something new. Just a suggestion.😇
If you are a bit handy with setup and finish work these cheap guitars can be quite decent ( if you aren't please don't buy them), i have a couple of beater Harley Benton's under 80€ that are are surprisingly decent with a bit of work ( and i do have a lot of mid/high end guitars).
Fazley Phynica FFT720 = Jet JS400 ......Not a bad guitar , i 've paid 99€ ...... The Outlaw Sheriff plus , with Ash body , mine is light , i've paid 140 € , it's a good guitar , both are good .... Of course it you want a good guitar but only spend 50 € for it , hhhhhm , forget electricity , maybe you'll find a good Harley-Benton , or SX .... I have two Outlaws , one basic i've paid 75 € , it was a deal , it doesn't stay in tune , ceramic pups ,they're not good .....But Alder body , you can swap, the pups and tuners and let's go .... The other Outlaw only needs the neck pup to be swapped , if you really want a Strat sound , it has a humbucker strange behavior , i won't call it bad , but the bass gonna sound like a Lespaul when overdrived , i think i'm going to put a vintage Wilkinson there , the middle pup is excellent , the bridge one is almost as " bad " as all the bridge pups i've tried , i have some troubles to stand too many trebles , it stays in tune for weeks , i mean for weeks ..... A brand like many others , there Outlaw telecasters have a real good reputation ....
Fazely is a guitar brand best avoided absolutely utterly rubbish its beyond me how some youtubers say there good. I've had the misfortune of having 2 and they were just firewood. Ideal as Elmo says if you want to try fret levelling etc but as a guitar no thank you
Having recently bought one of these new for £64 from Bax I have just sold my Squire Sonic Telecaster which I bought new less than a year ago for £169. This is because the Fazley is a much better guitar than the Squire. I'm sorry Elmo but you're argument here doesn't make sense.
you should find a local or even a YT luthier to partner with for videos and at the end of your, you hand off the crappy guitar to them and then after that you two give it away to a subscriber...based on the subscriber..like a 12 year old just starting out or someone who had a house fire and lost their instrument...etc..
Check out Guitar World's (weird) list of the best practice amps in the world: th-cam.com/video/V9klH0R-hDc/w-d-xo.html
Says something that Elmo can take something that's the bottom of the barrel, and make it still sound as good as he did. Appreciate the honesty!
I have a few Fazleys, of varying prices, and i just want to say, For £79, what do you expect? All my sub £100 Fazleys have been fine, although in some the pick ups can be weak sounding. That said, anyone who can really play guitar to a high standard is going to pay more that £79 for a Guitar. I love my cheapos, and i dont expect them to be as high quality as a £2000 axe. I also own Guitars up to £500, which play virtually the same as a £200 Fazley or HB. In one instance i found a £110 Fazley tele that actually sounded close to a £800 Fender Tele, and it was lighter. So its a case of they are not all bad, but dont over expect what you will get at that price.
I have had the same experience. I have a lot of guitars, of every price and description, and quite honestly my Fazleys are fequently my go-to guitars.
The indisputable fact is that modern CNC cutting, ever greater experience, and Asian construction skills have transformed low-end guitars out of all recognition from even a few years ago. Those who advise avoiding budget guitars have likely had unfortunate experiences, which is certainly not the whole story.
Hey there, Johny, I am a frequent follower of your channel and I just wanted to thank you for the great reviews on the cheap casters. ;)
The guy in this review is trying, but it is too short to go indepth about these Fazleys, and that's too bad. It isn't a very well review it that view, but atleast he's trying and is semi-positive still...
And to back the Falzeys up (pun intended), these are good for the price for advanced guitar players and builders/modders, but really crap if you want to learn to play the guitar. Don't buy a Fazley if you're starting to play. But don't buy a second hand abused Fender Telecaster or a Squier Classic Vibe either (with vintage bridge and bassball bat neck), because you'll start to hate playing guitar too. If your starting to learn to play, best advice ever; Go to a professional shop, with your bought guitar for a setup or buy a guitar at the local shop for atleast 200 bucks with an additional setup.
If you're already an advanced player and want to learn how to setup a guitar without ruining your 'nice' guitar, go for the sub 100 bucks guitar. It's just plain FUN!
Note: I have had a few Fazleys & Harley Bentons, the Bentons I have given away and/or sold. The Fazleys I have kept. These are just better. Expecially the new Phynica and the Outlaw-series. I own already 2 Fazley Maverick with roasted maple necks, nubone nut, and dual humbuckers, for 160 bucks each and setup right out of the box. Man, I love these and they're totally gig-able!
Real good fuzzmachines!
I got a Glarry £55 of EBAY, Thinline, with the Humbucker at the Bridge, I am amazed at the Guitar, Yes the Frets may wear quickly But everything else is goods, A set up and plays better than some of my more expensive guitars. When we talk about paying over a £1000 pounds this is amazing, all down to CNC and production of the future. Have a good day and Thankyou I like your VIDS, best wishes.
Cheers!
I'm definitely not an expert in this price range, but tbh I've not seen much under $300 that I'd even use as a mod platform. Theres some exceptions, but in my more recent experiences through the last 5yrs. I'd say spending even just a hundred more, so your in the $400-$600 range, will get you into a guitar you can count on. I'd much rather have one $500 hundred dollar ringer, than two $250 dollar clunkers. Great reviews mate. Gotta let the people know if any of these inexpensive models are at all worthy of checking out? I'm not a brand boy, and for instance paying $1499 for one of these Adam Jones Epiphones coming out tomorrow with the Gibson headstock, is ridiculous. I've got a "The Berserker " model thank you very much, and its just dandy with the lowly Epiphone Kalamazoo headstock on it. People put value on the wrong shit.
Thank you for addressing issues with cheap guitars! In my opinion too cheap means that it's barely playable, doesn't stay in tune, doesn't intonate and if those issues had been addressed at the factory they could have sold it for a bit more money and it would still be cheap but not too cheap... 🤔
I bought exactly this model, and tuning stability is 100%, Intonation, too. So was the Action, and all that out of the box. I really wonder why, but it's perfect. Just needs new strings. Scandalous! I've seen people complain about $1500 real Fender Teles and thought: Let's just try it. If it's crap I can still burn it ;-) And I found nothing to complain about. ( I usually do, always^^). I think the times are over when you can be sure to get something great for a lot of money and some POS for cheap. It can be just the other way around... consider me shocked. There is some variation and I think Elmo wasn't as lucky.
Hi Elmo,
This is an old Fazley model wich not very good with a huge baseball neck. I bought 3 years ago a strat and send it back because of the neck.
But, you may test Fazley new production like their Outlaw Sheriff Plus strats, Outlaw Coyote Plus telecasters, or new Sunset sandsark / seawave (more expensive) or Tempest P90 (neck) Telecaster. The quality and ergonomy is far better that this model !
Bax Music prices are very versatile and if the color is not important for you , you could make good bargains, You could have a good Telecaster / Strat for around 110-140€ with a good roasted maple neck :)
I'm backing this comment! I've had 2 Fazley Mavericks Plus, with dual humbuckers, that will hit Squiers out of the ballpark! ;)
finally a TH-cam telling the truth about these lumps of fire wood!!! too many claim these things are brilliant for the money!!! but no as I suspect they are a waste of £79 !! Listen to Elmo folks this guy talks sense
of course Elmo does, c'mon don't tell me you've just come across his channel. Many pieces of gear have I bought due to his recommendations - and they all were spot on correct. Elmo rules 🤘
More guitar reviews would be amazing from you man.
I guessed I lucked out on mine. Overall the finish on the instrument is great and much better than I expected for the price.
I had no problems with sharp fret edges, but, of course, I needed to set up the intonation. I never expect it to be perfect out of the box, especially not at this price.
The neck was fine, with no dead frets, though the nut could do with filing rounder (a job I'll get round to one day). The pick ups were a little microphonic (but I bet the original tele picks ups probably were too). To be honest, the neck pick up is nothing to write home about. On its own it sounds muddy, but at least in the middle position it takes off the edge of the bridge pickup - if you don't want a bright TWANG all the while. You see, I got this to try out its bridge pick up in search of that elusive TELE TWANG. As I say, maybe I am lucky, but mine has got that "twang" in spades. It's much twangier than other T-Models I have tried that would have cost me five times (or more) as much.
Yes, it's a bit of a baseball bat, but I like that particular sound I can get out of it. So, although I certainly wouldn't recommend it as an all rounder guitar, it does what I was looking for and at a price I can't complain about.
That's exactly what I've done, got one cheap to mod and experiment with. I've got a couple of Fazleys that have been great. I wanted one to customise and practice some mods on so I got a black classic series. Put new pickups and tuners on it, shimmed the neck and added a fancy looking scratch plate. It's okay, not great but I'm happy with what I've done so far. I'll probably replace the neck at some point. I must say the roasted maple on their 130-150 Euro models feels amazing and the fret job on those was good too. But yeah, even though quality has improved on budget guitars, sub-100 and you're aiming blind at a dartboard.
If the intonation is off and the neck is too chunky, then convert it to a lap steel. Get a Grover gp1103 "Perfect" guitar nut, and optionally remove the bridge saddles and put in a metal bar or bolt with the head cut off. That will lift the strings up high enough to use a tone bar or glass slide. adjust the pickup heights until they sound clean. Tune up to your favorite lap steel tuning and you've turned $79 piece of junk into something that might actually be usable as a musical instrument.
agree, if you're new to guitar and you have little money, get someone who knows and look for 2nd hand - my local guitar store had a harley benton LP in for £89 recently and it was well set up
Very honest and also my way in handing cheap guitars. I used to buy cheapos up to 300 Euro like unsorted small candy where some might pass as one 150 euro JD Goldtop P90 Lp did. That is my Nr2 very nice but not without my help a lot of help. So it is possible but there have been far in between them nuggets.
There is another good point here - weight of the guitar is important to consider - especially so if intended for a younger player. Other things can be adjusted to a playable standard , but if a guitar is just too heavy for comfortable playing then it is always the wrong choice.
They are very light. Saying that, I own the Harley Benton TE52 and it weighs a little more than the 52 Caster on which it was inspired
yes, weight and thickness of neck.
I totally agree with you on this one. The only reason to buy one of these is to practice your do it yourself skills. That being said, putting better after market pickups and hardware, can be a bit like polishing a turd and the resale value ( if any ) will 7:53 almost certainly be less than you put into it!
It is apparent that you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
Maybe not, I've only been working on guitars for around 50 years and therefore bow to your obviously superior knowledge.@@popsfereal
Nice one Elmo 👍 The pickups actually sounded pretty decent (to my ears, but I'm kind of into bright & harsh sounds at the moment 😁).
With some of the really good affordable Guitars, like Jet, Harley benton Fusions, etc.. I often wonder who these Guitars are for? Is it beginners, collectors or modders etc..?
The sub £100 Guitars do seem to be solely aimed at beginners (imo) which is a shame, as they are the consumers who are the least likely to know if anything is wrong.
The end.
They’re aimed at beginners from the brands’ perspective. You’re totally right that they’re the worst option for beginners for the reasons you mentioned.
As I am sure you know, Sean and Cathy over at Scar My Guitar help people learn how to separate good bones from pure junk so people can fix up these cheap guitars without fear of destroying a more expensive guitar by learning how to do setups and mods approachably and inexpensively (unless one wants to totally go nuts!). Sean has shown some really cheap guitars that are pretty good out of the box and wouldn’t require mods, but like virtually all guitars at any price point, setups would still be needed. These guitars can be great for beginners - if they know a guitar player who can help make sure it’s a guitar with decent bones/parts and tuning stability, and that friend can help with a setup or recommends a guitar tech. They can also become great for professional musicians like yourself - sometimes straight out of the box, but usually as mod platforms.
For instance, consider Sean’s musician friend Trey. Trey showed us some prettt bad issues on an $89 (I think) FoJill Strat on his newly started channel. Sean showed the causes of the issues in more detail and then taught people how to fix them on his own channel. Sean also showed a slightly different FoJill model two weeks prior that was about $30 that was perfectly playable out of the box, sounded great, had no major issues, and just needed a setup. Trey also showed a Fesley Strat that was flawless out of the box and needed nothing more than a setup (if that). Sean also showed several Fesley Strats that were perfect or near perfect months back, but then got a Fesley Les Paul model around the holidays that was pure crap for many reasons (I understand the brand is re-launching a new LP model to address the issues Sean and other TH-camrs showed on camera). Now Trey is going to use both guitars alongside his expensive Gibsons, Fenders, etc., and at some gigs, he will use them instead of his expensive guitars because they sound and play that good and then he won’t have to worry about his beloved guitars getting stolen. Both guitars, they sound as good as his expensive guitars - if not better/different. Totally gigable and can be used for recording music!
"Fazley" is a thing?! I had to do a double take - thought it was "Fesley" misspelled, but it looks like one might be a copy of another? The Fesleys are generally well-regarded and are about $129-$179USD depending on any current Amazon discounts. I still think that Indio HSS Strat was the best low-cost guitar I've gotten to date ($80 USD) - thanks to Elmo's review!
Cheers!
Je possède une fazley sunset série tempest 90 . Un Micro chevalet simple,un p90 en manche , elle est incroyable , j'ai juste changer les mécaniques par des mécaniques autobloquantes. Un réglage complet de la guitare obligatoire !!! Manche érable torréfié, sillet graph tech, plus chère que celle que tu présentes mais ne dépasse pas les 150€ , incroyable 🤘🎸🇲🇫
Unfortunately i have absolutely terrible experience with that brand. I got one of their teles with an alder body, super light. But the frets were so sharp, they actually were starting to dig into my skin, several high frets and it was also neck diving like crazy. I sent numerous e-mails to return it, and their reply was always "please wait till you recieve the return e-mail", which i never got. Long story short, the 30 day return policy ran out and now i have a non functional tele. I would really advise caution with this company when it comes to customer support and returns.
I bought a guitar (from the UK) from Bax, Netherlands, last year. When I received it I realised it wasn't for me, called Bax, they immediately sent a return label, returned the guitar with no problems, bought the very-well-reviewed better model in the series, and couldn't be happier. Sorry you had a bad experience.
@@jonathannewby5795 Thank you for your response. I did my purchase from bax Music Germany. I even contacted the UK branch, same story. At least you had some good experience, which shows it is not all bad. Now i am considering making that Tele into a project (new Frets, new electronics etc).
@@hussamjamil4980 My experience with guitar companies is that it depends on who in the company you talk to, which is a matter of luck, assuming you get to talk to anyone at all.
I bought a guitar from Thomann in Germany, and some metal letters from the Harley Benton logo on the headstock dropped off. I emailed them, and two weeks later I received replacement letters. I think it's hit and miss. Sounds like you're making the best of a bad job with a positive attitude. Good luck, and happy playing!
Always love to hear you noodle, even if it is on the wrong side of a baseball-bat.😃
I would have that guitar any day of the week, then again i am not afraid of the fret-work and setup that it needs, good basis for a parts-tele to upgrade with decent tuners and/or pickups, unbeatable for that price i should think, i could not even buy the raw wood for that.
I would have taken him as more of a cricket man.
Vision Strat sold by MSA (Amazon) is 79 Euros and is much better than the price point. Came set up perfectly. Needed a string change and I shielded the pickup cavity.
Tremolo is typical of cheap guitars, but I decked it, and it stays in tune. Tuners feal cheap but work.
Saying this :in Europe Jet 300s are 180 euro...
EastCoast Guitars are really good for the price they do a Strat Copy with locking tuners a roasted maple neck , hum bucker in bridge and it's only £99 a lot better than the awful Sonic series Strats Squire sell which cost £60 more😂
It's worth considering buying a kit
Best way I've found in my life to get a top guitar for £100 or less is but 2nd hand 👌 often guitars that are pre loved will play better too , Eric Clapton was asked why his strats maple fretboards always were black and work looking , he replied those were the best playing guitars , he rarely played a brand new Stratocaster until his older years post 2000 , I got a Squire classic Vibe Strat for £100 it had faults like tone didn't work but for that price it was 3 times less than retail a bargain
In my day if you wanted to look cool it did not matter how crap the guitar was - which was just as well because anything I could afford in the 70's was guaranteed to be crap .
Ay unless you had a Japanese lawsuit Copy of a Les Paul or Stratocaster ,My late dad had a Burny Les Paul in the 80,s only cost £120 and played as good as a Gibson which back then was around £500 , the Ibanez Strat copies were better than what fender was producing so fender sued them 😂
Thanks for the review Elmo…. 🎉cheers 🙏✌️❤️🎼🎶🎵
My pleasure! :)
Apparently it's just the same as the Jet brand and made,or until recently,in the same factory as Jet.
I bought a "B" stock Fazley "Exotic wood" version of that about a year ago for---£49! (I think its roughly the same in Euros) And I love it! you are right though they do have a few problems,
I lashed out on some compensated bridge bits and roller string trees, while I had the strings off (they were bloody awful!) I dressed the frets, nothing major to be done, it was more of a polish,
I thought the neck was a bit rough so I slatheed lboiled linseed oil on it and rubbed it down with 1000 grit sandpaper. Much better!
Ok the neck IS baseball bat sized but properly smoothed it is much less noticeable.
I liked it so much when done I sold off my Squier Tele that was just getting dusty.
Next upgrade will most likely be tuners and the bridge pickup, for the moment anyway I love the sound of the neck.
Have the same guitar which I got intending to use it as a project guitar for some practice working on it. Arrived and yeah, all that you said. Very dry and dusty fretboard but nothing a polish on frets and board oiling couldn't solve. I didn't really notice any issue with the shape or size of the neck myself, but it varies depending on each person's preference naturally. I guess what surprised me was that, after a setup, it wasn't a bad sounding or playing guitar so it's in a gig bag not getting played a year later and I'll probably dig it out at some point and see if I feel the same way about it. Pickups weren't as bad as expected. Then again I got my first electric guitar in the late 1970s as a 15 year old and it sucked beyond belief, so I have been long conditioned to play any guitar handed to me. Would I recommend it to a beginner? Hmmm... I'm with Elmo and would say "no" and to save up a bit more and go for a Harley Benton or similar at over £100 as you want something that ideally you can play and learn on out of the box. If you have to pay for a setup as you don't have the skills, then it's a false economy. It does look bloody nice though as well 😎
Yeah, it's not too far off in Euros.
The Fazley Coyote PLUS comes in at around 125 STERLING, for the money it’s very good, try one of those but make sure it’s the PLUS model
Du blir proffsigare o proffsigare med dina recensioner, closeups på guran etc bra gjort Elmo.
Du lirar som vanligt topclass.
Tack för detta Elmo 👍
Tack själv :)
When it comes to entry level guitars all i can say is keep saving your money until
you can afford a decent one, or a used sample that has not been gigged with!
Last Christmas i broke that golden rule and bought a Donner DTS152 in the sales
it was priced at £109, then i found out why, the frets were like a cobbled street and were
so thin there was little metal to work with tying to level them, i tried ohh how i tried
but it was just a waste of time and money.
Buy cheap, buy twice, please remember that.
Sounds good man
Not for a beginner, amount of frustration will be huge. Intonation is always a mess, whatever you do to improve it.
Pretty much yeah.
I have a Fazley tele body that I bought with a bunch of other bodies: gotta be honest, it doesn’t feel baaaad, but my preference is to have some more weight with my telecasters. The bodies aren’t that well finished, gaps and pores everywhere so tricky to finish properly without fillers. Still: nothing wrong with them that a bit of work can’t fix
hi Elmo, any chance you may have tried a shielded tele? do the pickups still squeal tho? thanks cuz I’m planning to shield mine mate, have a good one
Don't know. Haven't tried one.
i bought one a while ago. fortunately it was playable. the quality wasn't as nearly as good as harley bentons. but the neck on mine felt very good with nice rounded fingerboard edges. also it sounded decent. but ordering from bax shop was a horrible experience. not what i was used to from thomann. my order wasn't a B stock but it came in B stock quality with a croocked bridge. i tried getting in touch with the shop. didn't hear back from them for over 2 weeks (it wasn't during holiday times). the whole communication process was very weird. i ordered on the german shop page with a german customer support contact. their answer came in english from an UK address. but the impressum on the page sais it's based in netherlands. so i don't get why the communication was handled in UK...
because of that experience i don't think an exchange/refund would be as easy as with thomann. so this will probably be the only fazley i'll ever own.
You can but cheap and upgrade for sure. But if the neck feels wrong in your hand its a waste of time and money.
I'd think there are some excellent guitars in the €350 to €500 range that will need very few if any upgrades.
Still he makes it sound killer…🤘✌️
It's the Amp 😂 👍 that Marshall could make a tennis 🎾 racket sound good 😂
Agree completely. I mean, you can't get a Tele body and neck any cheaper than that, really, so. But it sounds like that neck needs a ton of work.
Yeah, it does a bit.
I sanded mine down to produce a nice slim C shape as I just couldn't accept the way it came out of the box. Feels quite good now. The tuners are pretty poor though although my Tobacco Sunburst looks as good as anything else I own.@@MrPolevaulter
I bought this model half a year before you got yours and was just amazed what can be had for 80 Euros. Frets that don't make your fingers bleed, tuning stability as if the tuners were not cheap as f... Pickups sound like a Tele, maybe not as loud but good enough, so I don't feel the need to change them right away. no crackling noises, wiring is good, knobs and switch feel good. It is so much better than what I expected for the money. Better than certain Squiers I held. Which cost 300-400 !!
Maybe I was just lucky, but... I really am with this one.
It's not just you or luck, I've had several bad experiences with Squiers/Harley Bentons in the same price range as the Fazleys. These Fazelys are getting better each time. I had a 160 bucks Maverick that can compete and win from a 250 bucks Squire offset!
I had this model, the actual sound was good and balanced but it didn't quite sound like a tele and the neck was too big to I couldn't bond with it. The Machine heads were cheap as well. And it was too heavy.
stagg make good cheap guitars
Elmo, bro, I would very much like to see you demo (like only you can - cause no other TH-camr did it YOUR way) Boss BP-1w booster. And also , maybe a few cheap HB classical guitars with cutaway - that would be something new. Just a suggestion.😇
Cheers 😊 I'll think about it.
I have that one
If you are a bit handy with setup and finish work these cheap guitars can be quite decent ( if you aren't please don't buy them), i have a couple of beater Harley Benton's under 80€ that are are surprisingly decent with a bit of work ( and i do have a lot of mid/high end guitars).
Ceraaaaaaaaaaamic!!
You can always use it as a wall hanger.
Hur släcker man en fettbrand?
🤣
"Fizzly" more like... €79 new and bear in mind that includes a profit for the manufacturer and the distributor 😬
Christ those pickups sound BAD, it hurts
Fazley Phynica FFT720 = Jet JS400 ......Not a bad guitar , i 've paid 99€ ......
The Outlaw Sheriff plus , with Ash body , mine is light , i've paid 140 € , it's a good guitar , both are good ....
Of course it you want a good guitar but only spend 50 € for it , hhhhhm , forget electricity , maybe you'll find a good Harley-Benton , or SX ....
I have two Outlaws , one basic i've paid 75 € , it was a deal , it doesn't stay in tune , ceramic pups ,they're not good .....But Alder body , you can swap, the pups and tuners and let's go ....
The other Outlaw only needs the neck pup to be swapped , if you really want a Strat sound , it has a humbucker strange behavior , i won't call it bad , but the bass gonna sound like a Lespaul when overdrived , i think i'm going to put a vintage Wilkinson there , the middle pup is excellent , the bridge one is almost as " bad " as all the bridge pups i've tried , i have some troubles to stand too many trebles , it stays in tune for weeks , i mean for weeks .....
A brand like many others , there Outlaw telecasters have a real good reputation ....
Buy a second hand guitar.chances are you will go fart.
Fazely is a guitar brand best avoided absolutely utterly rubbish its beyond me how some youtubers say there good. I've had the misfortune of having 2 and they were just firewood. Ideal as Elmo says if you want to try fret levelling etc but as a guitar no thank you
Having recently bought one of these new for £64 from Bax I have just sold my Squire Sonic Telecaster which I bought new less than a year ago for £169. This is because the Fazley is a much better guitar than the Squire. I'm sorry Elmo but you're argument here doesn't make sense.
"Promo sm" 😭
you should find a local or even a YT luthier to partner with for videos and at the end of your, you hand off the crappy guitar to them and then after that you two give it away to a subscriber...based on the subscriber..like a 12 year old just starting out or someone who had a house fire and lost their instrument...etc..
I've done that a couple of times.
Ceramic pickups. 🤢👎
Hey Elmo that toy sounds like crap .even as awesome player you. Are that thing is awful .
Cheap guitar ,can be te anti crist , that you have Miutch problems, wood worm food
This is scandalous 😂