China Eddie Van Halen Guitars $450

[Fritter]

Anyone see these? Any experience?

They look almost too good to pass up for that price.

Frickin' China, copying everything.....

Eddie Van Halen Guitars

[look 171]

You are thinking about buying one due to the price, so what are you bitiching about?

[Fritter]

Because I feel dirty. It's so cheap that it's hard to pass up, but then it's a blatant "almost copy" that even has the Charvel logo on it.

[Rick Lee]

I spent less than $400 on my own EVH tribute build and had some fun doing that. These Chinese stripe jobs aren't even close.

[Fritter]

Rick did you use the correct compound radius big fret no finish neck on yours? That, the Floyd, and the pickup are the key pieces.

Yea the stripe jobs aren't exact, but they look like nice guitars. I own a Chinese Squier Tele and it's a great guitar. I bet these EVH clones are made in the same factories.

[Rick Lee]

No, mine is far from accurate. It's a beater. It may end up being a wall hanger, as I cannot get some of the frets to stop buzzing. But it was a fun project. I'll be using much higher quality materials in my next one, probably the black and yellow one from VH II.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by Fritter

Anyone see these? Any experience?

They look almost too good to pass up for that price.

Frickin' China, copying everything.....

Eddie Van Halen Guitars

They copy everything because people buy it. Do you buy fake Rolexes?

I don't/won't own any off-shored instruments, especially ones that are downright IP theft.

How much are your ethics worth?

[azasadny]

Don't buy fakes.....

[targa911S]

They are crankin' out Les Paul copies that even have Gibson style serial numbers in the right places. $400. Cost to make them is like $100. The rest is shipping. If you have to return one they will credit you about $100. not the $400.

[Rick Lee]

The "real" EVH Franenstrats made under his brand by Fender run $25k.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I don't/won't own any off-shored instruments

All of your instruments are 100% American-made?

[Rick Lee]

I'm happy to buy foreign-made stuff. My Marshall is made is the UK and it absolutely kicks ass. I had a Mexican made Fender Strat too, got new in the store for $300 about 13 yrs. ago. My Ernie Ball and Gibsons are all made in the USA, however. I'm pretty sure my Boss and MXR pedals were made abroad, though they are American companies, AFAIK.

EVH has been getting tough on copyright protection and he did sue Nike recently for making a shoe with his striped design, like the one he licensed to Converse for their EVH Chuck Taylors. But I doubt he'll care about the Chinese knock-offs. No serious VH fan would fall for those anyway. I think Charvel is part of the Fender family, so maybe Fender will go after them. But it's probably low on their priority list. If someone started knocking off the EVH amps, that'd probably get their attention, though.

[T77911S]

Originally Posted by azasadny

Don't buy fakes.....

tokai and ibanez made copies back in the 70's that were probably better than the ones they were coping.
the really good tokai's even had the same headstoke until fender made them change it.

i have a late 80's ibanez artist that i picked up for around $500 in the late 90's. you cant beat them for the price, even has ebony for the finger board. you cant get that on a les paul until you buy the custom, which i had.
i also had an 80's tokai. i was VERY inpressed with that guitar. it was more period correct than what fenders reissue was, i think it was like a 62 or something like that.
the turners where correct, the bridge was the thicker better bridge with the good saddle pieces. it even had the correct number of holes for the pick gaurd. i paid $200 for that guitar.

personally i think some guitars, especially fenders, are over priced. the concept behind that guitar was to make something as cheap as they could, much like some copies, but they just got lucky.
same thing with marshall amps. they put what ever they could find at the time in those amps, thats why no 2 sound the same.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by BlueSkyJaunte

All of your instruments are 100% American-made?

I'm sure there are some parts in the preamp that aren't US made - that is about impossible to avoid. But the rest of it...

Made in Gardena, CA





Made in Brooklyn, NY





Amp head (Aguilar TH500) is made in NYC, cabinets (Bergantino AE210) made in MA. IronEther pedals made in Louisiana, Strymon pedals made in Los Angeles, EHX made in NYC, Sonic Research tuner made in Westlake Village, CA. My Boss loopers are made in Japan.

[89911]

Or you could just buy the real thing.

EDDIE VAN HALEN SIGNED CHARVEL EVH ART SERIES GUITAR - SEATTLE / TACOMA + TICKET | eBay

Did you know the EVH guitars is owned by Fender.

[Rick Lee]

I'm not into those Charvel Art series guitars at all. I saw Eddie play a few of them on the 2004 tour and they were very close to his original Frankenstrat and VHII guitars. They end up on eBay for a fraction of the price. Building something with the intention of making them collectible sort of makes them less collectible. Although he's probably been in a lot folks' dead pools for a while, Eddie is still alive and kicking, recording, touring and signs a lot of people's guitars. He's not doing press on this tour, but I've heard he's pretty cool to fans who run into him on the street and want autographs. Wouldn't be surprised to see people carrying guitars hanging out around the hotel lobbies on this tour.

[Fritter]

The whole thing is messed up. I don't like the idea of China copying them, but then I don't like the prices Evh/Fender gouges for the real ones. If you know guitars at all, you KNOW what the parts cost, so why the huge markups?

[nostatic]

Because the market will pay it? Is this a trick question?

"The real thing" always cost more. And there are always cheap knock-offs. Some people have no problem buying/owning the knock-offs. Whatever floats your boat. But if they are copying the design and the logo, it is IP theft. Of course some people have no problem with that either (witness the billions of songs downloaded "free").

Everyone has their own moral line in the sand. A guitar is a luxury item unless you make your living with it. Personally I'd rather have a real example of something that I really want. I also would rather have a few great instruments rather than a bunch of good ones. ymmv.

A related topic comes up on talkbass all the time - are the boutique instruments worth the premium price? THere are guys that argue that they can buy the same parts and build the bass for a fraction of the cost. My answer is always the same - great, do it. Brands have value beyond just the cost of the parts.

[Fritter]

Originally Posted by nostatic

Because the market will pay it? Is this a trick question?

"The real thing" always cost more. And there are always cheap knock-offs. Some people have no problem buying/owning the knock-offs. Whatever floats your boat. But if they are copying the design and the logo, it is IP theft. Of course some people have no problem with that either (witness the billions of songs downloaded "free").

Everyone has their own moral line in the sand. A guitar is a luxury item unless you make your living with it. Personally I'd rather have a real example of something that I really want. I also would rather have a few great instruments rather than a bunch of good ones. ymmv.

A related topic comes up on talkbass all the time - are the boutique instruments worth the premium price? THere are guys that argue that they can buy the same parts and build the bass for a fraction of the cost. My answer is always the same - great, do it. Brands have value beyond just the cost of the parts.

Fender, by pricing the market so high with their EVH guitar, basically creates the China knock off market. They could also make Squier versions too. But the margins probably are not worth it to them. They want big per unit margins, like SUV's to automakers.

[nostatic]

It's Fender's fault? Ok. Then buy the knock off, because the big evil corporation is ripping you off.

And their prices are chump change compared to some builders, eg Fodera