Vintage brand Les Paul information

[EtriX]

Hi Everybody!

I thought I'd set up a small thread about the Vintage Brand V100 Singlecut since they are quite a new brand on the respectable market and hasn't made a name for themselfs as Tokai, Burny and Orville has.
Now I'm in no way a luthier or tech, I actually don't know that much about what makes a guitar go around, apart from the obvious electronics and woodwork. Those that know are more then welcome to chime in so we can get some collected information to answer those F.A.Q

Vintage have been around for quite a few years making beginners guitars for the UK market, you know, those guitar that you buy and play for the first to years until you have enough money for a epiphone.
But a few years ago their design department was taken over by a mr Trevor Wilkinson.
Who? I hear you ask.

Trevor Wilkinson is a well renowned tech and guitar builder, he worked for many years for the Fender custom shop and according to legend got the blueprint for the original lipstick pickup for the telecaster (People that might confirm or debunk this please write).
Wilkinson more or less redesigned all of their guitar from the bottom up adding his own designed pickups, bridges and tuners among other stuff.

The guitars they produce today are much better then the guitars they used to build, that being said they are not high-end guitars to rival Gibson Custom Shop, PRS, Carvin or any made by a knowing luthier (Roman).
They are on the otherhand great rivals for all the other les paul brands, mainly Epiphone but also Tokai, Burny, Edwards and Orville.

To answer the most asked question about these guitars that I've seen, Yes they do sound good (I acctually love them, big surprise there), Yes they do feel good and No there isn't any diffrence between the normal V100 and the normal Icon V100 other than the paint.

The Lemon Drop model does have the reversed out-of-phase neck pickup aka Peter Green mod. It also has better relicing than the normal Icons.
Among the normal V100 models there are 2 that are abit special, the Wine Red (V100 WR) has Wilkinson Designed mini-humbuckers and is made as a Les Paul Deluxe copy and the Gold Top (V100GT) that has Wilkinson Designed p90s.
Whether you like the guitars is up to you but this is the fact that I can provide at this time. I hope other that might know more chime in and make this a good information thread to avoid multiple threads asking the same questions.

Have fun y'all

//Johan Åberg

[northlight]

Originally Posted by EtriX

At the same time John Hornby Skewes (UK biggerst distributor in guitar related stuff) that own the vintage brand moved their factories from Indonesia to Korea and eastern China, this upping the quality of the build aswell.

I had a Vintage V6 and a V100, both guitars were made in Vietnam! Decent quality tho, although you could see where the wood had been chipped away to create the control cavity on the V100.

[EtriX]

When was this? It's possible that they still use their old factories for their cheaper models and that some of those are being used for the vintage guitars aswell. Companies can be sneaky.

[northlight]

Got my V6 about 2 years ago and my V100 recently... about 4 months ago. As far as i'm aware the hardware is made in Korea and the bodies and necks are made and assembled in Vietnam.

[dennistruckdriver]

If it's made in Vietnam, please, let's not call it a 'Les Paul'. There are still too many guys around (some of whom, by the way, may be members here) who might take issue with it.

[EtriX]

Updated, removed the factory thing since it seems that it was false, my bad.
also changed to to from les paul to singlecut

[whateverlikesgadge]

A real maple cap.



The tobaco sunburst model is realy nice and a decent weight.





and @ £146 Vintage V100 Flame Maple Cherry Sunburst | Dolphin Music
worth a look

To call a spade a shovel....

From my point of view a les paul is a "guitar type" designed by Ted Mcarty
The only "original" Les Paul is the guitar player himself.....

Lester William Polsfuss

People should just get over it.

[dennistruckdriver]

Originally Posted by whateverlikesgadge

....From my point of view a les paul is a "guitar type" designed by Ted Mcarty
The only "original" Les Paul is the guitar player himself.....

Lester William Polsfuss

People should just get over it....

A Les Paul is a particular model of guitar, made by Gibson, or Epiphone, designed in part by the MAN himself, Lester William Polsfuss.
Anything else is NOT a Les Paul guitar!
YOU get over it!

[River]

Originally Posted by whateverlikesgadge

A real maple cap.

Is that a really thick cap? That looks strange to me. Nicely finished, but strange.

[whateverlikesgadge]

Originally Posted by dennistruckdriver

A Les Paul is a particular model of guitar, made by Gibson, or Epiphone, designed in part by the MAN himself, Lester William Polsfuss.
Anything else is NOT a Les Paul guitar!
YOU get over it!

Creative use of CAPS DOES NOT an argument make les paul invented "the log"
a strat is a strat a tele is a tele whoever makes them and a les paul is a les paul just the same its a guitar type... Being a PEDANTIC just shows a BIG O.C.D. MELT DOWN.............................................. ...............................
Does not compute, does not compute

[River]

[mark123]

a shop near me has two of these, one is the lemon drop model. i was quite surprised by how good they were, better than most epiphone LP's i've seen. the lemon drop is priced at 450, if everything stays cool around here, i might bring it home.

i don't know how to describe the quality of it, just check one out if you are in the market for an off-brand...

[Frails]

I have Vintage V100, Tokai, Greco and OBG Les Pauls. The Vintage does not get the same grade as the others but its closer than you'd think. And I think the price differences reflect this. In other words, the Greco I have has that feel and mojo you hear the 50's LP's had. It feels hand made with attention closely paid, and you don't want to put it down. The Vintage feels more...production line. But worth a try and a buy. In fact by mine, it's for sale to cover the cost of the Tokai purchase.

[snaredrum]

Originally Posted by mark123

a shop near me has two of these, one is the lemon drop model. i was quite surprised by how good they were, better than most epiphone LP's i've seen. the lemon drop is priced at 450, if everything stays cool around here, i might bring it home.

i don't know how to describe the quality of it, just check one out if you are in the market for an off-brand...

that's SO expensive... the net is a better option.

while i'm here, the godltop has stacked humbuckers these days, not P90s.

i love vintages, i have owned most of them!

[snaredrum]

also, the normal V100s and the peter green icon have different pickups. not usre about the other icons, (didn't have a multimeter when i owned my cherry) but the normal gloss v100 bridge pup is 13.9k output, and Wilkinson do a vintage output pickup with nickel rather than chrome plating for the others it seems.

check here, they have both. the vintage ones are about a third down the page, with the higher outputs a few above.

[dspelman]

Originally Posted by dennistruckdriver

If it's made in Vietnam, please, let's not call it a 'Les Paul'. There are still too many guys around (some of whom, by the way, may be members here) who might take issue with it.

I have no issue with it -- I think "Les Paul" has become as generic as strat or tele or SG in identifying a specific style of guitar. It's common usage, just as is kleenex or tampon, even though those are brand names as well.

I can't imagine what "made in Vietnam" would have to do with anything.

[dspelman]

Originally Posted by dennistruckdriver

A Les Paul is a particular model of guitar, made by Gibson, or Epiphone, designed in part by the MAN himself, Lester William Polsfuss.
Anything else is NOT a Les Paul guitar!
YOU get over it!

Eck-choo-ally, there were three poker buddies named Leo Fender, Paul Bigsby and Les Paul. Before either of the other two put out a guitar in '52, Paul was building guitars like these for Merle Travis in '48 (and before):



Each of the other two nabbed some obvious pieces of the design and ran with them, thinketh I.

I have a theory that Leo modified the headstock so that he could get two from a single hunk of wood, but it hasn't flown very well so far <G>. But Gosh:



Nonetheless, Epiphone is a pretender as well -- Gibson conferred the name to a series of off-shore-built copies. Gibson has put the "Les Paul" sticker not only on 100+ diverse variations of the general LP shape but also on completely different shapes, such as the Junior and Special single and doublecuts, on the LP doublecuts, on early versions of the SG and on a semi-hollowbody or two, none of which Les Paul really messed with.

I think you're going to be in trouble whining about what a "real" Les Paul might be much past an original '52 trapeze-bridge P90 Goldtop. And neither Gibson nor Epiphone nor anyone else has produced one of those since about '54.

[mojotop]

Originally Posted by Frails

I have Vintage V100, Tokai, Greco and OBG Les Pauls. The Vintage does not get the same grade as the others but its closer than you'd think. And I think the price differences reflect this. In other words, the Greco I have has that feel and mojo you hear the 50's LP's had. It feels hand made with attention closely paid, and you don't want to put it down. The Vintage feels more...production line. But worth a try and a buy. In fact by mine, it's for sale to cover the cost of the Tokai purchase.

+1!!

The VINTAGE guitars sound really great! The VINTAGE guitars play good/feel o.k. The 'Peter Green/Gary Moore-model' definitely sounds KILLER!! Trevor Wilkinson definately needs to be rewarded for his new generation of VINTAGE guitars! But: Compared to TOKAI, BURNY, GRECO, ORVILLE (bG) and on... ...no way!! VINTAGE guitars show a way thicker poly-coat than other guitars, even Epiphones! The plastics (pickguards, pickup-rings, control cavity-covers, poker-chips and on) are the crappiest crap I´ve ever seen! (Sorry folks, but I´m a sales clerk for electrical guitars and dedicated collector of Les Paul-guitars) Open your eyes! Please compare them to every brand. Like I said: The VINTAGE guitars sound great and feel o.k., but please(!) open your mind to see the reality! You´ll get value for money buying a VINTAGE guitar, but it´s all in managable relations!
Go out, get one & ROCK´N ROLL your asses off!, but your next guitar will possibly wear an 'open book'-headstock.

[snaredrum]

i disagree Mojo. i have been through five Vintage V100s, and all of them have had a long neck tenon. neither the epiphones or the tokai i still have sport that particular important feature.

[mojotop]

Originally Posted by snaredrum

i disagree Mojo. i have been through five Vintage V100s, and all of them have had a long neck tenon. neither the epiphones or the tokai i still have sport that particular important feature.

The neck-tenon of my Epiphone Les Paul std. honeyburst Flametop mik 1996,# I6090306:




The neck-tenon of a Epiphone Les Paul std. Goldtop mij 2000:

[snaredrum]

that's cool, i love those guitars. i still think that a V100 is far better value than an epi les paul though. sorry

[mojotop]

[snaredrum]

Originally Posted by mojotop

what we drinking?

[mojotop]

Originally Posted by snaredrum

what we drinking?

There is only one drink I know showing up all the different flavours a great Les Paul guitar delivers:

Comparable to young AND vintage Les Pauls! The sweetness of pure sugar, vanilla, rich tobacco-taste, spices from all over the world and a wonderful touch of exotic congeniality!

[snaredrum]

i'd only waste it, it looks far too posh for me

[#1guitarman]

Mojotop,
You sir, are 100% correct on the Centenariro....REALLY GOOD!!!!

[mojotop]

Originally Posted by #1guitarman

Mojotop,
You sir, are 100% correct on the Centenariro....REALLY GOOD!!!!

+1! ...but $$$$$$!!! !! !! !!! !! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! !!

[Yves]

Originally Posted by whateverlikesgadge

A real maple cap.

Is that really a Vintage V100 icon? What coloring is this?

I thought that finish on the side is thick. I love that you can see the wood and the two layers. Maybe the difference between V100 and V100 ICON is not only the distressed parts of the finish but also the thickness....is that the case?

Sorry for the questions, i really want to get one of those but i haven't seen one myself, only pictures on the internet, so i'm trying to pick a color.

[derektheguitarguy]

Originally Posted by Yves

Is that really a Vintage V100 icon? What coloring is this?

I thought that finish on the side is thick. I love that you can see the wood and the two layers. Maybe the difference between V100 and V100 ICON is not only the distressed parts of the finish but also the thickness....is that the case?

Sorry for the questions, i really want to get one of those but i haven't seen one myself, only pictures on the internet, so i'm trying to pick a color.

Actually, I own a Vintage V100 Icon and it doesn't have a cap anywhere near as thick... it's actually pretty thin, so i think this is to do with like, when and where it was made.

[Annoying Twit]

Originally Posted by whateverlikesgadge

The tobaco sunburst model is realy nice and a decent weight.

My V100TSB feels comfortably light. I wasn't sure whether I should get an LP or a SG as my "double humbucker" guitar. (To be honest, other guitars such as ES335 and 175 types were still in the frame). I feel that by getting a relatively light LP, I've got the best of both worlds. Certainly as far as my current needs go. When looking, I tried a Jim Deacon LP in a pawn shop (in a really poor state of maintenance), and it felt really heavy, like a boat anchor. Does the weight of Vintage V100s vary a lot?

I've just compared the weight to a Rockbass Standard Streamer 5 (string bass), and they're about the same. I think the V100 is heavier than my Yamaha Pacifica 112v, but not by a huge amount.

Mine does have the Wilkinson hardware.