Wesley les paul copy

[Baronvonbomb]

Hi all, i`m new to the forum. I`ve been nosing around and reading loads of threads.

I recently got myself a Wesley phoenix les paul copy. I`ve been playing for 15 years ,but I don`t play enough ( kids etc ) to justify spending loads on a guitar . I got this one for £100 delivered. It`s decent enough and has a set neck and a good finish. i`m planing on upgrading it gradually.

Out the box it had alot of fret buzz. It took a bit of setting up.

I`ve just replaced the nut with a pre slotted bone nut, and the capacitors with some `orange drops` which has made a very noticeable difference.

[Annoying Twit]

Photos?

"Howard tests the **** out of" tested a Wesley guitar. He found that it wasn't set up properly and one of the pickups wasn't working. You found that you had a lot of fret buzz.

You Tube

You Tube

(Howard tests....)

On the Wesley website, they claim:

Wesley Guitars - www.wesleyguitars.co.uk

* All our guitars are fully setup and inspected before shipping to ensure the highest standards of quality.

(my emphasis)

I personally don't believe this.

From the reviews I've read, I believe they are fundamentally competent instruments, but need considerable "fine tuning" (as you're doing) upon receipt.

[Baronvonbomb]

The finish isn`t perfect , but it`s very close. As far as the setup goes, it was in tune and that was it. The neck was back bowed, the bridge was too low causing loads of fret buzz and the intonation was a mile out.

I spent only £9 on a bone nut and two `orange drop ` capacitors which has made it so much more playable. It makes me wonder why they don`t just fit the capacitors in the factory, they cost pennies and made such a difference compared to the crap that was in there. That said , i`m really happy with it. Next mod is some knob pointers and later maybe some irongear pickups.

[Annoying Twit]

Nice CS finish there!

If you're going to upgrade the pickups, I would very much like to hear any before/after clips you record to show the improvement of the pickup swaps. Which Irongear pickups were you considering? On another forum, I've seen several people suggest or actually apply a combination of an Alchemist 90 in the neck, and a Steamhammer in the bridge. It seems an odd combination to me as the Alchemist 90 is a humbucker sized P90, but you have no other single coil in the guitar for hum cancelling, but I'm told it sounds excellent like that and there's a range of tones available.

Eventually I will try upgrading the pickups on my V100. I was thinking of trying actual Gibson pickups, but they cost many times more than Irongears.

[Baronvonbomb]

I`m not sure what i`ll go for, i was thinking of putting some rolling mills in there. I`ll keep you posted about the upgrades. I`m not going to spend loads on it. My Plan is to use relatively inexpensive and simple mods ( like the nut , and capactiors ) to achieve a halfway decent playing and sounding guitar. I`ve heard nothing but good things about the irongear pickups and when `her indoors` isn`t looking i`ll be slipping some in the back door.

[Annoying Twit]

Personally I think someone should complain about Wesley Guitars claims about setup. If it was a print advertisement, a complaint to the ASA would be in order. Because it's internet only, I think it's local trading standards that have to be complained to. If it were me buying, I'd complain to Wesley Guitars about the guitar not being as advertised, and ask for £30 off the price to pay for the setup that was supposedly included in the price.

[Baronvonbomb]

I had a look at there ad and their website, i can`t find anywhere that says it comes setup. To be honest I`m a tinkerer and I enjoyed setting it up properly. It makes it feel more like `my guitar`. I used various websites and video`s from youtube to help with the setup. I got the caps and nut from Guitar Parts and Spares UK with free delivery. There well worth a look.

[Annoying Twit]

Originally Posted by Baronvonbomb

I had a look at there ad and their website, i can`t find anywhere that says it comes setup. To be honest I`m a tinkerer and I enjoyed setting it up properly. It makes it feel more like `my guitar`. I used various websites and video`s from youtube to help with the setup. I got the caps and nut from Guitar Parts and Spares UK with free delivery. There well worth a look.

Have a look at post #2 in this thread. It says on their main page that all the guitars are setup. I just double checked, and I haven't made an error with the quote. It's the third bullet pointer under the "..... Wesley Guitar Guarantees ...." heading.

It's not that I think the guitars aren't worth the prices. But it's IMHO misleading to say that the guitars are fully set up, when it appears that they aren't. Howard of "Howard tests the **** out of....." said that the Freeport was a bargain after he fixed the non-working pickup and other problems.

But beginners who might not be able to tinker might buy them.

BTW: Sorry if I've turned your NGD thread into a moan about Wesley Guitars' web page.