Has anyone played one of these?

These are the same guitars you would get on Aliexpress or DHGate, perhaps without the illegal branding. In absolute terms, they are crap. But for the money, they can be a decent value if you put work into them.

Out of the box, they are unplayable. Typically, the frets are all different heights and have sharp edges that can slash your flesh, the nuts are garbage, the bridge saddles are poorly cut, the necks are highly bendable, the electronics are often shit, and they are often wired incorrectly.

At a minimum, you will have to file the frets with a fret leveling tool, then crown them and smooth the edges with an appropriate file. You will probably have to refine the nut slots or replace the nut, and at least polish the bridge saddle slots to prevent premature string breakage. The pickups might be usable if you don't play loud high gain music. Some of the pickups sound ok, some are horrible. You may or may not have to replace the switches, pots, and wires. You may even have to rewire it if it wasn't done correctly. Make sure the guitar has a removable cavity backplate on the back. Some have none, and the electronics are inaccessible.

I'd also recommend removing the horrible black dye from the fretboard and treating it with an appropriate product. The dye looks terrible and will cause black-finger syndrome indefinitely.

So, to answer you question, they play horribly and need work. If you have the tools, or are interested in learning guitar setup/maintenance, then they can be a fun project.
 
Hey thank you very much for such a detailed analyses! but seriously, be honest now, give us the real inside story. lol

So, to answer you question, they play horribly and need work. If you have the tools, or are interested in learning guitar setup/maintenance, then they can be a fun project.

Unfortunately, I don't have any of my tools anymore, not even tweezers, divorce number two took care of that. I even had a fret radius bender that I made when I was a machinist. The guitar in my avatar is my pride and joy, it's the last and only one left that I made. Also there was a Mockingbird, a Rich Bich that I made out of Carvin DC200, an Ironbird 29 fret 7 string with a purple heart fretboard, and one other I can't remember at the moment.

Well I was looking at the Oujia with some serious consideration, but if the pickups suck, they can't be changed because they're part of the graphic. They are dirt cheap, maybe I'da done it 20 years ago, but now I can afford to go all or nothing, well almost. The Jackson USA guitars are sooooooo nice for shredding, and playing, and most sound great stock, but the prices; ridicules!! and what they did to Dave Mustaine, just deplorable.

There was a company about 15 years ago called Stellar that actually made a decent Les Paul Custom in black or white for $159. I had one of each and they played and sounded great, I even put EMG's in them although the stock pups sounded decent, but I was in a Metallica tribute at the time so, well you know…

Even this one????

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Sho...605383?hash=item2aa8063487:g:Zi4AAOSwLahar9Z5

Thanks again steadystate. ;):)
 
Don't get me wrong. If you have the tools and put some work into them, they can be an extremely good value if you want a look-alike but have no hope of ever affording the real thing. I could never afford a real Jimmy Page model EDS-1275. But I got this one for $252 delivered to my door. Lots of work ahead to make it playable. It could NEVER pass as a real Gibson, but I feel like a 14-year-old kid again when I play it.

If you want a good cheap guitar out of the box, get a Yamaha Pacifica.
 

Attachments

  • 20180516_140537.jpg
    20180516_140537.jpg
    112.6 KB · Views: 25
Look again at the graphic on the neck pickup ... it's upside down! o_O

OMG you're right! That's totally unacceptable.

Lots of work ahead to make it playable. It could NEVER pass as a real Gibson, but I feel like a 14-year-old kid again when I play it.

It looks like a nice guitar in your photo. Nah, I'm not looking for any projects anymore, just another Jackson USA KV2 :). I don't have my tools anymore, see my post above in response to your 1st response.
 
I wonder how they do those graphics on the pickups. Doing them on the body is easy, but it would be nice to know how its done on the pickups.
 
Well it's a covered pickup like EMG's. It's sanded smooth, and then it's either airbrushed or decals, or self adhesive stick on decals; that's what they had used on my old Ouija board design and I covered it with liquid epoxy. It's really thick and very durable, but you wouldn't want to use it on your Les Paul. They use lacquer, which is much thinner and allows the tone to shine. Other finishes are polyurethane and urethane, these are thicker than lacquer but thinner than epoxy, nobody uses epoxy btw. Poly finishes look really nice and are tougher but can't be as easily repaired as lacquer.
 
Back
Top Bottom