Vintage VS4 (SG reissue)

Is anyone actually stocking these on this side of the pond ? All the sales I've seen were from the UK...

 

Vintage Bass VS4CR Dbl Cutaway, like VS6,1-MMHB, 1-HB PUP, Cherry Red | Wire Meets Wood | Reverb

 

Thanks for the education, gentlemen...

It's priced a bit high IMO - neck to neck with Rumblekat and $100 more than an Epi EB-3 - but I'm not their intended target market so I may very well be wrong on this one. It wouldn't be the first time.

 

The problem here is that you can pick up a Gibby SG Bass - used, obviously - for $600 with some patience. Had they priced VS4 at $349 they would've positioned themselves much better in the market, IMO.

 

That thing actually looks pretty faithful to the original and looks like it was done pretty nicely, especially for the price. I notice the Brits always say front and rear pickup which never makes sense to me. That bass sounds very good.

 

It's £258 on Amazon UK, so it's likely they did price it right, but not for the US market.

 

Yep, that's *way* more reasonable....$325 or so at the current exchange rate.

 

I just finished packing my second copy of the Vintage VS4, so it can be picked up by the courier and returned to the shop.

The first copy had all kinds of (clearly visible) cosmetic problems, the nut was slightly skewed, some frets were sticking out, and it looked like someone had attacked one side of the fretboard with a belt sander for a while. I think the sound was okay.

The second copy had some serious mold growing on the fretboard, there was a large chip in the finish near the truss rod cover, the G string snapped for no obvious reasons, the neck was much wider than the nut and there were some cosmetic problems too.

In both cases the included factory quality control checklist showed only check marks. It makes me wonder about the quality control in this Chinese factory. On paper this guitar looks like a good deal, but I find it hard to believe that it really is. I really wanted to like it, but I just can't recommend this guitar.

 

Some photos of the second sample. The first wasn't much better. There were several blemishes and lines in the paint of the body and the neck too. It's a reasonably affordable guitar, but I don't think this is acceptable.

 

Wow... I would be quicker to condemn the shop before the factory quality control, the second example looks more like improper storage/handling damage.

 

I don't agree with you. Both boxes were unopened by the shop (it would have been nice if the shop checked the guitars before shipping though, but it's not that kind of shop I guess). The foam bags were factory sealed in both cases. The factory boxes looked perfectly fine as did the outer packaging from the shop. The mold problem could have been caused by improper storage, but the rest of the issues were definitely there when the guitars left the factory.

 

I bought one in 11/22. The neck was twisted & the frets were off.