Duesenbergs

grungebob

Over priced Korean tat or worth the money?

moons ago before I knew what a good guitar played or sounded like I bought a Duesenberg Starplayer special in orange from Electro music in Donny for £350. Kept it for all of three days before I saw the price they where going for on eBay and flogged it, after all a bolt on les Paul copy must be shit right!?

anyhoo fast forward 10 years and now I can’t stop looking at The Caribou and wanting it to be mine. 

I hear good things about them and YouTube makes them sound great but, are they?

anyone have real world experience of them?
£1600 is a lot for a Korean guitar no?

Whitecat

It’s a lot but they are pretty no-compromise... all custom hardware which even other ultra-high-end boutique builders cop for their own stuff. I think we’re used to stuff being made in Korea to hit a price point, whereas Duesenberg is an example of something that basically isn’t. 

I’m not a huge fan of them hiding that fact constantly as if to help justify the price - but I am a fan of the guitars. I’ve got a 59er here and by chance the Diamond Deluxe tremola just showed up today that I intend to install...

I realised too recently that some of my very favourite recent recorded guitar tones are at least partially constructed with Duesenbergs - the Grand Vintage Humbuckers in particular...

Anyway, a Starplayer of some type is one of the many guitars on “the list”...

Gerz6558

I've had a starplayer tv, let it go a few years ago which was really dumb in hindsight.

I've more or less had the lot in terms of the major brands, the starplayer was up there with the best of them. No need to change a thing, and the best trem I've ever used on any guitar.

JohnPerry

Had a Starplayer Outlaw for years and sold it a couple of months back. It was a fabulous guitar with killer looks and tremendous build quality but the neck was too fat for me (I like skinny Tele necks) and it got looked at and admired more than it was played. 

chrisj1602

grungebob said:

Over priced Korean tat or worth the money?

moons ago before I knew what a good guitar played or sounded like I bought a Duesenberg Starplayer special in orange from Electro music in Donny for £350. Kept it for all of three days before I saw the price they where going for on eBay and flogged it, after all a bolt on les Paul copy must be shit right!?

anyhoo fast forward 10 years and now I can’t stop looking at The Caribou and wanting it to be mine. 

I hear good things about them and YouTube makes them sound great but, are they?

anyone have real world experience of them?
£1600 is a lot for a Korean guitar no?

Enough pros (who own some pretty impressive and vintage gear) use them which would suggest to me that they are not over priced Korean tat. Never played one myself though...

Danielsguitars

I've really liked the demos and tones that I've heard on you tube, i think they look interesting too

Blueingreen

I played a Starplayer TV in a Glasgow guitar shop maybe 3-4 years ago and the owner offered it to me at a really surprisingly low price:  £1,100 (down from £1,500).  I don't know if they just wanted cash in the door or not. I was seriously tempted as I thought I could just about get that on re-sale second-hand if I didn't bond with it.

I thought it was a very fine, well made guitar. finished beautifully and the trem was superb. I only played it clean but it sounded great.  The two things that put me off were purely personal taste:  I prefer Gibson scale and at 25.6" the Duesenbergs are marginally longer even than a Fender.  Also the frets, although pretty typical of the "medium jumbos" you see on most modern guitars, were a little shallow for my taste.  I had visions of wanting to refret it and then deciding the scale length wasn't for me.  I still think it was a very good guitar.

guitars4you

I believe only 1 guitar is now from Korea regarding wood work - Most wood work now comes from a new factory facility with CNC from Europe - Former Yugoslavia (sorry can't recall which country) and I believe one CNC wood work facility in Germany as well - I'll need to get confirmation of the Germany CNC - CNC machines are not cheap so Duesenberg needed to get geared up for this, so they can control their own production line, schedules, costs etc etc - Woodwork  then shipped to Germany for assembly, set-up, spray, completion etc etc - Even the Plek machines cost a pretty penny

Overpriced tat from Korea is now a serious misconception on any guitar if the quality of the guitar is more than good enough - Look at Eastman from China - Bloomin' awesome Gibson-esq flavoured guitars - The LP's are excellent, especially once you get past the Made in China tag and no Gibson name on the headstock

As @chrisj1602 suggest, Duesenberg have a growing list of artist now who play them, so they are not a hype - I think they have plenty of character - No one guitar does it all, but unless you play a certain style, for many a Doozie is a nice addition for a collection etc that you'd play for a certain song/style - But certain bands and you might use it for all songs etc

grungebob

Thanks guys. 
My opening comment wasn’t a serious statement, a lot of great guitars can come from any place of manufacture but we as guitarist are always behind the curve. Places that used to be thought of a junk manufacturers changed years ago but the stygma still remains, often with no basis in reality. 

After doing a bit  more research I see new Schecter guitars from Korea are now going for £1100+ so really for the quality you seen in some of the Duesenbergs it’s starting to look like a fair price. 

I guess I just need to go try one, which will be awhile since my left hand is in a cast for at least another few weeks. 

guitars4you

grungebob said:

Thanks guys. 
My opening comment wasn’t a serious statement, a lot of great guitars can come from any place of manufacture but we as guitarist are always behind the curve. Places that used to be thought of a junk manufacturers changed years ago but the stygma still remains, often with no basis in reality. 

After doing a bit  more research I see new Schecter guitars from Korea are now going for £1100+ so really for the quality you seen in some of the Duesenbergs it’s starting to look like a fair price. 

I guess I just need to go try one, which will be awhile since my left hand is in a cast for at least another few weeks. 

always will be some stigma attached to the Made in Korea China/etc tag - Like the Skoda car tag - they are not what they were 20/30 years ago

The big one that went un-noticed at the time,to many, was the Kramer made in the USA models from the 80's - No Kramer Guitar was built in the USA regarding wood work - All shipped from ESP - Overseas hardware as well, so assembled in Neptune New Jersey - Somehow recall they changed the neck plate after a while and removed the MIJ part and just left it as Neptune NJ, to reflect the fact that the 'head office' was in NJ

dazzajl

I do wish that Doooozy would celebrate wherever they cut and nail them together but there is a nice side to them remaining so niche. 

They are fantastic guitars that hold their own in the very highest company and I tend to just laugh at anyone foolish enough to jump on the bashing bandwagon. 

My Caribou is an astonishing guitar and I’ve genuinely played nothing finer. 

ToneControl

Could I point out that S.Korea has the 12th largest GDP in the world, it's not a low-wage economy.

Recent visits to Prague and Amsterdam have presented me with a reminder of this in the form of huge numbers of wealthy Korean tourists.

Some guitar factories have already left Korea for this reason

TheMarlin

Awesome guitars. Unbeatable fit, finish, and playability. Comfortably stands toe to toe against anything in the market, yet has its own look, feel, and identity. Makes a lot of its competitors offering look a bit ‘thrown together’. 
Quality, quality, quality!

randerson

I think they are one of the best brands to have consistency across all models straight off the rack too.

Moe_Zambeek

I’ll be a dissenter...I dislike them immensely. I find them bland with horrible thick plastic finishes, dont like the general neck carve, the ones I’ve tried have been heavy and I didn’t think the pickups or hardware were all that either. I’d compare them to Reverends in some ways but a good Reverend is a much better proposition for me, and usually considerably cheaper.

in fact the guitar i played recently that was most similar to the Duesenbergs was one of the cheaper Korean Revstars, subject of another thread currently. I’d take a Revstar at a third of the price of the Duesenberg any day.

guitars4you

guitars4you said:

I believe only 1 guitar is now from Korea regarding wood work - Most wood work now comes from a new factory facility with CNC from Europe - Former Yugoslavia (sorry can't recall which country) and I believe one CNC wood work facility in Germany as well - I'll need to get confirmation of the Germany CNC - CNC machines are not cheap so Duesenberg needed to get geared up for this, so they can control their own production line, schedules, costs etc etc - Woodwork  then shipped to Germany for assembly, set-up, spray, completion etc etc - Even the Plek machines cost a pretty penny

Overpriced tat from Korea is now a serious misconception on any guitar if the quality of the guitar is more than good enough - Look at Eastman from China - Bloomin' awesome Gibson-esq flavoured guitars - The LP's are excellent, especially once you get past the Made in China tag and no Gibson name on the headstock

As @chrisj1602 suggest, Duesenberg have a growing list of artist now who play them, so they are not a hype - I think they have plenty of character - No one guitar does it all, but unless you play a certain style, for many a Doozie is a nice addition for a collection etc that you'd play for a certain song/style - But certain bands and you might use it for all songs etc

found my info

3 x CNC wood work machines now in Croatia, with 1/2 more to follow - Also invested in  a 'paint robot' facility - So only the entry level Special in the price range is now from Korea - Bodies/necks then sent on to Germany for build/completion/paint etc

antonyiv

They look at least "inspired" by Gretsch. The deal breaker for me is:

- The 25,5 inch scale
- Rosewood instead of ebony fretboard

And since they are at the same price as a Japanese Gretsch, I would always pick up the original. 

Moe_Zambeek said:

in fact the guitar i played recently that was most similar to the Duesenbergs was one of the cheaper Korean Revstars, subject of another thread currently. I’d take a Revstar at a third of the price of the Duesenberg any day.

I second that, great option for people on budget.

On the bright side, Jhonny Depp has a signature Duesenberg.  

dindude

Quite like the look but the toffee apple finish puts me off. 

dazzajl

This is not how a doooozy thread is supposed to go. Lots of love and the dislikes presented with reasons from actually playing them. 

The ones I’ve played are very much like a Gretsch. Mine is incredibly similar to my old Jet. It’s better built from better parts and unlike a Gretsch actually works and is perfectly set up out of the box. 

Put a doooozy and Jet side by side and there’s every chance I’d still choose the Gretsch though. There’s just something about them that feels fabulous. 

grayn

I recently bought a Duesenberg Paloma.
Not a million miles away from a Caribou.
Very solid and one of those guitars that you really get to like, the more you play it.
Great Vintage HB and unbelievable trem system.
As good as pretty much anything, I'd say.
And like many on here, I've owned most of the higher end makes.

Go on, get that Caribou.

Jason

I have a Fullerton Elite, I love it, its how it is made, not where it is made, it is the most flawless guitar I own and sounds amazing (and the trem actually works)