Vintage V120 thoughts?

zepp76

I have always wanted a LP Junior style guitar but just can't afford a Gibson or even a decent copy until I saw the Vintage V120 single P90 guitar. Does anyone have any experience of these and any insights into fit and finish please? I used to have a Vintage lemon drop Peter Green icon LP that was a fantastic guitar but I gifted it to my nephew so my thoughts are there is space for another guitar! The lemon drop was an early one and it was brilliantly finished so I'm wondering if there were earlier V120's that were finished to the same great standard or are the newer ones just as good? Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Edit: It would have to be a used one in order for me to afford it or I could put up an ad here for trades if anyone has a TV yellow one they want to move on?

johnl

Harley Benton also do both a singlecut and doublecut junior. I think the DC is available in TV Yellow. 

zepp76

johnl said:

Harley Benton also do both a singlecut and doublecut junior. I think the DC is available in TV Yellow. 

Thank you, I didn't think about Harley Bentons, I'll take a butchers at them. I should have mentioned it would need to be a single cut, I just can't get on with the looks of a double cut.

OilCityPickups

From what I've seen the fit and finish of Harley Bentons seems to be about the same as 'Vintage' but often there is a bit of a price advantage to the HBs 
I had the single dog ear P90 SG junior type Vintage do/did ... felt nice till you put it on a strap and the neck dived like a bastard. Pickup was pretty awful and the electrics were cheap and not very cheerful. Guessing the single cut won't neck dive, but be prepared for the pickup/electrics to need ripping out and starting again. 

dazzajl

I haven’t played the 120 but I’d did recently get the SG copy with the trem. It was such a good deal that I thought I’d grab it to see what the  hype around the brand was all about, then sell it on with the covers all intact and let someone else have a bargain. 

It might still get moved on when I get bored as I mostly like single coils and satin necks but for now, it’s staying put. It’s a really nice guitar, well put together, really nice to play and has a sound of its own too. 

midlifecrisis

shameless plug of this for sale. its great, but then i would say that. https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/158212/

DrCornelius

I’ve had a Vintage LP jr, a Gibson custom shop Reissue , a Feline Jr and an original 56 Gibson.

The Jrs were always entry level student guitars , there’s not a lot you can do wrong as a competent guitar builder if you are going to copy them . In my experience the difference between the Vintage and the real thing is the pickup was harsher on the Vintage  and the tone control had a more useful range on the real thing. Other than that there wasn’t much in it other than that mystical feel factor that you may decide isn’t worth the extra £1000.

Obviously that’s how it felt to me, your experience may wildly differ. 

Nunogilberto

I’ve had the V120 and the V130 (double cut). Both fine guitars and are well built for the money. 

I’ve always rated Vintage - great guitars in fairness.

zepp76

midlifecrisis said:

shameless plug of this for sale. its great, but then i would say that. https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/158212/

Thank you but I'm only after a single cut, plus it's red which is my kryptonite!

midlifecrisis

zepp76 said:

midlifecrisis said:

shameless plug of this for sale. its great, but then i would say that. https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/158212/

Thank you but I'm only after a single cut, plus it's red which is my kryptonite!

fair enough. the yellow ones look great.

sawyer

Trev Wilkinson Vintage guitars are great for the money. Pickup and vintage wiring loom when finances allow and ya sorted!

dazzajl

I’ve actually been very pleasantly surprised by the pickups in my sg’alike. Not at all like anything else I’ve played. They seem to have almost a natural fuzz to them, a little dark but not at all muddy, just warm and gruff. 

Nearest I can describe is a voice like Louis Armstrong. 

Of course if you want the guitar to sound like the thing it’s trying to look like, kinda useless 

Funkfingers

The Hamer XT Junior does the job nicely - especially after a pickup upgrade.

The most recent revision of this guitar seems to list for over five hundred quid. (Gasp!) A pre-owned example of the Crafted In Indonesia persuasion should be far more affordable.

zepp76

Funkfingers said:

The Hamer XT Junior does the job nicely - especially after a pickup upgrade.

The most recent revision of this guitar seems to list for over five hundred quid. (Gasp!) A pre-owned example of the Crafted In Indonesia persuasion should be far more affordable.

@Funkfingers oh man, I wish you hadn't suggested that, it led me to look at the Hamer Monaco Korina, bloomin lovely! But alas out of my reach.

Sassafras

IMO you can't go wrong with Vintage.
One of my favourite guitars is the AV 2.

TTBZ

I’ve been tempted by one of these for a while. The thing that puts me off is you can get a used Gibson for around £400 on a good day. By the time you’ve inevitably had to replace the pickup, electronics and possibly the tuners and bridge you’re probably not that far off it. I’d I had the cash right now I’d be tempted by @midlifecrisis one for sale though!

midlifecrisis

TTBZ said:

I’ve been tempted by one of these for a while. The thing that puts me off is you can get a used Gibson for around £400 on a good day. By the time you’ve inevitably had to replace the pickup, electronics and possibly the tuners and bridge you’re probably not that far off it. I’d I had the cash right now I’d be tempted by @midlifecrisis one for sale though!

id say the tuners could be better replaced but theres nothing wrong with the pickup, electronics and bridge in this one.

prowla

I was looking at one of the Vintage SG copies, but I ended up getting a Gibson SG Special for under £300...

zepp76

zepp76 said:

Funkfingers said:

The Hamer XT Junior does the job nicely - especially after a pickup upgrade.

The most recent revision of this guitar seems to list for over five hundred quid. (Gasp!) A pre-owned example of the Crafted In Indonesia persuasion should be far more affordable.

@Funkfingers oh man, I wish you hadn't suggested that, it led me to look at the Hamer Monaco Korina, bloomin lovely! But alas out of my reach.

I just can't get this guitar out of my head, I've been watching YouTube clips of it and it sounds gorgeous (to my ears anyway!). I think it's time to start saving and selling a few bits, man GAS is a nightmare!

Funkfingers

Go and try one … or several.

I have one of the old XT Juniors from before Hamer ceased production earlier this decade. My local dealership stocked three of them. The first one I was handed seemed good but I gave all three a try to make sure. Turned out that the first one had “it” and the other two did not.

zepp76

Funkfingers said:

Go and try one … or several.

I have one of the old XT Juniors from before Hamer ceased production earlier this decade. My local dealership stocked three of them. The first one I was handed seemed good but I gave all three a try to make sure. Turned out that the first one had “it” and the other two did not.

I'd love to try one, alas there is nowhere near me that stocks them. I'll do a bit of searching and see where the nearest dealer is to me and maybe make a trip to try one.