Guitar brands that...

Grumpyrocker

LionAquaLooper said:

I always thought Schecter deserved to be more popular than their current status. 

I agree. 

I have two of them and they are beautifully made guitars with great specs. They may have come out of the same factory as other guitars I own - but clearly Schecter goes the extra mile.

Pete.R

For me it is the FGN brand, FujiGens own brand.

Everybody knows or have heard about many of the great guitars they made for Ibanez, Fender or Gibson, 

just to name a few of them.

Not much know about their own brand, established around 2009

High Quality guitars at an affordable price. Quality over Quantity is what they are doing.

They have traditinal models and their own, improved versions of those trad. models.

Look up some of Andertons videos for more info

I am biased, I've got 12 of them in my crew

Nerine

If they deserved more recognition they would have been more popular. 

The market doesn’t really lie. 

Some of the makers mentioned in this thread, their branding absolutely stinks. Fret King aren’t the epitome of cool for example… 

Bellycaster

Harley Benton


*Runs Away*

Schnozz

Nerine said:

If they deserved more recognition they would have been more popular. 

The market doesn’t really lie. 

Some of the makers mentioned in this thread, their branding absolutely stinks. Fret King aren’t the epitome of cool for example… 

Nerine said:

If they deserved more recognition they would have been more popular. 

The market doesn’t really lie. 

Some of the makers mentioned in this thread, their branding absolutely stinks. Fret King aren’t the epitome of cool for example… 

But for those that can see past the Apple logo that a teen would lust after, spec is more important than branding.

BillDL

Acoustics: Sigma, Walden and Tanglewood

Electrics: FGN

Most of the rest mentioned have had their bursts of popularity and recognition over the years, even though they may not currently be particularly recognised brands.

Speedy

Encore ....




I'll get my coat

BillDL

Speedy said:

Encore ....
I'll get my coat

No need to get your coat.  I'm sure it was either Trevor Wilkinson or Alan Entwistle that exhumed, revamped and drastically improved the Encore guitars to the point that they should have been regarded as serious contenders.  That in turn led to the "Vintage" guitar range by JHS (John Hornby Skewes), and I should have added Vintage to my comment above.  Some of their guitars are exceptionally good and their quality standards are really pretty good also, yet I don't think they have had the popularity they deserve from discerning players.

Sporky

HAL9000 said:

Obvious one is G&L.

Yup. Arguably more Fender than Fender, and probably the best tremolo bridge yet devised. 

HAL9000

Nerine said:

If they deserved more recognition they would have been more popular. 

The market doesn’t really lie. 

Some of the makers mentioned in this thread, their branding absolutely stinks. Fret King aren’t the epitome of cool for example… 

The market doesn’t lie when it comes to what people want (or think they want).

That doesn’t mean other brands don’t deserve more recognition but so much depends on marketing, customer perception, etc.

Chimpankie

Nerine said:

If they deserved more recognition they would have been more popular. 

The market doesn’t really lie. 

Some of the makers mentioned in this thread, their branding absolutely stinks. Fret King aren’t the epitome of cool for example… 

That’s assuming market is only dictated by solely by quality… or that a brand doesn’t deserve recognition because their branding isn’t great. 

So many other factors involved in market popularity including distribution, volume, and marketing. 

For a long time barely anyone had heard of Cort (it’s a bit better now) despite the fact the guitars they built for others sold phenomenally well. Same with Fujigen.

Jetfire

Schecter are much more prominent in metal circles these days than they have been before, esp prog metal. They seem to be having an Ibanez style surge at the moment, esp with the specs of guitars. However, some of Thier headstocks are ..... interesting 

Power_Freak

I was always surprised Brian Moore guitars didn't really take off. Good playing, solid specs... But I never owned one which I guess is part of the problem.

Parker suffered due to their looks but also played pretty well.

Steinberger should have been a bigger name too, my GM is one of the easiest playing guitars I've ever got my hands on. Again it's likely looks that stopped them being more popular.

Chimpankie

What I don’t get about G&L is there seemed to be a huge push on them 5 or so years ago with promos on Andertons, lots of stock in places like PMT etc Now they seem to have dropped off the radar again? There was a transparent frost blue semi hollow ASAT on Anderton’s that I coveted for a long time. 

Nerine

Schnozz said:

Nerine said:

If they deserved more recognition they would have been more popular. 

The market doesn’t really lie. 

Some of the makers mentioned in this thread, their branding absolutely stinks. Fret King aren’t the epitome of cool for example… 

But for those that can see past the Apple logo that a teen would lust after, spec is more important than branding.

Apple is a really poor example to use, in my opinion. Their hardware and user experience is generally excellent based on the Macs and iPhones and iPads I’ve had so they deserve the credit.  

I wouldn’t try to run my studio on a PC. 

I’ll reframe my initial post slightly:


Why do any of the brands in this thread deserve more recognition than they have? If they were doing more things right, they’d have more recognition with higher sales, no?? 

Bear in mind I’m not mentioning the quality of the product here. 

If more of these companies got their basic branding and marketing (sometimes even their name) right, (see Blackstar and Orange for example) they’d likely see higher market share. 

57Deluxe

in more contemporary times - Hofner. When was 15, pouring over the Bells Music Catalogue, the Galaxie with its multiple switches/pups really intrigued me.

Vintage65

Chimpankie said:
My Washburn dreadnought acoustic (around £250 in 2005) has been fantastic value, and sounds great.

My old housemate had a Westone which sounded BRILLIANT but weighed an absolute ton. I’d guess over 10lbs.

Everybody knows that heavier guitars sound better!

Devil#20

Kittyfrisk said:

HAL9000 said:

kennedydream1980 said:

Fret King

Always ruined by the bat-wing headstock and scratchplate designs. IMHO worse than bird inlays.

I take it you mean the Fender type models? IMHO bird inlays are waaay more off putting.

But vive la difference & all that 

Although I love Tele's, I think the Fender scratchplate is the thing I really don't like. Seems like a lot of manufacturers of T-types think so too. Straight edge on the bridge side just looks like it was Friday afternoon and they couldn't be arsed designing a curve for it. Home time via the bar chaps.

I have a mate who gigs a Fret King and he let me have a go of it during the break on one gig and I was impressed with it. Double bound and lovely fit and finish. 

TTBZ

+1 for FGN, every one I've played has been an awesome guitar. If I ever get round to buying a T style guitar it'd probably be a Boundary Iliad.

LionAquaLooper

Why do any of the brands in this thread deserve more recognition than they have? If they were doing more things right, they’d have more recognition with higher sales, no?? 

If more of these companies got their basic branding and marketing (sometimes even their name) right, (see Blackstar and Orange for example) they’d likely see higher market share. 

Not really an automatic assumption that they haven't done their basic branding and marketing "right" and it's all their fault. For all we know they HAVE done everything in that dept right. But let's be realistic. When you're up against behemoths like Fender Gibson even Ibanez, your ceiling will always be limited no matter what...unless one of them collapses in a dramatic fashion and leaves a gaping hole behind.