Went to a garden party last night & had a jam on my friend's Vintage VSA535. I've always thought of Vintage as cheap & not very well made. But I was very impressed with this one. It retails at £379 and as far as I can see the finish was excellent, nut nicely cut, good string spacing, and a great action with a rosewood fingerboard and no fret-buzz or choking on bends. Pick-ups sounded really good too, and all the knobs/selectors & machine heads felt good & stayed in tune beautifully. The neck was superb - really comfy.
I tell you guys, nowadays you really don't need to spend a fortune to buy a really good professional sounding & playing guitar. This Vintage would put more than a few 'name' brand guitars at 3-4 x the price to shame and having played a couple of the Epiphone versions at similar price, this makes them sound & feel like a piece of junk by comparison - there's just no contest in build quality, set-up & tone.
I started out with nothing..... but I've still got most of it left (Seasick Steve)
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It cost me less than a £150 and it's one of my favourites. Most people who've tried it have been pleasantly surprised by it's versatility.
They have a few endorsers and whilst they probably don't all play them all the time I remember Eric Bell having one as his main guitar for a while. Midge Ure was using one before they got him a sig model ( probably a better guitarist than many might realise if you only know him from Ultravox or Band Aid).
My issue is that for some of the more recent models there's a bit of overdesign - lot of knobs and different functions; not my kind of thing.
My only real criticism of the brand is the name "Vintage". I can see why they did it though. Every search for "Vintage Les Paul" "Vintage Stratocaster" or even "Vintage Guitar" will show their products.
http://www.shmelvis.com
There were some very minor cosmetic blemishes, but nothing that affecting playing, and nothing you'd spot without a special effort.
My only complaints were that the pickups were rather dull, even for 'buckers, and I didn't like the balance of it on the strap.
The only reason I sold it was that with an Eggle Berlin and a PRS S2 Mira, my shorter scale, humbucking "needs" were more than adequately covered, without the hassle of swapping out pickups.
(I do agree about the shonky brand name, though!).
You're right it does have that element of desperation in it's sound so well fitted to the Blues.
Probably shouldn't have sold it but I got GAS. Oops.
Always fancied a Zip, never found one locally though