November 13, 2008
Vintage Electric V6 Guitar Icon Series
I tested a cool looking strat copy today, called Vintage V6 Icon. It's yet another inexpensive guitar that impresses. It recently arrived at the local store, so I had to take it for a test run.
What stands out right away is of course the aged look. These guitar look fantastic, that is you like that relic'd look. It's all about relicing here - the body, neck, hardware, pretty much everything is "aged". I like it, I think it's hip.
The guitar sounds good acoustically. It has a little dull sound, a bit mellow and not so much snap. It could be because of old strings, perhaps.
Plugged in, the pickups impressed me somewhat. I need to repeat again this guitar is cheap, so I wouldn't expect it to sound like a high end guitar. It doesn't, but it's not bad at all. I enjoyed all the tones I could get out of the 5-way switch. I played it through a Roland Cube-60, and it was fun. The neck feels great, very much like a vintage Fender, except the wood isn't as good and the one I played had some buzzing problems. I quick look along the edge of the neck showed why - it was not completely straight.
It has Wilkinson hardware, which surprised me considering the price point of these guitars. I would imagine Wilkinson must have lower-end parts as well as higher-end manufacturing. The guitar did stay in tune fantastically well though, but I did not use the whammy bar either.
In summary, the guitar has an incredible vibe of coolness. It looks awesome with that relic look, and it sounds more than decent. The neck feels nice but I can tell that overall the quality control is so-so. I bet that if you play a dozen of these strat copies, you may find one that it really kicks but. That's one thing to keep in mind when buying guitars, especially cheaper ones - not all of them are created equal. Test many of them, and eventually you might find that gem where every part is great and the whole guitar becomes a few notches better than it's sisters/brothers. If you want a cheap strat copy that sounds and looks great, take a good look at Vintage Electric Guitars. There are more models than the V6, so look around. I would give this guitar a 6 out of 10.
Features
Body: Eastern Poplar Neck: Hard Maple – Bolt On Fingerboard: Rosewood, V6MRBK Maple Scale: 25.5"/648mm Frets: 22 Neck Inlays: Pearloid Dot Tuners: Wilkinson® WJ55 E-Z-LOKâ„¢ Vibrato: Wilkinson® WVC Pickups: Wilkinson® Single Coil x 3 (N)WVS (M)WVS (B)WVS Hardware: Chrome Controls: 1 x Volume/ 2 x Tone/ 5-Way Lever
By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com
» RSS