Do you need an expensive guitar? 2021 EKO VL-480 Honey Burst Flamed Guitar Review

[@guitartribe]

Thank you George! as EKO GUITARS Project Leader I'm very very proud of what you found in our guitar!

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Keep up the good work, guys 🔥🤘🏻

[@VikiFlip]

in the 90’s I was having guitar lectures. once at the musich school I heard a beatiful and clear sound from a guitar. I asked my teacher which guitar he was playing he said proudly ‘an Eko’. I tried the vl 480 an feels very comfortable and lightweight. The nut is made of bone. Give it a try.

[@lemolabass1]

Thanks, this is a very well made review. And that Eko really looks super nice for the price.

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

I am glad you liked it. Stay tuned, a lot more interesting stuff coming :> That eko is a beginner's dream

[@jhkuno88]

They bought me an Ibanez in 1996 when I was 10 years old for 250 euros (with inflation a bit more) and it was pretty great for a begginer kid. There were good guitars at 250-300 euros back in the 90s-00s, but only in big brands, small brands were very crappy.

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Yep, pretty much, did we have euros back in 96? 👀

[@jhkuno88]

@@GeorgeVGuitars I converted to euros from the currency we had then ofc.

[@maxsmeraldi]

I recently purchased a custom black VL-480 and I must say that it is an exceptional guitar, I only changed the tuners and the sound is identical to the Gibson Les Paul at the price of €250

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Lets just say similar, not identical ;)

[@chele-chele]

Excellent review of the EKO and I have o agree, there are some great budget axes coming out of China that make it hard to justify paying 20x more for a name.

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Never been hard to justify it for me, but yeah I know what you mean.

[@Achromatic_0]

im looking to buy one of these as im on a tight budget, and this is pretty much the only review (or really any video) of it in english that exists. thank you so much

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Pretty good guitar for the money. I was surprised.

[@franc6691]

Once I tried a 12 string Eko acoustic guitar from 80s, you can find one of them for 150/200€ and sound absolutely amazing. Even the feeling is incredible

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Yeah, a lot of people have good experience with their older guitars.

[@nightlust]

Hey man, I'm super glad to find an in depth review of these guitars! They do sound pretty damn good given the price and my experience with more affordable guitars. I was wondering though, have you heard stories of headstock cracks or breaking on these Eko guitars? My friend got himself a Harley Benton LP style guitar and had that issue merely a month after he got it, without even dropping it. Oh and it came with broken strings, of course. So I'd like to redirect him towards a better brand, and also for informing myself since I love LP. Maple necks are, from what I've heard of, sturdier. I've only had maple necks in my life, dropped two guitars that had maple necks with no issues, not even a crack, is that real or is it a myth?

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

You are right about maple necks, they are stronger. The headstock breaks are usually reserved for Gibson guitars. I have only seen Epiphone, Gibson and one Edwards that was literally thrown of stage to break a headstock. If you like the LP shape check out Vintage: Who are Vintage guitars and is cheap ageing any good? Vintage V100MRJBM Icon Goldtop Distressed kzbin.info/www/bejne/sGOyoGaIYqylZ7M And LTD: Should you buy the LTD EC-10 over the EC-256 for a beginner guitar? kzbin.info/www/bejne/p2bRooVqiclmibM Both brands have affordable LP models. The LTD is the modern guitar, Vintage are more towards classic Les Pauls.

[@BlankRami]

I have had my Eko for a couple of weeks and cant get enough of it. From this comparison, I even prefer the sound of it to the Gibson. To me the Eko sounds more straight forward and the Gibson is heavy and in a deep cave and you can only bring it out with a lot of distortion. for my preferred taste, it sounds a lot better! HOWEVER, after fiddling a few days with the switch, it wouldn't stay in the neck position so I had it changed, the tuners are cheap and I am definitely going to change them in the future but a really good thing to add to this guitar is the string butler. It keeps the guitar in tune. RotoYellow is a great string brand that goes well with the tone of it. Under a budget of 500, I sound like a million bucks (At least to me)

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Glad you are enjoying your Eko. They are deffinetely amazing for the money.

[@Cthulhu_Awaken]

The two symbols engraved underneath the bridge are _hanzi_ (Chinese characters) meaning "small" (小) and "big" (大), respectively.

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Thank you

[@looneyinkproductions-eduard]

Nice review. I really like your positive approach.👍

[@georgepapathanasiu]

Amazing video man! Keep up the good work and overall the passion about the guitars in general!

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Thanks, dude. I was going to include you in the video, but I am saving up the video for the Silverburst review :>

[@georgepapathanasiu]

@@GeorgeVGuitars Thank you so much for the kind words and just the opportunity to not only to play this amazing gibson but to know in person such a cool collector and guitarist.

[@davidpayne2363]

It be nice if you could tell us what kind of pickups are they, ceramic or alnico?

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

@@davidpayne2363 My guess is as good as yours. That is the only official info about them: "Eko Guitars Rockbucker We wanted to give our Elements series (STD and Lite) guitars a decisively rocky footprint, so we have developed these powerful, silent and versatile minihumbuckers. The tone is rich despite maintaining a strong rock trend towards the medium high frequencies. Great Signal / Noise ratio."

[@samborac46]

Great review, really in-depth! Nice one. Cheers

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Cheers ;)

[@waltersheens1087]

IMO a better LP copy than a Epiphone PlusTop pro, I tried. The Eko really is built like a tank, I have the EKO and a Vintage V100, both feel and sound great. Maybe the EKO has a little more modern sound with the Alnico's and would be my choice for metal, for classic rock I would choose the Vintage V100. I'm only changing the tuners on the Eko, they're ok but not great like the Wilkinsons on the V100.

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

I am glad you mentioned it. I have a V100 video coming up. Hopefully I will upload it some time next week :>

[@bluesmonkey4463]

AWESOME REVIEW GEORGE !

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

🤘🏻🖤

[@TheBorderlined]

thank you for this detailed video great job.. The finger board is made out of WPC (Wood Plastic Composite)

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

@@TheBorderlined Thank you for that info 🤘🏻

[@TheBorderlined]

@@GeorgeVGuitars It is specified in the Eko web site. Cheers :)

[@gibs2b]

10:05 the impact is due to the screw of the pick guard (look there are 2 screws in the pick guard)

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Interesting 👀

[@zetagundam_007]

Merci pour cette vidéo très instructive qui montre bien le dilemme auquel fait face le débutant ou la personne ne pouvant pas, ou ne souhaitant pas, mettre une somme importante dans sa guitare à savoir choisir entre une guitare entrée de gamme finalement de meilleure qualité qu'espéré ou une guitare moyenne gamme dont au final le prix plus élevé ne sera pas nécessairement justifié par rapport à sa qualité

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

🙏🏻😳

[@diogomartins3629]

PRS 245 costed me 535 euros and it is perfect !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

I will check it out eventually, my dude! :>

[@gb93able]

Great job, man. Are these pickups Alnico V?

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Thank you, man. I am not really sure but with that 9.5k reading it is quite possible

[@colinpadley1897]

They've come so much since I started in the seventies.

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Yeah It's crazy how things evolved but unfortunately the attention span of beginners has declined.

[@gibs2b]

What do you blame Squier for ? Their Stratocaster sounds better than the Fender Mark Knophler edition (the neck is another story of course). I have both and compared both with my real Amp (Peavey Classic 30).

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Uuuhm :>

[@bartvangheluwe7041]

So, how would you solve the bridge being tilted? Simply a new one, or are the holes not drilled correctly? And more importantly, is it really a problem?

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Its fine i guess

[@bartvangheluwe7041]

"...and maybe you suck", what a great quote 😅

[@danraan]

Yes I got this g

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Nice, do you like it?

[@JeanDo]

To be honest and constructive, after hearing and watching you playing the guitar, you don’t need an expensive guitar at all.

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Thаnk you for your input. I bought 8 of them anyway

[@karmad3269]

Mountin same pick ups even a top luthier would be barely able to share among theyr sound

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

In a recording, maybe. In the room you will feel the difference.

[@karmad3269]

@@GeorgeVGuitars One of these days will do myself the test...need a gibson first ahahahah

[@cristiancumplidopuentes2047]

I own one of those and I have to change two frets. Do you know the fret size of this guitar?

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Unfortunately not. Get it to a proper guitar tech if possible. He has to measure.

[@Iamstevenvr]

Eko S-300 please

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

Yeah I have 4 of those on the wall. I will try to do a video soon

[@VikiFlip]

I bought one as a secondary guitar beacause I didn’t have single coils guitar and I suffer from back pain and my Gibson Les Paul is very heavy. I can tell you that sounds pretty goid and is very very light. my back says thanks . P.S. I bought it as B stock at 100€. 😅

[@rodolfomarenco7258]

Que bueno que precio tiene?

[@GeorgeVGuitars]

250$