Vintage VS6 Guitar - Deep Dive Review

[@Edward1312]

By the serial number I can tell the guitar you feature was made in 2011! JHS Vintage havent made an SG with symmetrical horns since 2014!

[@appetiteforguitar]

It's a nice guitar, although I was a bit miffed with the small pots in it. A good upgrade platform anyway and despite the pots it sounds pretty good.

[@Edward1312]

I have the exact same guitar except it has mother of Pearl Vintage in lays on the headstock rather than silkscreen. I havent upgraded the pots but I have upgraded the bridge and tailpiece to Faber aluminium and the tuners to Kluson deluxe, looks and plays even better. Most low to mid range guitar makers have used small pots over the years, its really only since 2020 when Epiphone started using larger pots in their inspired by range that its become more common to expect CTS pots as standard. Better PUs, bridge, tailpiece or tuners have more impact on sound than the size of pots anyway.

[@neoaureus]

Whoa !

[@Urizen777]

Yeah, I've also got a 2011 model, only in ebony color. My understanding is that Gibson threatened to sue them (which is a pretty Gibson-like thing to do) unless they stop making 1:1 copies so they elongated the top horn.

[@AnthonyMonaghan]

I've owned a few Vintage brand guitars. My experience has been hit an miss. My Telecaster type guitar is over all an excellent instrument for the money, though the electronics needed changing as they were very cheap and nasty. The pick ups are decent though. I also owned their version of a 335 and I wasn't impressed at all. The hum buckers sounded weak and thin, the fret finishing was awful and no matter what I did to it, it wouldn't stay in tune, even with the upgraded deluxe tuners. The guitar felt...cheap is the only way I could describe it. I sold it and bought an Alvarez AAT33 instead for similar money and the difference is enormous. I think the QC isn't great as I've heard similar complaints from other owners. Thanks for the honest review.

[@appetiteforguitar]

No worries, I really enjoy doing the reviews. Your experience seems to be quite common for Vintage guitars. The good ones can be really good but the bad, hmmmm... I've got another one of their guitars from the early 2000's which I plan to review. I've not opened the back up yet so I'm very curious to see the electronics quality. I'll share the results. Keep rockin'

[@Urizen777]

You've got one of "limited" series, I see. Vintage VS6 with "symmetrical horns", Wilkinson hardware and pickups, as well as neck binding (and VS6 being written on the nut cover) were made shortly, from 2010 to 2013. I have one of these models, only in ebony color. Later Gibson sued them because of the body shape and they haven't been making these guitars for some time. When they returned, they had to make them with offset horns, so these pretty much 1:1 models with neck binding are quite a rarity these days.

[@appetiteforguitar]

It's actually a surprisingly decent guitar (cheap pots aside). Quite enjoyable to play. When I can, I'd like to try out the Gibson 50s SG. Apparently that has a nice chunky neck. The Vintage is a fine guitar, just very inoffensive all round really.... well, apart from offending Gibson I suppose!

[@Urizen777]

@@appetiteforguitar Well, it's not hard to offend Gibson nowadays, lol... Yeah, it is quite a nice guitar for the price point, that I truly enjoy playing. While it is not my primary axe (right now I keep it in C# tuning for some Black Sabbath and the like), I've no intention to sell it any time soon if ever. Wilkinson pickups are a bit unrefined, although they are marketed as slightly more powerful PAFs, they lack the warmth and subtlety of true PAF pickups. However, I plan to keep them and only change the pots and install Grover bridge sometime in the future... the overall make of the guitar is decent enough to justify investing in some slight upgrades and modifications. And I hope you'll get to share your experience with Gibson 50's SG here at some point.

[@appetiteforguitar]

@@Urizen777 those sound like good mods without spending too much. I do like it but needs must... I've since sold the one in this video. I always feel a bit sad when a guitar goes but c'est la vie. It has made way for a PRS SE Paul's guitar which should be the next review on the channel. I plan to do a really deep dive. Then, maybe a Stranderg which I've had my eye on. And hopefully yes the 'real' SG will come too in the not too distant future.

[@Urizen777]

@@appetiteforguitar It is natural to feel a bit sad when you get to part with any guitar. I've sold quite a few and I miss them all in a way, even the cheapest ones. Nice for the PRS SE Paul's! I've never got to play on PRS much (except very shortly, borrowed from a friend), but these are high quality guitars that are generally well-regarded. Enjoy it! As for Strandbergs, I've no experience with them, but personally, headless guitars were always somewhat off-putting to me (it is probably childish, I know, but I just don't like them).

[@appetiteforguitar]

It's good to clear out the old to make way for the new... I tend to hold on to stuff, but realised the GAS situation was getting a bit overwhelming. I was tucking them anywhere I could find! Overall, it feels good to have a smaller focused collection (for now). Regarding Strandberg, I thought the same thing until recently. But I'm intrigued having tried it out. It's the most comfortable guitar I have played for playing sat down as it's got a few different positions it can be held in, unlike any guitar I have ever tried. Also, the EndurNeck is sooo strange but comfy - it twists and is flat not rounded which sounds awful lol - but it's actually really well thought out. Also, very light at about 2kg. If I can find something in a Black Friday deal I'm going to give it a whirl and report back... Good luck with the Vintage upgrades.

[@StevenAnthonyGuitar]

I hope they have raised their overall quality control, just like Gibson did under the new management. My local guitar store used tp be a distributor for Vintage. First I bought a stratocaster, that was really nice to play and sounded good to me back then, but had really sharp frets. When I brought it in to the store they returned my money after the frets just came out of the guitar while fixing the sharp fret ends. They eventually stopped working with Vintage because they had so many issues with their guitars. They tried again in 2018, and while some of the guitars were good, half of them were still full of issues. They just returned the whole shipment and never worked with Vintage again. My luthier has worked at that store and he knows what he's doing, as has been working on my guitars since 2005. I think Vintage is doing some cool stuff, but I will always be weary because of what I know of their issues in the past.

[@appetiteforguitar]

Oh dear! That's not great. I've got this VS6 and a Vintage Metal Axxe Razer in black from years and years ago (kind of like an ESP Viper). Both have been fine, but it's sad to hear about those issues. Consistency with a lot of manufacturers can be touch and go, particularly at the cheaper end. I think that's why I'm starting to gravitate towards PRS these days... they are just sooo consistent with the production. Obviously not that cheap compared to Vintage but I'm willing to pay a bit more for quality. Review coming of the Metal Axxe too - it was one of my first guitars and has some fun switches on it... fond memories of learning Enter Sandman on that one. 😅

[@kingstumble]

My experience of Vintage is somewhat different. I have owned at least six Vintage guitars and none of them had any issues. I wish I could say the same about a certain Gibson guitar I have.

[@appetiteforguitar]

Glad you've had good experiences of Vintage. Gibson is a strange beast. I heard an argument the other day which said people look for 'the one' with Gibson guitars without realising poor quality control. So, you might try ten of the same model in the shop. One stands out as amazing. The other nine, not so much. The point is they are not consistent. They should all be 'the one' and manufactured just as well. It doesn't occur to us usually that finding 'the one' really means that the other nine really should have been produced better... I thought that was an interesting way of looking at it. It's a good excuse for me to get some Gibsons in to test the theory anyway 😅.

[@StevenAnthonyGuitar]

@@appetiteforguitar I've had (and still have) multiple Gibson guitars and I've only had issues with one model, twice. But most of them have been without issues. I like the fact that they're all a bit different and to me, it's not that those guitars that are not "the one" are bad, they're just not what I look for in a guitar. For me they don't all have to be exactly the same, as long as they're good. Some like their Les Pauls heavy, other like them lightweight. Some like them dark, others bright. And that each of them can have it's own personality is pretty cool.

[@stefangranberg9319]

I have owned 6 Vintage guitars (V100LM, V100BB, 3 different V6 and a VS6) and all of them were a step up from Epiphone and BaCH, no sharp fretends, no dry fretboard and much better pickups, the sharpest fretends I've had on a guitar was a Fender Lite Ash Tele

[@c.h.fieldsports9876]

I love mine , mine is older than the one featured, but looks the same other than a darker fretboard, I paid £125 for it , it had been restrung and set up by the previous owner ( unfortunately I don’t do it justice being a total beginner) great guitar though , I like the vintage brand , might go for a V100 lemon drop next 👍👍🤠

[@appetiteforguitar]

Nice, the V100 is a good guitar. I played one not long ago and it feels decent quality for the price.

[@Sonny-lx7je]

Im seriously thinking of getting one of these but in black , I own a couple of Gibsons and Ibanez RG and a Jem but the Guitar I play the most is my PRS SE Standard 24 which is also my cheapest Guitar , expensive doesn't mean it will be a great guitar , or maybe I got lucky with my PRS SE .

[@appetiteforguitar]

They're good for a budget guitar. Keep rockin'

[@GlenAnderson-lj5bc]

Buy a treble booster

[@GlenAnderson-lj5bc]

Buy a Guild s 100 Polara instead

[@appetiteforguitar]

The Guild is a more expensive, really nice guitar. In it's price bracket the Vintage is good value.

[@markusaurelius777]

Small pots = CHEAP.