Elegee or USA made guitar???

[jackbauer]

oo nga no..

ok lang ..mahirap ring mangahoy dito eh..pero siguro maraming puno dito na pwede ..wala pa lang nagreresearch about it..

[nealyu]

a proudly filipino made elegee guitar with american made hardware

+1

[PRSMan]

a proudly filipino made elegee guitar with american made hardware

And there's nothing wrong with that.  Most small builders don't build their own hardware because there's good stuff out there.  Although some do like Joe Driskill -- pati turnilyo ginagawa!  But his guitars would be as good if he just sourced the parts.

[firemodel55]

Ang hirap ng tanong na iyan...

USA made guitar ang laki ng range... Sa high end na USA, wala ang Elegee even with USA parts.  Pero sa mga Standard, pwede lumaban at lumamang kung sobrang panget pagkagawa ng US guitar. 

Sa tunog, its fair game for anybody.  I believe Elegee will knock out quite a number of USA guitars but the really particular good sounding USA guitars will knock out elegee.

Hindi lang sa tools iyan kasi si Gene Baker ngayon hand shaped lahat except for the cutting which i think is done by machine.  Gulat ako dahil dapat mas accurate at maganda kung CNC pero some of them prefer hand made.  Even ESP Custom Shop Japan, contrary to what Jon claims as CNC, uses hand because they believe the CNC loses the certain feel of a hand made instrument.

[kaiowas]

may nakapagpacutom na ba kay sir jon dito? gusto ko sana ng copy ng xseries ng ibanez

[nealyu]

di pa ako nakapagcustom pero i'm sure maganda gawa niya hehehehe... natry ko na kasi personally guitars niya e

[nealyu]

Ang hirap ng tanong na iyan...

USA made guitar ang laki ng range... Sa high end na USA, wala ang Elegee even with USA parts.  Pero sa mga Standard, pwede lumaban at lumamang kung sobrang panget pagkagawa ng US guitar. 

Sa tunog, its fair game for anybody.  I believe Elegee will knock out quite a number of USA guitars but the really particular good sounding USA guitars will knock out elegee.

Hindi lang sa tools iyan kasi si Gene Baker ngayon hand shaped lahat except for the cutting which i think is done by machine.  Gulat ako dahil dapat mas accurate at maganda kung CNC pero some of them prefer hand made.  Even ESP Custom Shop Japan, contrary to what Jon claims as CNC, uses hand because they believe the CNC loses the certain feel of a hand made instrument.

anu definition mo ng good sounding USA guitar???

[PRSMan]

Go for the Elegee man!  I was about to have one built, eh yun nga lang napurnada yung biyahe ng kamaganak ko to the US so walang magdadala.

[itchybrain]

may nakapagpacutom na ba kay sir jon dito? gusto ko sana ng copy ng xseries ng ibanez

i think i saw sir ibysdad showing his custom sa site/thread ng elegee one time. maybe he could share his thoughts and experience first hand. 

[ibysdad]

i think i saw sir ibysdad showing his custom sa site/thread ng elegee one time. maybe he could share his thoughts and experience first hand. 

I want a different looking and different sounding guitar ( I have some guitars already Stratplus, Tele, 3 Ibanezes, a Samick semihollow)so I decided to go to Sir Jon's and check out if he can build me this one.

Ma detail din talaga magpagawa ng custom guitar! just a summary, starting from the hardware, going to the woods that will be used for the body (for me dapat hindi lang tonewood dapat as much as possible importante din na hindi mabigat, I had my guitar chambered)and the neck,measurements on the guitar. Brainstorming at debate and dapat talaga uupuan para ma discuss personally ang specs ng guitar. The finale will be deciding on what color your guitar should be. Aside from frequent phonecalls, pabalik balik din ako kina Jon para ma finalize ang mga very important details.

Nakaka excite ang building experience itself, and the suspense? kung ano yung magiging hitsura at tunog ng gitara!!  mine was just the looks and sound that I exactly want..
bright sounding guitar( my elegee has a mahogany body, maple top, maple neck, ebony fretboard) na may konting twang and cool overtones! it sounds so different compared to my other guitars pero in a very good way 

kung magka pera ulit na extra, I wouldn't hesitate to let Elegee build me another guitar. If you're tired of the usual and want a guitar that you can put your personal thoughts and creativity in, then I think this may work for you too.





   

[blues2death]

pagdating sa music, hindi necessary ang patriotism...

music knows no shape, color or form...whatever works will get you through the day.

matagal kung pinagarap magkaroon ng US na strat...at d ako nadisappoint.

pero kung pinoy made na gitara...at reasonable ang presyo...why not?

[deathbystroke]

magkano ba guitars sa elegee?

[scuttlebutter]

i think the bigger issue here is not where the guitar is made.

the thing about guitars is that you'll never know what they're gonna sound like until you play them. i admit that that is part of the fun of having a custom guitar made. though good materials & construction will increase the chances of the guitar sounding good, it still isn't an exact science. it's good science, but not exact. kahit na calculated yung risk, risk pa rin siya.

and what if you get a killer sound from your custom guitar but it isn't the sound for you?

with a ready-made guitar, there are no surprises. you know what you're getting even before you shell out a single cent.

parang deal or no deal yan. with the ready-made guitar representing the banker's offer. your custom guitar can either be the jackpot prize or a prize lesser than the banker's offer.

in my opinion, a better and more fair comparison would be a ready-made american guitar against a ready-made elegee guitar of similar build.

[nealyu]

i think the bigger issue here is not where the guitar is made.

the thing about guitars is that you'll never know what they're gonna sound like until you play them. i admit that that is part of the fun of having a custom guitar made. though good materials & construction will increase the chances of the guitar sounding good, it still isn't an exact science. it's good science, but not exact. kahit na calculated yung risk, risk pa rin siya.

and what if you get a killer sound from your custom guitar but it isn't the sound for you?

with a ready-made guitar, there are no surprises. you know what you're getting even before you shell out a single cent.

parang deal or no deal yan. with the ready-made guitar representing the banker's offer. your custom guitar can either be the jackpot prize or a prize lesser than the banker's offer.

in my opinion, a better and more fair comparison would be a ready-made american guitar against a ready-made elegee guitar of similar build.

nice one sir!

[firemodel55]

I agree with scuttlebutter.

Except that the majority believe they will get a better sounding guitar than stock if they customize.  The truth is your gonna get something pretty for picture taking but not necessarily better sounding than stock.  Or on the other hand something cheaper -- a as close as you can get to a high end USA guitar or so we think.

[nealyu]

have you even tried an elegee? ano ba para sayo ang high end USA guitar? i haven't tried guitars like bakers and the others pero masasabi ko talo niya fender USA and Gibson cuz i have those... maybe custom shops ng Gibson and Fender is a different story pero if you come to think about it the price is a lot less... yung strat ko talong talo hands down nung strat niya; it didn't even come close. tas yung blues hawk ko, even if it's like a swiss knife, wala parin e. maybe a les paul standard or a prs USA would be of the same level of jon's creations and besides, jon's craft is improving all the time.

[firemodel55]

Yes.  I have tried several and they were not even close to my picked Japan stuff.  I emphasize picked because a good sounding Elegee will beat a bad sounding Japan guitar.  By the way, I heard an Elegee that blew away the MIJ Ibanez prestige serires it was copying but was kind of heavy.  On the other hand, I have heard and played a dead sounding Elegee guitar.

In terms of pagkapolido, talo pa rin sa mga good Japan stuff ang Elegee.  Jon knows this and I believe he is constantly improving.  As I said before, kung magpapacustom ka ng bagong design sa local luthier, nobody beats Jon.  Pero kung mas traditional ka at mas polidong gawa, kay Arie ka pumunta.

You have to ask yourself kung ang Fender USA mo at Gibson blues hawk mo ay the best sounding of the wood batch.  According to an ex- Fender QA guy who is now working for a renown guitar luthier and amp guy, 97% of all Fender stuff are bad sounding whether Mexican, USA, or Custom Shop.  Sometimes a Mexico strat will beat a Custom Shop.  So you have to ask yourself if your American Fender is part of the crummy 97% or the top 3%.  Likewise with Gibson, it takes a dealer to sort thru 100-200 Gibsons to find a good sounding one.  So does your blues hawk belong to the 199?

Let us do a simple test.  Can somebody call up PJ of PJC and ask him how many elegee guitars he has sold compared to the PRS and Ernie Ball guitars there?  I bet zero.  Zero pa rin ang PRS and Ernie Ball --- please update me if I am wrong.  But this goes to show that despite Elegee being cheaper than those two brands, wala pa rin nakaka-afford which means the asking price of Elegee is not commensurate to its value on the market at least in PJC. Let us go a bit further, suppose you ask PJ to bring down the price of the PRS and the Ernie Ball to the Elegee's price, ask him what he thinks will sell... 

What I think for Jon to really succeed is to make guitars equivalent to high end USA guitars at standard USA prices...  So, what I mean by high end is the level of quality of destoryallguitars.com luthiers.  After all, PRS also did the same thing at the start.   Proof? I have a 1989 price brochure for his Artist Series guitar which only costs US$2950 fully loaded with his hand picked wood.  Wala pang internet into ng nakuha ko noon ito by snail mail.

Also, please let us not get into nationalistic stuff about guitars because I will tell you that you should also support Arie aside from Jon.  He does custom work but he just is more careful managing your expectations.

[nealyu]

e si PJ nga gumagamit din ng elegee and kahit sabi niya hindi nagkakalayo ang prs, gibson at elegee sa sound. it's just imported ang mga gibson and prs. if you want their good stuff then buy a customshop or private stock. then again, ang mahal mahal non and most of us cannot afford it. sayang naman pinanggigig mo ang 4000 usd na gitara tas madadamage lang eventualy. limited ang mga resources dito sa pinas so don't expect na magiging ganun kaganda mga works ng filipino luthiers. pero pag may chumempo na wood, e di ok na ok. wala tayo sa US bro and  mahirap din bumili ng mga botique kasi mahal na nga wala pa dito at kahit umabot pa yun dito ang mahal sobra non. marami rin naman mayaman na gusto maganda brand name kaya dami bili ng gibson and prs kasi subok na yun e.

[nealyu]

besides, ang comparison naman dito is between USA standards e not high end stuff.

[chawi]

on my part naman as users of elegee guitars and also selling it together with the hi end imported ones, all i can say is the comparison between the 2 is, PRS and other brands are really good and quality brands of guitars at a high price. while elegee is much lower price but good quality and good sounding guitars and locally handmade. that's only my comparison, because i'm selling both of those guitars. =)

[firemodel55]

So, if price is an issue... Let us not compare it to USA stuff then.  Ang thread title mentions "USA made guitar" in it.  As I said, previously, custom can mean a copy of a USA high end guitar.  I am not debating whether Elegee is cheaper, I am just trying to answer if its is comparable on all aspects with USA guitars and as I said it will beat some USA guitars but also be beat by other USA guitars in terms of character.  But in terms of polish, may room for improvement.

[nealyu]

hi sir pj haha. 

[nealyu]

So, if price is an issue... Let us not compare it to USA stuff then.  Ang thread title mentions "USA made guitar" in it.  As I said, previously, custom can mean a copy of a USA high end guitar.  I am not debating whether Elegee is cheaper, I am just trying to answer if its is comparable on all aspects with USA guitars and as I said it will beat some USA guitars but also be beat by other USA guitars in terms of character.  But in terms of polish, may room for improvement.

e naka sulat rin dun sa simula yung standards lang e hehe. not the high end ones... obvious naman na there's always something better pero ok na ok narin ito compare mo sa mga standards e hehe

[firemodel55]

Chawi,

So if price is not an issue, what personally sounds better to you -- the PRS and/or Musicman or Elegee?

[fraudulentzodiac]

have you even tried an elegee? ano ba para sayo ang high end USA guitar? i haven't tried guitars like bakers and the others pero masasabi ko talo niya fender USA and Gibson cuz i have those... maybe custom shops ng Gibson and Fender is a different story pero if you come to think about it the price is a lot less... yung strat ko talong talo hands down nung strat niya; it didn't even come close. tas yung blues hawk ko, even if it's like a swiss knife, wala parin e. maybe a les paul standard or a prs USA would be of the same level of jon's creations and besides, jon's craft is improving all the time.

maybe you just ended up with one of the poorly made american strats hehe.