Andy Eagle ( Guitar repair tech for 30 years )

Blix said:
Seen these Andy? Looks very well built:

www.tremoline.com

Tremoline | Original Double Locking Tremolo Systems

Tremoline - Original Tremolo System patented in the USA and Germany. FT36 - Flat-top Design, Double Locking, Solid Stainless Steel, Enhanced Tuning Stability.
www.tremoline.com www.tremoline.com
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Yes it’s nicely made but not without issues. The fine tuning is right under your wrist. It’s also a unique footprint so considerably less easy for most people to fit and that makes it extremely expensive. I wish they would have adopted the Floyd footprint. If they had you have a ready made audience from people owning a Floyd special needing a replacement at some point. These days you need to adopt the direct replacement for an existing popular bridge or persuade a manufacturer to use it OEM.
 
@Eagle
What’s your opinion on Bacchus guitars?
I picked up a Global series made in Indonesia Tele style guitar for $500 US

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Eagle said:
Yes it’s nicely made but not without issues. The fine tuning is right under your wrist. It’s also a unique footprint so considerably less easy for most people to fit and that makes it extremely expensive. I wish they would have adopted the Floyd footprint. If they had you have a ready made audience from people owning a Floyd special needing a replacement at some point. These days you need to adopt the direct replacement for an existing popular bridge or persuade a manufacturer to use it OEM.
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It's a direct retrofit for Floyds they say, no routing necessary. The fine tuner placement wouldn't bother me, but I know it will for some.
 
Blix said:
It's a direct retrofit for Floyds they say, no routing necessary. The fine tuner placement wouldn't bother me, but I know it will for some.
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It has the same stud placement but the baseplate is a different size so fitting a recessed rout is where it goes wrong.
 
Blix said:
Yeah that's a dealbreaker indeed.
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They could have easily made the baseplate the exact same shape as the Floyd leaving the fine tuners in the same position but low profile. Then it would have been a retrofit and better. Shame because it had potential.
 
Eagle said:
Pretty solid but the usual short cuts in electrics and budget tuners . Great at $500 if you don’t mind the parts fitted. With a Tele fortunately the bridge is already cheap enough to copy without having to worry.
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Thanks
 
Do you know anything about the Xotic guitars? Are they sourcing parts from somewhere or actually making their own necks/bodies?
 
Boudoir Guitar said:
Do you know anything about the Xotic guitars? Are they sourcing parts from somewhere or actually making their own necks/bodies?
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It used to be the case that most small companies would use a third party to build necks and bodies but with the availability of CNC machines that can do most of the heavy lifting a lot do make their own. Musikraft still do a fair amount of OEM and some companies get a company to do everything.( Friedman.)
Xotic as far as I know has a third party make necks and bodies but I can’t be sure who.
They are to their specifications though and high quality.
 
Eagle said:
It used to be the case that most small companies would use a third party to build necks and bodies but with the availability of CNC machines that can do most of the heavy lifting a lot do make their own. Musikraft still do a fair amount of OEM and some companies get a company to do everything.( Friedman.)
Xotic as far as I know has a third party make necks and bodies but I can’t be sure who.
They are to their specifications though and high quality.
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Thanks. Stumbled into a Peach Guitars tour of their factory and given the total lack of any actual wood machining equipment they're clearly getting body and necks delivered. No shade intended by the question, just curious.
 
Boudoir Guitar said:
Thanks. Stumbled into a Peach Guitars tour of their factory and given the total lack of any actual wood machining equipment they're clearly getting body and necks delivered. No shade intended by the question, just curious.
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You hit the nail on the head.
Shop tour videos will always give this away by what is missing 🤣
They would never pass up showing you the wood shop (if they have one).
A Duesenberg shop tour is a guy on the AliExpress website. 🤣
 
Im from Europe and we are creating some guitars here that according to many people hit the level (or higher) of the American Fenders. What you do see is that there are still many people who just wants to see Fender on the headstock. Maybe I am one of those. I don't know.

Two brands I am curious about. Especially since some say these even hit custom shop levels for a lower price point. They sell for around 2000 euro. So that would be a "normal" american made. Where a custom shop often is around 4000-5000 here. With my current skill level it would not make sense to go custom shop. It would be driving a race car just after having my drivers license.

The two brands are:
- Del-tone
- Kauffmann << Especially curious about your knowledge about this one. This is the one often described as custom shop level.
 
mercifulfuzziness said:
Im from Europe and we are creating some guitars here that according to many people hit the level (or higher) of the American Fenders. What you do see is that there are still many people who just wants to see Fender on the headstock. Maybe I am one of those. I don't know.

Two brands I am curious about. Especially since some say these even hit custom shop levels for a lower price point. They sell for around 2000 euro. So that would be a "normal" american made. Where a custom shop often is around 4000-5000 here. With my current skill level it would not make sense to go custom shop. It would be driving a race car just after having my drivers license.

The two brands are:
- Del-tone
- Kauffmann << Especially curious about your knowledge about this one. This is the one often described as custom shop level.
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The Kauffmann stuff I have seen is nothing like custom shop Fender quality, think Nash with the same philosophy and cheaper pickups . I would not recommend them . Poor relic work and budget everything except the Gotoh parts. If you want a vintage style instrument around £2k there is nothing even remotely close in core materials and build to either American Original 9.5” radius and for the full 7.25” experience American Vintage 2 from fenders and the come with a £300 G&G case .
They also hold value. The price can not be even approached by small companies because fender manufacturing is large and efficient. The same quality from a small business would cost double of close.
 
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