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Post by Steelpriest on Mar 31, 2004 6:20:58 GMT -5
Today I got my dirt cheap Les Paul copy on which I bid on Ebay where it simply said Les Paul Copy and no further information was given. It is brandnew, originally packed and it said "made China". It has as I awaited a bolt on neck, closed tuners with chrome or maybe nickel wings in Kluson-style, an almost flawless silver metallic finish, two black open coil humbuckers that at least sound quite okay here at home at low volume levels, a slim body like an Epiphone LP 100 and like it has to be on a Les Paul 4 control knobs. Hmm, the brand is Apollo *yikes* never heard of this before, hehe... but the guitar looks good, plays good (an amazing flat action was possible without fret buzzing) and I bought it for 100 bucks including shipment. ;D I don´t know where the guy who sold it got it from but I bet it must be from a clearance sale or whatever. The body is made of 3 pieces, you can see it on the backside slightly through the laquer finish, but is no plywood. Hmmm, all in all this guitar plays more like a stratocaster, it´s neck is very thin compared with those fat ones I know from Epiphone Les Pauls, the frets are jumbo style and I´m in total delightment. This cheap and though nice guitar made my day!  I can´t wait to install a DiMArzio pickup...  Have a nice day yourself everybody! P.S.:I have to mention that the guitar stays in tune even after excessive bendings... no kidding! How can that on such a cheap guitar? |
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Post by Uriah on Mar 31, 2004 9:49:20 GMT -5
Cool!
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Post by RB on Mar 31, 2004 16:52:37 GMT -5
Apollo can't say I've heard of it either, looks good thought. Keep us updated ..... |
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Post by Steelpriest on Apr 1, 2004 3:53:46 GMT -5
Well, this morning after playing my new guitar for a while I was just curious and opened the electronic cavity on the back of the guitar. I wanted to figure out what kind of wood it was made of or at least it wasn´t plywood actually. Okay it is not plywood like I was very sure about before, I just needed the entire proof. The inside of this cavity is totally coverd with graphite laquer to ensure shielding and the flap is completely covered with aluminium foil on the inside, wooohooo... a nice feature on a "no-name" guitar, anyway... I could not make my mind up what kind of wood they used but I guess it might be basswood for it is very affordable. Are there any indicators for a wood used when you can´t see the colour of it, maybe in structure or specific weight. Is basswood lighter than alder? But the guitar is very okay, so it doesn´t matter that much of what it was made. What else I discoverd is that the brandname was laquered over on the headstock, it originally seemed to be saying a different one. I suspect that lots of guitars, especially those really affordable ones are built in one and the same factory and depending for which part of our world they are intended get different brand names due to marketing politics. I guess this guitar I have here was originally not intended for the european market, lol... maybe it derives from the same factory as the often mentioned Agile guitars... who knows!  By the way Agiles aren´t available in Germany to my knowledge... I wish they were! |
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Post by Uriah on Apr 6, 2004 16:31:48 GMT -5
Hmmm.... I think basswood is much light then alder... I used to, (well still do kinda) chip carve and carve wood, basswood was kinda like a step up from balsa... I have a fair big chunk... 2inchs thick probably 7x7 inchs around... seems pretttty light.  |
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Post by Steelpriest on Apr 7, 2004 0:48:21 GMT -5
Hmmm close to balsa... Hehe, no the guitar isn´t that light. Ibanez used to use basswood for their more affordable guitars once, seemingly now they dicovered agathis (a tropic wood, affordable, with nice tone characteristics). But what the heck... I mean my dirt cheap copy is fine, I wish I could hand it over to you and you make your own decision on it. I even recorded with it already and it sounds pretty good. No pickups changed so far, I did not take it over to the rehearsal room so far and can not judge the pickups when played real loud. Maybe they are microphonic and will produce howling and shrieking. But I tapped on them with my plectrum and it sounded like "toc toc toc" not like "click click click" what seems to be good so far. I´ll check them out soon... as soons as the guitar has Schaller Security Locks I will take it over and play it real loud, I keep you updated with my experiences concerning this LES CHEAP! Hehe...  |
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Post by Uriah on Apr 7, 2004 6:57:38 GMT -5
I didn't mean close to balsa. But in comparison with basswood is It is prettty light. Still alot heavier then balsa but pretty light none the less. I mean the chunk I was holding is probably about a 1/5 of a guitars worth... I'm sure it weighed under 1lb. Wish I had a accurate scale.
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Post by Uriah on Apr 7, 2004 7:03:15 GMT -5
Ah hah!
Basswood is about 27lbs per cubic foot.
Alder is about 29lbs-31lbs per cubic foot. (Closer to 31 then 29)
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Post by Steelpriest on Apr 7, 2004 8:14:45 GMT -5
;D How many cubic foot is an average Les Paul guitar? Lol... Hehehe! |
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Post by Uriah on Apr 7, 2004 9:02:00 GMT -5
I dunno... ;D Hmmm... Z x Y = b + 6 = 1/5th? 5lbs? 1/6th?yikes... lol
But Alder is a bit heavier then basswood for sure.
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Post by Steelpriest on Apr 10, 2004 8:04:23 GMT -5
News about my "Apollo" Les Cheap! Well, the stock bridge pickup is microphonic as hell, wailing like a banshee... Surprisingly the neck one isn´t...  Maybe I swap them and check it out again, for I don´t use the neck pickups almost never. The volume control was completely loose yesterday while rehearsing, but I fixed this sloppy pot this morning.  Hehe, we have lots of green, blue and red spots in our rehearsal room, the silver sparkle metallic laquer finish looks beautyful... yumm... ;D |
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Post by zep on Apr 10, 2004 11:31:44 GMT -5
Well, I guess for $100 you can't ask for much. I've never heard of Apollo either, but for something cheaper than a Special II, I'd say you got a good deal.
Better than some other cheap "Les Poo"
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Post by Steelpriest on Apr 10, 2004 11:36:36 GMT -5
Well, I guess for $100 you can't ask for much. I've never heard of Apollo either, but for something cheaper than a Special II, I'd say you got a good deal. Better than some other cheap "Les Poo" Hey Zep, the guitar is actually nice. The normal in store price must be about 200 - 250 bucks I guess, at least that´s how I evaluate the guitar... don´t ask me where the guy who sold it got it from, maybe a clearing sale from a broke store? I think it can compete with an Epi LP 100. |
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Post by zep on Apr 10, 2004 11:58:02 GMT -5
the picture actually reminded me of a Gibson LP studio (only a much cheaper version) it might take a bit of replacing parts to get it anywhere near the studio, but it looks rather nice.
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Post by Steelpriest on Apr 11, 2004 4:46:40 GMT -5
the picture actually reminded me of a Gibson LP studio (only a much cheaper version) it might take a bit of replacing parts to get it anywhere near the studio, but it looks rather nice. I have two Epiphone Studio Les Pauls, Studios come with set necks and are generally Standards without bindings. |
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I can´t wait to install a DiMArzio pickup... 
Have a nice day yourself everybody! P.S.:I have to mention that the guitar stays in tune even after excessive bendings... no kidding! How can that on such a cheap guitar?
By the way Agiles aren´t available in Germany to my knowledge... I wish they were!
Maybe I swap them and check it out again, for I don´t use the neck pickups almost never. The volume control was completely loose yesterday while rehearsing, but I fixed this sloppy pot this morning. 
Hehe, we have lots of green, blue and red spots in our rehearsal room, the silver sparkle metallic laquer finish looks beautyful... yumm... ;D
