NGD - Goldtop Vee

[Dante]

Okay, I had to try it....I custom ordered a guitar from the China. Goldtop '58 flying V with a natural back, no pickguard, gold hardware, reverse Explorer headstock.

Total cost: $435

I ordered it September 14th, so it took almost 4 months from order to delivery. It was in shipping for about 25 days....

I gotta say, I'm happy with it. Is it perfect? It is not (shocker), but it is EXACTLY what I wanted. You just don't see a reverse hockey stick often (unless it has a very pointy end   ). I went into this with the understanding that I may never be able to play the guitar, and might have to categorize it as 'artwork' on the wall. Gladly, that's not the case at all.

The neck is straight! Whew. That was a concern. The action is pretty low already (haven't measured it yet, but it feels like ~2mm at the 12th fret, which is about a half a mm too high for me). Fret ends are not sharp! Another concern. Neck feels a tad thicker than my other Vees and the Explorer, but I have pix of when it was a square chunk of wood, so they carved the whole thing , even the headstock. Wow

Pickups are not terrible, rumor has it they're not wax potted. I have two waiting to go in. Putting a P90 in the neck and a SH1 (seymour duncan) in the bridge. Got a new switch, caps, jack. Just need to get some pots, once I see how small they are.

The finish has a few minor issues, none of which effects the playability or functionality of the instrument. There is gold paint on the binding on the bass side of the neck, near the neck PU. There is also a glob of clearcoat where the painter got a bit heavy handed with the gloss. So what. The binding on the headstock is a funny one, it's big. Like, bigger than the binding on the body (wth?). Strange, but so what. the output jack plate has a couple big ol' scratches....

[rnolan]

Hey Dante, very nice .  So it seems the "V" shape is a little narrower than the Epiphone next to it.  Pretty good score for not a huge spend.

[Harley Hexxe]

An interesting choice for certain Dante!

I see your other vee next to it. (disregard the question from the other thread, I saw that first before I got to this one).

From the picture, it looks like the neck on the other vee is a bit chunkier than the one you just ordered. I've been looking at one at Sweetwater, and I've been kind of partial to the black one. If the hardware on it were gold, I would have already bought it.

Popular opinion says Korina makes some of the lightest guitars, But I don't know how true that might be.

[Dante]

They are light. The neck on the new goldtop is thicker (& a bit wider). Got the new PUs in, sounds great

[Harley Hexxe]

They are light. The neck on the new goldtop is thicker (& a bit wider). Got the new PUs in, sounds great

Yes sir! I see you have some different pickups in there, It's as I suspected, the ones they come with aren't much to write home about.

[Dante]

I measured the width of the nut on all three guitars; they match! 42mm.

So, the neck is not wider after all, just thicker....and probably rounder on the back. The radius feels fine, whatever it is ;)

[rnolan]

Radius is probably 12"

[Dante]

Here are some pix. The last one is a mockup I gave them - bad photoshop work on my part ;)

Check out the neck - before it was attached

[Harley Hexxe]

That does look like a pretty deep chunk of wood.

[rnolan]

Nice , happy days Dante.