Antoniotsai Antonio Tsai

I bought 5 guitars and several inlaid peghead overlays & pickguards. All but a couple of the pickguards warped. The guitars ALL cracked wide open. The bridge lifted off of one dreadnaught. The lower edge bridge plate bisected the bridge-pin holes and offered no supportive strength!
He doesn't get his woods to the proper humidity level before working his pieces.

I also received several inlay sets. Most of the inlys sets were well-cut. It's a shame the rest of his work wasn't that good.

A "-45-style" abalone ring They sent as a "gift" was very uneven. It looks as though Tsai hired some kids to cut them....very clumsy kids. The figures (angels, dragons, etc.) inlaid into the body are great, but his abalone edge purflings are atrocious. In fact, the abalone in the curved portions of the body weren't so much as broken into small pieces...let alone cut into a curve. There are 1/2-inch straight pieces of abalone in the curves which look like it was forced into the inner purflings. The binding, therefore, is VERY thin where the ends of these pieces were located. I can't believe somebody who works for a museum, as Tsai claims to, would turn out such garbage.

I did get the cracks in one of the parlor guitars closed (I've been repairing guitars for over 405 years), but the rest were basket cases. They would have been easy enough to repair without the fancy body inlays, but none of them were worth removing the inlays to repair cracks and then reinstalling the inlays. That is, they were repairable but far from cost-effective.

I left positive feedback as soon as I received each of these instruments, but could not change them when the guitars split open 4-5 months down the line.

The finish, of course, was what one would expect from a Taiwanese instrument: the neck was finished right into the body, and there was the typical pool of urethane at the neck joint. (Good guitars...Martin, Gibson, etc., etc., finish the neck before it's assembled to the body in case of an eventual neck reset.)

The fret ends were not properly rounded; you could certainly feel them!

One would think Tsai's crew put all their effort into the inlays...NOT AT ALL into construction or tone! These are great if you want wall-hangers. The internal appointments were all wrong: the braces were very rough and not in the proper locations. There were gaping holes in the kerfed linings. I wonder if these guys ever played and looked carefully at a good guitar. It seems they would realize how poor their construction is compared to a "real" guitar. I sent Tony some photos of what I received from him and a Martin D-45 so he could see how lousy his purfling really was. I told him I believed he could do work like that. All I got was excuses and some claims that everybody likes his work. It seems his is a "make-it-quickly-and-get-it-out" shop with no concern whatsoever about repoutation.

I believe Tsai relies upon buyers' ignorance to sell his junk. What I mean is, for example, I have talked with folks who claimed their cheap Japanese guitars were the best-sounding instruments they'd ever head, whereas a musician with a real ear wouldn't think of playing any of them in public or on a recording. If it weren't for such people as these tone-deaf ones, Tsai would not impress anybody with his instruments.

The sound of these guitars are exactly what you'd expect for cheap guitars...thin and quite unresponsive...even though the tops were solid wood. Again, for guitars in their price range, they sound okay, but are not at all impressive. You're definitely trading fancy for tone with Tsai's instruments.

The nuts on my Tais guitars were terrible. The one in the above-mentioned dreadnaught was worse than horrible. It didn't fit properly, and the slots appeared to have been cut with a hacksaw.
Bracing looked chopped out...NOT carefully hand trimmed.

The junky cases are appropriate for these poor-quality instruments.

A question here asks if this guitar "will...with stand live playing." I wouldn't DREAM of playing these in front of anybody; I bought them with the plan of selling them through my repair shop to novice players or having some cheap practice guitars for myself.

What warranty? I got excuses I could not have dreamed up myself when I approached them about the problems these guitars presented.

I'd strongly recommend you stay away From Antonio Tsai as well as the other high-volume Taiwanese inlay "artist" on eBay.

I've been playing for 50 years as of December, 2009. I started out with a $13 Airline guitar from Montgomery Ward which, unfortunately, sounded just about as good as Tsai's top-of-the line guitars.
If any of these were stolen, it would be no great loss. I kept them after they cracked only to blow up eventually for video stunts.

I own 11 of Tony's acoustic instruments and numerous inlay pieces, custom tuner knobs, fingerboards, and custom pickguards. All are made of solid woods with no EQ system. The ones Tony has done himself are the best, as many have come and needed new nuts, saddles, and in one case, a bridge. His solid koa parlor and his special order Brazilian Rosewood (not Indian Rosewood) are the best. when he started selling guitars many years ago in the USA, only he did the work, he had little to no staff, and his work was excellent-especially his antique restoration work. His inlay work is excellent. His electric line is something to stay away from, though.

For blues playing and for classical instrumental styles, Tony's guitars are worth every penny, depending on he model you are going for. If you are lucky enough to get one made by him, the sound is typically rich, full, and totally balanced. If you get one made by his student(s) or apprentice(s), the sound has a tendency to be muted and a bit off. I absolutely love how some of his own made guitars compare to my 100+ parlors. I have collected guitars for over 35 years and own over 50 guitars, some very expensive $20K+ and some very cheap. I have taken many apart and tinkered around with braces trying to get different sounds. Tony's guitars have needed minor work to accomplish this. Out of the 11 I own from him, only one was a total dud, and I found out it was not made by him.

OK...the work done by Tony himself, at least for my guitars, had totally bookmatched tops and backs, much nicer than I expected. The nuts in some cases were needing to be replaced-a bit off, and the saddles in a few cases were way too high. With the exception of only one of his guitar's, I always replace his tuners with Rubners on the open headstocks and with Schallers on the closed headstocks. For these little changes, nuts, saddles, and tuners, you get yourself a pretty great instrument of solid woods. So, all in all, they are a great bargain, if you are willing to put up with a few things in the beginning.

His acoustic guitars definitely stand up to a lot of playing. The hardware, though, is not the best, so think about changing that immediately. They are very dependable solidly crafted and very underrated for what you get. I would and have used them at many events and not needed backups to speak of.

The repairs I have had to get on them are very minor-action due to saddles or nuts, that is about it. I typically replace the tuners first thing, just because he tend to use cheap ones that spring back on you. The company is in Vietnam, but in the ten years I have worked with them, they have ALWAYS been friendly and serviced my needs. They have made odd sized custom parts for me from exotic woods many times and were spot on, when done by Antonio (Tony) himself. If ever a shipment came into question on price, they have always refunded me or given me huge discounts on my next purchase. I typically have received lots of extras with my shipment that I never ask for, too, like ebony fretboard blanks, inlay pieces, buffalo horn pins -it always varies. I am never disappointed.

I have been playing guitar for 38 years and collecting guitars for 35 years. I have guitars for 15 years and designed internal bracing systems for 10 years. The main thing about these acoustic guitars is that you are getting a solid wood guitar with no composites or plywoods. I admit, over the last 10 years, Tony's guitars lack the quality they used to have. At one time, they even came in hardshell cases, and you could order directly on his site anything custom, paying very little for shipping charges. Since he has grown by being on e-bay, it can be hit or miss with what you get, and now his instruments come in very thin gig bags that don't protect anything. If you are willing to buy his acoustic guitars (and ukes) knowing upfront that you will have to probably put some minor work into them and shell out cash for a good case, then you will not be unhappy at all. The end result will be one pretty amazing instrument, if you can be a little patient and swallow the extra cost you are paying. If you are looking for a perfect instrument right off, then, don't buy his guitars on e-bay-go pay double-digit thousands of dollars to have one handcrafted with a bunch of inlay and wait up to a year to get it. For the price, the extra work you ma need to do, and the overall craftsmanship, you are getting a pretty good deal. Just expect that you may pay double to get what you want from him, when all is completed, but you will still be ahead, under $1K, in most cases, with something you would have to pay $K-$%K anywhere else. Oh, and you might want to request a not so glossy finish-he tends o go way over the finish, which ways down the whole guitar in sound and in looks.

dreadnought cutaway acoustic guitar,clear finish glossy,east indian rosewood back and sides, spruce top all solid wood. maple neck, two way adjustable truss rod,lots of mop inlays, 21 frets. tuners sealed unknown maker, binding is wood no plastic. nut, bridge,pegs and end pin bone no plastic.sunburst top. pick guard is rosewood with inlays.

response,sustain, volume is all of what you can expect of a well made solid wood guitar, without name droping I have owned them all, I give this one a as good and better than some. At a few hunderd bucks? better than all.

OK! well setup sucked, strings sucked, pegs didn't fit right, frets were lumpy,very small gap at sound hole (book matched top)Soooo new strings,reworked the peg holes,leveled the frets and a minor truss rod adjustment. note: buy a good humidifier these were made in 90% humdidity I own three of tony's guitars and played them for a year now thanks to HC I beat the cracking problems others have had

I play my guitars everyday and depend on them, change string every 5-10 hours and check tune before taking the stage, not a problem. reload humidifiers on down time.

as little as I paid for these and shipping what it is figured I was on my own!

Been playing for 40 years, hard to beleive for me too,martin,gibson,washburn,fender,ect mics,amps,stuff. Buy tony's guitars at auction expect problems, use your head remember a solid wood rosewood guitar will cost you 5000.00 dollars, get a good case, his suck,have them shipped in a wooden box.

I own four instruments from tony, and they are all very good.

-a f5 with dragon inlays, I had to fix the bridge height, but then it rings loud and proud, very impressive artpiece, all fellow musician who tried it were amazed at the incredible inlay job and huge sound projection!
I played it out on the street, sun and clouds and a few raindrops wouldnt affect the sound and no cracks appeared yet.
Been on a TV show with it, a few gigs, everybody just had compliments for its sweet but loud tone.

It still plays better and better as it vibrates in harmony through my music. I also have an 100 yrs old washburn bowlback and I like so much switching from one to another, from ol grandma to this young lady from Tony!

-An electric mandolin, mapleneck and solid body, then the simple design, purity of teardrop line and just the logo inlaid in headpiece are georgous, I had it for 65$can on ebay, and it is as good as my epiphone "firebird" style paid 400$ at a music store.

-A strat like guitar, gorgeous mahogany body with golden floydrose stock and two humbuckers on steroids, bird of paradise inlaid on top body, the neck is awesome and the glden headstock and inlays of the cite head are not just nice but top quality.

-A "child's style" short guitar, speaker & amp on the solidbody, very fun to carry around, and a nice single coil can also be plugged and processed as a standard electric guitar. I have it tuned in the range of a tenor uke, then it is like a tenor uke with two lower string, what I play is no more kidstuff!

Sorry you guys had bad experiences on Ebay, I did bid on good pieces and I am glad about what I got for a so cheap price. I ordered several items at a time so the shipping went affordable.

All these sound great, and they get better with time spent playing em!

All these are very handsome and quality finishes

For now everything is OK, will see how they turn out in a few years, but I am very optimist bout that.

As I am myself a good luthier an instrument builder, I corrected the few flaws bout tuning bridges and softened a few fret corners.

Still I know I cant regret all these deals cause all these instruments would have cost me a way lot more if I had to make em myself, just those woods, pieces and I cant calculate the time needed to assemble and do those incredible inlays...

I think some people show a lack of respect for these feature they just cant compete with, and throw a bit too much shit over these honest workers.

I played many instruments since over 25 yrs, own 25 guitars, 4 violins, 5 mandolins, an irish banjo, 3 basses, two saxophones. All top quality ready to gig, even play a washtub bass from hell I designed!

go see shalalaszwee on youtube!

I'm writing this as a warning to anyone considering purchasing ANYTHING that's described as a "musical instrument" made by Antonio Tsai. Particularly if you're looking at his offerings from his Ebay store. DO NOT BUY ANY OF HIS INSTRUMENTS THINK THEY WILL BE MUSICAL, PLAYABLE ANYTHING OF THE SORT - YOU WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED. AT BEST THEY ARE "WALL ART." NOTHING MORE. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED. THIS GOEA FOR ANYTHING - PARTS, SOLID BODIES, ACOUSTICS, MANDOLINS - I've even read about problems with his parts.

I made the mistake of buying one of his "luthier project" SG style guitars. It was indeed very nice to look at, but as a musical instrument, or even a project it has turned out to be a disaster. Fortunately I'm only out 40 to 60 hours of my time and about $180.00 US. But The whole experience has been incredibly heartbreaking as well as absolutely maddening. I really think he should be run out of business.

My guitar had a broken truss rod. There was also a crack in the middle of the fingerboard that ran it's entire length. My conclusion is the guitar was mis-represented in the auction. It was nothing more than a hunk of pretty wood that was shaped like an SG and had some nice inlay on it.

When you go to his Ebay store and buy these guitars he lists with an opening bid of 99 cents - remember the shipping is $110 to $130 - and if you have a problem (and of you're even a remotely demanding pro musician - I guarantee you will have several problems) it will not be cost effective in any way to have them do any of the service. This is the Antoniotsai scam. They sucker you in with the eye candy for as much as you'll pay, then make it completely cost IN-effective to do anything about the multitude of problems these so called 'musical instruments' will manifest.

Before it's possible to even evaluate the sound of his instruments - they first have to be playable. And that's the first big problem. They're not playable, unless you actually like guitars with 3/8 of an inch clearance at the 12th fret. Mine has horrible action AND if you try to take it down it buzzes all over the place. They are sub-standard in every way with the exception of the eye candy factor. Again if you're looking for wall art - he's your man. If he were actually selling his work as wall art - I wouldn't be writing this review. The problem (which borders on fraud in my view) is he's claiming to be a "Master Luthier" - well I'm going to call it like I see it - he's a hack in every regard as a luthier. As an inlay artist, he's really good. This is his only true calling IMHO.

The only thought that seems to go into anything made by Antoniotsai is how the instruments look. The moment you look beyond their visual appeal, you will find they are absolute garbage. A waste of wood. As for the action on the guitar I bought - I'd give it a negative rating but since the review system HC uses starts at 1 - all I can say is that's much more than it deserves.

Reliability? Now that's funny. You can rely on these instruments to suck, but they will look really good while they suck. How's that for brutal honesty?

I took mine to a luthier today who in addition to having 22 years of experience as a vintage guitar restoration specialist, is an authorized guitar tech and repair service center for Gibson, Fender, Guild, Ibanez, Takamine, Martin and others. He'd never even heard of Antoniotsai guitars until we spoke. When I showed him my "Tony" SG and asked him what could be done he told me that if this were a guitar worth fixing, like say a Gibson SG, he'd have to charge me between $1000 and $1200 to fix the multitude of problems the neck had. This tech is a friend of mine and he told me the brutal truth - he simply would not take the job at any price because of how badly made this guitar was. Needless to say - this was not the news I was hoping for. I was willing to spent $300 to possibly $400 to fix this because of the amount of personal time and effort I had put into this guitar. In addition to all my time, I spent over $350 on pickups, tuning machines, wiring harnesses etc. All for naught. So thanks Tony. Not only did I waste money on the guitar I bought from you - I bought all this hardware for it that is worth way more than the guitar is.

THIS IS WHY I'M WRITING THIS REVIEW - IT'S A WARNING TO MY FELLOW MUSICIANS!!

With all of the crap we all go through to just pursuing our musical aspirations - we don't need to be ripped off by some Ebay using wanna' be hack, who claims to be a "master luthier." HE'S A FRAUD!!! The only thing he does well is inlay work. PERIOD!

Oh gawrd!! Customer Support is the ultimate oxymoron when it comes to the Antoniotsai experience. Well sure, it says in his Ebay store listing that he'll refund the guitar - AFTER IT'S "CHECKED" by their service center in Vancouver. Which by the way - you have to pay to ship your guitar there for them to either approve or disapprove the 'problem' and depending on how things go from there - if you want to get your guitar back - that's right - you get to pay for the return shipping too. Well isn't that dandy?? Oh, and they only refund the purchase price of the guitar/bass/mandolin BUT NOT THE SHIPPING FROM HO CHI MIHN CITY VIET NAM that you paid $110 to $130 for. No. That expense is NOT part of your refund. Nice eh?

This is the crux of the "Tony" scam.

Sure - they'll act sincere and be apologetic, but it's all for show. Once they've got your money, for all practical purposes you're on your own.

JUST SAY NO TO ANTONIOTSAI!!! Sure, they're pretty guitars - but they're the biggest money pits in the biz. Don't repeat MY mistake. Get an Ibanez. Get an Epiphone. Geeez, even a Squire is better than a Tony guitar.

Overall - well let me think. What haven't I said so far, honestly?

This is your warning - there are several other warnings among the "Tony" reviews here. I wanted to believe the negative stuff I'd seen about Tony was crappola - stuff written by kids who weren't real pros etc.

And guess what? I've been earning my living as a guitarist, composer, producer, author, sound designer, and music educator for over 30 years now. I thought I'd judge the Tony stuff for myself and give them the benefit of the doubt - against my better judgement.

And this is what happened - they screwed me. Sure, it's because I took a chance on what I thought might be a misjudged, up and coming instrument builder. But I was completely wrong.

So I feel obliged to tell it like it is. Because I hate seeing musicians get screwed - especially when the musician getting screwed is me - LOL!

So, my professional opinion of my Tony guitar, and the whole "Tony" experience is they suck, to put it very mildly. They don't have what it takes to make pro instruments - and they're only interested in taking your money. They don't stand behind what they make at all.

I've made multiple requests to Paul about making this right and they're not going to do that. So, I'm going after them. My intent is to permanently force his store off of Ebay. Simply I don't allow people to get away with ripping me off. Which is what I feel they did.

pretty inlay, not really a musical instrument, supposed to be a f5 mandolin but really just wood with sea shell glued on

wasn't playable so it started with no sound. I set it up with a new bridge in the correct position, sound was thin and dull. opened up the f holes and that improved the tone to tolerable.

suitable for paddling a canoe

head scroll broke off just like BIll monroe's, top is collapsing, some cracks here and there , other than that just perfect

huh what did you say I can't hear you I'm in Vietnam

I own way too many instruments and this mandolin is almost the worst one. (the worst is from mexico and couldn't be made to play).
garbage in , garbage out.

Standard F-5 type mandolin. Solid carved spruce top,Solid carved maple back, maple sides, rosewood f-board. Came with decent Hard case. And tons O'inlay.

Good volume. Decent tone, not really Bluegrassy, but very pleasant. Lots of depth, delicate treble. Also had to install a strap pin by the tailpiece, as one was not provided.

I threw away the supplied bridge first thing. Not fitted to the instrument, and a piece of junk anyway. Fitting a new one was rather difficult, as the bridge needs to be uncustomarily high. Once set up, it is very nice to play. The frets on mine are well dressed and smoothe, intonation is good all the way. Woods are nice & well matched. Tuners are robust, either actually engraved or nicely cast with a pleasant "Celtic" type design. The neck is huge, but not so much you can't get used to it. Unless ou have smaller hands. It's one big Bubba. Tailpiece is pretty, but I wouldn't want to have to change a string in a hurry. Finish is good, a little rough in the inside of the scroll, but not an obvious fault.

I don't know if it would stand up to the kind of gigging I do. It seems rather delicate. This is in/re my playing style, which is rather percusive and brutal. I have a right hand like a sock full of buckshot. The hardware will prolly out last us all. Finish, while not heavy has held up well to house and party pickin' for two years. I feel it is dpendable, but I wouldn't gig with it.

Never dealt with them. As noted by others, you'd have to send it back at fair expense... His E-Bay site say's something about it being examined by their warranty reps in Canada before hand, so whether it's worth it, I dunno.

Been playing about 37 years. I own or have owned at some point about every model of mando Gibson's made, along with Rigel, D'Angelico, Kettler. Some tasty pieces. I dig arch top guitars, and have a nice R-18. Have an Arnold flat top and an old Mossman. I bought it mostly for the inlay. I am surprised it sounds and plays as well as it does. I'd probably get another one, as it really is an eyeful.
As this one is older than the ones in the other reviews, it definately came from the Taiwan factory. He has another factory in Saigon (Oops- Ho Chi Minh City), and I can't speak for or against any differance in quality.
I was impressed with the mandolin from the start, as I was just expecting eye-candy. Much better instrument than I anticipated, and well worth the price.

I purchased four mandolins from Antonio Tsai. I was sucked in by the gorgeous inlay work. They have the standard mandolin features you would expect.

Finish ??? Sloppy at best
Tuners - Junk
Neck ??? Be careful. Unless stated, these mandolins DO NOT have truss rods and are not adjustable.
Any included accessories? - Well-made hard case is included.
Frets ??? Sharps on ends and poorly installed.

The resonator style is very bright and harsh sounding. In general all the other models are dull sounding and lifeless.

Read carefully. YOU WILL SPEND MORE ON SET UP THAN THE PRICE OF THE INSTRUMENT. There are more buzzes than a hive of bees. The tuners are junk and need to be replaced to make it playable as well as the bridge the bridge.

The inlay work is gorgeous but this isn???t an instrument that you can gig with, at least as shipped. I???ve been playing for 30 years and been repairing instruments for 25. These should be hung on a wall to look at ONLY. I left one out of the case over night and the wood cracked across the entire back outlining the inlay work. It appears that Tony uses very green wood and any temp or humidity changes will crack the mando (as he NOW says as a disclaimer on his eBay auctions). WARNING ??? I live in California and it still cracked.

Not really playable. They all have problems with tuning, frets and countless neck issues.

Support ??? They pass the buck for a while and then tell you to ship it back at your cost of $80-$100 and they will give you a refund and you are out $80-$100 in shipping cost each way.

Overall if you are looking for artwork these mandos may be OK. They look great from afar but the closer you look the worse they get. Then you play them and you realize that they look better than they play or sound. I???ve also purchased products from Antonio Tsai???s Taiwan eBay competitors, Sam???s Workshop and Bruceweiart. Same results. Warped and twisted necks, broken and non-functional hardware and event one bowed and not repairable strat neck. If you are looking got a instrument, pass on the Taiwan builders.

What you've read here is correct, unfortunately, in my experience. This is a classical which, according to Tsai, has a solid top and solid rosewood backs and sides. It's covered with inlay and is attractive to look at. Came with a mediocre hardshell case.

When it was playable, it was minimally okay for practice. Little projection, inferior bass response.

Had to file the fret ends to keep from cutting my fingers. Body, front and back, neck, and headstock are covered with nice inlay, which makes it attractive to idiots like myself who like shiny things. Action wasn't bad, but the guitar has developed eight fatal cracks in the back and two on the top. It's a little more than a year old. I've had to release the tension on the strings to keep it from exploding, or imploding, as the case may be. It is, in short, unplayable.

Huh? I'm not afraid it's going to fall apart. It IS falling apart.

The guy's in freakin' Taiwan, and it costs a fortune to ship it back and forth (which he won't cover), so it's just not worth it to me.

I'm the one who bought it, so I don't fault Tsai. And to be fair, it is the inlay work that his marketing on ebay emphasizes the most. It is nice to look at, and I suppose I'll take the strings off and mount it as a piece of wall art. It would have been much nicer, however, to show it off in a performance context, but there's no way this thing is a usable musical instrument.

WARNING! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON!

I ran across these items on eBay, was initially impressed with the inlay work, did some research, and discovered that there are many problems. Do a search on Antonio Tsai Guitar and you'll see what I mean. Folks have web pages devoted to publicizing the "workmanship." These disappointed customers deserve thanks and sympathy for sacrificing their dollars and effort. There's also a Harmony Central review page on the Ask.com search that I can't seem to get to normally through HC's website, so maybe this will help fill the gap.

This company has hundreds of items listed on eBay. Antonio Tsai is apparently an orchesta musician, luthier, "inlaid" artist, this, that, and the other thing. (He doesn't, however, necessarily do the work.) Just about every instrument listed has a "bright, sweet sound, with plenty of volume," is inlaid with thousands of pieces of abalone, and took 3 months to build. Uhfortunately, purchased cheaply but shipped at great expense from Taiwan and/or Vietnam, they all seem to start cracking and falling apart 2 months later here in the good ol' US of A.

Strangely, there are thousands of positive feedbacks on eBay for these products. However, many of these and many of the bids and purchases are by members with a "private" identity. Who are all THESE mysterious people--collectors "in the know" about some best-kept secret, or company employees? My money would be on the later. It wouldn't surprise me that, if a satisfactory bid price isn't achieved, the item is snapped up by a "private ID-er" and relisted at some later date.

While I don't have personal experience with these products, I have seen the pictures on the web sites. Even the AntonioTsai eBay listings show obviously misaligned necks, tailpieces, bridges, and book-matched tops. You just have to look past all the inlay. And, ironically, with all that detail work, people apparently still find major fret, nut, and intonation problems.

It's a shame things aren't what they intially seemed.