Jay Turser Gold Top Les Paul Style

I don't know how old this is. I bought it used from a guy on Craigs List. He said he paid around 200 bucks in 2007. It came to me in mint condition. Top is tiny metal flake gold with a cream binding, cream pickup rings and pick guard. All the hardware is gold plated. Strangely the pickup selector has a black rubber knob. Shouldn't it be cream colored? Looks like a little assembly line humor in China ha ha ha..
Looking under the hood I found those 1/2 pint pots and semi-believable wiring ha ha ha. The pickups are hot with a 16K bridge and a 9.8K at the neck. Frets are decent and nicely dressed. There is some buzz at the 14th fret upward on the highe and b strings. A bridge adjustment fixed that. Neck is straight and thin tapered. Action is actually pretty good.

I have two Gibson Les Pauls that I picked up over the years. I'm a Les Paul guy. One is a Standard with ceramic pickups and the other is an Alpine Studio with Alnico 2 and 5 pickups. Both are really nice guitars. I have two older Epiphone Les Pauls too and a Harmony bolt on Les Paul that I gave to my son recently.
I bought the Turser as a chunk of wood to grab and go to jams. Boy am I surprised. It sounds pretty good actually. Good enough to use for gigs. The pickups sound more like ceramics but they are chimey too. The bridge is really hot for distortion and clear. The neck pickup is dull with distortion but sounds strat-ish when clean or with a little overdrive. So the stock pickups on this are decent enough and don't need to be changed in my opinion. They are quiet and not microphonic.

Not bad. I had to adjust everything to my liking but it was easy to do. I got it used so I don't know about factory settings. like I said its minty. Nice finish of metal flake-ish gold on a reddish mahoganyish body. Nice binding on body and neck. The inlays are plastic blocks and the nut is cheap plastic. The tuners work pretty well. Its easy to adjust everything. Pretty decent for a cheap guitar.

I would recommend it to anyone.

This is the newer JT 200 body-much lighter than my older Chalice Headstock Inlay Serpent, which is a decent LP copy. The newer models (like this one)with the Moon Headstock Inlay are lighter and come with inferior pickups. I bought a "second" from an eBay store and I got what I expected, which was a guitar that needed work. For my 125 bucks, I felt like i could take the chance on upgrading it myself.
The gold paint on the top is a very nice metal flake finish. Mine was a second, so there were some flaws but overall the top is gorgeous from 3 feet or more. The back and sides are a reddish mahogany-type wood, as is the neck. Hardware is black-pickguard, selector switch, knobs.)
Out of the box it had gooey filler residue arond the plastic (fake MOP) inlays. I stripped the stings and cleaned the neck several times until it was free of the goo. In some places the stain of the rosewood neck began to fade as a result of the goo cleaning, but not so you'd notice-luckily.
So...for a cheap price I got a poorly finished piece of wood that was otherwise ready for some serious upgrading. By the way, it came with a crappy set of volume / tone pots & knobs that are beyond the pale. They were cheap CHEAP linear type pots. Pathetic! Nut was poorly installed and the bridge / tailpiece / tuners are pure Jay Turser-not the best but serviceable. Overall a very mediocre guitar that looked great.

Sounded like a 125 dollar guitar. Maybe not that good. Factory fresh into a BC 60 Roland..it was nothing special. The pickups are very, VERY cheap humbuckers-totally vanilla and lifeless.
So here is where the story changes, as I replaced the following:

1. the pickups, with LACE Hemi-Humbuckers;
2. the volume pots, with 500K Alpha audio tapers (kept the linears in the tone positions. Linears are good for tone but NOT volume);
3. the caps, with .022 polys;
4. the nut, with a synthetic carbon fiber type.
Next I set the guitar up with truss rod tweak, intonation and action, and a set of GHS Boomers, 10s.
5. the cheap top hat knobs, with Gibson speed knobs

After all of this I have a very nice LP copy for under $300 bucks that I can gig with anywhere without fear of it getting dinged up a bit. The JT Goldtop looks killer, plays wonderfully (I have a nice Gibson LP to compare it to, by the way), and sounds heavenly with the new electronics upgrades. So...with the factory fresh components and setup I'd rate it as a 4 or 5-sounds like a 125 dollar, generic axe. With the modifications it's one of my favorite guitars. I like it at least as much as my Gibson LP. I'm rating it a 10, but only as modified.

Read the forgoing. In short...as a blem it lived up to my expectations. Blemmy as hell! As a platform for further tweaking and modifying it gets high marks from me. If you look at this a basically a piece of wood to work with, that has decent hardware (bridge, tailpiece and tuners)then you can make this into something respectable for cheap. Otherwise it is what it is-which is a cheap piece guitar, peiod. Okay for a beater...but that's about it. Bear in mind-mine is a second (blem.)

The bridge, tailpiece and tuners are okay from the factory. The "wood" is reasonably well put together-nothing special. Compared to my Gibson LP it is about 3 pounds lighter. This is because there is a lot of empty chamber surrounding the pickup cavities-even more than the Chalice Headstock JT 200 Serpent that I own. I think the finish on the neck, back and top will last okay. Turser uses a heavy clear coat over their finishes, which makes them shiny and durable-finish wise. I've had the guitar for about 8 months now and I have not had any neck problems. Frets were okay from the factory. Mine was a blem, so it's unfair to rate this thing, based on that fact.

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I'm a 30 year + player. I don't have a "need" for high end stuff anymore so I'm always looking for low cost alternatives to the good stuff that I can modify and use for gigging. This guitar was one such opportunity so I took a chance and I'm VERY satisfied with the results of my efforts here. I would rate this guitar's sound and versatility up there with the big boys, based on my experience with Gibsons, PRS products and Ibanez products. That's a rating for it AFTER the modifications and tweaks. I would do this same thing again and I feel it was a good gamble. I ALWAYS wanted a Gold Top and now I finally have one for a fraction of the cost of the "real deal" Gibson LP, but it sounds and looks just as nice! I'll give a rating of 9 in this category for the whole experience of buying, modifying and tweaking a JT 200 blem into a very nice guitar.

Purchased in '05. Same features as others, this one has gold back and sides and neck. Cream binding, dots on rosewood neck, gold hardware.

Effective tone and volume controls. Tried other gits, where tone and volume affect the other. Good separation and tone from pickups. Can go from clear background on the neck pickup to screamin with the rear.Haven't noticed any dead spots.

Had one small flaw in the finish on the side. Set up was good from the factory, fast action. All controls are smooth.

Not abused at all, so it should last a lifetime. Feel solid all way 'round.

Never had a reason.

Had a 15 yr layoff, before that, played for 17 yrs. Compared it to Epiphone, and imo by far superior, and better bang for the buck.

JAY TURDSER Cosmetically in appearance this is a nice goldtop but that is about the only positive thing l can say. This is a multi ply mahogany body, weight being mostly glue and paint.

Here is where this guitar came undone. l could coax a sweeter tone out of my cat by shoving my wifes broom up its ass. The clean is weak and the distortion is far too buzzy. l do alot of travelling and l dont want to chance taking my Strats on the road, well l guess you get what you pay for.

Again, this guitar looks good cosmetically. Remove the control cover on the back and admire the press board glued together!! Paint job is good though and only a few of the frets buzz while you play it.

l wouldnt smoke a cigarette while playing this incase it catches fire due to the high glue content. And to spare being laughed at while playing sets at the bar, l would probably not play this infront of other people due to its fart like tone.

Tried talking to a Jay turdser support rep to find out if the body was made up of old chess boards glued together but the person on the other end was beligerent and sounded drunk, l just hung up the phone. What more can l say.

l have been playing 17 years and 8 of that every other weekend at different events and venues, l own 2 Fender Strats and 1 Les Paul. remember people, you really do get what you pay for. Save up and buy right the first time. Anyone want to buy a Turdser goldtop???

hmmmmmm. just got this guitar 2003 model. this guitar is a weak attempt to copy the classic gibson goldtop.

Nothing spectacular about the humbuckers in this copy. Sustain? what sustain.

The action was less than desirable. fret buzz. fret wire was sharp and rough.

who can tell. I put this guitar back into the box it arived in and sent it back.

well, I have purchased many guitars in the thirty years I have been playing. I do own a gibson standard double cutaway goldtop. I also own a throwdown 250.00 abrams tele custom copy and it smokes. I wanted a "bring to practice guitar that could withstand sitting in a hot car all day". Well, I did read the other comparisons some have made that this could hold its own to an epiphone. hmmmmmm. I realize this is an opinion and mine is, save your cash and buy the epi or dillion. I have owned many guitars and have an affection for the low price genre. This is a entry level ax at best and is nowhere near the level of the epi or dillion.

If you don?t want to read all of this stuff, at least read what I have to say in the Overall Rating section.

This Jay Turser is the Les Paul Goldtop copy. It was made in China in 2002. The description is the same as the ones below.
The body is made from basswood blocks witch is why it?s so light. The problem here is that basswood is very soft. The top makes this guitar somewhat of a hollow body meaning that the top?s contour is a thin, about 3/16?, molded wood laminate that is separated from the solid body.

I?m not positive on just what the makeup of this neck is for it?s completely painted with the exception of the fretboard, which is rosewood I believe. This guitar is painted from end to end and all the way around in gold automotive looking paint. The neck has a very ?cheap? feel to it. The fretboard just seems to be un-inviting, as it?s kind of dull and dead. BUT, it does feel comfortable once you use it. The frets seem flat and low which makes this a fast action guitar.
There are two volume and two tone controls which are pretty much bottom of the line quality. Twin humbuckers make up the pickup arrangement with a three way switch controlling their output.

Sound is so so on this guitar. It?s nothing special, but I guess you can say that for under two hundred dollors (US) that it?s pretty good. There was quite a bit of ?humm? until I did some work which I will talk about below. Pretty good sound separation between the neck pickup and the bridge pickup.

This guitar came pretty well set up, but the way I am it doesn?t matter that much for I do readjust most everything to my comfort zone. Action was relatively low from the factory.
Pickup adjustment?.... Here lies one of problems. The bridge pickup was at a funny angle to its mount. After taking this apart I found that it had been set too far back in it?s cutout and was tight up against the body of the guitar. Pickups were set way to low.

As far as the finish and the quality of the guitar itself, it was very poor. Paint had been loaded on in spots that it started floating. A very messy and super poor quality job here. Body is bumpy were the contoured top is glued to the solid body. Very ugly!

I would say that this guitar will not be reliable or durable at all. I ask my son to handle it with care, for the basswood body can dent with the slightest tab. I am a high-end furniture builder, so I do know my woods and I can tell you that basswood can dent if you press your knuckle into it. The paint on this guitar is about the only protection that your going to get from dings galore! The hardware is all pretty much bottom of the line.

don't know Guitar is too inexpensive to worry about this.

Well, I don?t know who wrote the below reviews, but I have to say that I was very disappointed myself, though my son loves this guitar. I don?t like to put down products, but this Jay Turser is really bottom of the line, bordering on junk, though mind you, it?s junk that looks really great from a distance or in a picture.
We decided that we would dress this guitar up so it would look more Gibson like, so we proceeded to change the black pickgaurd, pickup mounts and switch indicator to white. We switched the black knobs to the Gibson bell style gold ones. While doing this, as I pulled the black knobs off, one of the volume pot knob shafts came out with the knob. Well that was a goner! That night I replaced that pot with an inexpensive one from my local guitar shop. Well this inexpensive pot was FAR superior to the garbage ones that his guitar comes with, and to boot, I don't think that he original pot was even wired correctly! While I fixed this, I also worked on the grounding and eventually got rid of the buzzzzz that his guitar came with.

My advice, DON?T BUY THIS GUITAR! Yes, it looks real nice in the photos, and maybe you might even find one in a guitar shop that does not have the finishing flaws that ours did, but the fact remains that in the category of ?under $200? guitars, this one still aint that good. I see that many of them are going for $225. I would never think of spending that on this thing. $150-$180...maybe.
COMPARASON. My son?s Epi. SG special is a much nicer guitar, even if it is plywood. The feel is far superior and so is the finish of the body, neck and hardware. The Epi Les Paul is certainly not as good looking as the JT, but I would certainly say that it is by far a much better guitar.

I will update this as time goes on

This is an update to my user review from six months ago...

As I said, I thought the tone with the stock pickups was fine, but that I would probably change pickups eventually,(as I do with just about all my guitars). Well, I just changed them and wow! What a difference. This guitar came alive.

I put a Bill Lawrence-designed Gibson Super Humbucker in the neck, and a DiMarzio PAF Classic humbucker in the bridge. I tend to use the neck pickup more and am really impressed with how lush and creamy the tone has become. And the bridge pickup totally screams when cranked through my Mesa Boogie pre-amp and Marshall combo's. I've definitely been playing it more than my Fenders lately. It's also gives the tone of my e-bow a whole new dimension.

I bought this axe just to cop a little Les Paul vibe for not much cash. I didn't have any expectations of how much of a great sounding or great playing guitar it could be, especially with some really good pick ups. Anyone considering this guitar, or some of the other Tursers, from what I've heard, would be well advised to seriously check them out. I never thought my Strat or '72 Telecaster would take a back seat to an inexpensive copy like this, but, especially for recording sessions, this guitar is the one I've been reaching for lately.

Jay Turser LP Gold Top copy. Three-way switch, tone & volume controls for each pickup, rosewood fretboard, medium-jumbo frets, padded gig bag...just your basic Les Paul copy at 1/10th (or less) of the Les Paul price. The guitar came with 11's, which are too thick for me (a set of D'Addario nickel 10's is on order). I paid $170 for this axe, which is brand-spankin' new. The kicker is that it came with a Seymour Duncan Distortion humbucker in the bridge, which really gives this baby some bite. Hell, the Duncan alone would run you $90!

I hack away at blues/rock in my spare time, and play on the weekends in a church band. I run my electrics through a Behringer V-AMP2 (when I need effects) to a Marshall 30-watt two-channel practice amp. The Turser has a sweet, mellow LP tone, which is exactly the reason I bought it. The Duncan pickup let's me blast away on the power chords, but the stock neck pickup isn't bad and provides a sweeter, more acoustic-sounding companion. I'm sure it could be improved upon, but it has a nice tone, so why bother? Overall, I couldn't be happier with the tone.

Set-up is great because I bought it from a guitar-playing friend who set it up for me: not too high, not too low. Given the price and origin of this guitar (I'm sure it was made in the Far East), I was expecting to be let down in the looks/quality department. Happy to report that I was dead wrong! This guitar looks fantastic and I'll be damned if I can't find a single finish flaw anywhere on this axe! I've tried Epi Les Pauls, but they were absolute junk compared to the Turser, at least in terms of look, feel and finish. I've got a Fender Strat and there isn't a major difference in the setup and feel between it and the Turser. This is a solid, tight instrument.

I've only had the Turser for a couple days, so I can't comment on the reliability. Hey, it's a cheap guitar; if it breaks down, you spend a few bucks to fix it or just get another one. Simple as that. Guitars are like any other durable good: if you take care of it, it will last a long time. If you abuse it, it will crap out on you, and it's nobody's fault but yours.

Again, I've only had the axe a couple days, but the guitar has a limited lifetime warranty. What more can you ask for?

I've been playing for a little while and own a 2002 Fender Strat and an Ibanez AFF20 acoustic/electric. Let me assure you I'm no shill for Jay Turser guitars. I briefly owned one of their Strat copies and can tell you straight up that it was a flaming sack of dog crap. However, I wanted a counterpoint sound to my Fender Strat and decided to give this Turser LP a try. I still can't believe I only had to pay $170 for this guitar, because it's a steal at twice the price. Sure, an honest-to-goodness Gibson Les Paul would be preferrable, but I have a cardinal rule on guitars: I don't pay more for a guitar than I did for my truck. Fact is, I'm not Jimmy Page so I truly don't need a Gibson. If you're like me and just enjoy noodling around with music, then why spend a freaking fortune on a guitar?

Features listed in other reviews... Although I've been a Fender Strat. player for about 30 years, I've always liked the look of a Les Paul, especially the gold top. However, I haven't wanted to shell out the big bucks these guitars go for. Also, I don't like the weight of a Les Paul, especially when playing it live for a whole night. When I saw this guitar in a local music store, it really caught my eye. I liked the subltle gold sparkle finish and the cream and black bindings, which many Les Paul models don't have. Upon playing it, I was amazed at how light weight it was. I was also impressed with how nice it was to play for such an inexpensive guitar. Before I bought it, I went to another music store and played a variety of Gibson Les Pauls just to compare the feel of them. Although it's not really fair to compare a $300 guitar with one that cost $2000 or more, I was still very impressed with the Turser after playing the Gibsons.

I was also impressed with the tone of this guitar, especially on the neck pick up. Although I will probably upgrade to better pick ups, the stock ones are not bad for a guitar in this price range. It's got a nice full rich jazzy tone that I can't get with my single coil strats. My playing styles cover a wide range, some of which are more suited to this guitar. On the one hand, I play a lot of ambient electronic music with my Roland GR-33 guitar synth. But I also play in a classic rock cover band doing stuff like Santana, Hendrix, etc. I definitely use it more for this kind of music, however, the humbuckers sound great with an E-bow for the ambient music also. In addition, its' nice and quiet for recording. I was surprized at how much this sounds like a real Les Paul (although I'm sure there are some hard core Gibson fans who would disagree). As I said, the neck pick up sounds great. I rarely use the bridge pick up- too bright- although the middle position is nice for a little more bite. For live playing I go through a DigiTech RP- 10 multi FX and a Lexicon Vortex into a 100 watt Marshall combo amp, although I am soon switching to two 50 watt Marshall combos to get stereo.

This is where I have to back off the praise and say that the guitar starts to show it's price range. The finish definitely has some flaws, but I didn't expect perfection at this price. As far as the action- I played a few of these models and the action from the factory was fair to poor. I had mine set up by an experienced tech and it plays fantastic. It came with 009's from the factory that felt too slinky on this guitar (although thats what I use on my Strat), so I changed to 010's and it feels better.

I've had the guitar for about 8 months and it's been very reliable so far. I've gigged with it and had no problems, but I always have a back up guitar with me. Although I tend to keep this more as my back up guitar, I have had gigs where I used this primarily.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I've been playing for over 30 years,covering a variety of styles. As I said, I mostly use Strats. My main guitar is a white Fender "Roland-ready" Stratocaster (w/built-in synth pick up), to which I've added Lace Sensor pick ups, locking tuners, and graphite bridge saddles. I also have a Fernandes Revolver Pro (Strat-style body) with the Sustainer system, a Seymour Duncan humbucker, and Floyd Rose trem.

I am very surprised at how much I like this guitar. Another reviewer hit the nail on the head when he said that you get a whole lot of Les Paul vibe for a fraction of the cost (not to mention a fraction of the weight). I would definitely buy it again. Unfortunately, after I bought it I found some on the internet for considerably less than what I paid. But at least I can feel good about having supported a local independent merchant, even if it cost a bit more.

Well thus a standard 2 humbucker Les Paul copy so you've got a stop tailpiece, tune-o-matic like bridge, 2 humbuckers, 1 3-way switch, 2 volume, 2 tone, etc. The guitar is VERY light compared to a real Paul (I have a '92 Les Paul Classic), and I wondered if mine had been hollowed out or something for a minute. It hasn't. I give it a 10 for features because it's a copy of something and has the same style features for at least 10x less than a real one. If you don't think Paul's have good features then you won't care. But if you like Pauls it's all there.

I play blues and rock mostly but delve into a little of all things. I've tried this out with my Fender Champ (early 60's tweed) and an epiphone solid state practice amp. The pickups are decent sounding PAF copies, but I think lack some of the complexity you get with more upscake pickups. The guitar has a nice acoustic tone though and is round and sweet. The neck pickup is suitable bass-y and the bridge pickup has a nice treble bite without being harsh. I rarely use effects and mostly go for amp overdrive and it sounds nice with that. The bridge pickup is a little weak sounding but I think that's a setup issue only (I haven't adjsted pickup height as I'm replacing the pickups anyway). The one thing that's a little odd is that in the middle position the volume is slightly lower than in either the bridge or the neck position. I expect that's just the switch though. Most cheap guitars cut corners on the wiring/electrical side of things. Personally I am going to change the guitar's electronics thoroughly so I'm more concerned currently with the acoustic tone of the guitar. For the money it does sound VERY good though

I don't want to comment too much on the finish as I got this guitar use and people can do a lot to mess up the finish of an axe. It's a pleasing gold flake although I think I see what looks like a weird flake-less line on the heel of the neck that would seem to be a factory flaw. But I won't definitively say that. Amazingly though this guitar came with REALLY rusty 10's, when I strung it with 11's the action was perfect. The neck seems straight still so I haven't had to try out the truss rod. As it's a tune-o-matic style bridge adjusting the intonation is pretty easy. The frets are a good height for me personally too. Not too big so as to make it harder to slide chords around, etc., but no small as to make bending hard. However I won't actually rate this category as I did not get it from the factory and cannot ascertain what is the company's fault.

I got the guitar today so I can't say from experience. Due to the lightness of the guitar and the number of dings it was either treated pretty badly or the wood is rather soft. Probably a combination. I am going to replace most parts which aren't the wood so I will be responsible for it's reliability and durability in the future. Take care of your guitars and they will take care of you!

Since I bought it used and kind of dinged up and am going to replace many parts I have no need to deal with the company.

I wasn't planning on getting this guitar but I saw it on ebay and went here to check out what people thought. I had one P-90 equipped guitar, but I'm a Les Paul type guy and I thought I'd rather have this and put some Harmonic Design Z-90's in it (humbucker size P-90 style pickups). Then for about $500 I'll have a goldtop type guitar with P-90's. I can't afford a historic version and I think the Epiphone one looks ugly. Anyway overall I am a BIG believer in getting nice cheap guitars whose value won't be hurt by customization. Until I have serious dough it's the only way to get the sounds of the guitars I love at a price I can afford. I've done this with an old MIJ strat and an Epi Dot Neck. So far I'm 2 for 2 in terms of getting GREAT guitars for under $1000. This one won't even be $600 if I do the work myself.

Anyway I give the guitar a 10 for 2 reasons. First at $225 this is a WHOLE lot of Les Paul vibe for 1/4 of what the cheapest real ones cost. The light body helps this puppy sing. The second reason I give this a 10 is that if you're looking to upgrade a guitar with some pickups and electronics you want to check out I think this is a great candidate. I think it's the superior reason to buy this guitar myself, but for someone starting out or on a tighter budget than me this is better, in my opinion, than the Epiphone copies which are twice what I got this for. It says VALUE, and that's what you get with a Turser Gold Top!