Jay Turser JT-200DLX Flamed Top

Les Paul Custom Clone bought on E-Bay 4-2007. Thin maple top on chambered mahogany body. Set maple neck with rosewood fret board with plastic block inlays starting at the first fret. Klusion type tuners-all gold hardware. Beautiful quilted red veneer finish. Supposedly the binding is actually painted on, but then again, not an issue. If anything this is more wood on the top-and bottom of the body. Don't think I have ever heard an argument that the plastic binding ever contributed anything to the sound of a guitar anyway, although I like the look no matter how it is added.
The pickups are Alnico 5's well balanced soundwise between the neck and bridge positions. Came out of the box with a low action-and as usually cheap ass strings. I added my heavier 11 gauge immediately. Guitar handles these heavier strings well. Frets are great on this and the intonation is close to, if not perfect. REALLY nice action -especially nice feel as you reach the higher frets. Gets a 5 in this catagory because it has the basic Les Paul features you would expect on a Custom. I DOES however miss an inlay (guess to save an extra few bucks (cents?) on the 19th fret. Also the inlays are supposed to be plastic rather than MOP (I really couldn't tell), but as with the binding, this cosmetic cut corner makes little difference to me. People talk about a cheap guitar not being built to last for years, however, it seems to me not having plastic binding that yellows and eventually cracks as well as MOP that has a tendency to crack as well, makes there point seem senseless. If anything, the cheap out features on this guitar could very well contribute to it's longevity.
One last thing. This baby is light-maybe 7 lbs -mainly due to the fact it is basically hollow. Not like a true hollowbdy mind you, but close. Appears this is done to save on wood cost perhaps. Maybe keep the shipping rates down. A combination of the two maybe. Seems to add to a nice sustain though. Not an issue other than the maple wood on the neck seems to lop towards the head due to the weight distribution imbalance. Not a big issue, but a slight annouance nonetheless.
Due to the manufactoring shortcuts, I have to give this a 5 rating.

Stock pickups were very bright, yet still sounded good. Just different from the sound you expect from a Gibson (type) guitar. Of course this is not a Gibson and this discrepency is simply a reminder of this fact. I replaced the bridge pu with a Diesel (also bought on E-Bay) passive EMG clone. FOr the neck I replaced the stock PU with a neck PU from a cheapie Epiphone Les Paul -btw "cheapie" and Epiphone Les Paul may seem like a redundancy-I hear the Elitist versions are actually very well respected guitars.
The Epiphne PU actually sounded much better in this guitar and seems to have more of a natural crunch. I took out a flathead screw driver and attempted for the first time to actually turn the pickup screws on this Epi humbucker and it seemed to give it some extra crunch.The Diesel was already naturally crunchy. Despite the cheap replacement pickups all I can say is this thing transoformed into a beast. Yeah, this cheap guitar SCREAMS!!!!! Cleans up pretty nice when I switch to clean settings on my amp, but I set this thing up for rock. Guitar seems to have been designed fot this. Go figure, after 40 some odd years of copying Les Pauls, the over sea manufactorers, seems to have this thing down to a science. I am sure computer technology as well as time tested knowledge has contributed to these amazing achievements. Every contour inside that hollowed out body I am sure plays a role in shaping this fantastic sound. Before I replaced the PU's I would have given it a 7 rating. With the PUs changed out, I give it s 9-ehich is a testiment to the body desing considering these are not the best PU's on the market.

I addressed much of this in the opening paragraph. I will say the guitar had some costemtic flaws- binding stripes where smeared on the head and towards the bottom of the guitar. There was also a paint smear on the back. All in all, not really back. Again, the veneer quilted finish is gorgeous. Really one of the most beautiful guitars I have ever seen for under $300 dollars. I paid $250 on an E-Bay auction.
Thing also stays in pretty damn good tune considering I use heavy strings as well as a heavy pick. Before I replaced the PU's I would have given it a 7 rating. With the PUs changed out, I give it s 9-ehich is a testiment to the body desing considering these are not the best PU's on the market.
Over all I give it an eight-which is the highest I would give for a veneer top. Something about the veneer gives off an heir of unforgivable cheapness/phoniness that I can't forgive. Although thats the price you pay for going cheap. It IS a beautiful finish nontheless.

I addressed this as well in the first paragraph. I believe this guitar will hold over time up given it doesn't get dropped. Of course, the dropping thing could damage any set neck guitar-especially a Gibson clone. Seems pretty weill made over all.

Never had to deal with them, howeever I have a feeling you would not be able to get into touch with a salesperson if you tried. Unless, of course you speak pretty good Chinese. Since this is all speculation, I will give the benefit of the doubt and give them a 5.

I have been playing over 30 years, own a collection of guitars that includes a 59-ES 355-not a reissue although the PU's were replaced in the early 70s for some strange reason to modern humbuckers. Although own a 40th anniversary aluminun Strat-great tone. I also have about 8 other ones that aren't as impressive quality wise, but I think you get the point, I know what a great guitar should sound like. This thing is a GEM-pure and simple.
Not sure if I would buy another one. I just need to save up and get a real Les Paul one day

Sorry guys...upon further inspection this guitar DOES have a veneer top. Contoured top is maple but Flamed part is veneer. Everything else I wrote in pre review still stands. Great guitar for the money!!!

I bought my JT 200 DLX flame top "Blue Burst" from musiclandcentral.Paid $321.00 to my door.
First the bad...2 of the tuners were bent! Still waiting for Dennis to send them to me, probably won't see them, So I put on a set of Grovers I had laying around. Plugged guitar in to discover toggle switch is inoperative! Shit...threw in a switch. Now I'm pissed and thinking of returning guitar...figured no..I'll see how it sounds first,more on that later. Made in china sticker on back of neck. Pulled out the pickups to see if guitar is as advertised? The guitar I recieved has a true flamed maple top,not veneer, also the rest of the body is, in fact, a solid piece of mahogany and all finish all the way around is awsome! Don't know if bindings are real or painted on, but they look real good.

For the price...I feel the sound is very good, could be even better with new pickups. Very Happy with sound quality!! Decent electronics.

My guitar was NOT setup by anyone...ever! That was quite apparent, so I set the neck relief at just over .010.at the 8th fret. The nut required a considerable amount of attention, but no biggie (I've done this before) and after final setup was done I play this guitar...with NO fret buzz, HONESTLY at 4/64ths on the first string last fret! Action is awsome all the way around. Flamed top is matched and looks outstanding!

This guitar seems very durable thus far. Only time will tell.

Crap....almost sent mine back on account of the tuners and the toggle, but decided that the customer service I had recieved was so bad that it would only get worse, so I decided to experiment with it a bit first untill I got good and pissed off about other "Issues" the guitar may have had. Advertised with a lifetime warranty, I sent in my warranty card.

I have played off and on my whole life,I'm 41. I do not play professionally, However,I do a lot of setup's for people. Once I got past the awful customer service I decided to keep this guitar for several reasons. Playability and action are second to none on this guitar I have, Look and finish were wonderful..except for the frigg'in tuners and toggle switch. Overall I would buy another if it were as high quality as the one I have. From some of the other reviews I have read, quality control may be an issue. This guitar was well worth the money I spent on it! It easily compares to a Gibson Les Paul standard in playability...maybe even better! I would have gave this guitar a perfect 10 for the money if the customer service had been there. Oh well...still a killer deal for the dough!

China, 2004
Flamed Maple Top, probably a maple veneer top.
2 Tone / 2 Volume, 3 way selector
H/H
Stock pups
Mahogany body, Set maple neck w/ rosewood finger board
Flamed top
Les Paul Single Cutaway

I have only had this thing a day but it has a great sound. I am comparing it to my only other guitar (Dearmond M-65) which is kind of like a Les Paul Speacial w/ a Bolt On neck. When I compared the 2 I found that the Dearmond is much brighter and trebely while the Turser is dirty and a little thicker. The turser seemed to sustain longer as well although it wasn't a huge difference.

I play blues and blues rock and am into ZZ Top, Albert King, Bluesbreakers etc. So far this guitar has been able to meet my needs. It has a dirty tone w/ fairly high mids which I love. I really like the variety of tone here. This Turser goes from down and dirty boogie blues to a nice jazzy sound and can get pretty bright as well. When compaered to my M-65 it is grittier and not as bright and with a lot more adjustibility and range. I really like how fat the bottom is and also the bright, but not "ice pick" bright it will go as well.

There may be a little bit of fret buzz but I think it is just a matter of breaking in new strings (DiMarzio's).

Factory set up is excellent. The guitar was in (and stayed in)tune when I opened it up. It was packaged neatly and protected w/ lots of bubble wrap and news papers. The action is very low and feels great. I already feel more comfortable playing this than the M-65. The bridge pick-up may be a little high - I can here a percussive thump during palm muting.

This guitar is absolutly beautiful. The finish is perfect and the gold hard ware looks great on it. I don't love the little designs on the block inlays but I don't mind it.

Seems solid so far.

Bought of e-bay from AWSales and they sent it right away. I have not had any interaction w/ JT.

I am crossing the threshold from beginner to intermediate and I think this guitar is great so far. I would buy it again because I think it is a real value that delivers Les Paul tones at one millionth of the price. I really like it a lot.