Lotus L580 '52 Tele Copy

Made in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The body is a copy of a '52 Tele, but it has a Strat. neck, maple with maple fretboard. Unlike the bodies described in other reviews, mine is solid wood, not plywood. It has the old style Tele bridge, PUs and controls. It came with cheap looking tuners (which actually worked quite well and stayed in tune better than tuners I?ve had on some Gibsons) in any case I recently installed Fender locking tuners and these are an improvement.

The rating is since the modifications I have made. The two single coil PUs sound much more like a modern Tele than a ?52. If you need that real ?52 Tele sound, spend a lot more money; this will not do it. This guitar sounds a bit warmer than most Telecasters. The bridge PU is not as bright as I might sometimes want, but it can really cut through when needed and suits my needs for rock and blues 95% of the time. Both PUs are more versatile than the set on a real ?52 Tele (IMHO). ?Recently I set up the neck for heavier (12 ? 54) flat wound strings so it?s sounding even less like a ?52 Tele, but I?m getting some interesting sounds and now use this guitar for open tunings and slide.

The guitar came from the factory with some flaws. There was some fret buzz when I got the guitar and the ends of the frets were not well-finished. I had the frets dressed and it?s been fine since. The action was fine. Some of the wiring and electronics in the control cavity were not good. I have also replaced them with better quality parts. --This rating is as it was originaly; now it would be an 8.

The finish is fine and stands up to normal wear & tear better than many. I have had this for about eight years and aside from the things that were not good to start with I have had no problems. This guitar is very sturdy. I have gigged with it several times with no problems although I think I have caught people looking at the head stock and wondering what a Strat neck is doing on a Tele.

Never called the importer.

My wife bought me this in the early 1990s after a period where I had foolishly sold most of my guitars and equipment. Not counting the period I wasn't playing, I've been at this over 15 years and have had lots of different guitars, mostly Gibsons. At first I sort of distained the Lotus for being a copy, but with the modifications described above it has become one of my favorite guitars. This and my Les Paul cover most of the sonic landscape I want to explore. I gather that quality on Lotus varies and I have never tried another Lotus product, so the quality of this particular one may be a fluke. If it were stolen or lost I'd probably try to replace it.

Basic Tele features, two single coil pups, volume and tone knob, maple neck, I'm assuming a plywood body (it weighs a ton). all around it's a well biult piece of equipment.

This thing blew me away!! I had seen it in a pawn shop for over a year and always laughed at the fact that some poor shmuck would actually buy it. Then one day out of curiousity I tried it out. I first ran it through a fender roc pro combo with a little reverb. This thing nailed the Jeff Buckley sound that I was going for! It has a nice warm sound in mid position (which is where I usualy keep it set). After i bought it I took it home and ran it through my rig. Here's a run down of what I've got Digitech Whammy Wah-Boss SD 1-Big Muff-Dano Phaser-Digitech 2101 preamp/processor-Korg SDD 2000-Vox Pathfinder and a Westbury M 1000 (another pawn shop goldmine). I play mostly alternative rock sort of stuff (Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Smashing Pumpkins, etc) and this thing works great. It fills in the gaps that my Les Paul '56 Gold Top can't quite get. Great trebly sound. For $160 new you can't beat this thing!

The action is nice, not too high or too low. The finish will never be a problem. I swear they must have put on 100 coats!. There does seem to be some faint discoloration in the paint job (smudges and such) but that may just be from months of handling without proper cleaning.

This thing will outlive Cher.

No idea where these people are. I lmow it's an India based company but I haven't found any way to reach them.

I would definatley replace this thing if it was stolen...I'd probably cry for a while...eat some chocolate...call my friens and ask if they'd seen it hanging around our usual hang outs. but I would get over it eventually (*sigh). But that won't happen.

It's your standard Telecaster copy, though the neck is a bit more like a Strat--more rounded backside profile. Tranparent/yellowish finish, two single coils, neck and bridge, six individually adjustable bridgepieces (OK, not like a '52 tele), three-way selector, standard frets, maple fingerboard, volume and tone.

Used it with all kinds of amps, playing all kinds of music. The pickups are a little thin sounding, but could easily be replaced with better ones, as they are the same size as the Tele pickups.

It'll make a variety of sounds, but that's as much the amp as anything. I'd say you can get a nice round clean sound from the neck pickup, and a biting, trebly sound from the bridge pickup.

This thing was amazing. I won mine in a drawing, but it listed for $200 when I got it. The setup was perfect, and never needed changing (owned it for 6 years). A couple of the tuners had some slack in them, but it stayed in tune very well. The action was just fine--not ultra low, but not high either.

The only possible worry about durability on this one would be the tuners, which were pretty low quality. They work fine, but I don't know if I'd trust a gig to them.

I've been playing 20 years, and have owned a lot of guitars, ranging from cheap to around $1000. This guitar wasn't the best one I've owned, but it was really good, and you couldn't have asked for a better beginner-to-intermediate guitar. I liked it better than the real late 60s Tele I owned for a year or so.

To this day, I'm still amazed at how good this thing was. If I could buy it back today, I'd still pay $150 for it (assuming it was in the condition in which I sold it).

I don't know if this is the exact model, but I have a yellow lotus tele copy. It looks like a 52 Telecaster anyway. I felt the need
to write this review because this is the not only the best playing guitar I've ever owned but the cheapest as well. So as for features,
its standard telecaster: volume, tone, bridge and neck pickups,
fixed bridge with strings through the body. 3 ply pickguard.

I like jazz and blues and pop, sometimes country, whatever. This
guitar is versatile and in my opinion can play any style. Turning
down the volume or the treble gives a nice jazz tone. The bridge
pickup through distorion gives nice razor power chords. I don't
play much country type stuff, but this guitar is perfect for that
as well, it has a really bright punchy sound. but i don't use that.
I originally played this guitar through a cheap vox pathfinder and thought it sounded good, but eventually got a hold of my 10 watt
tube amp and now it sounds beautiful. The clean tones are really
nice. So no problems with the stock pickups. But i've never been
very critical or picky with pickups. I rate it an 8 because it
sounds really good but not super duper great.

I bought this from a pawn shop, so i don't know if it was setup somewhere else between me and the factory, but the setup was perfect.
That's why I bought it. It plays better than any guitar I've ever owned (i've had around 10 from $85-$500). Everything else on the
guitar is okay, but it just plays like a dream. The intonation is
perfect all the way up the neck, there is no buzz or fretting out
anywhere on the fretboard..etc. THe action is pretty low.
the output jack keeps coming unscrewed, but all guitars do that.
also, THIS GUITAR IS VERY HEAVY. on the neck are some little dimples
in the wood (on the fretboard). you can see them but they in no way affect the playability.

I bent the pickup selector switch somehow, but it bends right back. I don't know much about the durability of this guitar because I haven't dropped (that i can remember) or anything like that. It looks like it was built well. i kept it in a steaming hot room all summer and then stuck it in a locker in the school gym for two months, and when i got it out it was still in perfect tune and played as well as ever. seems reliable anyhow.

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I've been playing almost ten years, mostly $400-500 strats and
teles and other fender guitars. This is probably the best guitar i've owned (maybe not my favorite). It plays MUCH MUCH better than
$900 fenders i've played at the store (maybe they weren't set up
though). IT PLAYS GREAT and if you are picky about sound, changing
the pickups can make it sound great as well. The only problem i have with this guitar is that it might be too heavy to play standing up for a long time. it's the heaviest guitar i can ever remember playing. i usually play sitting down. if you get a chance, buy this guitar it's a lot of fun and the greatest value for the money of any product or anything ive ever seen.

Copy of a '52 Tele. See previous reviews for details. I got this guitar when I worked for Midco International, the music distributer. It had been returned because there was a slight buzz at the 14th fret, so it went into the "bone Yard" with other danaged/flawed items. Since it couldn't be sold again, I got it for next to nothing. A few minutes with some steel wool and it played perfectly.

It sounds like Telecaster. 'Nuff said.

There was a slight fret buzz when I got the guitar (see first paragraph). Otherwise quite good for a low end guitar.

I had this axe for about six years and it didn't fail me once.

N/A

Best 40 bucks I ever spent. I don't have the guitar anymore, but if I could find another one like it I'd buy it.

This is a 52 tele copy. It is a three piece body and I don't know what it is made out of. Probably ash or alder. It is from the late 80's early 90's. The neck is my favorite thing about this guitar. It is maple with a maple fretboard. I don't like number ratings but compared to any guitar in its category it will whoop ass. This guitar is definitely better than the fender or ibanez guitars in the $200-$300 dollar range.

All in all this guitar sounds good for what i paid for it. It is your basic beater guitar but I can get some good sounds out of it. To me the most important thing is comfort when I am playing. The pickups are kind of shitty but their good for punk or ska. If you want to be steve vai or whatever don't buy a lotus(duh) but if you want a comfortable decent sounding guitar for the money this is it. Personally I think guitarist who want to be Steve Vai are basically guitar playing robots. I would liken this guitar to an old hound dog
that roams around the neighborhood and gets along with just about every body. He's dirty, and not the greatest looking but he's loyal and comfortable.

I traded for the guitar used and it was set up already. Everything was fine.

Perfect for live applications where beer is involved, if you know what I mean. Besides I like to play punk, ska, reggae and the blues so I am happy.

Good guitar for money.