Vantage Les Paul Copy

It's a Les Paul copy.
Don't know when it was made(think early 80's),but i know that it from Japan.22 frets.
Solid-Top. 2 Volume and 2 Tone controls.H/H pickups.
Paid 250$.

Made in Japan
- early 80's, the end of the period of good cheap Jap guitar manufacture.
This Vantage Les Paul Copy is black in color with silver hardware and 2 white humbuckers, three way selector & phase switch, white scratchplate, rosewood? fretboard. Guitar is completely standard and in immaculate condition (unscratched). It even has the clear protective stickers over the backs of the machine heads that you peel off when you take it home. It must have been purchased and not used. Paid $270 Australian for it and it came with its original case(case was nothing special)

Great Les Paul sound(may even be superior). When I purchased it I was in a rush so couldn't play it long - basically plugged it in and tested it. I purchased it from a guitar shop and the assistant was pretty non plussed about it when I asked what he thought of it - I don't think he liked it much. It sounded OK in the amp it tested it with and looked great so I picked it up anyway. I plugged it into my G60XL Crate at home and was stoked by the sound - amazing - real thick and loud and a good variance between the rhythm & lead pickups. When played with distortion the rhythm pickup so super thick and heavy and the lead is just so dirty! It is a great hard rock giutar but also sounds great clean. The thing sounds much thicker than anything else thats been plugged into this amp, Gibbo's included. This axe rocks. Has heaps of sustain - shits on my Ibanez Blazer in the sustain stakes and the Ibanez is real good. When used with the phase switch gives it a thinner sound but it is still rich. Everything about the sound is ace! no shit - even if you don't like the axe because its a copy the sound is just so good.

The guitar was virtually unused when I bought it so everything works well - have never had any problems with it and the quality of the finish, hardware(chrome), plastics and electrics is A1. The action is great also. The neck is not as slick as the maple neck on my Blazer (which is unreal) but it is still good. The top is nicely arched and looks all the better for it.

This guitar is one of the heaviest Les Paul copies going round and I reckon it would be heavier than an original even though the body is about 1/2cm thinner and has a bolt in neck(oh well , there were always going to be some trade offs for the cost). It weighs a ton - heavier than my friends Gibson Marauder (another heavy axe). I reckon it would stand up to hard treatment well, nothing seems like it would break easily, however I have never gigged the axe so i'll subtract afew points

never had any dealings

Great solid axe, with an amazing thick sound. I've seen a couple of others for sale second hand at low pices(sub $200 Australian). They are a bargain if you are after a cheap guitar because there are no compromises apart from the label. I could have bought a Yamaha SG1500(slightly rougher but still real nice) at the same time for $190.00 Australian from a pawnbroker that truly has no idea, but took the Vantage cause of the condition - dickhead! if I had the chance again I would have bought both - The Yam is a classic and the Vantage has the sound that entitles it to be but definetly isn't.

Mine was made in the us and its got regular amounts of frets(24) its got a lamintated top. all tones are give. Everything works great on it and for any guitarist its a Great guitar to have. thanks bu bye.

It suits my music style very well, my amp i use alot of distortion to be like my faveorite band aerosmith. yeah i sounds really good. its loud but not annoying. the sound is extremely clear. its rich and full so to speak. there is alot of variety in the guitar sounds. I love the sound it sound almost identical to a gibson les paul.

The guitar itself was made very well, everthing on it has held up very well like the tones knobs and the volume controls have all held up very well. but where the amp cord goes into the guitar is a different storrie the screws need to be tightened every once in a while. the wood finish on the guitar looks fantastic.

This catagory the vantage les paul is outstanding in. it does withstand live playing cause ive done it before. its also lasted a long time and still looks new afer 2 years of non stop playing it. the finish is still great on it an seems like it will hold up. the strap buttons are still solid. i do depend on it and i play at gigs with out back up.

the vantage sellers were extremly nice and i was new to guitars 7 years ago when i bought my first one and that has held up very well, ive never had to get my guitar repaired. the warranty is a lifetime warranty.

this is my seventh year and i own a 4 foot amp, a fender sratacaster, and a gibson. i didnt need to ask anything because i new everything from the great dealers. i love everythng about the guitar and hate nothjing. my faveorite feature is the grear sound quality. i went in the store and could have gotten any guitar there but i tryed them all out and this one was the right buy. it has everything doesnt need anything more.

Early 1980s, brown wood pattern, made in Japan. 22 frets, solid body, 2 volume and 2 tone switches, 2 humbuckers (no name), no idea what wood its made of, bad finish, slippery.
As i said, and les paul copy, a bit smaller than a real one, non-locking tuners, thin neck, came with hard shell case.

Not good, low string to brigth and high string to low and buzzy. I use a Marlboro G20-R amp, old but reliable and good. It has a bad sustain and is not good sliding with either. Not much diffrense in sounds, just thin. I really dont like it. Not the worst guitar but dont suit my style, maybe good for blues but not hardrock

Not any big flaw, just, i dont like the guitar, pickups where decent, have in to get checked

I think its going to be sold soon, u cant depend on the straps buttons, woulnd use it without backup.

Doesnt have ONE!!!!

Been playing for about 6 months, but i know this is u get what u pay for, not much. I will most likely buy an Epiphone Les Paul or a Fender Strat. I didnt buy it, my dad did but I woulndt think the thougt today. I dont thinks its good, but there are worse guitar, i dont like the fact its hard to play and sound cheap, but its one of those first guitars u buy to see if u really wanna play, as such a guitar, its quite good. If it was stolen (cant image that!), i would buy something else. But if u want a guitar for $100-$150 its a good choice, but i say spend $600 and buy a Fender Strat or a Epiphone Les Paul.

Well, I don`t know what year this was made. The model number reads DL-405. It has a features of a Les Paul. The only diffrence is the cutaway which is a bit slanted. Cherry red, comes with gig bag. 22 frets and 2 HB`s.Made in Korea.

I put a Seymour Duncan`59 in the bridge position and it sounds great for playing classic rock tones eg LedZep.. I use a Trace Elliot Brat 15R amp. Switch to neck p.u., roll off the tone and you can easily get Clapton`s woman tone as heard on "Sunshine". It can also make clean tones for jazz as well..

I think it was well made by Samick. Action was okay. Everything was fine.

I never played live before and I think this is much lighter than a real LP.

If this was stolen, I`ll get another one. I sold off my Epi Dot 335 to get this and I`m delighted.

There's no model number or even serial number that I can find. There's just the "Vantage" scrolling on the headstock. This guitar is sort of a Les Paul copy. Instead of being curvy on the front and back, it's just two flat slabs of wood glued together. It has the single cutaway profile of a Les Paul but has rib cage and forearm indentations. I guess it's like a Les Paul Jr. but I don't believe the Jr. has the indentations, correct me if I'm wrong. Everything else is stolen, er, borrowed directly from the Les Paul: tune-o-matic bridge, two humbuckers, two volume dials, two tone dials, six strings.... Other than the body, the only other major differance is the location of the pickup selector switch. Instead of being up by the neck on top, it's down by the dials, like an SG. This guitar has no pickgaurd and I don't think it ever did. I have no idea what the woods are but they are probably whatever was popular in the Japan in the mid eighties. The fret board looks like rosewood. The finish is pretty ugly. Mine is kind of a dog poop brown stain. The finish on the neck and head stock is the same. The tuners are non-locking. I've never measured the scale and the frets are on the thin side and rather worn. I'm giving this category a rating of 5 because it's so frickin ugly.
Oh ya, one more feature. The neck is glued in and if you take the neck pickup out you can see one big old screw attaching it to the body.

This guitar sounds really bright and trebly when played clean. Add distortion and the bass kicks in and it sounds better. It seems the pickups were made to be played crunchy. I play primarily through a Crate G15XL using an Ibanez Tube Screamer. The bridge pickup only has about 2/3 the volume of the neck pickup so I usually compensate with the volume knobs. This guitar is very quiet. I've never had problems with humming, that's one of the things I like most about it. The sound is lacking in mid range but with distortion, it's great for pounding out bar chords and it has quite abit of treble for solos. The sustain is okay but I guess it's like most guitars, you have to know what it likes best. I can get a pretty good range of sounds from this guitar so I'm pretty happy with it. The rating is an 8 since it really doesn't sound top notch played clean. But, it does what it does very well. If you like AC/DC, old Rush, Ted Nugent, etc. this is what this guitar does best.

I think that this was a really well made guitar. If you look past the hideous choice of stain color, it has some quality to it. The neck is really well put together for a cheap mid-80s Japanese guitar. There are no high frets and I've got the action pretty low with no significant disadvantages. I've never noticed any major flaws in the construction. I'm giving it a 9 only because over time, it has managed to need to have it's tuners replaced to the point of having three different kinds on there right now.

This guitar would withstand live playing without problem. The hardware has lasted my abuse for ten years with only the tuners and jack showing any failures. The neck has stayed straight and not warped or bent. The frets have worn out alot but that's not unusual (is it?). My biggest worry about the durability is if the neck were ever snapped, would it be worth it to have a new one glued into such a cheap guitar. I've played this guitar without a backup and not worried about it. I read these reviews and am amazed at how many people drop their guitars. I've never dropped it but I'm sure it would deal with it. It's tumbled from leaning positions before with only cosmetic damage.

Um, Vantage? What the hell is that? No, I've never dealt with customer Support.

I've only seen one other of these guitars (I'm not trying to claim it rare or precious or anything) at Musician's Friend and it was for sale at $180. I payed $250 for mine in '90 so that seems about right. For that money, this is a great guitar for someone who plays with heavy distortion or wants to change the pickups to something more clean. I'll probably be changing my pickups soon since my tastes are leaning more towards blues than heavy rock these days. If it were lost or stolen I'd wonder who would steal such an ugly no name guitar while I went shopping for a Les Paul or an SG to replace it.
Long and short, everytime I go to shop for a replacement for this guitar, I end up saving my money since it plays just as well as big name expensive guitars.
If anyone knows more about this particular line of Vantage Guitars or knows exactly which Gibson it copies, I'd be interested to hear from you.