Vantage VS-650

This is a natural double-cut bolt-on electric, dated 1979. Maple three-piece neck, quite thin, rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays. Strat scale, which I don't usually like. The body is a three piece to look like a neck-through, with a maple center piece, two walnut or rosewood speeders, and alder or basswood wings, lightly figured on mine (the wood is too light, and the grain too visible, to be maple). 2 humbuckers, string-through body bridge, coil tap (for both PUs). Frets are medium size.

This is clearly the high scoring part. I mostly play blues-rock, and some 70s hard rock too (UFO, Thin Lizzy, etc), and this guitar really shines in thoses genres. Unplugged, the sound is resonant and bright, with sustain just average. The humbuckers are quite hot, although not in the EMG / Bill Lawrence steroid/clinical way, and deliver a great hard rock sound at full throttle : great match with my Marshall, more mid-highs than my Les Paul. Once split, the sound is really strat-like, with the usual jangle at the bridge and a particularly warm, responsive neck-pickup. On this setting, and in the kind of slow blues soloing with a crunch sound, where pick attack and/or your volume pot lead you between clean and distorted, it is the best guitar I have.

No idea how the set-up was, I bought it on Ebay 3 or 4 years ago. Excellent action, the neck is really a pleasure. Feather light, which is great, but of course this means it is neck-heavy when standing, which is very annoying. Dents everywhere on the body wings, through the clear finish. I personnaly prefer guitars that have lived a rough life, so they don't bother me at all. Nothing rusty or broken among the hardware, electronics are nois-free, frets are alright. The fit of the neck in the pocket is not tight at all (you can easily slide a card in it) but the neck goes quite deep in the body : maybe it explains the resonance.

I haven't played it live, but intend to do so soon, and I have absolutely no doubt it will withstand it... except for the dents that will certainly occur.

Never heard of them. Never had the need anyway.

I have been playing for ten years, the first two in a band and since then as a hobby. I have a few other electrics, mainly from the seventies, and I play them with a Marshall Valvestate and a Zoom amp modeler. I play a little bass too. For such a cheap guitar (I saw their 1979 price in an old guitar mag and they were dirt cheap) it's simple, versatile, really has a good feel, at least three good sounds, and sitting you can enjoy the light weight without suffering from the neck-heaviness. It won't knock you down with fancy woods or birds inlay, but for the price you can get them now, I think they deserve a 8 or 9. Still, if you're looking for pristine guitars, it's clearly not the way to go.

It has 22 frets on a rosewood finger board. The hard maple boddy is perfect for reconstruction. And also how the action is so low its plays awesome.

This guitar is better than my Ibanez or Fender. I use it with a Peavy 100 watt. The is no the slightest earshot of feedback and thats why i like it. It makes a sound that out takes any other guitar i own. It sounds amazing on my distortion, chorus, compressor and my wah pedal. I like how the toggle swiches are three way.

The action on this guitar is suprisingly low. When i first saw it i was amazed with its size and weight that it played so smoothly. The only flaw i found was that the toggle switch by the voulme knobs braoke really easily. I also think that the wood finish is classic and i like that. The two humbucketer pickups are my favorite. im not really a fan of single coil. that is another thing i like about it is that it plays better than my fender with the chorus.

This guitar is good enough for me and i recommend it to any guitar player. The toggle switch is my only problem but other than that the pickups are good and have a magnetic feild that blows my Ibanez out of this world.

I have never delt with the company.

I have benn playing for 6 years. i am currently 16 years old. i also own an ibanez GAX 70 and a fender standard strat. for amplification i own a gorilla 50 watt, a KMD 75 watt and a Peavy 150 watt. I own a danelectro compressor, distortion and chorus, and i own a dunlop wah pedal. i own a boss recording studio.

Early 80's Japanese (Matsumoku) Guitar. 22 frets on a bolt on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Solid wood body -- maple and walnut striped center and what appears to be maple wings. 2 humbuckers, fixed bridge, and string-through body. Two volume and two tone controls, coil tap switch, and a 3-way pickup selector switch. It's a great looking and comfortable guitar to play.

This is probably the best sounding guitar I own. In my opinion it sounds better than any Gibson or Fender. The frets are very smooth and the neck is very comfortable to hold. The action is extremely low and there is no buzzing whatsoever. The stock humbuckers produce a full, rich sound, and when they are coil-tapped they have a nice bright twang. They have surprisingly good output and are extremely well balanced for stock pickups. I definitely will not change them. I know some Vantage's have stock DiMarzio's in them, but I'm not sure if these are. Regardless, they sound great. I play it through a Peavey Butcher head and matching cabinet using only wah and overdrive pedals. This guitar will suit any type of music, but does especially well for rock, classic rock, alternative and metal.

I bought this guitar and it needed much TLC. I stripped down, re-stained and refinished the entire guitar, as it seemed neglected in its past life. There was no structural damage to the guitar. I installed a new bridge, new pots, a new coil tap switch and all new wiring. Everything else (including pickups, tuners, and frets) is original. NOW the guitar looks great -- especially with the different colored woods in the center. Its like brand new.

This guitar has been around for at least 20 years, and it seems ready for another 20 with no problem (with the work I did to it) -- (it was in playable condition when I got it -- it just wasn't very pretty). The frets seem brand new, and this guitar is built very solidly -- to last a long time. The quality of these Japanese guitars was thought to be better than the guitars the American factories were producing at the time. I have gigged with this guitar several times without a backup and have had no problems. This guitar serves to show that these can take a beating and still play very well.

I don't think this company exists anymore.

I have been playing guitar for about 13 years and have gotten my hands on numerous guitars. I currently own 6 guitars, and this one, by far, plays and sounds the best. I bought it as a project since it was cheap and I have heard good things about Japanese guitars. Now, it is my favorite to play (and I have much more expensive "brand name" guitars). If anything happened to it, I would try to get another one in a heartbeat. The only place I have seen these guitars for sale has been Ebay, but the VS-650 model does not show up on auction that often, and now Vantage guitars seem more expensive then when I bought mine. Still, they are a bargain. An overall exceptional guitar.

Has all the required things a good guitar should have including a coil tap switch to switch the hot humbuckers to single coil operation. Does this very well.

Everything is well proportioned and easy to access. Tunes well and stays in tune.

The sound is vintage and full. The vintage comes from the ALNICO humbuckers that seem to be wrapped slightly hotter than Gibsons humbuckers. The single coil operation is equally vintage.

I have a 65'Gibson SG w/maestro, 76' Gibson Firebird V, Guild Bluesbird and some others by which to compare this guitar with including some custom wound pickups.

This guitar has really good pickups. I had an old issue of Guitar Player magazine which recommended finding these guitars and robbing them of the coil tapped pickups for Gibsons back in the day when these types of pickups were somewhat rare.

I read somewhere that Dimarzio(little known company at the time) had made these pickups which they had to market outside the US just to make sales after being turned down by Gibson and others.

Most of these guitars were probably cannibalised for the pickups. Too bad cause these are good guitars in their own rite.

Everything is good on my guitar. Very comparable to Fenders and Gibsons of the day. Most people poo-pooed them because A)they didn't carry the name of Fender or Gibson, B) it had a bolt neck. I know I did! I remember the sales guy reminding me that even Fender Stratocasters had bolt on necks.

I did a fret leveling job to freshen them up after 30 years of playing and wow! Slick and low just like I like them. I also had a new bone-nut cut to accomodate the fret work and now it plays as good, or better, than my other guitars.

Has lasted for thirty plus years and still has it! Can't complain about that.

New Vantage stuff is built by Samick. Don't know about the quality of the newer stuff.

Found a good photo site for this series though:
http://www.therathole.org/guitars/models/vantage/vs/vs.html

Been playing a while on my trusty Gibsons. Got an American Deluxe Stratocaster a couple of years ago along with a Marshall Triple Super Lead and a Blue Voodoo6212. Play blues and blues/rock in the Billy Gibbons tradition. This guitar works well for that especially with a Fender Bassman 410.

Saw Keith Richards playing one of these on a televised concert playing "Midnight Rambler".

If I ran across another one of these guitars and it was in good condition, I would buy it without hesitation.