Product: Vantage VT 433 DLX
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
09/21/2000
at
04:03am
by
Phil Brigham
Email: Folly777<at>aol dot com
Features
:
7
If you've been reading "Guitar Player" magazine for a while, you may remember their 30th Anniversary giveaway in 1997...they were giving away 30 guitars in a drawing that ran 4 months, as opposed to one guitar per month. And you could enter as many times as you wished.So I was pretty psyched to get a letter saying I had won one, and to call such and such a number, etc. Out of the 30 possibilities, there were only 3 that weren't that desireable.And wouldn't you know it, I win a Vantage, one of those three. However , the guitar turned out to be kinda cool. It's obviously made by Samick (they have an almost identical model), and has 3 "lipstick-tube" pickups, the middle pu is reverse wound so positions 2 and 4 are quiet like the newer Strats. It came with a very nice case. Bridge is a Wilkinson whammy, tuners are decent, neck feels pretty good.
Sound
:
6
The lipstick-tube pickups (made famous on Danelectos) are not high output, but sound pretty good. The guitar is better suited to roots rock, rockabilly, country, than hard rock or metal. I had the guitar converted into a "Baritone", tuned B-E-A-D-F#-B, with a .60 for string 6. I have other guitars, and didn't need another 3 pickup, whammy guitar.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
Guitar looks distictive, with a orange to brown sunburst, and a white mother of toilet seat pickguard. Finish looks nice. The guitar was set up ok, but it's since been changed to a baritone (see previous category above)
Reliability/Durability
:
8
I don't play the guitar much live, as I usually play in a trio, and a regular tuned gtr. is more versatile. It seems like it will hold up. I've recorded with it (the baritone tuning is cool for extra rhythm gtr. parts)
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with Vantage.
Overall Rating
:
7
For a free (unless you count the $40 or so I spent on postage) guitar, that I could convert into something else without giving up a better gtr. for that purpose, I'm happy. Who knows, I may have it converted back to regular tuning someday. I'm not sure what the guitar would sell for in a store, but now that Danelectro is back on the scene with inexpensive gtrs., this might not be as desireable.
