Vintage V6 Icon

Year:
2007

Where was is made?
Doesn't say but I'd guess it's Korean

How many frets:
22

Pickup configuration:
S/S/S

Make and model of pickups:
Wilkinson

Body and neck woods:
Eastern Poplar body, Maple neck

Finish:
"Blackie" Relic Finish

Body style:
Strat Copy

Bridge style: Wilkinson WVC

Tuners: Wilkinson

I'm a blues-rock player, and this fits my style very well. The thin, flat neck is great for small hands like mine. I use this with a Fender Blues Jr and a Line6 PODXTLive playing through a Carvin SX200.

I have to respectfully disagree with most of the reviews I've read here. Perhaps the newer model I received is a reworked version, but this V6 Icon is as quiet as any vintage style strat I've heard.

The sound is much brighter than my other strats. That's not a bad thing to me. I've got other guitars if I want a darker sound. I like the jangly surf-sounds that this guitar has that my other strats don't have.

The set-up was quite good in my opinion. Intonation was good and all I had to do out of the box was tune it. It's possible the shop where I bought it (Rick's Music on Ebay), may have set it up for me.

Now, the relic job isn't custom shop quality, but neither is the price. My biggest issue with the finish is that the body is relic'd but the pickguard is stark white. Even jsut using a light creme colored pickguard would have been better. But that's just cosmetics and who cares about that in the long run.

There are a couple frets that could use some smoothing out.

I love the feel of this guitar. It's light and fast and very fun to play. The hardware is very nice. I like Wilkinson gear. The tuners are a nice vintage style and the tuning stays solid even when you use the tremelo a lot.

I always have a few guitars at gigs (it's just fun to play'em all) so I always have a back-up but I have no doubt this guitar will stand up to gigging.

The guys at Rick's Music on Ebay were great. The builder/distributor is in England. I wrote to them to ask questiosn and they replied very quickly

I've been playing for about 30 years now. Frankly, I love inexpensive guitars. I got this one for less than $400 and it's a great guitar. Keep in mind that the relic finish looks best froma few feet away and isn't meant to "fool" anyone. Nobody's trying to pass this off as a REAL 50 year old guitar. If you're looking for a really fun knock-around guitar, this one doesn't disappoint.

Finish is aged by the manufacturer. Very bad work! Strat copy (should be) but sounds like a toy. Tuners are NOT stay in tune. Neck is thin. Think it's china made.

Sounds like a bukket of mud. Even with a JCM800 not good enough.
Single coils are very noisy (but that's quiet normal).
Thin sound - not very variable.

Factory set-up's too high for me so I try to make it better.
No chance - this thing buzzes all the time. Controllers are loose.

Don't know of it's withstands liveplaying 'cause I prefere other guitars on stage. Hardware seems to be cheap china metal.Never would use it without backupguitar.

I e-mailed them - no answer 'till this day!!!

Playin' for 27 years. I own a lot of guitars (most of them are Strat copys) but I haven't see (and hear)a thing like that. really poor.Evan other chinaStrats are better than this Vintageshit.
If it's stolen I would buy another old Aria or Arirang Strat-copy 'cause they're really good Strat-copys.

Guitar is clearly a strat copy - mine in destressed Woodstock White.
Closest copy of a strat for the budget (~180 GBP).

Standard strat setup. 3 single coils with standard wiring.

Pros
- solid hardware by Wilkinson.
- Steel bridge block with tension adjustable "pop in" arm - no stress on the block or tuning upsets from screwing in the arm.
- Bridge spacing 10.8mm which is slighty narrower than the vintage fender bridges (11.3mm) but this prevents top E sliding of the fretboard. However, I note that the screw holes appear to be Fender vintage spaced so such a bridge could be retrofitted.
- Other measurements (body width etc) seem to meet fender specs.
- Poplar body - which is similar to Alder in terms of tone.
- Neck radius is, I'm guessing, 10 to 12". Modern feel - vintage look.

Cons
- I assumed finish would be glossy but its matt (neck and body).
- Overall feels a little light IMHO but guitar magazine reviews (on www.jhs.co.uk) confirm is about right for a strat. I can only compared to my sambora strat which has a Floyd, which may explained the extra wieght.
- Cheap pots and "import" switch.
- Distressing looks a little fake.

Straight into my laney 50w tube combo, 3 Wilkinson Alnico vintage wind p'ups are fantastic for typical strat tones - surprising for the money. 100% better than the stock mex p'ups on my Sambora strat.

Clean they are sparkly and spanky - dirty they can get mushy but so do all strat p'ups - just back off the gain and up the master vol a notch. Neck is detailled with a slight mid-scoop. Middle is.. middly (I hate strat middle p'ups on their own). However this doesnt affect the in betweens which are dreamy. Bridge is bright.

Initially there was a balance problem between neck and mid but a quick adjustment to the hieght sorted this. Otherwise a good balance.

Overall whilst they are not THE BEST, these pickups come very very close - as good as GFS for example. Definately a "vintage" strat tone. I would have liked a tad hotter but this is not a fault - the instrument was designed to meet "vintage" specs.

For info - I've checked under the pickguard. The routing is for SSS only. If you plan to install a `bucker you'll have breakout your router, chisels or credit card (to pay someone to do it).

A note on electronics - pots are usable but a bit cheap. They are all linear so Vol knob feels more like a switch. Easily rectified but at your own expense.
5-way is a cheap import type - may last for years !! I always change these out to a CTS balde type just to be sure.

As I said above - finish is matt not gloss. Distressing looked good from a distance but looks a little fake on closer examination. Wear has been dupicated using some form of sander instead of carefully chipping away of the colour coat.

Mine came with a factory setup; didnt pay the store to set it up.
Truss rod was perfectly set - straight as an arrow with a hairs gap at 7/8th fret.
Frets are well seated. No high spots which meant I could lower the action (which was HIGH) to 1.5mm a side at 15 fret.
Nut was well seated but slots needed lower on E A and D. V comfy to play once this was done.
Intontation was way out but has now been set using Gtune software.
Overall I dont think vintage tried too hard to set this up, but every player is different and would need to do this anyway. I give it a 6.

Although this is a sub-200GBP guitar, once I set it up I was very pleased with the result. Smooth sounding, shimmering sound - it almost played itself!!
Havent gigged with it yet, but I am happy to - and without a backup!!!
Strat copies are usually nasty plywood things, but the V6 sticks out.I think this is down to the right choice of woods and solid Wilkinson hardware. Usuaing almost exactly the same measurements as Fender also makes it feel more familiar. I have those cheap copies where the body is wafer thin. The V6 is not like that.

Couldnt comment - no experience.

I mentioned several pros and a few cons for this guitar. What I will say it that the V6 is a workhorse guitar - not a showpiece. In this respect I am extemely pleased and would buy another if it were stolen/broken.

I will be modding my V6 but only to upgrade the electronics and to possibly fit a humbucker. Again, these are personal choices.

THe V6 is the finest strat copy I have seen for 200GBP - what other guitar could you buy with 200GBP that would give you vintage correct hardware and pickups and a body that acommodate fender parts??

Body: Eastern Poplar
Neck: Hard Maple ??? Bolt On
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Scale: 25.5"/648mm
Frets: 22
Neck Inlays: Pearloid Dot

Tuners: Wilkinson?? WJ55 E-Z-LOK???
Vibrato: Wilkinson?? WVC
Pickups: Wilkinson?? Single Coil x 3 (N)WVS (M)WVS (B)WVS
Hardware: Chrome
Controls: 1 x Volume/ 2 x Tone/ 5-Way Lever

Check out a video demo of this guitar at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=u79uY6C2oRc

Very versatile, powerful pickups so watch your gain settings..you don't have to max out the distortion.

Set up was superb out of the box

Great axe I have gigged this proffesionally and I would do so again!

The guys are lovely

It is Woodstock White Distressed finish. Note : This guitar is being manufactured by original reciepe from Leo Fender who gave it to Trevor Wilkinson years ago. Body is original Stratocaster type, eastern poplar. Bridge is Wilkinson string-through-body, with bended steel! nuts, tremolo arm is pop in (no wobbly tremolo problems), tuners are Wilkinson - quite solid, neck is bolt-on hard maple with rosewood fingerboard, frets are 22 and seem same thick as ones Squier uses for strats, included are keys for neck and nuts adjustment. There is 5-way selector switch and two tone pots, one for neck a and one for both middle and bridge pickups. Mentioning pickups, they are S-S-S Wilkinson and are quite strong for single coils. IMHO stronger than Tex-Mex fenders. They are also quite low on noise.

With guitar like this you can play almost any style. From jazz to blues to rock'n'roll, rock, hard rock, even some 80's metal, indie... you name it. I tried it in shop with IMG Stageline 100watt tube amp head and 4x12 Sheffield speakers. Just at break-up volume. The amp made its contribution but guitar was awesome. I knew I had to buy it (took me 2 weeks). Neck pickup is almost satin (or exactly satin with use of tone pot), bridge pickup is not thin-screaming, but full rich. In-betweens are awesome, just awesome. Sound is overall quite bright but still full and rich. If too bright you can adjust it with tone-pots, eq on amp, effect, whatever... I genarally like the sound. Some people like it better than Highway strats or other expensive guitars.

Action is quite well, I might try bringing it lower but it might start to buzz then. Pickups are good adjusted, bridge is set just right for the strat. Did the guitar contain any flaws? Well yes, many. If you don't know by now, Icon series are guitars that look beaten up, like 20-30 year old instrument. Finish torn to wood. That's all flaws this guitar has. I give it eight 'cause action is a bit high. But not worse than on squiers with equal price.

Hardware is Wilkinson but dunno if it is cheap or some better model. Might be cheap. I'll see if it lasts. But I don't expect anything worse than changing pots, switch and prolly tuners. Still great guitar for the price.

Never dealt with them. But they say if guitar goes bad by normal use (not abuse) they will change it for new one. That's good warranty.

Guitar is quite heavey. Neck is a bit thick but it might be because it is original strat specs neck. I played it only for 30 minutes and am quite used to it though. Guitar is great. I hope it will last. On cheaper garage-made tube amp and two alnico Webers, it still sounds sweet on break-up level. Much better than squier I have or any squier I played. Love it.

One thing:
guy in the shop (professional musician) said he had some guys who compared this Icon series guitars and normal V6's and they said that it is identical on label but not on sound. I belive him. for 166$ extra there must be something more than worn off finish. Try for yourself if you don't believe.