Vintage VR100CR Les Paul Junior DC Copy

I bought this guitar mail order, new, but incredibly cheaply in a January sale having read very good things about it and it's brother the limed mahogany "special" copy. It was purchased as a garage guitar until such times as I could sort out the study in our new home and unpack my Gibson version.
It's a basic as they come and I would have been bitterly disappointed had I had to pay anywhere near the usual going rate.

My expectations in this area were not high, but in fairness through my 30w Marshal it didn't sound at all bad.

This is where the whole thing failed miserably.
Clearly put together at 4.45 on a Friday afternoon with it's bridge sitting at maximum height, an action you could have limboed under, frets like a set of hillbillies teeth all different heights and razor sharp at the edges and the body having more knots in it that my childrens school shoe laces. I didn't dare lift the scratchplate and look at the neck joint. I'm pretty experienced at guitar set up, but I didn't take this on. Left it to my friend Cliff at Uni-=Sound, Bromley. I've always sung his praises now he can earn them!!!

This guitar has got to do the business for about 3 months in the garage whilst I set up my study. I have my doubts it's going to manage this let alone ever going on a live set

I really can't be bothered to take this up with the manufacturer. If this is how they let things leave their factory do you think they really give a stuff?

I have been playing for 30 odd years and gigging for the last 20. I have recorded with some fringe artists, made jingles for radio stations and taught and recommended equipment to starters of all ages.
My guitars are Fender and Gibson and my amps are Fender, Marshall and Peavey. I bought this guitar as an old beater and that is exactly what it is only it's brand new! I wouldn't recommend this to anyone and I wouldn't have bought it if an Epiphone Junior had still been available. You can't believe everything you read in Total Guitar!

This is an update of my earlier review - I promised to report back on this guitar once I had fitted a replacement Lindy Fralin P90. I fitted the standard Fralin dog ear p90 bridge pickup - under and overwound versions are available.

The upgrade in tone is nothing short of remarkable. The Fralin pickup has brought great clarity and poer to the tone. It's quite a bit brighter than the stock Vintage pickup (which wasn't at all bad). The Fralin makes the guitar sound like a Tele on steroids. I've been playing it through my Roland ST100 (a 100 watter made in Italy by Roland Europe) and it is stunning when played clean, and rocks out on the overdrive channels.

My admiration for this nice little guitar grows. I spent an extra #54 for the Fralin and I've got a superb little guitar. It's so light as well. Brilliant!

Still seems great to me.

See other review.

Double cut Les Paul junior in cherry finish. All mahogany body and neck with nice grain. Wraparound bridge, chrome tuning machines, black pickguard. Single dog-eared alnico P90. Tone and Volme control. What more do you need to make music.

I play a bit of jazz, a bit of melodic rock, a bit of classic rock riffery.

I've just played this little beauty through a Peavey Rage 15 so far, so my comments have to be taken in that context. I guess a little amp like that does give some impression of the power of the pickups, if nothing else.

The stock pickups have a sweet alnico tone (mine is the pre-Wilkinson model) and have a pretty decent tone. I also have a twin P90 Vintage VR100LM. The basic tone is the same, but the latter guitar is big and heavy and has more oomph than the lighter single pickup Junior model.

In short its okay, but some aftermarket pickups will be an investment.

This guitar is built superbly. Lovely lacquer. Tuners do the job okay. It's nice and light, too, and easy to play. For the price its hard to fault.

It's a well-made guitar, and should last well as long as it's cared for. With its set neck, it's not bomb-proof like a fender, but nor are Gibson Juniors and SGs. In a live situation there's not much that could go wrong with this guitar. Its simple controls don't leave a lot of scope for things going wrong. You can't even knock the pickup selector switch while wigging out - there isn't one.

Distributed by John Hornby Skewes here in Blighty. Would have come with a warranty card, basic user guide and list of UK guitar tutors. These geezers take customer service seriously ... Rating based on purchases of new Vintage guitars.

I've been a crap guitarist for thity years. This is one of a number of guitars I have ranging from USA tone candy down to this cheap little Vintage baby.

My first comment is that it isn't a good idea for anyone with a short attention span to buy this as a first guitar. A youngster would be wanting two or three pickups and instant tone changes at the flick of a switch. It takes time to learn that tonal variations can come from using the volume and tone controls and that you don't need Mr Horsepower with 8 or so humbuckers to get different tones.

This is a really great guitar for someone who has learned to play and appreciates the construction, lightness and P90 tone of this lovely instrument. It's okay with the stock pickup. I've ordered a Lindy Fralin replacement. I'll fit it when it arrives, then come back here with an update.

In short this guitar doesn't have many parts, but is greater than the sum of all of them. The experienced player won't be disappointed.

Update on the review below.

Remove your pickguard if you get a chance and see the bodge used to fit the set neck.


A few of us have these guitars and after removing the pickguard to see if it looked better, we all kinda screamed " Oh shite what a right bodge of a fitting " and sure enough it was the same on all the other Vintage DC Les Pauls.


Treat yourself to some real fun, play lets loose a small car down the poor fitting neck/body join !

There are two versions of this Guitar. The first is pre-Wilkinson which has a Single Alnico magnet single coil pickup ( Dogear fitting ) and the colour is in translucent red, and the latest one which has the Wilkinson Stacked Ceramic pickup with the Wilkinson logo stamped on it and comes more in natural brown Mahogany.

Both have 22 frets , rosewood board and a Tone / Volume control.

I would love to know the difference between the two sound wise ? ( I have the former one ).

Decent tuners and a nice one piece bridge/tailpiece.

Nice typical Gibson Melody Maker shaped neck, very comfy.

Perfect for general gig duties and a backup guitar, if you use a floor processor then any guitar can sound like any other guitar.

But in general and for the money, this guitar sounds very sweet.

The finish is very good for a guitar of this price, the action was set up and now plays like a dream.


For the real world shop price of around #140 ish, you would have to be very picky to find faults with the general finish and set up.

I use it and work it.

It holds up against any of my other guitars costing 10 times as much.

No contact needed yet

Only thing I question is when the importers got Wilkinson involved, did the pre-wilkinson guitars get sold off at a reduced price ?......I ask this because some dealers in the UK still have both types and are charging the same amount of money.

The pickups are very different and I should imagine the guitars will sound different.

Just a question to ask if you are going to buy one of these.

korean Les paul special dc copy, single P90, and yes it is a true P90, made by epiphone (don't know what the last reviewer was looking at), mahogany neck and body, compensated stop tail, cheap generic tuners, all in all not bad for the money.

once set up and with decent strings, pretty good, not much variation on the pots, may fit some new ones.
play mainly rock/blues and some punk stuff mainly clash, suits it just fine.

high action out of the box, frets not bad, covered in some black crap, just needed a bit of cleaning and adjustment.
plays like a dream once set up properly.

can't see why it shouldn't last for a very long time, evrything seems in order, good neck joint, only the hardware might suffer after a while.
only thing i don't like is the crap poly finish.

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good all round guitar, i never gig with out a back up as we play a wide variety of things so i need a couple of different guitars to get the sounds.
i've been playing 25 years, also have a gibson LPS DC and and old ibanez lawsuit copy (it's the best sounding and most playable), 72 reissue thinline tele, reissue jap tele custom, used to play thru fender valve amps but play thru a voxad120vt these days and i'd challenge anyone to tell the difference in sound.
apart from the poly finish i like it as well as the others, sounds and plays nice, would deff buy another (maybe put a bareknuckle BKP91 on it).
people ought to think about sound and playability rather than whos name is on the headstock.

As mentioned above, but I must correct the above reviewers about the p/up, its NOT a true single coil like "proper" P-90's, its a stacked item, hence hum cancelling ie; its Silent so I dunno where the apparent Hum or Noise is meant to come from as my particular guitar is silent as a mouse.
Just thought I'd clear that up.

Its ok, my genuine P-90 replacent P/up gave it the neccesary bollocks it lacked. Its ok now, just noisy, wouyld be nice to combine the silence of the original with this proper P-90

Gotta give my compliments on this to Vintage, very comfy to play, a bit generic as are most far eastern necks but a nice little guitar none the less.
Finish, I HATE PLASTIC!!! and thats exactly how it feels, will be stripping it off and refinishing it in decent paint and laquer.

Seems tough, especially with that nasty poly crap.

Why bother?! if it breaks they're ten to the penny.

Overall impression is good, pity about the name so you'll Never be taken seriously with it, even if you play like God himself, shame really as its not a bad guitar aside from the obvious shortcuts to make them cheaper, like the machine heads that suck(although the Gibson origianls suck even worse:o))
Great ifr recording and as a begginners rock axe.

New 22 Fret double cutaway Les Paul Junior style guitar. Single Alnico magnet single coil pickup, 1 vol, 1 tone, set neck, mahogany body and neck, rosewood fretboard, transparent red finish. Combination Bridge/tailpiece adjustable for height only. Great features even if it cost 2 or 3 times as much.

Amazingly good sound - dog ear P90 pickup with Alnico magnets at this price. Gets nice and nasty when cranked, warm and bright when clean. As with all single coils there is some hum.

The build and finish of this guitar are amazing, I've seen worse guitars costing 3 times as much. Action a little high on delivery but quickly adjusted for nice low action without problems. One tiny bubble in lacquer near strap button. Plays as well as Gibson "faded" double cutaway costing 5 times as much, which I wanted but could not afford - glad I didn't as this is a superb guitar. I have 79 Strat and Early Japanese Telecaster and this is up there with them.

Seems solid enough all round so I can see no reason why it should not be durable.

Via JHS - don't know what they are like - too soon to tell, but cannot see any reason to deal with them.

Playing 28 years,
79 Strat
69 style Strat
Japanese Tele
This guitar is a match for these and at this price it shames them. I really am amazed by this and I'm not being paid by the manufacturer/deale/wholesaler. Check them out for ourself.

I believe this was made in Korea...there are 22 frets on a rosewood fingerboard...set neck (not bolt-on) Grover style machine heads...mahogany body - translucent cherry red finish featuring a single dog-ear P90 type alnico pickup. All in one stop-bar/bridge assembly - hight adjustment only...Single volume and tone controls. Based on a mid-50's double-cutaway Gibson Les Paul Junior...its not an exact copy though its pretty close apart from the headstock which is a slightly different shape and the scratch plate which is more angular. The frets are quite chunky and not the thin vintage style as found on some Epiphones and Squiers

Its well suited to my style of rock/r'n'b...mainly rythm playing - I'm using it as a second guitar in a recording situation and I'd say it sounds pretty much as it should...surprisingly good for such a cheap guitar. It might be a bit noisy in a live situation...I'd probably consider re-wiring it and replacing the pick-up if I was gigging with it.

The set-up was a bit high though not enough to be a problem...the intonation surprisingly good considering the lack of adjustment facilities. There was a residue of what looked like graphite around the frets which was easily cleaned off...I was able to lower the action quite a bit without problems. The finish is not perfect - there are one or two minor marks and a slight blemmish at the bottom of the fretboard...and the scratch plate screws are fitted a bit skew-wiff..but given the price of the guitar I'm really not concerned by any of this. What impresses me is that the guitar is incredibly playable.

I can't think of any reason for faulting the guitar for reliablity or durability...it seems solid and well built...I'm not sure that I'd use it as my number one guitar in a live situation though I don't think it would be a real problem...as I've already said - I might consider a re-wire and replacement pick-up...much cheaper than buying a real Gibson!!!

To be honest, at this price, I wouldn't expect customer support unless it had been faulty when I bought it - which it wasn't.

My live gigs are as a bass player...my 6-string electrics are used for home-recording. I'm a middle-aged rock/r'n'b musician...semi-pro these days though I did play for a living for a number of years...I write songs for the fun of it and I use my PC and Cubase VST5 to record my material. I've always fancied owning a single pick-up Les Paul Junior DC...but funds are limited and so this fitted the bill perfectly. My main 6-string is an Epiphone Les Paul Standard with Semour Duncan pickups and up-graded electrics.