Vintage VSA575 ES175 Copy

Made in Korea. This is a cheapo 175 copy. In 2003 the re-issue's of 175's are #2000+. This guitar was cheap and looks good. It has a carved top, very good binding. Body is nice and deep and it gives a nice sonorous tone.

I bought it as a Jazz box and have not tried to do anything else with it. My normal amp is a Roland Cube 60 Reverb, which has a very good clean channel. I would suppose that, given the price, the pick-ups are not the best. I use them on a flat tone curve and so far no very bad complaints - I would have liked a larger range of tone, but this may be down to cheap pots rather than pick ups.

The action on the guitar is rather high, which I find challenging because I like to put a lot of physical effort into playing - otherwise I worry that my muscles are atrophying. The pickups - for the moment they're adequate. It may be that I've got something really marvellous, I wouldn't like to say. Bridge is rosewood with the 'badass' metal top. I wouldn't think this was one of the best on the market, in fact I wonder why they decided it needed the 'badass' metal bit, rather than a wooden top.
Metal work is gold plated. It's probably only a few microns thick and probably not resistant to sweat. Inside the sides, bottom and top are braces with wooden parts - (sorry, I can't remember the technical term for these wooden bits that seem to glue the sides to the top and bottom.) Tuners are reasonable at the moment - it's very new - how well they stand up to the tension and how resilient they are to wear is unknown.
Pick up selector noiseless. Controls. 2 Volume, 2 Tone. Volume seems to be O.K. Tone - rather limited, will probably be replaced.

Finish is excellent. The finish to the fingerboard is the best I've ever come across in any guitar. The wood is so close grained and smooth!!!!!

In addition it has abolone inlays in the fingerboard blocks to give a kind of immitation mother of pearl shimmer - if you think that kind of thing's important.

The guitar is a JHS product line. So far I've not discovered a serial number on the guitar, so I have difficulty in registering the guarantee! On the other hand, at least it does come with a 12 month guarantee. So far I thing it will stand up to live jazz gigs - we don't tend to Hendrix or Who things to guitars. Hardware is something else. I don't think that the gold finish will last, on the other hand the finish to wood seems to be quite deep. Strap buttons are solid, but then I don't stand up to play anyway. I would gig with this box without a back up, but then playing jazz is physically less demanding than playing rock or anything else.

I haven't dealt with them yet, but on the other hand the guarantee states that if you've got a problem and they can't fix it, you'll get a new guitar?????

I've been playing for 50 years. My other gear is a Hagstrom Paul (1972) and a Westone Thunder 1.

The guitar is a no nonsense jazz box, which needs a bit of investment, probable replacement pick ups, etc. This is a guitar that you will need to fight with - it's not an easy ride, but it is rewarding.