jwebb1970
New Member
The Korean-built FRT1000/2000s are built & use materials very similar to the German Schallers. Definitely better that the Chinese "Specials" or other knock offs. I would imagine it will work fine & take a good amount of abuse.
rmlevasseur said:
Of course there is - actually there are a few. And here I go off on a tangent...
Kramer - actually never made a true EVH sig model. EVH did endorse & use Kramers in the mid/late 80s, but an actual sig model was never produced. I recall a video on YouTube shot in the 80s of EVH & Kramer rep talking w/ press (NAMM show, maybe) about the VH/Kramer relationship. Ed was tanked & complained to the Kramer rep about the too-floaty Floyd on the off the rack Kramer he was holding @ the press thing.
Of course, you can today get a Gibson-distributed, Korean-built Kramer "1984" model.
Ernie Ball - obviously EBMM DID do a VH sig guitar. A damn fine one, too. ANd you can still get them today, albeit with the AXIS name on 'em.
Peavey - EVH had already built a relationship w/ Hartley Peavey & amp guru James Brown when the amp maker came up with the original 5150. Ed decided Peavey would be a better company to handle making his guitars as well - and be able to get them made @ various price points so that more players could get their mitts on 'em. Soon, though, Ed's erratic behavior during that time (Hagar breakup, aborted Roth reunion, Gary Cherrone debacle coupled with too much booze, various health issues & a failed marriage) would end his time as a Peavey artist. But this did not stop Peavey from continuing the 5150 line under the 6505 moniker.
Do not forget Charvel! It was been said that the release of the Charvel Art Series "hand striped by Ed himself" axes online & to some specialty dealers was the final straw that broke Hartley Peavey's back (Ed was still under endorsement contract w/ Peavey @ the time). Of course, this new relationship with Charvel (who had been taken under the wing of KMC - formerly Kaman Music before getting purchased by Fender) is how Ed's current relationship w/ the company Leo built came into being.
And now Ed has been in bed w/ Fender for a few years. The Wolfgang is arguably an improvement over the Peavey original. And in the case of Fender, they are one US guitar builder who has far more oversight over much of their non-US made products due to their ownership & operation of the Ensenada plant, as opposed to most manufacturers who farm out overseas production to independent contractors. While the MIM EVH stuff is not cheap, it is more affordable than if it were made in the US.
The Striped Series look great & are most likely of the same quality level of the current MIM Charvels, but one wonders if any Art Series owners are a bit ticked off these days seeing essentially the same axe now as a sub-$1000 production model. Fender's expansion/upgrade to the Ensenada plant in the mid-2000s was in part to accommodate expanded production being taken over from the Japanese builders who were either closing their factories or had simply become too expensive to justify their continued use.
The Wofgang Specials saw their production head to China - and the quality drop compared to their MIJ predecessors. Not sure if it has happened yet, but I had read that Fender plans to move the Wolfgang Special production to Mexico as well.
OK - tangent done. Continue discussion, folks!
