The $250 "China Girl" (Three year report)
In 2014, I was working on sweep/tap arpeggios that required a 24-fret guitar. I got one of these from MF for $250 with a coupon. Its a Dean branded Chinese import guitar, and it's one of the cheapest guitars you can buy. (They have since raised the base price to $349, so its probably $275-300 street.)
I've been a long-time Ibanez fan. I started playing in the late 80s, so I remember the value and innovation they brought in that era. You could get a new $600 RG with an Edge trem that stayed in tune with the best, and the RG shape and color options were innovative and eye catching.
A big fan of the Lo-Pro edge trems, I developed a disdain for the "lesser" Floyd Rose guitars. I bought and rehabbed alot of Fujigen Ibbys over the past 15 years and there was no reason to play anything else.
More recently, the calculus has changed. For one, most of the good used 80/90s guitars are buried in other people's collections. When they show up on the used market, they are not inexpensive and the affordable ones are bashed up or have other problems.
The other factor is that between 2000-2012(?) Ibanez discontinued the Edge and Lo-Pro edge from all but their signature artist guitars, ostensibly because of licensing issues. The majority of the line was replaced with Edge II, Edge III, and ZR trems. The ZR trems had nice features and tuning stability, but had poor tone with an embarrassingly small tone block. These are now the guitars filling up the used market and they have no value to me.
Decisions, Decisions...
My options at this point were:
1) Search for and rehab an old RG with Edge trem. (I've done that too many times with varying degrees of success.)
2) Buy a new Ibanez RG, with Lo-Pro trem for $1500+. Embark on a search for the perfect guitar that would likey become my new main.
3) Take a chance on an inexpensive Chinese guitar to meet the immediate need.
This guitar took a combination of setup, finishing, and fretwork to play at the level I am accustomed to.
Let's take a closer look at what you get for $250. ... Note: This is a "Dean" branded guitar, but this is probably representative of all Chinese import guitars from Jackson, Schecter, etc, and may be made in the same factory.
Body/Finish- This guitar has an inoffensive overall look. The flame maple veneer has a broader grain. The Basswood body has a mild contour. It has a poly finish, no finish flaws but the finish is fairly soft and picks up scratches. It looks good in direct light, but it's too dark imo, looks almost black under normal lighting. The clear finish (from the back) shows that it is made from two pieces of Basswood glued together. Work done: Polished buffed for extra shine.
Trem Cavity- Standard Floyd route. One of the screw heads was stripped (from factory or possibly a prior return), so I replaced them with brass screws. Work done: Replaced soft steel screws with brass. I also replaced the springs with high quality ones from my part box (idk if they needed to be replaced.)
Tone Block- This guitar comes with a Floyd Rose Special which has proven to be a capable trem. The plate is stamped steel like the OFR, the saddles are pot metal like an Ibanez edge, and the stock sustain block is lightweight. The Floyd Rose Special trem has a "tinny sound" with its factory block. Work Done: Replaced with OFR tone block.
Heel- This is pretty clever. Its not rounded as much as an Ibanez "all access" but it starts with a standard square block and takes the edge off. I'm sure this keeps costs down, and a square block is better if you need to shim the neck.
Floyd Rose Special- Very solid feel, stays in perfect tune once properly set up. The base plate is stamped steel just like an OFR. The dark metal finish started wearing off after about six months, although the finish underneath feels the same. I like the bar design with the adjustable collar much more than Ibanez edge push in design. Floyd parts are inexpensive and interchangeable. In order to perfectly match the fretboard contour (14-16" radius), I added saddle shims in a 2-1-0-0-1-2 configuration. A stock Floyd seems to be contoured for a 12" radius. Work Done: Action, shims, intonation, setup, replaced tone block.
Pickup Rings- The stock pickup rings were black plastic and replaced with metal rings that match the bridge and other hardware. Unfortunately, the replacement rings also started to corrode in exactly the same way as the bridge. Work done: New Pickup rings.
Pickups/Wiring/Sound- The stock pickups were *really good*. They sound like 59/JB clones, well potted, and are marked as "BHK". I have the bridge pickup installed in another mahogany guitar. The switch is a 3-way and the tone is push/pull for coil tap of both pickups, so there are six sounds. The basswood body, maple neck, and Floyd Rose sound just like any sub-$1500 shred guitar I've played. Work done: Replaced with Dimarzio PAF Pro and D-Sonic.
Volume/Tone Controls- Heavy, good quality.
Input Jack: Solid design, has not come loose. Very solid click.
Fretboard End- The end of the fretboard was not cut perfectly perpendicular. It looked wrong and the pickup ring was mounted based on the end of the board so it was crooked. Work Done: Filed the end of the board straight, filled and drilled new holes to remount neck pickup ring.
Truss Rod/ Neck Relief/Action- The truss rod is standard adjust-from-headstock, with a standard metric allen. You can see in the picture that it has a nice gradual relief for low action without buzzing. The truss rod has a firm but not sticky operation and can be adjusted under tension. The neck does not have any twist or dead spots. The action is 1.4mm at 12th fret low-E (two Fender medium picks), and 1.2mm at 12th fret high-E. Work done:setup.
Frets/Fretwork- The stock fretwork was ok. The frets are medium/jumbo and all the fret ends were smooth and competently done. The frets did require a mild crown/level, especially to the upper 15+ frets to get better tone and lower action up high. The fretwire seems fairly soft and wears fast, but this may be because they are medium/jumbos and have less "meat" than jumbos that I am used to. Work done: Mild level/crown. Note, they will need another crown/level soon.
Fretboard- It has a rosewood fretboard with a light complexion. The grain can be felt, but it does not have large pores. It has a smooth and fast feel and seems to be partially finished/sanded. The edges are slightly rounded and it feels good. Work done: None.
Neck Wood/Contour- The neck is two piece maple, with a somewhat unattractive grain. The neck has an enjoyable "C" contour with a thicker profile than Ibanez guitars. The neck did need to be sanded/polished to give it the super-fast satin feel. Work done: Sand/polish.
Neck Gap- There is a tiny gap between body and bass side of neck.
Headstock- Angled back. Matching flame maple with plastic binding and the "Dean" logo. It has a moderately attractive shape, and is at least an inch longer/larger than an Ibanez headstock. I like the headstock, but I had to slightly modify a case for the guitar to fit! Work done: Slight modification to old SKB case so this guitar would fit.
Tuning Pegs: They look good and have smooth action. Seem equivalent to Ibanez pegs although I can't vouch for their stability as they are behind a locking nut.
Inlays: There is an interesting (and not offensive) "V" shaped inlay at the 12th fret that is aligned with the strings. The dot markers are "perloid" and only one (the 17th fret) has a rough edge that was filled. The 24th fret side dots are misaligned slightly.
String Alignment- The strings are aligned well with a touch more treble side spacing. Work Done: I don't remember if I had to loosen the neck and align the strings to my preference.
Nut- This is a standard Floyd Rose nut. The nut action was high by my standards, so I had to remove the nut and file down the base. Later, when intonating the guitar, it never sounded quite right, and I found that I had to reposition the nut slightly closer to the bridge so that open strings were in perfect tune with the rest of the neck. Work done- Lowered and repositioned nut for perfect action and intonation. Filed end of fretboard to bring nut closer. Redrilled mounting holes and glued nut in place for best possible stability. This took a lot of work to get just right.
Summary- I've been playing this guitar more than some of my Fujigen Ibanez guitars over the past few years. I've learned that I much prefer the Floyd bar position to the Ibanez Lo-Pro Edge. It is much easier to grab, and the collar allows for tension adjustment. The lo-pro edge bar *action* is a little better for mild whammy action and can be "slacked" more than the Floyd. Both do full dives and pull ups equally well. While the Floyd doesn't have locking post inserts, the threading is much finer so its a non-issue. Getting used to the back of the bridge brushing the side of my picking hand was an adjustment.
I also found that I really like medium-jumbo frets and the thicker neck. This guitar is much better for chording than jumbo fret guitars I own, and it has a very precise feel with the strings as close to the fretboard as they are. It did take a little bit of work to get used to the shorter frets for bending and vibrato, but now I may actually prefer the medium-jumbos because the guitar overall has a "tight" feeling to it. I also learned that I prefer Basswood tone which I find to be balanced and good for lead work.
There were some things that absolutely needed to be done to the guitar. In my opinion, the Floyd Rose Special *needs* an OFR tone block. Also, the guitar *needed* to have the nut repositioned so the intonation and tuning was perfect. I'm not sure many people would notice this or care, but I sure did. (However, I'm an intonation freak.)
There were some things that greatly improved the playability of the guitar, first and foremost was sanding and polishing the neck! Sanding alone didn't do the trick, it needed some automotive polishing compound.
The stock electronics are great and absolutely did not need to be changed. I think they are 59/JB clones. The stock neck is more vintage sounding and not as good for leads, so I replaced with an old PAF Pro I had in my parts box. Because it was creme/black, I decided to try some other Dimarzios (in creme/black) and settled on a D-Sonic bridge for that modern lead tone.
The only things this guitar needs is a string tee; when locking the nut, there is more drift than I would prefer.
This guitar has really made me question what is a "high end" guitar and what is a "low end" guitar. On one hand, there is very little difference in the materials between this and most assembly line guitars < $1000. If you want an Original Floyd Rose, you are looking at 1K for a Korean guitar with poor resale, or 1.5K for a Korean Ibanez "prestige", also with poor resale.
OTH, there were some finishing, assembly, and setup shortcuts that needed to be addressed. A beginner probably wouldn't notice or care but an experienced player sure will. I learned that what differentiates a "low end" guitar from a "mid range" or even "high end assembly line" guitar is largely finishing and setup. Getting the action super low (1.4-1.2mm), sorting the fretwork, and polishing the neck made a huge impact on the feeling of the guitar.
I would never buy a new guitar in the 500-1,500 range these days unless I played it in person and it clearly had superior wood/tone. I'm not even sure that guitars in this price range are using superior wood, they just have nicer appearance and "high end" hardware. Likely you have to spend 2K+ to get something with superior wood, and the guitar would need to be carefully selected. Until you enter the "high end" of guitars, most of the extra money is just going into setup and finishing, and that's no guarantee it will sound or play better.
Overall I'm happy with this guitar.
Summary of Work Done
I've been a long-time Ibanez fan. I started playing in the late 80s, so I remember the value and innovation they brought in that era. You could get a new $600 RG with an Edge trem that stayed in tune with the best, and the RG shape and color options were innovative and eye catching.
A big fan of the Lo-Pro edge trems, I developed a disdain for the "lesser" Floyd Rose guitars. I bought and rehabbed alot of Fujigen Ibbys over the past 15 years and there was no reason to play anything else.
More recently, the calculus has changed. For one, most of the good used 80/90s guitars are buried in other people's collections. When they show up on the used market, they are not inexpensive and the affordable ones are bashed up or have other problems.
The other factor is that between 2000-2012(?) Ibanez discontinued the Edge and Lo-Pro edge from all but their signature artist guitars, ostensibly because of licensing issues. The majority of the line was replaced with Edge II, Edge III, and ZR trems. The ZR trems had nice features and tuning stability, but had poor tone with an embarrassingly small tone block. These are now the guitars filling up the used market and they have no value to me.
Decisions, Decisions...
My options at this point were:
1) Search for and rehab an old RG with Edge trem. (I've done that too many times with varying degrees of success.)
2) Buy a new Ibanez RG, with Lo-Pro trem for $1500+. Embark on a search for the perfect guitar that would likey become my new main.
3) Take a chance on an inexpensive Chinese guitar to meet the immediate need.
This guitar took a combination of setup, finishing, and fretwork to play at the level I am accustomed to.
Let's take a closer look at what you get for $250. ... Note: This is a "Dean" branded guitar, but this is probably representative of all Chinese import guitars from Jackson, Schecter, etc, and may be made in the same factory.
Body/Finish- This guitar has an inoffensive overall look. The flame maple veneer has a broader grain. The Basswood body has a mild contour. It has a poly finish, no finish flaws but the finish is fairly soft and picks up scratches. It looks good in direct light, but it's too dark imo, looks almost black under normal lighting. The clear finish (from the back) shows that it is made from two pieces of Basswood glued together. Work done: Polished buffed for extra shine.
Trem Cavity- Standard Floyd route. One of the screw heads was stripped (from factory or possibly a prior return), so I replaced them with brass screws. Work done: Replaced soft steel screws with brass. I also replaced the springs with high quality ones from my part box (idk if they needed to be replaced.)
Tone Block- This guitar comes with a Floyd Rose Special which has proven to be a capable trem. The plate is stamped steel like the OFR, the saddles are pot metal like an Ibanez edge, and the stock sustain block is lightweight. The Floyd Rose Special trem has a "tinny sound" with its factory block. Work Done: Replaced with OFR tone block.
Heel- This is pretty clever. Its not rounded as much as an Ibanez "all access" but it starts with a standard square block and takes the edge off. I'm sure this keeps costs down, and a square block is better if you need to shim the neck.
Floyd Rose Special- Very solid feel, stays in perfect tune once properly set up. The base plate is stamped steel just like an OFR. The dark metal finish started wearing off after about six months, although the finish underneath feels the same. I like the bar design with the adjustable collar much more than Ibanez edge push in design. Floyd parts are inexpensive and interchangeable. In order to perfectly match the fretboard contour (14-16" radius), I added saddle shims in a 2-1-0-0-1-2 configuration. A stock Floyd seems to be contoured for a 12" radius. Work Done: Action, shims, intonation, setup, replaced tone block.
Pickup Rings- The stock pickup rings were black plastic and replaced with metal rings that match the bridge and other hardware. Unfortunately, the replacement rings also started to corrode in exactly the same way as the bridge. Work done: New Pickup rings.
Pickups/Wiring/Sound- The stock pickups were *really good*. They sound like 59/JB clones, well potted, and are marked as "BHK". I have the bridge pickup installed in another mahogany guitar. The switch is a 3-way and the tone is push/pull for coil tap of both pickups, so there are six sounds. The basswood body, maple neck, and Floyd Rose sound just like any sub-$1500 shred guitar I've played. Work done: Replaced with Dimarzio PAF Pro and D-Sonic.
Volume/Tone Controls- Heavy, good quality.
Input Jack: Solid design, has not come loose. Very solid click.
Fretboard End- The end of the fretboard was not cut perfectly perpendicular. It looked wrong and the pickup ring was mounted based on the end of the board so it was crooked. Work Done: Filed the end of the board straight, filled and drilled new holes to remount neck pickup ring.
Truss Rod/ Neck Relief/Action- The truss rod is standard adjust-from-headstock, with a standard metric allen. You can see in the picture that it has a nice gradual relief for low action without buzzing. The truss rod has a firm but not sticky operation and can be adjusted under tension. The neck does not have any twist or dead spots. The action is 1.4mm at 12th fret low-E (two Fender medium picks), and 1.2mm at 12th fret high-E. Work done:setup.
Frets/Fretwork- The stock fretwork was ok. The frets are medium/jumbo and all the fret ends were smooth and competently done. The frets did require a mild crown/level, especially to the upper 15+ frets to get better tone and lower action up high. The fretwire seems fairly soft and wears fast, but this may be because they are medium/jumbos and have less "meat" than jumbos that I am used to. Work done: Mild level/crown. Note, they will need another crown/level soon.
Fretboard- It has a rosewood fretboard with a light complexion. The grain can be felt, but it does not have large pores. It has a smooth and fast feel and seems to be partially finished/sanded. The edges are slightly rounded and it feels good. Work done: None.
Neck Wood/Contour- The neck is two piece maple, with a somewhat unattractive grain. The neck has an enjoyable "C" contour with a thicker profile than Ibanez guitars. The neck did need to be sanded/polished to give it the super-fast satin feel. Work done: Sand/polish.
Neck Gap- There is a tiny gap between body and bass side of neck.
Headstock- Angled back. Matching flame maple with plastic binding and the "Dean" logo. It has a moderately attractive shape, and is at least an inch longer/larger than an Ibanez headstock. I like the headstock, but I had to slightly modify a case for the guitar to fit! Work done: Slight modification to old SKB case so this guitar would fit.
Tuning Pegs: They look good and have smooth action. Seem equivalent to Ibanez pegs although I can't vouch for their stability as they are behind a locking nut.
Inlays: There is an interesting (and not offensive) "V" shaped inlay at the 12th fret that is aligned with the strings. The dot markers are "perloid" and only one (the 17th fret) has a rough edge that was filled. The 24th fret side dots are misaligned slightly.
String Alignment- The strings are aligned well with a touch more treble side spacing. Work Done: I don't remember if I had to loosen the neck and align the strings to my preference.
Nut- This is a standard Floyd Rose nut. The nut action was high by my standards, so I had to remove the nut and file down the base. Later, when intonating the guitar, it never sounded quite right, and I found that I had to reposition the nut slightly closer to the bridge so that open strings were in perfect tune with the rest of the neck. Work done- Lowered and repositioned nut for perfect action and intonation. Filed end of fretboard to bring nut closer. Redrilled mounting holes and glued nut in place for best possible stability. This took a lot of work to get just right.
Summary- I've been playing this guitar more than some of my Fujigen Ibanez guitars over the past few years. I've learned that I much prefer the Floyd bar position to the Ibanez Lo-Pro Edge. It is much easier to grab, and the collar allows for tension adjustment. The lo-pro edge bar *action* is a little better for mild whammy action and can be "slacked" more than the Floyd. Both do full dives and pull ups equally well. While the Floyd doesn't have locking post inserts, the threading is much finer so its a non-issue. Getting used to the back of the bridge brushing the side of my picking hand was an adjustment.
I also found that I really like medium-jumbo frets and the thicker neck. This guitar is much better for chording than jumbo fret guitars I own, and it has a very precise feel with the strings as close to the fretboard as they are. It did take a little bit of work to get used to the shorter frets for bending and vibrato, but now I may actually prefer the medium-jumbos because the guitar overall has a "tight" feeling to it. I also learned that I prefer Basswood tone which I find to be balanced and good for lead work.
There were some things that absolutely needed to be done to the guitar. In my opinion, the Floyd Rose Special *needs* an OFR tone block. Also, the guitar *needed* to have the nut repositioned so the intonation and tuning was perfect. I'm not sure many people would notice this or care, but I sure did. (However, I'm an intonation freak.)
There were some things that greatly improved the playability of the guitar, first and foremost was sanding and polishing the neck! Sanding alone didn't do the trick, it needed some automotive polishing compound.
The stock electronics are great and absolutely did not need to be changed. I think they are 59/JB clones. The stock neck is more vintage sounding and not as good for leads, so I replaced with an old PAF Pro I had in my parts box. Because it was creme/black, I decided to try some other Dimarzios (in creme/black) and settled on a D-Sonic bridge for that modern lead tone.
The only things this guitar needs is a string tee; when locking the nut, there is more drift than I would prefer.
This guitar has really made me question what is a "high end" guitar and what is a "low end" guitar. On one hand, there is very little difference in the materials between this and most assembly line guitars < $1000. If you want an Original Floyd Rose, you are looking at 1K for a Korean guitar with poor resale, or 1.5K for a Korean Ibanez "prestige", also with poor resale.
OTH, there were some finishing, assembly, and setup shortcuts that needed to be addressed. A beginner probably wouldn't notice or care but an experienced player sure will. I learned that what differentiates a "low end" guitar from a "mid range" or even "high end assembly line" guitar is largely finishing and setup. Getting the action super low (1.4-1.2mm), sorting the fretwork, and polishing the neck made a huge impact on the feeling of the guitar.
I would never buy a new guitar in the 500-1,500 range these days unless I played it in person and it clearly had superior wood/tone. I'm not even sure that guitars in this price range are using superior wood, they just have nicer appearance and "high end" hardware. Likely you have to spend 2K+ to get something with superior wood, and the guitar would need to be carefully selected. Until you enter the "high end" of guitars, most of the extra money is just going into setup and finishing, and that's no guarantee it will sound or play better.
Overall I'm happy with this guitar.
Summary of Work Done
- OFR Tone Block
- Saddle shims to match the fretboard radius
- High quality trem springs
- Brass trem body screws
- Remounted nut for perfect action and intonation
- Polished and buffed body
- Sanded, polished, and buffed neck for the ultra-fast satin feel
- Squared fretboard end
- Remounted neck pickup ring
- Metal pickup rings
- Mild level and crown for very low action (1.4-1.2mm @ 12th)
- Full Setup (truss, action, intonation)
- Dimarzio Pickups
- Modify old case to fit the headstock.
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