Questions for Yunzhi guitar players

[Broyale]

Beautiful.

[xuoham]

I've owned a couple of Yunzhi guitars, a few I bought online and one I special ordered. I would greatly suggest you do NOT order the guitar without hardware. I have a Yunzhi YZ23 (what it was called 2 years ago), essentially a Eastman John Pisano AR880 but with a floating pickup... Great guitar and value, ask for Ms. Lora... The tuners, bridge and tailpiece are the same Eastman uses and are just fine.

Imagine being a builder and tyring to setup a guitar BEFORE you ship it to the customer but they do not want tuners, bridge and tailpiece on it. Excuse me but how the F do you do a righteous setup ?? Pretty hard. Get the guitar with the parts installed, get everything. Play it and enjoy it. If you find fault with the tuners, bridge or tailpiece (I think you won't) then go hunting for parts over here... Easy as pie.

Now if you play her a while and realize the pickup, pots and wiring could use a little love then yeah sure get them replaced later, save some money buying Yunzhi and playing it as shipped for a while, then upgrade the pickup. I've had my YZ23 almost 2 years and still have not changed out the Wilkinson pickup, though I will...

Don't do anything too kookie to Yunzhi when ordering, it's tough enough for them to build your special guitar and doing all that translating from English to Chinese for the builders FOR YOUR BENEFIT is no easy job. And might I also suggest a natural finish. I haven't purchased any new archtops or semis from them lately but I was spec'ing out a fully hollow 335 style and Ms Lora came up with some really jaw dropping burled maple sheets (solid for a carved top and back) that I was gonna use. Money, as usual is a culprit delaying that guitar. But my point is why hide gorgeous wood behind a sunburst finish ?? They have some really fine wood. Ask specifically for the VERY BEST and for the most modest up charge (if any) you'll be very glad you did. When I had the John Pisano I would park it and the Yunzhi side by side (see my avatar) and look back and forth all over that guitar, Yunzhi had nailed EVERY detail down to the T with great skill.

You might see if Ms Lora has anything already built ready to go out the door also.
She's good people and Yunzhi is a great company. If you have a reliable tech in your area later you can modify your Yunzhi with some really good pickups/pots. Even Eastman sort of misses the target with fairly poor pickups (the exception being the John Pisano model).


Good Luck

Big Mike,

I have a few questions and i'm seriously considering ordering a guitar from Yunzhi, since i can't seem to find an archtop that has almost flat top like acoustic qualities (except an Eastman 804ce or 904ce, discontinued and hard to find used) how does the YZ23 sound acoustically ? Is it very nasal or has it some roundness in the bass, and sparkle in the highs ? What's the depth of the body ?

I am considering either a Pisano copy (nice sounding unplugged vid down the post), an Eastman 904ce copy, or maybe ...
(let's be bold) i should first ask if they can make a flat top / arched back guitar, with x bracing.

Also, almost all their guitars have a maple body, it seems like one of their strong points, but i was wondering how they do with rosewood, as this tonewood is in a few of their flat tops.
Yes, a rosewood archtop might seem funny, i don't know, i don't have enough knowledge but i like rosewood flat tops.

Any thoughts before i contact them ?

Thank you

[ooglybong]

...Also, almost all their guitars have a maple body, it seems like one of their strong points, but i was wondering how they do with rosewood, as this tonewood is in a few of their flat tops. Yes, a rosewood archtop might seem funny, i don't know, i don't have enough knowledge but i like rosewood flat tops....

This is a great question that (to the best of my knowledge) hasn't come up before...

[BigMikeinNJ]

I like the 810/910 style body for deep jazz tone.
i think the Pisano size body gives a slightly lighter acoustic tone, though if paired with say a SD Seth Lover it'll sound pretty sweet, not nasal

i believe their stock of rosewood for arch tops is very thin. I wanted a Phish style a few years ago, flame koa and rosewood body and ft heir rosewood stock is for flat tops, ie it's thinner wood.
if you want a darker wood search on eBay for Bastogne walnut, on dealer in California cawoodnut has what you'll want. He will preslice the book matched woods into tops/backs to save on shipping costs to China.
this won't be as cheap as a flamed maple guitar would. But you're getting more into a one off true custom guitar and those cost money.


but when you see some Bastogne walnut you'll like it
lol...

http://www.woodnut.com/products/product313.htm

[Spook410]

I did ask them awhile back about woods other than maple / chinese mahogany. They told me that was it for archtops. They do stock EIR for flat tops. It takes a pretty good slab of wood to make the back. Then you need matching sides. If you can get them to do the carving, the wood hard to find in the right size for an archtop and will be expensive.

If one of those walnut chunks would do the trick for an 18", I would go for that in a heartbeat.

[Spook410]

This is what happened on mine. I'm stuck with it and there has been no suggestion on course of action. It's a small picture of the fingerboard cracked clear through to the neck. Similar self destruction on 2 other frets, one on the first fret opening up to the nut. Their ebony shrank so drastically that the inlays stick up now like raised buttons on an electronic device. Jeeze.

Have some pictures we could see?

[BigMikeinNJ]

yes, I would like to see the pictures too. That's a shame that happened. Where do you live ???
many years ago I got an Alvarez Yairi CY140' a very well respected classical guitar, from a fella in Denver. It was from the early 80s and had sat in its case for more than a decade. It had a lot of issues mostly due to being stored in a too warm room that was very dry. Have you taken this guitar to your tech ??

[BigMikeinNJ]

Trivia Post It

i suggest you start your own separate thread and I'll email Ms Lora a link to it
get those photos posted. Then we can pick your brain on how long you've had it, ect.


Mike

[BigMikeinNJ]

as I asked, start your own thread, add the photos
ill contact Ms Lora
yours is the first I've seen with block inlays AND abalone trim on the fingerboard
so best case repair would likely be a full fingerboard replacement

Write Attn Ms Lora

[email protected]

include photos and full story of your transaction to her
i wonder if they subcontracted that fingerboard out

good luck

[trivial post-it]

Big Mike, I'm sorry to have caused any distress on your thread. I have removed my posts and hope your dealings are ideal, your Yunzhi workforce is intact and your guitars are truly befitting your greatest dreams.
It was what I'd always wanted.
And of course I've been in touch with Miss. Lora. Suffice it to say I have the greatest respect and appreciation for her. I've still got the guitar, there was no solution offered. But thank you Big Mike, you're right, she's been nothing but helpful. It's the work I had issue with. She didn't make the guitar.
To be honest, I don't come to the jazz guitar forum much these days anyway. I'm sorry I misread the tenor of this thread, I feel like I just crashed a party. The title brought up a few raw issues.
Again, I'm sorry.

[BigMikeinNJ]

no you're not crash my thread
i didn't start it.
but this happens in every forum I hang out at.
theres a term for it, thread jack.
your situation deserves attention and it's own thread, I'd tell someone complaining about how lousy The Jets are again this year to start their own thread too. Yeah.

i just spent an hour trouble shooting a buzz I started getting on my YZ23 when I dropped the action real low. By accident I found it, the pickup somehow started touching the top on the bass string side, a quick tightening of the screws
buzz gone.

start your own thread. Write Lora again, include a link to your thread so a Yunzhi sees it. Put a little pressure on them. You haven't had the guitar a year, how long ago did this cracking appear ??
put all that into your thread. Other guys will see that and think twice and hopefully Yunshi makes it right.


im a big fan of them, yes. I have no affiliation with them. I relate MY experiences with them honestly. I'm not some insider getting a piece for every guy that says BigMike sent me. Lol. I wish.
i know guys not crazy with the shade of burst they got, Lora worked with them.
i know guys that didn't like some aspect of their custom guitar before it got shipped. Again Ms Lora worked with them

yours is by far the worst issue I ever heard of. Period. I'd tell them you want to return it, have them replace the fingerboard, work with them. Pester them. Maybe you'd be better off without the abalone inlay. I have black inlays on my YZ23' I have no problems. Ship it back to them, have them repair it.

ok

now back to my sunny adternoon

start your own thread and pressure them to antie up
god luck. And don't be so thin skinned pm me any time
ok ??

mike

[Spook410]

Hey trivial.. no worries.. new thread.. this thread.. whatever works for you. A few of us, me included, may like what we've been getting from Yunzhi but I hope we're not fanboys. The goal is to report exactly what we see. That and maybe we can help you figure out what's up with your guitar.

I live in the desert and we see cracked fretboards here on occasion from a lack of humidity. First sign is you get the fret ends poking out pretty bad. Then you get gaps around any fretboard inlays and maybe the frets. Then come cracks or even lifting from the neck. It can happen faster than people expect. Thing is, it can fixed. You re-humidify the guitar, address the frets poking out if they still are, then you fill the cracks with a mixture of ebony dust and glue and sand it to match. That's when everything gets back in place after humidification. If it doesn't more sanding/filling is required.

Of course, this is what happens as a result of low humidity while other bad things happen elsewhere on the guitar. If Yunzhi used a chunk of ebony that wasn't properly cured in the first place, then I'm not sure what else you would see and how much of these sorts of fixes would apply since you can't just re-humidify.

Pictures would help if you could take some. It's possible the fretboard will have to be replaced which would suck. Also, like Mike, I would like to ask those at Yunzhi I do business with how this happened and how they plan to handle it.

[BigMikeinNJ]

all of what Spook said

ve had good luck with them
but I'm no fan boy and if their product is going way down in quality it should be openly posted about

truthHertz contacted me privately, he does repair work. Perhaps you two should talk
i truly wish you the best
pm me any time about anything

mike

[Rob MacKillop]

Dear Yunzhi players, some advice please. If I were to order a completely acoustic 17" archtop, what is the likely quality going to be - what should I expect? How might it compare to, say, the Loar LH700, or a more expensive Eastman?

[BigMikeinNJ]

I think if you order one of their generic models they make a lot of you will do well
i have no experience with the Loar models so can't compare.
Look at usedEastmanstooon eBay

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks. Zero results for usedEastmanstooon

[BigMikeinNJ]

I apologize my imac is down, needs repairs
so I am limping along on my iPad
I am legally blind from open field glaucoma, end stage. So typos get past me.
try
eastman guitar
in the search field on eBay

look on craigslist too
i got my Eastman a John Pisano for $1300.00

until I hear that Trivial Post-It gets so help from Yunzhi Inc on his problem I am not going to recommend using them.
separately I think that Ms Lora is really great to work with, that she really gives a damn and I think it's her caring that extra bit that got so many people great guitars they love.

i truly am glad to be part of this group and invite any of you to PM me any time on any subject, as long as you can read thru all my typos. Lol

mike

[Rob MacKillop]

Ok. Thanks. Good luck with your eyesight.

[Spook410]

For comparisons you might try asking 2born2bop. He has had several high end Eastmans, a recent Loar, and a recent Yunzhi.

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks. Will do.

[xuoham]

Thank you BigMike, all your posts are a great help for thinking over, valuable experience you are willing to share, great ! Good luck with your sight, sorry to read that.

Well, my first impulse was to try to get some kind of flat top / arch top hybrid because i really don't like the typical no-bass-no-sparkle "archtop" sound.
Just had a Loar LH-650 (with the fretboard almost chipped around some frets !) which i sent back because unless played with a pick the acoustic tone sounded like a toy to me. I thought archtops are not for me as an acoustic guitar.
But actually this Pisano in the video seems to have bass, and after checking more videos, especially Roger with the AR904ce, i am starting to realize that Eastman might be special (whereas Loar aims to be a vintage replica).

So,

I like the 810/910 style body for deep jazz tone.

really triggers something in my head. I was primarily thinking about a hard to find Eastman 804ce or 904ce but i might actually be very happy with a 610, 810 or other 3 1/8th deep body.

Could a 810/910 style be used for flat top like fingerstyle, irish music, etc... and not only jazz, THIS is the question for me, and it comes down to :

while still having those great archtop-like mids, more bass, more sparkle, and more sustain.

Still an archtop but more towards a flat top sound.

COULD ONE ASK FOR EXTRA DEPTH ?
Like the depth of a Jumbo ? This might be an archtop-heresy but i am wondering ... extra deep. I never play in big and loud places, feedback is not the #1 issue for me.

I don't have the dough for a Ribbecke Hafling or other high end archtop, i barely have the money for an Eastman, ...
hey! sure enough this now "Yunzhi Corner" becoming thread really gives me a solution to think over.

Long live this thread ! Thanks !

Ian, nice guitar ! How is the acoustic sound ? It looks like it would sound great !
Any unplugged soundclip to share ?

Thnx

[Spook410]

I ordered an 18", extra deep. I believe it's 3.5". Has a very full sound. Still different from a flat top and very much like an archtop, but plenty of everything. After the one they are about to ship, I think I'll order the same thing in mahogany. Wish I understood more about parallel / x bracing. They do offer parallel bracing.

[xuoham]

I ordered an 18", extra deep. I believe it's 3.5". Has a very full sound. Still different from a flat top and very much like an archtop, but plenty of everything. After the one they are about to ship, I think I'll order the same thing in mahogany. Wish I understood more about parallel / x bracing. They do offer parallel bracing.

Oh! 18'' ! I am reading those words like nectar ! This might be the way to go for me !

Does the 18'' guitar you ordered have a model number or is it absolutely custom ?

Any pics ? hehe :-)

Awesome ...

[Spook410]

It's a standard model ordered with an 18" bout and extra depth. Was not a special model for them. Pictures aren't very good I'm afraid. The guitar is more brown and not red. Also, the wood is a bit nicer than shows up in this picture. I'm actually enjoying the guitar quite a bit.

[xuoham]

Very Nice !

For some reason, sunburts always seem to loose their brownness with regular photos.

It does not look like the lower bout is almost 46 cm, which is huge actually !

I guess you have big arms !

But indeed, for 3.5" to look a bit thin on the picture, it takes such a width.

3.5" !!