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Hi all ..thanks to all of your posts and information, I decided to put in an order for a hollow body with Yolandateam "Hotman" guitar. At first I was reluctant because of all the nay sayers but what helped was the comfort level of the person I was dealing with at Yolandateam. I wont get into the social argument about buying overseas because we as Americans do it every single day when we go to the stores. I try to buy American when I can but I cannot afford a 4k instrument at this phase of my life.
The guitar I ordered is a arch-J-850H listed on the Yolandateam website under Hotman Guitar. With few changes I elected to go with Honey colored, 16", 43mm nut, personal logo in abalone, crown type fretboard abalone inlay, and a 5mm increase in debth. As suggested on this forum I kept the changes to a minimum and was assured by my salesperson that these changes would be ok with the Luthier. I also asked for a second pickguard. This guitar comes with a case, and I got a total price delivered of $1130.00.
I have been in touch with Lora Lu at [email protected] for about a year now before I made the plunge. She has been nothing but professional and all the good things I hear about her on this forum are true.
The process was a lot easier than I thought and I will let you all know the results as this process enfolds. I hope this comes to satisfactory end but either way you will have an honest result of its conclusion.
Thanks again for all the input on this forum helping me make my decision.
GeorgeLast edited by Gejodi; 05-13-2014 at 08:14 AM.
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03-26-2014 09:43 AM
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Great !! Can you post a photo or share the link to the item you ordered so we all know what you asked for ?>
Mike
I think I found the right one,
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 03-26-2014 at 10:08 AM.
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Hey Mike:
Yes that's the one...and thanks for your help and input. I kept it simple with the changes hoping for no confusion. I was surprised that Lora threw in a second pickguard, shipping, case and upgraded wood, which Im not sure what that would mean, all for the same price...nice deal I think.
George
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Looks very good indeed ! This Honey color is really beautiful, wow ...
And the more i get to discover new models, the more i like simplicity and classicism.
F holes, ... what a nice shape.
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Xuoham
I agree with simplicity and if the quality is what I think it will be it should sound and play amazingly. The only bling I put on is a semi-crown inlay made of abalone. I am expecting to get a setup but that may be true for most guitars you purchase depending on your style of play. Probably go with a bennedetto floating pick-up as well any suggestions ...Mike??
George
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I've been following these threads for a long time now and you've finally piqued my interest enough to actually send an e-mail. I just hit the send button on the following. I'll be intrigued to see the response.
I’ve been following the reports on the Yunzhi custom builds at the jazz guitar forum for a while now and I was hoping you could take a look at my specs and answer a few questions for me.
Can you build a guitar with a 25.5” scale length (647.7 mm)?
Is it possible to send you a pickup, tuners, electronic components, strings and knobs?
Ideally I would like a 16” body (406.4mm) with either a 2 1/4 or 2 3/4 thickness at the edge (57.15 or 69.85 ) with X bracing, solid maple back and sides and a solid spruce top.
The pickup and controls would have to be top mounted with no pick guard.
I would like a rosewood fingerboard with no markers on the fingerboard but the most visible markers possible along the side including a marker at the 19th fret.
I’d like to keep the binding to an absolute minimum: no binding on the neck, peg head or f-holes and I’d be curious if the body could also be done with no binding. Is that possible? If not, I’d prefer the simplest binding possible on the body.
I’d like a one piece mahogany neck with 1 3/4 width at the nut, a 12” radius, jumbo frets and a fairly large round C shaped profile (0.860” at the first fret and 0.960” at the 12th fret).
Can you do a smaller peg head? Something close to the peg head on the Peerless 16” body/25.5” scale length guitars would be ideal. here are links to photos of their peg head and the full guitar to put it in perspective. The important part is not the shape at the top but rather the size to keep the weight down to balance with the smaller body and longer scale length.
I’m sure I’ll think of some other things later but I'd be very interested in your comments on what I've written so far along with an approximate price including delivery to Vancouver Canada.
Thanks for your help
Jim Soloway
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Jim,
It seems to me that one big plus when dealing with Yunzhi is to be able to use photoshop or any other picture editor.
A drawing is worth a thousand words in this case, for sure.
At the risk of being a bit heavy, it's nice to over-stress the important details.
I have the feeling that the folks there at Yunzhi are somehow overwhelmed with work and misunderstandings are probably likely to happen.
For example, i had stated in my document that the dot markers be 3mm in diameter, and i discovered at the last moment that they put big dots instead ! And since the person you're dealing with, say Ms Lora, has apparently no time to confirm with the buyer and the workers at each stage, it's better to anticipate what's next and re assess the specs.
I'm sure it's difficult to be the interface between the workers and the buyers...
You have really peculiar specs in mind so it's a bit more risky but i think it's really worth the gamble.
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Jim:
I have had some conversation with Lora about customization and she told me that they can customize as long as details are exact....however...not from my experience but others on this site, the closer you are to the standard model the less room for mistakes. Because things can be lost in the translation especially across languages, I would think that if you go with the changes you state make sure you are precise with not only measurements but with photos on every detail. And only when Lora and you are comfortably with the order ...then place it.
I kept it simple. I did get x bracing with a 5mm increase in debth and a nut width of 43 mm. I have yet to receive the guitar so I will let everyone know how it turned out but perhaps others would comment on their spec changes, if any and how well the factory has done.
I am curious about your inquiry so let us know.
George
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Originally Posted by Gejodi
Jim you;'re a solid body guy pretty much ??
I echo again Gejodi's statements, try to keep it as close to one of their base models as possible. Try as Ms. Lora does, making trips back and forth (2 hours each way) to where the artisans work, it's easy for some detail got get misinterpreted in translation. You're asking for a lot outside of what they normally do, maybe asking for trouble and disappointment in the process.
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I've actually been playing mostly archtops for the last several months and i just got a custom guitar from Heritage. And it turns out some of it is not so outside the norm for them. They're advertising a 25.5" scale length on eBay right now and they already have a small peg head that they use on their gypsy guitar. So maybe it's not such a stretch (or maybe I should just get Heritage to build me a second guitar Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
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Jim, I read your letter to Lora. At times she may appear to speak very decent English. But in my many detailed correspondence with her I'd recommend keeping your correspondence very specific, breaking it down to specs...or photos...not words. She doesn't speak conversational English..Which is fine, for my Chinese is non existent. In other words, the least for her to have to attempt to translate, the better. Good luck! Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
I've actually been playing mostly archtops for the last several months and i just got a custom guitar from Heritage. And it turns out some of it is not so outside the norm for them. They're advertising a 25.5" scale length on eBay right now and they already have a small peg head that they use on their gypsy guitar. So maybe it's not such a stretch (or maybe I should just get Heritage to build me a second guitar)
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@ Gejodi
Is this the same George to whom I sent a massive PM to on the Ibanez Collectors board about Yunzhi Sept. 2013? I never received a reply from you.
@ Jim
2b is correct: way too much exposition. It will confuse them. More than 3 sentences will just get ignored. Just copy the specs they list on their sale pages and fill it out, spec things into metric and imperial, and ask short, pointed questions, like "Can you do 25.5" scale?" Some of your questions I can answer as I am currently having a 16" 25.5" scale guitar built. I will also include the spec sheet that I make when sending a request. A drawing and/or mockup is essential. Including their own examples is even better (you can ask for photos if you can't find something).
You should feel free to ask these anyhow but these are in my experience:
Can you build a guitar with a 25.5” scale length (647.7 mm)?
I hope so because I just ordered one. They have guitars listed with that spec. She didn't say no.
send you a pickup, tuners, electronic components, strings and knobs?
Yes. They will send you an address that is both in English and Chinese which both need to be on the box. In the end it was too confusing (you could just print it out and pray). I decided it was easier to just replace the hardware myself since I wasn't saving any money and didn't want them screwing up a good pickup / hardware, or it getting lost in the mail.
pickup and controls would have to be top mounted
There are examples of that on the Alibaba site. Include the photo with your specs.
rosewood fingerboard with no markers on the fingerboard but the most visible markers possible along the side
Yes to the rosewood and no inlay. Make a drawing, say "big side dots", and give a measurement in MM of the dot size. Best to ask about this. They may only have 1 size.
No binding. Is that possible?
Yes. I've posted my archtop with no binding in some other Yunzhi threads. The neck is bound in Ebony but it looks much nicer and blends in with the FB.
C shaped profile (0.860” at the first fret and 0.960” at the 12th fret).
I wouldn't hold out hope for spec-ing the neck. They make one neck (Spook can confirm) and it's not a listed option on their guitars. It's a substantial fat D.
Can you do a smaller peg head?
They will copy whatever you send. Pictures are best.
approximate price including delivery to Vancouver Canada.
~$1100 US w/out any add ons like fancy wood, or inlays.
Here is the spec sheet I just sent (click for readable version):
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Thanks Spiral. I'll have to give this some more thought. It's really interesting.
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Spiral:
Not sure of date but yes this is he. Your message was very concise and in fact helped me make the decision to purchase. Im sorry I didn't get back to you but I didn't think you wanted a response..however I should have thanked you for the input. I had put out a lot of inquiries cause I don't have bucks to throw away and wanted to be sure that I would get something that was well made and not go for my lungs. I hope Ive made the right decision ...time will tell!
George
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Hi, George,
Thanks for your trust and I will try to help you get a dream guitar.
Yours
Lora
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Hey All :
As promised here is an update for the Yolandateam guitar I ordered from Lora. These are just preliminary for approval only with abalone inlay and Logo. All went smoothly so far and may be shipped by end of month. What do you guys think?
GeorgeLast edited by Gejodi; 05-12-2014 at 08:50 AM.
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Woah ! Nice work with the inlays ! Must have taken a fair amount of time ...
Last edited by xuoham; 05-12-2014 at 03:38 AM.
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Nice flame on the back and love the neck and inlay.
Xuoham, good luck with the rainy season! Still got to look forward to here in Tokyo.
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Ah,dômo, yeah, you guys are gonna be bad in July ! Hotter than here but here from mow on it's around 30 degrees day and night non stop for 5 month ! Originally Posted by gingataff
Moved the humidity part here btw.
Are you Japanese ? kochira ha furansujin desu keredomo.
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Boy your guitar is really coming along nicely !!! Love the wood, the binding and the inlays. VERY CLASSY !!!
Very nice work TeamYolanda !!!!
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Yolandateam guitar update.....ok all, as promised here are the finished pictures from my order for this beautiful guitar which will ship at the end of this month. I have ordered it with an extra pick guard assembly and case. I am excited to get my hands on this beautiful instrument to play! Lora has as usual, been wonderful to work with. When it gets delivered I will give a final review.
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Man oh man, that is soooooo nice looking.
Our old dashchund needs a lot of expensive dental work (next Thursday pray for Gracie) but I see I need to order something like that with TWO pickups sent into the top, thinner body. I can't get over how nice the inlay work is and as usual the wood is great...
Congratulations !!
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looks fantastic. I would like to know what they are doing different than eastman because I'm not a big fan of the eastman big hollowbodies. I own an el rey and T386 and love them but the bigger boxes seem to have an upper midrange honkyness that you don't hear in Heritage or Gibson and I'd be interested what they are doing differently. It could be as simple as bracing. Not sure but it's definitely in the construction because I can hear it in the acoustic sound
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Well now I am confused. I thought Lora left Yunzhi and was working with a different group of makers. No?
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Woody Sound,
Don't be confused by the title of this thread. Ms Lora DOES indeed no longer work for Yunzhi but is working with a team of luthiers originally with Eastman who then moved on to help form Yunzhi and then moved on later to form their own company. She's known them a long time. Yeah Yunzhi still makes great guitars and has a staff of "salers" as Mr. Li calls them, but Lora also has connections with these other builders. You look at both company's sites, compare models and prices, talk to the "salers" and make a decision on who will do your order and gives you the help you want all the way thru the process.
I don't know about the "Honkiness" factor you are referring to. I've got a very old Eastman 810 prototype and it sure doesn't honk, it's really sweet. Yunzhi or YolandaTeam can build you an 810 or 910 style easily.
Me, I want a 17 inch by 2 1/2 inch arch top that looks like what Geojodi got but with set in the top hum buckers and the volume/tone controls also top mounted, say the way a Byrdland or L5 has them... When my old doggie is totally outta the shop I'll probably go with YolandaTeam just because I have a great rapport with Ms. Lora already.
Mike
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