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I've gor a lovely old 1962 175 (Natural) that I've had since the 70's and an Epiphone 175 that I use on gigs (don't take the Gibson out now ... you never know ???).
I've been thinking of trying/buying a cheapish chinese lookalike from Ali Express ..there are quite a few on there..
BUT - I've notiiced when viewing them the florentine cutaway doesn't look quite right when compared to both my guitars....It looks a lot less 'bendy' and doesn't curve up as on my two....
Has anyone noticed this - or has purchased one from China and can compare it with a 'real' Gibson..?
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01-28-2023 09:21 AM
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I wouldn't buy one from Ali Express, I don't think they are very good at all. Guitars from decent brands can be got for reasonable prices especially second hand. I have an eastman AR 371 which is excellent. A lot lighter than a 175 but the same shape and size and beautifuly built. You might be able to find a Burny or Fernandez which are pretty good replicas too for reasonable money.
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I second the Eastman and Burny / Fernandez suggestions. But you have 2 excellent 16” jazz boxes. Why do you want a third one? At least the Eastman would give you an alternative sound - a bit more acoustic tone with a bit less thunk than your current pair.
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.....I want to buy a cheaper guitar for my grandson as he wants the same as what 'grandad's' got.....
I'm not loaning him my Gibson OR my Epiphone....
I want it ito look as near as it can be to my two ......fussy ? ...........YES - very....!!!
Both your suggestions are very much more costly than a cheap Chinese 'lookalike' so - no go I'm afraid..
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If we’d known that, we’d have responded differently. I thought it was for you.
Originally Posted by advid
Look at the IYV IJZ-300 from Vietnam. IYV (yes, that’s how it’s spelled) guitars seem to be good value - all reports peg them as much better than the price suggests. The second guitarist in my blues band for a few years has one and loves it. You can even get them from Amazon for $225. The Grote line is also very good value. But expect to have to set these all up yourself, as many arrive with nut slots cut too high and things a little out of alignment from the voyage over.
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Any one of the Ibanez AF series hollowbody guitars (used) should work just fine for a youngster (or oldster) just starting out.
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
If we’d known that, we’d have responded differently. I thought it was for you.
Look at the IYV IJZ-300 from Vietnam. IYV (yes, that’s how it’s spelled) guitars seem to be good value - all reports peg them as much better than the price suggests. The second guitarist in my blues band for a few years has one and loves it. You can even get them from Amazon for $225. The Grote line is also very good value. But expect to have to set these all up yourself, as many arrive with nut slots cut too high and things a little out of alignment from the voyage over.
..that is 'nothing' like a 175 ...sorry...
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I agree with Gitfiddler. I wanted a cheap guitar that I could leave at our vacation home, so I wouldn’t have to haul one of my good instruments back and forth. I found a used Ibanez AF-95 at a pawn shop for around $300 CDN. It’s made in China and is a very nice guitar. It is well made, plays beautifully and is very stable. Mine has a 16” body with a Venetian cutaway, but Ibanez makes a few other budget models with Florentine cutaways that are quite similar in shape to an ES-175. Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
Keith
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It's as close as you'e going to come for $225, and it's brand new. We don't know how old the kid is, so it's hard to be specific. But most beginners would be thrilled with that guitar - and it looks close enough to a 175 to make most of them very happy if that's why they want it. Originally Posted by advid
These are amazingly well made instruments. They're much more than enough for a beginner to enjoy the struggle - you could gig with it. Most of the cheap knockoffs I've seen had frets sticking out the sides of the neck, terrible intonation, high and uneven action, and a general level of roughness that screams "don't waste your money". The IYV products are a cut above all that, and so are the few Grote guitars I've seen.
My first thought on reading the OP was that if it's for a beginner, there's a very valuable lesson to be learned in waiting for "one like granddad's" until you can at least play it well enough to appreciate it and know you're going to stick with it. Granddad and grandson can "save" for it together, which is a good bond between them and a good way to teach the value of work and of patience. We know dozens of families that bought decent instruments for their kids in response to what turned out to be a whim.
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It seems like the OP has the following constraints (or missing constraints): Originally Posted by advid
- Must LOOK like an ES-175 (grandson wants guitar that looks like Grandpa’s). Most important constraint.
- Guitar is to be given to grandson
- OP is self-described as “fussy … very”
- Must be inexpensive, but target price is undefined.
- Playability is not mentioned.
- Sound is not mentioned.
It’s very possible that the primary constraint might be completely incompatible with the 4th constraint.
It might help if the OP said what his actual budget (in currency) is – without that, suggestions will be all over the map.
The least expensive Epiphone ES-175 I see just now on Reverb is $759. Since the OP didn’t state what he actually meant by “cheaper”, it’s impossible to draw an accurate comparison. But let’s say “cheaper” means $500. The question I would ask is, how much difference will the price difference have made five years from now?
It's probably very unlikely that there will be any inexpensive (which I guess to mean around $500) guitars that look just like an ES-175. So either appearance or price constraint will have to be relaxed.
The closest lookalikes to ES-175s that I'm aware of would be the Epiphone, the Eastman AR-371 (one pickup) and AR-372 (two pickup), or maybe a Peerless Gigmaster Jazz. But all of those are in the neighborhood of $1000 or moreLast edited by dconeill; 01-29-2023 at 12:35 AM.
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I'd bite the bullet and get an Epi premium. If the novelty wears off you'll get your money back and if the grandson carries on playing it'll be worth it.
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The problem with most of the AliExpress copies (perhaps all, but I probably haven’t seen them all) is that their body shape and thus also the shape of the cutaway is off (although based on my experience with Chinese guitars and part, they might be pretty decent guitars even).
Even the Epiphone ES-175, both the regular and premium models, have a slightly different body and cutaway shape. You can clearly see it in a direct comparison. The Epiphone Zephyr Blues (single PU ES-175 clone) had a body and cutaway shape that was much closes to the original.
My Japanese Condor ES-175 also has a slightly different shape. The better Ibanez clones were vey true to the original shapes.
Even Gibson changed the shape of the cutaway, in the 70ies it became deeper, the 80ies hog back models had the original shape I think and from the 90ies it’s the deeper cutaway again. The VOS-models have the old shape.
Current clones from Archtop Tribute have an accurate shape.
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Advid- Originally Posted by advid
Without prying too much- how old is your grandson- or more acutely: Is he large enough to wrap his arms around a 16" wide hollowbody 3" deep box with a 1.75" wide neck?
Would he care if it looked a tiny bit different? When my Son was 9 his primary constraint was the colour. He chose a Tobacco burst Squire strat. When he was 12 (next guitar) he wanted something that looked like a 335 and was also a burst. He got an Epiphone 339 based on playability for his stature. He is now old enough to be appreciating the size of that 339 and is playing the snot out of it. He also has grown to appreciate how much more expensive a Gibson branded semihollow guitar is.
Are you looking for something your Grandson will grow into playing, and as a consequence requires reasonable playability? Or simply something that mirrors your Gib or Epi but scaled down to Grandson size?
EMike
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..my grandson is now 9 - has a 6 string acoustic flat top that he plays on....He wants to improve - listens to me playing (and sometimes teaching) and rattling on about some of the great guitarists of our time ect ect.
He 'might' go 'solid' with a LP , Tele or Strat but so far he says he would prefer an acoustic...like mine..Hence my reason for this original forum message..
He knows what he wants - I know what he wants .....end of...
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