Vintage V58 Jerry Donahue ReIssued Electric Guitar - Ash Blonde

Bought it after watching a video on you tube, premier guitar reviewing it.Awesome guitar for the price, build quality excellent,intonation spot on.Altered the neck as I like it dead straight, adjusted very easily.Position 4 or 2 which ever you call it can be subtle on some amp settings.If it had Fender on the headstock it would be £500 plus,Wotz not to like.

Plays like a guitar twice the price and stays in tune like a guitar of 4 times the pricePossibly the best trem I've ever used

When the guitar arrived the fret board was tarnished as if it had been on a shop wall for a fair time. It needed some attention before I played it. Also the strings were in a terrible state considering it was supposed to be a new guitar. The highest two strings were starting to suffer with rust so I had to fit a new set of strings before I would entertain playing it. Admitted the seller did send me a bottle of lemon oil which went some way to putting it right free of charge. All in all it gave me the impression that it had been on display for a fair time.I might add that it is a good guitar now that it has been put right.

Please note: The one I have has had upgraded pickups since I bought it. Although I do have the original stock Wilkinson's I've not heard them, though I have a few other guitars with Wilkinsons in and they are very good, punching well above their price tag.Looks: The guitar looks stunning. The gold top finish is nicely done, though on mine there is a TINY run-off onto the edge of the fingerboard below the neck join, I can forgive this based on the guitar being mass produced. The Vibrola trem is stylish and sets the guitar apart from most arch-top LP style guitars. The finising on the back of the guitar, neck and headstock is excellent with high gloss finish all round. Granted, the decal is now painted rather than mother of pearl which is a shame, but probably done to keep price down.Sound: Again, this is not a review of the pickups. With the Gretsch P90 style ones in mine, this guitar sounds very nice indeed. The original stock Wilkinsons have a 'one or two' coil option which I can't comment on. The wood used gives the guitar plenty of sustain even for a guitar with a 'flexible' bridge and it has good tone. The Vibralo trem adds nicely to the Les Paul sound, allowing nice vibrato sounds, and 'bending' chords, it holds tune very well.Quality of finish: Frets are all even without sharp edges, though some Vintage guitars (and most mass produced guitars from any vendor) can have frets that need filing down (no major job). The frets are still nice and shiny, which is a good sign as some 'cheaper' guitars have frets that tarnish quickly. There are no blobs on the paint-job and no sharp edges on the tremolo bridge or bar. The whole guitar looks high quality.Feel: Heavy...! Nice and heavy at about 5 kilos or close to 11 lbs. The neck is fairly standard LP type, nice and easy to play. The 'New' style more agressive cutaway on this model is better for accessing the bottom frets.Overall, I've rate this 5 Stars based on the guitar's quality-vs-price. Shop around and you can pick a brand new one up for about £400. For that price its a very substantial and well made guitar👍

Inexpensive guitars are usually a mixed bag. Nowadays they've never been better but can still frustrate, perhaps solid with a good feel but let down by quality control, poor electrics and pickups, less than stellar tuning stability, etc. To turn them into a tough gigging machine they often need mods and a little work.The Trevor Wilkinson designed Vintage guitars solve the problems of cheap guitars. The materials are good, the quality control decent, and necks feel inviting.After a set-up (all guitars need a set-up in my opinion) these guitars are gig-ready from day one. They are equipped with great quality Wilkinson hardware and pickups, which exceed the performance of, say, a Mexican Fender and I think as good as anything fitted to a basic US Fender. Indeed Wilkinson parts are go-to products for upgrading cheaper guitars to bring them right up to spec.The Thomas Blug signature model's a little more expensive but ups the quality again. The body is the more authentic alder rather than the cheaper poplar or basswood. The neck radius is the a comfy vintage-style 7.25" - rare on cheap guitars so something think about if this is something you like. The model also comes with a dummy coil and Blug 'Bukka switch', which gives you hum cancelling abilities not seen on your bog-standard strat set-up and which I find very useful.The vintage-voiced Wilkinson pickups are the business - you could upgrade them to fancy boutique ones but I doubt you'd realise much of an improvement if vintagey-sounding pups are your thing as the Wilkinson models are plenty good enough and respond beautifully to a range of playing styles.The tuners are high quality Wilkinson locking models while the trem system is Wilkinson's clone of the 50s Fender original BUT with staggered holes in the sustain block, which really aids tuning stability. This is a guitar with an authentic vintage trem that actually stays in tune well!The standout feature for me is the neck, which is incredibly smooth, comfy and inviting - up there with the best strat necks I've played and certainly makes the Blug signature guitar remarkably inviting and addictive. While 7.25" necks are often billed as 'better for chording' but for single note lead lines you'll have no problems. Strings don't seems to 'fret out' under heavy bends. I LOVE the vintage radius overall.Downsides? While I quite like the relic look in general, this is 'mass produced' relicing. It's looks more like the Fender Roadworn series and not some Custom Shop or boutique relic. It's not terribly convincing but still looks cool enough and at least you don't have to worry to much about the 'first ding'.The bottom line is this: All the Trev Wilkinson Vintage guitars are very good, even the cheapest ones, solving most of the problems you find with inexpensive instruments. This slightly higher-end Blug model is frighteningly good - well, frightening if you are a company selling guitars twice, three times, four times the price as the Blug Strat isn't just 'good for the money' but feels as good as many fancy US Fenders and other high end guitars in the hand.