Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

£99 For A Brand New, Delivered, Roasted Maple Neck, Poplar Body, Super Strat... Can It Be Good?


Recommended Posts

Both myself and my guitarist have pulled the trigger (mostly out of curiosity) on a pink coral EastCoast super strat and a Cream EastCoast Tele. Both with Roasted Maple necks, both quite reasonable spec, both £99 new delivered...

 

Can these be even half decent?? The reviews suggest so. I'm not 100% convinced, but for £99 we thought we'd take a punt. Will report back when delivered and tested. Could be the steal of the century or a waste of time and money!

 

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/211119377178025--eastcoast-st2-deluxe-hss-roasted-maple-neck-coral-pink?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA8NKtBhBtEiwAq5aX2ERs8fl25B9vQa-RxTkprRaOC_XDZUWhaJCK6eDvJWheC8VHDusEQhoCv34QAvD_BwE

 

Edited by binky_bass
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • binky_bass changed the title to £99 For A Brand New, Delivered, Roasted Maple Neck, Poplar Body, Super Strat... Can It Be Good?

Much like Thomann with Harley Benton, I can't imagine that Guitar Guitar will want to tarnish their reputation with a shoddy budget line, so I think it will be a good buy. Let us all know once you have given it the once over.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of these low budget offerings are quite decent as far as neck, body, etc are concerned. The fittings are where corners are cut (something has to give - £99 retail equates to about £40 at the factory gate). By the time you've improved pickups, tuners, wiring, pots, etc to a reasonable standard, you may as well buy a Squier or similar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

This is my actual Tele, reviewed by the guitarist in my band.  What he fails to mention is that I paid £99 for it.  

 

 

 

What's he got against squires?  It's a job, innit? ;)

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I'm surprised that these have popped up at QatarCatarrh. I thought EastCoast was a house brand exclusive to Andertons.

 

I first encountered them about 15 years ago in PMT. Seemed to be a decent budget brand even back then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I'm surprised that these have popped up at QatarCatarrh. I thought EastCoast was a house brand exclusive to Andertons.

 

I saw a Lee Andertons clip a while back where he was talking about the various companies that he's involved with.

 

Pretty sure he said East Coast was a joint enterprise with at least one other UK music retailer aimed at supplying the super cheap end of the market.

 

On a different subject I suspect there's factories in the far east churning out tons of roasted maple.

 

In a few years it's gone from being a relative rarity on higher end guitars to a standard feature at every price point.

Edited by Cato
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, binky_bass said:

Both myself and my guitarist have pulled the trigger (mostly out of curiosity) on a pink coral EastCoast super strat and a Cream EastCoast Tele. Both with Roasted Maple necks, both quite reasonable spec, both £99 new delivered...

 

Can these be even half decent?? The reviews suggest so. I'm not 100% convinced, but for £99 we thought we'd take a punt. Will report back when delivered and tested. Could be the steal of the century or a waste of time and money!

 

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/211119377178025--eastcoast-st2-deluxe-hss-roasted-maple-neck-coral-pink?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA8NKtBhBtEiwAq5aX2ERs8fl25B9vQa-RxTkprRaOC_XDZUWhaJCK6eDvJWheC8VHDusEQhoCv34QAvD_BwE

 

 

 

"The EastCoast ST2 is EastCoast's superb version of the classic double-cutaway, bolt on neck electric guitar, rigged with a pair of chiming singlecoils and a meaty humbucker in the bridge position".

 

So if it is anything less than"superb" get down to Trading Standards!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of these reviews are people excited at having new gear rather than an objective appraisal of a guitar. 

 

One of the benefits of someone like Ed Friedland doing a review compared to the Lobster guy is that Ed takes stuff on the road and really puts stuff to the test.

 

£99 is a throwaway amount for some people, and I’ve been caught up in this before, buying some HB stuff etc. I’ve convinced myself it’s good quality but it’s really not when you start taking it on the road. The HB pickups are weak, the tuners flimsy and the overall feel is cheaper than a Fender. 
 

It’s cool if reviewers want a cheap guitar, but don’t try and convince me it’s as good as an expensive one.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Cato said:

On a different subject I suspect there's factories in the far east churning out tons of roasted maple.

 

In a few years it's gone from being a relative rarity on higher end guitars to a standard feature at every price point.

First time I ever heard of it was when Gibson used it as surrogate rosewood fingerboards after the FBI had seized their stock of rosewood :lol:. They referred to it as "baked maple" and they were widely ridiculed for it. Looked well enough though, and hardly anyone heard a difference. 

Edited by LeftyJ
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

A lot of these reviews are people excited at having new gear rather than an objective appraisal of a guitar. 

 

One of the benefits of someone like Ed Friedland doing a review compared to the Lobster guy is that Ed takes stuff on the road and really puts stuff to the test.

 

£99 is a throwaway amount for some people, and I’ve been caught up in this before, buying some HB stuff etc. I’ve convinced myself it’s good quality but it’s really not when you start taking it on the road. The HB pickups are weak, the tuners flimsy and the overall feel is cheaper than a Fender. 
 

It’s cool if reviewers want a cheap guitar, but don’t try and convince me it’s as good as an expensive one.

 

 

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, as it usually is.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I watched this review and because the guitar sounded so good in the video I had to try it out.

 

When I actually played the guitar in my local shop it was absolutely s**t! The sound was thin and nasty and the tuners couldn't keep it in tune for more than a few seconds at a time.

 

I actually did buy a guitar that day, it was a Yamaha Pacifica that they had going secondhand. It stayed in tune, had a decent set up, sounded pretty good and only cost me £68.

 

Don't believe the hype.

 

 

 

Edited by gjones
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Burns-bass said:

One of the benefits of someone like Ed Friedland doing a review compared to the Lobster guy is that Ed takes stuff on the road and really puts stuff to the test.

Two totally different things.

 

Ed is well known and respected as a player, author and bass guru. He does straight up honest reviews.

 

Lobster fella is selling folk on mods. He does his initial video then does another after he's had someone swap the pickups, whether they actually need swapping or not. He's looking for YT checks for video, kickbacks from his embedded links and lastly cash in his back pocket when he punts the bass on the QT. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have noticed especially on US guitar forums that there seems to be an expectation from a suprising number of people buying brand new guitars that they'll want to modify it in someway, even models I would regard as high end intruments like US Fenders and Gibsons.

 

I think Lobster is aiming at that mindset.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Cato
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that's a foolhardy waste of time - but I have heard plenty times of people planning what mods they're going to do before they've even bought the damn instrument.  Seems daft to me, get the thing first and see what it's like before making any decisions like that.

 

I had half a mind to replace the pickup in my G&L Tribute LB-100 for a split MFD to make a cheapskate SB-1, but I ended up liking the sound of the stock alnico pickup just fine so I left it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the modding thing just the once a few years ago on a Squier VM 70 I'd acquired just because I was interested in having a go.

 

I was happy with the results but for the overall cost of the project I certainly could have bought a new Mim Fender.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, kodiakblair said:

Two totally different things.

 

Ed is well known and respected as a player, author and bass guru. He does straight up honest reviews.

 

Lobster fella is selling folk on mods. He does his initial video then does another after he's had someone swap the pickups, whether they actually need swapping or not. He's looking for YT checks for video, kickbacks from his embedded links and lastly cash in his back pocket when he punts the bass on the QT. 


Thankfully I don’t watch YouTube (unless people post videos here).

 

if I want to watch white middle aged men play guitar and bass poorly while talking rub ish I go to one of my band practices. 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...