3 months ago I got really excited over hollow body guitars. I never owned one before. Which, considering the amount of gear that has passed through my hands, is quite surprising. Of to eBay I went. I spied some awesome Japanese vintage pieces but my cheap ass frugal mind latched onto a $150 guitar sold only on eBay that included the price of shipping. I did some Googling and found that there wasn’t too much info out there. And then Boom! I had an excuse to buy the guitar. I thought to myself, “I’ll make a video review, post it to YouTube and recoup the cost of the guitar through partner ads in about 20 years.”
This is my first review video and it shows. Things I learned while doing this:
Spend time on lighting.
Use a tripod
My 14-42mm lens does have image stabilization. Whoops, there goes the hours I lost trying different correction settings and re-shooting useless video over and over again.
Write script before you shoot.
Record voice over once and last. Anything else feels really uncomfortable. And all I hear is my slurry mumbling pronunciation.
I plan to do more of these and find a unique way to do more of these. Currently trying to figure out how to inject my voice/point of view into a gear review. It will take a few attempts before I find something good. I’m a strong believer in trying and failing multiple times vs refining over and over. This is me following my own advice for once.
Below is the copy/text/script of the video
The ktone hollow body guitar current sells for $149 on eBay for with free shipping.
Kind of a crazy deal, right?
I though so too. So I got one.
First the details:
It’s got 6 strings, 2 pick ups, 2 volume knobs, 2 tone knobs and a 3 postition pickup selector switch.
The neck has a truss rod. The bridge is adjustable.
Only one strap button as an end pin.
The factory finish comes with minor blemishes you’d expect at this price point. Also, the top coat seems to chip easily. if you like worn in guitars this is great news. if you’re into pristine wall hangers you wouldn’t be checking out a $150 guitar anyway, would you?
it’s a 25″ scale. and the body is on the smaller side. it’s only 2 3/4″ thick
so far so good.
out of the box there were mulitple issues with the frets. in addtion to looking half finsihed. the 17th fret on the high strings is dead. and the 12th fret showed up unseated. the seller was very quick to offer a refund for the price of the repair. so i have no complaints. i expected something like this for a $150 guitar. i didn’t expect good customer service.
the first thing i would replace on this guitar are the tuners. they feel very loose inside and the guitar drifts out of tune pretty quickly.
LETS SEE WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE
i’m playing through a 68 fender bassman and a 2×12 cab with weber speakers. i’m using a hot plate as an attenuator. That’s an SM57 against the grill.
first is bridge. volume and tone way up.
neck pick up: vol and tone way up
both: vol and tone upneck pick up tone down
switch to small amp: 4w airline/valco low power amp with 6″ jensen (show amp and pan to background. start from back)
first is bridge. volume and tone way up.
neck pick up: vol and tone way up
both: vol and tone upIf you’re thinking about getting one you’ll have to consider an initial set up. Easy enough to do yourself if you’re the mechanical type. You shouldn’t have to change out any hardware out of the box, but the tuners will probably annoy you if you’ve had guitars that stay in tune before.
Up until a few years ago you’d be hard pressed to find a used hollow body in playable condition for this price. this is a functional, decent looking, good enough built hollow body guitar for only $150 including shipping.
