Guitar players: Jay Turser guitars - Got one?

[old mark]

I have heard a lot of good things about these inexpensive Chinese made guitars, and I just bought one online today.

Anybody have one and what do you think of it?

thanks.

mark

[DFW]

1. Never heard of them, but.....

The man who made my guitars said there were starting to be several quality
products starting to come out of China, and he is one who should know. He is
80 years old, and is known for making some of the most incredible-sounding
twelve-string guitars ever made. If HE says they are decent, then they most
definitely are. My luthier's name is Božo Podunavac, in case that rings a bell,
and if not, I'm sure there won't be too many Google hits on his name outside of
sites from the former Yugoslavia.

[old mark]

2. Bozo made guitars for a lot of very talented

musicians. I am quite familiar with his work.

FWIW, I owned a lot of very good American made guitars in the 60's through the '80's but they are way too expensive, and certainly not worth the money.
Guitars coming out of China, Japan, Korea and Indonesia (And now even some Peaveys are made in Vietnam) are being taken seriously because they have bees steadly improving their products over the last 45 years.

This is what happened with Japanese and Korean cars, electronics, cameras, etc.

IMO, the American made guitar will be dead in the next few years, except maybe for Peavey.

I will get this guitar in the next few days, and let you know.


mark

[DFW]

3. Božo made about 6 guitars for me in the seventies

I have the one that he just repaired for me, plus two
(matching 6 and 12 string) that he made for me in 1999-2000.

Božo never made any real money because he used to sell his
guitars (in the 70s) for $2700 after using $2000 worth of materials
to make them, and then take 9 months to make one. Now at age 80,
with people trying to throw $20,000 and more at him for a new
guitar, he has finally realized--too late to enjoy it--what
his craft is/was really worth.

[old mark]

4. I have setup the guitar, and am in the process of adjusting the pickups,

I have found the following things wrong:

Screw holes for the truss rod plate were too big, screws were loose.

Knob on 3-way selector switch was threaded crooked and cannot be tightened.

Tuning machines could be a little tighter.

Everything else is perfect. Fretboard is very nice striped rosewood, well finished, frets are great. Overall finish is beautiful.

Tone and sustain are great.

It is a very well made instrument, for which I paid $125 on eBay, brand new in the box.

mark

[old mark]

5. Materiels:

Neck is maple, body is alder. Fingerboard is rosewood. Tone is just great, mubh better than I expected.

mark

[DFW]

6. If it sounds decent, the rest can be played with

$125 sounds cheap, even if you have to spend twice that much to fix it up.

[old mark]

7. So far, nothing has required fixing -

other than moving a wire that was grounding on another wire, and filling in 2 over-large screw holes.


mark

[ProfessorGAC]

8. My Friend Has One Of His Too

He got it back in the late 70's. It's a wonderful instrument.
The Professor