The Ledgend of Legend

Also, on guitar history, does anyone know much about Grestch Electromatics? I played a new one the other day & was very dissapointed. Mine's only a Korean 5125 (plays nice & has been custiomised a bit) but this one was crap! It's quite different to mine in that mine has D'Armond 2000's & a twin roller bigsby, & it had Grestch Labelled pickups (filtrons or similar) & a single roller. Also mine has a rocking tune-o-matic style bridge & it had a floating bridge which moved by about a mil when I hit the bigsby. I thought these would be upgrades but I didn't like it much as a guitar over-all, (had open tuners!! -mine are sealed - forget what brand) & build quality was not real flash. I know they're not the most expensive instrument, but I'm glad to hear other peoples experiences with them - does anyone know the time or reason for the changes, or how I can date mine (bought it as ex-demonstration stock - no idea how long it had been on the floor)? Cheers.

If its the one on thier website AS820 with the P90s , also says it can be had with humbuckers (Imported section) you didn't do too badly as the list is over $600 .

Ive not owned but have played on a legend Les Paul type and it was certainly better than some middle priced Epiphones Ive played , far and way above the quality of the Epiphone "starter Les Pauls" for certain .

It could be that here in the UK the Legend name may have been used on some Korean imports though as well as Chinese , I seem to remember there being a sudden influx of Legend accoustics , bowl backs from Korea at the time , many coming in with blank headstocks and dealers using any logo they wanted which confused things no end.
The Legend name was a good name at the time to put up against our "vintage" copies that were flooding the market.
Hated the Vintage brand as it always got me excited seeing a Vintage Les Paul offered for sale second hand for some silly price only to turn up and see that it was just a cheap copy with Vintage logo on the headstock.
It was about 5 or 6 years ago but the headstock was the open booktype for certain on the Legend I played as I know that the guy had got hold of it to do a cheap makeover lookylike for his Zeppelin tribute band

Legend guitars on the site below site look like even better quality nowadays if it is the same company but thier new prices reflect that but they are both Luthiers and importers so I expect that they may have used different suppliers over the years.

I love the quilt tops and the Washburn type PS970 looks classy with its sculpted body and sunken controls very nice. 8)

Site here....

http://www.legendguitars.com/navi.php?action=home

and this may or may not be your model...

http://www.legendguitars.com/navi.php?action=showg&iid=64&catid=3

I agree. one manufacturer can put different names on guitars, amps, stereos, etc. marketing comes up with names that suit the geographic areas. you know, it should not matter really where the guitar is made. if the parts and overall guitar is well built, details are nice, and the feel and electronics are good...then it is a good guitar.

headstock looks like an Agile

Thanks guys - I'll have a look at those websites & see if I can track her down.

Catcha - the photo you put on there is quite similar but the headstock is different, I've got a flamed wood (nice, too) & I think the horns are more pronounced -- so there's every chance it's the same but mine's an older model or something. I also noticed the headstock inlay is different, mine's kind of a greek looking torch.

I also found a "legend guitar co" in Canada, but they're not it for sure (stuff is too nice).

Isn't it funny how the whole cheap guitar market works, like some of them aren't even interested in building up a name!? I've also got what's left of a Daion Les Paul copy & it was a killer guitar (just a ply body!) & played wonderfully until I lent it up agains a swivel chair & it fell & broke the neck. At that time I didn't know they could be repaired successfully, so I don't have the neck anymore, but I've still got the rest of it & I'll get another neck one day...

Thanks for your interest in my questions!!

I also noticed the headstock inlay is different, mine's kind of a greek looking torch.

The Torch bit got me thinking about Chinese imports if it looks like the one below it was the generic decal on lots of chinese models here in the UK anyway , the customers logo area either being left blank or as in the case below with the "gould" emblem also added .
Note thats Gould and not to be confused with Guild , Gould is just a name brand of a cheaper chinese guitar importer called Barnes and Mullins from the UK , who also market the "Brunswick" accoustics all chinese these days.

He he he...thats the logo!! Jeez, all these chinese guitars must come out of the same parts bin!! :lol:

Wow, I never knew 'Gould' guitars also exist ?

Wow, I never knew 'Gould' guitars also exist ?

Hey there is also giVson too a legal company been trading for years :shock:

http://www.givson.com/home.html#products

Yeah , back to Gould ... is though just one of the many names put to the chinese guitars with that flame logo and although cheap some of them are made from the same parts of some of the major brands (thats those that use China for thier cheaper models rather than Korea).

Chinas way of working is that if you have a production line running rather than stop it running when that customers order is complete and the cost of changing the line over to a new product you may as well over produce without logo and hope extra order comes .
If the orders dont come to shift the "overstock" then they get shipped as cheap brands very hard to control a brand style when your using Chinese as Ibanez found out but the end user can gain with some excellent "bargains" if you are prepared to take the risk you can actually end up with somthing that is real all appart from the logo.
This is pretty much the same as Samick who over the years have made models for pretty much everyone , they are certainly the most prolific guitar makers ever but they seem to be a bit more protective about the branding protection .

Some of the Goulds are not too shabby for 2nd guitars and make excellent starters for upgrades etc..both below are Chinese guitars woth the same Flame logo (Goulds) in this case.

I can imagine though someone getting into a bit of an excited tizz when driving past a garage sale and seeing a guitar for sale for $60.00 , and after hurridly parting with the cash and getting it home realising "oh fook its a gOuld not a gUild " :D

Thing is though it may still be a bit of a treasure and the binding and inlays on some is now outstanding (someting that couldnt be said a few years ago).

These can be had for £50.00 ish .....

and this non too shabby semi for about £100.00

Either even though being chinese are far and away above some of the junk I had to learn on years ago and would have been classed as semi pro quality back then.

Hey if that last cherry-red arch-top is quite deep (almost as deep as a regular acoustic) then that's it, just under a different name!

Hey there is also giVson too a legal company been trading for years :shock:

I really wish it changed its name. What's the point in stealing someone else's name/brand for the product you manufacture by yourself (which by far is the most awesomely disgusting) :!:

Hey if that last cherry-red arch-top is quite deep (almost as deep as a regular acoustic) then that's it, just under a different name!

yes they are quite deep although they do 2 models one like a 335 and other with a deeper box , if its got the same logo and it looks like it then that ones a Gould from China so yours is probably just from the "overstocks" or standard models.

You used to be able to your own logo on the imports :wink: in the 80s the chinese used to supply a custom full laminate slither of wood exact same shape as the complete headstock with tuner peg holes to glue over the top of any existing logos or blank headstocks with whatever you wanted in batches of 20 or so :(

These were just glued over the blank headstocks for those wanting thier own "brand" that looked a bit better than just a slide decal followed by varnish.

Im sure that a lot of chinese imports have just got a glued Template covering a standard torch logo as well .

Ive seen allsorts and actually spent a bit of time , part time on a weekend in the 80s "branding" guitars and setting up etc for my then local music shop , biggest one in Europe at the time with a hefty mail order turnover.
Probably due to the surroundings it was the most enjoyable place I had worked and picked up a lot of knowledge , not to mention playing / seeing lots of guitars including both the good bad and ugly from China / Korea

Glad we found it - if we did , its nice when some of my past history with guitars helps and its fun getting some sort of family line with these no brand name guitars , I hate having any guitar that I cant date or know its birthplace . :)

I really wish it changed its name. What's the point in stealing someone else's name/brand for the product you manufacture by yourself (which by far is the most awesomely disgusting) :!:

Yes I agree it really niggles me , its not as though anyone would ever mistake a Givson for a gibson , I agree those GiVsons are terrible but they first came to light by making a Firebird rip off and thats probably why the trademarked it Givson and Im a bit surprised they got away with the name seen as they were a guitar company.

At least Gibson jumped on them and stopped the almost exact all but the "V" Firebird .

The headstock on thier GiVson 12 string accoustic probably weighs more than the body and neck , Id consider the 8 string Electric Mandolin mind , they've even slapped the GiVson on the body as well :lol: :lol:

Saw a massive hollowbody (flat, not arch-top) Givson at a luthiers once, with tripple P90's. No idea how it played but it was a behemoth!! SO ugly it was cool. :)

P.S. & thanks heaps for finding my guitar - I always like to know where they come from, especially as I like trolling pawn shops for guitars. And now I can add Gould to my list of possible good cheapies!!