NGD: Vacation souvenir

[Blazer]

Well as I said a week ago, my object for my vacation was to visit several air museums and to buy a cheap guitar to play while on my journey. And so I scouted the local auction sites for a guitar that would cost me less than a full tank of gas.

And so I settled on this.

Now for those who don't know: Vester was a brand made in the mid eighties until the early nineties by Seahan in Korea and was marketed as a beginner's instrument.

So to be honest with you guys, when I went to pick it up, I wasn't expecting much. I asked the couple I bought it from if they could photograph me after I bought it.

As soon as I was handed the guitar, I found issues, the strings were rusty and the action high enough to make it work as a lapsteel, the neck itself was bowed and several tuners had their bushings damaged, from what they told me, the guitar has spend at least 15 years in their attic without it being kept in a case or gig bag. I had no reason to doubt their story, the state that guitar was in said more than their words did.

Here's the guitar in my room at the hotel where I was staying.

When I took the picture, I already had shimmed the neck (I had taken several tools including a set of Allan keys with me), cleaned the guitar up and put on a brand new set of strings.

Taking the guitar apart was a trip down memory lane, I owned a couple of Vesters before and there again was that plywood body I was so used to seeing and the bridge had been blocked off. Which is a good thing since just looking at the whammy bar makes those guitars go flat. When taking the old strings off I got another trip down memory lane: they were Fender Super Bullets, I played those for years when I was in my teens.

But since I didn't take an amp with me, I only could play it unplugged, Vesters have nice necks, a good D- profile, certainly not the shredder type of neck you'd expect a guitar from that style to have. Although the frets at the second and third position were worn, showing the fact that the previous owner used it for strictly rhythm.

So today I got it home and was finally able to plug it in. I was surprised at the sum of the parts of this guitar: Plywood body, cheap single coils and yet it sounds really pleasant. I was never expecting the chime of a swamp ash body'd Strat and of course it doesn't give me that but compared to my 1989 Squier Strat "The veteran" (Which is also a Korean made Plywood body guitar) it sounds much more punchy, probably because of the pickups being bolted directly into the body, rather than being suspended in a pickguard.

So what are my plans? I might change the tuners, since they were pretty banged up, or as an experiment I might change the neck because it's still pretty bowed.

Or I might leave it as it is.

[Twang Factor 10]

Nice find. I bought a Martin Stinger a couple of years ago on ebay. The headstock and body resembles that one a lot. Korean made by Samick with the C.F, Martin name.

I'm really more of a country player. Having spent my adolescence in the 80's, I thought it might be a change of pace every once in a while. Wrong! It sounded good, but it was as twangy as my teles.

Never bonded with it though it was a good guitar for the price. Just couldn't picture myself playing Buck Owens with it. Lol!

The mullet and Nirvana shirt says that axe is all you! Enjoy!

[crazydave911]

Strange, except for the total lack of strat type routes and a pickguard, that thing is a dead ringer to an Epiphone strat-a-like I worked on several weeks back. The guy got it as a basket case and was trying to put a Squier Bullet pickguard (pups and all) on it. The trem was pretty much crap on it too (not to mention no trem cover in my rather sizable junkbox fit it , had to drill all but one. Same with the pickguard I installed, it was drilled for an 11 hole guard and I had to redrill all but one (none in my junkbox fit that either ).
Congrats on your purchase, they need some work (the frets seem soft to me) but can be made to play

[TeleJelly]

Nice find. All I got on vacation was a Leinenkugal's hat :-)

[hekawi]

great find. i'm intrigued by your bolted-in pickups theory...probably correct. i'd change the neck, looks like a fender (or squier) would fit. post pics if you do.

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by Twang Factor 10

The mullet and Nirvana shirt says that axe is all you! Enjoy!

Might be the cap I'm wearing but my hairstyle is NOT a mullet.

[nadzab]

Pointy!