NGD: Vintage V52 Icon Distressed

[naveed211]

I played this one a few times at my local store and kept coming back to it. Finally traded one of my guitars toward it and took it home today.

It just plays and sounds like a really good Tele. It does the thing. Neck is very comfortable and (pre)worn in. I’m not a relic guy, but I’m not not a relic guy either. I think it looks fine.

Really high quality parts (mostly Wilkinson) and materials. I don’t know, if we’re talking brand new Teles, I’d take this over just about anything under $1000, I don’t think anything is clearly better than it.

It’ll be my backup and I’m planning to use it on a song that is calling for single coils (otherwise my main is the PRS in my profile), but I’m quite pleased. I was assuming Vintage was a cheapo brand, but this is a nice guitar, period.

 

[Telecastoff1]

Looks like a nice Tele....Congrats!

 

[brookdalebill]

Nice indeed!

 

[aging_rocker]

Nice! I've only ever had good experiences with Vintage brand instruments. They are better than many folks expect them to be, IMHO.

I've got one of their acoustics, had it for nearly 20 years now, it's all good.

I've seen some of their relics that are a bit...lame, but that's pretty nice.

Enjoy!

 

[Reedo]

Cool, looks nice.

 

[Stratomeister]

Great looking guitar. I just purchased a Vintage Reissue V52 and for the price, it looks great (not distressed) - no frills, sounds like a tele, clean sustain for days..... Only one little problem- the neck feels like a baseball bat. Neck description on Vintage site: Hard rock Maple with classic Vintage ‘soft C’ profile for instant comfort, speed, accuracy and great feel. Not 100% correct to me. I took measurements of this neck and a couple of measurements from other guitars and it is bigger. I have another neck coming to replace (Vintage doesn't do replacements). I hope there's less wood to hold with the new one. Anyway, I was wondering if you or anyone who reads this can provide any measurements of their tele style necks. Measurements I have may be off a couple of hundredths, but that's not a big problem. The neck measurements I have are as follows in mm : Nut width 43.16, 1st fret width 43.92 thickness 23.36, 12th fret width 51.95 thickness 24.58. If anyone would like to provide any measurements, great. Any type of tele is ok Fender to whatever.

Side note. I learned even though numbers of measurements between necks may seem close from one guitar to another a little bit of wood makes a big difference, i.e. My Silver Sky and the V22 have very close numbers, but, the Silver sky feels so much better. Even though the center thickness of the guitars are close, the amount of wood removed between fretboard edge and the center of the neck gives the feel, the neck shape, its profile.

 

[Jim85IROC]

Great looking guitar. I just purchased a Vintage Reissue V52 and for the price, it looks great (not distressed) - no frills, sounds like a tele, clean sustain for days..... Only one little problem- the neck feels like a baseball bat. Neck description on Vintage site: Hard rock Maple with classic Vintage ‘soft C’ profile for instant comfort, speed, accuracy and great feel. Not 100% correct to me. I took measurements of this neck and a couple of measurements from other guitars and it is bigger. I have another neck coming to replace (Vintage doesn't do replacements). I hope there's less wood to hold with the new one. Anyway, I was wondering if you or anyone who reads this can provide any measurements of their tele style necks. Measurements I have may be off a couple of hundredths, but that's not a big problem. The neck measurements I have are as follows in mm : Nut width 43.16, 1st fret width 43.92 thickness 23.36, 12th fret width 51.95 thickness 24.58. If anyone would like to provide any measurements, great. Any type of tele is ok Fender to whatever.

Side note. I learned even though numbers of measurements between necks may seem close from one guitar to another a little bit of wood makes a big difference, i.e. My Silver Sky and the V22 have very close numbers, but, the Silver sky feels so much better. Even though the center thickness of the guitars are close, the amount of wood removed between fretboard edge and the center of the neck gives the feel, the neck shape, its profile.

I wish their LPs were like that. My V100PGM was all the LP I could ever need except for that thin 60s neck profile. I ended up buying an Epi Lazarus and putting Wilkinson pickups in it to replace the Vintage. The Vintage was a better made instrument for a lot less money, but there wasn't anything I could do about the neck.

 

[4pickupguy]

Looks great! Congrats!

 

[midnight340]

Bought a Vintage V52 Icon years back, fairly modified by now, but still my favorite guitar, definitely most played!!

 

[naveed211]

Looks great! Congrats!

This was a few guitars ago. I have a Kotzen Tele now. But I’d recommend the Vintage brand to anyone on a budget, for sure. Nice guitar.