Chinese Fakemachine build thread

[Le Jeff]

Yeah, that's what I don't get - you guys are calling these replicas, but they're not. The whole idea of a blackmachine was that the most important parts of a guitar were done really well, and the unimportant parts were stripped away. So what you had was a flat topped guitar with no contouring or carving, basic electronics, basic body shape, etc. But in this case, the stripped away basic guitar is there, but the stuff that makes a blackmachine significant - high quality woods and excellent craftsmanship - are not. So are you guys just fans of the stripped down look? I guess I'm not seeing the attraction. To me it would be like having a race car that was stripped of the comforts like AC, but could go really fast. And then you get a car made to look like it, but that can't go really fast. To me, $400 for these guitars seems overpriced. But, I guess I'm not the target audience.

Yes, this guitar with full binding and a fancy headstock and unique forearm relief is the epitome of "stripped down". Also, $400 for an import version which is lacking in every important way is too much? Is it too much when Ibanez does it? My Indo RG is (basically) a $400 copy of my Jem - so what? You can't say a guitar is only worth how it plays and sounds. So much of what a guitar is comes from how you feel when you see it and go to grab it. Would I buy a BM? F*** no because there's no way it's worth the bill. Would I buy a copy if I could try it first? Maybe... I'd definitely pick it up and give it a rip because, to look at, they're dead sexy.

 

[mortbopet]

Keeping up with the budget mentality of this build, i recieved the replacement pickups today!

The pickups is a calibrated Entwistle HDN set, 60$ for the pair.
Initially, when i was looking for replacement pickups i was looking at SD's, dimarzios (even bareknuckles), but came to the conclusion, that this is a cheap guitar and practically just an experiment. So i may aswell experiment with the pickups.
The entwistle HDN is a neodymium pickup (these magnets are powerful as f***), and as far as i have read, the general consensus is positive (the amount of people who have written about them is quite low, so i might not have seen the full picture). Some people compare them to the Aftermath - bright and loud.

Plenty of lead on them and they actually seem very well made!

since it is a given that the included pickups in the guitar are rubbish, i plan on reviewing the guitar with these pickups in it. I dont see a point in reviewing with the original pickups, since any sane person would change them ASAP anyways.

 

[mortbopet]

double post, sorry.

 

[JustinG60]

Yeah, that's what I don't get - you guys are calling these replicas, but they're not. The whole idea of a blackmachine was that the most important parts of a guitar were done really well, and the unimportant parts were stripped away. So what you had was a flat topped guitar with no contouring or carving, basic electronics, basic body shape, etc. But in this case, the stripped away basic guitar is there, but the stuff that makes a blackmachine significant - high quality woods and excellent craftsmanship - are not. So are you guys just fans of the stripped down look? I guess I'm not seeing the attraction. To me it would be like having a race car that was stripped of the comforts like AC, but could go really fast. And then you get a car made to look like it, but that can't go really fast. To me, $400 for these guitars seems overpriced. But, I guess I'm not the target audience.

sooo like a Pontiac Fiero with a Lamborghini body kit?

 

[JustinG60]

i have skimmed through the whole thread. the guitar looks rather worth the $$ paid. i have wanted one for a while to learn how to do work to... fret work really. i don't want to learn on my Paul Reed Smith or my Gibson Les Paul Standard.

if you search my position on a copy is that, if the quality reflected the price accordingly then there would almost be 0 demand for a chinese copy. notice how i have never seen a Carvin copy haha

 

[HUGH JAYNUS]

sooo like a Pontiac Fiero with a Lamborghini body kit?

The Top Gear Perfect Road Trip 2 had 2 Fieros with Ferrari body kits. And I want one badly lol. But yes I like the basic and natural aesthetic as well as that headstock mainly. Another difference in these to the real deal is the chambering. But this is as close as I will ever get to a real Blackmachine.

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I find the "it's not a real Blackmachine" argument hilarious. Of course it's not. But it's worth much closer to $400 than a B2 or B6 is to $5000.

 

[GraemeH]

Yeah, that's what I don't get - you guys are calling these replicas, but they're not. The whole idea of a blackmachine was that the most important parts of a guitar were done really well, and the unimportant parts were stripped away. So what you had was a flat topped guitar with no contouring or carving, basic electronics, basic body shape, etc. But in this case, the stripped away basic guitar is there, but the stuff that makes a blackmachine significant - high quality woods and excellent craftsmanship - are not. So are you guys just fans of the stripped down look? I guess I'm not seeing the attraction. To me it would be like having a race car that was stripped of the comforts like AC, but could go really fast. And then you get a car made to look like it, but that can't go really fast. To me, $400 for these guitars seems overpriced. But, I guess I'm not the target audience.

So you can get a really cheap, great looking car, to use as a modding platform to make as fast as you want, and end up with something that's not just good looking and fast for a fraction of the cost, but has some of "you" in it so that you can be a bit more proud of it.
As both a car guy and a guitar guy, this sounds pretty great to me!?

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

So you can get a really cheap, great looking car, to use as a modding platform to make as fast as you want, and end up with something that's not just good looking and fast for a fraction of the cost, but has some of "you" in it so that you can be a bit more proud of it.
As both a car guy and a guitar guy, this sounds pretty great to me!?

But doesn't everyone have the $500k for a brand new Lambo? It's almost not even worth it to argue with these guys, man. Just let them be angry they can't bring themselves to be happy with what they have.

 

[SilentCartographer]

but you can't mod the craftsmanship of the guitar itself.. but for $400 I guess its worth the experiment.

 

[mortbopet]

Just decided to check the tracking again, and guess what!
It's customs time!
I checked the tracking number at the danish postal service, and they write "missing import documentation. Contacting recipient." i'll be anxiously awaiting a letter from them any day now. Fingers crossed that they wont value the guitar too much!
pretty impressive that they managed to ship the guitar from somewhere in China to Denmark in only 6 days!

 

[Chokey Chicken]

Customs is where stuff spends the most of its time during these things. It's always a bummer to see shit sitting in customs. Hopefully it's speedy for you, as I've had things sit in customs for well over a month in the past.

 

[asher]

So you can get a really cheap, great looking car, to use as a modding platform to make as fast as you want, and end up with something that's not just good looking and fast for a fraction of the cost, but has some of "you" in it so that you can be a bit more proud of it.
As both a car guy and a guitar guy, this sounds pretty great to me!?

Except the initial guitar functions as a hard cap on how fast it can go. Not every guitar is made equal, and not all can go "as fast as you want". There are some that are fvcked in a particular way that no amount of work will make them good players, because they need a rebuild.

We're all hoping this is not one of those, but the risk is absolutely there.

 

[GraemeH]

Except the initial guitar functions as a hard cap on how fast it can go. Not every guitar is made equal, and not all can go "as fast as you want". There are some that are fvcked in a particular way that no amount of work will make them good players, because they need a rebuild.

We're all hoping this is not one of those, but the risk is absolutely there.

I agree that all guitars have a sort of "hard cap" on how good they can be in the fundamental woods, but I don't think you can predict how high or low that cap will be based on country of origin, price, specs etc.
My two best sounding guitars are 40 year old Japanese knock-offs with 5 piece basswood bodies I got for £115 and £22 (bought a second when I realized how good the first was), and they keep my Ibanez Prestige mostly un-played.
One of those was worth sinking >£400 of mods into it was such a good base.

Maybe it'll be a piece of shit out the box with no potential. Maybe it'll be a piece of shit out the box with high potential. Maybe it'll be OK with no more potential.
But an expensive guitar can come out the box with no more potential than it's already reached, whilst a cheap guitar can come out the box with a lower initial quality level, but higher potential than the expensive guitar (if you follow me).
I've learned to just judge each individual guitar individually once it's in my hands, and not on specs, price, country of origin etc.

*All just "in my opinion" and "in my experience" of course*

And I couldn't agree more that everyone should be warned that these can't be expected to be "out-the-box" performers.

mortbopet - I'd actually quite like to hear some sounds demos before and after the pickup swap - just so we can hear what sound characteristics are in the fundamentals of the guitar and what's in the new pickups.

 

[Chokey Chicken]

It's sort of like betting red or black instead of betting on a specific number of a specific color. Yeah you might get an amazing guitar made for pennies out of china, but it's a bigger gamble than buying from the US or something. I'm not talking about dead ugly laminated pieces of wood, I mean snapped truss rods, "s" shaped necks, and broken necks kind of unplayable. You also can't send these back for a refund, unlike guitars made in China sold by shops.

It's a gamble, and it could go either way. Even if one guy gets a great guitar, the next guy buying from the same dude could get shafted. I hope this isn't the case, but it's silly to pretend a guitar made for pennies has anywhere near the quality of something people spent a lot more time and money on.

 

[mortbopet]

mortbopet - I'd actually quite like to hear some sounds demos before and after the pickup swap - just so we can hear what sound characteristics are in the fundamentals of the guitar and what's in the new pickups.

noted, will do!

If anybody has any specifics that they would like to know about in the review, just say it.
I'm writing down all requests and sugestions, and hopefully give you guys all the information i can, when i get the guitar.

 

[Tesla]

noted, will do!

If anybody has any specifics that they would like to know about in the review, just say it.
I'm writing down all requests and sugestions, and hopefully give you guys all the information i can, when i get the guitar.

I'd like to know if the bridge is comfortable (when palm-muting etc.) and, as I'm a lamen - what kind of other guitar you'd compare the neck thickness to.

 

[kevdes93]

bridge is pretty uncomfortable mainly due to the saddle screws and the neck on mine is pretty thick.

 

[HUGH JAYNUS]

bridge is pretty uncomfortable mainly due to the saddle screws and the neck on mine is pretty thick.

$45 for a set of Hipshot saddles. And some people like a thicker neck. And if not, use tools. Shave her down. Its ony $400 so I expect to put some ass into it

 

[kevdes93]

i didnt mean to imply that i thought the neck was uncomfortable, i like thicker necks and this one feels pretty good. good call on the saddles, ill look into those