New Guitar by Mania

[nickcoumbe]

So I bought a new guitar on Saturday.

The brand is Mania. I can't remember the model number. I have only seen these in one place in the flesh, although there are a few on the net. Anybody else tried one, or have any ideas of the origin?

They are low priced, and I presume Chinese or Korean made. They are actually really well constructed and highly spec'd considering the rack price of £370. Obviously I paid less than this.

Mine has the following:

5 piece laminate thru-neck maple/nato
Mahogany wings with figured birdseye bubinga cap on both sides.
24 fret 25.5" scale, frets are medium which goes well with a narrower neck.
Abalone fret markers, rosewood board
rubbish licensed Floyd
HSS generic pickups, not great but usable.

http://www.london-music.co.uk/beta/l...TST-800lrg.jpg
This is a generic pic from teh web, I will take actual pics soon.


I had played it a few months ago and was uber impressed with the playability and the acoustic tone. The neck is particularly good, and slick as it is matt finished. A million miles away from a wizard, but very comfortable and easy to get on with. The pickups are harsh to say the least at full volume. If you roll back you can get some good useable sounds, particularly the cleans. The trem is rubbish, but it has stayed reasonably in tune since Saturday, although I admit that I haven't actually used the trem, so that is probably why.

What really blows me away is that you can pick up a well made thru-neck with exotic wood and abalone markers for less than £400 (in fact I paid less than £300). If you see these you should try them.

Pics to follow.

[Eggy]

did you get it from a shop or through a certain unmentionacle auction site ?

Ben

[nickcoumbe]

Shop.

PJ's Guitar Centre in Portsmouth (UK). They are my (not very) local shop, and the only place I go buy stuff from.

[Flobanez]

Congrats. That looks nice but the pic of it is kinda small so it's hard to tell from that size. Post pics when you get it.

[nickcoumbe]

Here is a link to the fotopic gallery. I thought I would upload it before I went to bed.

http://moreguitarpics.fotopic.net/c1053693.html

What doesn't come across well is the abalone dot markers. Such a small thing but I really love them. As I play my eye just catches one and I have turn the neck to see the shimmer.

I can't believe I am enjoying a cheap guitar this much.

[Andelusion]

Some nice looking woods there on first impression, definately doesn't seem bad for the price!

[nickcoumbe]

Originally Posted by Andelusion

Some nice looking woods there on first impression, definately doesn't seem bad for the price!

Yep it is good to look at. I have read that Nato (some kind of "asian mahogany") is not highly rated as a tonewood and is not hugely stable, but time will tell. TO be honest flamed maple necks aren't famous for their rigidity so I take these things with a pinch of salt. THe bubinga front and back really does look cool though

In terms of bang for buck, I played a £1000 Fernandes with a sustainer (hence £1000) and to be honest this guitar feels a lot nicer to play. I would even venture that it is constructed as well, and in terms of inlays etc it is more highly spec'd. It really isn't a wizard neck, but for rhythm playing and any technique that doesn't favour jumbo frets it is a dream to play.

Acoustically it sounds quite warm and smooth. You would expect this from a guitar with this construction and tonewood, and it certainly doesn't disappoint.

Plugged in it is not fantastic, because of the pu's but you really can get some good sounds, and through the valve Laney I tried it on in the shop it really did sound good. Definately a candidate for an upgrade at a later date.

I am still wondering if I am the only Jemsiter to have played one of these.

[fettouhi]

Nice and congrats .

Regards

André

[GilkyBear]

That thing is just really REALLY pretty!

[nickcoumbe]

Originally Posted by Gilk420

That thing is just really REALLY pretty!

Well thanks for the kind words guys.

I was never really bothered about natural wood finishes, but this one is lovely. It's a shame it isn't a stained colour, but I am not sure that Bubinga is able to take stain, and as it is quite dark, whether the colour would be any good.

Either way I am going to just keep on playing it.

I have had to do my first retune, which is pretty normal after restringing I find, hopefully it will be stable after that. I am getting a bit of fret buzz, but that is not difficult to dial out. So overall definatey not as stable as a decent FR derivative, but it is doing fine at the moment.

[Flobanez]

Originally Posted by nickcoumbe

Here is a link to the fotopic gallery. I thought I would upload it before I went to bed.

http://moreguitarpics.fotopic.net/c1053693.html

What doesn't come across well is the abalone dot markers. Such a small thing but I really love them. As I play my eye just catches one and I have turn the neck to see the shimmer.

I can't believe I am enjoying a cheap guitar this much.

That looks very nice.

[mi2tom]

Congratz!!!

[ScottB]

Originally Posted by nickcoumbe

I can't believe I am enjoying a cheap guitar this much.

Very nice for the price. It's amazing how a little tweaking of the setup and a few more bucks worth of upgrades in pickups and hardware can turn a "cookie cutter" guitar into a cherished player. If you enjoy it, the lack of a popular name brand label means squat.

My favorite player at the moment is my '80 something MIJ Fender Squier. I paid $200 at a local shop and added a $100 Mighty Mite body finished in surf green, $40 for Fender aged white trim and a $100 set of Fender Hot Noiseless pickups. I would have kept the stock black body, but there were 2 glue joints showing through the finish that would have cost at least $200 to sand, repair and refinish. Everyone who's played it thinks it plays as well as or better than their $1000 US Standard Strats and I have to agree. A guy in his 50s came up to me at the checkout counter as I was paying for the Squier. He asked if it was the MIJ that was on the rack with the Korean and Indonesian Squiers and Affinity strats. When I told him it was, he said, "Rats! I was gonna buy it next week if it was still around. It's the best playing strat in the store."

[nickcoumbe]

Yep, it's all about the individual guitar.

I have played £1000 guitars that I honestly wouldn't pay money for. Unfortunately my wife has cottoned on to the fact that you don't have to spend so much money to get a good guitar. Every silver lining has a cloud.