[Armando Cordero]

Hey guys looking at some of the Michael Kelly guitars and some of them are so nice and they are so inexpensive, has anyone played one and what did you think of them. Pros and Cons would be great!


Thanks
Armando

 

[nightfiend14]

I have two different Patriot models, there les pauls basicly and love them to death. They are great. There isn't a flaw anywhere in either of my two. I showed them to others and they are all very impressed and the music store guys were amazed at what they cost and how much they compared to the high price les pauls.
Most models have a coil tap, the stock pickups sound pretty nice, the necks are my favorite les paul neck i've ever played, it's not fat and plays so smooth, real abalone inlays, a lot of the models have tone pros bridges.
As for cons I really can't think of one, honestly I'm loving both of mine I would keep buying more over a gibson any day, thats my thoughts. Go to harmony central or some other places and you will probably hear pretty much the same thing, people love these guitars.

 

[nightfiend14]

sorry if that is a little hard to read, I should of worked on the spacing a little more.

 

[Texter]

They're actually pretty decent guitars for this price range. Much better than OLPs or Ibanez if you ask me. I've examined a couple at my Boss' guitarstore ( I only teach there) and they felt great for that price. The silly metal flames are finished very well...very evenly chromed. One has a photo-carved top and it looks better than what PRS is passing through as a carved top these days. The inlays are excellently done lasercut, and the fretwork is very good: well radiused, nothing sticks out, low enough action and no buzz (better than modern Gibsons, actually). The neckshapes don't resemble logs like an OLP Axis but are actually pretty even and subtle U-shaped. My boss says the pups are pretty decent too but I didn't feel like plugging them in at the time. The wood is pretty decent mediocre quality where I expected utter crap. No white spots on the fretboards as opposed to Ibanez SZs where even the 720 can have dried out white spots. So Michael Kelly guitars pretty much beat the competition hands down it seems.

 

[nightfiend14]

I noticed you mentioned photo tops, not sure which models those are but almost all of them have real maple tops and not photo tops. The flamed sonic art bridge is brass that is chromed for some extra killer sustain. There prices seem to be slowly rising so I think people are catching on. Some of there new models for this year look sweet too.

 

[Texter]

I will plug them in tomorrow...looking at the site gave me GAS. I recognized the Hourglass Q, Patriot Shadow and Hourglass Tribal Sun from the shop.
I thought the QUILTED (whoops) top was real but my boss said it wasn't...which I thought was strange because the sides of the top seemed maple to me.

 

[Flobanez]

Never heard of them actually....got a link or is there a website?

 

[rickcard71]

Isn't Mike Kelly from the band Slaughter, I think he grew up in the same town I live, Yardley, PA! I hate that band!!!

 

[adamcbest]

thats tim kelly.. and he died i think

 

[rickcard71]

thats tim kelly.. and he died i think

Thought so! I think he died in a car accident in the western states, maybe Arizona-very sad. Was he a good guitar player? I didn't like him, however, 100x's better than me, I suck! RIP M.K.!

 

[jim777]

I think Michael Kelly, Jay Turser, Agile, Brice, Galveston, and a whole host of other marques are pretty much the same as far as quality goes.

 

[JESTER700]

Isn't Mike Kelly from the band Slaughter, I think he grew up in the same town I live, Yardley, PA! I hate that band!!!

Well, it's hard to get around Mark Slaughter's voice. Like Tom Keifer of Cinderella. What IS it with these Philly area guys that have nails-on-blackboard voices?!?!

I had a good pal from Yardley when I went to Temple U. in Philly.

 

[nightfiend14]

I think Michael Kelly, Jay Turser, Agile, Brice, Galveston, and a whole host of other marques are pretty much the same as far as quality goes.

Galveston? I've heard and read nothing but bad things about them.

 

[Rotti]

I remember when the MK guitars first came out. They were on ebney only and they were dirt cheap, like 200.00. They have gone up a lot since then but still seem like a good price.

 

[jim777]

Galveston? I've heard and read nothing but bad things about them.

Well, people tend to follow the buzz to a certain degree, I think. I've played Turser, Galveston, Agile and Kelly guitars and found them to be fairly similar in terms of quality. Occasionally a brand gets a positive buzz and it's shortcomings are ignored, and occasionally a brand gets a negative buzz and its good points (or rather, acceptable points) are ignored.
Most of these companies will improve to some degree year to year though, so they all may be viable alternatives in the future.