Full out customized guitar from Chinese guitar builder Cathy Zhong! Link to Discord discord.gg/2McYysdS Link to Facebook share/8b1xTrU1dn3SZhF2/?mibextid=K35XfP
That is a beautiful Les Paul and sounds awesome, Having Cathy's name on the back of the headstock is a great thing also, I wish Cathy would come up with a guitar design of her own with her own logo on the headstock, I would definitely buy one just to support her career! There are some great guitars coming out of Cathys workshop and this just goes to show that given the budget they can produce an awesome instrument.
I totally agree! The woodwork can be top notch (although they fribble with the control cavity routing sometimes). The Pickups aren´t that good IMO but you can ask for Korean pups and they sound great! The Kluson vintage tuners are a mess but the Grover kidney style are good. I´ve asked Cathy about doing her own thing. And I think it is in the pipe-line.
Another great video! They are getting better and better. And all that matters is that you like what you got from your project. It’s funny to me how people will be borderline outraged at somebody making content they enjoy and hope others will enjoy. And they will not only watch the video but also comment about it when they don’t like it. Idk why they spend time on things they hate. Very weird. I’m not even a Gibson guy, but I like your channel. Your enthusiasm is what I enjoy.
What a great build. Cathy is building me a 57 gold top with quite similar specs. This video prompted me to ask her to direct-mount the bridge studs for mine. She told me that the neck and body just got glued, so I hope this request was made in time. Thanks, Mattais!
What an amazing build! I got my first Cathy guitar over a month ago, had to do some minor work but overall it's pretty good, I'd definitely get another from her. I heard all CTS pots are made in Taiwan nowadays and you can get imperial and metric sized ones (Epiphone uses the metric ones on their fancy LPs nowadays, I believe the only real difference is the splines on the shaft). Mind if I ask you how long was the building process?
Very nice! I own 3 real Gibson's 1-1983 les paul custom, 1-2011 les paul classic custom, 1-2011 50s les paul. I have a Chibson les paul custom that is absolutely great after I change all hardware and pickups! Thanks 🤘
Yea, I have 4 Gibsons. They are my favourite guitars, all of them plays absolutly amazing. Chibsons can be great to, but you must be ready to do some customization yourself. If you do that, then you can have a guitar that rivals the big brand!
Great video, quality content! 👍Do you know where the guitar was stuck? I have a guitar on the way that has been sitting in Shanghai airport and waiting for a plane for 25 days now.
Thanks man! My guitar were stuck in china. That seems to be the issue. Once it is shipped from there it usually runs pretty smooth. Good luck, I hope it works out!
I read in many FB groups that P4M and "Cathy" lowered their quality a lot after gaining recognition. I have no way to confirm this but it's just another question to second-guess where to buy one of these guitars.
I got a 59 Reissue chibson my luthier installed all Gibson parts but I put some alnico pick ups, plays like butter and has faded and aged beautifully love too practice and learn on it but when I get down to business I pull out the Gibson which cost $2200 and my Chibson is $500 including Gibson case I love them equally and will never sell either one.
I’m happy for you! To own a real Gibson is a treat! I have four of them myself and I love them to death. But they are $4000, $3000, $ 1500 and $1000 each. My most expensive Chibby is a little shy of $600. I love them all, and I sell the ones I don’t like, including Gibson and fenders.
I bought a 57 futura Chibson copy recently, cause they’re terribly hard to find and are very expensive, and it’s honestly a great guitar. Definitely worth the money… but honestly, I wouldn’t get a Chibson unless it’s a really hard model to find. It’s a player, very slinky and the fret work was better than the last 3 Epiphones I bought. Ebony board has some glue on it but the board is really nice overall. Neck profile is a chunky slim taper feel and is a little narrow compared to my Gibson explorer. Honestly it’s a great guitar, I was shocked. I was expecting to make it a decorative wall hanger but now it’s in the line up with my other guitars.
That’s great man! You are describing an experience many of us have had. We want a nice wall hanger but once we get it they play and feel so nice that we have to play it 🤘🎸
Wow.. i am really not a super-fan of chibsons.. but man, I think you got a really really good guitar right there, its not even my guitar but I still feel a little happy for you because of how good the guitar seems. I would have to think that it´s similar to an Epiphone Les Paul at least ?
Hi Mattias how do you contact Cathy as it looks like she did a great job on your guitar keep the good work up, her doing a company build is a great idea Regards John
I’ve been watching for a while and you’re quite good at setting up guitars. I found your nitro over poly video so entertaining. I’d love to see your talents work on lesser known, mid range guitars than all these 3rd shift epiphones / gib copies. Or have a batch made with your own custom headstock
@@TheworldofMattias of course I will watch. I have nothing but respect for your work and appreciate your honesty when doing reviews. I find you are similar to scar my guitar in that you started by improving other builder’s work. They now make their own guitars. I can see you going down that path. Design something, have someone build them and you set them up and ship them out. I’d also like to see you get your hands on a Gib, a Chib and an Amazon guitar like a LeoJamez. Set each up and correct mistakes. Tabulate all of the costs and then do an honest shoot out and review. I’d watch that series especially if you do it with lots of brands.
I have built guitars I have painted guitars I have done it all and I still don't understand how you can build a Chibson so cheap and some have very good quality built into them.
if i may throw in my 2 cents here....if you guys really want a les paul that looks like a les paul, has the right tone and volume knob placements,the correct pickups rings for a gibson and not epiphone sized...then i seriously reccomend any of the japanese tokai,burny,greco les pauls used or new. I have a tokai love rock with whole lotta humbuckers by seymour duncan , jimmy page wiring harness, goto fittings , all for 600 pounds sterling, used obviously....but it actualy plays like a gibson. i had a chibson same as this (sold it for 200 notes) , except mine had fret nibs ....not a patch on epiphone (the mid priced ones and above) or any of the other "law suit" style copies. im also a player and not just some dude buying all the time....good deals out there if you look. however 600 notes for this chibby is way too steep imho , it doesnt even have fret nibs at that price either...bit weird...why go to the lengths to buy a les paul that has the gibson logo , but everything else gives it away as a poor copy. i get that cathy makes the guitars in her factory (and for P4M obviously ect...they all know each other) and has a new group ect...but these prices are insane. the latest one i bought from P4M/badcat apparently was almost 600 notes too, but it was dressed up in some dodgy backdoor link to the bad cat website that had a 40% off sale on. so i paid just over £300....still waiting on that guitar to actually arrive. i guess what im saying is, if your interested in buying a chibson , really do your homework before doing so, ask for real actual pictures of the actual guitar you will recieve too before buying.
@@TheworldofMattias if you havent tried a tokai or any of the Jap copies like burny/fernandez,greco,...even orvilles can be picked up cheap (and they are authentic gibsons made in japan) , i honestly think you would love them, the build qualitys are superb
I´m very interested in the Orville´s. But here in Sweden the market are much smaller than in the US so I have to wait until the right oppertunity comes. :)
The knobs look a bit high, compared to the real thing other wise looks pretty good, drop in some good pickups and maybe new harness and you could have a nice one
Well Phil, the used marked can be worth taking a look at, I fish there all the time. But if you want to customize a guitar (and if you are not a millionair) chibbys is the only real option.
I’ve been watching the market for a while now, @@TheworldofMattias, and you’re 100% spot on. Even in Australian $$$ they make the most sense, especially given most/the majority of Chibson’s & other newer Asian guitars are used for their husk, only.
So, thats the maple boards you revealed months ago!? That has been a long project. Boy, this one attracted a few Chibson haters! Could those pickups be Artec?
Yes, it’s been a long time waiting. But this one was well worth the wait. Amazing guitar right out of the box! But you know me, I won’t stop at that. This is just the starting point for me! Haters are everywhere, you just have to live with it 😂 I don’t know about Artec, why do you think it’s that?
That looks like a plain maple top and not a figured maple top. Many Gibsons have plain maple tops. I like the look of plain maple, it's usually pretty consistent. Figured maple is a crap-shoot, some look nice, some don't.
I’ll never understand satin finish Les Paul. Gimme a glossy fat biiitch anyday. But hey if people didn’t want it they wouldn’t have every manufacture doing it these days as an option
What a nice hat, Dude, or I'd rather Capt. maybe. In my opinion the glossy top with the satin look wasn't that clear request. I don't know. Namastè. 🗨😉🧢
@9:36 you can see the binding was masked poorly prior to painting. There's paint running up the binding. Idk about you, but this wouldn't make me a happy customer especially at a $600 dollar price.
@@TheworldofMattias Yea you could take a razor to it, give it a light score on where you want the line to stay at, then scrape off the paint. Not too big of a deal. 👍
Sorry my friend, but that was way too expensive for what you got, I have guitars from Polaris 4 Music for less than half what you paid which are at least as good as yours, also nitro laquer & the only Chibsons I have ever seen that have fret binding nibs. I also had Cathy make me a 1972 Les Paul Deluxe that was fantastic & cost me $380 delivered.
I’m happy for you, truely! But consider this. Solid maple top which I got ro chose, much better pickups, CTS pots, mop inlays and logo, long neck tenon, stainless steel frets, one piece body and neck. This is not s standard Chibby of the shelf.
@@TheworldofMattias I hear you, your the pots are full sized, but aren't CTS, mop inlays & ss frets are an upgrade, but shouldn't add very much to the cost, you can but excellent pickup sets for $70. I have 9 Chibsons, 4 of them have one piece bodies & necks, full thickness maple caps & 3 have long tennon necks, the most I ever paid was for the custom built Deluxe, forgot to mention, it also had an ebony fretboard.
Well, I’m not an expert but if it is nickle then Cathy made a 100% guitar from my specs. I do think it is chrome though. I will change the hardware in a future video, I will compare them then. Side by side it should be easy to tell.
Don't see the point i have Gibson Les Pauls don't play them ored I hight spec chibson one piece body and neck no neck joints maple top fret nibs nut tross rod wizz paf humbuckers cts pots switchcraft toggle switch and output jack had 800 in it only sold for 80 pound the pickups alone cost £389
This one is not about the value in money,? It’s the playability and sound that counts. For a $600 guitar, it’s pretty awesome. But I don’t think I will be able to not modify it even more. But that’s just how I am. 🤷♂️🍻
@@TheworldofMattias I've been playing for 40 plus years. There's no telling how many guitars have passed through my hands. I've had and have guitars of all price ranges. I've never bought a guitar thinking of its future resale value. That said, I've lost on some, made money on others, and broke even on others. Up until now, I may have broken even....maybe not. To me, guitars are enjoyable music instruments,not investments. The enjoyment I get outweighs any loss in money. I believe I'm ahead.
You won't have a direct mounted bridge on any Epiphone and ONLY Historic Gibson's , you won't have a long neck tenon on most Gibson's and very few Epiphones , and good luck getting stainless steel frets on an Epiphone ! You're talking shite !
No, you´re right, there is no fretbinding. I´ve never really cared about fret binding, I didn´t ask for it. ANd if it was a true ´59 it would probably be re-fretted and missing them. 🤷♂️
I just don’t understand. I have, out of curiosity watched several of your videos documenting Chibsons and Chenders. Each one has been absolutely terrible aesthetically. Completely unconvincing. Terribly appointed as far as components. Not worth more than $80 USD. Not one of them. My guy. Stop buying this garbage. Sell every. Single. One. You have, and buy something worthwhile. These are all garbage. These things need more money put into them just to make them properly playable than it costs to buy one. Folks. Don’t spend your money on this garbage. Buy a proper guitar.
