AUSTIN GUITARS

[whitey's world]

I went lookin for a box guitar for junior that I thought he might like and found a nice 12 string, can't remember if was Alvarez or Ibanez, for $180 at the "other" local mom & pop store. I am fortunate enough to have 2 of them within a 10 minute drive and they remember you when you walk in the door. Anyhow, while I was there I had to scope out the electric guitars too, just can't pass up the chance to look. They still had the same old stuff and some new stuff too. But one guitar they have had for a little over a year is gonna come home with me this weekend. Here it is and tell me what you think? I been wantin a cheap LP body to do some pup experimentin on and I'm gonna get this one. Only $350 and it looks great. I really wanted somethin beat up to try my hand at stain and paint but just couldn't find anything. So take a looksee

here is the site
www.austingtr.com/

here is the guitar
www.austingtr.com/products.php?CatID=1&PageID=9

here is a close up of the one I am gonna get
www.austingtr.com/imageview.php?photo=AU786FTS_large.jpg&name=AU786FTS

[cofi]

Yeah, it looks OK whitey, but I'm sure you could get an Epiphone for the same Bucks, OK a second hand one, but at least you know what the Epi is,

I've never seen one of these Austingtr before, or heard of them,
what is it like compared to your lads Epi's ,

I think on this one, you'll have to go with what you think and feel about the guitar, as I've never seen one, let alone tried one out,

Sorry M8, cant comment on this

[whitey's world]

Well I went and got the Austin LP. Haven't had any time to play it but it looks great. I'll strum on it this weekend and let you know. But for $350 I'm very satisfied. I took it out in the sun for a better look at the burst and was surprised at just how good it looks. Has a real nice color to it. I did strum it in the store a little and has that nice PAF tone, and I like that.

[sparky]

I've read some good reviews about the Austin guitars whitey, they where comparing them to Epiphone's, and they reckon they where better than the epi's,

Is your's made in Indonesia or China, they say the Indonesian are a better build than the Chinese one's,

You'll have to post some pics

[whitey's world]

Well I played it about 20 minutes the other night. Needs strings real bad cause the plain ones are rusted. First off it looks GREAT!!! And the tone is just as great. Very nice fret inlays too. The action needs just a touch to suit me, but I ain't gonna do any changes till I get the new strings on. I don't know what gauge is on them but they feel kinda light. I got a set of DR Black Beauties 9 gauge I'm gonna put on. The black strings should look awesome on it. The weight feels about like a LP should. It is made in China sparky, not that there's anything wrong with that. And so far I would say it's just as good as my kid's Epi LP. I pluged it up to the fuzz box and really liked what came out. I might have to just get em to order me another. This time it will have to be quilt top

austingtr.com/imageview.php?photo=AU786QCS_large.jpg&name=AU786QCS

[whitey's world]

Well I got the new strings on, tuned up 1/2 step to stretch em out and let it set for a while. Picked it back up and retuned and started jammin. Man oh man I got a real good deal on this rig. I can't say just how good it looks. And it plays and sounds great. The first thing I noticed after a few licks was the frets. This baby has some big frets and my fingers just weren't use to feelin em, soon to remedy that problem with lots of play time. The pups are a little hotter than I was hopin for but that's ok. Actually the bridge pup is what's hot, so I been strummin with both pups and it sounds great, not to mention just the neck pup sounds good by itself too. I haven't had time to check the neck, pup height or string height. Maybe this weekend, I still ain't setup the V to my likin yet either and I've had it several months. One day I'll get around to it. I got this Austin cause I wanted a cheap junker axe, I think I got a diamond in the rough. Just wish it was a quilt top instead.

[cofi]

Congrats whitey M8, sounds like you had a good deal there,
like i said, I've never come across them, but you sound like your well happy with it,

Next thing is post some

You'll have to take some photo's of all of them together, i still haven't seen your V yet,

[whitey's world]

I still ain't got the hang of gettin the pics from the camera to the pc to photobucket to here. But one day...

Guys, I have to say that the Austin LP is a great buy. The more I play it, the more I like it. I might try lowerin the pups a tad to see if it'll cool the output some. One reason I got this cheapo is to swap pups and stuff. Right now I'm undecided about leavin the stockers in, gettin a set of SD Pearly Gates, or a set of hb sized P90s, maybe all 3. But I have to say it again, for $350 I got a great guitar. I'd buy another if they had one.

[punk]

I still ain't got the hang of gettin the pics from the camera to the pc to photobucket to here.

Yeah that can be tricky. Most camera's come with software that you have to install on the PC. . . Usually Arcsoft. Both Windows XP, and the Mac will autodetect all my camera's. . . Both my wife's SLR and my old Olympus.
As soon as I connect the cameras USB cable, a window pops up with a folder with all the pics. I click on the folder and drag it to my desktop. Then view and edit resize my pics with a small, very cool free program called "Irfanview".

www.irfanview.com/

I usually resize to 640 X 480 or smaller, and sharpen the pic with Irfanview.

I also have a printer/scanner that will accept all types of memory cards. So that's cool. I just take the cameras memory carn and stick it into printers card slot, and viola. . . a window with a folder pops up on the desktop with all my pics in it.

I usually keep a my pics in a folder on the hard drive to make them easy to find.

Uploading the pics is the easy part. (Thanks Cofi, I didn't know how to do it until he told me.)

Once you create your photobucket account, just click the browse button. Search for your pic, then hit the upload button.

[whitey's world]

Well guys the Austin guitar is still stock. This cheap chineese guitar is really nice. I broke out the multimeter to check the ohms on the pups and the measured 8.3 & 9.3 , really a little hotter than I wanted. I been runnin it through the fuzz box and clean channel and just havin a blast. I might leave it like it is. I got a couple other things I'm workin on right now but I did find a nice place for some hand scatterwound pups. A low ohm set with some alnico II mags might make it in it yet.