Richwood guitars (Chinese)

Joonas

Here's what I mean when say that they're all Richwoods. Here's an example off Aliexpress that's labeled Richwood and looks almost (the rosette is different) identical to the one pictured in the middle in my first post.

ChrisMartin

As always on here when anyone mentions budget guitars the usual guys will chime in with their "they are garbage" type comments, when probably most of them have never even tried one. I have yet to find any worse case of label snobbery than the guitar world but each to their own. As with the case for or against a Chibson v a Gibson there is always a market for the lower cost instruments and with a little bit of care and setting up they can often be made to do the job and surely if further down the line you find you are not the next Bireli you have only lost $200. All brands of GJ guitars are not so common here in Australia and I too have never seen a Richwood, but I would be curious enough to try one.

As for Jangle Jamie's bike race, that sure looks a lot of fun but the risk of hand and arm injuries from falling off surely means it is not recommended for guitarists. Possibly that YT film needs subtitles for those not familiar with the scottish accent though?

Buco

Well I'd think buying from Thomann would you give you some protection and a possibility to return it if it's really that bad. I see they also carry Carvalho brand which seem better, still under 300 EUR.

Joonas

@Buco I probably won't buy any of these but I'm still kind of playing with the thought. I've bought three guitars total from Thomann and two of them were fine (considering the price). I sold one and currently own two. The worst was an Ibanez hollowbody which I still own. It has a crooked neck. I was too unexperienced to look for it when I got it and maybe I didn't wish to see it (like a guitar honeymoon you know), but there it is. It was one of the "highest of their cheapest" models (Artcore) and it had problems from day one. First one of the pickups was loose from it's screw and was halfway hanging in the body. Second a piece of plywood was loose in the body and I'm still not sure to this day if that was part of the guitar that had come loose or if it was something left from the manufacturing process. The guitar was rattling in all kinds of ways when played and I unscrewed and screwed the pickguard and pickups several times until I tied up some wires with zipties and put pieces of rubber hose around the pickup screws til it settled down. And then I noticed the neck being twisted. Oh my. But I still have the guitar, I still play it and have no direct intention to sell it, but I learned a lot the hard way. The other two guitars were "budget" solidbodies which I'm totally satisfied with considering the price. The first was a Harley Benton Flying V copy which I sold but I had no complaints about that guitar, I just needed the money. And the second is a Jackson Randy Rhoads model (a take on the Flying V) which again is a fine guitar, it needed some adjustments but for the price I paid for it I'm OK with this.

paulmcevoy75

I don't know anything about these instruments. To make an acoustic and ship it for $200 seems pretty nuts, especially now. I had a "Grote" 7 string Les Paul I bought around 2017 that was pretty ok for $250.

I do think that for someone starting out, if you feel like you want to put effort into learning this, you would be better off buying a reasonable instrument that has a straight neck etc. So many people are like "well I just want to try so I'll just get a cheap (whatever instrument here)". But learning on a shitty instrument is pretty unfun.

For someone who already plays and wants a cheap backup, that could be cool. I dunno. Guitars are so cheap. If you got into photography you'd probably drop $1000 on a camera easily but $1000 gets you a whole lot of guitar these days.

voutoreenie

I do think that for someone starting out, if you feel like you want to put effort into learning this, you would be better off buying a reasonable instrument that has a straight neck etc. So many people are like "well I just want to try so I'll just get a cheap (whatever instrument here)". But learning on a shitty instrument is pretty unfun.

So much this. I remember back when I used to teach and how some students would just struggle because their guitar was nearly unplayable, which were often from those very inexpensive "pack" deals that included a guitar/amp/gig bag...many not-so-fun discussions with parents about how now they needed to invest in a setup as well just to get the dang thing even somewhat playable for junior.

Joonas

@paulmcevoy75 I don't know how they make things in China. I just got a Chorus effect for my electric guitar for €5 and to get the free shipping I added another €5 item, a watch, to the shipment. Both items work. For them to make profit they must produce those things for pennies.

ChrisMartin

So how many times have we read on here that Altamiras, or other budget brands can be made good with a proper set up? Why cannot a super cheap Chinese copy, that is way cheaper, be made playable with a little work? I still say that most, if not all of the posters with the automatic negative comments have probably never tried one. I am not saying that they are the best guitars out there, but with a little tweaking they could be made into ideal begginer's guitars.

My main beef with the cheap factory guitars is the heavy poly finish, get rid of that and maybe a decent set of tuners, maybe a tailpiece and some bridge fettling along the way, and surely they have to be worth a try?

Oh yes, I just noticed, the word Richwood does not end in a vowel !

Now, just to back up my theory I am going to order one. I will get back with my findings in a few weeks.

paulmcevoy75

You can make a lot of shitty guitars play a lot better. It just costs as much as the shitty guitar does.

Doing fretwork and setups is not easy if you want something to play good. You could easily blow $250. Oh the neck is warped? We could refret it for $350 (maybe).

So you have a $200 guitar that you've put maybe $600 into that is worth $125 resale. But probably still sucks, either way.

Or you can buy a $1000 guitar that's worth maybe $1000 if you sell it.

The skills in China are off the charts as far as what they can produce and the price they can produce it at. But a $200 guitar is not going to have any significant quality control. They are not going to be sourcing any sort of seasoned woods and you're moving it from radically different climates with the cheapest of shipping. Not a good life for a guitar.

Are some of them ok, I'm sure. Some probably suck very badly though. You never know what you're going to get.

I bought a scalloped strat neck from China a couple years ago, it was pretty badly warped. I refretted it like 5x before I gave up and trashed it. It was probably very fresh unseasoned wood. It was really beautifully made though.

lucky

I've played a few Richwoods and Aersies. When I first started out, the Richwood was a fairly common and cheap guitar, the kind you might find in a small guitar shop - I once found one in a junk shop. They're fine - playable, with both the Django look and sound. Necks tended to be a bit basic compared to more expensive models but there was nothing wrong with them. I went to a jam in, I think, Glasgow years ago and there was a Hungarian gypsy there who was a phenomenal player and he had a Richwood. If you can get the sounds he could get out of it, you would have no complaints - I can't even get those tones with my expensive handmade guitars!

I know a couple of people with Aersies and they're ok too, great for the price. With all of these Chinese guitars, quality control is the main thing - none of them are just knocked out, someone has worked on them at some point and occasionally you get a really good one.

Just to follow up on a couple of other threads in this discussion, yes you can learn on a regular flattop. Selmer guitars are not compulsory, even Django was known to play flattops sometimes. Bireli went through a long phase of playing Ovations. It's ultimately down to the player. However, in the same way that if you're going to learn Hendrix or SRV you'll get a Strat, a Selmer-style guitar is inevitable if you really want to get into this genre. I also find flattops don't project as well in jams - that guy with the flattop is usually the one no one can hear when they solo.

The reason why China can make guitars (and everything else!) so cheaply is to do with the relative value of the yuan and western currencies. One yuan buys about the same within China as a dollar does in America, but on the currency markets you can buy 8-10 yuan with 1 US dollar or UK pound, which means any westerner going to China will feel very rich - so yes, they do make them for pennies.

If you can get a Richwood for a good price, go for it. If you get into the genre, you'll want to upgrade at some point, but it's good to have a knock about guitar because you won't want to take your 6K Barrault to a camp fire jam. On the other hand, if you don't get into it, you won't have spent too much money (these guitars are hard to move on unfortunately). Good luck!