OffsetGuitars.com

DiPinto guitars just released a new budget friendly series based on their Galaxie shape. They’re made in china, instead of Korea and don’t receive Chris DiPinto’s custom-made pickguards or the attention to the frets that the more expensive, Korean made guitars get, but they look quite nice.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQBdblPsNdi/

Typically I fucking hate this guy’s stuff and business methods but that metallic slime green deal is cool as hell. Feels like all of their guitars should be $400.

Mechanical Birds wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 2:42 am

Typically I fucking hate this guy’s stuff and business methods but that metallic slime green deal is cool as hell. Feels like all of their guitars should be $400.

What's wrong with his business methods?

Selling VM guitars for something like $800 because he sets them up. Lower-tier Asian guitars imported and sold at American guitar prices, it just kind of embarrasses and annoys me

Mechanical Birds wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:12 am

Selling VM guitars for something like $800 because he sets them up. Lower-tier Asian guitars imported and sold at American guitar prices, it just kind of embarrasses and annoys me

Interesting. He setup my SG, I wonder if I can get more money for it if I sold it.

Mechanical Birds wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 3:12 am

Selling VM guitars for something like $800 because he sets them up. Lower-tier Asian guitars imported and sold at American guitar prices, it just kind of embarrasses and annoys me

What he’s doing is not different than what Trev Wilkinson is doing with Italia guitars, Dennis Fano is doing with his Rivolta line or what Jeff Senn is doing with his his signature series made by Eastwood, or for Eastwood & Airline, for that matter. First of all, his designs are exclusive and pretty nice, so there’s some added value there. However, what Chris does to his guitars, which are made in the same Korean factories as the aforementioned brands, is more than a mere setup. He strips each guitar, adds a hand-cut pickguard, with new switches, electronics and pickups and does extensive neck work, leveling & polishing the frets, before putting everything back together. This is unlike Eastwood, Airline or Italia, who merely import and resell the guitars under their brands. As for his pricing, it’s nowhere near why Fender or Gibson chard for their American made guitars, it’s more in line with Fender’s Mexican made line and his QC is much better. He’s effectively a one man shop operating in Philly, unlike Eastwood or Italia, he doesn’t have a social media & marketing team or hire a 3rd party warehouse to do shipping and receiving, it’s just him working out of the back of a run down storefront on Girard Avenue in Fishtown (although he does have a couple of guys minding the front of the vintage guitar store). I own a few Eastwoods & MIM Fenders and have a single DiPinto, the quality control is way better.

Yeah- I don't see anything wrong with the business model of DiPinto- and the guitars are great for what they are.

I had a Mach XII that I picked up for $500ish some years ago. It was a great lil' machine, although I didn't get along with the Gibson-length scale so I sold it on- for a decent profit, too.

I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another DiPinto if the right one came knocking.

I don't super dig them just because the quirky pawn shop vibe isn't really for me, but having messed around on a couple of the imports and one of the US models, and aside from the US one having a nicer feeling finish, QC was super on point on both and they were great players -- but for somebody else.

These look like a sweet option for people that want that style of gear and playability but don't have the cash for it (or they're not gonna use it enough to justify the higher-end ones).

There’s no price list on De Pinto website? Just how much is required for Deposit... That turned me off on looking further at his other Offerings..

Larsongs wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 1:47 pm

There’s no price list on De Pinto website? Just how much is required for Deposit... That turned me off on looking further at his other Offerings..

On the link abobe:

[...] and only cost $399! [...]

Aren’t some of his guitars like $1500 or something? No idea if you guys meant he does the new guard and electronics upgrades or whatever on his branded guitars or the Squiers thing.

Maybe my distaste is unwarranted. At the very least I appreciate that it’s one guy just kinda doing cool shit.

Mechanical Birds wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 14, 2021 2:48 am

Aren’t some of his guitars like $1500 or something? No idea if you guys meant he does the new guard and electronics upgrades or whatever on his branded guitars or the Squiers thing.

Maybe my distaste is unwarranted. At the very least I appreciate that it’s one guy just kinda doing cool shit.

His Safari series MIK guitars range between $800-1200, depending on the finishes and levels of customization; his American made guitars start at $1800, iirc.

The link in my original post, the $399 Chinese imports, are directly applicable to Squiers and the price reflects that. The Safari line are way beyond that and the pricing reflects the amount of customization and labor he puts into each one. For those, I’d say the parts are comparable to Fenders Mexican made guitars, while the level of QC is closer to American Standard.

I plan on stopping by on Tuesday, I’ll report on my impressions.

In person, they’re pretty cool, with some neat details: the head stocks are angled and a neat detail is that they’re routed on a bias that’s parallel to the body, rather than perpendicular to the face.

The bodies are a little bigger than the Galaxies, but they feel comfortable sitting down. Th thought I’d snapped a photo of the two for comparison, but it seems that I just got a shot of my thumb…
There’s a fair amount of variety in color…

As well as configuration

left-handed version, too!

The necks are fast and easy to play, with jumbo frets. Intonation is pretty good and these are just out of the box, Chris hasn’t done his famed set-up on these. The back of the neck almost feels like raw wood, although presumably, there’s some sort of matte sealer on them.

All told, these are neat guitars, with a cool shape and are quite easy to play. They have decent tone, I particularly liked the 3 humbucker model, which surprised me, because I don’t usually like humbuckers. They were quite bright and clear, unusual for PAF style, in my experience. The paint work on this one was gorgeous, too, a lovely purple/fuchsia metalic hue.

That said, it wasn’t all circuses and kittens. These guitars are built for a price point, and it shows on some of them. The single coil versions are quite noisy, with a lot of 60 cycle hum evident. It comes with the territory, though I imagine that some shielding tape would be quite helpful.
Some of the necks had finishing mishaps, the kind of thing you might find on a Chinese import neck on eBay. This one had a little over milling at the headstock:

And a little variation in the fretboard, and in general, the frets felt slightly rough and in need of polishing, but it was something that would likely wear out in a few weeks of playing.

Also, differing from its more well heeled sibling, the Orbital uses smaller, push button on/off switches, rather than the larger rocker switches found on Galaxies

Bottom line, these are reasonably well made instruments for $399, that would be fantastic with a luthier’s touch on the frets, demonstrating that they’re built to a price point. If you want an offset on a budget, but feel that Squiers are too ordinary and wouldn’t be caught dead with a Fernandes or Harley Benton, this might be a great option for you.

Lost In Autumn wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:11 am

The bodies are a little bigger than the Galaxies

Yes, the waist looks a little wider than on the Galaxies. The pickguard is not as close to the lower edge of the body.
Also, the Orbitals have a less goofy headstock shape than the Galaxies.

Gordon wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 5:06 pm

Larsongs wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 1:47 pm

There’s no price list on De Pinto website? Just how much is required for Deposit... That turned me off on looking further at his other Offerings..

On the link abobe:

[...] and only cost $399! [...]

I saw that. I was referring to the Prices on their higher end Guitars shown on their website… I’ve always liked their cool vibe but discounted them because I didn’t think they were comparable to something like an AV65 Jag or JM…