Darrel, because of your review on the Shijie Strat I couldnt get it out of my head and purchased one. Shell pink , Humbucker, locking tuners , stainless steel frets. The guitar is absolutely phenominal. Have two other fender strats that I really like , one american one mim but the Shijie is in a class of its own. Ive never played or heard a Suhr personally but I cannot imagine how it could much better than this Shijie. Every gig I play it at it gets compliments , from the way it looks to how it sounds. I love showing it to guitarist at a gig to see their response. Everyone has just loved playing it. I cant tell you how many people have told me they want that guitar. Im very fortunate to own a lot of really nice guitars, Im very much a traditionalist when it comes to guitars , this Shijie strat is ABSOLUTELY at the top of my list for quality construction and true craftsmanship. I guess tone is subjective but it sounds like a strat should! What else is there to say. I am a TELECASTER geek, build a few partscasters that are just fantastic! Learned a lot about guitars through doing that and for anyone who is considering a Shijie Strat or Tele be assured you will be getting one of the finest instruments you will ever play. They are truly a bargain!
Do you have the exact model name of the Shijie Strat that you bought? I'm looking at their website and I can't find any with locking tuners. Even the "Stainless SSS" model just has regular vintage tuners.
@@ThePCForever I bought an STE 'Strat' SSH in Daphne blue with stainless steel frets in November '21. I believe they come with vintage tuners as stock. I had the electronics modified, but forgot to ask about locking tuners. I will say that the vintage tuners I got are really good - snug with smooth response. I really don't miss locking tuners with these. I imagine you could request locking tuners though - I made a request for an electronics modification and there was no problem - I am very happy with the results.
@@ThePCForever I wanted just one volume and one tone knob. I'm one of those people who find the placement of the volume knob too close to the bridge pickup, so I wanted it moved and have only the bottom two knob positions occupied. Anyway, this was no problem for them to customize. I believe it cost $62.00 CAD. This is another advantage of going to a small company - I'd hate to think of how much Fender would charge for this, and the time it would have taken!
I took my Shijie STE to a tech because I had some fret buzz. When I came to pick it up, he told me how impressed he was, it's a great, professional instrument. Very well made with great attention to detail. Also, the fret buzz was minor, nothing to worry about, really.
Got my Shijie cause of this channel and the guys over there have been nothing but good to me. Plays like a dream. Edit: It was actually a year ago today I got haha, small world.
Looks like Fleck paint. I actually did that technique in a machine shop years ago. Spray one normal coat. After it dries... there's a special spray gun that spits the paint out. But you mix the paint thicker. It's ideal for covering up surface flaws.
Reminds me of powder coating, which isn't too common on wood, but can be done (I had to look it up, I'm familiar with metal objects, such as doors on ships, being powder coated). I gathered that the wood has to have a certain moisture content and the wood needs to be heated for the technique to work.
@@ShijieGuitars No worries! Since Darrell loves your guitars… then the whole world is gonna love your guitars. I hope that his endorsement leads to many sales and a bright and prosperous future. (One day… when I’m ready… I’ll buy one!)
The standard one would be my choice, i much prefer dark fretboards and can't stand relic guitars. Great to see the shielding and the trus road wheel at the body end. Excellent guitars, that prove that China can make excellent guitars but they are not at the affordable end of the market.
If you look at the shielding i have noticed that there is a tiny piece of tape that connects to the shielding. The screws go thru the shielding thus connecting
I bought a Shijie because of this channel. Mine is a 2020 STE in green pearl. It's stunning in person. It is also my best playing guitar. I own 3 core PRS's and the Shijie gets the most playing time. I got mine from LEEN Music on Reverb. One thing that's kind of a bummer though-- ever since you put them on your channel, they're not that cheap anymore! I got mine for around $1400 which includes taxes and shipping from China. I guess that's still a bargain considering you're getting a Suhr quality instrument, but it's definitely not cheap anymore.
@@ZitherBeast shijie is a Chinese company. All their guitars are made in China. They uploaded a video on RUclips of their shop. It’s a tiny custom shop style operation. They have a few CNc machines but almost everything else is hand crafted. They’re high end though similar to Eastman, also a Chinese brand. Don’t let the made in China scare you, these are great guitars. The hardware and pickups are made by Gotoh for Shijie, hence the made in Japan sticker. Even that Shijie engraved bridge is made by Gotoh. The vintage tuners are also by Gotoh. I’m thinking they have a good partnership with Gotoh. The electronics are made in Korea.
Bought a Shijie strat identical to yours following your initial review, and man it’s a fantastic guitar. Right up there with my EBMM Luke III and Ibanez AZ2204, both amazing guitars. Tbh the craftmanship on the Shijie is just as good and even better in some areas. In terms of playing and letting the music flow, they all bring their own qualities and personalites, and I’m just super happy with all three of them. Thank you so much for introducing me to Shijie! Great to see that they (as expected) are on point also with the new Tele series. 👍🎸🎸
After watching your video about the STE I purchased a relic white TVL and it blew away every Fender Telecaster I have ever played. I am glad ShiJie hooked you up with, not one but two, of the TVLs. Thanks again for the video on the STE. I have also purchased one of those and I cannot say enough good things about Shijie. Cheers buddy!
@@benjorino Shir (as in shirt) and jeer (as in jeer): shir-jeer. Both syllables are falling tones, so drop each syllable like you're tired of it. If you can breathe the "sh" around your tongue like you're trying to blow out a candle but you can't move your lips or jaw, even better!
I think the Relic's finish is an intentional 'orange peel' finish. Very reminiscent of trying to paint guitars as a kid. No professional spray equipment - just straight out of the spray can on top of a poorly applied undercoat. :-) As a Relic finish - I like it. And it sounds really nice.
The Red finish is I think known as orange peel,usually something you really don't want. I did a really bad paint job on my first motorbike resulting in exactly that finish, I liked it though and love it on that guitar.
Darrell.. Why aren't you not mentioning the price of the guitars..? The website of shijie is not accessible.. Plz do give a word on the pricing of the products u review... Grt review btw.. A humble request from a long time subscriber.
Probably because they increased their prices by 33%, add shipping and import costs on top of that. They are no longer a deal like they used to be and have poor resale value.
Great stuff ! I’ve never heard of this brand. I owm 13 guitars, two fenders custom shops, and it’s been quite a long time since I’ve seen such a great guitar.
After seeing your (and as many others as I could find) review of the STE I took a chance and bought one. What a great guitar! Far and away the best 'S' style guitar I've ever owned or played. Seriously tempted to get another Shijie.
Darell very interesting stuff as always, we discover with you very valuable high end instruments, that we never heard before, thank you so much for that! One request to you if i may ask, because your opinion matters, could you do in the future a similar review for the japanese made yamaha REVSTARS and below? i wonder where their value could fall in your scale. Looking forward to this! Thanks again, love what you are doing so well and professionally for years now! :)
That finish is in the clear coat. It is sprayed without enough reducer and fogged on. It's like doing the exact opposite of what you do on a normal clearcoat finish.
We called that "an orange peel finish"---(years in the sign business, very undesirable!} But since you reviewed an orange colored guitar maybe the term has crossed the Pacific and it's now "boutique"!! Great job on all your reviews, I've learned so much . . .Thanks
I had a rather different experience with Shijie. I bought an STE SSS model with stainless steel frets a few months ago. They sent me the guitar in a considerably cheaper and thinner case than the one you've shown in both of your reviews of Shijie. Also, the neck angle seems to be off. I've had to lower the bridge saddles so low that it's all the way down to the tremolo plate on the first string and yet the action is still fairly high. I have raised these issues with Shijie, but they don't seem to care. They claim that they recently changed their cases to a thinner case but you seem to still have the thicker case in your recent review. I think you might have received something different from what I received from Shijie.
Agreed. But I think it speaks to whether the quality from Shijie really is so far above it's price point. As others have mentioned, there are a lot of very nice guitars available now with stainless steel frets and roasted maple necks at around the same price as Shijie
Sorry to read, As Darell said, commited to make high quality guitars, that is how a business grow, one customer at a time. Maybe yours is an exception.
Hello Marc I’m Dave from the sales department. I always receive you, so I will respond to your questions. I look through all our chat history in the mail I think our first contact was in August 2020 Your first purchase of our RT-custom guitar I remember I took a picture to show you, the guitar you want to buy before shipment Then we continue to chat, because there are 2 versions of body wood in RT, you chose one of them at the time, because the tone delivered by different woods will also have slight changes, I believe you must be clear as a guitarist, I sent you The RT of the body wood you want. However, you received the guitar and don’t like its sound (we have a video showing RT in youtube) You want to return the product. The policy of the aliexpress transaction is that there is no quality problem and will not be returned for free. You may have to bear the shipping fee. In the end, you return the product on the ground that the guitar body pattern you received is different from the photo. Because we have just started to receive American customers, so I will bear all the shipping costs and return the goods to you. (According to the trading rules,I don't have to bear the freight) After the guitar was received, we tested it. It was the same as what we released on RUclips. There was no problem This is our first acquaintance.
No taxes but $140 U.S. dollars to ship to Virginia. Total cost for a strat style SSS stainless fret model is $1,339.00 dollars. No mention of a case but will assume it comes with that nice soft shell case. Since I can't get my hands on one of these to try, I would like to see a blindfold test of this guitar versus a American Elite to see how it fares in feel and tone.
Recently I've sold off all my expensive guitars. Now I seem to be into the road less traveled type of guitars. I started rebuilding my collection with a line 6 JTV variax, ($1,300) I like recording with it. Then I found a 2001 Washburn 64i dlx for $680 that intrigued me because of its Buzz Feiten tuning system. Most recently I purchased a Harley Benton Fusion 3 silver Sparkle ( bound to be a conversation starter at my next open mic) for about $450 including shipping. I could still use a strat style guitar with a HSS set up. Maybe it is time to look up some Keisel's. Any advice?
I really, really appreciate how thorough your reviews are. Really superb. I'd love to see you get ahold of a Rivera Clubster Royale Recording head to demo. Most people just crap out a 3 min video but you really break things down. Zooming in on the fretwork really shows their attention to detail.
I used to correspond with a sales rep who sold Shijie guitars and he stopped selling them due to a lot of quality control issues, I think the ones Darrell gets are the cream of the crop and not representative of the majority. These guitars are not cheap! That’s a lot of money to gamble on an unknown company with quality control issues and questionable customer service. Take my advice, if you’re gonna spend over $1,000, buy local and only after you have seen the guitar in person, played it, and made sure it’s the one!
Man, before you have tried this guitar, all your guesses may mislead others. « Cream of the crop » and « a lot of quality control issues ». Do you have one guitar from them? Have you ever been to their factory? These two points are entirely your own prejudices. And most of the prejudices are due to ignorance. Please think twice before you talk.
Chen Wenhao No prejudices or biases here. There are good and bad examples in all guitar makes and models. What I stated were facts related to my own experience. Others’ results may vary. If Shijie’s quality control and customer service prove me wrong and the people who buy them are ecstatic, then those experiences will outweigh my statements. I still stand by my advice about buying something that expensive sight unseen. I am not misleading anyone. Instead of mislabeling someone you don’t know and calling them ignorant, let’s just let Shijie guitars speak for themselves. Time will tell.
@@jaxplanner7282 "What I stated were facts related to my own experience." "I think the ones Darrell gets are the cream of the crop and not representative of the majority." "No prejudices or biases here." Man, Your statement contradicts your previous statement. Please, again, think twice before you talk, I see no logic here.
Chen Wenhao I see you continue to attack the person and present nothing in the way of constructive information to the contrary. I could go into a long history of my Shijie experience that dates back to when they first appeared in US guitar channels; however, this is not the forum for that. Shijie’s success rests not in my statements or yours. It rests in its guitars. Peace out.
Jax, unfortunately, knowing the inside story, that is not true and you were lied to (Shijie dumped them, not the other way around). Be that as it may be, if you search online for reports from people who have bought Shijie guitars, you will not find a single negative report, in fact, every one will be glowing. I know, because I did that before I bought mine, which is nicer than any Fendson I've ever played. Stunning craftsmanship at an amazing price. Yes, I'm a fan lol
Obviously Shijie is great but hate that orange peel finish as it doesn't reflect any sort of vintage finish you would see in the wild. That said, they offer traditional smooth finishes, and that is what I will go for if I pull the trigger. Thanks for all your great videos.
I bought the STE because of you, Darrell! And Philip McKnight a bit, but your review of the guitar definitely sold the guitar to me! I bought the pearl green finish. It's a bit metallic, and it's the most beautiful finish on a guitar that I've ever seen! I'll try to not buy the Tele right away after watching this video. 😄
@@Madchris8828 I live in Argentina, there was a paddle tennis fever down here in the 90s, you could find courts ALL over the place and almost everyone played it. It was nuts. Now we're back to normal but an event like that leaves a psycological scar so I recognized that finish the moment Darrel showed that close up. Lol
This is a beautiful guitar! It seems that the only thing this guitar is missing is the Fender or the Squire on the headstock. Really like this guitar. Would definitely play one, but honestly, I feel like I have to have at least one of the orriginals first. Have never owned a Tele. I'm primarily a Gibson guy but have owned a few Strats. Hab never paid much attention to Teles and finally decided I need one, but honestly, I feel like I should buy a Fender before anything else. That being said, if I love it I might pick up one of these eventually too because they do seem like great guitars. Well made, and you make them sound good at the very least.
I bought my STE HSS with Stainless Steel frets because of your review Darrell, with taxes, import duties and shipping to Europe it cost me over 1300$ but I do not regret. It's an absolutely fantastic guitar and the guys at Shijie are great!
Very nice!! How can I get one?? What is the website name?? Are they affordable?? All these questions are probably answered in this post, I just love faster cheaper better more!!!🤣🎸
a quick note; about 2 weeks ago Shijie raised pricing by $400 to $1200 before shipping and import fees. Sounds like they are still worthy even with the price hike, but for those thinking they're still $800+shipping should be aware.
That little 'extra' will come in handy later when pulling one of those guitars apart and to put all the little parts into! Luthier Dave from 'Dave's World Of Fun Stuff' (another Canadian) uses those guitar-shaped cups all the time 😀
@@DarrellBraunGuitar Awesome. It's crazy how much guitar you can get in the mid range price point today. Thanks for the review and the awesome content as always!
Great Vid Darrell, nice guitar. Have you ever tested a Michael Kelly guitar? I've been looking to some of their tele style and tehy look great, but there are also some comments/reviws online saying the QC is not the best. What would be your top pick for a tele style in the 500-800 range? Schecter? Charvel? G&L? thanks!
Hi Daryll, have you tried any of the Sire Larry Carlton S7's of LP shaped guitars, i have the blue maple S7 and for the money the build and sounds are better than a thousand dollar Strat, have a go, the quality will blow you away , we don't get these Shijie guitars in the UK yet.
The finish on the relic is done by not thinning the paint to the correct viscosity,it doesn't require a special spray gun as previously stated,just thicker paint.......................................
I have 2 telecaster consist of Fender deluxe and Shijie TLV relic with stainless fret. I prefer playing Shijie more than Fender because the sound and sustain. Wating you review Shijie with Wenge neck.
Don’t care for the red “truck bed liner” finish, or the relicing, but those guitars are so well built. Really amazing. And man, I LOVE the look of their roasted maple necks!!! I don’t need another guitar, but that is the hook for me.
They have considerably raised their prices since you reviewed the ST style guitar a year a half ago. Now they're not on the "affordable" side. Sure, they're very high quality instruments, but at $ 1,099 - 1,199, that's not a bargain anymore. For that price you get a Gender Player Plus Strat or Tele with same great features. BTW didn't manage to see the tuners. Thank you for your review! BTW Have you seen the Sire Larry Carlton series? I think they're worth a review. Also would be great if you could take a look at the Ibanez AZES series.
@@rishz7857 Absolutely, today you just have to browse your favorite music online store for hours and you sure will find the right price/value guitar for you.
I have watched a review of those Sire guitars at Andertons, It would be nice to see a independent review, a comparativw with this brand and a Fender would be even better
Hi Darren, very nice review, you should check out also Bacchus, Soloking, and Aria Pro II guitars they were excellent instruments as well with inexpensive pricing
I’ve had a TLV sunburst for over a year now, very good guitar. Plays great, well built. These guys are kind of doing the Fender/Suhr lines what Eastman did with the Gibson lines a bunch of years ago.. using legit craftsmen and luthiers to build a great product.
I might have missed it in the video, but what are the specs on the neck carve? Does it feel thin like a Fender Modern C or is it thicker like an American Pro neck?
I was wondering the same thing and looked at their website and see that the TLV-M series reference their ¸2021 Shijie C,. I was guessing it was some sort of C shape.
I'm so stoked to see this review, the STE blew my mind. Prices did go up (around $1000 now) from $800, but I think the build quality is unmatched. Just have to decide Strat or Tele....?!
Do you have either? I personally have a telecaster and I still don't know if I would have rather gotten a strat the day I got it. Both are really great versatile guitars and I don't think you can regret getting one or the other.
@@leo._.vincent I have a Nashville Telecaster (3 pickups) and I absolutely love it. That being said, I'm not done exploring the guitar world yet and a super strat would be a great addition for me.
Honestly, looks like it was spay painted by a 15yo who didn't get over spray. But I guess if a 15yo did that to a vintage guitar, if would still be a relic. Maybe a "grunge relic"? There weren't to m/any candy apple red fenders with that bad of a paint job. It's a bit of a cop out imho. A $7 can of Rust-Oleum and a flight of stairs can get you there real quick.
@@jeremywinnett6352 I wasn't commenting on the finish itself (it's called 'orange peel' by the way) but the way they only removed minor bits of it like it was owned by someone who really cared about their guitar but still played it a lot and ran it into inevitable bumps and scrapes. Not the typical 'Well, let's sand about 35% of the finish down to bare wood because THAT certainly happens just from playing it' that we see in typical relic treatments. This is a relic job, not a RELIC JOB!
@@tombworld9012 its not orange peel if the guitar looks like it has droplets of paint on it. orange peel occurs when the finish hasnt been level sanded resulting in high and low spots. This finish has actual droplets of paint on it. There was a brand of arisol craft paint that did this but I cant remember the name. But as for the relic. Looks too clean to be convincing, At least try to age the wood a bit...
Darrell ... thx for the review. If you could include weight and complete neck info (shape, radius, thickness, nut width, fret size) ... would be awesome!!
That red finish is like a deliberate orange peel (usually not a wanted result), probably from the paint formula, and/or they flocked the body with the same color, possibly flocked it first then an overcoat. I don't know that I'd want it myself, but it's interesting.
@@DarrellBraunGuitar ya. ...ive been trying vti contact Dave at shijie with what's app...but no reply...so I texted him this evening...too bad they don't come in other colors
I kind of like the textured finish on the orange guitar but not with the Relic eating on it. The pickups sound really good. I noticed no shielding under the bridge pup, why not there but inside control cavity?
Their site shows quite a range of price for the TLV line. It would kind of be nice to know which you are trying out here (there is no "standard" listed), as they vary from $799 USD to $2580 USD. Also the "classic", the one for $799 is listed as having nickel frets
I think what they did with the relic is try to simulate someone having "refinished" with a rattle can at some point. Nice sounding instruments for sure.
I was hoping that one of the guitar will come with Shijie's own design of T-style guitar bridge that i've seen on their Instagram. I'm so curious about it because it looks well build, and I really love the design
Darrell Are there any short scale electrics other than the Mustang or Duo sonic that play and sound well enough to be the main axe for gigging out with?
What’s the white stuff on the pickups on the white guitar? I couldn’t quite tell, but it almost looked to me like the bottom 3 strings had rails. Or is it just some like tape or something?
What about the tuners? They didn’t get a mention. You said in passing that the nut was bone. How well was it cut? Review not up you your usual standards Darrell.
Site says "Vintage Kluson tuners", though whether there's a missing "-style" in there is anyone's guess. Buyers seem happy with the guitars so I can't see shijie cutting silly corners on really bad clones. DB would've noticed if they were sloppy/grindy.
Hi Paul, thank you for your reply to my post. I have not checked out the guitar website, and I appreciate that you have taken the time to do so. This however, does nothing to ameliorate my feelings that this was a bit of a wham bam fan boy review. Cheers Tim
Hey Darrell, those look cool. I’ve been a tele man myself for the last 35 years. Maybe you’d like to gift one of them to guy who never has enough cash for a thousand dollar guitar because he’s always taking care of his children? That roasted maple neck is a beauty.
After a long absence Shijie is back on the channel!
Let me know if you have one, and if it is as nice as these ones are!
Enjoy :)
Would love for you to check out the Larry Carlton Sire guitars, I believe there’s a new T shape model launching this month as well.
I got that kind of finish on a project from using a small wool/fabric roller to paint
Tuners same as the strat or???
By the Shije company ? I didn't see a mention on it.
You broke their website with this video 🤣
Darrel, because of your review on the Shijie Strat I couldnt get it out of my head and purchased one. Shell pink , Humbucker, locking tuners , stainless steel frets. The guitar is absolutely phenominal. Have two other fender strats that I really like , one american one mim but the Shijie is in a class of its own. Ive never played or heard a Suhr personally but I cannot imagine how it could much better than this Shijie. Every gig I play it at it gets compliments , from the way it looks to how it sounds. I love showing it to guitarist at a gig to see their response. Everyone has just loved playing it. I cant tell you how many people have told me they want that guitar. Im very fortunate to own a lot of really nice guitars, Im very much a traditionalist when it comes to guitars , this Shijie strat is ABSOLUTELY at the top of my list for quality construction and true craftsmanship. I guess tone is subjective but it sounds like a strat should! What else is there to say. I am a TELECASTER geek, build a few partscasters that are just fantastic! Learned a lot about guitars through doing that and for anyone who is considering a Shijie Strat or Tele be assured you will be getting one of the finest instruments you will ever play. They are truly a bargain!
Do you have the exact model name of the Shijie Strat that you bought? I'm looking at their website and I can't find any with locking tuners. Even the "Stainless SSS" model just has regular vintage tuners.
@@ThePCForever I bought an STE 'Strat' SSH in Daphne blue with stainless steel frets in November '21. I believe they come with vintage tuners as stock. I had the electronics modified, but forgot to ask about locking tuners. I will say that the vintage tuners I got are really good - snug with smooth response. I really don't miss locking tuners with these. I imagine you could request locking tuners though - I made a request for an electronics modification and there was no problem - I am very happy with the results.
@@tonyvector5022 Interesting, thanks for sharing! What electronics did you modify, and how much did it cost?
@@ThePCForever I wanted just one volume and one tone knob. I'm one of those people who find the placement of the volume knob too close to the bridge pickup, so I wanted it moved and have only the bottom two knob positions occupied. Anyway, this was no problem for them to customize. I believe it cost $62.00 CAD. This is another advantage of going to a small company - I'd hate to think of how much Fender would charge for this, and the time it would have taken!
I took my Shijie STE to a tech because I had some fret buzz. When I came to pick it up, he told me how impressed he was, it's a great, professional instrument. Very well made with great attention to detail. Also, the fret buzz was minor, nothing to worry about, really.
Got my Shijie cause of this channel and the guys over there have been nothing but good to me. Plays like a dream.
Edit: It was actually a year ago today I got haha, small world.
Great to hear!
What were the taxes on importing the guitar?
@@jazzsounds8159 At the time, I paid for the guitar + 100 shipping/ fees for a total of $945 (STE model, not SSS)
@@JessesAuditorium thanks, but probably no lefty's.
@@jazzsounds8159 As far as my knowledge, no. But they're good at responding on their website! good luck
Looks like Fleck paint. I actually did that technique in a machine shop years ago. Spray one normal coat. After it dries... there's a special spray gun that spits the paint out. But you mix the paint thicker. It's ideal for covering up surface flaws.
Reminds me of powder coating, which isn't too common on wood, but can be done (I had to look it up, I'm familiar with metal objects, such as doors on ships, being powder coated). I gathered that the wood has to have a certain moisture content and the wood needs to be heated for the technique to work.
Looks like what they used to call orange peel finish
Exactly,orange peel. Usually when you didn’t do something right.
@@robertlewis5439 The wood has to conduct electricity and being warm would only help if it's green wood and the sap get runnier than normal...
Orange peel. Yeah, that's what it reminded me of. A home made spray paint finish.
As much as I love my 80s guitars and my semi-hollows, deep down inside I’ll always be a tele guy. Love these.
The “Darrell Braun Effect” occurs when Darrell reviews a guitar and the manufacturer’s website can’t handle the traffic load.
I can't get through either ;)
Yeah website blown out of the water. Congratulations Darrell!
Sorry, we are actively arranging website personnel to upgrade the network
@@ShijieGuitars No worries!
Since Darrell loves your guitars… then the whole world is gonna love your guitars. I hope that his endorsement leads to many sales and a bright and prosperous future.
(One day… when I’m ready… I’ll buy one!)
@@toddbrous_untwist Thank you for your understanding
The standard one would be my choice, i much prefer dark fretboards
and can't stand relic guitars.
Great to see the shielding and the trus road wheel at the body end.
Excellent guitars, that prove that China can make excellent guitars
but they are not at the affordable end of the market.
Glad to see they’re still making quality instruments. Nice video
This is the sort of guitar company that I liked, they are grounded to the market, player and customer focus. Hence good value and quality
Yup, a small shop focused on quality is always great to see!
If you look at the shielding i have noticed that there is a tiny piece of tape that connects to the shielding. The screws go thru the shielding thus connecting
I bought a Shijie because of this channel. Mine is a 2020 STE in green pearl. It's stunning in person. It is also my best playing guitar. I own 3 core PRS's and the Shijie gets the most playing time. I got mine from LEEN Music on Reverb. One thing that's kind of a bummer though-- ever since you put them on your channel, they're not that cheap anymore! I got mine for around $1400 which includes taxes and shipping from China. I guess that's still a bargain considering you're getting a Suhr quality instrument, but it's definitely not cheap anymore.
Is that just a typo, "shipping from China" when it's a Japanese guitar made in Korea. This is going to make my noggin explode. LOL.
@@ZitherBeast shijie is a Chinese company. All their guitars are made in China. They uploaded a video on RUclips of their shop. It’s a tiny custom shop style operation. They have a few CNc machines but almost everything else is hand crafted. They’re high end though similar to Eastman, also a Chinese brand. Don’t let the made in China scare you, these are great guitars. The hardware and pickups are made by Gotoh for Shijie, hence the made in Japan sticker. Even that Shijie engraved bridge is made by Gotoh. The vintage tuners are also by Gotoh. I’m thinking they have a good partnership with Gotoh. The electronics are made in Korea.
@@erniezetroc Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. I'm truly interested in the strat style guitar. They both look great. Cheers.
Bought a Shijie strat identical to yours following your initial review, and man it’s a fantastic guitar. Right up there with my EBMM Luke III and Ibanez AZ2204, both amazing guitars. Tbh the craftmanship on the Shijie is just as good and even better in some areas.
In terms of playing and letting the music flow, they all bring their own qualities and personalites, and I’m just super happy with all three of them. Thank you so much for introducing me to Shijie! Great to see that they (as expected) are on point also with the new Tele series. 👍🎸🎸
After watching your video about the STE I purchased a relic white TVL and it blew away every Fender Telecaster I have ever played. I am glad ShiJie hooked you up with, not one but two, of the TVLs. Thanks again for the video on the STE. I have also purchased one of those and I cannot say enough good things about Shijie. Cheers buddy!
Have a Shijie RT Custom...stunning guitar. Literally perfect in every way.
Honestly, I just love saying Shijie. Can't say it without smiling. It's like "guacamole" or "kumquat." ;-)
if its chinese it's pronounced more like 'shuh- jyeah'... hard to write in English。 Paste 世界 into google translate and get it to speak it!
try 'ladel', then 'garbonzo'
@@benjorino Shir (as in shirt) and jeer (as in jeer): shir-jeer. Both syllables are falling tones, so drop each syllable like you're tired of it. If you can breathe the "sh" around your tongue like you're trying to blow out a candle but you can't move your lips or jaw, even better!
I think the Relic's finish is an intentional 'orange peel' finish. Very reminiscent of trying to paint guitars as a kid. No professional spray equipment - just straight out of the spray can on top of a poorly applied undercoat. :-) As a Relic finish - I like it. And it sounds really nice.
Love how bright it is. not muddy. sounds like a nice, classic twangy telly. pickups sound hot.
The Red finish is I think known as orange peel,usually something you really don't want. I did a really bad paint job on my first motorbike resulting in exactly that finish, I liked it though and love it on that guitar.
I own a Gibson, a Fender, an Ibanez, a Charvel, etc.; and my number 1 go-to guitar is the Shijie TLV.
Pardon me: "Shi Jie" should be pronounced "shi j-yeah". Great Review nonetheless!
Darrell.. Why aren't you not mentioning the price of the guitars..? The website of shijie is not accessible.. Plz do give a word on the pricing of the products u review... Grt review btw.. A humble request from a long time subscriber.
$1000 plus for the Tele, $1200 or more for a strat from what I have seen.
Probably because they increased their prices by 33%, add shipping and import costs on top of that. They are no longer a deal like they used to be and have poor resale value.
Because they aren't cheap,their expensive and shipping costs as well.
Great video! I’ve been waiting for this. Thanks for taking up the suggestion.
Great stuff ! I’ve never heard of this brand. I owm 13 guitars, two fenders custom shops, and it’s been quite a long time since I’ve seen such a great guitar.
After seeing your (and as many others as I could find) review of the STE I took a chance and bought one. What a great guitar! Far and away the best 'S' style guitar I've ever owned or played. Seriously tempted to get another Shijie.
Darell very interesting stuff as always, we discover with you very valuable high end instruments, that we never heard before, thank you so much for that! One request to you if i may ask,
because your opinion matters, could you do in the future a similar review for the japanese made yamaha REVSTARS and below? i wonder where their value could fall in your scale. Looking forward to this!
Thanks again, love what you are doing so well and professionally for years now! :)
Wow they sound good, thanks for the review Darrell
That finish is in the clear coat. It is sprayed without enough reducer and fogged on. It's like doing the exact opposite of what you do on a normal clearcoat finish.
Kinda like overspraying and calling it relic?
@@jeremywinnett6352 Exactly!
This guitars are very impressive. I love both of them. The pickups sound great.
We called that "an orange peel finish"---(years in the sign business, very undesirable!} But since you reviewed an orange colored guitar maybe the term has crossed the Pacific and it's now "boutique"!!
Great job on all your reviews, I've learned so much . . .Thanks
I like you Darrell. Thanks for not only focusing on Gibson branded guitars like Trog does. Keep up the great work.
I had a rather different experience with Shijie. I bought an STE SSS model with stainless steel frets a few months ago. They sent me the guitar in a considerably cheaper and thinner case than the one you've shown in both of your reviews of Shijie. Also, the neck angle seems to be off. I've had to lower the bridge saddles so low that it's all the way down to the tremolo plate on the first string and yet the action is still fairly high. I have raised these issues with Shijie, but they don't seem to care. They claim that they recently changed their cases to a thinner case but you seem to still have the thicker case in your recent review. I think you might have received something different from what I received from Shijie.
@@richgarners They aren't cheap. Should have been shipped in playable shape.
Agreed. But I think it speaks to whether the quality from Shijie really is so far above it's price point. As others have mentioned, there are a lot of very nice guitars available now with stainless steel frets and roasted maple necks at around the same price as Shijie
Sorry to read, As Darell said, commited to make high quality guitars, that is how a business grow, one customer at a time. Maybe yours is an exception.
Hello Marc
I’m Dave from the sales department. I always receive you, so I will respond to your questions.
I look through all our chat history in the mail
I think our first contact was in August 2020
Your first purchase of our RT-custom guitar
I remember I took a picture to show you, the guitar you want to buy before shipment
Then we continue to chat, because there are 2 versions of body wood in RT, you chose one of them at the time, because the tone delivered by different woods will also have slight changes, I believe you must be clear as a guitarist, I sent you The RT of the body wood you want.
However, you received the guitar and don’t like its sound (we have a video showing RT in youtube)
You want to return the product. The policy of the aliexpress transaction is that there is no quality problem and will not be returned for free. You may have to bear the shipping fee. In the end, you return the product on the ground that the guitar body pattern you received is different from the photo.
Because we have just started to receive American customers, so I will bear all the shipping costs and return the goods to you.
(According to the trading rules,I don't have to bear the freight)
After the guitar was received, we tested it. It was the same as what we released on RUclips. There was no problem
This is our first acquaintance.
@@ShijieGuitars wow, that's so helpful, nice. Outstanding. Take care.
The red ones paint looks like red Bedliner, like the same stuff I use to paint my steel bumpers, looks kinda cool
They sound amazing, love the clean tones
No taxes but $140 U.S. dollars to ship to Virginia. Total cost for a strat style SSS stainless fret model is $1,339.00 dollars. No mention of a case but will assume it comes with that nice soft shell case. Since I can't get my hands on one of these to try,
I would like to see a blindfold test of this guitar versus a American Elite to see how it fares in feel and tone.
I have never put hands on a Kiesel. But I'd like to.
Recently I've sold off all my expensive guitars. Now I seem to be into the road less traveled type of guitars. I started rebuilding my collection with a line 6 JTV variax, ($1,300) I like recording with it. Then I found a 2001 Washburn 64i dlx for $680 that intrigued me because of its Buzz Feiten tuning system. Most recently I purchased a Harley Benton Fusion 3 silver Sparkle ( bound to be a conversation starter at my next open mic) for about $450 including shipping. I could still use a strat style guitar with a HSS set up. Maybe it is time to look up some Keisel's.
Any advice?
Do you know what the radius is? It’s not listed on their website. Thank you
The radius is 12 inches
I really, really appreciate how thorough your reviews are. Really superb. I'd love to see you get ahold of a Rivera Clubster Royale Recording head to demo. Most people just crap out a 3 min video but you really break things down. Zooming in on the fretwork really shows their attention to detail.
I used to correspond with a sales rep who sold Shijie guitars and he stopped selling them due to a lot of quality control issues, I think the ones Darrell gets are the cream of the crop and not representative of the majority. These guitars are not cheap! That’s a lot of money to gamble on an unknown company with quality control issues and questionable customer service. Take my advice, if you’re gonna spend over $1,000, buy local and only after you have seen the guitar in person, played it, and made sure it’s the one!
Man, before you have tried this guitar, all your guesses may mislead others.
« Cream of the crop » and « a lot of quality control issues ». Do you have one guitar from them? Have you ever been to their factory?
These two points are entirely your own prejudices. And most of the prejudices are due to ignorance.
Please think twice before you talk.
Chen Wenhao No prejudices or biases here. There are good and bad examples in all guitar makes and models. What I stated were facts related to my own experience. Others’ results may vary. If Shijie’s quality control and customer service prove me wrong and the people who buy them are ecstatic, then those experiences will outweigh my statements. I still stand by my advice about buying something that expensive sight unseen. I am not misleading anyone. Instead of mislabeling someone you don’t know and calling them ignorant, let’s just let Shijie guitars speak for themselves. Time will tell.
@@jaxplanner7282
"What I stated were facts related to my own experience."
"I think the ones Darrell gets are the cream of the crop and not representative of the majority."
"No prejudices or biases here."
Man, Your statement contradicts your previous statement. Please, again, think twice before you talk, I see no logic here.
Chen Wenhao I see you continue to attack the person and present nothing in the way of constructive information to the contrary. I could go into a long history of my Shijie experience that dates back to when they first appeared in US guitar channels; however, this is not the forum for that. Shijie’s success rests not in my statements or yours. It rests in its guitars. Peace out.
Jax, unfortunately, knowing the inside story, that is not true and you were lied to (Shijie dumped them, not the other way around). Be that as it may be, if you search online for reports from people who have bought Shijie guitars, you will not find a single negative report, in fact, every one will be glowing. I know, because I did that before I bought mine, which is nicer than any Fendson I've ever played. Stunning craftsmanship at an amazing price. Yes, I'm a fan lol
Obviously Shijie is great but hate that orange peel finish as it doesn't reflect any sort of vintage finish you would see in the wild. That said, they offer traditional smooth finishes, and that is what I will go for if I pull the trigger. Thanks for all your great videos.
I love my Shijie Strat, which I received about 2 months ago I have some high end guitars and Shijie stacks up with all of them. Plays like a dream.
Great to know! 🤘🎸
Weight? Are they heavy?
I bought the STE because of you, Darrell! And Philip McKnight a bit, but your review of the guitar definitely sold the guitar to me! I bought the pearl green finish. It's a bit metallic, and it's the most beautiful finish on a guitar that I've ever seen! I'll try to not buy the Tele right away after watching this video. 😄
I literally bought the same model and color because oh his video too lol back when it was like 700
@@xbeats8744 Cool! It's one good looking good and it feels pretty good, it pays really well too!
It is so fun, seeing you get all excited about these guitars! Now, I’m off to buy a few lottery tickets!
The finish on that relic'd model was very common in paddle tennis rackets back in the 90s
Weirdly specific but very accurate lol
@@Madchris8828 I live in Argentina, there was a paddle tennis fever down here in the 90s, you could find courts ALL over the place and almost everyone played it. It was nuts. Now we're back to normal but an event like that leaves a psycological scar so I recognized that finish the moment Darrel showed that close up. Lol
@@jaungiga hahaha 😆 that's very funny . Yeah they were big on the west coast of the US as I recall too up until the early 2000s I think
This is a beautiful guitar! It seems that the only thing this guitar is missing is the Fender or the Squire on the headstock. Really like this guitar. Would definitely play one, but honestly, I feel like I have to have at least one of the orriginals first. Have never owned a Tele. I'm primarily a Gibson guy but have owned a few Strats. Hab never paid much attention to Teles and finally decided I need one, but honestly, I feel like I should buy a Fender before anything else. That being said, if I love it I might pick up one of these eventually too because they do seem like great guitars. Well made, and you make them sound good at the very least.
Man I wish they'd get back to making more metal style guitars. Snagged the most phenomenal guitar I've ever played for 1000 from them a few years ago
I bought my STE HSS with Stainless Steel frets because of your review Darrell, with taxes, import duties and shipping to Europe it cost me over 1300$ but I do not regret. It's an absolutely fantastic guitar and the guys at Shijie are great!
Very nice!! How can I get one?? What is the website name?? Are they affordable?? All these questions are probably answered in this post, I just love faster cheaper better more!!!🤣🎸
a quick note; about 2 weeks ago Shijie raised pricing by $400 to $1200 before shipping and import fees. Sounds like they are still worthy even with the price hike, but for those thinking they're still $800+shipping should be aware.
That's a let down. Too much inflation and it's affecting all guitar companies.
It probabaly has to do with the cost of shipping and not nearly as much as material and labour.
@@MintStiles blame uncle joe in white house
That little 'extra' will come in handy later when pulling one of those guitars apart and to put all the little parts into! Luthier Dave from 'Dave's World Of Fun Stuff' (another Canadian) uses those guitar-shaped cups all the time 😀
Those look fantastic Darrell! How do they stack up to your first Shijie guitar?
Just as impressed as the first - only now these have SS frets which is a nice upgrade!
@@DarrellBraunGuitar Awesome. It's crazy how much guitar you can get in the mid range price point today. Thanks for the review and the awesome content as always!
@@DarrellBraunGuitar Not an upgrade when you're paying about 1/3 higher price now.
Great Vid Darrell, nice guitar. Have you ever tested a Michael Kelly guitar? I've been looking to some of their tele style and tehy look great, but there are also some comments/reviws online saying the QC is not the best. What would be your top pick for a tele style in the 500-800 range? Schecter? Charvel? G&L? thanks!
What is the tuner?
Is it locking tuner?
Cheers from Indonesia.
Is the Ibanez Prestige guitar winner contacted? Best Regards!
Yes they were announced
That's the first relic guitar I've ever liked. I think it looks cool!
Sounds amazing! Love it
Hi Daryll, have you tried any of the Sire Larry Carlton S7's of LP shaped guitars, i have the blue maple S7 and for the money the build and sounds are better than a thousand dollar Strat, have a go, the quality will blow you away , we don't get these Shijie guitars in the UK yet.
The finish on the relic is done by not thinning the paint to the correct viscosity,it doesn't require a special spray gun as previously stated,just thicker paint.......................................
Spectacular guitars, my next guitar will be a Shijie.
Checked their website and no go. Not a tele guy, but would be very interested in one of their strats.😉
I have 2 telecaster consist of Fender deluxe and Shijie TLV relic with stainless fret. I prefer playing Shijie more than Fender because the sound and sustain. Wating you review Shijie with Wenge neck.
Do they make a wenge neck???? That is niche premium stuff
Mate I've got the S Type in HSS & the T style based on your recommendation. I'm not disappointed they're both amazing.
So I like the look of this shinjie guitars, but there is no way I am paying that sort of price without trying one in a store.
I can't wait until you review LSL guitars!
Damn that relic is pretty! Also I see you have something awfully Les Paul-ey hanging in the back, seems to have mini humbuckers aswell? Very cool!
My Shiji is beyond amazing.
Don’t care for the red “truck bed liner” finish, or the relicing, but those guitars are so well built. Really amazing. And man, I LOVE the look of their roasted maple necks!!! I don’t need another guitar, but that is the hook for me.
They have considerably raised their prices since you reviewed the ST style guitar a year a half ago. Now they're not on the "affordable" side. Sure, they're very high quality instruments, but at $ 1,099 - 1,199, that's not a bargain anymore. For that price you get a Gender Player Plus Strat or Tele with same great features.
BTW didn't manage to see the tuners.
Thank you for your review!
BTW Have you seen the Sire Larry Carlton series? I think they're worth a review. Also would be great if you could take a look at the Ibanez AZES series.
Outta my price range! I just got a sweet ESP 256 that rocks for less than half of Shijie's "starting at" prices.
@@rishz7857 Absolutely, today you just have to browse your favorite music online store for hours and you sure will find the right price/value guitar for you.
I have watched a review of those Sire guitars at Andertons, It would be nice to see a independent review, a comparativw with this brand and a Fender would be even better
In drywall finishes they call that an orange peal finish. Looks great!
Yay more Tele love!! I love the standard, I hope I can get someday.
The paint job on the red one looks exactly like a desk I painted with a roller. Exactly.
Hi Darren, very nice review, you should check out also Bacchus, Soloking, and Aria Pro II guitars they were excellent instruments as well with inexpensive pricing
i got the deep roasted (real dark) maple neck version, really awesome
It looks like a Great Leap Forward in guitars. I want one.
I’ve had a TLV sunburst for over a year now, very good guitar. Plays great, well built. These guys are kind of doing the Fender/Suhr lines what Eastman did with the Gibson lines a bunch of years ago.. using legit craftsmen and luthiers to build a great product.
Wish they offered a regular maple fingerboard- I've never been a fan of the look of roasted maple. But of course that's just my preference.
I might have missed it in the video, but what are the specs on the neck carve? Does it feel thin like a Fender Modern C or is it thicker like an American Pro neck?
I was wondering the same thing and looked at their website and see that the TLV-M series reference their ¸2021 Shijie C,. I was guessing it was some sort of C shape.
I would love to try one of their guitars. I hear nothing but amazing things about them.
Got a great sound to it. Very good looking instruments.
I'm so stoked to see this review, the STE blew my mind. Prices did go up (around $1000 now) from $800, but I think the build quality is unmatched. Just have to decide Strat or Tele....?!
Do you have either? I personally have a telecaster and I still don't know if I would have rather gotten a strat the day I got it. Both are really great versatile guitars and I don't think you can regret getting one or the other.
@@leo._.vincent I have a Nashville Telecaster (3 pickups) and I absolutely love it. That being said, I'm not done exploring the guitar world yet and a super strat would be a great addition for me.
I looked them up and these were listed at $1200
Finally, a relic version that doesn't look ridiculously overdone. It actually looks like it's been played, not run over by a truck.
Honestly, looks like it was spay painted by a 15yo who didn't get over spray. But I guess if a 15yo did that to a vintage guitar, if would still be a relic.
Maybe a "grunge relic"?
There weren't to m/any candy apple red fenders with that bad of a paint job.
It's a bit of a cop out imho.
A $7 can of Rust-Oleum and a flight of stairs can get you there real quick.
@@jeremywinnett6352 I wasn't commenting on the finish itself (it's called 'orange peel' by the way) but the way they only removed minor bits of it like it was owned by someone who really cared about their guitar but still played it a lot and ran it into inevitable bumps and scrapes. Not the typical 'Well, let's sand about 35% of the finish down to bare wood because THAT certainly happens just from playing it' that we see in typical relic treatments. This is a relic job, not a RELIC JOB!
@@tombworld9012 its not orange peel if the guitar looks like it has droplets of paint on it. orange peel occurs when the finish hasnt been level sanded resulting in high and low spots. This finish has actual droplets of paint on it. There was a brand of arisol craft paint that did this but I cant remember the name. But as for the relic. Looks too clean to be convincing, At least try to age the wood a bit...
Darrell ... thx for the review. If you could include weight and complete neck info (shape, radius, thickness, nut width, fret size) ... would be awesome!!
Hey Daryl.
If you had to choose between a Shijie S type and a Fender Player Plus, which would you choose and why?
Amazing guitars! Fantastic tone … and they look great
That red finish is like a deliberate orange peel (usually not a wanted result), probably from the paint formula, and/or they flocked the body with the same color, possibly flocked it first then an overcoat. I don't know that I'd want it myself, but it's interesting.
The gig bag is the best I've ever had
Yup! It's really nice 👍
@@DarrellBraunGuitar ya. ...ive been trying vti contact Dave at shijie with what's app...but no reply...so I texted him this evening...too bad they don't come in other colors
@@DarrellBraunGuitar Shijie is currently shipping their guitars in a different gigbag than the ones you received, according to Dave at Shijie
Would you kindly let us know what you think about the Sire T7? Great video :)
I really love the relic's textured paint, and I HATE red guitars. I would love that particular red guitar.
I kind of like the textured finish on the orange guitar but not with the Relic eating on it. The pickups sound really good. I noticed no shielding under the bridge pup, why not there but inside control cavity?
I’d love to see him review the guitars I play and see if he views them as highly as I do 😂
Those are beautiful and sound great too!
Jumbo frets?
Their site shows quite a range of price for the TLV line. It would kind of be nice to know which you are trying out here (there is no "standard" listed), as they vary from $799 USD to $2580 USD. Also the "classic", the one for $799 is listed as having nickel frets
I think what they did with the relic is try to simulate someone having "refinished" with a rattle can at some point. Nice sounding instruments for sure.
I was hoping that one of the guitar will come with Shijie's own design of T-style guitar bridge that i've seen on their Instagram. I'm so curious about it because it looks well build, and I really love the design
Darrell Are there any short scale electrics other than the Mustang or Duo sonic that play and sound well enough to be the main axe for gigging out with?
What’s the white stuff on the pickups on the white guitar? I couldn’t quite tell, but it almost looked to me like the bottom 3 strings had rails. Or is it just some like tape or something?
I had a similar wtf. In pics on the website they're stickers that say "custom 52, made in Japan". I guess for stock identification/confirmation etc.
What about the tuners? They didn’t get a mention. You said in passing that the nut was bone. How well was it cut? Review not up you your usual standards Darrell.
Site says "Vintage Kluson tuners", though whether there's a missing "-style" in there is anyone's guess. Buyers seem happy with the guitars so I can't see shijie cutting silly corners on really bad clones. DB would've noticed if they were sloppy/grindy.
Hi Paul, thank you for your reply to my post. I have not checked out the guitar website, and I appreciate that you have taken the time to do so. This however, does nothing to ameliorate my feelings that this was a bit of a wham bam fan boy review.
Cheers
Tim
Couldn't bring up the Shiji link. I'd love to purchase one but can't get access. Do you know how I can buy one in the U S.
C'moooonnnnnn, Can you STOP finding more excellent guitars!!!
Hey Darrell, those look cool. I’ve been a tele man myself for the last 35 years. Maybe you’d like to gift one of them to guy who never has enough cash for a thousand dollar guitar because he’s always taking care of his children? That roasted maple neck is a beauty.
Nice!! And love the pick case!