Solar Guitars by Ola Englund

[drb]

0 have sold so far, so I wouldn't be so sure about this point. Besides, another metric for value is comparing the guitar to others in the price range, and it's clear to me anyways that other guitars that cost 3k offer better woods most of the time.

At the time you wrote that, 2 had sold - 40% of the batch. I checked this morning ~8 hours before you posted this and that was the case then, too. Bit weird to have just made that up lmao.

 

[Lord Voldemort]

The discussion is about Solar, and other guitars in that price range- hence the E-iis as an example.

In that context, "Fancier cuts of wood cost more than non-fancy cuts of wood" doesn't mean much. Finding a "fancy" veneer and slapping it on top of the next block of body wood from the pile doesn't cost much. The fact that they are able to make it happen on a 200$ Harley Benton should make that abundantly clear. You can almost guarantee that if an actual Luthier were going to hand-pick the piece of ash that goes into the Solar, that would be what costs more in comparison.

All that does show however is that fancy-looking sells and does scream "premium" to most people; but that's hardly news.

I just don't see your point in relation to this particular guitar. I don't think you're wrong on the whole, I mean you're just pointing out that guitars can exist for $3k without fancy tops which...yeah man, I am aware of this lol, but pretty universally people have agreed that the tops on the Euro Solars have been underwhelming and that there's little incentive to buy them and even as a solar fan I have to agree. Give it a nice top or 7 piece neck or something though and I promise you that the complaints will evaporate and they will sell like hot cakes.

 

[marke]

I feel EU Solars are closer to OS ESP in what they're trying to do, rather than mass produced E-IIs or Iba prestiges etc.

I don't like Solar personally, but I still think the price is fair (assuming near flawless quality ofc, similar to competition) New "handmade/custom shop" guitars cost often more with less/old fashioned features. This has Evertune, SS frets, neckthru and nice volume pot placement - specs many modern guitarists appreciate I'm sure.

 

[Lord Voldemort]

At the time you wrote that, 2 had sold - 40% of the batch. I checked this morning ~8 hours before you posted this and that was the case then, too. Bit weird to have just made that up lmao.

Do you think it's more likely that I just made it up or that I was mistaken? I posted that at 8am man, I'd just woken up.

 

[drb]

Do you think it's more likely that I just made it up or that I was mistaken? I posted that at 8am man, I'd just woken up.

I was just being silly, it would have been pretty bad news if they hadn't sold any so far though.

 

[mbardu]

I just don't see your point in relation to this particular guitar. I don't think you're wrong on the whole, I mean you're just pointing out that guitars can exist for $3k without fancy tops which...yeah man, I am aware of this lol, but pretty universally people have agreed that the tops on the Euro Solars have been underwhelming and that there's little incentive to buy them and even as a solar fan I have to agree. Give it a nice top or 7 piece neck or something though and I promise you that the complaints will evaporate and they will sell like hot cakes.

That's fine if it's personal preference. And I agree that a lot of people would be more immediately attracted to it with a fancy top indeed. Fancy-looking stuff does do pretty well in this industry in general. I was just finding it weird to see some arguing how that made other guitars like an e-ii objectively "better", while we're talking about a feature that's in common with 200$ instruments.

Doesn't matter though, there's no "selling like hot cakes" case anyway- since it doesn't really look like that's the intent here. It sound smore like a small-numbers closer to boutique run, and that's something that other people value for different reasons. And I would say that this aspect of it (hands on, smalls series - all without debating the merits there), is actually more likely to cost more/have lower margins/be better "bang for your buck" from an objective standpoint.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Entirely fair!

I will say though, I have Hipshot on my Mayones, Harley Benton on my Menapia, and I've had Gotoh, Schecter, and Fender locking tuners on past guitars. I haven't noticed a huge difference on any of them, except I'm a child and the Hipshot ones feel really nice to the touch.

Even if the Solar tubers are good, they will have cost less than Gotoh / Hipshot, so we're almost certainly selected to keep the manufacturing cost down...which isn't how I'd expect hardware to be selected for a £3k guitar.

While all tuners are not equal, I think people are often quick to assume tuners are the cause of tuning instability on lower end guitars, when there's a decent chance it's the nut or bridge (which will invariably also be off-brand parts).

Most of my guitars are high-end Ibanez, with excellent tuning stability. They happen to have Gotoh tuners, but the Edge tremolos, locking nuts, break angle etc. will be key contributors to the stability too - just as an Evertune bridge would be.
For all I know, an Evertune might counteract subpar tuners to keep a guitar in tune (I've never looked into how they work).

 

[Neon_Knight_]

$3000 on vintage pedals: Yeah man you need those genuine 80s chips
$3000 on a (non-Solar) guitar: Yeah man that's a great guitar
$3000 on an amp: Yeah man nothing is quite like tubes and wires and that shit
$3000 on a digital setup (AFX III, footswitches, interface, etc): Yeah man now you can sequence an entire album's worth of patch changes for your stage show
$3000+ on those fucking Laradas: Yeah man ergonomics, my guitar is an NFT, so sick

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$3000 on a custom shop guitar that uses Solar designs as a way to get those designs with a premium, small-batch build quality from a higher cost of living Western country: OMG NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

$3000 on a Bad Monkey 🤣🤣🤣

 

[xzacx]

Even if the Solar tubers are good, they will have cost less than Gotoh / Hipshot, so we're almost certainly selected to keep the manufacturing cost down...which isn't how I'd expect hardware to be selected for a £3k guitar.

While all tuners are not equal, I think people are often quick to assume tuners are the cause of tuning instability on lower end guitars, when there's a decent chance it's the nut or bridge (which will invariably also be off-brand parts).

Most of my guitars are high-end Ibanez, with excellent tuning stability. They happen to have Gotoh tuners, but the Edge tremolos, locking nuts, break angle etc. will be key contributors to the stability too - just as an Evertune bridge would be.
For all I know, an Evertune might counteract subpar tuners to keep a guitar in tune (I've never looked into how they work).

To be fair, do we actually know what those tuners are? Is it possible they're a name brand tuner with a Solar logo on them? I remember people used to complain about Jackson branded tuners, as if they were too cheap to be on USA guitars, but they were literally just Gotohs with stickers on them.

 

[manu80]

Considering that indo/korean are now already 1,5k here, mij jackson more than 2k, i don’t think 3k by a master luthier very expensive as a comparison
Seeing the new john browne schecter price as an import or any recent strandberg made overseas almost at more than 2k… i wouldnt hesitate and go for a Marceau made guitar, for sure !

 

[Zhysick]

SSO: 3500€ for a Solar without a fancy top hand made by a great luthier in small runs selecting quality (but not fancy) woods is a scam.

Also SSO: wow, that mass produced Gibson Les Paul Custom without any top and with a solid color finish is amazing for 4500€. Also that mass produced Jackson USA DK1 in solid black for 3300€ or that mass produced ESP Vulture in satin black for 5200€.

Yeah... Now somebody will have the guts to say that made in USA or in Japan is more quality than made in France...

Va te faire foutre!

PS: Me, a Spaniard, defending France!!!! What the hell!! You see what you made me do with all this nonesense??

 

[mbardu]

SSO: 3500€ for a Solar without a fancy top hand made by a great luthier in small runs selecting quality (but not fancy) woods is a scam.

Also SSO: wow, that mass produced Gibson Les Paul Custom without any top and with a solid color finish is amazing for 4500€. Also that mass produced Jackson USA DK1 in solid black for 3300€ or that mass produced ESP Vulture in satin black for 5200€.

Yeah... Now somebody will have the guts to say that made in USA or in Japan is more quality than made in France...

Va te faire foutre!

PS: Me, a Spaniard, defending France!!!! What the hell!! You see what you made me do with all this nonesense??

Stranberg Boden Singularity 7 string made in Indonesia that doesn't have a top for 4k US$ hoping noone notices:

 

[Lord Voldemort]

Oh, I don't think that $3k for a European made guitar is remotely a scam. Are people saying that? I'm sure those European Solars are purrrfect, and I personally really like the idea of whoever makes my guitars being happy and well paid.

I feel like there's a bit of a strawman happening here or something. People are just saying that they look fairly underwhelming, not that the price isn't justified because of the expert labor involved. These things aren't mutually exclusive.

It's ok to be mildly underwhelmed by something I think, perhaps my and some other's people idea of handmade European custom guitars wasn't just a plain red Solar A model haha I don't know.

I get what y'all are saying though, $3k for that guitar is perfectly fine price for sure.

 

[Zhysick]

Oh, I don't think that $3k for a European made guitar is remotely a scam. Are people saying that? I'm sure those European Solars are purrrfect, and I personally really like the idea of whoever makes my guitars being happy and well paid.

I feel like there's a bit of a strawman happening here or something. People are just saying that they look fairly underwhelming, not that the price isn't justified because of the expert labor involved. These things aren't mutually exclusive.

It's ok to be mildly underwhelmed by something I think, perhaps my and some other's people idea of handmade European custom guitars wasn't just a plain red Solar A model haha I don't know.

I get what y'all are saying though, $3k for that guitar is perfectly fine price for sure.

No, it is fucking expensive but underwhelming? Well... That mass produced plain black Jackson USA might have a fascinating black urethane finish I guess...

If it where USA made nobody would be going nuts about a natural finish on a guitar for 3000€ but since it is not MIA... Wtf!

 

[mbardu]

For all I know, an Evertune might counteract subpar tuners to keep a guitar in tune (I've never looked into how they work).

Evertune is great. It counteracts pretty much anything that makes a guitar go out of tune, and it does that very well as long as you don't mind the price, the looks, the weight, the ergonomics, the setup, the feel or the sound.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

No, it is fucking expensive but underwhelming? Well... That mass produced plain black Jackson USA might have a fascinating black urethane finish I guess...

If it where USA made nobody would be going nuts about a natural finish on a guitar for 3000€ but since it is not MIA... Wtf!

I think it's more about brand cache.

The luthier is fairly unknown and Solar is more known as being a newer somewhat generic budget metal guitar brand, where as Gibson or Jackson or Anderson have decades of history and brand building to lean on.

 

[Zhysick]

I think it's more about brand cache.

The luthier is fairly unknown and Solar is more known as being a newer somewhat generic budget metal guitar brand, where as Gibson or Jackson or Anderson have decades of history and brand building to lean on.

Also decades of 23 fret guitars and bad QC... Not a guarantee anymore.

I can understand the "resale value" argument but the rest is subjective bullshit

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Also decades of 23 fret guitars and bad QC... Not a guarantee anymore.

I can understand the "resale value" argument but the rest is subjective bullshit

Brand familiarity is incredibly powerful. For better or worse.

Just because you don't care doesn't mean it doesn't have influence.

 

[Lord Voldemort]

Also decades of 23 fret guitars and bad QC... Not a guarantee anymore.

I can understand the "resale value" argument but the rest is subjective bullshit

I mean yeah man, this is an opinion based conversation. Subjective bullshit is really all there is to be offered.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

SSO: 3500€ for a Solar without a fancy top hand made by a great luthier in small runs selecting quality (but not fancy) woods is a scam.

Also SSO: wow, that mass produced Gibson Les Paul Custom without any top and with a solid color finish is amazing for 4500€. Also that mass produced Jackson USA DK1 in solid black for 3300€ or that mass produced ESP Vulture in satin black for 5200€.

Yeah... Now somebody will have the guts to say that made in USA or in Japan is more quality than made in France...

Va te faire foutre!

PS: Me, a Spaniard, defending France!!!! What the hell!! You see what you made me do with all this nonesense??

As one of the people thinking the Solar is overpriced, I think the other guitars you've mentioned are also overpriced.

I think Gibson LPs are one of the most (perhaps the most) overpriced guitars on the market. Excessively thick neck with a sticky gloss finish, inferior scale length, only 22 frets, poorly designed neck heel, restricted access to the upper frets, uncomfortable bridge with limited intonation range, awful tuning stability, poorly positioned tuners, nut binding issues, no volute, chunky heavy body, neck dive...what have I missed? All innovations in guitar design seemingly ignored for the past 71 years and we're supposed pay a premium for that? 🤔
I can understand the appeal of owning a classic '50s / '60s LP (not that I'd own one myself), but not why the new models continue to sell despite not having moved with the times. You don't see any big car manufacturers having success with this approach, so I don't get why it works with guitars.

I don't get how a Jackson DK1 with a solid finish is priced at 2x higher than an Ibanez RG550. My assumption is that this is the result of Americans (but probably not Europeans) valuing MIA more highly than MIJ.