Vintage V100 ICON Series Les Paul-style Lemon Drop Electric Guitar (Peter Green inspired)

Ben
November 24, 2009

Rating: 10/10

I do not personally own this guitar but played at at Music Live in Birmingham. At this event I played many guitars costing up to 10 times as much, the difference was so much less than I expected. This guitar has a stunning feel, tone and best of all value. If I had to choose whether to spend £2400 or so on a PRS Custom 24 or buy this guitar then I would definitley go for the vintage. Overall I think this guitar is extremely underated and would make a great intsrument for a guitarist of any ability.

allan clarke
November 13, 2009

Rating: 10/10

i owned one of these last year but sold it and regreted it every since so decieded to buy another one,am a big fan of peter green and this is the closest you can get other than owning the real peter green model.i dont know if vintage have re designed this model but mine is less \'aged\' than the photo suggests and the one i had previously its more yellow than orangey.it sounds great especailly the out of phase posistion.would recommend to anyone.

Carl
November 3, 2009

Rating: 9/10

Got this guitar late last month. Brilliant for that classic rock sound. Good sturdy build. The fake faded patch round the back looks silly, but again the sound you get is amazing especially for the price. For all things rock/blues based then this is the guitar to get. If you want to play funk or pop, then get a fender strat.

Siz
October 29, 2009

Rating: 10/10

I have never played this guitar, but I do know something about it. Listen on.
Last night, I attended an Alan Price set gig, featuring guitarist Bob Tench (no mean player). Before the gig, I got a good look at the instruments on stage, and found to my surprise, not a Gibson LP but a Vintage model - this one. From the looks of it, I\'m sure it was standard, with the original reversed neck pickup.
Well, I can tell you, I was completely impressed by how it performed. A sweet Alnico tone from the neck, biting crunchy bridge, and sweet singing sustain throughout. Bob had no difficulty in making it perform, and without that sneak preview, there is no way that I would have known it wasn\'t a valuable Gibson from way back.
This has to be one of the all-time bargains. Bag one before somebody realizes.

Paul Nikolic
October 10, 2009

Rating: 9/10

I\'d been looking at this guitar for some time reading reviews, Youtube videos etc and eventually plucked up the courage and bought it on-line.I was not disappointed, the neck feels great and comfortable it sounds good unplugged and is suitably heavy. It is actually heavier than other V100 series guitars I\'ve handled.Plugged in it has 3 distinct tones from each position, and you dont have to be at full volume on the pick-ups to sound good.My only grip was the fret edged were quite rough as was the nut.I attended to these with a file and polish.As regards the finish I liked it except for the marks poked into into the body with a bradel, I cant imagine what they are suppossed to be? The finish looks a little flatbut but some wax will attend to that.But what a great guitar for little money.

Lee Hayes
September 30, 2009

Rating: 10/10

I play acoustic guitar 4 nights a week in local bars, I started to get bored with the material I played and the guitar in general so I needed a shot in the arm to rekindle my interest. Thanks to this governments gross incompetence I am currently out of work so whatever I did I needed to do it cheap...

I received an email from Dolphin music and somehow I found myself looking at the Lemon Drop, it immediately caught my attention, don\'t know why but it did (perhaps price), anyway, I read all the reviews I could find and I never heard a word said against this guitar, so I spent £370.00 of my dwindling reserves on a Lemon Drop and a Vox Valvtronix amp...

Yes, I love it, I play it everday and feel inspired to use my involuntry spare time wisely by practicing with this beautiful guitar, it feels so real and I know it will make me a different player, I\'m doing less finger picking and more Jazz, Blues and Rock like I used to do...

Before you say \'Well he\'s not an Electric player anyway\' well, I am and I\'ve been playing a long, long time, my \'Fender Telecaster\' is up on ebay to pay for this and I won\'t miss it!

Alan Watson
September 3, 2009

Rating: 8/10

I already have a 1970 Deluxe but suffer from feedback problems on stage, due I think to the pickups having gone microphonic and I don\'t wish to replace or repot them as yet. I reverted to using my Tokai Strat fitted with Fender Noiseless pickups. No problems there except that soundwise it doesn\'t suite our material too well. So I was looking for something to do the job and came across the Lemon Drop. I bought this guitar online, something I never thought I would do. I\'ve done a couple of full on rehearsals with it and now feel quite content to use it on gigs. The neck width seems only slightly smaller than usual. The jack socket was loose and the pickup selector switch feels a bit wobbly but that will be replaced hence the eight out of ten result. I chose this particular guitar because I wanted something a bit different soundwise and I wasn\'t disappointed.The whole band agreed on that.
Being an old Pro, I can safely recommend this guitar. If you get the chance, try one.

c.woodward
July 13, 2009

Rating: 10/10

better than some guitars costing 4-5 times the price, great tones absolutly great value for money. very pleased indeed

Tony
April 12, 2009

Rating: 10/10

I,v owned many very expensive guitars,PRS,Jimmy Page Les Paul,335 etc,but this guitar is great.I love Peter Greens sound but bought it for the looks expecting to have to replace the pickups amd have it set up properly .Was I wrong.It plays fantastic ,a great set up ,intonation ,fine and a great sound.Not as out of phase as i expected but maybe a few adjustments can sort that .I was going to change the pickups for BN PG specials,but i so like the overall sound ,its staying stock.Feel and looks are classic,for its price unbeatable and i find i play it more than many expensive guitars as its always near to hand ,i do not really worry if it picks up another scratch.It also does a pretty sounding T Rex Bolan sound.I certainly will be looking at other icon series.Highly recommneded.I will certainly be pointing friens and students towards the lemon drop.How about a Marc Bolan Les Paul Vintage

Stavrospgr
February 6, 2009

Rating: 10/10

When I ordered this instrument I was not 100% sure of what I would get; I knew it was an LP copy that seemed quite descent, but what made me buy it is Peter Green\'s specifications. I expected some low quality ingredients and poor quality at some characteristics due to the country of manufacture. All this changed when I received the instrument a few days ago;
GREAT playability, GREAT electronics and hardware and GREAT looks!!!! The artificial scratches and marks of the instrument, makes it feel SO comfortable, like you owned it for many years already.
Guys, this is a true bargain, if you have a need for such an instrument go out there and buy it, it is GREAT value for money!!! way to go Mr.Wilkinson!!
P.S. By the way, i just saw Vintage manufactures this great new SG psychedelic 60\'s style guitar I think this should also be a great instrument, though price is not as appealling as the one of the V100 Icon!

Patrick
January 14, 2009

Rating: 10/10

I had this guitar for more than one week and have played it daily. I am extremely happy about this guitar. I use 10-46 strings and increased the action a bit to suit my style, and then adjusted the intonation - almost perfect intonation is achievable all over the fretboard. I then set the neck pickup as close a possible to the strings (a bit closer to the treble strings) and then adjusted the neck pickup to reach the same volume. This is important to be able to have the Peter Green sound immediately available just by switching the selector to the middle position (just need to dial in the same volume levels on both pickups). The finish in the front is decently aged, but I added some bee-wax to the wood to give it a soft shine and make the white woody parts look a bit more \"used\". I carefully considered the option of upgrading the electronics by A - B comparison with my 2006 Gibson LP standard (with burstbuckers 2 and 3 but set-up exactly the same), but came to the conclusion that this was not necessary. I used a Marshall Vintage Modern 50 W tube combo and a Line6 Flextone III modelling amp. The Lemon Drop can sound very different that the LP but can also become very close in the neck or bridge positions. While on the LP my tone controls typically set at max and different tones are dialed in by changing the volume knobs, the Vintage Lemon Drop benefits from setting the tone controls anywhere between 2 - 8, and typically lower when I wish to dial in a lower volume tone. This alleviates the problem (also present on many LPS) that dialing in a lower volume produces muddier tones - dialing in lower tone settings avoids this problem and produces the nicest sounds. This may have to do with the different way in whcih the capacitors are wired on my LP versus on the lemon drop. In my opinion the Lemon drop uses the classic 50-era wiring, and although the components used are different, the values are also respecting the classic set-up (500K pots, 22microF caps). The Wilkinson humbuckers have nickel/silver covers which should age nicely.

The Lemon Drop is slighly less heavy in weight that the LP, which is not a bad thing for your back. Unplugged, it has a very open sound and a long sustain. With both amps tested I could get very good results and can play soft and loud (distorted sound) just by playing with the volume and tone knobs. The sustain achievable is at least as long as on my LP. Very convincing Gary Moore blues sounds can be easily achieved from Still Got the Blues, Pretty Woman, or Blues for Greeny. Also incredible value for getting classic 60- and 70\' rock sounds. I will definetely use the lemon drop in my next practices and think about using it on stage as well. I still can\'t believe that for such price you can own a guitar that good.

August 12, 2008

Rating: 10/10

I had some reservations initially about buying a relic\\\'d guitar but this won me over completely. It has the feel and playability of a guitar costing 10 times as much. I believe the lack of finish on the guitar contributes to the fullness of the tone. Both pickups are outstanding and with the right amps and FX any sound is possible.

If you\\\'re in the market for an LP and aren\\\'t bothered about the name on the headstock then buy this guitar - you will not find a better LP for less than £1000!!

Stephan
January 20, 2008

Rating: 10/10

I give this guitar a 10 based on features, playability and sound and cost. It plays very well, the pickups sounds very good and as far as I can see nothing needs to be changed although I did put some strap locks on mine and may switch to locking tuners (not that there is anything wrong with the Wilkinson tuners that are on there, they work fine and keep the guitar in tune).

I like to play anything from clean riffs to old metallica and with the right amp this guitar can do this. The neck pickup has a smooth deep bottom end while maintaining clear highs while the neck pickup also has good clarity with sparkling highs.

I had been looking ofr a LP style guitar for a while. I tried an Epiphone zack wylde guitar and didn't like it nearly as much as the lemon drop and the lemon drop is nearly half the price. Excellent price for a great sounding guitar.