Chapman Guitars Rip Off? Not me!

I've had more and more emails recently about a post on the Chapman Guitars forum and comments elsewhere. I finally felt compelled to respond to ensure that everyone knows the facts on where I stand.

I have no axe to grind - if you'll excuse the pun! - and from his own kind and mature response on the CG forum I am confident that Rob doesn't either.

Enjoy!!!!!

:o)

Thanks for watching and take good care folks!

You have but one life - live and enjoy it. Peace :o)

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[RobChappers]

Hi dude, just saw this and just to say good luck to you - Chapman Guitars does not own "Guitars" or "Collaborative Design", please ignore any negativity from anyone who says otherwise ;-)

[Chinaguitarsceptic]

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments and name suggestions. I will get around to responding to as many as I can soon, but things are afoot and I am short on time right now. All will become apparent very soon. As ever, you my incredible supporters are keeping me going through some turbulent times - thank you and bless you :-)

[Chinaguitarsceptic]

OK as most people seemed to be disliking this video for the title, I've changed it to better reflect the content and avoid confusion. I have nothing but respect for chapman guitars and was never accusing them of being a rip off.

[DKGCustom]

I tell you this....It REALLY PISSES ME OFF that people seem to think you have nothing less than a squeaky clean moral stance on this.
If the MT1 is similar to a Chapman guitar, that's more down to HIS lack of originality.

[bobbyberetta]

Question: I am wanting to make my own guitar with my name on headstock and my own specifications, and I was wondering how do I go about that? Do I just contact a seller or a manufacturer? Any info would be great. Thank you.

[Ajdasiibishvekot]

I am a beginner and I'm about to buy my first amp. I need it for home use and dont have a lot of money so witch one should i choose
Fender frontman 10W
Washburn 15W
both are 6 inches

[RaymondPoston]

You are a very honest man, and it is greatly appreciated by all of us. I do know for a fact that PRS Co. has there lower end guitars made in Asia and shipped to their factory for Q.A. and setup. My Angelus SE is one of these. I suspect other companies do the same.
Why not you and Rob do this. I think this is a great idea.

[stubhead]

There's now a very-well established industry in South Korea. The first ones I ran across were Schecter, and a Guild-offshoot DeArmond, both late 1990's. Then when Fender bought Guild, they ran out the "DeArmond" necks and bodies as Squier variants. Just recently I bought a quite nice ESP AX-2E used. What I first liked was it's kind of a guitar. When I saw it was made in VIETNAM and the price was O.K. I bought it. Woodwork and frets, no complaint, I did upgrade some of the wiring, pickups. You know how these factories work, right? Fender, Schecter etc. come up with some specs, then factory owners from China, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan bid on the project. It would be a leg up if you could identify what factories in China are already doing guitars; because you DO have ones that are making guitars on one side, toasters next table over, Nike shoes next one over, 12" glow-in-the-dark Jesus action figures next table over and so on. And while I have no objection to different woods, they DO need to be dried correctly, and that takes time. For best quality, you'd be well-off finding YOUR wood supplier, YOUR hardware source and so on, it all takes time and as they say, time is money. It's hard to imagine direct shipping from the factory NOT tempting the Quality Control Demon... I mean, somebody sends you money, the factory send THEM the guitar, and they tell you "This guitar sucks" - what next? I've seen a whole lot of the $300 - $800 stuff from teenage guitar students, and I've been doing all my fretwork, wiring and such for a few decades. It's a CROWDED field in the U.S.; maybe less so in UK? Chinese business is sort of notoriously...umm.. "CROOKED"... is the right word, if you could find an AGENT inside China to enforce your QC standards that'd help too.

[VanishingRock]

Milton - PL (paradise lost) for the Les Paul
Milton - PR (paradise regained) for the PRS

Going for a literary slant?

[georgerobinson]

How about the MAT1 or MAS1 for Milton Alternative Tele or Milton Alternative Strat?

[shanestevens]

well I've been playing for nearly 40 years & I'm 45 years old & frankly with an attitude like this man has he certainly deserve's to get on & hopefully do very well, it's a good idea & in support of that I'd buy a Milton guitar !!!!
Humble, realistic, non ego attitude makes for a successful venture I believe, I personally wish you all the best mate & hope you do well .

[fri]

u not think there's an irony, in making an alternative to Chinese copy's...by selling your own Chinese copy's?

[davedextermusic]

Unrelated note, I would shorten your intro ident. Drastically :/

[uncutVidsd]

hi im looking at a guitar from aliexpress it has like 20 orders is this normally a safe site? i cant afford to get ripped off ive been saving up for a while to own a nice looking electric guitar im just asking for your opinion bc i know you order alot from china

[pabslondon]

Hi, I think the title of your video is unfortunate because when it appeared in my recommendations I assumed you were calling Chapman Guitars a rip off (rip off can mean poor value for money as well as theft of an idea).

Of course I knew nothing about Milton guitars or the Chapman forum posts and you obviously meant it as "Are Milton guitars a Chapman guitars rip off" - but thats not how it may come across.

A sceptic might argue that you've created that ambiguity to drive traffic to your video but you seem an honest guy in your videos.

[RZLAND]

After the first few minutes I found myself asleep. So, I can't comment as to the substance of the video. Never the less, the interweb allows anyone with a camera or a keyboard to voice their opinions (just like me!). There are no new ideas, just modification of old ones. Someone said something like that a long time ago, I just modified it. Once you get past the Fenders and the Gibsons, perhaps a Rick, and maybe even a Silvertone, it's a mod. Sure PRS is doing a fine job, but they still had to resort to copying the Les Paul to create the SC245. Martin makes one heck of an acoustic and has done so well before my time and my father's time for that matter. But Taylor is swell too.

At the end of the day, be it American, Korean, Chinese or Japanese, there is a guitar and a guitar price for everyone. Call the Chinese a rip off if you must, but know this: everyone rips off the originators. If someone wants a Chinese Les Paul, buy it. If they want a real Les Paul, ante up your house note. There's something for everyone. Cheers!

[followfornothing]

Would "MLTG" work for your Tele style guitar and "MLPG" for your Les Paul style and "MRSG" for your PRS style guitars and "MSTG" for your Strat style guitars. Let me know what you think

[euroaguitars.drgaspickups]

Unless Rob Chapman got in contact with you directly and had a problem with Milton guitars, then I would say forget about the rest of the twits on forums and youtube...Some people obviously have too much time on their hands!
BTW just wondering if you have tried Sunsmile guitars in China??

[williamkyle]

Its time to make that rendezvous with Chapman and Lee at Andertons with a YouTube video.

[glennoc]

Chapman makes quality guitars and more of the upper end pricing and manufacturers in Korea at a higher cost than China. Now the person who buys Chappers guitars may or may not be even interested in a Chinese guitar because they desire a less mainstream 'custom' guitar. The guy that would buy the Milton maybe has a set budget and whilst looking for quality maybe can't afford a Chapman. The two can exist well as they cater for a different client. If i was brand name manufacturer and i got wind of some fakes being sold of my product i would look at the positives, a free form of marketing and advertising, if the fake product was decent and cheaper than my original. The person who own or buys a fake generally can not afford the real deal so the brand has not lost any sale.