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#1
10-20-2020, 12:43 PM
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$90 IRIN steel-string acoustics: Accidentally phenomenal
Hi there,
Real story in-brief ..... Seeing me playing guitar and ukulele, our little 9 years young daughter was too eager to own a personal instrument, so she liked this Chinese $90 IRIN acoustic guitar, and I was intrigued by its sound as truly being the best of all other expensive mass-productions by Ibanez, Fender, Yamaha etc available locally...... after all, daughter preferred ukulele as her first instrument and this IRIN is sitting in a bag awaiting its mission, I really do not wish to give it out and below is why.... Well, this inexpensive Sapele-plywood instrument sounds phenomenally cool, I have got tested almost all acoustics found at local stores but nothing comes closer to its sound - pleasant and big! It is too light-weight and easily fills large rooms just by little plucking..... However, I am sure the manufacturer did not even think/expect of building such a nice-sounding instrument (they seem to be made absolutely by chance) as the guitar with such a cool voice has a lot of defects: errors with slotting nut and bridge, asymmetry of strings, too thick neck profile, inaccurate fretting ........ but it has a decent mechanics and well-made construction! I am going to fix all of the errors as I am sure I will get a real killer little guitar...... I would be so glad to hear more on these inexpensive Irin acoustics and their modifications as I was not able to find anything within the Forum. Thanks! 
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#2
10-20-2020, 01:03 PM
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Congratulations on a guitar you enjoy! I'm sure with these lower end guitars, some of them turn out quite nice, no matter which manufacturer. I would doubt that any manufacturer tries to make a bad guitar (if they want them to sell at all). But, they all make guitars to fit in certain budgets and markets. I wouldn't be surprised at all if there are more "gems" than people realize. As you go up in price, your chances of getting a good guitar just gets statistically higher because of the build quality, materials and hands on time with a luthier/craftsperson; not that all of them are good, no matter the price, there can still be a dog or two in there.
It's great to hear of people who find a guitar they like. I've had some cheap guitars over the years that sounded decent -- not anything overly special, but also not bad. Yamaha has some great guitars for cheap in their lower end lines. Not all of them are great. But, every now and then you try one and you are pleasantly surprised at just how good it is. Could they compete against a $2000-3000 guitar? Maybe in certain circumstances. But, still no one will pay that money for that guitar. If you get a nice sounding guitar for that kind of price, just be happy and play away with a grin on your face knowing that you got the sound you want for much less than most will spend to make themselves happy! Martin
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***************************** Gibson L-00 Standard 2018 Yamaha FS5 2020 Gibson J-45 Standard 2020
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#3
10-20-2020, 02:58 PM
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I do not enjoy the luxury of possessing heavy-expensive guitars, I am happy with my solid-top Ibanez AC240 and beautiful all-solid Eastman E8OM, if playing well you can make both instruments sing........
I do have another plywood el-acoustic by Ibanez for practice but this Irin kills that old $500 Ibanez.... So this little guitar will definitely make any practice a real joy, and if equipped with good internal mic, then you can even use it for public performances.....
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#4
10-20-2020, 03:29 PM
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Similar thing happened to me. I once purchased a $50 (and free shipping) Rogue acoustic. It sounded amazing!!! Sometimes these cheap guitars can be really surprising.
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Taylor 814ce Gibson G-00 Epiphone J-200 Heritage Cherry Sweetwater Exclusive Gibson G-45 Studio Martin X1-DE Washburn WP21SNS Taylor 110 Mitchell D120
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#5
10-21-2020, 03:02 AM
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Actually, you do not need much time to hear and realize the instrument's sonic characteristics, it takes only few seconds to swipe out the strings of a hanging on a wall guitar .....
Well, will get back with more details and images of the result; this guitar needs the following tasks to be done: 1. shaving the neck at its best 2. leveling frets 3. installing bone nut and slotting 4. filling bridge holes and re-drilling symmetrically That's it all! And you get a decent working-horse little acoustics .....
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#6
10-21-2020, 04:01 AM
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 In the UK we can buy the Vintage Statesboro all mahogany guitars (solid top, laminate back and sides) for 99 GBP. They need a little work (I replaced the nut, did a fret level, shaped the bridge and replaced the saddle) but are great sounding guitars.
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I'm learning to flatpick and fingerpick guitar to accompany songs. I've played and studied traditional noter/drone mountain dulcimer for many years. And I used to play dobro in a bluegrass band.
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#7
10-21-2020, 05:46 AM
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Quote:
Looks really nice! Never heard of that company ...... This solid-top guitar is from the higher league, and it does not seem to be made with such terrible defects as Irin ....... I see these guitars come with own on-board electronics, should be a great guitar for a daily play/practice ......
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#8
10-21-2020, 06:19 AM
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I don't have an Irin but I, also, have had some phenomenally great sounding (and playing) cheap guitars.
I am coming to the opinion that an expensive guitar brand has a 90% chance of a great sounding guitar. But a cheap guitar brand has a 10% chance of a great sounding guitar. I think statistics and chance play into this. You have to try a lot more cheap guitars to find a keeper but when you do it can be even more satisfying. I have an Ibanez Artwood AC-240 that I bought barely used for $180. I bought it for leaving out on the patio during summer months. It's simply amazing. And it is the exact dimensions and specs (nut width, scale length body size) as my "main" acoustic so it is a great feeling guitar for me to kick around with. It sounds 90% as good as my favorite Taylor and it was 10% the cost. I just (one week ago) bought a Sterling Cutlass. I want a EBMM but don't need another $2K guitar so I found a discontinued closeout on the prior (before cost reducing) model (the CT50 which was higher end than the current CT30). I got this with low expectations and intending to just use it as an experiment. Other than a few tiny things to tweak this is amazing. I paid $249 for it brand new (!). The pickups in this sound better than my Taylor SB1 and it plays better. I can't believe it and I can't put it down. I am estimating this is 90% the tone of a real EBMM and it was 10% the cost.
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Fazool "The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter" Taylor GC7, GA3-12, SB2-C, SB2-Cp...... Ibanez AVC-11MHx , AC-240
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#9
05-15-2022, 02:14 PM
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Transformed into new acoustics
Finishing this inexpensive Chinese guitar, today was a final day of completing the tasks with lacquer and renaming it to Taylor (instead of IRIN).... Will just have to adjust the instrument after assembling it these days.
Shortly on the changes..... 1. Shaving/correcting both the fretboard and the neck 2. Changing fretwire 3. Modifying/correcting bridge pin slots (filling and re-drilling) 4. Finishing neck with acrylic lacquer After all, the neck has got the following thickness/depth: 19.8mm at I-Fret, and 20.8mm at IX fret. This is the modified headstock on the photo. 
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#10
05-15-2022, 03:46 PM
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#11
05-15-2022, 04:00 PM
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Definitely No, but this would make look/feel better rather having there IRIN (not from the guitar world) :-) Actually, this inexpensive acoustics does sound extraordinary outstanding.....
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Personal page Last edited by Schertler; 05-15-2022 at 05:09 PM.
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#12
05-15-2022, 09:18 PM
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