Guitar Story #4: Vantage Avenger
Details
- Guitar: Vantage Avenger
- Year Purchased: 1981
- Price Paid: $300.00 ($854.16 in 2021 dollars)
- Notes: Brand new Made in Japan
This slightly pointy-horned Strat style guitar was around $300.00 from a music store in Midland, MI. I sold my Cortez for 150.00 to a friend and paid cash for the balance. It came with a hardshell case. It was a nice guitar and my first with genuine humbuckers! It was also my first guitar with a maple fretboard. The neck had a really nice profile that was very Fender-like. It also had coil taps via the volume controls and it sounded super sweet and Fender-y in single coil mode.
I used this for a lot of parties and some of my first club/bar shows. It really was a huge leap tone wise in my guitar development. I was using an early 70s Bandmaster head and matching 2×12 cab loaded with 1 EV SRO and 1 EV FORCE for speakers. It was a MASSIVE rock sound.
The only flaw I could find was the bridge was just a touch mis-aligned. Not bad enough to cause any issues but it did bug me. Vantage guitars were made in the Matsumoku factory and range in quality from decent to excellent. They can often be great vintage guitar deals. I’ve seen Avengers like the one I had for as little as $250.00.