NGD - IYV ITF-400 P90 Thinline!

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slowhand84
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Alrighty, so I've been wanting something with P90s in the stable again (specifically interested in a chambered thinline tele-style thing)...this isn't the kind of guitar I will play as my main axe so I didn't want to spend a lot, but at the same time I didn't want something super junky either because I know if it's super low quality I won't play it.

I had seen some folks post here about the IYV (Inyen Vina) guitars that come up for sale from time to time on Amazon. Decided to take a peek and lo and behold IYV makes a guitar that is EXACTLY what I wanted spec wise - double bound mahogany body, quilted maple veneer, P90 pickups, and a maple neck with amaranth fretboard (which apparently is purpleheart?)...all for $175 with free Prime shipping.

Knowing how easy it would be to just return it to Amazon if there's an issue, I went ahead and bit the bullet Sunday and it arrived today.

I'm going to do a rather in-depth review of this thing here and note every positive and negative:

The pros:

-fretwork is great, nicely leveled and no sharp edges
-hardware is solid - no issues cosmetically or functionally, tuners are responsive and solid too
-weight is just right - fairly light but not so much as to feel like a toy
-very nice quality maple neck, and a great satin finish - no sticky gloss or cheap lookin' tint.
-nice tight neck pocket on both sides, no cracks or issues
-P90 pickups sound WAY better than I would expect stock pups at this price to sound
-guitar needed absolutely no tweaking of the truss rod, saddles, or anything else...changed strings, oiled the board, and it's playing great with nice low action.

The cons:

-board was very dry (expected on a cheapie, and a few cents worth of lemon oil later it was as you see it in the pics below)
-the high E nut slot was cut a bit too deep, doesn't affect anything but just from a QC standpoint worth mentioning
-the inner edges of the F-holes are not perfectly finished (you can't see it straight on, but if you look into 'em from the side you can tell they're a bit rough) and there are one or two tiny spots in the binding where there's a bit of overspray
-they masked off the front binding when applying the finish but not the back binding, so the back binding is red and not cream. Again, no biggie but it is a little odd. The stock pics of the guitar have things this way too, so I don't think it's an error but a "feature" lol.

In conclusion (and before we get to the pics), I absolutely think that minor cosmetic squabbles aside that are to be expected on a cheapie this guitar punches several times above its price tag. At less than $200 shipped to my door in 2 days, I am extremely pleased with it. I expected to have to change a bunch of stuff on it and I still may down the line, but it really doesn't "need" anything and for this price that's incredible.

Here come the pics!

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slowhand84
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One more nicer pic, and I’ll get a few clips up shortly.

Image
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Gergo
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Nice axe man. K am thinking about custom ordering an IYV from the factory, so it was nice to see a through review. Enjoy the guitar
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ID10t
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And sold, your commission check should be on the way.
Exactly what I was looking for with the compromises I was already going to make (not my 1st choice of color.)
I wanted a Classic Vibe Starcaster because the scale, but they didn't do the string through body on it, the original Fender did. The P-90's are kinda a bonus, if I decide I want humbuckers I'll have to order the HB version.
So seriously just ordered it. Thanks @slowhand84
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Bullcat
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Wow that's a dynamite guitar!
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aullucci
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Nice axe and nice deal. There's something about P-90's man. Even the inexpensive ones can sound sooooo good. Looking forward to clips...
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jimbocaster
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Looks nice...great deal. HNGD!
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slowhand84
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ID10t wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:40 am And sold, your commission check should be on the way.
Exactly what I was looking for with the compromises I was already going to make (not my 1st choice of color.)
I wanted a Classic Vibe Starcaster because the scale, but they didn't do the string through body on it, the original Fender did. The P-90's are kinda a bonus, if I decide I want humbuckers I'll have to order the HB version.
So seriously just ordered it. Thanks @slowhand84
Nice, hope yours turns out as nice as this one! Really a ton of guitar for the bucks.
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fatjack
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I could so do that in a lefty. Enjoy.
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andrewsrea
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HNGD!!!

Dry fretboards are very common, even with higher $ brands. I've seen a bunch. The exception of course are the maple fretboards. I have no clue why that is.
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slowhand84
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andrewsrea wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 11:21 am HNGD!!!

Dry fretboards are very common, even with higher $ brands. I've seen a bunch. The exception of course are the maple fretboards. I have no clue why that is.
That’s because maple fretboards are typically finished, but other woods (ebony, rw) are not. And yep, very common but 60 secs with lemon oil fixes it fast and leaves the fretboard looking great.

Changing strings and oiling the board are two things I do to any guitar I get regardless of price tag, so not something I really even consider a negative even though I did list it under “cons”. Just wanted to provide a very in-depth look at this guitar for anyone considering one :)
SamIV
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I have always wanted one of those since the Douglas days and Thoman as well. I assume this is the same as the Thoman offering. Would you consider the neck profile similar to a Fender modern C with a flatter fretboard? And is the width 11/16 or 5/8ths. I prefer the wider neck with a little slimness front to back . Great looking too on that one. I wonder if IYV was the maker of Douglas.
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Razzle
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Nice @slowhand84 , the double binding is a real nice touch.

I've heard of IVY guitars just recently and been following them on FB, sure seems like there could be some good models to me to get, either their stock guitars but in different colors, or perhaps a custom order. I'm not familiar enough with their product line so I'm hovering still right now.

Good to hear your basic assessment that the guitar was solid and didn't have any glaring issues.

Enjoy!
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mighty_duck
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SamIV wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:02 pm I wonder if IYV was the maker of Douglas.
Afaik, all Douglas guitars are made in China, while IYV are made in Vietnam. So probably no.
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slowhand84
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aullucci wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:39 am Nice axe and nice deal. There's something about P-90's man. Even the inexpensive ones can sound sooooo good. Looking forward to clips...
For sure! These are used on slightly more expensive guitars too like the Wolf brand stuff made by the same company, but I am very surprised by them...absolutely no need to upgrade, they sound great.

Couple of clips just quickie recorded with my phone, will do proper recording on the weekend when I have more time.


Clicking through the pickup positions with a clean tone with my EHX Grand Canyon delay:

A little clean lead:

And a little dirt clip with my Okko Diablo Plus and the EHX again:
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aullucci
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Sounds great man! I need another p90 axe.
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nomadh
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Wow, for 175? Thats what I call a self defence purchase. Because if you didn't buy it it would KILL YOU!

:)
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Chocol8
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Two of the enduring mysteries of the universe are:

Why cheap pickups of most types are so crappy when it wouldn’t cost much more, and in many cases LESS, to make a cheap set that sounds good?

AND

Why doesn’t this issue apply to P-90’s? A lot of cheap P-90’s sound good!

Now excuse me while I go browse Amazon...
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Chocol8
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Ha! The description is great!

all guitars are made punctually by CNC machine with computer programming
Perfect neck with almost no defectiveness
All guitars with good specification


I am very glad to hear that none of the guitars were made late, and that the CNC (computer numerical control) machine used computer programming. Had they tried to cut a guitar using a CNC machine with no computer programming, things might have come out looking like an ugly mess!

I am going to assume that “almost no defectiveness” translates into “neck is stable” in Vietnamese because almost no defects would be almost perfect, and clearly these necks are perfect. They said so!

I think I might order one and then buy a T shirt to wear while playing it that is like the old “I am with stupid” shirts except it will say, “I am with good specification”
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Mossman
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slowhand84 wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:41 pm Alrighty, so I've been wanting something with P90s in the stable again (specifically interested in a chambered thinline tele-style thing)...this isn't the kind of guitar I will play as my main axe so I didn't want to spend a lot, but at the same time I didn't want something super junky either because I know if it's super low quality I won't play it.

I had seen some folks post here about the IYV (Inyen Vina) guitars that come up for sale from time to time on Amazon. Decided to take a peek and lo and behold IYV makes a guitar that is EXACTLY what I wanted spec wise - double bound mahogany body, quilted maple veneer, P90 pickups, and a maple neck with amaranth fretboard (which apparently is purpleheart?)...all for $175 with free Prime shipping.

Knowing how easy it would be to just return it to Amazon if there's an issue, I went ahead and bit the bullet Sunday and it arrived today.
Sweeeet.... That rosewood looks really nice to me. Tight neck pocket, level frets, and the P90s sound good too. That's all you need. It would seem that the quality of fretwork on even the cheapest import guitars has been getting better in the last few years. Back in the days of Korean Epiphones you wouldn't be shocked or dismayed if your $400-$500 guitar had a wonky fret or two. That just came with the territory. But I can't recall the last time I've had to file a single fret on any guitar I've bought in the last 5 years or so. Even in the $150-$200 range.

I've been checking out the one with the spalted maple top and humbuckers. That picture on Amazon does it no justice. It looks a lot better in the videos that I've seen (which should come as no surprise), and it sounds pretty good right out of the box.







This looks pretty cool too:


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slowhand84
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Chocol8 wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 5:47 pm Ha! The description is great!

all guitars are made punctually by CNC machine with computer programming
Perfect neck with almost no defectiveness
All guitars with good specification


I am very glad to hear that none of the guitars were made late, and that the CNC (computer numerical control) machine used computer programming. Had they tried to cut a guitar using a CNC machine with no computer programming, things might have come out looking like an ugly mess!

I am going to assume that “almost no defectiveness” translates into “neck is stable” in Vietnamese because almost no defects would be almost perfect, and clearly these necks are perfect. They said so!

I think I might order one and then buy a T shirt to wear while playing it that is like the old “I am with stupid” shirts except it will say, “I am with good specification”
Yeah, gotta love the classic description haha. To their credit, the neck is indeed perfect with almost no defectiveness, the only "defect" being the dry board which I quickly cured...and the guitar certainly does indeed have "good" specification :).
Mossman wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:54 pm
slowhand84 wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 6:41 pm Alrighty, so I've been wanting something with P90s in the stable again (specifically interested in a chambered thinline tele-style thing)...this isn't the kind of guitar I will play as my main axe so I didn't want to spend a lot, but at the same time I didn't want something super junky either because I know if it's super low quality I won't play it.

I had seen some folks post here about the IYV (Inyen Vina) guitars that come up for sale from time to time on Amazon. Decided to take a peek and lo and behold IYV makes a guitar that is EXACTLY what I wanted spec wise - double bound mahogany body, quilted maple veneer, P90 pickups, and a maple neck with amaranth fretboard (which apparently is purpleheart?)...all for $175 with free Prime shipping.

Knowing how easy it would be to just return it to Amazon if there's an issue, I went ahead and bit the bullet Sunday and it arrived today.
Sweeeet.... That rosewood looks really nice to me. Tight neck pocket, level frets, and the P90s sound good too. That's all you need. It would seem that the quality of fretwork on even the cheapest import guitars has been getting better in the last few years. Back in the days of Korean Epiphones you wouldn't be shocked or dismayed if your $400-$500 guitar had a wonky fret or two. That just came with the territory. But I can't recall the last time I've had to file a single fret on any guitar I've bought in the last 5 years or so. Even in the $150-$200 range.

I've been checking out the one with the spalted maple top and humbuckers. That picture on Amazon does it no justice. It looks a lot better in the videos that I've seen (which should come as no surprise), and it sounds pretty good right out of the box.
Yeah I don't like the spalted one as much, kinda gives me a cheap Cozart vibe whereas the P90 one looks a lot classier, but that's just personal preference and I'm sure it's of similar quality. I actually had that Jazz model in my cart too and was going to do a two-fer with IYV on Amazon but ultimately realized that it's not much different than my custom shop AS-1000 aside from the shape and there's no way it'll be better than it so it's going to be one of those guitars I don't play after a few days. For $207 I'm sure you could do MUCH worse for a guitar like this though.
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slowhand84
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aullucci wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 4:06 pm Sounds great man! I need another p90 axe.
We all do. Playing this one most of this evening has really led me to wonder why I had been without a P90 axe for a while. Never again!
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slowhand84
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SamIV wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:02 pm I have always wanted one of those since the Douglas days and Thoman as well. I assume this is the same as the Thoman offering. Would you consider the neck profile similar to a Fender modern C with a flatter fretboard? And is the width 11/16 or 5/8ths. I prefer the wider neck with a little slimness front to back . Great looking too on that one. I wonder if IYV was the maker of Douglas.
After doing a tiny bit of digging it looks like this is basically identical to the Harley Benton TE90-QM seen here. Makes sense since Inyen Vina makes stuff for Benton, so it’s probably the exact same guitars with their logo instead of the HB one.

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Mossman
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slowhand84 wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 10:01 pm Yeah I don't like the spalted one as much, kinda gives me a cheap Cozart vibe whereas the P90 one looks a lot classier, but that's just personal preference and I'm sure it's of similar quality. I actually had that Jazz model in my cart too and was going to do a two-fer with IYV on Amazon but ultimately realized that it's not much different than my custom shop AS-1000 aside from the shape and there's no way it'll be better than it so it's going to be one of those guitars I don't play after a few days. For $207 I'm sure you could do MUCH worse for a guitar like this though.
Yeah, I dig that... That's exactly what I thought whenever I saw them on Amazon, but after seeing them "in real life" so to speak, they look much better than I thought they did. I'm still kinda on the fence about spalted maple, though... Sometimes I really like it, and sometimes, I'm like: "noooo thank you".
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redman
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Excellent score @slowhand84 I really like IYV guitars and yours is a beauty'
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