# Lado Guitars



## pvriesinga (Dec 22, 2013)

I just bought a Lado Canadian Classic 3 off of my brother in law the other day without really knowing much about it. Any able to tell me anything about them? I play bass, but got the guitar for $50 for what he thought was an old Ibanez. Pulled it out of the hard shell case to find out it was clearly not.


Thanks,
Phil


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## pvriesinga (Dec 22, 2013)




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## elliottmoose (Aug 20, 2012)

I remember tweaking a buddy's Lado. He payed a lot more than $50 for his. All I can remember about it was the untidy routing that seemed like someone went at it with a fork and a really dull pocketknife. Not sure if that was an 'aftermarket mod' by a previous owner...

I can say that it played fairly well, I think they're made in Canada, and I found the tone was good but not mind blowing. 


Sent from my iPhone


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Here's an older thread about Lado...

http://www.guitarscanada.com/showthread.php?13242-Any-Lado-Owners-Out-There&highlight=lado

Your pics aren't showing up for me. 8(

A buddy had one years ago, it was a basket case, so I never did get to try it.
He wanted me to fix it up, but it had more switches and do-hickies on it than an old BC Rich!
It was way beyond my scope then and now.

Yes, Canadian made.


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## pvriesinga (Dec 22, 2013)

Pictures show up now? Switched the host site


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

I can see them now, nice! Cool top.

I didn't realize that they went through the pointy guitar phase.
My buddy had a fairly old model. I like those old shredder units though,
gotta have a FR equipped guitar.

How's the pickups? That was a steal, if it plays at all.


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## Cups (Jan 5, 2010)

I'll give you 100$.


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## LydianGuitars (Apr 18, 2013)

Lado guitars have been around for decades and you see them on the used market every so often. They have a very good reputation. I remember seeing them for the fist time in the '80s.

Back in the late '80s, Lado has an endorsement program with Iron Maiden. I believe that Adrian Smith still plays the Hawk he got from Lado. 

Having never played one or seen one in person, I can't say much more. The guitar you got certainly looks good and at 50.00, that's a steal. Used prices are often above the $1'000 mark.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

At $50, that's the steal of the year.
lados never fetch top dollar on the resale market, but you could easily get several times that for it.
i bought a fairly beat up one, similar to that model last yr for about $250 for a project.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

sulphur said:


> I can see them now, nice! Cool top.
> 
> I didn't realize that they went through the pointy guitar phase.
> My buddy had a fairly old model. I like those old shredder units though,
> ...


Ya, for awhile in the late '80's, Lado was doing a lot of charvel/Jackson knockoffs....all the Canadian glam metal bands like lee aaron were using them. That's when I begged, borrowed, stole $1800 so Joe could make my own superstrat/shredder, that I still have today, but prob isn't worth half what I paid for it. He had a thriving business then at his Scarborough shop. I bet he'd like to dance on Kurt cobains grave.


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## astyles (Apr 6, 2009)

LydianGuitars said:


> Lado guitars have been around for decades and you see them on the used market every so often. They have a very good reputation. I remember seeing them for the fist time in the '80s.
> 
> Back in the late '80s, Lado has an endorsement program with Iron Maiden. I believe that Adrian Smith still plays the Hawk he got from Lado.
> 
> Having never played one or seen one in person, I can't say much more. The guitar you got certainly looks good and at 50.00, that's a steal. Used prices are often above the $1'000 mark.












I'd wanted Adrian's Lado Earth for the longest time, until his signature Jackson was recently released. I'd still consider forking over a little bit for the Earth if the opportunity arose, however ... although I've never played one, I've often read that they were decent quality.


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

Lado has been in business for quite some time, and have offered instruments all over the price/quality spectrum. 

I own a mid 90s bass, a superb instrument that can easily be classified as "boutique" quality. I have played some of their import instruments that left me annoyed that they shared the same label.


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## LydianGuitars (Apr 18, 2013)

astyles said:


> I'd wanted Adrian's Lado Earth for the longest time, until his signature Jackson was recently released. I'd still consider forking over a little bit for the Earth if the opportunity arose, however ... although I've never played one, I've often read that they were decent quality.


Yes, the Lado Earth. I always get confused with his model names. Its one of his nicest designs IMO.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

ronmac said:


> Lado has been in business for quite some time, and have offered instruments all over the price/quality spectrum.
> 
> I own a mid 90s bass, a superb instrument that can easily be classified as "boutique" quality. I have played some of their import instruments that left me annoyed that they shared the same label.


from what ive seen, his basses seem more desirable in the resale market than the guitars and hold their value quite well.


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## The Lullaby (Dec 8, 2010)

I was always impressed with LADO build quality but never dug the pointy headstocks


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## The Lullaby (Dec 8, 2010)

what does a suicidal drug addict who killed himself have to do with the fact that A GUY WHO MADE GREAT GUITARS retired?


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Delete
:sFun_cheerleader2:


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

The Lullaby said:


> what does a suicidal drug addict who killed himself have to do with the fact that A GUY WHO MADE GREAT GUITARS retired?


Grunge put a pretty quick stop to hair metal, which was a big
market for Lado 

there's been one or two on kijiji for ages.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Budda said:


> Grunge put a pretty quick stop to hair metal, which was a big
> market for Lado
> 
> there's been one or two on kijiji for ages.


Yes exactly.


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## The Lullaby (Dec 8, 2010)

so...he didn't stay up to date with changes so he lost out...but we lost out actually because having good Canadian builders making fine axes is something to stand behind...back timing I guess

-


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Sadly it seems Mr. Lado, who had (or has) a great skill, hit his stride during that black hole in popular music, the era dominated by (bad) long hair and pointy guitars with a floyd rose. 

Subsequent to that he didn't get caught up in the great revival of "vintage" style guitars, I believe he was teaching not building in the latter part of his career.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

The Lullaby said:


> so...he didn't stay up to date with changes so he lost out...but we lost out actually because having good Canadian builders making fine axes is something to stand behind...back timing I guess
> 
> -


I think he did try to make some changes...got into exotic woods, tele style guitars etc...but his highly priced, well crafted guitars never seemed to catch on with any endorsees, and he didn't have a retail channel...everything was sold direct. So demand was limited, while others like Anderson, Suhr, PRS, took off. 
Plus, the competition from mass-market, off shore guitars really heated up.
So I think the business model failed. or he liked keeping it as a cottage industry.

- - - Updated - - -



Jimmy_D said:


> Sadly it seems Mr. Lado, who had (or has) a great skill, hit his stride at during that black hole in popular music, the era dominated by (bad) long hair and pointy guitars with a floyd rose.
> 
> Subsequent to that he didn't get caught up in the great revival of "vintage" style guitars, *I believe he was teaching not building in the latter part of his career*.


re: your first sentence, utter nonsense! those were the heady days of the guitar gods!  Like the '60s were to muscle cars 

re: bolded, ya I went to see him in Lindsay a few times....the school was his main focus, he wanted to sell the guitar business, but it didn't seem like a viable business to me. He was still selling some guitars though, and some that were made by his students.


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

I thought that the coolest looking Lados were the BC Rich "inspired" models with all of the switches. I've played a couple though and didn't really dig the sound that much although I wanted to like them cause they were very reasonably priced. They made some basses in this style too. It may have been called the Falcon model.

I remember a few years back, Joe was giving somebody on this board a hard time because he made a copy of one of his models (for his own use). Found it amusing because he had no problem "borrowing design ideas" from other makers.


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

I had a Lado bass back in the 80's fantastic instrument. I wish I hadn't sold it. The model was the Rock II. It certainly wasn't the norm in body shape or build.



> and he didn't have a retail channel...everything was sold direct.


Not true. He did have a limited dealer network, but it was limited due to poor salesman and small lot production. They had a tough time breaking into the market.


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

Joe made excellent guitars.
I've owned many of them.
Most of his guitars are either butt-ugly, or slightly "off" in terms of proportions. 
I love them because they are so stupid looking. They play and sound great.
His later basses are fairly aesthetically accessible.
He has managed to alienate distributors and retailers for years simply by being an unpleasant human being.
Despite all of this, he has also managed to make and sell several thousand guitars and basses (not counting the Korean me-too garbage he imported for awhile).
Power to Joe!


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

dtsaudio said:


> I had a Lado bass back in the 80's fantastic instrument. I wish I hadn't sold it. The model was the Rock II. It certainly wasn't the norm in body shape or build.
> 
> 
> Not true. He did have a limited dealer network, but it was limited due to poor salesman and small lot production. They had a tough time breaking into the market.


I'll take your word for it, but I've never seen a new Lado for sale in a store in the GTA.


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

Diablo said:


> I'll take your word for it, but I've never seen a new Lado for sale in a store in the GTA.


Steve's had a few of his basses for sale a couple of years back.


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## dtsaudio (Apr 15, 2009)

Bought mine from Pongetti's Music in Hamilton in 1980.


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

Heads up for anyone curious about older Lado guitars... http://novascotia.kijiji.ca/c-buy-a...ar-with-EMG-active-pickups-W0QQAdIdZ557867387


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## satim (Mar 23, 2006)

I just went and checked out an awesome Supra. I wanted to love it, but it was just too different from my other guitars. I figured I would pass the link along if someone is looking for that super fast shredding neck thru super strat style guitar.

http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-musical-instruments-guitars-1988-Lado-Supra-Canadian-Made-
W0QQAdIdZ573527292



Easily worth what the seller is asking for it. All flame maple hand made Canadian Quality too bad for me


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