# No love for Lado?



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Once upon a time, Lado guitars had a strong reputation in Canada. Personally, I thought they were too heavy, and sometimes a bit like BC Rich guitars with too many toggles, but there was little doubt they were well made and eminently suitable for professionals.

One was advertised on the local (and I suspect several other) Kijiji site/s. It started out, a few months ago, at around $2000, and failed to move. Today, I see it advertised for $879.

So, no love for Lado, or was it ridiculously overpriced to begin with?


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Fringe. High quality, nostalgic. Never created a burning flame amongst guitarists. 

Who are the famous players who played them? Iron Maiden bassist. Who else? Could have something to do with.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Not well known anymore and thus not worth a lot. Obscurity is a bitch.


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## hedzup (Apr 23, 2009)

I have owned quite a few of them, very attractive to look at but nothing special as instruments that made me want to hold on to them.


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## aC2rs (Jul 9, 2007)

I've owned a few and I am now down to 2 Lados, both of which I bought new from Joe, and both represented excellent value for the money.

My Elite is my #1a guitar and it's definitely a keeper.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

To me there are a bit like Fury guitars. They hit way above their price point but they aren't well known or played by big famous supastahs. 

I'd happily own either one for the price, if it was what I wanted in a guitar. That said, the Fury to me is more straight-ahead with a bit of Gibson and a bit of Fender. So more in my wheelhouse than the BC Rich / Alembic inspired Lado's I've seen and played. I will own a Fury some day. They were so common when I was on the prairies but now, on the coast, they seem to be a rarity. Makes 'em even cooler to me.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

sambonee said:


> Fringe. High quality, nostalgic. Never created a burning flame amongst guitarists.
> 
> Who are the famous players who played them? Iron Maiden bassist. Who else? Could have something to do with.


a lot of the 80s hair metal guys in Canada played them, they were pretty prominent in rock vids on muchmusic back in the day...Lee Aaron, Honeymoon Suite, Brighton Rock, Killer dwarfs, Adrian and Dave from iron maiden (on and off)as well as steve harris blah, blah blah.....but that's the problem. Its not so much WHO are the famous guys, its WHERE are they now? the brand lost its relevancy. endorsees aren't that hard to go out and get. but the effort hasn't been there, maybe because the Canadian guitar scene has lost a lot of its steam.

IMO the owner, Joe was a great craftsman...but didn't have a head for the business. He never properly committed to retail channels and building the brand element of his business. aside from the 80s metal blip, he was destined to stay small. I spoke with him a few years ago when he was looking to sell the business and I considered buying it....I couldn't wrap my hand around the fact that all I would be getting is a stash of valuable wood, some luthier training, and some tools. The brand is so tightly tied to Joes skills, that I think it would have no credibility without him there, and without any retail partnerships theres little value to the brand anyways IMO. Maybe I'm just not enough of a Henry J type or a visionary to make it work. I don't mean this as anyway to denigrate Joe or his company. hes an important part of Canadian guitar manufacturing history. its just very hard for companies to grow at certain crossroads.


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## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

I owned a Lado Falcon back in the mid 1980's. The original owner bought it around 1980 for around $1,300 (more than a brand new Les Paul Standard at the time). I bought it off him for $600. Very well made and played like a dream but the most boring sounding guitar I ever owned. Most of the active sounds were too extreme to be useful and with the straight pickups the guitar sounded flat. Sold it to a buddy who was a die hard heavy metal player. Worked well for him.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

mhammer said:


> Once upon a time, Lado guitars had a strong reputation in Canada. Personally, I thought they were too heavy, and sometimes a bit like BC Rich guitars with too many toggles, but there was little doubt they were well made and eminently suitable for professionals.
> 
> One was advertised on the local (and I suspect several other) Kijiji site/s. It started out, a few months ago, at around $2000, and failed to move. Today, I see it advertised for $879.
> 
> So, no love for Lado, or was it ridiculously overpriced to begin with?


not speaking of the offshore Hawk brand, I don't think Lado was over priced in the sense that the materials and quality were high and it was mostly a boutique type of manufacturer. his shop is pretty old school. so labour intensive therefore expensive. "ridiculously overpriced"...hmmm....well, IMO a Fender Masterbuilt is at least as ridiculously overpriced, but that isn't a barrier to sales. its the X-factor that determines if something sells, not simply its price/quality ratio.


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## Guest (Jun 27, 2017)

I used to go to Joe's shop on Warden Ave after school sometimes just to drool.
Definitely a lot of eye candy hanging on the racks.
Even back then, I knew they were fancy BCR knockoffs.
I used to own one of the off-shore standards. meh.
Not knocking them. I'd prefer to have an early 80's BCR instead (which I do).


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

He was selling some tele style gits made from exotic woods in the past 12-13 years...beautiful guitars at about the $2k price range.
I could never really tell who they were aimed at though.


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

My buddy had a Lado in the early 2000's that he bought from steves. The thing played like butter almost like a gibson double cut meets PRS carved top, had a great floating trem, deep blood red carved top etc. At the time it was way more guitar than either could handle but was fantastic. I think he paid around the 1600 mark. The other Lado's I've seen are like others have said, BC rich with too many options and not all that great. I wonder if their superstrats were good?


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I remember after buying my Iceman, the other guitarist in the band I was in through my music school had to go get a cool looking guitar as well.
He bought a Lado Flying V copy--and I think it was zebrawood
The two guitars looked great together--and go us lots of questions.
But it was heavy.

We both had other friends we were trying to start a band with--so we didn't keep that one going--no sure what happened to him or the guitar.
Nice guitar though.


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## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

A band mate had a Lado which weighed 14lbs. It redefined the term "boat anchor". He loved that beast.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Alex said:


> A band mate had a Lado which weighed 14lbs. It redefined the term "boat anchor". He loved that beast.


Cool. I didn't know Lado made triple-necks. Or even double-necks for that matter.

My LPC at 10 lbs is playable. At least at this point in my life. I quit lugging around big amps over a decade ago, I wonder if I'll ever find 10 lbs too heavy to hold for 45 minutes? I know I couldn't hold 14 lbs for that long - maybe a song or two, but that's about it.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Diablo said:


> IMO the owner, Joe was a great craftsman...but didn't have a head for the business.


This is what happens with most small guitar companies that try and make a go of it, sadly.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I kind of dig the whole je ne sais quoi of Lado guitars, but never caught the bug. It looks to me like he tried to do something different than most of the market and that's commendable.


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

I thought that the BC Rich inspired guitars and basses with a million switches looked kind of cool. Also some of the weird shaped metal guitars were pretty interesting.

The fancy wood ones don't do anything for me, but to be fair, I'm not into fancy guitars from any maker.

My favourite Lado memory is when he threatened to sue one of the guys on this board who made a duplicate of one of the weird shaped Lado models (for his own use). Not sure if that member is still on here.


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## Accept2 (Jan 1, 2006)

I used to have about 10 of them along time ago. They were fantastic guitars. For the time they had amazing build quality. I currently only have a Hawk that I picked up for shits and giggles, and its a POS compared to the handcrafted ones. He wasnt smart on his selection of an overseas builder. Hating pro guitarists and their attitudes didnt help much either. Sometimes you can be a master at something, but a disaster at the business of it. Of course it is a shit business to begin with......


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2017)

a Falcon II bass just popped up on kijiji for $1450
the control layout's almost identical to my BCR Eagle bass


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## TheYanChamp (Mar 6, 2009)

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...kdpmGymOM562w2NZUeT4NJTpWMWWCJrgZluIL_6sL78UA

It was a hawk series that he had. Blood red curly top, it was pretty handsome. I wonder how I'd feel about it now.

Sent from my SGH-T999V using Tapatalk


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## Hired Goon (Mar 4, 2008)

So the dude copies BC Rich then threatens to sue someone copying a Lado for a single build?


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

Diablo said:


> IMO the owner, Joe was a great craftsman...but didn't have a head for the business. … hes an important part of Canadian guitar manufacturing history. its just very hard for companies to grow at certain crossroads.





Budda said:


> This is what happens with most small guitar companies that try and make a go of it, sadly.


I suspect it has more to do with his winning personality than with anything else, IMO.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Hammertone said:


> I suspect it has more to do with his winning personality than with anything else, IMO.


He's opinionated and direct. I never had a problem with him....but I grew up in the "borscht belt" of Toronto, so I know how those old eastern European guys are and how to navigate around them. My dad was like that too.


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

I was being polite. Retail buyers typically don't have to deal with abrasive old farts if they don't want to , and Joe pissed off enough buyers to affect his business. His competitors did a better job marketing to and servicing their clients. This doesn't mean his products aren't great, albeit idiosyncratic, instruments.


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