Vantage guitars were made my Matsumoko industries in Japan from the mid 70's to late 80's. At that time Matsumoko was bought out by Singer (sewing machines?)and the Vantage name was bought by Samick. Samick made Vantages in Korea until the late 90's when the line was discontinued.

When Matsumoko began making guitars there was a strong commitment to making a quality instrument. In order to break into the US market these guitars were priced quite low for the quality of the instrument. The made in Japan guitars are considered far superior to the Korean ones.

Vantage made copies of well known guitars as well as several originals. The originals were generally high quality instruments for their cost. The copies were more uneven with large variations in the equipment used within the same model lines. Some were fantastic, others quite bad.

The Avenger you refer to came in several varieties but was an attempt by Vantage to make its own guitar, not a copy. They were made in the early to mid 80's and were good solid guitars with quality workmanship and dependable. They retailed new for $180-$300. As testament to their quality, these MIJ Vantages have developed a fairly large following. The Avengers can routinely be seen on e-bay with eventual selling prices of $180-$350. Other Vantage models I have seen for up to $600. Copies of Les Pauls and Strats tend to be cheaper in the $150-$250 range. Korean models, with their likely deserved more inferior reputation go for the low $100's.

Interestingly, I own a Vantage Avenger AV325. I bought it in 1983 after my Uncle reclaimed the Gibson ES-335 that he "gave" me several years earlier, probably after finding out how much it was worth!

I didn't have much money then and played the Avenger at a local music store. It sounded quite good but I was skeptical. I went to many other stores and played all the guitars in the under $500 group that I could, but the Avenger kept sounding better than them. After about a month of this, and still skeptical about a brand I had never heard of, and a Japanese one at that, I decided to trust my ear and my gut and plunked down $219 for the Vantage. It is 21 years later, I can buy whatever guitar I want now, and do own many others including Peavey, Danelectro, and Fender. I still play my Avenger as much as I play these other guitars. They all have their plusses and minuses but the Avenger still holds it's own, and has an awesome tone for good old fashioned hard rock.

Before I found out about the change to Samick in the 90's, I bought a beautiful Vantage on e-bay. It is a double cutaway Les Paul type style with a gorgeous blue quilt finish. I wondered why it was so cheap. That is when I found out more about Vantage and the superior MIJ product. This new guitar, made in 1998, is pretty good ( fantastic when you consider I got it for $120 on e-bay), has pretty scorching high output pickups, but definitely of more shoddy workmanship, which has become more apparent over time.

Sorry to ramble. If you are interested in learning more about Vantages go to therathole where the site is devoted to Japanese guitars, in particular Matsumoko brands such as Vantage and Aria. Their guitar gallery forums have a whole section devoted to vantage. Also many Vantage reviews can also be seen at the HarmonyCentral guitar database.

Hope this helps. Play the Avenger for a while then try some of the newer name brands in the $300-$500 range and see what you think, you may be surprised, I was.