Howdy folks! I am new here, but was doing some reasearch a few days ago and came across this thread. Guy had a neck-thru Strat on eBay for sale.
I have two of these guitars. Made in 1985-86 at the Westheimer factory in Incheon, South Korea.
Yes, the bridges are cheap pieces of crap. Kahler knock-offs.....the frame surrounding the bridge mechanism that is screwed to the top of the guitar will eventually break.
I bought my first one in 1985 brand new for $250. Within 5 years the bridge frame broke. So I bought a Kahler Pro bridge to replace it. It was not a perfect fit....I had to enlarge the rout a bit to get the holes to lineup, and some other minor mods to the body, but once it was in, and set up, it was a great guitar. They can be found VERY occasionally on ebay. I only see one or two a year come up for sale. They never sell for more than 300 bucks, but then, if you buy one you WILL have to shell out $275 for a new Kahler, and you will never be able to get the money out of it you have to put in. The Kahler itself is worth more than the guitar.
They are good guitars though. No heel where the neck and body converge. Frets appear to be Gibson-ish. Rosewood neck.
By the way, pasterkeith, Vixen had an endorsement deal with JB Player during their heyday in the mid-80s, which is why you found that photo of them in your case.
In the late 90s I walked into a pawnshop. The guy was a fan of my playing and would sometimes cut me a deal. On the guitar-tech bench was a red neck-thru JB Player strat....with (of course) a broken bridge.
I told him I would give him 75 bucks for it as it was. He did not even have to put the bridge back on the guitar. He accepted my offer.
I had just got my first PC...Google did not exist....and after a day or so of searching (with my limited knowledge of the internet) I found a guitar shop in New Jersey who had a Kahler Pro that was still in it's original packaging. It was a black finish bridge, which I needed because on this red JB Player, the hardware was black.
I bought it, and put it on, and I still have it.
If you can find these guitars, and get them for under 100 bucks, someday you can get your money out of them when you sell them, as they are of great quality.
One other thing.....they weigh as much as a Les Paul. And the black one I have has a REALLY low end tone to it. I have a single EMG humbucker in the bridge position. My main axe is an '88 Gibson Flying V with the same pickup configuration, and when I switch from the V to the JB Player, I have to turn my mids and highs up to get it to sound right.
In one aspect, it is too bad these guitars were not more successful, as they are great guitars with the best features of Gibson and Fender combined. On the other side of the coin, it is a good thing they were not more successful, as even their Blue Book value is not much, so they can usually be had for cheap.
The above is pretty much all I know about them. Hope the info is helpful to you who are reading this.