I’ve heard bad things about this guitar but I really liked it and wanted to try one. So I ordered it, knowing things might go wrong with it. But when I opened the box I was surprised, because there wasn’t really anything to notice about the guitar, at least at first sight. Everything is great for the price, no sharp frets, no tool marks, no visible glue marks. I bought a Gibson worth three of this guitar, and it had worse quality by far. So yes, I was indeed pleasantly surprised.
Now to some more specific things. The nut is perfectly fit on mine, doesn’t stick out, perfectly set up. The finish is great, but there are some small imperfections near the bridge pickup cavity, I only noticed it after about an hour of playing the guitar. Even the cavity of the pickups is well painted.
The guitar is also surprisingly lightweight. I’m not even exaggerating - it’s super light. I was very surprised by it, it looks so big, and at the same time it weighs so little. It’s by far the lightest electric guitar I ever had.
The biggest issue I can specify is the frets, like I said they’re not sharp, but they feel like sandpaper, which is pretty normal for guitars in this range, but still is a bit unpleasant. But in my case I was going to replace them with stainless steel anyway so for me it’s no big deal.
Pickups are very nice. I never tried D Activators before, but I had a chance to compare the guitar with my other 7 string that has EMG pickups. They do sound quite similar and I like how organic Dimarzio sounds in comparison. The coil tap seems to indeed just “power tap” the coil instead of splitting - I personally prefer coil split sounds so it’s something I plan to modify
Now if to speak about some more things I personally don’t like (which are not issues of the guitar but just my personal preference) - the matte black finish on the neck is unnecessary. The guitar has a roasted maple neck so it’s odd that they decided to paint it, in my opinion. Roasted maple looks very good on its own. Secondly, I never tried the monorail bridges before, and although it does keep the guitar in tune very well, the overall components feel a bit cheap, the materials aren’t stainless steel and it doesn’t look like hardened steel either. I know that they put them even on their Prestige models though so it’s a bit strange to me. I’d rather have a standard fixed bridge or even an evertune. And lastly although there are no problems with the finish, I don’t like the finish paint, it feels a bit strange to the touch, not like my prestige model or other satin guitars, so somewhat cheap. So I might also have fun refinishing it later lol!
So overall, I bought the guitar with thoughts that it will come to me half broken, and it didn’t. It came in near perfect condition, with no visible issues at first glance. I’m going to keep it and going to mod it further to my taste. And I would recommend it to anyone who’s interested in getting one. I initially bought a 6 string 61ALET and was also surprised by the quality, and eventually I also got this one. So I’m happy, and I hope that review was helpful!
