Chuck,
Thanks for picking me out a great guitar. Overall first impression – very well packed – Even the UPS delivery guy said the box and everything felt solid. Sometimes he delivers guitars and the boxes are rattling around inside. Guitar hard case was wrapped in plastic bubble wrap. Accessories were in a separate bag not inside the case. (Smart – nothing to slide around inside the case with the guitar.)
Overall Fit and Finish – Neck was nice and straight, Frets nicely polished and filed. No sharp edges. The 16 inch radius is awesome and combined with the C style neck is a great combination. Reminds me of a cross between an Ibanez Wizard 3 neck and a Les Paul neck. Not as thick as the Les Paul but thicker than the Ibanez. Great Feel!
Body – great Blue color and nice QM top. The body is not too big and is contoured in the backside for your body. There is also a top contour for your right forearm. Very comfortable to wear. The body finish is top notch.
FR Type Tremolo – First it is not a FR , but it is very smooth and stays in tune. Intonation was spot on. (remember they take the tension off the strings when shipping.) I was very easily able to perform a Gross tuning and then lock the nut and perform the fine tuning. I was able to lower the string height with the provided tools. The key to tuning any FR Type locking bridge is to block it to prevent it from moving while you tune it. There are great Videos on Youtube on how to perform the initial setup on a FR Type Bridge. It has been years since I had a Tremolo bridge (a 1980’s Kramer Imperial with a FR.) This was much easier to tune and setup than I remembered.
Pickups – the two regular humbuckers with the split coils are awesome and offer up a nice tonal palette for the users to choose from. The Single coil sized rail humbucker in the middle has a strat middle pickup sound without all the noise. The Tone control works with all three pickups.
Overall – a very playable guitar – the neck is quick and easy to play. sound great thru my little 15 Watt Tube amp with the Shifty’s 8 overdrive pedal.
Totally enjoying this guitar – it’s a keeper.
Totally enjoying the Shifty’s 8 pedal
Looking forward to trying the Valve Up Yours! pedal.
Rob
(old guy that plays guitar)
