How much did you purchase this item for? $525 CAD
Where did you purchase this item? Axe Music, Calgary
Is this item new or used? New Old Stock (1 year old at time of purchase)
Features:*this guitar is left handed*
Chrome hardware
Three single coil pickups
5 way selector
C-shape neck (or at least mine is)
maple fretboard
tremolo bridge
master volume knob
two tone knobs
3 ply pickguard
*Mods*
Graphite nut (.12-.52 guage)
Seymour Duncan JB Jr. (Bridge)
DiMarzio Brian May signature neck pickup
Bridge fastened down
Extra tremolo springs added to compensate for larger strings
Construction: Pretty solid, though not when it was shipped, it had a ding beside the strap pin at the bottom, that's why i got 400$ off It also has a small crack near the neck joint but it has held up even with .13-.56 guage strings. aside from that and the crappy nut that busted... it's a sound guitar, had to clean out the pots, but that's because i don't use a case.
Sound: It's got amazing tone, especially with those new pickups. Gets a really nice bite on the neck and mid pickups, gets a really good "jangly" tone when using the neck and mid at once. great distortion from the bridge pickup, though not as powerful as a real JB. on a clean setting the humbucker sounds exactly like the guitar on "needle and the damage done" by lynyrd skynyrd. one thing i've hated for a while is the really loud 'click' noise made by the pickup selector, even the new pickups couldn't help this. also, one thing to look out for (at least what i find) is that if you give the guitar a little bump, the trem springs tend to get your pickups giving a nice low pitched, annoying feedback. not very fun.
Ease of Use: The neck joint is very bulky and gets in my way, making high pitched solos hard to do. would prefer a tapered heel. in terms of playability, it's great, if you have a pro set it up for you, when i bought it in store the factory setup wasn't exactly desirable.
But it's a guitar, the "ease of use" depends on the skill level.
Reliability: Fairly reliable but has been known to eat strings at a crappy time. the little part that holds the high E and B strings on the headstock like to snap strings, but put a spacer in to raise that piece a bit and you should have your problem solved. also the volume knob cuts off below three, not very noticable at bedroom levels, but when that volume gets higher, the need for a volume pedal becomes apparent. also, it would be in your best interests to sand down the saddles slightly as the mexican ones aren't exactly painstakingly made. so the saddles have a tendency to have burrs where strings can get caught and snapped.
Overall:I love my guitar. It's great at what it does, but it has its imperfections, just like everything else. There's always that one thing you want, but can't have. but for blues music and classic rock, this is the guitar to rock with. (that or an LP, but this one doesn't hurt the pocket book as bad) and righties may take interest as you could look as cool as hendrix buying one of these (albeit, i never said anything about sound or skill.)
so overall i'd give it a 7.5/10 because the american model is superior in craftmanship, but is easily matched with some quality work by your local luthier.
*as a side note i'd like to point out that the finish on these guitars are VERY thick and will not wear out, so if you're looking into the banged up guitar look of stevie ray vaughan or rory gallagher, i would suggest the Highway 1 series as the finish on those guitars is quite a lot thinner.
This post has been edited by pimp_vince: 06 May 2004 - 04:08 PM
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