Abasi Concepts/Larada Megathread

[jephjacques]

GUITAR DADS: heavier strings and higher action sound better! More tone!!!

TOSIN: lmao we'll see

 

[Hollowway]

Yeah, 0.5mm is insane! I play with 1.0 or just under for high E, and higher on the lower strings. I have a light touch, but I fret out on bends or lose sustain with much lower.

 

[jephjacques]

my 070r is 2mm and I thought that was LOW

caveman hands

 

[Jonathan20022]

LMFAO, I've really grown accustomed to it, there's a pretty interesting sensation with heavier strings + low action. 10's bend like 9's when the string is lowered by that much, but you can use like 11 - 49's in E Standard with low action and retain all the tension on the right hand while adding slinkiness to the strings around the middle of the fretboard. I can demo that 060 with that action, I get zero buzzing even if I slam the strings as hard as I can while I play it.

But my Ormsby has 11 - 56 in C# with 1.0/2.0mm action (High/Low Respectively), normal/higher action is definitely not a deal breaker for me but I love playing leads on the Aristides because I can get that low without all the noise and buzzing.

 

[Hollowway]

LMFAO

I've really grown accustomed to it, there's a pretty interesting sensation with heavier strings + low action. 10's bend like 9's when the string is lowered by that much, but you can use like 11 - 49's in E Standard with low action and retain all the tension on the right hand while adding slinkiness to the strings around the middle of the fretboard. I can demo that 060 with that action, I get zero buzzing even if I slam the strings as hard as I can while I play it.

But my Ormsby has 11 - 56 in C# with 1.0/2.0mm action (High/Low Respectively), normal/higher action is definitely not a deal breaker for me but I love playing leads on the Aristides because I can get that low without all the noise and buzzing.

Yeah, I've got some guitars super low, and it's GREAT. Those are keepers that aren't going anywhere. I play with a light touch, so I'm fine with low action. But I can't get most guitars below 1.0 without issues. It takes some great fretwork, a perfectly adjusted nut, and a dialed in neck to get there. Frankly, it doesn't surprise me that you get it on an Aristides. Only really nice instruments with a luthier that really cares about such a thing can achieve that. Aristides are amazing.

 

[Jonathan20022]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write all this. I was on the fence buying an Abasi guitar and all reviews make me want to wait until their QC gets better.

Other than their design decision to put saddles that don’t permit lower than 1mm action, are there any other problems with the build (finish, fret work, etc.) ?

Is playing the higher frets a pain with that horn on the body?

The guitar is pretty comfortable, but if you sit with your guitar on your right thigh there is some pretty gnarly neck dive. Feels very optimized for Classical position, which is how I spend most of my time playing anyways.

The issues I'm having are with the build itself, mostly the end of the fretboard there are some weird defects in the neck and what looks like a surface level tool mark across the neck pickup (Slipped tool when adjusting something?). The finish work itself is super sloppy at the end of the headstock, it doesn't look like it was taped off properly and interestingly enough reveals a blonde layer that is definitely some kind of veneer under the headstock's solid color finish. Fretwork is solid, no issues and the fret ends are smoothed over well, about what you'd expect from a WMI instrument.

There's also a few spots where the finish (Overcast) landed on the neck and was finished over, so there's two or three specks of white/grey that can't be removed without refinishing the neck It's all cosmetic, and I could stomach the two spots under the neck finish, or even some slightly sloppy paint at the headstock tip. But at the cost, I'm feeling like just sending it back.

 

[TheInvisibleHand]

I'm sure this has been asked, but has anyone been able to compare the legion to the J7? I realize "worth" is very subjective, but I am wondering if its better to hold out for the next drop or grab a legion and save the money?

 

[r3tr0sp3ct1v3]

Kinda glad I canceled overcast 8 and decided to wait for next masters series 8s

 

[jephjacques]

I'm sure this has been asked, but has anyone been able to compare the legion to the J7? I realize "worth" is very subjective, but I am wondering if its better to hold out for the next drop or grab a legion and save the money?

Everyone seems very happy with their J7s, mixed reactions to their Legions.

 

[Jack McGoldrick]

guess we have three manufacturers making three guitars with different construction in three parts of the world, united by a website and an aesthetic

 

[AmoryDrive]

I'm sure this has been asked, but has anyone been able to compare the legion to the J7? I realize "worth" is very subjective, but I am wondering if its better to hold out for the next drop or grab a legion and save the money?

Honestly for the money I'd say Legion going off the one I played at NAMM. Main difference is gonna be the neck profile as the J has the asymmetrical one. Definitely a better profile but whether its worth another like, 1000-1300 is up to you

 

[bassisace]

Everyone seems very happy with their J7s, mixed reactions to their Legions.

Not everyone is happy with their J7s. A friend of mine got a J7 and noticed that the first string has a lower volume than the second string. The problem is with bridge pickup alignment with the first string. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next J7 that are built don’t have the same bridge pickup alignment or even maybe another pickup that has a wider magnetic field to compensate.

I’ve also heard about warped J7 necks and the fact that the body horn being attached to the neck prevents the truss rod from adjusting neck relief on the higher frets.

For Legion, on the sample reviews that I looked at roughly 90% have finish blemishes.

I’d love to buy an Abasi but we can’t go to a store and try one.

 

[StevenC]

guess we have three manufacturers making three guitars with different construction in three parts of the world, united by a website and an aesthetic

Ibanez? No, Fender! ESP maybe?

 

[jyym]

What’s the neck width at the nut on these?

 

[xzacx]

I’ve also heard about warped J7 necks and the fact that the body horn being attached to the neck prevents the truss rod from adjusting neck relief on the higher frets.

Except it isn’t. In fact, the gap here has been one of the biggest criticisms of it.

 

[A-Branger]

but AFAIK it's all in limbo

updates have been posted and even pics from WMI. the run is done and waiting shipment from Korea, the shipping company has delays/overbooked so they would arrive early/mid December

Everyone’s mad at the hype and drop but I’m sitting here with a guitar in my hands, that delivered to me literally 3 days after hitting the purchase button. So much cooler than putting in an order with Ormsby and having to wait half a year etc. I was originally thinking of getting a Solar but the 8 I was looking at ships in spring/summer 2021 and it of course only came in black. I hate seeing cool guitars ship then realize I would have had to get in on a run literally a year prior. I get the wait if you’re going custom like Aristides or Kiesel, but I’m so glad I’m not waiting months and months for a production instrument to get built. I’m honestly tired of companies who won’t take the risk of just building a bunch of guitars and marketing them. Many companies have to do slow runs, and let all the slots fill up or not so they don’t waste a single penny or build a guitar that doesn’t have a buyer. I get it, but it adds half a year to the process. IMO that’s just shoveling your problems onto the consumer and making them pay for it with time.

then buy them once they are available. dont read any pre-oders and treath them like a "in-stock" only. So only buy when they are in-sotck, like you want it to happen. Gutiars are still going to get build, only thing a pre-order does for you is to give you the chance to pay in parts, and for you to be 100% secure on your color/string option, as you might order the very only one guitar in 8 string in that specific color, so you would get yours, if you wait until they are in-stock then you wont have the option as it wont get buid due to lack of popularity. And before you say that they should sill make them, then thats the difference with doing pre-orders and building a blind batch. With pre-orders you can offer 20 color options and only build what people order, with a blind batch you donno waht they gonna buy so you have to play "safe" and offer less options. And nope, is not easy to guess what people want, at all.

so forget about pre-orders, see those as "rumours", and only see their range and offerings once they become in-stock

They said just that about three times so far on all their socials, but they didn’t email anyone. I agree with you that they should have emailed people, but this company seems to be literally only Ivan and Tosin right now. So that’s 1-2 guys managing 200 orders. All my emails are coming straight from Ivan. I bet the dude is stressed.

Although I agree with you they should ahve sent an email, its a double edge sword. This could open the flood gates to everyone repliying the email and then having to deal with that. You would be surprised on how little people actualy read instrucctions and those types of email updates

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

Except it isn’t. In fact, the gap here has been one of the biggest criticisms of it.

From frets 12 to ~15, there’s a ~2mm gap while from frets 15 to 24 no gap. I have a J Larada right in front of me.

There is indeed a neck section in that area that has a little hump, regardless of truss rod adjustment. I don’t mind it at all. My tech also thinks this is possibly due to neck and body being joined from frets ~15 to 24.

Anyhow, I like my J Larada quite a lot

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I’ve also heard about warped J7 necks and the fact that the body horn being attached to the neck prevents the truss rod from adjusting neck relief on the higher frets.

Truss rods don't affect the higher frets, that's a function of what's called "drop off" (or lack of) where you taper fret height to the end of the neck to account for the elliptical string path/relief.

Fodera, Conklin, Brubaker, etc. have been doing instruments with extended upper bouts for decades, this shouldn't be a problem.

The rods flex at thier center, which is roughly at the 9th fret, and anchor around the 20th, so there's no real way to affect the frets higher up the neck, or lower for that matter.

 

[Jonathan20022]

updates have been posted and even pics from WMI. the run is done and waiting shipment from Korea, the shipping company has delays/overbooked so they would arrive early/mid December



then buy them once they are available. dont read any pre-oders and treath them like a "in-stock" only. So only buy when they are in-sotck, like you want it to happen. Gutiars are still going to get build, only thing a pre-order does for you is to give you the chance to pay in parts, and for you to be 100% secure on your color/string option, as you might order the very only one guitar in 8 string in that specific color, so you would get yours, if you wait until they are in-stock then you wont have the option as it wont get buid due to lack of popularity. And before you say that they should sill make them, then thats the difference with doing pre-orders and building a blind batch. With pre-orders you can offer 20 color options and only build what people order, with a blind batch you donno waht they gonna buy so you have to play "safe" and offer less options. And nope, is not easy to guess what people want, at all.

so forget about pre-orders, see those as "rumours", and only see their range and offerings once they become in-stock



Although I agree with you they should ahve sent an email, its a double edge sword. This could open the flood gates to everyone repliying the email and then having to deal with that. You would be surprised on how little people actualy read instrucctions and those types of email updates

I mean that's what people do? If they don't want to pre-order then they just wait for what remains in the way of instocks and buy it. He was just saying he prefers to buy instock products vs a pre-order system where you're kept waiting.

It's a risk many customers are willing to take, at this point I see too much cool gear go up for sale to have my gear fund held up for X amount of time. I would still order an Ormsby in stock if the specs I saw were available, thanks for the info I'll be keeping my eye out for one of the 7 string Metal X's!

And sending an email and dealing with it is part of the job, even moreso when a deadline isn't missed. I'm not an impatient customer, but as a general rule don't promise what you can't achieve or just don't give yourself a deadline at all. Ignoring the problem is a really shit option for the business, and they wouldn't put themselves in the position if they didn't say "Shipping by X date".

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

Truss rods don't affect the higher frets, that's a function of what's called "drop off" (or lack of) where you taper fret height to the end of the neck to account for the elliptical string path/relief.

Fodera, Conklin, Brubaker, etc. have been doing instruments with extended upper bouts for decades, this shouldn't be a problem.

The rods flex at thier center, which is roughly at the 9th fret, and anchor around the 20th, so there's no real way to affect the frets higher up the neck, or lower for that matter.

That’s really good to know, thanks for the info. On the J7 this has absolutely no effect on playability that I can discern.