Abasi Concepts/Larada Megathread

[secretpizza]

Do these problems have anything to do with using wenge for the neck? I’ve heard that it’s tough to work with and gets chipped easily, though I don’t remember the source of that comment.

 

[cip 123]

Do these problems have anything to do with using wenge for the neck? I’ve heard that it’s tough to work with and gets chipped easily, though I don’t remember the source of that comment.

Wenge is tough to work with, it can also be toxic so there's definitely an upcharge to work with it given it's effect on tools and safety concerns.

As far as the problems we've seen with the nut, the nut shelf could be getting chipped during production leading to a messy end result, but still WMI should have its production down on this, Ibanez can get it done very well in Indonesia.

So yes you're right, but at the same time these things still shouldn't be happening. If I was Abasi I would question why nut problems are common and if WMI said the wood was tough to work with I'd change neck woods.

There are plenty of ways to make stable necks at cheaper prices. Ibanez have even switched to Panga Panga wood which while very similar to Wenge isn't as hard and so will be less harsh on tools/cheaper/easier to work with. Take all this with a grain of salt, I don't know the production lines in and outs, just a few things about wood.

 

[Vroth88]

Omfg I’m DYINGGGGGG

You and I are in the same boat my friend. I also feel quite foolish for not noticing earlier. This is honestly my first time seeing nuts like this, and I’ve owned tons of instruments. I guess that’s what makes the errors more egregious.

Ye man, I dont have much experience with the details either, lets hope for a good and quick resolution, thank you for sharing

 

[bassisace]

Do these problems have anything to do with using wenge for the neck? I’ve heard that it’s tough to work with and gets chipped easily, though I don’t remember the source of that comment.

Wenge may be harder to work with, but a lot of companies have been using wenge correctly for years.

Maybe it’s a combination of bad QC and WMI workers not being well acquainted with the build. Either way, there’s no valid excuse because they should have been all aware of that during test runs and spotting blemishes and flaws isn’t that hard.

Abasi QC choosing not to send back faulty builds to WMI is an egregious mistake and unless the whole QC team needs glasses, it’s pretty hard to think that Abasi wasn’t aware of those problems but decided to sell the builds full price anyhow. I’d like to be convinced otherwise.

 

[HellaSickTight]

Wenge may be harder to work with, but a lot of companies have been using wenge correctly for years.

Maybe it’s a combination of bad QC and WMI workers not being well acquainted with the build. Either way, there’s no valid excuse IMO because they should have been all aware of that during test runs and spotting blemishes and flaws isn’t that hard.

Abasi QC choosing not to send back faulty builds to WMI is an egregious mistake and unless the whole QC team needs glasses, it’s pretty hard to think that Abasi wasn’t aware of those problems but decided to sell the builds full price anyhow. I’d like to be convinced otherwise.

When I look at mine it looks like the fretboard was cut too short, as well it looks like there was a notch cut for the nut, but the nut was too short so they completely filled in the notch and then some, to raise the nut high enough to get the strings at the right height. On top of that it looks like the nut was pressed into the filler sloppily leaving it sticking up at an angle. If it actually fit in the slot I don’t think any of this would have been an issue. I feel like there was some cnc miscalculations here or something?

 

[Xm0]

Update on the status of my Abasi Legion 7 in Overcast.
I heard back from Ivan, and they have offered a full refund.
While this guitar truly should've never gone out in the first place, I am grateful that they have awesome customer service.
I will be shipping mine back tomorrow, but I would absolutely consider purchasing another Abasi in the future under one of these circumstances:
1) Get their builds down clean with proper QC
2) it's made in Japan

 

[Gearzilla]

Based on this thread I can’t believe how lucky I got. After seeing those filler picks I went back and double checked my nut. It’s basically fine. There’s no way some of these guitars with issues in the latest batch should be shipping to customers.

If I was Tosin I would schedule a consultation with Gary Brawer to get the QC and remediation on track.

Here’s to hoping the next batch is better for Y’all!

 

[BigViolin]

Gary is a cool dude, let’s be nice to him. He’s also got better shit to do.

If Tosin should be consulting with anyone it should be Sheldon Dingwall IMO.

 

[Vroth88]

Have any Larada 8 owners figured out how to configure the intonation on the bridge?
Is it the little hole under the string?
Are you able to adjust it with the string on and tuned, especially the thickest string which could be increased in gauge (stringing either through the guitar or from the back of the bridge)?

 

[Daniel Leu]

Have any Larada 8 owners figured out how to configure the intonation on the bridge?
Is it the little hole under the string?
Are you able to adjust it with the string on and tuned, especially the thickest string which could be increased in gauge (stringing either through the guitar or from the back of the bridge)?View attachment 86745

yeah, it’s the screw underneath the string. you need to detune to pretty much complete slack, and then loosen the screw and move the saddle closer/further with your fingers. similar to how a strandberg saddle works.

what gauge are you using for the low string? i need to up mine but not sure what will fit in the nut/tuner hole.

 

[Vroth88]

yeah, it’s the screw underneath the string. you need to detune to pretty much complete slack, and then loosen the screw and move the saddle closer/further with your fingers. similar to how a strandberg saddle works.

what gauge are you using for the low string? i need to up mine but not sure what will fit in the nut/tuner hole.

Ah good to know thanks

Still just testing with the strings that came with the guitar, bottom F# string likely .074, would be good to know the thickest gauge it can support yes

 

[ElysianGuitars]

Have any Larada 8 owners figured out how to configure the intonation on the bridge?
Is it the little hole under the string?
Are you able to adjust it with the string on and tuned, especially the thickest string which could be increased in gauge (stringing either through the guitar or from the back of the bridge)?View attachment 86745

Pro tip on this bridge setup, abandon string through and put the string ball through the back end of the individual bridge, at the very least on the lowest string. There have been reports of intonation problems because the intonation range on the lowest string is obstructed by the string going through the string through hole.

 

[Vroth88]

Pro tip on this bridge setup, abandon string through and put the string ball through the back end of the individual bridge, at the very least on the lowest string. There have been reports of intonation problems because the intonation range on the lowest string is obstructed by the string going through the string through hole.

Great tip thanks!

 

[r3tr0sp3ct1v3]

Spoke with Ivan yesterday about if they are fixing the returned ones up and reselling as B-stock but they do not know yet

 

[Lordcephid]

So I was searching for reviews on Abasi Guitars and just found this site. Would just like to share my posts of the recent batch of Master series that I got.

I was totally stoked when I finally got my hands on an Abasi after trying to snag one for ages. The guitar sits comfortably and plays extremely well, didn’t feel any difficulty moving from a 7 to an 8 string. But definitely they need to improve their QC work by a lot, considering I paid 3.5k for the guitar.

Starting off, given that my guitar is a different style where there’s an artwork so not exactly sure whats the process they did, but definitely there’s a litttttttllleeee tiny bit of additional mark which not exactly sure if it was intentional. But maybe I’m just nit picking on it. But I found a scratch mark (last image) which really came to me as a surprise, but I can live with it.

But my biggest problem are the fretboards. There’s a ding and a couple of tool marks that are across the 21st fret and 24 fret (hard to tell). Which is a really big turn off considering I’m paying such a huge amount. But compared to others I think my problems are much lesser.

On the site it was stated as richlite but when I clarified with Ivan, he said this is a roast maple neck which I thought that maybe these flaws on the fret were natural wood problems. Maybe you guys can give me an opinion.

Ivan did offer me a refund but since I live in Singapore, I would be losing way too much money in terms of conversion and shipping. So I decided to live with it. Nonetheless, props to Ivan cause he did offer me a full refund if I was not happy with the guitar.

Apart from these blemishes and flaws, it’s really an awesome guitar. I feel better than my majesty but I hope that with all these issues that have been raised, I hope the step up their QC cause honestly paying such a high price for any guitar should be perfect. This was damn near perfect... unfortunately.

 

[bassisace]

@Lordcephid Thanks for sharing this. I was on the fence about Master Series but I’ll hold off.

Did you ask Ivan for a compensation? Maybe a full refund is out of the question, but in this state your guitar is not worth 3.5k$. Maybe he can treat it as a B-stock and take 300-500$ off the price.

It’s unfortunate that a lot of buyers are in your situation and just can’t return an instrument. I’ll say it again, it’s our responsibility to inform future buyers by leaving product reviews on the Abasi website.

 

[Lordcephid]

@Lordcephid Thanks for sharing this. I was on the fence about Master Series but I’ll hold off.

Did you ask Ivan for a compensation? Maybe a full refund is out of the question, but in this state your guitar is not worth 3.5k$. Maybe he can treat it as a B-stock and take 300-500$ off the price.

It’s unfortunate that a lot of buyers are in your situation and just can’t return an instrument. I’ll say it again, it’s our responsibility to inform future buyers by leaving product reviews on the Abasi website.

Unfortunately when I shared the photo to him, he said he can’t determine the extent of what it is until they receive the guitar, which would mean it would have been a full refund. So I would think that a compensation of a couple of hundred bucks was out of the question. But maybe my mistake was not pressing hard enough. I did get tired of waiting for his replies cause they were busy with the Legion releases. Which took him pretty long to get back to me.

 

[TheInvisibleHand]

To play devil's advocate, you said you really like the guitar. You're also not going to return it. How much do those objectively tiny marks detract from your enjoyment of the instrument? It's starting to feel like at this point we're looking for things to be wrong with these guitars. Obviously some of these things are pretty bad (NUTS), but is any guitar, even high end, truly perfect if we really scrutinize them as intensely as we've been the Laradas?

 

[r3tr0sp3ct1v3]

The fact a lot of these even their flagship models are coming out with QC issues is concerning and putting a lot of doubt into the consumer base. I was flirting with these again but now I cannot. Aristides I am only gassing for you again

 

[MaxOfMetal]

is any guitar, even high end, truly perfect if we really scrutinize them as intensely as we've been the Laradas?

Yes.

It's weird how any time a brand is having problems with QC, it's all of a sudden presumed that flawless guitars don't exist.