Cancer
Gazzmask
Thoughts on the Agile (Day 1)
The box it came in was perfect no issues there. I really liked the finish, and the flame, photo or not, does undulate quite nicely, I think it looks cool on me and it doesn't appear longer, but its definitely longer than my 307.
The neck pocket joint is perfect, although it looks like the the high E could be too close to the edge of the fretboard, the low “B” definitely is not centered with the pole pieces on the neck pickup. If I keep this I may try to shift the neck over some to see if that corrects it although I want to make that decision first before I modify.. My biggest issue so far, the low “B” is too far away from (like a 32nd inch) from the first fret, and I can see already that this may be an issue. I play with 2 keyboardists who like to write in C,so this is going to be a pain, I can still play it, but it really makes the guitar feel cheaper than what I feel it should be, and while I can get it adjusted, at this point, I still haven't decided if I'm even going to keep it.
I had this same problem with my Schecter A-7, and just on that alone I sent it back
Soundwise, this reminds of the Fernandez, it's bright and lively and that good, as that's what I was looking for in a seven, still don't like the Blazes, I mean they're ok, but the emg's (707 and 81-7) in my 307 crush it pretty badly.
Just for comparision I pick up the 307, i recently adjusted and the action is much better, I still hate the small frets, but at this point I still like it better.
The Agile sure is pretty though, I hated the logo in the pictures, but the faux pearl that they use is a nice touch.
I pick her up again, yeah, the bass side at the nut is definitely too high, treble side rocks and rules, bass side feels like ass.
I like the height of the frets, but I do wish they were wider, I really hoping for standard 6100's here, oh well.
After thinking about, the neck is definitely fatter, but I think my issue is with the shape, the back of the neck needs to be flatter, not thinner so much, just flatter, so my thumb has that reference, that and I believe the lack of flatness actually makes the neck feel thicker, so you may be able to resolve both issues, simply by having a flatter profile.
This neck reminds of the neck on the George Lynch sig models, and those necks are HUGE, and its a six.
Stuff they got right:
The body arch is perfect, that was my number concerns after seeing the first photos, but I love the way this guitar is shaped, WHY CAN'T CARVIN DO THIS???? It feels like a flat top, but curled away just enough so it comfortable to your arm, that and it looks cool too.
The bridge is the perfect height for my hands, just like the 307, in this regard, they are identical.
Stuff they got wrong:
There needs to be 6100 in here, not those frets that are as tall too not as fat.
(Thoughts on the Agile after Donnie's arrives...(about 2 weeks later) )
The "Metal" shot part 1
The "Metal" shot part 2 (insert favortie ghey joke here...)
Here are the Twins (Dorki and Donni)
Donni is the "black stripe" of the family...LOL
Ok, so despite the above, I've come to realize that I can't put this guitar down. The Blazes in these things OWN, at first I thought I didn't like the way this guitar sounded, until I started backing off the treble on my patches, and that made all of the difference in the world. I find that the Blazes are great when you're using darker sounding patches as they seem to make up for the loss of definition
The neck is definitely not larger than the 307, but is shaped different, which I'm used to now, but wasn't at first. The action on low “B” string is higher, but I find that it's perfect for start/stop Pantera style rhythms, which is what I wanted the 27 inch scale for the first place. In the next batch I wold probably shave about an 1/64th off of that end, and that would (imo) be a better compromise.
Now for the complaints...
Part of the reason I bought Donni is I wanted to compare 2 Interceptors side by side, to see if some of the things I thought were issues were in fact issues, or there by design. The “issues” with Dorki are the following:
1. The fretboard on the locking nut end is not wide enough to accommodate the locking nut. On Dorki, the locking nut extends like 1/32 inch of the treble side while the bass side is flush. This issue didn't appear on Donni, who's only issue in that regard was that the locking nut wasn't tightened down far enough, and you could initially see a gap between the lock and the fingerboard (fixed by tighten, so not big deal). The only thing that really irks me here, on Dorki there's no way to fix that. Personally, this neck shouldn't have left the factory.
2.The high e string was too close to the edge of the fretboard on Dorki, where it wasn't on Donni (causal effect from the above,so....).
Please note: the above 2 issue, do not occur on Donni.
3.On Dorki, after adjusting the tremolo to lower the action, the base plate of the tremolo hits the stud plate when you dump the bar (you can see in the pics where the anodized black in worn away). I could live with only because the strings are completely dumped, but this never happened on the 307, which has a deeper route. Not to mention that the shallow route keeps the action from being as low as it could be on the treble side. This issue occurs on both Dorki and Donni.
IMO this should be deeper, or the plate removed and tighter trem posts used...
What I liked:
The extended scale is really cool. I know this bugs some but the 27 inch scale has always worked well for me, and this is no exception. The tone is really clear and strident, and surprisingly (well maybe not surprising since this is basswood being compared to alder) sounds much like the Fernandez, but a hair smoother. Both Dorki and Donni were already routed in the tremolo plate so that issue was resolved, and te trems on both did a good job of coming back to pitch. Weirdly enough Dorki was actually better then Donni is this regard, which amazes me considering the stud plate issue.
I really really liked the neck joint, this is another place where pictures really fail the Interceptor. In the picture, the joint looks weak, and almost gives you the impression that the neck could slide off, in reality, this joint works real well. There is still an amazing amount of wood there to support the neck, and it NEVER got in the way of my hand. Honestly, I truly believe that this joint is actually superior (I can't believe I said it either but its true) to the Ibanez AANJ.
The coil tap is cool, although I'd personally would rather have a 5 way switch. The tone switch is difficult for me pull up, and I find that I really have to think about what I'm doing since I'm not used to it. Really, I would get rid the tone switch anyway, and just leave it volume and pickup switch.
As of this writing I've done a practice, and 2 shows with the Interceptors, and I love it. I comments on the sounds I've gotten have been very positive, and I have to agree, after living with these 2 I have to admit, that these are the best sounding 7 strings I've owned to date (and I've pretty much owned every late 90's/pre-millenial model 7 string at this point), with the only exception in my experience being a used Carvin 727, which to date is the best 7 string I've played period (but sadly did not own....wah).
The problems with the Interceptor can be easily solved by either increasing the route depths in the tremolo (which scare me slightly because it seems like a lot of wood to remove), or replacing the unit with a tremolo that DOES NOT use a stud plate. I may replace one with an OFR to experiment, and will let you know what I find.
The first couple of days that I owned Dorki, I had seriously considered sending it back. Between the B string action issue, the over extended locking nut, and the trem plate, were all telling me to just take that money and buy a used RG, but I went into this knowing that I would part of the R&D process (hence why I wrote this book...sorry), and the bottom line, despite the problem this guitar sounds amazing. I recently sold my 307 and RG 7620 and I don't miss either, nor do I regret buying Donni.
That and Rondo is currently out of Interceptors...LOL.
As is, this guitar is serious contender as far as production 7 strings go, as many of things I thought wrong could be fixed in the setup process, but if they could alleviate these problems at the factory AND keep the prices to where it is currently, they could very well crush the market especially if they had the proper endorsements (hint hint
orkness wants an endorsement: hint hint).
The box it came in was perfect no issues there. I really liked the finish, and the flame, photo or not, does undulate quite nicely, I think it looks cool on me and it doesn't appear longer, but its definitely longer than my 307.
The neck pocket joint is perfect, although it looks like the the high E could be too close to the edge of the fretboard, the low “B” definitely is not centered with the pole pieces on the neck pickup. If I keep this I may try to shift the neck over some to see if that corrects it although I want to make that decision first before I modify.. My biggest issue so far, the low “B” is too far away from (like a 32nd inch) from the first fret, and I can see already that this may be an issue. I play with 2 keyboardists who like to write in C,so this is going to be a pain, I can still play it, but it really makes the guitar feel cheaper than what I feel it should be, and while I can get it adjusted, at this point, I still haven't decided if I'm even going to keep it.
I had this same problem with my Schecter A-7, and just on that alone I sent it back
Soundwise, this reminds of the Fernandez, it's bright and lively and that good, as that's what I was looking for in a seven, still don't like the Blazes, I mean they're ok, but the emg's (707 and 81-7) in my 307 crush it pretty badly.
Just for comparision I pick up the 307, i recently adjusted and the action is much better, I still hate the small frets, but at this point I still like it better.
The Agile sure is pretty though, I hated the logo in the pictures, but the faux pearl that they use is a nice touch.
I pick her up again, yeah, the bass side at the nut is definitely too high, treble side rocks and rules, bass side feels like ass.
I like the height of the frets, but I do wish they were wider, I really hoping for standard 6100's here, oh well.
After thinking about, the neck is definitely fatter, but I think my issue is with the shape, the back of the neck needs to be flatter, not thinner so much, just flatter, so my thumb has that reference, that and I believe the lack of flatness actually makes the neck feel thicker, so you may be able to resolve both issues, simply by having a flatter profile.
This neck reminds of the neck on the George Lynch sig models, and those necks are HUGE, and its a six.
Stuff they got right:
The body arch is perfect, that was my number concerns after seeing the first photos, but I love the way this guitar is shaped, WHY CAN'T CARVIN DO THIS???? It feels like a flat top, but curled away just enough so it comfortable to your arm, that and it looks cool too.
The bridge is the perfect height for my hands, just like the 307, in this regard, they are identical.
Stuff they got wrong:
There needs to be 6100 in here, not those frets that are as tall too not as fat.
(Thoughts on the Agile after Donnie's arrives...(about 2 weeks later) )
The "Metal" shot part 1
The "Metal" shot part 2 (insert favortie ghey joke here...)
Here are the Twins (Dorki and Donni)
Donni is the "black stripe" of the family...LOL
Ok, so despite the above, I've come to realize that I can't put this guitar down. The Blazes in these things OWN, at first I thought I didn't like the way this guitar sounded, until I started backing off the treble on my patches, and that made all of the difference in the world. I find that the Blazes are great when you're using darker sounding patches as they seem to make up for the loss of definition
The neck is definitely not larger than the 307, but is shaped different, which I'm used to now, but wasn't at first. The action on low “B” string is higher, but I find that it's perfect for start/stop Pantera style rhythms, which is what I wanted the 27 inch scale for the first place. In the next batch I wold probably shave about an 1/64th off of that end, and that would (imo) be a better compromise.
Now for the complaints...
Part of the reason I bought Donni is I wanted to compare 2 Interceptors side by side, to see if some of the things I thought were issues were in fact issues, or there by design. The “issues” with Dorki are the following:
1. The fretboard on the locking nut end is not wide enough to accommodate the locking nut. On Dorki, the locking nut extends like 1/32 inch of the treble side while the bass side is flush. This issue didn't appear on Donni, who's only issue in that regard was that the locking nut wasn't tightened down far enough, and you could initially see a gap between the lock and the fingerboard (fixed by tighten, so not big deal). The only thing that really irks me here, on Dorki there's no way to fix that. Personally, this neck shouldn't have left the factory.
2.The high e string was too close to the edge of the fretboard on Dorki, where it wasn't on Donni (causal effect from the above,so....).
Please note: the above 2 issue, do not occur on Donni.
3.On Dorki, after adjusting the tremolo to lower the action, the base plate of the tremolo hits the stud plate when you dump the bar (you can see in the pics where the anodized black in worn away). I could live with only because the strings are completely dumped, but this never happened on the 307, which has a deeper route. Not to mention that the shallow route keeps the action from being as low as it could be on the treble side. This issue occurs on both Dorki and Donni.
IMO this should be deeper, or the plate removed and tighter trem posts used...
What I liked:
The extended scale is really cool. I know this bugs some but the 27 inch scale has always worked well for me, and this is no exception. The tone is really clear and strident, and surprisingly (well maybe not surprising since this is basswood being compared to alder) sounds much like the Fernandez, but a hair smoother. Both Dorki and Donni were already routed in the tremolo plate so that issue was resolved, and te trems on both did a good job of coming back to pitch. Weirdly enough Dorki was actually better then Donni is this regard, which amazes me considering the stud plate issue.
I really really liked the neck joint, this is another place where pictures really fail the Interceptor. In the picture, the joint looks weak, and almost gives you the impression that the neck could slide off, in reality, this joint works real well. There is still an amazing amount of wood there to support the neck, and it NEVER got in the way of my hand. Honestly, I truly believe that this joint is actually superior (I can't believe I said it either but its true) to the Ibanez AANJ.
The coil tap is cool, although I'd personally would rather have a 5 way switch. The tone switch is difficult for me pull up, and I find that I really have to think about what I'm doing since I'm not used to it. Really, I would get rid the tone switch anyway, and just leave it volume and pickup switch.
As of this writing I've done a practice, and 2 shows with the Interceptors, and I love it. I comments on the sounds I've gotten have been very positive, and I have to agree, after living with these 2 I have to admit, that these are the best sounding 7 strings I've owned to date (and I've pretty much owned every late 90's/pre-millenial model 7 string at this point), with the only exception in my experience being a used Carvin 727, which to date is the best 7 string I've played period (but sadly did not own....wah).
The problems with the Interceptor can be easily solved by either increasing the route depths in the tremolo (which scare me slightly because it seems like a lot of wood to remove), or replacing the unit with a tremolo that DOES NOT use a stud plate. I may replace one with an OFR to experiment, and will let you know what I find.
The first couple of days that I owned Dorki, I had seriously considered sending it back. Between the B string action issue, the over extended locking nut, and the trem plate, were all telling me to just take that money and buy a used RG, but I went into this knowing that I would part of the R&D process (hence why I wrote this book...sorry), and the bottom line, despite the problem this guitar sounds amazing. I recently sold my 307 and RG 7620 and I don't miss either, nor do I regret buying Donni.
That and Rondo is currently out of Interceptors...LOL.
As is, this guitar is serious contender as far as production 7 strings go, as many of things I thought wrong could be fixed in the setup process, but if they could alleviate these problems at the factory AND keep the prices to where it is currently, they could very well crush the market especially if they had the proper endorsements (hint hint
orkness wants an endorsement: hint hint).
