EBMM Abasi Kaizen

[Albake21]

Wound up searching for Kaizens on Reverb and was shocked when I got 130+ listings! I don't know how many they put out, but damn, there's tons of them sitting around. And thinking about it, not so many youtube demos either. Starting to wonder.. is this a failed product?

Only 12 of these are used though, to be fair. With that said, I think they're hitting too close to being too niche while being too expensive. It's too expensive to try such a novelty feeling and looking guitar.

I've tried these twice now, at NAMM and at a shop, and both times I thought they were very cool, but incredibly specific to Tosins' playstyle. Anything else? Not worth it at all, IMO. And for this reason, it would not surprise me in the slightest if these fail.

 

[narad]

Only 12 of these are used though, to be fair. With that said, I think they're hitting too close to being too niche while being too expensive. It's too expensive to try such a novelty feeling and looking guitar.

I've tried these twice now, at NAMM and at a shop, and both times I thought they were very cool, but incredibly specific to Tosins' playstyle. Anything else? Not worth it at all, IMO. And for this reason, it would not surprise me in the slightest if these fail.

You mean soundwise? I'm not a huge fan of the sound in any of the demos, but maybe some pickup company could rewind them into something hotter/better.

 

[Albake21]

You mean soundwise? I'm not a huge fan of the sound in any of the demos, but maybe some pickup company could rewind them into something hotter/better.

Both feel and soundwise. The neck shape is incredibly thin, somewhat similar to the JP, but I feel like less shoulder from what I remember. Add in the the multi scale and the "infinity radius" neck and it's very much not for me or my play style. Not to mention it just did not rest comfortably when playing sitting down, but I may just needed more time with it.

Oh, and screw those steinberger tuners, looks dumb and feels awful to use.

What was supposed to be a super comfortable "player's" guitar ended up just feeling super awkward to me.

 

[StevenC]

I had the total opposite experience in that it felt and sounded exactly how I want a guitar to. Particularly the neck pickup.

 

[narad]

I had the total opposite experience in that it felt and sounded exactly how I want a guitar to. Particularly the neck pickup.

Yea but aren't you trying to sound like Tosin?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Eh, I agree with half of what @Albake21 experienced. It did sit a little funky when not strapped up, and Steinberger tuners are stupid.

But other than that I thought the two 6-string examples I played were just fine. Trem is decked and stiff, and the offset makes use sort of limited, but I hey, they're trying I guess. There are plenty of more boring guitars with icky trems too.

I expected to really not be into it after playing a handful of Laradas of various provenance, but the Kaizen felt pretty good. Still trying to track down a 7 without driving to Chicago this time of year to see if it's worth grabbing. That green color is like perfect.

 

[JimF]

Asking more out of curiosity as opposed to being a potential customer, but does the bridge pickup still sound as to be expected even though its halfway up the body for the bass strings?

 

[Wucan]

Wound up searching for Kaizens on Reverb and was shocked when I got 130+ listings! I don't know how many they put out, but damn, there's tons of them sitting around. And thinking about it, not so many youtube demos either. Starting to wonder.. is this a failed product?

I still want a Kaizen but they're very hard buys. I literally ordered a custom Kiesel with quite a few additional frills for half the price... and I could've had something with very similar specs (even the right multiscale length) from Balaguer for the same price.

The Kaizens are just exorbitantly expensive for what they are. You'd imagine there would be markups from Abasi's name and the niche specs but it's not like they're taking a cruise deep into the Amazon to procure the wood. The guitar isn't offering solutions to problems no other guitar can solve, either, or having the finger on the pulse of trends aside from being an Abasi thing.

 

[sell2792]

The Kaizens are just exorbitantly expensive for what they are. You'd imagine there would be markups from Abasi's name and the niche specs but it's not like they're taking a cruise deep into the Amazon to procure the wood. The guitar isn't offering solutions to problems no other guitar can solve, either, or having the finger on the pulse of trends aside from being an Abasi thing.

I just hope the boys in the paint shop will carry over some of the Kaizen finishes to other models, like a JP6/7, XI or 12 reissue.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

Eh, I agree with half of what @Albake21 experienced. It did sit a little funky when not strapped up, and Steinberger tuners are stupid.

But other than that I thought the two 6-string examples I played were just fine. Trem is decked and stiff, and the offset makes use sort of limited, but I hey, they're trying I guess. There are plenty of more boring guitars with icky trems too.

I expected to really not be into it after playing a handful of Laradas of various provenance, but the Kaizen felt pretty good. Still trying to track down a 7 without driving to Chicago this time of year to see if it's worth grabbing. That green color is like perfect.

I have a guitar with those Steinberger tuners. They're not bad, they're just such an odd invention from a supposed innovator. Aesthetically, yes, they're really cool. The quality is there. Smooth 'ratio' and all that.

The issues include how abysmal the design is for thicker strings. I want to say the design supports a .060 at max because of the way it tensions the string by drawing it into a well. Turning a knob is also not ergonomic vs using a lever (aka tuning key). In general, tuners didn't need this kind of innovation after higher gear ratio locking tuners were invented. The Steinbergers are just avantgarde for the sake of it, really.

I still want a Kaizen but they're very hard buys. I literally ordered a custom Kiesel with quite a few additional frills for half the price... and I could've had something with very similar specs (even the right multiscale length) from Balaguer for the same price.

The Kaizens are just exorbitantly expensive for what they are. You'd imagine there would be markups from Abasi's name and the niche specs but it's not like they're taking a cruise deep into the Amazon to procure the wood. The guitar isn't offering solutions to problems no other guitar can solve, either, or having the finger on the pulse of trends aside from being an Abasi thing.

That's EBMM of late, it seems. They've discontinued the JP6s and 7s and are just selling the JP15 and Majestys now, starting at $3600 and $3900--usually more for upscale specs, including as much as $6200 for the new multiscale 8.

I'd still like to try a Kaizen if I can find one in the wild. I do think some of it's features are noteworthy, especially where people have been asking for some of them to be more widespread for years (e.g., the infinite radius boards popularised by Vigier).

If it doesn't play well all put together, that's a shame. All other things being equal, I wonder purely from a pricing perspective how much better it'd have been received when ordering new from EBMM ~10 years ago would've been in the ballpark of $2400.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I'd still like to try a Kaizen if I can find one in the wild. I do think some of it's features are noteworthy, especially where people have been asking for some of them to be more widespread for years (e.g., the infinite radius boards popularised by Vigier).

These don't have flat "infinite" radius boards, they just have a weird offset conical (compound) radius that they've conveniently failed to really explain or give specs on.

I've held these are they definitely don't seem dead flat, and I've owned a few guitars with flat boards.

That said, it did seem perfectly fine. No issues.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

These don't have flat "infinite" radius boards, they just have a weird offset conical (compound) radius that they've conveniently failed to really explain or give specs on.

I've held these are they definitely don't seem dead flat, and I've owned a few guitars with flat boards.

That said, it did seem perfectly fine. No issues.

Oh? I thought it was a genuinely flat/infinite radius in addition to the angle its set at. What would you guess the actual radius is if the fretboard isn't flat?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Oh? I thought it was a genuinely flat/infinite radius in addition to the angle its set at. What would you guess the actual radius is if the fretboard isn't flat?

View attachment 135355

You can see the radius in pictures.

It's probably something 17"+.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

This was the best photo on the website. It still looks really flat to me. Where the JPXI (or was it the XII?) was 20 inches, I feel it'd have to be at least that.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I didn't bring tools to the dude's house I tried these at.

Besides, it's not a single radius and the arrangement, location of the center of the cone, is supposedly offset.

But it's definitely not completely flat, and like I said, nothing on the EBMM website specifically says it's flat, quite the opposite.

 

[Sermo Lupi]

I didn't bring tools to the dude's house I tried these at.

The blatant disrespect. What if my man needed something fixed??

 

[MaxOfMetal]

The blatant disrespect. What if my man needed something fixed??

Then he would have paid me.

 

[Albake21]

I didn't bring tools to the dude's house I tried these at.

Besides, it's not a single radius and the arrangement, location of the center of the cone, is supposedly offset.

But it's definitely not completely flat, and like I said, nothing on the EBMM website specifically says it's flat, quite the opposite.

It's definitely not flat, and it's definitely something like you described. It's not a single calculated radius, It's something similar to a compound radius, but instead of that radius staying the same on the bass and treble as you move around, it still changes/stays the same on certain sides.

Man, it feels like I need a damn whiteboard and a playbook to explain this.

 

[jco5055]

I’ve played them a few times (a 7 at GC and a 6 a guy had near me that I went over to fuck around on amps with) and I felt they were great/about the best around if you are into the kind of “mainstream” stuff you can guarantee is at GC or sweetwater etc…though maybe I’m weird but unless it’s a Vigier Shawn lane flat or like a 7.25” radius doesn’t really trip me up, I kinda instant adjust to it so I would be horrendous at describing the infinity radius

 

[StevenC]

This was the best photo on the website. It still looks really flat to me. Where the JPXI (or was it the XII?) was 20 inches, I feel it'd have to be at least that.

View attachment 135364

It's pretty flat, high teens for sure. But it's not flat. The idea is that instead of the apex of the curve being down the middle of the board, it's along the treble edge. The effect is that it feels like the fretboard falls towards you.