Oilid
Well-Known Member
Hi !
The meranti body is relatively light.
The AAA flamed maple top is beautiful but don't be fooled by the videos and photos which make it sublime.
The neck is a thin D, rather pleasant in the format but very unpleasant, for me, with its layer of varnish.
The frets do not protrude on the sides.
Only frets 2 and 3 are slightly raised (at the fret rocker) on the model I received.
The nut is poorly cut, the tuners are useless, turn with difficulty.
The nut + tuning heads pair guarantees re-tuning every 3 minutes.
The bridge saddles arrived with non-regular treble strings.
The pau ferro fingerboard remains dry and "grips" the fingers during bends even after proper hydration.It's not very pleasant. I'm going tos andit with 000 steel wool.
The Tesla pickups are much too dull (muffled, absent, distant).
The electronics are poorly made and poorly soldered.
However, I keep the guitar!
Why?
Because, in my opinion, like all guitars at this price point, it is, above all, a suitable basis for upgrading.
So I replaced all the electronics (shown as is in the video below).
Pickups by Seymour Duncan Distortion Mayhem Set.
The tuners are by Gotoh blocking ones.
The nut by a Graph Tech.
The bridge by a Gotoh Japan.
I sanded the varnish off the back of the neck, it's now a smooth highway.
The electronics by a CTS PCB from the ObsidianWire brand which can split the 4-conductors pickups, and, above all, the option of choosing between 60s or 50s type wiring independently for each pickup.
I stay on the 50s wiring which lowers the tone as the volume decreases.
I really like it!
SwitchCraft toggle switch and jack output.
Plan to widen the knob holes to go from Asian format to US format.
CONCLUSION :
After spending around ten hours trying all the Gibson LPs, I preferred to customize a guitar with everything I wanted to have, especially the sound and neck profile.
With stainless steel frets!
For 3 or even 4 times cheaper than a Standard LP.
I play it on amp and plugins, it's heavenly.
I've taken the time to document this process in the video below in case you're tempted to do the same thing.
Bye bye!
The meranti body is relatively light.
The AAA flamed maple top is beautiful but don't be fooled by the videos and photos which make it sublime.
The neck is a thin D, rather pleasant in the format but very unpleasant, for me, with its layer of varnish.
The frets do not protrude on the sides.
Only frets 2 and 3 are slightly raised (at the fret rocker) on the model I received.
The nut is poorly cut, the tuners are useless, turn with difficulty.
The nut + tuning heads pair guarantees re-tuning every 3 minutes.
The bridge saddles arrived with non-regular treble strings.
The pau ferro fingerboard remains dry and "grips" the fingers during bends even after proper hydration.It's not very pleasant. I'm going tos andit with 000 steel wool.
The Tesla pickups are much too dull (muffled, absent, distant).
The electronics are poorly made and poorly soldered.
However, I keep the guitar!
Why?
Because, in my opinion, like all guitars at this price point, it is, above all, a suitable basis for upgrading.
So I replaced all the electronics (shown as is in the video below).
Pickups by Seymour Duncan Distortion Mayhem Set.
The tuners are by Gotoh blocking ones.
The nut by a Graph Tech.
The bridge by a Gotoh Japan.
I sanded the varnish off the back of the neck, it's now a smooth highway.
The electronics by a CTS PCB from the ObsidianWire brand which can split the 4-conductors pickups, and, above all, the option of choosing between 60s or 50s type wiring independently for each pickup.
I stay on the 50s wiring which lowers the tone as the volume decreases.
I really like it!
SwitchCraft toggle switch and jack output.
Plan to widen the knob holes to go from Asian format to US format.
CONCLUSION :
After spending around ten hours trying all the Gibson LPs, I preferred to customize a guitar with everything I wanted to have, especially the sound and neck profile.
With stainless steel frets!
For 3 or even 4 times cheaper than a Standard LP.
I play it on amp and plugins, it's heavenly.
I've taken the time to document this process in the video below in case you're tempted to do the same thing.
Bye bye!