This is my first NGD-
I ordered this during the black Friday sale here on the forum, it took about 9 months from the day I ordered to when I received the guitar.
First off I would like to commend the guys at Acacia, while the the build updates were few and far between they were accurate. At no time did they give me an unrealistic idea of when the guitar would be ready.
The good: This guitar sounds massive-I don't know if its the EMG's, the building materials or a combination of the two. The cleans sparkle, and even under tons of gain the chords retain clarity and it has purr for miles.
Compared to my MM JP6 with stock LF/CL and my Gibson Buckethead Les Paul Studio loaded with Duncan Distortions-its one of the best sounding guitar that I have ever owned.
After a pretty extensive setup (I threw on some Daddario EXL 115w's and tuned to drop C) the guitar played great. The hipshot hardware made set up a snap, I had to adjust the the string height, truss rod and intonation.
The neck is very comfortable-the carve I was told is their modern D-shape, it is ever so slightly thicker than a wizard II, and slightly flatter on the back than a Jackson Soloist neck. Feels like a nice hybrid between the two.
So far as I can tell the guitar holds tune quite well in a controlled environment like my little studio room.
The Bad:There are a few finish flaws on my guitar.
I would like to first clarify that these are all cosmetic and do not effect how the guitar plays or sounds. The timber used, especially the curly maple top looks gorgeous.
The first thing I noticed is while the fret work is adequate as far being the proper radius, correctly leveled and smooth to the touch- there are quite a few obvious fret file marks along the fret ends.
Also the fret slots seem to be cut rather deep, some more than others, some less than others. I have seen this on other brands of guitars like my JP6-but on my JP it looks like they used some sort of grain filler to close the gap and give a more finished look. Some of the side dots-particularly the 12th and below are slightly out of alignment.
On the back of the guitar the holes drilled for the bolts that connect the neck to the body seem to have been drilled/machined poorly, there are several chips around the holes. Directly below this on the on the relief carve under the cutaway there are some pretty obvious scratches from rough sanding that look to have never been finish sanded out.
The wiring is very clean and well done-but the cavity cover sticks up about 2mm above the routed area-also the cavity cover seems just slightly misshaped.
There is a pretty big (1mm) gap on the left side of the neck pocket-also the area on each side of the neck where the body transitions to the neck the cuts on the body are just a bit rough.
In conclusion I was disappointed with the finish flaws. I am aware that this was a Black Friday sale and as such the price was quite a bit lower that what they usually quote, but for $1350.00 + shipping I was expecting at least the same quality I see from mass produced guitars built in the USA.
Even with what I perceive to be cosmetic flaws- the guitar feels extremely solid, plays well and sounds INCREDIBLE.
This is the only Acacia that I've actually held and seen up close- and the flaws I have seen may not be indicative of flaws on anyone else's build
Specs:
Mahogany Body
Curly Maple Top
Maple Neck
Rosewood Fingerboard
Hipshot Bridge and tuners
25 1/2 inch Scale
24 SS Frets
EMG 57/66 pickups
Sorry for the phone pics-it's all I've got.
I ordered this during the black Friday sale here on the forum, it took about 9 months from the day I ordered to when I received the guitar.
First off I would like to commend the guys at Acacia, while the the build updates were few and far between they were accurate. At no time did they give me an unrealistic idea of when the guitar would be ready.
The good: This guitar sounds massive-I don't know if its the EMG's, the building materials or a combination of the two. The cleans sparkle, and even under tons of gain the chords retain clarity and it has purr for miles.
Compared to my MM JP6 with stock LF/CL and my Gibson Buckethead Les Paul Studio loaded with Duncan Distortions-its one of the best sounding guitar that I have ever owned.
After a pretty extensive setup (I threw on some Daddario EXL 115w's and tuned to drop C) the guitar played great. The hipshot hardware made set up a snap, I had to adjust the the string height, truss rod and intonation.
The neck is very comfortable-the carve I was told is their modern D-shape, it is ever so slightly thicker than a wizard II, and slightly flatter on the back than a Jackson Soloist neck. Feels like a nice hybrid between the two.
So far as I can tell the guitar holds tune quite well in a controlled environment like my little studio room.
The Bad:There are a few finish flaws on my guitar.
I would like to first clarify that these are all cosmetic and do not effect how the guitar plays or sounds. The timber used, especially the curly maple top looks gorgeous.
The first thing I noticed is while the fret work is adequate as far being the proper radius, correctly leveled and smooth to the touch- there are quite a few obvious fret file marks along the fret ends.
Also the fret slots seem to be cut rather deep, some more than others, some less than others. I have seen this on other brands of guitars like my JP6-but on my JP it looks like they used some sort of grain filler to close the gap and give a more finished look. Some of the side dots-particularly the 12th and below are slightly out of alignment.
On the back of the guitar the holes drilled for the bolts that connect the neck to the body seem to have been drilled/machined poorly, there are several chips around the holes. Directly below this on the on the relief carve under the cutaway there are some pretty obvious scratches from rough sanding that look to have never been finish sanded out.
The wiring is very clean and well done-but the cavity cover sticks up about 2mm above the routed area-also the cavity cover seems just slightly misshaped.
There is a pretty big (1mm) gap on the left side of the neck pocket-also the area on each side of the neck where the body transitions to the neck the cuts on the body are just a bit rough.
In conclusion I was disappointed with the finish flaws. I am aware that this was a Black Friday sale and as such the price was quite a bit lower that what they usually quote, but for $1350.00 + shipping I was expecting at least the same quality I see from mass produced guitars built in the USA.
Even with what I perceive to be cosmetic flaws- the guitar feels extremely solid, plays well and sounds INCREDIBLE.
This is the only Acacia that I've actually held and seen up close- and the flaws I have seen may not be indicative of flaws on anyone else's build
Specs:
Mahogany Body
Curly Maple Top
Maple Neck
Rosewood Fingerboard
Hipshot Bridge and tuners
25 1/2 inch Scale
24 SS Frets
EMG 57/66 pickups
Sorry for the phone pics-it's all I've got.
The issues you mention are disturbing and you are right to expect at least mass production quality from a custom job. Have you contacted them about this?
