Xykhron
Well-Known Member
Hi people, here I am again with a new guitar day thread. This time is for a guitar that I ordered directly from a small but very efficient workshop in Czech Republic, called Aviator Guitars.
I heard about Aviator Guitars in 2018, and that year, in June, I obtained my first Aviator Predator 7 by a secondhand purchase. The guitar was comfortable, with good sound, great finish and Evertune bridge, but it had a construction issue and the weight was too much for me in that time, so I ended selling it after making a review. That review was read by Aviator team. They apologize for that guitar because was one of their first builds and after it they improved a lot their skills, so the offered me to sent me another guitar to try and make a new review. The guitar was perfect and also was my second approach to this brand, that left on my an itch to own an Aviator again in the future.
In October 2021, Aviator announced a Predator Run, with some basic but trusted specs and I jumped in immediately. The deadline was like 6 months from run orders closure, in May. The specs for the guitar were:
- two pieces swamp ash body / no top
- bolt-on 5-piece maple/walnut neck, with streaked ebony fingerboard, stainless steel frets and 26.22" (666 mm) scale length
- Predator body shape. Fury headstock shape
- Hipshot fixed bridge and Hipshot locking tuners
- Instrumental SFTY-4 pickups
- 1 push-pull volume & 3-way toggle switch.
- Schaller S-Locks for the strap
- Glow in the dark dot side markers and curve dots fretboard markers
- Graphite nut
- Nut width: 48 mm
- Body thickness: 35 mm
- Neck profile: 19 mm at 1st fret. Modern C shaped.
- Antique Black stain finish
- Aviator case
After receiving the mockup, I changed my mind about the finish and decided to go with less darker color, so I asked Jan, the master luthier & CEO of Aviator, to make it antique brown, based on a cool picture I had from a Ran Crusher guitar I liked very much. He agreed and the process began.
In November the first update, then in February, march and in May the last ones. The run was completed in May, as scheduled and 9 guitars were built.
I received mine 30th May. I was expecting a workhorse, with simple specs and look and what I got exceeded my expectations.
First thing: full color card box with Aviator logo. Yes, it is a card box, a container and what matters is inside, but it is cool.
Second thing: the hardcase. A super-solid and robust hardcase with a metal plate with Aviator logo bolted. A rubber protected handle like Warwicks pro-flightcases and form fitted for the guitar with soft pads. Super-pro hardcase.
The main thing: the guitar. First inspection confirmed my second experience with Aviator: a solid flawless build. Super light weighted and all clean, with no visual defects. My hands couldn't find what my eyes couldn't see: perfect fret edges, no tool marks, all smooth as it supposed to be a high end guitar, but this is something that not with all brands/builds happens.
So, that was the time to plug-in the guitar to my Axe FX. I tuned the guitar and played some riffs....but the sound was awful. Then I noticed the neck had no relief. I look for the Allen keys to adjust truss rod but there were no keys, they forgot to include but after writing them, they will send it along with a pickup selector, because they discovered that the ones they used had a little problem (the selector interrupts sound if flips slowly, but if you move it fast it works fine), so even before receiving the guitar, they told they will send a new selector.
I tested some Allen keys and one from other guitar fitted the truss rod nut, so I adjusted it, plugged it again into the Axe-Fx and boom!, problem solved. The guitar sounded fantastic, with a lot of punch, good fat mids and nice treble. I started to play when I stopped, realize that it was one hour later than when I started and I enjoyed that time lapse so much.
I am very used to high end guitars. I currently own 40 guitars, all high-end or boutique (Mayones, Skervesen, Aristides, custom Ormsby, Rusti, Vik, Suhr, Carvin, etc) so when I play a guitar my honeymoon period is soooo short and I can fairly judge them. This guitar is not the best I own, but worths every cent I paid for it....and more. Despite having a simple look with no fancy ads like binding, cool finish, exotic woods or even top wood, sounds and plays as good as other that costed me double than this.
Things that I don't like of the guitar:
- the truss rod cover. I'm sorry but I don't like it at all...too large and narrow (for fitting the brand name). For me it looks better without it, but for this post purpose I left it on the guitar just for the photo shooting.
- the size of the markers: They have a cool minimalistic aesthetic, but they are more difficult to see in poor lighting environments than bigger ones.
- the fretboard extension before the nut. Well, I don't really "don't like" it, but looks weird to me.
What I love on this guitar:
- The sound: exactly the sound I like...full and deep with good bass and not sharp top end, without being muddy.
- The body color: they nailed what I wanted. Nothing more to say.
- The weight: 2,8 kilograms. It is fantastic!
- The fretboard aesthetics: oh, man, those streaks looks awesome to me. Someone would rather prefer all-black ebony but I find the streaks more enjoyable to look at the grain.
- Neck joint: just a word: perfect. The plain neck joint area doesn't protrude over the body heel as for example like in Kiesel Aries, bolt-on Ormsbys or even my Suhrs.
- Brand business: I ordered custom guitars that came with problems in electronics, and even major faults, but except one build, none of them offered a replacement for a part even before receiving the guitar and claim for it. Also, the hardcase is far beyond my expectations on a run with limited specs like this.
- The smell: yeah, the smell...I still can notice the trail of wood dust. It is subtle but I have a good nose ;-)
So, the final score for this guitar is 9/10. I am very happy with the guitar and very pleased to be part of the run that put 9 awesome guitars out in the wild.
I heard about Aviator Guitars in 2018, and that year, in June, I obtained my first Aviator Predator 7 by a secondhand purchase. The guitar was comfortable, with good sound, great finish and Evertune bridge, but it had a construction issue and the weight was too much for me in that time, so I ended selling it after making a review. That review was read by Aviator team. They apologize for that guitar because was one of their first builds and after it they improved a lot their skills, so the offered me to sent me another guitar to try and make a new review. The guitar was perfect and also was my second approach to this brand, that left on my an itch to own an Aviator again in the future.
In October 2021, Aviator announced a Predator Run, with some basic but trusted specs and I jumped in immediately. The deadline was like 6 months from run orders closure, in May. The specs for the guitar were:
- two pieces swamp ash body / no top
- bolt-on 5-piece maple/walnut neck, with streaked ebony fingerboard, stainless steel frets and 26.22" (666 mm) scale length
- Predator body shape. Fury headstock shape
- Hipshot fixed bridge and Hipshot locking tuners
- Instrumental SFTY-4 pickups
- 1 push-pull volume & 3-way toggle switch.
- Schaller S-Locks for the strap
- Glow in the dark dot side markers and curve dots fretboard markers
- Graphite nut
- Nut width: 48 mm
- Body thickness: 35 mm
- Neck profile: 19 mm at 1st fret. Modern C shaped.
- Antique Black stain finish
- Aviator case
After receiving the mockup, I changed my mind about the finish and decided to go with less darker color, so I asked Jan, the master luthier & CEO of Aviator, to make it antique brown, based on a cool picture I had from a Ran Crusher guitar I liked very much. He agreed and the process began.
In November the first update, then in February, march and in May the last ones. The run was completed in May, as scheduled and 9 guitars were built.
I received mine 30th May. I was expecting a workhorse, with simple specs and look and what I got exceeded my expectations.
First thing: full color card box with Aviator logo. Yes, it is a card box, a container and what matters is inside, but it is cool.
Second thing: the hardcase. A super-solid and robust hardcase with a metal plate with Aviator logo bolted. A rubber protected handle like Warwicks pro-flightcases and form fitted for the guitar with soft pads. Super-pro hardcase.
The main thing: the guitar. First inspection confirmed my second experience with Aviator: a solid flawless build. Super light weighted and all clean, with no visual defects. My hands couldn't find what my eyes couldn't see: perfect fret edges, no tool marks, all smooth as it supposed to be a high end guitar, but this is something that not with all brands/builds happens.
So, that was the time to plug-in the guitar to my Axe FX. I tuned the guitar and played some riffs....but the sound was awful. Then I noticed the neck had no relief. I look for the Allen keys to adjust truss rod but there were no keys, they forgot to include but after writing them, they will send it along with a pickup selector, because they discovered that the ones they used had a little problem (the selector interrupts sound if flips slowly, but if you move it fast it works fine), so even before receiving the guitar, they told they will send a new selector.
I tested some Allen keys and one from other guitar fitted the truss rod nut, so I adjusted it, plugged it again into the Axe-Fx and boom!, problem solved. The guitar sounded fantastic, with a lot of punch, good fat mids and nice treble. I started to play when I stopped, realize that it was one hour later than when I started and I enjoyed that time lapse so much.
I am very used to high end guitars. I currently own 40 guitars, all high-end or boutique (Mayones, Skervesen, Aristides, custom Ormsby, Rusti, Vik, Suhr, Carvin, etc) so when I play a guitar my honeymoon period is soooo short and I can fairly judge them. This guitar is not the best I own, but worths every cent I paid for it....and more. Despite having a simple look with no fancy ads like binding, cool finish, exotic woods or even top wood, sounds and plays as good as other that costed me double than this.
Things that I don't like of the guitar:
- the truss rod cover. I'm sorry but I don't like it at all...too large and narrow (for fitting the brand name). For me it looks better without it, but for this post purpose I left it on the guitar just for the photo shooting.
- the size of the markers: They have a cool minimalistic aesthetic, but they are more difficult to see in poor lighting environments than bigger ones.
- the fretboard extension before the nut. Well, I don't really "don't like" it, but looks weird to me.
What I love on this guitar:
- The sound: exactly the sound I like...full and deep with good bass and not sharp top end, without being muddy.
- The body color: they nailed what I wanted. Nothing more to say.
- The weight: 2,8 kilograms. It is fantastic!
- The fretboard aesthetics: oh, man, those streaks looks awesome to me. Someone would rather prefer all-black ebony but I find the streaks more enjoyable to look at the grain.
- Neck joint: just a word: perfect. The plain neck joint area doesn't protrude over the body heel as for example like in Kiesel Aries, bolt-on Ormsbys or even my Suhrs.
- Brand business: I ordered custom guitars that came with problems in electronics, and even major faults, but except one build, none of them offered a replacement for a part even before receiving the guitar and claim for it. Also, the hardcase is far beyond my expectations on a run with limited specs like this.
- The smell: yeah, the smell...I still can notice the trail of wood dust. It is subtle but I have a good nose ;-)
So, the final score for this guitar is 9/10. I am very happy with the guitar and very pleased to be part of the run that put 9 awesome guitars out in the wild.
