Vede
Well-Known Member
I don't do NGDs much anymore, but I thought the board might appreciate this one, seeing as how relatively rare Kaizen NGDs continue to be. People generally seem to view them as cool but kind of odd and too expensive for what they are. I happen to love them, but I think those are all perfectly fair assessments. I picked this one up new on Reverb for 11% off the retail price.
Some thoughts about the Kaizen 6:
- Surprisingly thin, light, and ergonomic
- Extremely resonant, feels great under the fingers and against your body
- Pickups sound very good, high output but super clear (full-sized bridge humbucker is noticeably hotter/louder than the mini-humbucker neck)
- I might be mistaken because I haven't actually measured them, but the neck feels a bit flatter and wider than my Majesty 6
- The "Infinity Radius" is a bit of a misnomer: in a nutshell, the fretboard wood is much thicker on the treble side than on the bass side of the neck, so instead of looking down when playing and only seeing the fretboard side dots, you can now more easily see the fretboard itself, since it swoops out at a slight angle to meet your downward gaze. It's definitely cool but I'd say it's also fairly subtle, makes it a little bit easier to see what your fingers are doing. And in terms of the ACTUAL fretboard radius - the measurement you're going to care about when trying to setup the guitar - it's a standard 20", tilted at an angle to accommodate the unique fretboard geometry.
- The pickups and string saddles are also angled to accommodate the Infinity Radius, meaning that the pickups are mounted so that they're screwed down lower into the body on the bass side and higher up on the treble side.
- Important to note: none of this novel geometric stuff actually feels much different than a normal fanned-fret neck when you're actually playing, which is great.
- The paint work is fantastic; a lot of the photos I've seen don't do the Kryptonite color justice. it's a very bright, neon green with a slight yellow color shift, depending on how the light catches the metallic flake.
- Showing the guitar to friends, Kaizen aesthetics are definitely polarizing, you either love it or you hate it. But it's also an acquired taste for some people who initially dislike it and then eventually coming around to loving it, similar to how a lot of folks reacted to the Majesty when it first came out.
Here are some photos:
Some thoughts about the Kaizen 6:
- Surprisingly thin, light, and ergonomic
- Extremely resonant, feels great under the fingers and against your body
- Pickups sound very good, high output but super clear (full-sized bridge humbucker is noticeably hotter/louder than the mini-humbucker neck)
- I might be mistaken because I haven't actually measured them, but the neck feels a bit flatter and wider than my Majesty 6
- The "Infinity Radius" is a bit of a misnomer: in a nutshell, the fretboard wood is much thicker on the treble side than on the bass side of the neck, so instead of looking down when playing and only seeing the fretboard side dots, you can now more easily see the fretboard itself, since it swoops out at a slight angle to meet your downward gaze. It's definitely cool but I'd say it's also fairly subtle, makes it a little bit easier to see what your fingers are doing. And in terms of the ACTUAL fretboard radius - the measurement you're going to care about when trying to setup the guitar - it's a standard 20", tilted at an angle to accommodate the unique fretboard geometry.
- The pickups and string saddles are also angled to accommodate the Infinity Radius, meaning that the pickups are mounted so that they're screwed down lower into the body on the bass side and higher up on the treble side.
- Important to note: none of this novel geometric stuff actually feels much different than a normal fanned-fret neck when you're actually playing, which is great.
- The paint work is fantastic; a lot of the photos I've seen don't do the Kryptonite color justice. it's a very bright, neon green with a slight yellow color shift, depending on how the light catches the metallic flake.
- Showing the guitar to friends, Kaizen aesthetics are definitely polarizing, you either love it or you hate it. But it's also an acquired taste for some people who initially dislike it and then eventually coming around to loving it, similar to how a lot of folks reacted to the Majesty when it first came out.
Here are some photos:
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