darren
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Just arrived this morning...
The box is in good shape, so it's unlikely that there's any shipping damage.
The unboxing vidstory:
Here it is next to my only other maple-fretboard guitar, my Ibanez 442R. You can see that proportionally, the Intrepid looks great, but it is "a size or two" larger than a normal guitar. The 442R is also perhaps a half size smaller than most as well, so the difference seems even more pronounced.
The electronics cavity is very clean and tidy. The solder joints look good, and there's a good coat of conductive paint in there. Lots of room for additions, too! The 18v mod is first on my list. The cavity cover is also lined with aluminum shielding tape.
This is a really nice detail i like on the body... the tummy cut extends all the way along the upper horn.
Quick first impressions:
The instrument is quite impressively light and resonant. The strings all have a great "piano-like" chime to them, no doubt because of the extended scale length. Overall quality and workmanship appears to be very good, but there are a few minor flaws, which i'll get to shortly.
The neck profile is perfect. Not too thin, not too thick, nicely rounded without a pronounced "flat spot" in the middle. Fretwork appears to be good overall. I haven't even really run up and down the neck yet, but the action feels quite good, and there's only minimal buzzing in the lower register which can probably be dialed out.
The body is quite big, but it looks in perfect proportion to the scale length and neck width. The upper horn extends almost all the way to the 12th fret, so it hangs nicely on a strap. But it is a big body for sure, and looks a little goofy on a skinny guy like me.
Now a few minor issues:
There are a few of these marks in places on the body. At first i was a little concerned because the most visible one is right over the control cavity, where the wood is quite thin. They look like cracks, but on closer inspection, i'm pretty sure these are just peculiar "fissures" in the wood grain. They don't appear to be actual cracks. [EDIT: Upon further inspection under good light, i believe these are surface scratches or cracks in the wood, under the finish. The finish is perfectly flat, but these marks catch the light in particular directions.]
The bridge is pretty scraped up under the saddles. Intonation was obviously set with the strings on and at full tension. They could have at least positioned the saddles almost into position before tweaking the final intonation. I'm not too thrilled with these long scrapes right through the finish on the bridge. But it's just cosmetic.
This is an odd white mark right near the body wing joins the neck, just behind the bridge. I'm not sure if this is a wood flaw or maybe some glue or filler that made it onto the face of the guitar.
Three tiny little dents on the back of the neck, right behind the 9th fret.
This strange little bump on the upper horn near the strap button appears to be a little knot in the mahogany that was difficult to sand and/or finish.
A small ding on the lower rear edge near the control cavity.
Overall, nothing major... just some fairly minor cosmetic issues. I'm still very impressed with the features, hardware and build quality for what we're paying for these.
... more to come!
The box is in good shape, so it's unlikely that there's any shipping damage.
The unboxing vidstory:
Here it is next to my only other maple-fretboard guitar, my Ibanez 442R. You can see that proportionally, the Intrepid looks great, but it is "a size or two" larger than a normal guitar. The 442R is also perhaps a half size smaller than most as well, so the difference seems even more pronounced.
The electronics cavity is very clean and tidy. The solder joints look good, and there's a good coat of conductive paint in there. Lots of room for additions, too! The 18v mod is first on my list. The cavity cover is also lined with aluminum shielding tape.
This is a really nice detail i like on the body... the tummy cut extends all the way along the upper horn.
Quick first impressions:
The instrument is quite impressively light and resonant. The strings all have a great "piano-like" chime to them, no doubt because of the extended scale length. Overall quality and workmanship appears to be very good, but there are a few minor flaws, which i'll get to shortly.
The neck profile is perfect. Not too thin, not too thick, nicely rounded without a pronounced "flat spot" in the middle. Fretwork appears to be good overall. I haven't even really run up and down the neck yet, but the action feels quite good, and there's only minimal buzzing in the lower register which can probably be dialed out.
The body is quite big, but it looks in perfect proportion to the scale length and neck width. The upper horn extends almost all the way to the 12th fret, so it hangs nicely on a strap. But it is a big body for sure, and looks a little goofy on a skinny guy like me.
Now a few minor issues:
There are a few of these marks in places on the body. At first i was a little concerned because the most visible one is right over the control cavity, where the wood is quite thin. They look like cracks, but on closer inspection, i'm pretty sure these are just peculiar "fissures" in the wood grain. They don't appear to be actual cracks. [EDIT: Upon further inspection under good light, i believe these are surface scratches or cracks in the wood, under the finish. The finish is perfectly flat, but these marks catch the light in particular directions.]
The bridge is pretty scraped up under the saddles. Intonation was obviously set with the strings on and at full tension. They could have at least positioned the saddles almost into position before tweaking the final intonation. I'm not too thrilled with these long scrapes right through the finish on the bridge. But it's just cosmetic.
This is an odd white mark right near the body wing joins the neck, just behind the bridge. I'm not sure if this is a wood flaw or maybe some glue or filler that made it onto the face of the guitar.
Three tiny little dents on the back of the neck, right behind the 9th fret.
This strange little bump on the upper horn near the strap button appears to be a little knot in the mahogany that was difficult to sand and/or finish.
A small ding on the lower rear edge near the control cavity.
Overall, nothing major... just some fairly minor cosmetic issues. I'm still very impressed with the features, hardware and build quality for what we're paying for these.
... more to come!
of the guitar out of the damn box!!
Epic Dickbaggotry.
love the look of these. Cant wait to see the other models.
