Quality of Legator guitars?
- Thread starter LeffJoomis
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As much as I like and entertain quirky trades, I just got rid of 2 of my vehicles and I'm enjoying the extra space in the driveway.
But if you got a nice cordless vacuum, I'm all ears
gh0styboi
Everybody Poops
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"Legator - You'll Probably Trade It For A Cordless Vacuum." - Legator advertising in 2025, probably.
Sorry to hear it sucked the life out of you, dude, but you got a dope Prestige out of it. Your experience is pretty much why I just tend to stay away from Legator as a brand. The good ones are good, but I've seen way too many accounts of these kinds of experiences to risk it, even knowing how to do fretwork, etc.
Sorry to hear it sucked the life out of you, dude, but you got a dope Prestige out of it. Your experience is pretty much why I just tend to stay away from Legator as a brand. The good ones are good, but I've seen way too many accounts of these kinds of experiences to risk it, even knowing how to do fretwork, etc.
Waiting for El Prestige to show up as we speak!
JSKrev
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As much as I like and entertain quirky trades, I just got rid of 2 of my vehicles and I'm enjoying the extra space in the driveway.
But if you got a nice cordless vacuum, I'm all ears
We have a cordless but my wife would kill me.
OmegaSlayer
Well-Known Member
Pffft...
All the same story
Over and over
Again and again
Marriage is the worst hindrace to the life of a musician \o/
TheBolivianSniper
SS.org Regular
Unless your partner actively encourages you to buy things you want
Then it's also a hindrance bc I ended up with too many guitars and not enough space in the house
gh0styboi
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I'll be here for the NGD post
spawnofthesith
Well-Known Member
I want to try some more current Schecters. It seems like they've really classed up their offerings compared to back when I played them.
I owned a fair amount of MIK Schecters and LTDs ~15 yrs ago and thought the quality was consistently good on all of them (outside of imo, overly thick finishes that leave the guitar feeling kind of "plastic-y" in your hands. But I kind of just see that as a norm with a majority of imports I've come across). I had an extended loan of an 8 string MIK agile from the drummer of a band I played in for a while and thought it was pretty terrible. On par with a bullet strat thats been sitting on the floor of a GC for way too long
I've been reveling in a bit of MIA snobbery for the last couple years but that came to an end with the MII prs se I just got. It's a really fantastic instrument and I'm very impressed that that is what is coming from there these days. The tip of the scarf joint looks a little wonky to me but thats strictly aesthetic and the biggest "problem" I can find
gh0styboi
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Man, must be really hit or miss. I've got two Agile, and both of them are crazy good for the money - an Intrepid 8 Pro and a Geodesic 8 - both Korean. Frets are clean and done well (the only bit that was problematic was I had to file down a bit of sprout on the Geodesic, but nothing major), and assembled well. The veneers are stupid thin, but that's a cost-cutting measure, I'd imagine. But they play and sound great overall - well worth what I paid and more.I had an extended loan of an 8 string MIK agile from the drummer of a band I played in for a while and thought it was pretty terrible. On par with a bullet strat thats been sitting on the floor of a GC for way too long
Schecters have been pretty consistent for me in general, though I haven't messed with them in a handful of years and I've heard some dodgy things in that period, but I can't speak to them personally.
To be honest, I expect to have to do some work on a guitar at this point unless it's over $2k. I mean, I love Ibanez - I own more than any other brand. But I haven't bought a single Ibanez that I haven't had to do some fret work on, excluding my Prestige S2020 - which everyone here at SSO will be happy to know I bought used forever ago
sell2792
Well-Known Member
You could also get one of the newer 9 strings
I think @OmegaSlayer has one IIRC and was pretty happy with it.
Aren't the JT sigs part of the dark era?
Also @nightsprinter since you're an admitted stickler on QC, what is your experience with the Korean Schecters? I think you've mentioned issues with the MIK LTDs before, so I'm curious how you think these Legators stack up. In my experience, the Legators are typically on par, but I've only purchased used, older than the few you've posted here models (CA ~2020-2021 models).
I know older Legators seem to be the most likely to have issues but that’s the only model they’ve made that I would be interested in. Same with the JT Ninja 7 & 8 strings. I know they still make a couple nine string models but I don’t particularly like the looks or specs on their modern models. I would sooner buy a new or used Agile Interceptor 930 or 92830, preferably with a Kahler.
There’s plenty of other Schecters I would gladly own but none of their nine strings do it for me as I refuse to buy any Hellraiser (besides the Hybrid) and the Damien Platinum nine has the stupid bat inlays. As far as I know LTD has only ever made two nine strings plus the ESP Baby Metal nines. Lastly, I think almost every single Ibanez nine string looks like ass. The most recent model is probably the best they’ve done so far but still not compelling enough for me to pull the trigger.
Besides those brands, what other options are their besides a Kiesel or another full custom?
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sell2792
Well-Known Member
Has anyone here seen, owned or come across a Josh Travis or Mike Gianelli Ninja 7, 8 or 9 string? They look sick but it seems like they're quite rare. I would imagine they didn't make many but I'd love to get my hands on one as they look a lot better than the extended range stuff Legator is putting out these days.
Grindspine
likes pointy things
A while back, there was a thread bashing Legator guitars.
My experience with the brand was completely different. I got a Ninja N8FX 26.5-28" 8 string and adore it. For reference, I was a full-time professional guitar tech from 2014-2018, so got pretty picky about guitars. I do own two Paul Reed Smith six strings (P24 and CE24) and a trio of Prestige 7 strings (RGD2127, RGDR3127, and RG3727). So the Legator was coming into fairly high expectations.
That thread (and my NGD post) are linked here.
www.sevenstring.org
My experience with the brand was completely different. I got a Ninja N8FX 26.5-28" 8 string and adore it. For reference, I was a full-time professional guitar tech from 2014-2018, so got pretty picky about guitars. I do own two Paul Reed Smith six strings (P24 and CE24) and a trio of Prestige 7 strings (RGD2127, RGDR3127, and RG3727). So the Legator was coming into fairly high expectations.
That thread (and my NGD post) are linked here.
NGD - Legator N8FP - My Disappointment is immeasurable -_-
As everyone else, I was expecting a horror show of a guitar, given Legator's reputation, and not someone miffed about not getting the shade of purple he was expecting. Sure, it's not ideal to expect one color and get a somewhat different one but if the rest of the fit and finish is great and the...
www.sevenstring.org 
Lord Voldemort
Well-Known Member
I really like Legator guitars these days.
I've had multiple experiences with them from different generations, and they get better every time I try them. I met the boys that run the company at NAMM, and spent about 30% of my time in their booth chilling and shredding because they're so chill. Their new guitars were very good to absolutely great depending on the price. Their Japanese stuff was particularly bonkers. And as a plus, the employees there can absolutely shred. I didn't see the any other CEO's or AR guys playing Miles of Machines like the Legator boys were, I found that very oddly impressive lol.
I kinda feel for them because their early run was tough. If I remember correctly they kept getting screwed over by factories in multiple ways and there wasn't much that they could do at the time other than cut their losses and try again with a different factory. So as a result some people still hold them to the standard of what they produced in like 2015, stuff like that. I bought a B-Stock that was made from around that time and it was rough.
All of their shit circa 2020-21 and onwards has been quite good though, and their new stuff out of Korea and Japan has been consistently really quite good. The Japanese shit in particular was flawless, the Korean stuff was akin to a Schecter but prettier and with really good specs. I haven't tried their new Indonesian line yet, they look nice though.
A Legator will probably be my next purchase. Actually if I can sell a guitar real quick maybe I'll pick up @nightsprinter's
I've had multiple experiences with them from different generations, and they get better every time I try them. I met the boys that run the company at NAMM, and spent about 30% of my time in their booth chilling and shredding because they're so chill. Their new guitars were very good to absolutely great depending on the price. Their Japanese stuff was particularly bonkers. And as a plus, the employees there can absolutely shred. I didn't see the any other CEO's or AR guys playing Miles of Machines like the Legator boys were, I found that very oddly impressive lol.
I kinda feel for them because their early run was tough. If I remember correctly they kept getting screwed over by factories in multiple ways and there wasn't much that they could do at the time other than cut their losses and try again with a different factory. So as a result some people still hold them to the standard of what they produced in like 2015, stuff like that. I bought a B-Stock that was made from around that time and it was rough.
All of their shit circa 2020-21 and onwards has been quite good though, and their new stuff out of Korea and Japan has been consistently really quite good. The Japanese shit in particular was flawless, the Korean stuff was akin to a Schecter but prettier and with really good specs. I haven't tried their new Indonesian line yet, they look nice though.
A Legator will probably be my next purchase. Actually if I can sell a guitar real quick maybe I'll pick up @nightsprinter's
I sold the straight scale black one I had, but I do have an Iris Fade G7FP I'm not attached to that I'd sell with a dElUxE legator gig bag. Has a really nice streaky macassar fingerboard actually.
LordCashew
Death Punch for Cutie
Whoa hold up, no one's asking the important question here.
Is it a USED Prestige?!
it is now
LordCashew
Death Punch for Cutie
Touché, good sir.
I'm not even gonna front on this, people do spooky things with their guitars. Barnyard fretwork, adjusting floating trem heights by cranking the daylights out of the posts under string tension, leaving truss rods in the neutral position, all kinds of weird stuff. So I don't really buy used guitars very often unless I can lay my hands on them. And in the past year or so, I haven't seen a single used prestige pop up on my local Craigslist. So I love the idea of the "used prestige" but I won't go for it unless I can lay hands on it first. I'm always lookin' though, and someone has to be the sacrificial lamb to birth used prestiges, so I guess that's a role I've assumed.
