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Review your Guitar.


RagedHysteria

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I have had a Yamaha RGX620z for the past four years. I bought the guitar in translucent red and has been the staple guitar in my small collection. This guitar comes with two Alnico V Humbuckers also produced by Yamaha. I was 13 at the time of buying this guitar and had only been playing for 3 years. I really had no idea what sound I really wanted from this guitar. I seem to have bought simply it look beautiful and It didn't look like it's design was a complete rip-off of a stratocaster. I remember the saleman at the music store, described it as "The Child of a Fender Strat and Gibson-SG". But it was exactly the right decision at the time, the Guitar has great versatility of being suited (compensatingly) to a range of different genres. The sound of this guitar is great when paired with the right amp... I use Roland Cube 30X which I have on a Jazz Chorus amp simulation. For distortion, It sounds great but it doesn't get 'THAT' sound when Soloing. This guitar is really destined for rhythm guitarists in my opinion, but as long as your not trying to go over the top RGX620z will be fine.

 

My Rating: 6.7/10

 

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Alrighty...

 

Gibson Explorer:

I bought this guitar when I was 13 as well, mostly because it was the guitar that Tue Edge played. Luckily, as I've become a little more mature about guitars, I've found out it also happens to sound and play wonderfully (even though I'm not a huge fan of the cutter pickups...). Natural finish, I love it. It's an awesome guitar, and certainly a looker.

 

Gibson ES-335:

No, I don't own it (my church does) but I might as well--it stays at my house and I'm going to buy it as soon as I can. It's a 1979 ES-335 TD, so it's got the more classic 50s-style neck (as I understand) and a coil tap switch on the lower horn in addition to the standard p/u selector and 2 Vol/2 tone Gibson setup. It's sunburst, and sounds as sweet as it looks. Neck pickup? Awesome. Bridge pickup? Awesome. It does bluesy BB King type stuff, it does Dave Grohl, it does a spot-on Clapton when you roll back the tone. Another awesome guitar.

 

Martin 00-15M:

A small OM-style Martin with modest appointments--solid Mahogany everything, rosewood fretboard, bridge, and headstock overlay, small MoP snowflakes as inlays, side dots, no binding, no "extras". I have had a Fishman pickup installed in it. Sounds nice, plays well. A very nice acoustic.

 

And finally...

 

Manson MB-1:

What can I say? We all know the well-loved Bellz0r signature guitar is awesome with it's touchy-Kaoss-Pad and sustain pickup. Honestly though, I can't speak highly enough of it. The neck is phenomenal--like James says, it fits like a glove. Alder body, Birdseye maple neck, rosewood fretboard, volume/tone, pickup selector, MBK2 split, killswitch, Sustainer, XY Pad. Mine is Matt Black. Spuds awesome, the Fernandes neck p/u is a little bland but it sounds alright, and the MBK2 is unbelievable, both distorted and clean.

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My guitar is a pretty shocking, and slightly broken Ibanez GAX70. My first guitar from 2005 :happy:

 

I call it the Reject because I always seem to have a tendency to break it and not really care. Been modded with new electronics, new pickups, new tuners (well....5 so far...) and I blackified (blatantly a word) the neck.

 

 

S'alright, I make do with it

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Some cheapies here. Keep in mind that these are all 90s guitars, so while this may be usefull in regard to used guitars, it may not apply no the new generations.

 

'98 Epi Les Paul Standard:

Straightest neck I've ever played. Very nice wood, bassy tone, looong sustain. The stock pickups were very bad, so was the nut. Tuners eventually failed after about 10 years, and were replaced with grovers. EMGs did enhance the sustain even further, but the guitar can't be felt breathing like when played unplugged. Bare Knuckles to follow. Overal, it feels amazing, feels expensive, and this is the guitar to keep. I've tried more recent ones, and been disapointed with them.

 

2X Squier stratocasters:

These guitars are from before the current range (bullet, affinaty, standard, etc) existed, and they were a bit of hit and miss. The '96 one has nicer build. The finish is nicer, the routing is a lot nicer, the tuners, pots, pickups and switch were nicer (by squier standards). I haven't bonded with this one yet, although having it for 5 years. The '97 had worse tuners, pots, switch, finish, pickups were harsher, the had the swimming pool routing. Yet... I've been able to bond with it, and with some upgrades it developed into a solid, dependable, nice sounding guitar. Like I said on the start, It's a hit and miss thing.

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Pretty cool idea for a thread.

 

My number one guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul Studio. I usually dont tell people its an Epiphone because then they immediately think it must be a cheap nasty sounding guitar, but I can assure you that this is not the case. The build quality is fantastic, and aside from a few dodgy electronics here and there, its as solid as can be. I dont have any problems with the hardware, the grover tuners are fantastic, and even the Epi bridge and tailpiece do the job well. Pickups can be a little muddy, but I find that with a little time messing with amp and effects settings you can still get a great sound from them. I had planned on switching them for something better but frankly I dont think they need it.

 

I only have two big problems with this guitar. First is the finish. Looks wise, it looks great and I love the cherry sunburst, but because its a Polyurethane finish, this thing could be thrown at a brick wall and come away unmarked. Its a bit like its been dipped in a huge vat of the stuff, its so thick. The second problem is the frets. Epi must use a really soft material for them, because they wear out like crazy.

 

Nice neck, nice weight, looks good, feels good, sounds good. This is a guitar I'll hang on to my whole life.

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Epiphone Les Paul Custom - 6/10

My second guitar ever, a 2004 issue. It would be a lie to say that i didn't love this guitar... sentimentally. To be perfectly frank, its pretty awful. Theres no change with the two pickups, there is horrid fret buzz, it plays ok, but it sounds too rich and bluesy, so like a bit dull and bassy. Like a piano with a broken una corda. But i love it, cos i have literally played it till my fingers bled. I'm thinking of selling it, but i will probably keep it till i grow old.

 

Ibanez Iceman - 8/10

Love it so much, it plays great. One of the best necks I've played! the pickups are bright but can get some awesome rich tone out of them... HUGE! very versatile. Interesting shape, looks awesome, but it fits surprisingly well! Very comfy. Fuck it, 9/10

 

EVH wolfgang copy - 6/10

Really bright high output pickups, they are awesome, but feedbackish... thats it really, lol.

 

cant be bothered to review the rest :LOL:

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Crafter Cruzer 6/10

My first guitar, out of the box it sucked, but once I'd set it up properly and swapped out the pickups and tuners I couldn't possibly love it more! The Iron Gear Hot Slag in the bridge is VERY heavy and absolutely nails dropped D riffs. The Seymour Duncan Hot P90 in the neck is awesome for cleans and distortion alike, couldn't recommend it more for the price. Overall a great first guitar, but I'll be looking at upgrading in the near future.

 

Sequoia Acoustic 8/10

Just picked this up recently, and have fallen in love already. Everything about the build is top notch, and the looks and sounds are beautiful. Only a little problem in that there is a bit of fret buzz up high, but apart from that it's the perfect little guitar :happy:

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Crafter Cruzer 6/10

My first guitar, out of the box it sucked, but once I'd set it up properly and swapped out the pickups and tuners I couldn't possibly love it more! The Iron Gear Hot Slag in the bridge is VERY heavy and absolutely nails dropped D riffs. The Seymour Duncan Hot P90 in the neck is awesome for cleans and distortion alike, couldn't recommend it more for the price. Overall a great first guitar, but I'll be looking at upgrading in the near future.

 

Sequoia Acoustic 8/10

Just picked this up recently, and have fallen in love already. Everything about the build is top notch, and the looks and sounds are beautiful. Only a little problem in that there is a bit of fret buzz up high, but apart from that it's the perfect little guitar :happy:

is that the one in all your yt vids? the zack wylde-esque finish?

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Esp Ltd EC-1000

 

First thing I know will get shot down about it would be its EMG pickups. Yeah theyre not amazing and dont cater for everyones tastes, but from ust taking the time to work with my amp along side them ive gotten some decent cleans and overdrive sounds, then theres not really any tweaking for heavy distortions.

 

The body is really light and thing so its a breeze to use in live situations, not bulky or tiresome to carry around.

Locking tuners make for easy string changes and tuning.

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  • 6 months later...

Bump :facepalm:

 

Incredibly bored, so I thought I'd review some of the guitars I currently have. (sold some of the ones I reviewed before)

 

Fender Japan '62 re-issue Stratocaster.

 

This particular one was made in 1992. Features aren't anything out of the ordinary. Since it's a '62 reissue it has a 3 way switch. Also has a nitro finish which is pretty cool. I bought this straight from Japan recently, as I've been really disappointed with the US standard Fenders. It's a really nice guitar - it cost me $10 more than a new US strat, but I don't regret it. I think it's a much better guitar. It sounds like you'd expect a strat to sound, although there's no quack since you have a 3 way switch (although it is possible to get that sound if you're careful). There are a few minor setup issues, but that's probably down to how it was taken care of in the past. No visible flaws or defects otherwise. 8/10

 

Manson MB-1

I'm sure we all know the specs and everything. Mine is the red glitter with X-Y pad. No custom hardware. It's from the second run, but I imagine the third run will be no different. Gadgets aside, it's an amazing guitar. Very well built with no visible flaws. It does have a bit of string noise, but that's down to the sustainer pulling at the strings and the neck itself. Sound is almost single coil like when clean, but it has no problems with heavier tones. When you hook a kaoss pad up and use the sustainer and X-Y pad with it, then things become really interesting.... 10/10

 

Manson DL-1

Again, everyone's probably familiar with the specs. I got mine with the custom hardware and a built in fuzz factory. Didn't get the phaser though. It has an MBK-3 in the bridge rather than an MBK-2. Sounds noticeably different to the MB-1. It's very heavy in the lower mids...the alloy top might affect this, but I don't know by how much. This has a seymour duncan hot P90 in the neck which sounds great. It's a very well built guitar with no noticeable flaws. The finish on the back has chipped in a couple of places, but that's probably my fault anyway. 9.8/10

 

Maton BB1200

Semi hollow body. I think the body has a maple top and back, but I don't know what the sides are. Looks like mahogany, but maton doesn't use that as far as I know. Neck is maple. Two humbuckers. It's pretty nice and has a nice big sound to it. Somewhat on the brighter side though. It's in desperate need of a setup and a new nut at the moment, but it's a great guitar overall. 8/10

 

Stark Crematercaster

A word to describe this guitar would be "badass". It has knobs off an old stereo for the volume and tone controls, which is pretty cool. Sandblasted and torched ash body stained red. Bare Knuckle piledriver in the bridge and a mississippi queen in the neck. Also has a 4 way switch rather than a 3 way switch. Sounds great clean and distorted. Neck pickup is really amazing sounding in particular. It can be a bit much when you use both pickups in series though. Neck is one piece maple and is fairly large, though not in an uncomfortable way. 9.8/10

 

Manson Rust Relic

Yes, the Matt reject. Mahogany body, birds-eye maple neck, rosewood board...rio grande pickups (forgot which ones). Built in fuzz factory. Also has an acoustic preamp. Bridge is a strat style, but it's set flat against the body and I never use it for pitch bending. This might be tied with that first tele I bought for the best one. Neck is pretty much flawless, and also looks amazing. A bit larger than most of the Manson necks I've played...or maybe just a bit wider, I'm not sure. Sound is pretty nice, but the bare knuckles are much better. 9.9/10

 

 

 

 

I'll probably add a few more later.

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:eek:

 

It was difficult enough to get him to sell me the cardboard cutout.

 

n519402618_1399654_9891.jpg

 

n519402618_1399655_276.jpg

 

Sorry, I'll stop now :facepalm:

 

 

Want to review that LP of yours, Jim? :awesome: I'll post a few more reviews tomorrow, although they're really only going to be of Mansons...but I've got something coming in the next few months that will be interesting to review (it's not a Manson/Stark/etc)

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It was difficult enough to get him to sell me the cardboard cutout.

 

n519402618_1399654_9891.jpg

 

n519402618_1399655_276.jpg

 

Sorry, I'll stop now :facepalm:

 

 

Want to review that LP of yours, Jim? :awesome: I'll post a few more reviews tomorrow, although they're really only going to be of Mansons...but I've got something coming in the next few months that will be interesting to review (it's not a Manson/Stark/etc)

 

:LOL: You...actually have a cardboard cutout... :facepalm:

 

Ooh, what could that be? Interested...

 

I'll do a review of the LP after finals :awesome:

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I'll add more soon but...

 

Emex Londaxe

It was worth it for the novelty factor because you either love or hate the looks of it, I personally love it. Visually, it has a really nice painted finish in a colour that's hard to capture on camera and the bottle opener is a neat feature to show off on stage (I havent used it yet). It shows signs of poor work though such as the 12th fret inlays on the top of the board are a bit off. I recall James got the neck pocket fixed or something too so build quality leaves a bit to be desired. The bridge is funky too.

 

Sound wise, it's so thin that you'll be brave to use it in a recording or even live. I'm still yet to find a good usuable tone for it. At the moment the tone knob still doesn't work (I'll get to it James, I promise) so that could be all that's needed to save it tonally but I highly doubt it.

 

Other than that, it's a decent guitar to play, better than quite a few cheaper guitars but nothing to rave on about. But the sound is one massive drawback.

 

6.5/10 (extra .5 for generosity.). Replacement pickups could do wonders.

 

Also James, Your Maton probably has QLD Maple sides. It looks quite like Mahogany and is tonally similar apparently. :)

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Yeah, that's pretty much how I found it. I never wanted to change the pickups because it was good for a certain type of sound, and it was a rare guitar anyway. That just lead to me selling it though :facepalm: I know Matt had a hot rails in the neck in his, but the stock bridge pickup... a bit odd.

 

And thanks, I didn't realize QLD maple was that dark.

 

 

Jim, that's not mine - it's something musecasters made years back. Notice how that's before it had inlays too.

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Manson Rust Relic

rio grande pickups (forgot which ones).

 

That's what MuseWiki's for! When you own a one of a kind guitar that's actually got its spec listed on an online encyclopedia, you may as well use it, haha! :LOL:

 

Neck: Rio Grande Covered Bastard

Bridge: Rio Grande Crunchbox

 

:awesome:

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That works too! :rolleyes:

 

Both parts of the wire from the pickups to the output jack have completely severed now, so the output jack is no longer part of the guitar and there's no way of getting sound from the pickups to the amp. Basically, it's dead. Rest in peace, Pacifica. :$

 

2007 - 2011

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  • 10 months later...

Right. the Barnett VH-S is here.

 

I didn't get to video the unboxing unfortunately - was late for dinner, and the thing was full of packing peanuts which I STILL have to clean up.

 

Zooropa can build a great guitar. Considering he's not been building THAT long, this is actually very impressive. There was literally only one issue (fully disclosed and I decided what I wanted to do with it) which is no longer a problem. It looks a LOT better in real life than in the pictures.

 

So I went through all the different areas of the guitar:

 

Neck

Basically what I asked for (soft V sort of thing) but it seems slightly asymmetrical. still comfortable either way. Seems pretty solid - might need a tweak from being in the warm humid weather today, but it's still very playable even how it is now. Fretwork is excellent. inlays look great too.

 

Body

The issue I mentioned was in the neck pocket, which is slightly visible from the side of the guitar (this is because I decided to use ebony to repair it :facepalm: ). Really nice looking wood was used. Hard ash of some sort. Not too heavy either. The neck joint is contoured with ferrules for better upper fret access. seems well done.

 

Sound

 

Sounds pretty big considering it's a strat style guitar. sustainiac sounds nice, but I knew what to expect with the bridge pickup as I've used it before. Wish I'd added a coil split though, but oh well.

 

other stuff

 

Loads of fun can be had with the floyd and sustainer...probably will get old fast, but not as fast as the built in fuzz factory did (for me anyway)

 

back cavity covers are stained walnut i believe which looks nice.

 

included was a pick and checklist for setup with specs and all that.

 

also got a really nice gig bag/case for it. pretty expensive, but high quality. can't remember what it's called though.

 

overall rating.... 8.5/10

 

pics:

 

 

IMG_1144_zps9e7d4993.jpg

IMG_1145_zpsf29ec016.jpg

IMG_1146_zps7afa8d3f.jpg

 

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Haha, gotta admit your pictures do make it look a lot better. Alex get a better camera :LOL:

 

The natural finish does look quite nice on that. If the neck had some sxc grain would be even better. Also I like the logo, but a bit more work on it could make it look really professional. Looks iiite

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