fantastic guitar

does everything a guitar should while feeling nice and sounding nice for a relatively low cost

From Gear Setup

Ten out of ten!

I got this guitar as a Christmas gift last year in 2024, and I've had it for 4 months now, and so far so good! It's extremely good for its price point, and it plays and sounds as good as a $750 guitar. The bird inlays have gotten me so many compliments, it's crazy... The humbuckers have great tone for dirty and crunch tone, but the bridge humbucker is not so great for clean tones. The coil split works for anything, such as Stratocaster tones that I wouldn't be able to achieve since I don't have one (If I don't get one for my birthday, I will actually cry). The middle position is great for rhythm and lead tones both clean and distorted. The neck is extremely comfortable to play on and it may even make me a better guitarist. I don't find myself using the given whammy bar much unless I'm playing some Kirk Hammett or something of the like. One other thing I love about this is the coil split button itself not just the functionality. I have ADHD and often use the button as a fidget (I'm being serious its great).

Preferred Settings + Usage:

From Gear Setup

Value for what you get is pretty wild

This guitar plays and sounds like a much more expensive instrument. The factory setup was great out of the box, however getting this thing setup correctly after putting on a new set of strings takes a little effort (Floating Trem's like to do that), and truthfully heavier strings in general with any guitars requires a setup since string tension is a thing to look out for. Thankfully it's nothing too crazy outside of a quick youtube tutorial. Honestly this guitar is amazing in its value for the money and a fantastic mod platform for those of us who like to tinker.

I've gigged it out a few times in both Worship scenarios and with my cover band and it held up great (Granted I did so after I swapped out the pickups and hardware, but fundamentally and structurally it's the same instrument). The trem system is probably the best and most stable I've used, so handling flutters and dive bombs isn't as big of an issue than I thought it would be. Ended up swapping out the trem block for a brass one from FU-Tone and got Graphite String Saver Saddles from Graph-tech. Kept the stock nut, but honestly as long as its well lubricated the stock nut is more than fine. I love the feel of the neck, the wide thin pattern really allows me to try leads that would typically be difficult on thicker necks. The neck is not as thin as you think, It's not near as thin as a wizard Ibanez neck feels comfy in the hands I feel. Love the satin feel of the neck and body, it's super comfortable to play sitting or standing, it's not too chonky in terms of weight either and the subdued look fits in any band/gig scenario I feel. The stock pickups are really good to be fair. You could gig with this guitar out of the box no problem and be perfectly happy for the guitars lifespan and I need to say that because for a hot minute, I was thinking of rolling with this guitar all stock. For the price, it really is that good.

On a bit of a down note (Maybe 2), the original wiring for this guitar is pretty messy/lackluster and the routing looks and feels crude, almost like someone did it with a butter knife in a few sections. I know those were both methods to get the price knocked down on this thing but it was seriously a little upsetting to see that and I have to call it out. Those issues would have made swapping out these pickups kinda difficult for the average player or technician. A beginner isn't going to notice that stuff and like I said earlier, out of the box you have everything you need and it works and sounds great.