Price paid: $ 600
Purchased from: Guitar Center
Features: Made in 2010 in China, with 24 jumbo frets on a rosewood fretboard. It has a solid flat strat-like mahogany body with a flamed maple top. The body also has lots of cutaway edges that help keep your arm relaxed and easy access to all the frets. Its neck is a neck-through-body which is one of my favorite features. It has a beautiful black cherry finish. It comes with a Floyd Rose Special Bridge and active dual EMG 81 pickups. Overall its everything a metal guitars needs. // 10
Sound: I play metal and obviously it meets the cause. I use it with my Bugera 6262 and I can produce a variety of tones with it from clean to rock to full out death metal. The Emgs are pretty good I wouldn't say they are perfect but they are very versatile. My own complain is why did they put 2 EMG 81's? Why not a 60 or 85 in the neck, but I rarely use the neck pickup anyway so that's not much problem. Because of the neck-through-body the thing has tons of sustain and tone. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar from the factory honestly wasn't that great the pickups and wood were ok, but the action and Floyd Rose weren't set up properly. After researching on how to do it on the web I correctly set it up and then that was when it began to shine. I got the action just to the right spot and I could shred endlessly on it for days without applying hardly any pressure. Basically after buying it you'll have to take some time to familiarize yourself with the Floyd Rose system if you haven't already and then you'll be set. // 8
Reliability & Durability: The guitar so far has lasted my abuse for about 6 months and no damage. I occasionally bum it into something, but it hasn't seem to chip the paint or leave any scratches. One problem was the pickup selector fell off and wouldn't fit back on and it wasn't that big of a deal. I wouldn't gig without a backup ( that would be just plain stupid) but I can rely on it staying strong for years to come. // 9
Impression: If you play metal and you're looking for something in this price range this is it man. I've only been playing for 2 years but this is the best guitar I've run across. If it were stolen I would definitely buy it again. I love the neck-through-body, finish, and emgs. The only thing that gets on my nerves is re-tuning and adjusting the Floyd Rose. There is NO guitar in this price range that have a neck-through-body, along with this many features. The only two things I would change is give it a 85 neck instead of a 2nd neck pickup, and give it an ebony fretboard. // 9
