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The electric guitar model, Electric-ST Guitar by Gear4Music is ideal for people who love to start learning the electric Guitars. |
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| Features: | 6.3 |
| Sound: | 7 |
| Action: | 5 |
| Reliability: | 5.3 |
| Impression: | 6 |
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| Overall rating: |
4.9 |
| Reviewer rating: |
5.9 |
| Users rating: |
3.8 |
| Votes: |
15 |
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Electric-ST
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on february 22, 2012
0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 90
Purchased from: Gear4Music.com
Features: I found the best thing on this guitar to be the classic Strat 5-way selector, I bought it as my first guitar so was playing all sorts but found usually I could get a decent sound from one pickup or other due to teh range of choice. The fretboard was decent, nice to play with at first but as I've played other guitars I've found it seems worse and worse to me every time I play it. I kept the pickups standard, but if I had to keep using this guitar I'd definitely change them. The finish is okay, not great but not drastically bad. The pickgaurd was nicely finished though, another favourite feature for me and something I'd definitely cannibalise if I was to buy another Strat-bodied guitar. The bridge was also nice, and came with a trem arm that I used to love messing around with. Overall though, decent at most. I bought mine with an accessories pack that included amp, strap and carry bag, all of which were poor quality. I got a lot of use out of the amp, but was never really happy with it. // 4
Sound: I found that due to the 5-way selector switch you could make a variety of sounds, the only issue being that none of them were ever really that nice. With a bit of overdrive, however, it could still make a pretty nice sound, which as a first guitar pleased me enough; all you really want from a first guitar is for it to make a loud noise! Again though as I've played more guitars, I've found the sound of this one to be less nice every time I play it. I could never play it clean either, without being disappointed. // 5
Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar was put together okay, although not great, and the input jack fell apart instantaneously. It came with a horrible set of strings on it, I'm not sure what make but my guess is they were made by Gear4Music, but whatever they were they weren't nice at all, and I managed to snap the high E just on a bend, albeit some time into ownership. The guitar was poorly set up and it took a few gurus to try and help me set it up properly, most of whom struggled to due to the way it lost tuning so quickly. Generally not nice for a beginner to have to cope with when they've first started playing. The tuning pegs were also misplaced slightly; no practical implications but just not nice aesthetically. Also, the jack was wired poorly, with very little length left in the wire as means to fix it when it breaks, which it will, because the soldering and attachment is absolutely pathetic. // 1
Reliability & Durability: To be fair it could never be said that I treated this guitar well, but for whatever reasons after a few months the finish was ruined, full of big dents and discoloured slightly. I could never trust this guitar to be in tune when I started playing, it was as though as soon as you left it alone it made an extra special effort to fall out of tune in some new confusing way. The tuning pegs feel flimsy and are slightly misplaced, and the jack disintegrated within about a month and despite my attempts at a fix, hasn't been the same since. Also, teh wiring inside the jack is ridiculously bad, and with very little length after one or two fixes if it goes again, you're going to need to re-wire the whole thing. It's driven me crazy and has currently rendered mine unplayable; now it sits in the corner without a jack or jack cup on it collecting dust, it's really not worth fixing any more. Very poor. The body does feel solid though. // 2
Impression: Overall, this is a decent beginners guitar to start with, once you've managed to set it up, which is an absolute pain in the a-se. But after about a month or so all the problems will start to appear and it will infuriate you to the extent that it's not worth maintaining the guitar anymore. I wouldn't buy this again if it was offered to me for a fiver. A shame, really, because when I did have a moment when it was all working and set up right and I was playing some old rock anthem with a bit of beefy overdrive, I liked it. Not for the quality of sound, but just because for some reason it just felt really good. I have to admit that I did bond with this guitar, but after a year and a half of ownership now, it's really not worth it anymore. // 3
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Electric-ST
Reviewed by:
Woffelz, on may 09, 2011
0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 80
Purchased from: Gear4music.com
Features: I got this guitar in October 2007 and it was my first electric guitar. This black Strat copy was made in Korea and has the following features:
- Basswood body
- Three singlecoil pickups
- Vintage style tremolo
- 22 frets [checked on the website to make sure my counting was correct]
- Rosewood fretboard
- Bolt-on maple neck
- White pickguard
- 1 volume, 2 tone knobs with a 5 way pickup selector switch
This guitar also came with a stock amplifier, a cable, a set of strings, a pick, a strap and a gig bag. Since this is a starter pack, I just wish it came with some sort of tuition - maybe one of those cheap chord DVDs. // 8
Sound: At the time, I was very into classic rock. I got rid of the cheap stock amp because the distortion was quite weak and sounded awful to me. Instead, I got myself a Roland Cube 15X later. Even with singlecoil pickups, the tone was great on the Distortion channel. The Metal Stack channel gave out a quite brutal tone [early Metallica, with less chunk], even with cheap singlecoil pickups. This tone was still not as good as I hoped it would be though [even if this isn't a metal guitar!]. The Distortion and Overdrive channels gave me a nice Hendrix tone, especially when the mids were raised. The cleans were quite crisp [even more so with fresh strings] and sounded brilliant for a cheap guitar like this. What I don't like are the singlecoil pickups. I felt they were too weak. I had to raise them to help deliver the metal tone. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: I do not think this guitar was set up particularly well. I had to ask my friend [who has been playing guitar for a lot longer than me] to help me intonate the guitar. As a beginner, this was very difficult for me. Like I said before, the pickups were not high enough, but this was easily adjusted with a screwdriver. I did not find any other flaws. // 6
Reliability & Durability: I do not think this guitar could withstand live playing because I just don't think the body is durable enough. In the first few months, I found a lot of scratches in the finish. This never happened to the classical guitar I had months before that. The hardware seems it will last. I haven't seen any damage/wearing on it. The strap buttons are indeed solid. The have never let the stock strap rip out or let the whole peg rip out.
Then again, this is a beginners guitar, so I wouldn't expect to see many beginners gigging with this guitar. In fact, I wouldn't expect to see many people gigging with this guitar, given that the finish is so easily damaged. // 7
Impression: At the time, I was playing lots of rock and some metal. It suited rock better than it suited metal - the pickups just weren't powerful enough. I've been playing since April 2006 and since then I have owned 4 guitars [a Herald HL44 classical, this Gear4Music Strat copy, a Stagg L350 and an Ibanez RG120]. I find that this Strat copy is inferior compared to the other guitars I own. Before I bought the product, I just wish I knew how powerful the pickups were. If this guitar was stolen, I wouldn't really care that much - right now, it is sitting in the loft in a poor condition and it's probably worth Ј30 now.
I really like the neck of this guitar. It feels really comfortable for my hand to just slide around on it. On the other hand, the finish quality is poor. It will not last long. I did not compare this guitar to others because this guitar was the cheapest one I could find. I was a beginner and did not want to spend a fortune. // 7
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Electric-ST
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on december 07, 2009
1 of 4 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 70
Purchased from: Gear4music
Features: I got this as my first guitar 3 and a half years ago so I didn't pay much attention to when it was made but I know it was made in Korea (cheap labour). It has 21 frets on a rosewood fingerboard that is surprisingly comfy to play on, the body is basswood and comes in a few colours (mines black). Pretty much the same things you see on most starter guitars including 2 volume and 1 tone controls and S/S/S set up pickups. Mine came in a set with a 15watt amp, cable, bag, strap and tools, the amp is pretty damn good for the price but the rest of the gear broke within the first week. // 7
Sound: This guitar will surprise you in its sound, running through the amp that it came with you can get a satisfactory overdrive sound and although the clean channel is a tad weak with these guitars you get what pay for and more in this case. If you fiddle with the controls you can get most sounds out of it, for the price its awesome. // 8
Action, Fit & Finish: This was set up pretty well, its still very playable now despite the fact it has never been to a shop, its nice to play and there's no problems when playing for long periods of time. The action is set up low but not too low and it stands up next to its more expensive brethren very well, its not a 1000 quid Strat but its comfy and since most people buying this will be beginners that's what you want really. // 8
Reliability & Durability: Mixed reports here I'm afraid, when I first got this I ran it upstairs to me room and screwed in the whammy bar to have a mess around, after a few minutes of dancing and general fun I tried to unscrew the whammy bar and it came out with the end still in the guitar, still in there to this day. Whilst that was a let down the guitar is made out of some sort of Kevlar/Zakk Wylde's bone compound, its that hard. This is the only guitar I've owned that hasn't broke or fell to bits, no matter what you do to it it keeps playing. // 7
Impression: I play everything from Death metal to blues and this is a cheap way of honing your skills as a kid, its simple yet effective design will last you until an upgrades comes along. The best thing about the guitar though is the way you become attached to it, you fall in love with its attempts to play with the big boys and it stands by you like a dog to its master. I love this guitar, its become my friend over the years (I've even named it) and that's either a sign that I need to get out more or that this is a great deal for a guitar. // 8
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reviews (
Korea is making fine guitars, almost as well as the US or Japan
cheap guitars are generally made in Indonesia or China