L400 Review

Classic rock "L" electric guitar, 2 humbucker w/cover pickups, 2 volume and 2 tone controls, 3-way toggle switch, arch top, solid alder wood body.

Features:	8
Sound:	8.7
Action:	8
Reliability:	9.3
Impression:	9.3
Overall rating:	8.7
Users rating:	7.8
Comments:	9

Featured review by: unregistered, on september 12, 2005

Price paid: $ 289.8

Purchased from: MuziekMetropool Poppeliers

Features: I guess the guitar was made round '02 or '03 'cause I bought it new back in '03. It is made in China I think. There are 22 regular thick frets on the hard maple fingerboard. Solid top. The body is made of a nice peace of alder and the neck is maple. The guitar has the famous Les Paul Custom finish which looks really great, but it needs a lot of cleaning. The Tune-O-Matic bridge is a bit high for my styles (metal, classic rock, punkrock) so I am gonna make that thing a bit lower. There is a pretty solid 3-way selector and four nice looking volume and tone knobs. The pickups are from Stagg, and not as dirty as I would like. Good thing about the pickups is that they are almost noiseless. There are Die-Cast tuners on it and they get out of tune pretty fast, which is of course not really convenient when you are on stage. When I bought the guitar only thing in the box was the guitar and a Stagg catalogue. I would really go on stage with this guitar cause it sounds great! And I love the neck, which is pretty fast. I can play bassy blues on the rhythm pickup and I use a Danelectro Overdrive pedal what can make this BB King sound that I like so much, and if you want to play metal, just swith pickup and turn up the distortion and you got a screaming solomachine. // 8

Sound: This guitar just totally fits with me, and with my styles, I play blues and even metal. I am using it trough an Avora 35w amplifier what is about fifteen years old, but it's a fine amp. For the blues part is use a Danelectro Overdrive. It is not noisy at all and the sound is really rich and warm. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: The factory did a great job on the guitar, at the inlays I see very little amounts of glue and the screw of the scratchplate is a bit rusty. The tuners are not really great cause they get out of tune pretty often. The pickups were just okay, I lowered them a little bit for playing metal. // 8

Reliability & Durability: This guitar will definately withstand live playing, I should bring a backup guitar 'cause I don't like to risk anything, and bring some extra strings 'cause they seem to snap pretty fast. The strap buttons were awful, the worst thing about the guitar, it happened some times that the strap shot loose, so one thing you should definately do is buy yourself some straplocks. I think the hardwarewil last because everything feels solid, and looks okay. It surprises me how well the finish lasts, I play pretty rough and the only scratches are on the back. // 10

Impression: For metal this guitar is fine, it also looks good with metal music and metal people. I am playing for two years now, and I am about to buy an Epiphone Dot. if it were stolen I would buy an Ibanez with humbuckers or a Carvin, 'cause that guitars are faster, the action is lower, and the sound is really good. What I love about this guitar is how it looks, the gold hardware is just breathtaking, combined with the classic white binding and the classic Les Paul shape. And the sound is just good, I like the humbucker sound. I compared it to some other 200-300EUR guitars with the Les Paul model, like the Samick and Vintage. But that brands just don't have this model so thats actually why I chose for this one. // 10

Reviewed by: unregistered, on september 09, 2006

Price paid: $ 217.77

Purchased from: Back Alley Music

Features: Made this year (2006) in China or Korea I suppose. 22 jumbo frets with really nice pearl inlays from the first fret. 24.75" scale with a rosewood fingerboard, it's a hard maple neck. Solid top body made from Alder wood (so the sustain wont be as good as the Gibson or Epiphone) with a shiny black finish (looks beautiful). The body is based on a Les Paul design with a softer cutaway, and contains passive electronics. 4 knobs, two volume, two tone and a 3 way selector. 2 humbucker config made by Stagg probably. It's also got a Tune-O-Matic bridge. Stagg tuners made from diecast gold. It came with a cable and an allen key for the truss rod. Pretty standard stuff, but well made all the less. // 8

Sound: I like to think a guitar will make any sound I want it to. This isnt the case unfortunately, especially with my Strat, but the Stagg comes much closer. It gives a really gutsy blues tone on the middle selector with the tone on both pickups set at about 7/8, and that rich sound on the neck pickup. It's pretty good for leway on tone, because if you use the right amp or multi-effects pedal (I have the Zoom G2) you can create multiple sounds. I wouldn't say it had a really bright sound, but you can move away from warm and into the shreddy kind of thing when you whack the gain up. I tend to play a more bluesy, but still heavy sound, and this guitar delivers on the sustain, even if it's shorter than the Gibsons. The output is also much higher than I expected, having played with a Squier Strat so long, it wont go half as loud as the Stagg. I was also able to get a lot more feedback on a lower volume setting with the Stagg when I cranked up the gain. It suits my music style very well. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I thought the guitar was quite well set up at the factory, the action was better than I expected for a set neck, and I had no trouble getting used to it. The pickups were well adjusted too, although they could use screwing up towards the strings slightly. The finish on the body was absolutely f--king superb. It looks absolutely gorgeous whichever way you look at it, from the multi ply binding to that sumptuous black finish, you could hang it up on a wall and use it as a mirror if you wanted. My biggest complaint was the fact the nut wasn't finished properly, as is with most guitars today. It needs filing when you get it home with some sand paper, especially the bottom strings, they all buzzed when I got it. The intonation was only slightly out though. Some people have said be careful about the jack socket, because it comes loose, but I haven't had that problem. It might feel loose but when I checked it it wasn't. // 9

Reliability & Durability: This guitar will definitely withstand live playing. The hardware will also last, it's definitely been well built. No problems with the strap buttons either, and I would depend on it. I wouldn't depend on it enough not to take essentials like screwdrivers and stuff, but then all guitars are the same in that respect. From the look of the finish, a nuclear bomb wouldn't strip the finish off. // 10

Impression: I tend to play heavy blues, close to metal, and this guitar works, I don't go for any of that gothic stuff really, I just wanted black and gold and I got it. I've been playing 3 or 4 years now, and I've got a Squier Strat and a Zoom G2 multi effects pedal. there's not really anything I wish I'd asked before buying it. I wish I'd tested it but I bought it off the internet so that's not really possible. If it was stolen I'd definitely buy it again. It worked out cheaper to buy this than the Encore P29 with delivery costs, and this guitar is a million times better than the Encore. I love everything about it except the nut. My favourite feature is probably that beautiful shiny black body, it complements the gold hardware really well. I didn't really compare it to other products, I'd already bought it when I found out about the Encore, and I was laughing. I chose this because it looks stunning, and it's got a jaw dropping price. 119 quid very well spent. If anything, I wish it had a spare cream scratchplate, because as much as I like the black one, I think it'd look better with cream. // 9

overall: 8

Reviewed by: us2u, on february 23, 2006

Purchased from: ebay

Features: This is a beautiful finish alpine white Les Paul Copy with gold-hardware, however "The proof of the pudding, is in the eating" I believe it was made in Korea it has 22 frets relatively thin frets, a rosewood finish fretboard, solid top body made of alder, single cutaway, the bridge being Tune-O-Matic, with a 3-way selector for lead or rhythm; 2 humbuckers which I believe are made by DiMarzio. // 8

Sound: I play blues & soft metal which this les paul has plenty of crunch to offer I was expecting to be honest a poor quality sound due to it's cheap price but was amazingly surprised at what this guitar had nto offer. Down at the recording studio some of the lads own the real thing the Stagg came close but the real thing held it's own which is hardly surprising! // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: The annoying thing about the set up was fret buzz on the 6th string however being fortunate enough to know the right people I got this sorted, the finish where the neck is glued to the body shows a line where it is joined. Other than that the finish is immensely beautiful! // 7

Reliability & Durability: As most of my guitar work is in the recording studio & I don't do many gigs, to be honest only the call of time will tell me how robust this guitar really is. // 8

Impression: I play mainly blues & soft metal which this L400 does well as if it were designed to do so, it's true the real thing is out in front but for it's price it is a bargain. You can expect a Rolls Royce to beat a Jag, but the Jag is great! I feel the same scenerio is similar here. If my L400 was lost or stolen yes I would buy another! // 9

Comments

[Bullet_Fan]

Yea, I've had this Guitar for a year and it's still working great

[SBLAKELEY]

I bought this guitar and it was crap!
It went out of tune all the time and the frets were to high of the fretboard which made a different note every time you play that fret, stay away from these!

[Children Of War]

SBLAKELEY wrote:

I bought this guitar and it was crap!
It went out of tune all the time and the frets were to high of the fretboard which made a different note every time you play that fret, stay away from these!

Just being frank here, my friend, You should judge a guitar after :-

-Sending it for monthly intonation checks, factory
settings are not to be trusted cause of the shipping
roughage.

-Making sure its not damaged, and Adjust it to your
liking first

-taking plastic wrappings of the pickups...The plastic
wrapping suppresses the output of the guitar, and so
the sound is less powerful.


oh and when it comes to the fret being on a different note, make sure youre playing the SAME fret...and that youre not unintentionally bending the string in anyway...either that or your amplifier is a bitch, this guitar has a nice tone to it, close to the Gibson Les Paul of course, but not close enough...As the hardware is of course, of less quality and craftmanship...And there you go.

[Cactus Jumper]

i also heard of a friend who owns a guitar shop that there were many problems with the l400 and that the following series were much better...

[stevo192]

Children of war, i laughed so hard at your above post. the 'this guitar has a nice tone to it, close to the Gibson Les Paul of course' is the funniest part. I have played guitar for 7 years, and played gibsons, epiphones, etc and can honestly say that this guitar is one of the worst i have ever played. Pickups are toneless and weak, pots are scratchy, fretwork all over the place, tuners rubbish. All in all, a totally rubbish 'guitar' for the money. I say guitar in inverted commas because it is little more than a glorified piece of firewood

[MooshMooshMarc]

the cutaway looks kinda crappy

[i4gotmyname281]

I was impressed with this guitar when I bought it :]

3 things did bother me:
1) Strap buttons go loose when you tilt the guitar so the strap will come off it
2) The bridge was a tad too low when I bought it, so the strings were almost touching the fretboard and it killed off vibrations, but you can fix that witha screwdriver.
3) The pickups weren't as heavy as I would've enjoyed, but I was amazed by how noise-free they are.

[Gundam pilota09]

MooshMooshMarc wrote:

the cutaway looks kinda crappy

looks being the operative word its actually easier to play than a gibson

[mondo83xx]

I got one of these. It's a second guitar after playing about 2 years. I must say it's very easy to play. The frets are kinda massive so if you press too hard it can pitch the note a little. But you can solve that by not pressing too hard. As for the tone - if you're looking for a bright sounding guitar you should move on cos this is pretty dull sounding on a clean sound on the bridge pick-up. However this guitar is good for balls to the ball metal and the like. But bring it down a bit and you'll get some nice gutsy blues crunch too.

For the money its better than a Sq-Strat. Better than a Epiphone Les Paul special 2.

If you want more you pay more. If you're on a tight budget and you need a grunty guitar to tide you over grab one of these.