Yeah, I know. What the heck to I need another toy for. No need. It was cheap enough and I didn't have one.....you know the drill.
My review is below the pic:
At any rate, this guitar from Guitar fetish: http://store.guitarfetish.com/XV-560-SOLID-Maple-Top-Semi-Hollowbody-Alnico-P90s_c_187.html
But, with a blem. In this case, a little paint drip dropped the price to $179: http://store.guitarfetish.com/XV-560-Semi-Hollow-Quilt-Top-GFS-Alnico-P90s-Lemon-Drop-Blem_p_1583.html
and a 15% discount brought a $249 guitar down to $152 plus shipping - total of about $171 or so after it was all done with.
Here it is. 
Review time: I've not been around much for a week or so. I'm trying to adjust to meds without looking like a frigging drama-queen. I'll try to keep this really sub-topic centric and not ramble.
Out of the box (and after tuning it up):
Changes Made:
Overall: It's a bit noisy when on a driven patch, as one expects out of P-90s. This is my first set with soapbar type P-90s, so I have no comparison. I do have one each of the GFS P90s HB replacement varieties on a couple of solid bodies. These sound a little noisier than that. However, on a very clean, but aggressive patch I use a lot of, there was almost no noise. Very surprising.
The guitar was set up for .09s. Putting .11s on it made the action at the first fret a little too tight. time to break out the files. They were not bad before I did the .11's and the nut cuts are not deep at all. By way of comparison, my $300 Ibanez ART100 that I paid $259 for last summer had similar issues, but was worse....and that was going from .09s to .10s. I have files, so no big deal.
Upon string change, I discovered that each tuner nut was very loose, as in rattle loose. I tightened each one to non-rattle tension plus maybe a 1/4 turn at the most. This is not the first guitar I've ever had to do that to.
All of the volume and tone POTs work fine. The volume knob does not have the Epi LP Volume POT thing where having it set at 2 is 90% of the volume. This is a nice surprise.
I have no urge to adjust or even check truss rod. The intonation is off on I think 3 strings instead of 6 like it was. I think part of that was going to a better grade string than the crappy ones on most new guitars. I'll let the strings settle another day before adjusting intonation. It's close enough right now to not bother me.
In closing:
If I appearred overly picky, well, it's because I am. I wanted to examine this guitar as if I paid Epi LP Standard price for it - say around $500. It needed many tweeks, but minimal in nature. Even with the nut needing a tiny bit of cutting, the barred-F at the first position is still doable. It plays very well in other positions barred and open. It sounds very nice. It looks very nice, even with that little paint drip line on the side. If I paid $500 for this guitar as it is right now, I'd be a happy customer. It's certainly a nice guitar and a very good value at it's normal $249 price, which makes me a very happy customer.
<ps> I'll have a recording sometime, but that PC went down over-night. grrrrrr!
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
HNGD :D
It looks very nice! I'll be interested to hear how you thinks it compares to the ESP you have :-)
Congratulations :D :D
It looks very nice! I'll be interested to hear how you thinks it compares to the ESP you have
This one has grit and twang as compared to the ESP LTD that I have which has a lot of thickness to it's tone. (not to mention it's tuned really oddly right now for a Metallica song. Down a whole step plus another 1/2 step on the e-strings or something?)
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Nice purchase Roy! Reminds me of my Kramer Standard Pro as it is a lemon drop as well. Same speed knobs too, but thats where it ends. Sounds like it is well worth the money. Can't wait to hear it.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Hey Roy nice looking guitar. That collection keeps growing and growing.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Sweet! I really like the finish! I wonder - do all the guitars from GF need that much maintenance right out of the box? Even the tuner nuts were loose? Maybe they rushed it together since it is a "blem".
Still very nice though. I will have to take a look at that site again. :)
This is only my second one, but not my last. But to answer that question, I think every new guitar from anywhere that I've gotten has had to have some sort of set up done. I don't think there was anything on this that I had not done previously at some point for some new guitar. The best I've gotten is from shops when they had actually bothered to do some sort of set-up. That happens periodically. Otherwise, it's mostly set-up issues. I've always considered tightening any tuners to be a set up issue while the strings are off. I mean, you're going through this and checking everything.
I will also add that each string was tuned down (probably to save neck wear during shipping?) to almost precisely 3 steps below standard tuning.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
That's true - most of what I have purchased online needed a bit of going over. The last Schecter that I purchased was beautiful right out of the box, & so was the Epiphone Prophecy. Both exceptional guitars.
That Lemon drop is a beaut, & I've always loved quilted finishes. So those P90's are twangy, huh?
Not as much as a Tele, but twangy still. You can coax many tones from it. Pretty much like a ligher sounding LP in some areas. I've not fully explored yet. It is making me want to go back to '11s on my Gretsch, though.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
