JordanM82
New member
Well, I said I would give a thorough review of this guitar and I am keeping true to my word.
About a month ago I decided I would take a leap and grab an Agile AL-3100 from RondoMusic.com. This is what I have concluded about the instrument so far, specifically I am measuring this guitar against my band mates 2009 Gibson LP Traditional Pro (yes I realize that is many will think that's unfair, but it is an LP copy isn't it?).
Service: Customer service was responsive to questions about the instrument, I received the guitar very quickly and it was very well packed.
Cost: (8/10) I paid $420.00 for the guitar, not a bad deal overall but I wasn't sure what to expect quality wise.
Fit and Finish: (6/10) When I opened the case this is what I received (see picture), and I have to say there was some oooo's and ahhhh's over how good it looked. Inspection of the guitar found it to be in decent enough working order (minor flaws with the binding and the installation of the stop tail piece, I was able to fix stop tail easily). The paint looks great, the flamed veneer looked great, the ebony fretboard was everything I expected. The mother of pearl inlays lacked a little something to be desired honestly, but nothing was unacceptable. Overall everything was decent, I didn't expect perfection and in fact for the price the guitar exceeded my expectations.
Playability: (4/10 stock, 6/10 after adjustments) The neck needed a truss rod adjustment out of the box (normal). The pots were functional and smooth (500k alpha pots). However, my major point of contention here is the specs on this guitar list the frets as Jumbo frets. Let me say clearly, these are NOT jumbo frets. In fact I would call these low frets if I would call them anything. The fret work itself is better then most honestly, the frets are actually crowned and polished nicely which was a big surprise. However, I was very disappointed with the fret size and that is a big sticking point for me. The guitar stays in tune very well with grover tuners and graphtec nut (needed a bit of fine tuning on slot height on B and high E strings) and overall is reasonably enjoyable to play.
Tone: (4/10 stock, 7/10 with upgrades) The stock pickups lacked a lot to be desired in the clarity department. They were just muddy and they were a bit hot for my tastes too. However, when I switched out to a set of PG's this guitar really did begin to sing. The sound is BIG! It has great sustain and really growls. It is a very passable LP impression and will do the job most days for most people. However, on a direct A B comparison with my band mates LP Traditional Pro, it just lacked a bit of... everything. From a tone perspective this guitar is no slouch with the right upgrades but don't be surprised if your friends Gibson still takes the cake.
Overall: (5/10 Stock, 7/10 with adjustments and upgrades) As far as value for the money goes it's hard to deny this guitar is a big win in that department. The guitar is solidly built, stays in tune, sounds pretty good and plays decent with setup and upgrades. It makes it's play at doing the LP thing passably, in fact it's better then most of the Epi LP's I have tried lately (given none of those were setup or upgraded for full review) but it's really about 70-80% there. For the money, that's not bad.
If you dislike low frets (like me) you are going to have a problem with this guitars playability and will probably need a re-fret to make it truly enjoyable to play. That may even be a part of the "tone" issue for me is I just don't "feel" the guitar as much because of the playability issues and therefore I don't really work it as much as I do the LP Trad Pro which seems like it plays itself in comparison.
Comment, respond... feedback whatever... use the knowledge as you can!
About a month ago I decided I would take a leap and grab an Agile AL-3100 from RondoMusic.com. This is what I have concluded about the instrument so far, specifically I am measuring this guitar against my band mates 2009 Gibson LP Traditional Pro (yes I realize that is many will think that's unfair, but it is an LP copy isn't it?).
Service: Customer service was responsive to questions about the instrument, I received the guitar very quickly and it was very well packed.
Cost: (8/10) I paid $420.00 for the guitar, not a bad deal overall but I wasn't sure what to expect quality wise.
Fit and Finish: (6/10) When I opened the case this is what I received (see picture), and I have to say there was some oooo's and ahhhh's over how good it looked. Inspection of the guitar found it to be in decent enough working order (minor flaws with the binding and the installation of the stop tail piece, I was able to fix stop tail easily). The paint looks great, the flamed veneer looked great, the ebony fretboard was everything I expected. The mother of pearl inlays lacked a little something to be desired honestly, but nothing was unacceptable. Overall everything was decent, I didn't expect perfection and in fact for the price the guitar exceeded my expectations.
Playability: (4/10 stock, 6/10 after adjustments) The neck needed a truss rod adjustment out of the box (normal). The pots were functional and smooth (500k alpha pots). However, my major point of contention here is the specs on this guitar list the frets as Jumbo frets. Let me say clearly, these are NOT jumbo frets. In fact I would call these low frets if I would call them anything. The fret work itself is better then most honestly, the frets are actually crowned and polished nicely which was a big surprise. However, I was very disappointed with the fret size and that is a big sticking point for me. The guitar stays in tune very well with grover tuners and graphtec nut (needed a bit of fine tuning on slot height on B and high E strings) and overall is reasonably enjoyable to play.
Tone: (4/10 stock, 7/10 with upgrades) The stock pickups lacked a lot to be desired in the clarity department. They were just muddy and they were a bit hot for my tastes too. However, when I switched out to a set of PG's this guitar really did begin to sing. The sound is BIG! It has great sustain and really growls. It is a very passable LP impression and will do the job most days for most people. However, on a direct A B comparison with my band mates LP Traditional Pro, it just lacked a bit of... everything. From a tone perspective this guitar is no slouch with the right upgrades but don't be surprised if your friends Gibson still takes the cake.
Overall: (5/10 Stock, 7/10 with adjustments and upgrades) As far as value for the money goes it's hard to deny this guitar is a big win in that department. The guitar is solidly built, stays in tune, sounds pretty good and plays decent with setup and upgrades. It makes it's play at doing the LP thing passably, in fact it's better then most of the Epi LP's I have tried lately (given none of those were setup or upgraded for full review) but it's really about 70-80% there. For the money, that's not bad.
If you dislike low frets (like me) you are going to have a problem with this guitars playability and will probably need a re-fret to make it truly enjoyable to play. That may even be a part of the "tone" issue for me is I just don't "feel" the guitar as much because of the playability issues and therefore I don't really work it as much as I do the LP Trad Pro which seems like it plays itself in comparison.
Comment, respond... feedback whatever... use the knowledge as you can!
