First Act Guitars

fenderbass6

fenderbass6

New member
Anyone ever tricked one of these out? Like, put some Seymour hums in one, or some p90's?

I've played one and it was god awful [That's a given]

But, seriously I want to see one with a sh1t ton of mods...
 
Re: First Act Guitars

Have'nt played one, But a guy at work got one given to him. A sliverbust lesclone. Did'nt look like a very good foundation to me, but who knows, with a couple of duncans, new wiring/pots/switch/caps, and some new hardware, you'd have new duncans,pots/switch/caps, and new hardware.
 
Re: First Act Guitars

I take it you're talking about the crappy wal-mart ones. Not the custom shop models. Those things don't quite have the foundation to be anything more than a toy. You can try though.;)
 
Re: First Act Guitars

Ninja Monkey said:
I take it you're talking about the crappy wal-mart ones. Not the custom shop models. Those things don't quite have the foundation to be anything more than a toy. You can try though.;)
Click to expand...

Haha. I wasn't even aware there was a custom shop model..
But, yes. Wallie World guitars...
 
My First Act Lola

My First Act Lola

Hell yeah...way under appreciated...at least the First Act SFA CE140 Lola that is. THEY ARE NOTHING LIKE THE WALMART CRAP! Electronics sucked...but everything else on this thing is a GREAT FOUNDATION.

I first dropped a set of Epiphone "E" Series Hot Humbuckers in and it was awesome through my Marshall...now it's been upgraded to Gibson "The Original" HB-R/HB-L Pickups to a Gibson 500K Vol...it makes some beautiful noise!

2006FirstActLolaJMP1-1.jpg


2006FirstActLolaJMP2-1.jpg


First Act SFA Edition Lola CE140

Product: First Act SFA Edition Lola CE140
Price Paid: USD 199.00
Submitted 01/25/2008 at 12:51pm by muttznmongrelz

Features : 10
2006 SFA Edition Lola CE140

Sweet lines and a big rock bite.

Beveled, single cutaway body shape designed in First Act's Studio For Artists.

Features solid balance and great high fret access.

Solid mahogany body for rich, warm sound.

Two Alnico V magnet, vintage-style chrome, bikini-clad humbucking pickups with crisp, clean sound and warm distortion.

North American Maple set neck, rosewood fingerboard with pearloid I-line inlays.

Chrome die-cast tuning machines.

Chrome-dome volume and tone knobs with 3-way toggle, for quick and easy access to sound tweaks.

Available in translucent black, midnight blue, and cabernet red. (MINE IS CABARNET RUBY RED...A BEAUTIFUL COLOR/FINISH I MIGHT ADD!)

FIRST ACT SAID IT BEST...BUT I'LL ADD THE BELOW...

24 3/4" Scale (GIBSON LP)
1 11/16" Nut Width (GIBSON)

*** A GREAT PLATFORM UPON WHICH TO BUILD A SWEET PLAYING GUITAR....CHANGE THE PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS AND IT'S A **** FINE LES PAUL STYLE GUITAR.

Sound : 10
Versatile instrument...

***NOTE: I WILL RATE THIS CATEGORY BASED UPON MY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS GUITAR....AFTER I UPGRADED THE PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS...

The original pickups were pretty bad...really cheap looking and sounding...as were the electronics...pickups were microphonic and the pots were small and shoddy looking as well as the jack being shoddy and coming loose...

Replaced the pickups with a pair of Epiphone "Ultra Hot" Pickups from the "E" Series and upgraded electronics (I only went with a Volume and 3 Way Toggle Switch...Tone is a dummy pot basically on my guitar), as I had one of the Epi Slashers a couple of years back and it had some really cool pickups...neck was heavy and high output w/o being muddy and the bridge was aggressive but still musical w/o being a "spike in the ears"...so I had a pair installed in this guitar after I removed the "E" Logoed Chrome Metal Covers, got all the wax off and wrapped the windings w/some new tape. As stated these pickups KICK ASS!

I have a pair of EMG 81/85 that I am contemplating putting in this but I really like the Epis so I'll probably keep the EMGs for something else. 10 after the upgrade...5 before the pickup change...

*** REPLACE THE PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS...TRUELY THE ONLY WEAK SPOT ON THIS GUITAR.

Action, Fit, & Finish : 10
Here is where this baby shines...

I walked into a Music-Go-Round and it caught my eye hanging on the wall...really beautiful CABERNET RUBY RED SEE THROUGH FINISH...then I picked it up and was shocked by the weight of it...heavy like a LP...NO BASSWOOD HERE...then I played it w/o plugging it in...neck felt really comfy, the fretboard was flat and the frets were med jumbo and really well finished...neck was bound nicely...couldn't find any flaws w/construction...body appeared to be one piece mahogany...WOW...and all for $199.00!!!

As I was missing a LP Style Guitar from my guitar collection...this was a dream to find.

*** STRAIGHT OUT 10 ON THIS CATEGORY...HIGH LEVEL WORKMANSHIP AND A TRUELY NICELY PUT TOGETHER GUITAR. KUDOS TO FIRST ACT FOR AN OUTSTANDING FIRST INTRODUCTION TO WHAT THEY CAN TURN OUT OTHER THAN WHAT YOU SEE AT WALMART OR TOYS R US!

Reliability/Durability : 9
Absolutely a fine instrument...you are no doubt "getting the point"...CHANGE THE PICKUPS AND ELECTRONICS AND THIS THING ROCKS!!! NO QUALMS WHATSOEVER W/IT OTHERWISE. STONE SOLID INSTRUMENT.

9 UNTIL YOU CHANGE THE PICKUPS.

Customer Support : No Opinion
N/A

Overall Rating : 10
If you can't tell...I really am impressed by this guitar...love it and play it most of the time since I got it...even though I have 6 other electrics (see below) and an Alvarez Yairi DY53...this guitar is just a joy to pickup and put through my 1979 Marshall JMP 2104 50W Combo...goes great w/all my pedals...Keeley Midnight Zone, Boss SD-1 MIJ, Ibanez SM9 Super Metal MIJ, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer MIJ, Tech21 SansAmp GT & Tech21 Double Drive...there's just no issues when I pick up this guitar!

RECOMMENDATION: If you find one cheap like I did...BUY THE **** THING AND REPLACE THE PICKUPS. It's really a sleeper that you'll love!
 
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Re: First Act Guitars

I found 2 FA strat copies in a heap of junk on my girlfriend's neighbors front porch. I took them without asking. Both of them were dirty and had a few odd missing parts, saddles, knobs. So i took one that was in the best shape and decided to mod it out, and gave to other to a friend. I have ZERO idea as to what model it is.

The body is really light. Very cheap feeling, but it doesn't bother me too much. It's sort of a tobacco burst, but i can't begin to explain it. I got a new pickguard and knobs for it. I had an older (about 8 years) squier neck i replaced the other one with. The stock hardware wasn't that bad. The switch is really dirty. The stock pickups sounded like, well... cheap single coils. So i replaced the bridge PUP with a GFS hot rails clone, same as i have in my good #1 Fender.

SD530466.jpg


I've managed to make it play OK, and sound almost OK. I plan on making more mods and continuing to make it a better player.
 
Re: First Act Guitars

Ha! This is too funny! I'm away on vacation and couldn't bring a guitar (not unless I wanted to pay for an additional seat -- no way I was gonna check it). So... I happened to see these guitars at the WalMart down here. I thought, "Hmm, $50 for a cheapo guitar...." I bought it just to keep my fingers active and my callouses firm. Surprisingly, its made decently enough and sounds decent enough, but the action is rather high with no way to adjust it. The only other knock I have is the neck width is like 1 1/2" and makes chord fingering a challenge.
 
Re: First Act Guitars

too many people judge first act for their walmart guitars. that is NOT what they are all about. they make some **** good guitars guys. hell brent hinds has a signature model with them
 
Re: First Act Guitars

I've seen some pretty da*n nice high quality first act custom stuff, But the wallmart stuff I a f**king joke.
 
Re: First Act Guitars

Man, until a few weeks ago, I never knew they made anything other than high end, custom stuff, and now apparently they make Walmart guitars:confused:
 
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Re: First Act Guitars

They recently blew out their SFA series (think high-end Squier or MIM quality) for $99 or less. The SFA series has a decent reputation -- and, as Muttz mentioned above, the set-neck Lola is supposed to be a real winner (I just missed getting one before they went out of stock).

I'm still on the lookout for a cheap SFA Lola.

I did pick up a semihollowbody bolt-on Delia for about $100 shipped from J & R Electronics. It's nice; solid construction and fit, very clean finish work, big sound, and the maple neck is fantastic to play. Better fretwork than any Squier I've ever touched, including my fave, a Thinline VM series. It's well worth more than what I paid for it. With a couple good Duncans, I'll have a good semihollow for chickenscratch.

These are not the Wal-Mart series, which start with the ME designation, IIRC. Just decent foreign-made guitars made with great quality control.
 
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